Iraq
- On April 2, 1960 Iraqi pilot Lt. Abbud Salim Hasan flew his British-made Hawker Hunter to Syria, where he asked for political asylum, claiming to have escaped from Communist domination in the air force.
- On November 30, 1963 Iraqi airman Lieutenant Abdel Rahim al-Salim Zuher escaped to the USSR by flying through Iran and landing at an airfield in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR. He gave as reason for his defection, an unwillingness to participate in the suppression of Kurdish rebels. The aircraft type in which he defected is not known but it may have been a de Havilland Vampire. The pilot was granted political asylum.
- On 16 August 1966, Iraqi Captain Munir Redfa flew his MiG-21F-13 to Israel as a result of Mossad Operation Diamond. Two years later, Israel gave his MiG-21F-13 and two MiG-17F to the United States for evaluation under the code-name "Have Doughnut" (for the MiG-21), and "Have Drill" (for the MiG-17).
- Following Captain Munir Redfa's defection, there were at least two Iraqi pilots who defected to Jordan with their MiG-21F-13 jets. Jordan granted them political asylum but returned the aircraft to Iraq.
- On the early morning of 2 December 1981, an Iraqi pilot of the 84th Sqn defected with his MiG-23 to Vahdati AB in Iran. He managed to land safely, and subsequently proved to be a superb source of intelligence for the IRIAF. However, the plane was left in the open for several hours too long, and in the afternoon the Iraqi Air Force dispatched a strike against the Iranian base destroying the aircraft with unguided 68mm rockets from Su-20 bombers.
- During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, pilots of 115 to 140 Iraqi aircraft defected to Iran.
Read more about this topic: List Of Cold War Pilot Defections