Poland
Between 1949 and 1956 four Polish MiGs and one Il-2M3 defected from communist Poland to Denmark and Sweden.
- In 1949, Lt. Arkadiusz Korobczynski from Navy Flight in Wicko Morskie defected with Il-2M3 attack aircraft (No 3) to Gotland Island in Sweden.
- On March 5, 1953, Polish Lt. Franciszek Jarecki flew from Słupsk (Polish Air Force Base) to Rønne Airport on Bornholm Island in a MiG-15bis (No 346) - a modern Soviet fighter. Western air specialists checked the aircraft and several days later, the MiG returned to People's Republic of Poland by ship. Jarecki, however, went to the United States, where he provided much important information about modern Soviet aircraft and air tactics.
- On May 20, 1953, Lt. Zdzislaw Jazwinski from 28th Fighter Squadron in Słupsk defected with MiG-15bis to Rønne Airport on Bornholm Island.
- On November 7, 1957 Lt. Kozuchowski from 31st Fighter Squadron in Łask defected with Lim-2 (MiG-15bis, No 1919) and crash-landed near Halland in Sweden.
- On September 25, 1956 Lt. Zygmunt Gosciniak from Zegrze Pomorskie defected with MiG-15bis (No 1327) and landed without using landing gear at Rønne Airport on Bornholm Island.
Read more about this topic: List Of Cold War Pilot Defections
Famous quotes containing the word poland:
“It is often said that Poland is a country where there is anti-semitism and no Jews, which is pathology in its purest state.”
—Bronislaw Geremek (b. 1932)