Soviet Union
Soviet pilots also defected and the most famous involved defecting with the most advanced jet fighters at the time, including:
- On October 9, 1948, Piotr Pirogov and Anatoly Barsov defected by flying their Tu-2 bomber from the USSR to Linz, Austria, where they were granted asylum by the American occupational authorities. Barsov returned to the USSR a year later.
- In 1961, a disappointed Soviet pilot flew his Sukhoi Su-9 interceptor to Abadan, Iran. Only very sketchy details about this incident are known even today, but the plane and the pilot were quickly picked up by officers of the Foreign Technology Division (FTD) of the United States DoD. After being disassembled within 24 hours the Su-9 was transported to the USA, while the pilot followed shortly after.
- On May 22, 1967, Lieutenant Vasily Ilych Epatko, flew his MiG-17 from East Germany where he was stationed, to West Germany and ejected in Dillingen about 20 miles northwest of Augsburg. He was granted asylum by the United States.
- On May 7, 1973, Lieutenant Yevgeny Vronsky, flew his Sukhoi Su-7 from East Germany where he was stationed, to West Germany and ejected near Wolfenbüttel. The wreckage of the aircraft was returned to the Soviet Union, but German authorities let Vronsky stay in the country.
- On September 6, 1976, Lieutenant Viktor Belenko defected with his Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 to Hakodate, Japan. After being inspected by the Foreign Technology Division of the United States DoD, the MiG-25 was released to Japan who then returned it in pieces to the Soviet Union after having been disassembled and analyzed by the United States.
- On May 20, 1989, Captain Alexander Zuyev defected with his Mikoyan MiG-29 to Trabzon, Turkey. In his autobiography Fulcrum: A Top Gun Pilot's Escape from the Soviet Empire (ISBN 0-446-51648) Zuyev reported that the USSR quickly did a deal with the Turkish government upon his defection, and the MiG-29 was returned to the Russians. According to Zuyev himself, the first words he said as he stepped out of the cockpit after his successful defection were, "I will be an American!". He was shot in the escape and was airlifted out of Turkey by a U.S. C-130 that same night, to Ramstein AB. He shared many stories with the crew that are later expounded upon in his book.
Read more about this topic: List Of Cold War Pilot Defections
Famous quotes by soviet union:
“In the Soviet Union everything happens slowly. Always remember that.”
—A.N. (Arkady N.)
“Today he plays jazz; tomorrow he betrays his country.”
—Stalinist slogan in the Soviet Union (1920s)
“Nothing an interested foreigner may have to say about the Soviet Union today can compare with the scorn and fury of those who inhabit the ruin of a dream.”
—Christopher Hope (b. 1944)
“If the Soviet Union can give up the Brezhnev Doctrine for the Sinatra Doctrine, the United States can give up the James Monroe Doctrine for the Marilyn Monroe Doctrine: Let’s all go to bed wearing the perfume we like best.”
—Carlos Fuentes (b. 1928)
“If the Soviet Union let another political party come into existence, they would still be a one-party state, because everybody would join the other party.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)