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1976 Airplane hijacking detective.
It’s interesting that he briefly touched my family. The fact is that my brother’s son-in-law studied with Belenko at the Stavropol School. And he served together in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. After Belenko escaped, he was suspended from flying - the GB then preferred to be on the safe side rather than under the wrong side.
My brother, a retired officer, a front-line soldier, went to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and appealed to the command, saying, don’t ruin the guy’s life.
The veteran’s request was respected and the son-in-law continued to fly.

And here are the details about the plane and Belenko himself.
I personally remembered that he seemed to have died in a car accident. It turned out - no. Still alive.
Original taken from dmgusev in About the traitor...

On September 6, 1976, Soviet pilot Senior Lieutenant Belenko, flying a MiG-25 interceptor, flew to Japan and asked for political asylum in the United States.

Probably not a single Soviet aircraft can compare in the number of legends and rumors with MiG-25. His appearance at the air parade in 1967, held in Domodedovo, caused a sensation. A lot of articles appeared in the Western press where attempts were made to evaluate a very unusual aircraft...

The campaign in the press, and not only in the press, took on a particularly wide scale in the United States. Journalists, representatives of aerospace companies. even congressmen and senators began to actively fan the myth of the “superplane.” posing the greatest threat to American air supremacy in any likely conflict.

Americans extremely do not like to admit (there is no talk of admiration at all!) the technical superiority of their rivals, it doesn’t matter - the Russians. Germans or English. So why all the fuss about Foxbat?

Industrialists were most interested in the newspaper hype. The fact is that the United States had its own Khrushchev from aviation - Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. He and his assistants at one time considered fighters to be an absolutely obsolete class of aircraft. you can save a lot of money by not developing them.

As a result, for 15 years after the creation of the Phantom, work on the creation of new fighters was not carried out in the United States. Naturally. This situation did not eliminate the guys from McDonnell-Douglas and General Dynamics. Regarding the question “What is the MiG-25 and how to live with it?” - Special hearings were held in Congress.

The military-industrial lobby mixed deliberate untruths, reliable information, and half-truths into a heap and achieved its goal: the design of fighter aircraft was resumed. Newspaper publications about the MiG slowly faded away, especially since there was no legal information on the aircraft; observers agreed that the MiG-25 is a three-mach air superiority fighter made primarily of titanium.

The Americans verified the validity of this statement in 1976.

At 13:11 On September 6, 1976, four radars of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces located on Hokkaido detected an air target 200 miles west of the coast of the island, heading towards Hokkaido at a speed of 440 mph at an altitude of 6700 m.

Seven minutes after its discovery, a pair of Phantoms took off from the Chitose airbase to intercept, while the air traffic control center still could not identify the target.

On September 6, 1976, residents of the Japanese city of Hakodate were agitated by a roar jet engine; pouring out into the streets, they saw a monstrous fighter in the sky above the city. Having made three circles over the city, the fighter landed at the local airport.

At 1:26 a.m. the unidentified object disappeared from radar screens; It was not possible to direct the F-4J, and they returned to the airfield. An unidentified object was discovered at 1:52 a.m. over Hakodate Civil Airport. A MiG-25 passed over the runway at an altitude of 300 m; its pilot clearly intended to land, but the runway was occupied by an All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 taking off.

After the Boeing took off, the MiG pilot made a couple of “sighting” passes and at 1 hour 57 minutes. landed. The plane touched down in the middle of the runway and, although the pilot released the flaps and braking parachute, the MiG jumped the entire runway, drove another 240 m along the ground and, having covered two antennas of the instrumental landing system, stopped.

A Soviet MiG-25 fighter plane immediately after an "unscheduled" landing at Hakodate airport. The man next to the plane is the pilot, Senior Lieutenant V.I. Belenko.

Then the action unfolded in the spirit of a cool Hollywood action movie. The pilot climbed out of the cockpit and fired into the air from a standard PM. driving away curious employees, and from the airport management who immediately arrived, he demanded that the plane be immediately covered with a tarpaulin. The MiG was towed first to the parking lot and then to the hangar.

The MiG-25 rolled off the runway and stopped right in front of the aircraft catcher. Airport workers and police officers came running to him. Compared to the people crowding around him, the MiG looks like a monstrous bird from legend.The brake parachute released during landing is clearly visible. The front wheel, when the plane rolled off the runway, exploded but did not catch fire, which shows the high technical level of the Soviet aircraft.

The airport was closed for flights: for 5 hours not a single plane took off or landed from it. Soviet pilot, senior lieutenant. Viktor Belenko initially stated that he landed due to lack of fuel, but soon asked for political asylum, which the Japanese immediately denied him. However, there were still Americans, and they were the main behind-the-scenes actors international scandal.

For a few days, Hakodate became the most famous city in the world. News agencies around the world carried the amazing news: “A Russian fighter has landed in Japan.” There was another sensation... Even in the USSR, there was a rumor for a long time that a test pilot had hijacked the newest fighter to Japan.

A tape measure was immediately brought in, and the experts began measuring the plane. After the plane rolled off the runway, it knocked off two antennas, but not even a scratch was visible on its wing.

Belenko was not a test pilot, and the MiG-25 was by no means the latest aircraft in 1976, but this did not make it any easier for our command. The rest of the day of September 6 and the night from September 6 to 7 will probably be forever remembered by the Japanese air defense forces: self-defense fighters took off 143 times to intercept Soviet aircraft flying in schools near the island. Hokkaido.

There were much more “guests” on the ground than in the air. The first Soviet citizen - he was the political officer of a merchant ship docked in the port of Hakodate - tried to penetrate the MiG four hours after landing; he was not the only one so curious - during this time a decent crowd had gathered at the airport fence, but no one was allowed onto the airfield.

Aerial shot. The plane rolled out of the runway about 200 meters, because Belenko put him in the middle of the strip.The aircraft's braking track is clearly visible.

Soon the first officials arrived - two representatives of Aeroflot, a correspondent for Izvestia, the British Air Force attaché in Tokyo joined them, and they were followed by full-time and part-time employees of the KGB, CIA and their colleagues from other countries. They were not allowed to see either the pilot or the plane.

It seems that the Japanese did not know what to do with Belenko’s “gift”. Only on September 8th the police (!!). and not the local state security department officially asked to examine the plane for the presence of explosive devices. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union demanded the immediate extradition of the pilot and the return of the plane.

Cunning Japanese. Certainly. they weren’t going to give up the MiG without thoroughly climbing it, and they certainly weren’t going to give it to Belenko.

A quick inspection of the aircraft by Hakodate police officials. According to experts, Soviet avionics lagged behind Western ones.

The reason for the detention of the plane and the pilot in Japan was found to be quite original: since the pilot illegally crossed the Japanese state border, his act is not diplomatic, but criminal. A criminal case has been opened against the pilot for illegal border crossing, in which the MiG-25 aircraft is considered as material evidence and cannot be returned until the investigation is fully completed.

The Soviet Union, naturally, did not take such explanations seriously and continued to put pressure on the Japanese government through all channels in order to hand over the plane and the pilot. On the other hand, the US put pressure on the Japanese. pursuing diametrically opposed goals: to keep the MiG in Japan for as long as possible and under no circumstances to extradite Belenko.

Why is the Soviet plane with Soviet pilot landed in Hokkaido? A number of facts indicate that guys from the US CIA were behind Belenko’s flight.

The operation failed at the last stage. Belenko went on a routine training flight along with two other MiGs from the Sakharovka airfield, located 200 km from Vladivostok. Shortly after takeoff, he broke away from the formation, descended to an altitude of 45 m to get out of the radar field of view, flew close to the ground for about 400 km and. having gained an altitude of 6000 m, he headed for the Chitose airbase, where the longest runways in Hokkaido were.

Alas, the Japanese airfield was closed by fog, and fuel was running out. The pilot dived to the ground again (according to one version, in order to get away from Japanese radars - they could have shot him down, according to another - in order to find a landing site). Be that as it may, the MiG-25 landed at a civilian airport and there was not the slightest opportunity to hide this fact.

The plane hijacking received publicity. The Americans had to make an official request for a joint investigation of the incident. The Japanese Foreign Ministry was put in a difficult position, because a similar request from the USSR was rejected, and the American one had to be rejected.

At the same time, Japanese officials did not rule out the participation of “foreign experts” in the study of “physical evidence.” The formal reason for this was the presence of “explosive devices” on board: no one had any doubts from which country these same experts would appear.

Why did the CIA (if American intelligence was really involved in this case) chase after a plane that was far from the newest? Perhaps, there was no such contradictory information on any Soviet aircraft, and not a single one of our aircraft, except the MiG-25. did not receive the nickname “unbreakable.”

MiG flights over Israel have been written about many times. But Israel is not everything. At one time, there were legends at MAI about Mng-25 flights over Western Europe, were then very skeptical about these bikes. as it turns out, in vain.

Did you find an issue of Flight magazine dated April 10, 1976 in the TsAGI library with the article “MiG-25 over Britain”? At the end of March, the British Minister of Defense categorically stated that neither the MiG-25. no other high-speed aircraft of any kind had entered British airspace in the previous 12 months. Why such a statement?

It turns out that the US press claimed that Soviet MiG-25 reconnaissance aircraft regularly fly in the airspace of NATO countries.

Following the Americans, some English magazines published similar information. The author of the article in Flight was very skeptical about the possibility of such flights and argued. that it is quite simple to shoot down a MiG; to do this you need to have “just” the Nika-Hercules air defense system or an F-14 fighter.

An article of similar content appeared around the same time in the French magazine Air et Cosmos. Ultimately, the question of MiGs over Western Europe remains open. one thing is clear - from a military-technical point of view, this aircraft was capable of flying in the airspace of NATO countries. There were too few air defense systems capable of reaching the MiG-25 when it was flying on the ceiling at maximum speed.

The noise in the press could have been made on the basis of real facts, or it could have been provoked by the Americans. In March-April, publications appeared on the topic of communist spy planes. and in September, a “live” MiG-25 landed in Japan. It is quite possible that the articles were intended to justify in advance the need to hijack and study an aircraft so dangerous for the countries of the “free world”.

The Japanese carried out the initial inspection of the aircraft in Hakodate, but it was clear that it would not be possible to examine the MiG in detail at a civilian airport. We decided to transport the plane to the Hyakuri military airbase, located 80 km from Tokyo.

The difficulty was that the MiG fuselage did not fit into the Japanese S-1 military transport aircraft. The “good” Americans brought their S-5A for this purpose. and on September 19, 64 Japanese specialists and 11 American “experts” who arrived from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base began preparing the MiG for transportation: the wings and fins were undocked from the aircraft. tail unit, removed the engines, drained the fuel and oil.

On the night of September 24. Under the escort of 14 Phantoms and Starfighters of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, the Galaxy with its precious cargo flew from a civilian airfield to a military one. At military airfields located along the flight route, F-4J units were on standby No. 1.

The precautions were not without reason: during the flight, radar detected several unidentified objects near the coast of Japan, which, most likely, were Soviet aircraft.

In Hyakari, the MiG-25 was reassembled and prepared for detailed studies. There was no intention of flying it, but the 200 liters of fuel remaining in the tanks after landing made it possible to conduct static tests of the engine; On October 3, both engines “drove” for 1 hour 20 minutes.

Because of the very high flow Japanese fuel had to be added to complete the planned program of “fire” research on the turbojet engine. The static thrust of each turbojet was 11 tons, as many Western experts previously believed. Then the MiG-25 rolled out onto the airfield was photographed in optical and PC spectra from the air by two RF-4Js.

It was noted that the data on the thermal signature of the Soviet fighter, which was very useful to the developers of homing heads for air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles, were especially valuable.

Detailed studies of the aircraft showed how much the West was mistaken in assessing its capabilities, technical specifications And design features. The hijacked MiG-25 turned out to be not a multi-role fighter, but a highly specialized high-altitude interceptor fighter.

It is significant that almost all observers agreed that the MiG-25 is the most advanced fighter-interceptor in the world. Its radar, although it is made on vacuum tubes and does not have a mode for selecting targets against the background of the ground, is superior to Western ones.

The electronic equipment of the aircraft is quite primitive (one of the experts spoke about the elemental base of the electronics of the F-4 and MiG-25 in the spirit that “it’s like comparing a transistor radio with a gramophone”). but the overall integration of the weapon control system, autopilot, and ground guidance system is performed at a level at least not inferior to the best Western systems developed at the same time as the MiG-25 equipment.

The fuel system of the Soviet interceptor is significantly superior to the fuel system of the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft - the only aircraft in the world with flight characteristics close to the MiG-25.

The real discovery was the very modest use of titanium in the design of the MiG airframe: since in the West it was customary to consider the MiG-25 a “titanium” aircraft. its mass was previously significantly underestimated, but the maximum speed was overestimated: the MiG, apparently, still did not develop three “Machs”, on Belenko’s plane the red limit line stood at a speed of M = 2.8.

In general, the aircraft was rated as “a high-altitude interceptor that has no equal, distinctive features which are simplicity of design, its strength, reliability, lightness Maintenance and the availability of aircraft piloting for pilots who are not of the highest qualifications.”

The Japanese were pleasantly surprised by the range of the MiG-25: previously it was believed that Soviet fighters were capable of flying from Vladivostok to Tokyo and back. The fuel supply in the internal tanks did not allow such a flight to be carried out, and there were no fuel pipelines in the pylons of the Belenko aircraft - therefore, this MiG-25 could not carry external tanks.

Getting rid of one headache. the samurai earned another: the military was amazed at the ease with which the MiG escaped their air defense. To plug holes in the system air defense, it was decided to purchase E~2C Hawkeye AWACS aircraft from the United States, capable of detecting low-flying targets.

It is interesting to note that the issue of acquiring the Hokai by the self-defense forces was already raised, but then it was considered that the existing air defense system was quite capable of its tasks.

The “research” was completed on October 5th.
To say that the USSR was painfully worried about the hijacking of the MiG-25 is to say nothing. All movements of the plane in Japan and the situation around it were monitored very carefully, and pressure was constantly applied along diplomatic lines.

On September 22, the Soviet ambassador in Tokyo sent a note of protest to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, which expressed dissatisfaction with the position of the government of the land of the rising sun regarding aircraft research: the note indicated that if Japan's position remains unchanged. a sharp deterioration in bilateral relations is possible.

Diplomatic moves did their job, and on September 27, Prime Minister Takeo Miki announced that the MiG-25 aircraft would be returned to the USSR, but not earlier than October 5, when Japanese and American experts planned to complete their research.

The “research” was accompanied by the removal of samples of materials from everything possible, from the PVD rod to the insulation of electrical wiring, so there was no question of returning the aircraft “home” by air. An agreement was reached to return the MiG to the USSR on board a transport ship.

Soviet representatives demanded financial compensation for the damage caused aircraft in the process of “investigating” a criminal case about illegal border crossing. Technical condition The plane was supposed to be assessed by specialists from the USSR, but the Japanese, although they agreed to pay compensation, refused to allow the Russians into the air base.

The MiG inspection was to be carried out during daylight hours. from sunrise to sunset, on board the ship, in the presence of Japanese specialists. On the night of November 11-12, a convoy of trucks delivered the disassembled and carefully packed aircraft into 13 containers to the port of Hitachi, where the Soviet motor ship was already docked.

The Japanese didn't regret it good wood, various screws for packaging - the calculation was that almost all the time allotted for inspection would be spent on “unsealing” the aircraft. Alas. they had not heard the Russian proverb “breaking is not building,” and the joke about the Russian crowbar and the Japanese saw went over their heads.

A team of muscular guys very quickly broke down the Japanese boxes into pieces, after which specialists from the Mikoyan Design Bureau got down to business. It turned out that the Japanese did not return most of the electronic components, in particular, the friend-or-foe identification system. Ultimately, the Japanese were billed 7.7 million rubles, which at the then exchange rate corresponded to approximately $11 million.

The Sons of the Rising Sun did not remain in debt and asked for $40,000 for two antennas damaged by Belenko during landing at Hakodate airport and for transporting the remains of the MiG from Hyakari to Chitose. After settling financial issues, the ship left the Japanese port on November 15.

What happened to Belenko? Of course, he did not wait for the end of the investigation of the “criminal case” in Japan. The US provided him political refuge, and a few days after September 6 he flew overseas.

Moral and financial losses Soviet Union resulting from the hijacking of a plane to Japan were enormous. Over the next two years, it was necessary to replace electronic equipment on all MiG-25 aircraft. the “friend or foe” system in general on all Air Force aircraft.

By the way, the hijacking of the MiG-25 was not the first and not the last time when MiGs flew at the will of the pilots piloting them to a potential enemy. But in 1976, a Soviet pilot hijacked a plane for the first time.

KGB officers, naturally, turned over his entire biography and came across a lot interesting facts, which still speak in favor of recruiting a pilot.

The first thing that was discovered was that there was not a single photograph of a child in the family archive that could be used to identify him. Although they were available.

Further, during his cadet years, when going on vacation, he preferred to travel to small northern cities. He never told his comrades what he was doing there, and in general did not say anything about vacation matters.

As it turned out, Belenko did not visit his parents from the time of his cadet studies until the treacherous flight, although he helped them financially.

And, finally, the most suspicious feature by which any excellent student can be considered a spy - he studied well at flight school and was a lot interested in combat aircraft. He was the most active reader of the garrison library and often turned to the special unit for secret technical literature.

Scheme of the final section of the route of V. Belenko’s non-return flight, which ended with landing in Hakodate on September 6, 1976.

“A” - The location of Viktor Belenko’s plane, where he was met by fighters on duty, scrambled to intercept him, and where, afraid of being shot down, he “escaped” pursuit, descended to a low altitude and headed for Misawa.

“B” - The estimated location of Viktor Belenko’s plane at the time of his visual discovery of the Hakodate airfield and subsequent decision to land on it.

"B" - Hakodate Airfield, where Viktor Belenko completed his irrevocable flight.

Last fact, which speaks in favor of recruitment, although it is also fragile. Hijacking the plane, Belenko flew to the American military base Hitose, but cloudiness in the area forced him to land at a civilian airfield.

Disputes are disputes, suspicions are suspicions, but now it’s too late to talk about anything, and you can’t even ask the culprit of the emergency - a person died.

But, as it turned out, it was all a bluff. Belenko is alive. The car accident either happened or was just made up. They also say that a double died instead of him. But this is also speculation.

Three years ago, the Tokyo television company Nexus decided to make a film about the former Soviet pilot. Director Akiro Mitsumori believes that there is still an ambivalent attitude towards Belenko in Japan. Some consider him a hero who told the truth about the USSR. For others, he is simply a traitor.

The film group working in America managed to meet with Belenko and interview him. He explains his action in exactly the same way as in 1976.

ABOUT personal life Nothing was known to the former pilot all these years and the Japanese director managed to find out something. It seemed to him that Belenko was not very settled in life.

In the mid-80s, now already the last century and millennium, he was transferred to the Rostov regiment from Salsk (from the same school regiment in which V. Belenko began his career as an instructor pilot). family circumstances(child's illness) pilot, captain V. Radko. From him it became known that V. Belenko’s wife, living in Armavir, changed her surname to her maiden name and married a civilian.

Belenko lives in California, wandering around hotels and motels. At first, he taught air combat techniques and tactics at one of the military academies. Over time, his knowledge became outdated and he switched to lecturing about events, customs and traditions in the USSR. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, his lectures ceased to be relevant. The only way America thanked him was by granting him citizenship.

He has to earn his living through commerce. And at one time Belenko married an American woman, with whom he has three children. However, then he divorced and left her a house, according to the marriage contract. But, as the director said, Belenko does not look despondent - he is a typical cheerful American.

It would seem that in the whole story only the Americans won. But no, as it turned out, they planted a time bomb under themselves.

After the MIG-25P was involuntarily declassified, it was removed export restrictions. Iraq immediately took advantage of this and purchased 20 aircraft. Syria went further and acquired 30 cars, and Algeria did not lag behind. Soon, MIGs will show themselves in battles with American fighters. The MIGs will be at the top.

Belenko also “stimulated” the creation of an even more advanced MIG-25PD (modified interceptor). In 1978, the aircraft plant in Gorky had already mastered the production of these aircraft. They had a new locator, the weapons were replenished with missiles, and a heat direction finder was also installed, which made it possible to detect hidden targets on the ground. So there is no silver lining...

Victor Belenko was born in Kabardino-Balkaria. The guy graduates from school with honors and enters the military aviation school, where he becomes a pilot. After the final exams, the young officer is sent to Stavropol to serve as an instructor at an aviation school, but at will translated into Far East, where he enters the fighter air regiment.
Belenko served on the MiG-25 fighter-interceptor, for information about which the intelligence services of foreign powers had been hunting for a long time. Victor was characterized as an excellent officer, a member of the party and the Komsomol bureau, and no one expected what happened on September 6, 1976. At 6:45 a.m. Belenko took off for aerial training in his MiG.

Within three hours, Japanese radio broadcast that a combat aircraft piloted by a Soviet pilot had landed on Japanese territory. Viktor Belenko asks for political asylum, which is granted to him by the United States, and Japanese and American specialists completely dismantle the Soviet plane. After a detailed study, the board is assembled and handed over to the USSR in November.

Investigation into the traitor Belenko

Belenko’s wife claimed that her husband condemned the defector pilot Safronov, who hijacked a plane to Iran, and even forbade her to correspond with a friend living in Italy. The version that the Soviet pilot was recruited has not been confirmed. Western and Japanese media hyped this theory for propaganda purposes. There was an opinion that the landing on Japanese territory was a necessary measure, but this too was rejected.

During the departure, simple weather conditions were observed, and Belenko was a qualified pilot and could always navigate by the sun or coastline. Further investigation confirmed that the pilot was heading directly for the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Leaving the training zone, he dropped to 250 meters and thus flew 130 kilometers from the Soviet coast. The purpose of the maneuver is to avoid radar systems capable of calculating the true direction of the aircraft.

Reason for fleeing to Japan

His passport, diplomas, certificates and other documents disappeared from the apartment where the family lived. Investigators found that the defector often had conflicts with the command due to dissatisfaction with the service. Once, Lieutenant Belenko even submitted a report, which indicated his reluctance to serve under commanders who abused alcohol.

Victor was also not happy with the way his career was going. His term of service in the rank of senior lieutenant expired in the winter, but he never received the rank of captain due to the negligent attitude of the command. It was also not possible to enter the academy, which, according to witnesses, Belenko aspired to. Since July, colleagues have noticed Victor’s nervousness and temper, and before the last flight he was pale and his hands were shaking.

The investigation concluded that the pilot Viktor Belenko committed treason for personal gain. He knew that Western countries they will gladly accept not the pilot himself, but him combat vehicle- a modern MiG-25 at that time, nicknamed the “Flying Fox” by the Americans. The plane was Belenko’s “ticket” to new life. In the USSR, the pilot was accused of treason and was sentenced in absentia - execution.

Life in a new homeland

In Japan, no one remembers the Russian pilot who betrayed his homeland. However, this did not stop director Akiro Mitsumori, commissioned by the Nexus channel, from making a film about him. To communicate with the hero of the film film crew went to California, where Viktor Belenko lives.

The knowledge that the Soviet pilot possessed turned out to be very valuable for American specialists, and they worked closely with him for several years. In a short time, the defector received citizenship and was naturalized.

Belenko taught at one of the American military academies and consulted for aircraft manufacturing companies. A book was even written based on his manuscript. After his theoretical knowledge became outdated, the Soviet defector lectured on the USSR. However, with the collapse of the geopolitical enemy, this information in the states was no longer of interest to anyone. In the 90s, Victor tried to do business.

Belenko quickly forgot his Russian wife and married an American. He had three children in the USA, and after the divorce the house remained with his wife. At the time of filming, Viktor Belenko was 69 years old, he lived in a rented hotel room and looked like an unsettled person in life. The Soviet defector's identification card is still kept as a trophy in the CIA museum today.

In 1976, the Soviet Air Force was shocked by a hitherto unprecedented emergency.
On September 6, in a fighter regiment of the air defense forces, during a training flight, a then-new MIG-25P interceptor with tail number 31 disappeared from the radar screens. It was piloted by a young but already experienced pilot, senior lieutenant Viktor Belenko.
This emergency happened in the Far Eastern Military District at the Chuguevka airbase. For some time, distress signals were received from the interceptor; the pilot of “Air Force 31” did not respond to requests. Air Defense Aviation Commander Air Marshal Evgeniy Savitsky, who was in Primorye on an inspection tour, reacted to the incident outwardly calmly.
- Aviation is aviation! Anything can happen.
Search. Training flights began that day in the morning. Belenko took off at 12.50. About ten minutes later, communication with the plane was lost. Helicopters were preparing to fly out to search for the crash site, but none of this was required. A few hours later, the whole world knew that a Soviet military plane had landed at the airport in the Japanese city of Hakodate. During landing, the fighter nearly collided with a Boeing 727 passenger airliner. The pilot was forced to land the car at high speed and at an acute angle. There was not enough runway, and the plane rolled onto a dirt field, where it came to rest. News from Japan arrived as it was obtained by the ubiquitous reporters. Soon the name of the pilot became known - Viktor Belenko.

It was impossible to hide the event that the whole world was talking about. Various “enemy voices” persistently exaggerated him. Through the roar of the jammers, some information still reached. Showing enviable efficiency, our special services took control of the situation. The first thing we learned from “official” sources was that the pilot lost his course, lost his orientation and was forced to land in Japan. Knowing that this is not entirely true, the intelligence services are making an aggressive move: they are accusing the Japanese side of delaying the decision to hand over the plane and the pilot. And then, when it became clear that the pilot had no intention of returning to his homeland, his mother appeared on television, whom, as it later turned out, he had not seen for thirteen years, and his wife, with whom, as it turned out again later, he was going to divorce. Both women cried and begged the Japanese to take pity on them and release their “dearly beloved” son and husband.
When the pilot asked for political asylum in the United States, drugs were used. Naturally, only under their influence could he do such a thing...
A strange photograph appeared in the newspapers: Belenko with a bag (!) on his head was being put into some kind of limousine. Looking ahead, we can say that the story of the plane theft was not completely hushed up. It surfaced from time to time, and combat pilots always remembered it, since those who served in air defense always crossed paths with each other. And there were only 400 MIG-25s back then. Many of the pilots had to study with Belenko, serve, and undergo retraining for new aircraft.
In order to stop all talk about him and forget him forever, a short but vividly presented note was published in the newspapers: Viktor Belenko died in a car accident. That's it, that's where he belongs... Forget it!
The story of this flight is still mysterious.

The MIG-25, by NATO designation “Foxbat” - “flying fox”, has been of interest to American intelligence agencies from the very day they learned of its availability.
The development of a fighter capable of exceeding the speed of sound three times and intercepting high-altitude and high-speed targets in the stratosphere began in 1962. In the 50s and early 60s, flights of American reconnaissance aircraft over the territory of the USSR became commonplace. From those documents that were declassified, it became known that during this period more than 10 thousand spy flights were made along the borders of the USSR and China. There was only one goal - to identify the air defense system.
But reconnaissance planes flew not only along the borders. At enormous heights they crossed the territory of our country. We know of only one spy plane shot down. In fact, about 30 reconnaissance aircraft shared the fate of the Lockheed V-2. 252 American pilots were shot down over Soviet territory.
With the advent of the MIG-21, the number of reconnaissance flights decreased noticeably. The new fighter's altitude records were impressive. But it was decided to make the MIG-21 a front-line fighter and limit its altitude ceiling.

Another plane was intended for spies, which was still hiding under the symbol E-155.
On February 7, 1961, test pilot A.V. Fedotov set a world speed record on it - 2401 km/h. A year later he breaks his own record and shows 3000 km/h. Pilot P. M. Ostapenko lifts the E-155 to a height of 22,670 meters. This record-breaking aircraft became the base for the future MIG-25P interceptor.
By the way, I warn you, if you come across an airplane with the index E-266 in aviation literature, then you should know that this is the same machine. So they diligently encrypted it.
In 1969, the Gorky Aircraft Plant received an order for serial product 84. For almost ten years, the aircraft was in serial development. The period is long, but this is not because there were problems in the work. Those who remember the impulsive and very decisive ruler of the country, Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, will not be surprised if they learn that he made global decisions without particularly thinking about their consequences. He sharply reduced the army and drove out many thousands of skilled and experienced officers from it. He destroyed the fleet, thereby trying to show how the country was decisively disarming. By relying on missiles, he sharply slowed down the development of aviation. But you can’t bombard the whole country with missiles.
Fortunately, the pause was not that long. US President Lyndon Johnson managed to notify the world that American aircraft designers have created an aircraft that is capable of long-term flight at speeds of 3000 km/h. That's when the head of our state realized...

The message of the American president was soon neutralized by an “information leak” on the MIG-25. In addition, another cascade of records follows. Now the plane reaches a height of 36,240 meters.
By 1976, no country in the world had an interceptor aircraft capable of competing with the MIG-25. Foreign stations reported that American intelligence agencies are actively interested in the new aircraft and are trying to get any information about it.

Agent or hijacker

Disputes still rage about who Viktor Belenko really was: a recruited agent waiting in the wings, or a spontaneous hijacker driven by personal motives.
He does not reveal his essence in the book, which he quickly concocted upon his arrival in the United States. KGB officers, naturally, turned over his entire biography and came across many interesting facts that still speak in favor of recruiting the pilot.
The first thing that was discovered was that in the family archive there was not a single photograph of a child that could be used to identify him. Although they were available.
Further, during his cadet years, when going on vacation, he preferred to travel to small northern cities. He never told his comrades what he was doing there, and in general did not say anything about vacation matters.
As it turned out, Belenko did not visit his parents from the time of his cadet studies until the treacherous flight, although he helped them financially.
And, finally, the most suspicious feature by which any excellent student can be considered a spy - he studied well at flight school and had a lot of interest in combat aircraft. He was the most active reader of the garrison library and often turned to the special unit for secret technical literature.
The last fact that speaks in favor of recruitment, although it is shaky. Having hijacked the plane, Belenko was flying to the American military base of Hitoze, but cloudiness in the area forced him to land at a civilian airfield.
Disputes are disputes, suspicions are suspicions, but now it’s too late to talk about anything, and you can’t even ask the culprit of the emergency - a person died. But, as it turned out, it was all a bluff. Belenko is alive. The car accident either happened or was just made up. They also say that a double died instead of him. But this is also speculation.

All these years, Viktor Belenko humbly worked in one of the American aviation companies. Again, they say that he was ready to meet with our pilots who came to America, but they refused these meetings. They had nothing to talk about with the traitor.
Three years ago, the Tokyo television company Nexus decided to make a film about the former Soviet pilot. Director Akiro Mitsumori believes that there is still an ambivalent attitude towards Belenko in Japan. Some consider him a hero who told the truth about the USSR. For others, he is simply a traitor.
The film group working in America managed to meet with Belenko and interview him. He explains his action in exactly the same way as in 1976. Nothing was known about the personal life of the former pilot all these years, and the Japanese director managed to find out something. It seemed to him that Belenko was not very settled in life. He lives in California, wandering around hotels and motels. At first, he taught air combat techniques and tactics at one of the military academies. Over time, his knowledge became outdated and he switched to lecturing about events, customs and traditions in the USSR. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, his lectures ceased to be relevant. The only way America thanked him was by granting him citizenship. He has to earn his living through commerce. And at one time Belenko married an American woman, with whom he has three children. However, then he divorced and left her a house, according to the marriage contract. But, as the director said, Belenko does not look despondent - he is a typical cheerful American

In Russia, the Japanese film group faced setbacks. They were unable to meet with Belenko’s wife, who today lives in Lipetsk, and most importantly, the Japanese were not allowed into the airfield in Chuguevka, from where Belenko took off. The fate of the pilot became at least a little clearer, but what happened to the plane?
It fell on the Japanese’s heads so unexpectedly that they did not know what to do with the “gift.” They were probably ready to get rid of him, but the Americans intervened: he didn’t come here so that they could easily give him away. They contacted the Japanese Foreign Ministry and offered their assistance in investigating the incident. The Japanese initially refused them, but did not rule out “the possibility of the participation of foreign experts.”
Only on September 19, 64 Japanese experts and 11 American experts began preparing the MiG for transportation to an American military base. The plane was dismantled, placed in the belly of a giant Galaxy transport, and escorted by 14 Japanese Self-Defense Force fighters, it was transported to the Hyakuri base.
There were no plans to fly the MIG-25, but the remaining 200 liters of fuel made it possible to conduct static tests of the engine. The thrust was 11 tons, which corresponded to intelligence data. Then two “phantoms” flew around the MIG-25, recording its radiation spectra from a height. The onboard radar was also turned on. As it turned out later, some of the equipment was disabled when turned on. Metal and glass samples were also taken.
Only on October 12 was the MIG returned. And here there was a detective farce. The Soviet side demanded compensation for damage caused during the “research.” The Japanese agreed, but on the condition that the act would be drawn up on board a Soviet ship during daylight hours. The MIG was delivered disassembled and packaged in 13 containers. The container was made with the expectation that it would be impossible to open it in a day. The Japanese spared neither boards nor nails. But they took into account that the ship’s crew was staffed by stalwart fellows who quickly swept away all the containers. Ultimately, the Japanese were billed for 7.7 million rubles, which corresponded to 11 million dollars. The Japanese issued a counter invoice and demanded compensation for damages for two broken antennas damaged by Belenko while landing at the airport.
On October 15, all financial issues were settled, and the ship with the disassembled MIG left the Japanese port. The plane was delivered to the Gorky Aviation Plant, where it was carefully examined. Naturally, he attracted a lot of attention, and conversations about him spilled out beyond the plant. At first there was an idea to leave it at the factory, but this means that the conversations will not subside. The plane was repainted and sent to one of the aviation schools as a teaching aid. Perhaps he is “alive” now, but no one knows about his fate.

When summing up the results, it is customary to count money. What damage did Belenko cause to our country? In monetary terms, it will be about 2 billion rubles. Soviet side we had to change the secret code “YASS” (“I am mine”), which makes it possible for radar stations to identify our aircraft. It seems that a lot of money was spent, which means the damage was great. But it is not so. By that time, the Yass system had long been outdated, and it had to be changed soon anyway.
By the way, the Japanese side also spent some money. Bearing in mind that in the initial phase of the flight their radars lost the MIG, the Japanese immediately purchased a batch of early warning aircraft.
It would seem that in the whole story only the Americans won. But no, as it turned out, they planted a time bomb under themselves. After the MIG-25P was involuntarily declassified, export restrictions were lifted from it. Iraq immediately took advantage of this and purchased 20 aircraft. Syria went further and acquired 30 cars, and Algeria did not lag behind. Soon, MIGs will show themselves in battles with American fighters. The MIGs will be at the top. Belenko also “stimulated” the creation of an even more advanced MIG-25PD (modified interceptor). In 1978, the aircraft plant in Gorky had already mastered the production of these aircraft. They had a new locator, the weapons were replenished with missiles, and a heat direction finder was also installed, which made it possible to detect hidden targets on the ground. So there is no silver lining.

MiG-25 dashboard

Viktor Ivanovich Belenko (born February 15, 1947). Born in Nalchik in a working-class family. After his parents’ divorce, he was abandoned by his mother at the age of two and was raised by relatives, and then by his father and stepmother. In 1965 he graduated high school with a silver medal. In 1967, Belenko entered the Armavir Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots, graduating in 1971. Instructor pilot at the Stavropol Higher Military Aviation School. Victor was characterized as an excellent officer. Member of the CPSU. Elected member of the Komsomol and party bureaus. In 1975, he was transferred to the Far East (at his request). As a senior pilot, he flew the MiG-25P fighter-interceptor.

Belenko had reason to be dissatisfied with his official position. His length of service was military rank His senior lieutenant ended on January 10, 1976, but until September the rank of captain due to sluggishness of command he did not receive (mass assignment of successive ranks to Soviet military personnel took place either on SA and Navy Day in February, or on VOSR Day in November). The promised position of squadron chief of staff gave him the right to enter the academy, where he really aspired.

On September 6, 1976, at 6:45 a.m., Belenko took off from Sokolovka airfield to perform a flight exercise. After breaking away from his training flight partner, Belenko descended to an altitude of approximately 30 meters, which allowed him to avoid detection by both Soviet and Japanese radars. At 9: On the 15th, the Japanese radio broadcast that the MiG-25P plane had landed at Hakodate airport (Hokkaido island). The rest of the day 6 and the night from 6 to 7 September will probably forever be remembered by the Japanese air defense forces: self-defense fighters took off 143 times to intercept Soviet aircraft, in flocks flying near the island. Hokkaido. Subsequently, the Japanese authorities made an official notification that Belenko had asked for political asylum. The Japanese refused. On September 9, he was taken to the USA. The plane was disassembled, subjected to detailed study by Japanese and American specialists and returned to the USSR on November 15, 1976 (Belenko protested against the return of the aircraft, advising the Americans to leave it for study for another couple of years). It was reassembled, but not allowed to fly and was used as a teaching aid.

On September 28, 1976, TASS distributed a press release with the text of the official reaction of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the incident, which stated that Belenko made a “forced” landing and was “taken” to the United States against his will. Belenko’s landing was described as made “under unclear circumstances” , publications in the Western press that Belenko’s flight was deliberate were called a “propaganda campaign”, suggestions that Belenko’s flight was an escape were called false, official. USSR Foreign Ministry representative L.V. Krylov said: “It’s all a lie, from beginning to end.”

Belenko himself was surprised by his knowledge: “I never thought about the fact that I know so much.” After three months of his stay in the United States, intelligence officers said that they would need not a few months, but at least another year to communicate with Belenko to collect all the information they were interested in, he turned out to be such a valuable personnel for them.

The excesses in the actions of the party official elite, which by that time had become systematic and widespread, were studied and revealed. For example, indifference to the lives of officers honestly performing their duty against the backdrop of personal career motives (in particular, the transformation of subordinates’ days off into working days in order to quickly stand out visible results). Individuals from among the senior and senior air defense officers who were found responsible for the escape by the commission conducting the investigation were brought to disciplinary responsibility. The Military Collegium Supreme Court USSR citizen Viktor Ivanovich Belenko, born in 1947, was convicted in absentia under Article 64 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (“Treason to the Motherland”) and sentenced to capital punishment - execution.

The Soviet leadership tried to put pressure on Japan, threatening to abort the pilot and the plane if they did not return. unilaterally fulfillment of contractual obligations under bilateral foreign trade agreements, in particular, close access to Japanese investment in the Soviet economy, stop Japanese participation in the construction of Soviet industrial enterprises and technology exchange nuclear power... This immediately affected the investment climate. The economic consequences of the resulting tension (and losses to the USSR due to the position taken by the Soviet leadership) long time made themselves felt in Soviet-Japanese trade. But despite whole line unfriendly steps by the Soviet leadership The Japanese did their best to maintain partnership relations with the USSR.

When returning the plane to the USSR, Japan issued an invoice of $40 thousand for organizing an unintended parking of a foreign aircraft at a Japanese airport and other expenses. The invoice was not paid by the Soviet side. (from Wikipedia)

Sadovnikov (a KGB agent under diplomatic cover) was allowed to meet with him. He told the defector: “The government knows that you were off course, forced to land, and then drugged. I have come to help you return home to your beloved wife and son.” “The pilot interrupted him: “There is no need to agitate me. I flew to Japan voluntarily.” When Belenko was taken away, Sadovnikov said in a whisper: “We don’t like traitors. Sooner or later we will find you.” After some time, information appeared in the Soviet press about the death of a defector in a car accident.

In the USA, Belenko first taught at a military academy, then went into business. Belenko remarried overseas and had three children. Now Viktor Ivanovich lives alone. (Igor Osipchuk, “FACTS”)

In one of his interviews, he spoke about his first impressions of America: “The first visit to the supermarket took place under the supervision of people from the CIA, and I thought that it was a staging. I did not believe that this store could be real. It seemed to me that since I unusual guest, then they could have been playing a prank on me. After all, it was such a beautiful spacious building with an incredible amount of goods and NO LINES!!! In Russia there are long lines everywhere. Subsequently, I realized that the supermarket was real.

It was difficult to find good canned food in Russia, I bought a variety of canned foods every day. Once I bought what looked like an ordinary jar and fried its contents with potatoes, onions and garlic - it turned out delicious. The next morning my friends told me that I had eaten canned chicken for cats. But they were delicious! They were better than canned food

people who are still doing it in Russia today!” Belenko told reporters that came to Russia in 1995. And this despite the fact that during the time of the Soviet Union he was sentenced to capital punishment.

For Soviet art and pop figures, Belenko’s escape closed the road to Japan for a long time. Soviet musical groups had their tours in Japan disrupted, even those that had already received Soviet and Japanese tour tickets entry visas and literally “sat on their suitcases”, the tours were canceled without explanation by the heads of the Soviet stage.

The summer and autumn of 1976 were full of various aviation incidents for the USSR and socialist-oriented countries, where Soviet aircraft had recently arrived. On June 14, Syrian Air Force pilot Flight Lieutenant Mahmoud Musleh Yasin flew his MiG-23 to Iraq, and on July 17, another Syrian pilot, the famous hero of war doomsday captain Abdul Kadar al-Termanini fled there on a MiG-21. Seventeen days after Belenko’s successful escape, reserve lieutenant Valentin Zosimov fled to Iran on an An-2 plane. The New York Times called September 1976 “national month of flight” "from the USSR. (Wikipedia).

A special KGB group was involved in the investigation of the defector’s case. In the process of clarifying the circumstances of the betrayal, more than 150 colleagues, friends, and relatives were interviewed, including his wife, who remained in the USSR. As a result, it turned out that Belenko was interested in the Western standard of living. In one of the conversations, he said that in America the military is under pressure pilots less, and conditions services and pay are better than those of the Soviets. Belenko’s wife: her husband condemned the defector pilot Safronov, who hijacked a plane to Iran, and forbade her to correspond with a friend living in Italy. The version that the Soviet pilot was recruited in advance was not confirmed. Western and Japanese media fanned this theory for propaganda purposes. The weather conditions were simple, Belenko was a qualified pilot and could always navigate by the sun or the coastline. The pilot was heading straight for the Japanese island of Hokkaido. After leaving the training area, he dropped to 250 meters and so on flew 130 kilometers to avoid radar systems.

His passport, diplomas, certificates and other documents disappeared from the apartment. The traitor often had conflicts with the command due to dissatisfaction with the service. Once he filed a report about his reluctance to serve under commanders who abused alcohol.

Victor was not happy with his career either. His term of service in the rank of senior lieutenant expired in the winter; due to the negligence of his command, he never received the rank of captain. It was not possible to enter the academy, which Belenko really aspired to. Since July, his colleagues noticed nervousness and Victor’s temper, before the last flight he was pale, his hands were shaking. The investigation came to the conclusion that the pilot Belenko committed treason for personal gain. He knew that Western countries would happily accept not only the pilot, but also his combat vehicle, the most modern at that time, the MiG-25, nicknamed the “Flying Fox” by the Americans. The plane was Belenko’s “ticket” to a new life. In the USSR, the pilot was accused of treason and was sentenced to death in absentia.

Not a single Soviet aircraft had such contradictory information, and not a single one of our aircraft, except the MiG-25. didn't get a nickname "UNBREAKABLE" .The flights of MiGs over Israel have been written many times. At one time, there were legends at the Moscow Aviation Institute about the flights of the Mng-25 over Western Europe. In the TsAGI library I found an issue of the magazine “Flight” dated April 10, 1976 with the article “MiG-25 over Britain.”

In Japan, no one remembers the Russian pilot who betrayed his homeland. Director Akiro Mitsumori, commissioned by the Nexus channel, made a film about him. The knowledge that the Soviet pilot possessed turned out to be very valuable for American specialists and they worked closely with him for several years. In a short time, the defector received citizenship and was naturalized. Belenko taught at one of the American military academies and consulted for aircraft manufacturing companies. A book was even written based on his manuscript. After his theoretical knowledge became outdated, the Soviet defector lectured on the USSR. However, with the collapse of the geopolitical enemy, this information no one was interested in the states anymore. In the 90s I tried to do business.

Belenko quickly forgot his Russian wife and married an American. He had three children in the USA , after the divorce, the house remained with his wife. At the time of filming, Viktor Belenko was 69 years old, he lived in a rented hotel room and had the appearance of an unsettled person in life. The Soviet defector’s identity card is still kept today, like a trophy, in the CIA museum. (Alexander Brazhnik)

After the MIG-25P was involuntarily declassified, export restrictions were lifted from it. Iraq immediately took advantage of this and purchased 20 aircraft. Syria went further and purchased 30 aircraft, and Algeria did not lag behind. Belenko “stimulated” the creation of an even more advanced MIG -25PD (modified interceptor). In 1978, the aircraft plant in Gorky mastered the production of these machines. They had a new locator, the weapons were replenished with missiles, a heat direction finder was installed, which made it possible to detect hidden targets on the ground. There is no such thing as bad luck!