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List of Cold War pilot defections

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During the Cold War, a number of pilots from Communist or non-aligned countries defected to the West. Though rare, these incidents were of great value to Western military intelligence services because they provided operational, undamaged planes of Soviet or indigenous origin which could then be studied.

Cuba

Cuban defections:

  • On March 20, 1991, Major Orestes Lorenzo Perez defected in his MiG-23BN to a Naval Air Station in Key West, Florida on a training mission. On December 19, 1992 he returned to Cuba in a borrowed small, twin-engined 1961 Cessna 310, landing on a well known bridge along the coastal hightway east of Havana in Northern Matanzas Province at the agreed time. His wife Victoria and their two sons, Reyneil, 11, and Alejandro, 6, were already waiting on his order delivered through a messenger earlier. Orestes Lorenzo Perez picked up his family and managed a successful safe return to Miami.

Poland

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 - 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.

Between 1949 and 1956 four Polish MiGs and one Il-2M3 defected from communist Poland to Denmark and Sweden.

Soviet Union

Soviet pilots also defected and the most famous involved defecting with the most advanced jet fighters at the time, including:

North Korea

Main article: North Korean defectors
  • In February 1983, Captain Lee Ung-Pyong of the North Korean air force used a training exercise to defect and landed his Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 at an airfield in Seoul. According to the then common practice, he received a commission in the South Korean Air Force, eventually becoming a colonel and taught at the South Korean air force academy until his death in 2002. He received a reward of 1.2 billion South Korean wons.

China

A number of defections occurred the People's Republic of China, with most of its pilots defecting to Taiwan. These include:

  • On November 11, 1965, Li Xianbin (李显斌), a PLAAF captain of Ilyushin Il-28 of the 8th division flew his bomber numbered 0195 from Jianqiao (笕桥) air base in Hangzhou to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, and this was the first fully operational Il-28 in western hands. The radio operator / tail gunner Lian Baosheng (廉保生) was found dead at the scene and the navigator Li Caiwang (李才旺) was captured alive after failed suicide attempt. Both survivors were honored and rewarded positions in the Republic of China Air Force. Li Xianbin (李显斌) was rewarded 2,000 taels (approximately 100 kg) of gold, while Li Caiwang (李才旺) was rewarded 1,000 taels (approximately 50 kg) of gold. Since Lian Baosheng (廉保生) was dead, his reward of 1,000 taels (approximately 50 kg) of gold was divided evenly among Li Xianbin (李显斌) and Li Caiwang (李才旺).
  • Li Xianbin (李显斌) made headlines in Taiwan years later when he demanded to have all of the rewards because his unfair treatment by Taiwan. Li Xianbin (李显斌) claimed that he was the sole defector, and the other two were actually captured due to his defection, a fact that was later agreed by both Taiwan and Li Caiwang (李才旺), the surviving navigator himself. Li Xianbin (李显斌) claimed that for the political propaganda purpose, all crew onboard were honored as defectors, which was far from the truth, but he was not successful in getting all of the gold reward. After honorably discharged as colonel from the Republic of China Air Force, Li Xianbin (李显斌) obtained Canadian residency. Li Xianbin (李显斌) made headlines again in 1992 when he returned to China via Canada after he learned that his mother was about to die. After his return to Qingdao in October 1992, he was eventually arrested by the local Public Security Bureau when he was on his way to the airport for his return trip to Canada. Li Xianbin (李显斌) was first sentenced to 15 years but later reduced to 10, and the sentence was further reduced drastically because it was discovered that he had stomach cancer that was in its terminal stage. Li Xianbin (李显斌) was released early and died shortly after his release. Many elements of the Chinese democracy movement first accused the Chinese government was inhumane for not allowing Li Xianbin (李显斌) to go back to China to visit his dying mother, and then accused the Chinese government was trying to repatriate Li Xianbin (李显斌) to either Taiwan or Canada because the regime did not want to foot the bill for his treatment, since Li Xianbin (李显斌) did not have his assets transferred to China. The Chinese government countered that knowing he would die soon, Li Xianbin (李显斌) did not want to leave China because he wanted to be buried with his mother.
  • Li Caiwang (李才旺), the navigator of the Il-28 was seriously wounded by Li Xianbin (李显斌) during the latter's defection and was forced to accept his fate after his suicide attempt failed. During his stay in the hospital for the gun shot he received in the shoulder, the nurse who took care of him fell in love with him and told him that she was also responsible to perform surveillance on him, under the order of the Republic of China government. The two eventually married and moved into the nurse's home, but were still under constant surveillance: A major general of the Republic of China military had a son that was going to a school near the couple's home, so he rented a room at their residence for years to keep Li Caiwang (李才旺) under surveillance. Although the major general and his son finally moved out, Li Caiwang (李才旺) had no intention to stay in Taiwan, and since the wife's sister was married to an American, Li Caiwang (李才旺) and his wife immigrated to the United States in 1972 after his honorable discharge from the Republic of China Air Force as a colonel. The couple became naturalized citizens of the United States in 1979. In 1982, Chinese diplomats contacted Li Caiwang (李才旺) in the United States and got his side of the story, and after a prolonged investigation, the Chinese government rehabilitated Li Caiwang (李才旺) in 1984. After several visit to China in the 1990s, Li Caiwang (李才旺) eventually resettled in China in 1998.
  • On July 7, 1977, Fan Yuanye (范园焱), a PLAAF pilot flew his Shenyang J-6 numbered 3171 from Jinjiang to an air base in Tainan, and was rewarded a rank of lieutenant colonel in the Republic of China Air Force. After his honorable discharge from the Republic of China Air Force, Fan joined an investment firm with his money and obtained American green card, but he mostly stayed in Taiwan to handle his investments.
  • On April 15, 1979, Yan Wenchang (阎稳昌), a distinguished PLAAF pilot who earned numerous awards for his excellent performance in support of the Sino-Vietnamese War, was extremely bitter after learning that the promotion for the deputy squadron commissar was given to somebody else instead of him. Yan felt he was the better candidate and should get the promotion and he was under appreciated, and as a result, he decided to defect to Vietnam after learning that the opportunity would be gone because his unit would soon be redeployed to Hunan, and the only thing he left was a note to his wife that read:I'll be gone, good-bye forever!'. However, Vietnam did not react at all to his attempts for contacts after his Shenyang J-6 entered Vietnam from Guangxi, and as result, Yan was killed after directly crashing into a 1,000 metre high mountains cliff approximately 80 km south of Haiphong. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Vietnam the next day that the incident was a navigational error and asked for the return of the remains of the pilot and the jet, but Vietnam refused, and instead, asked Soviet to inspect the wreckage. KGB aviation experts discovered that the avionics of Yan's J-6 was extremely rudimentary even by Soviet standard, and was indeed lacking any effective navigational avionics. Furthermore, the communication on the J-6 was not encrypted, and it could be intercepted by the top-notch civilian radios on the market. Since Yan was a regular pilot that patrolled the airspace within the 10 km of the Sino-Vietnamese border (sometimes as frequent as 4 times a day), his defection was not detected until his crash.
  • On October 16, 1982, PLAAF pilot Wu Ronggen (吴荣根) flew his Shenyang J-6 from Wendeng to South Korean K16 air base in Seoul. Wu was rewarded 4,000 taels (approximately 200 kg) of gold. In 1987, Wu made headlines because he had a sexual scandal and financial dispute with a woman, Ms. Liu Jishung (Traditional Chinese: 劉積順, Simplified Chinese: 刘积顺, Pinyin: Liú Jīshùn) and the media claimed that this was part of the reason that after his honorable discharge from the Republic of China Air Force as a major, Wu emigrated to the United States. Wu was eventually married to Ms. Jiang Yuehui (姜月惠). Interestingly, Liu Jishung also emigrated to the United States, where she would become known as Joanne J.J. Liu, one of the top 5 female professional tournament Texas Hold'em poker players in the world.
  • On August 7, 1983, Sun Tianqin (孙天勤), a former PLANAF pilot who had just transferred to PLAAF several months ago to become a test pilot, flew a J-7II numbered 045 from Dalian to South Korean K16 air base in Seoul. Sun was rewarded a rank of colonel in the Republic of China Air Force and 7,000 taels (approximately 350 kg) of gold, the highest ever recorded. In January 1985, Sun married Ms. Li Tianhui (李天慧), a Chinese musician who also defected to Taiwan, and the pair eventually immigrated to Canada after Sun's honorable discharge from the Republic of China Air Force.
  • On November 14, 1983, Wang Xuecheng (王学成), a 25-year old PLANAF squadron commander of the 2nd wing of the 18th regiment of the 6th division flew a Shenyang J-5 numbered 83065 from Daishan (岱山), Zhejiang to Taiwan, and under the escort of two F-5E's, successfully landed at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport. Wang was rewarded a rank of major in Republic of China Air Force and 3,000 taels (approximately 150 kg) of gold. After a divorce, Wang married a local Taiwanese woman and father 2 daughters and a son, and Wang still talks to his family members in Henan via telephone, and refuses to immigrate abroad like most other Chinese defectors did.
  • On August 25, 1985, a PLAAF deputy wing commander Xiao Tianrun (萧天润), flew an Ilyushin Il-28 from Jiao county (胶县), Shandong to Iri (now Iksan), and during emergency landing in the field, the navigator Sun Wuchun (孙武春) was killed, along with a South Korean peasant on the ground. The radio operator / tail gunner Liu Shuyi (刘书义) refused to defect and South Korean returned him to China along with the ashes of Sun Wuchun (孙武春). On September 20, 1985, Xiao reached Taiwan and was awarded 3,000 taels (approximately 150 kg) of gold and a rank of colonel in the Republic of China Air Force. Xiao Tianrun (萧天润) left two copies of his declaration against communism in China and requested one of the copies to be sent to Deng Xiaoping. Xiao was personally interviewed by Chiang Ching-kuo and appeared on the Republic of China national day celebration parade in October of the same year. Xiao later married Taiwanese TV reporter Zhang Defeng (张德芬), who helped Xiao greatly in his investment in Taiwanese stock market, but the pair was eventually divorced.
  • On February 21, 1986, Chen Baozhong (陈宝忠), a squadron commander of the 3rd wing of the PLAAF 4th aerial reconnaissance regiment flew a reconnaissance version of Shenyang J-6 numbered 3283 from Shenyang airport to Suwon airport, Gyeonggi-do. Chen reached Taiwan on April 30, 1986 and was awarded 5,000 taels (approximately 250 kg) of gold. Little is known about Chen after his honorable discharge from the Republic of China Air Force.
  • On October 24, 1986, PLAAF pilot Zheng Caitian (郑菜田) fly his Shenyang J-6 from Yantai to K-16 military air base in Seoul and when he reached Taiwan, he was awarded 5,000 taels (approximately 250 kg) of gold. Among the Chinese defecting pilots, Zheng has the harshest life of all, because he invested in an electronic factory that went bankrupt, and lost all of his money in his subsequent investments.
  • On November 19, 1987, Liu Zhiyuan (刘志远), a squadron commander of PLAAF 49th division flew his Shenyang J-6 numbered 40208 from Longxi (龙溪) airport, Zhangzhou to Qingquangang air base in Taiwan and was awarded 5,000 taels (approximately 250 kg) of gold. Liu invested heavily in the Taiwanese stock market and his assets (not including the gold rewarded to him) was once more than 10 million New Taiwan dollars (approximately 400,000 United States dollars).
  • On September 6, 1989, Jiang Wenhao (蒋文浩), a 23-year old PLAAF lieutenant of the 2nd wing of the 145th regiment of the 49th division flew a Shenyang J-6 numbered 40307 from Longxi (龙溪) airport, Zhangzhou, Fujian to Shangyi (尚义) airport in Kinmen. Jiang was interviewed by the then chief-of-general-staff of Taiwanese armed forces, Hau Pei-tsun and awarded a rank of lieutenant in the Republic of China Air Force. Jiang's financial reward, however, was reduced to 2,000 taels (approximately 100 kg) of gold from the original 5,000 taels (approximately 250 kg), because due to the reduction of tensions with China during the 1980s, Taiwan had greatly reduced the amount on September 15, 1988 in response to similar Chinese action four days earlier. (China had completely abolished any financial rewards to any Taiwanese defectors). Jiang was soon honorably discharged from the Republic of China Air Force after being promoted to captain. Jiang became a famed underwater photographer and won several awards, and he also worked as a diving instructor.
  • According to the Chinese democracy movement, in early 1990's, shortly after the fall of Soviet Union, a PLAAF pilot disillusioned with the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989 flew his jet fighter to Vladivostok and asked for political asylum, but he and his aircraft was turned over to China, and the fate of the unnamed pilot remain unknown today, presumably being executed. The overseas organizations of the Chinese democracy movement jointly protest to the Russian government.

"Third world"

Although the Arab states are technically not considered belonging to the Iron Curtain and the Bamboo Curtain, they were certainly viewed by the west as the client states of the former Soviet Union, and the defections within their ranks are listed here with a defection from Angola, another client state of the former USSR.

Algeria

  • After the defection of the Iraqi Captain Munir Redfa, 3 MiG-21F-13 and at least 6 MiG-17F Algerian pilots were captured by Israel after landing their aircraft at Israeli el-Arish Air Base by mistake, one of the captured Algerian pilot asked and was granted political asylum in the west, while the rest were repatriated.

Egypt

Iraq

  • In 1966, Iraqi Captain Munir Redfa flew his MiG-21F-13 to Israel. Two years later, Israel gave his MiG-21F-13 and two MiG-17F to the United States for evaluation under the code-name "Have Donut" (for the MiG-21), and "Have Drill" (for the MiG-17).
  • Following Captain Munir Redfa's defection, there were at least two Iraqi pilots defected to Jordan with their MiG-21F-13 jets. Jordan granted them political asylum but returned the aircraft to Iraq.

Syria

  • In 1965, a Syrian pilot defected with MiG-17F to Israel.
  • In July 1988, two Syrian pilots defected with their MiG-29's to Turkey.
  • In April 1989, a Syrian pilots defected with his MiG-23ML to Turkey.
  • In October 1989, Syrian pilot Abdel Bassem landed his MiG-23ML in Israel.

Angola

  • In 1989 an Angolan pilot defected with his MiG-21MF to Namibia, where the plane was captured by South African forces (and is now displayed at SAAF Museum, in Waterkloof).

Iran

  • In 1983, Iranian defectors flew a F-5E to Turkey.
  • In early 1984, Iranian defectors flew a F-5E to Saudi Arabia ( the pilot returned back to Iran few years later). In both cases the jets were back to Iran few weeks later.

Most Iranian defections during the mid and final stages of the Iran-Iraq War was the result of a joint CIA and the Foreign Technology Division of the DoD operation that became known under the code-name “Night Harvest”, with the main task to acquire several Iranian fighter aircraft built in the USA and find out what were the Iranians doing in order to maintain their F-4s, F-5s, and F-14s.

  • In August 1984,one Iranian pilot defected with F-4E to Iraq while his RIO became POW who released later with others.
  • On September 2 1985, an Iranian F-14A equipped with at least one AIM-54A defected to Iraq. Upon landing, the plane was surrounded by up to 20 US technicians, which took care of the aircraft and the pilot, while the radar interception officer - who opposed the defection - became an Iraqi POW (released with others, but the pilot was killed later in Europe). The F-4E and the F-14A of the defecting Iranians were then flown to Saudi Arabia (but only after their “new” US pilots refused to fly them before they were inspected and repaired by US technicians). After being thoroughly examined the aircraft were destroyed and buried in the desert.

References

1. *Ming Pao (San Francisco) article (in Traditional Chinese on March 26, 2007, which linked Wu Ronggen to Liu Jishung, who would later be known in the world of professional tournament poker as Joanne J.J. Liu.

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