Construction workers at the Hakodate civilian airport on Hokkaido, the northernmost of the main Japanese islands, could hardly believe their eyes when a strange and spectacular-looking aircraft, a red star emblazoned on each of its twin tails, suddenly swept in for an unexpected landing. As the plane touched down, a tire blew out, and the plane rolled beyond the end of the mile-long runway before braking to a stop. When the workers rushed closer for a better view, a young man in a gray flying suit and white helmet climbed out, brandishing an automatic pistol. "Get back!" he cried in Russian. "I am a lieutenant in the Soviet air force, and I want to go to the United States." Pointing to his plane, he said, "This is top secret. Please cover it up and take care of it." Then he fired one warning shot to discourage a construction worker from taking pictures.
In that manner, 1st Lieut. Viktor Ivanovich Belenko, 29, last week pulled off one of the most daring escapes of the cold war. In the view of U.S. Air Force and intelligence experts, it was also one of the most significant; Belenko was flying the MIG-25, which has never been examined by Western specialists. Called "Foxbat" in the NATO code, it is the world's fastest weapons-carrying warplane, having attained a record speed* of 1,852.6 m.p.h. and a test altitude of 118,000 ft.—outrunning and outclimbing even the newest U.S. fighter planes. Thus a study of the MIG-25's complex radar, engines and missile system could provide U.S. experts with new insights about the current state of Soviet aeronautical and electronic technology. Delighted by Belenko's gift, the White House immediately announced its willingness to grant political asylum to the Soviet lieutenant. At week's end he arrived in Los Angeles aboard a commercial airliner from Tokyo en route to a secret destination, where he will be questioned by U.S. military and intelligence officers. Heading in the opposite direction, a team of Air Force experts left for Japan to analyze and assess the MIG-25.
Belenko's flight began at the Sokolovka airbase, 100 miles east-northeast of Vladivostok, where the Soviets are believed to maintain squadrons of their best interceptor aircraft. According to his Japanese interrogators, Belenko had been planning his defection for two years. "There is no freedom in the Soviet Union," he told his interrogators. "Nothing has changed since the czars. It's a suffocating country. You can tell the truth only when drinking vodka with your friends." Furthermore, his marriage was breaking up; he was alienated from his wife and small child, and apparently felt that his defection would not bring down official wrath on his family.
Shortly after he took off last week on a Monday morning training mission, Belenko made his break. Somewhere near the Primorsky Kray coast, he suddenly put his MIG in a sharp dive, leveling out 150 ft. over the waves of the Sea of Japan, followed shortly afterward by Russian pilots in hot pursuit. After flying this low for a short distance to elude Soviet radar, he climbed back to 20,000 ft. for the dash to Japan; a jet gulps too much fuel at low altitudes.