SR-71 Blackbird

chedda

SR-71 Blackbird intercepted by Mig-25 Foxbat
Sketchup & Maxwell Render.

SR-71 Blackbird.jpg

Mike Amos

Nice and a great scene, even if it is unlikely.

chedda

Thanks for the comments Mike. Unlikely because of the operating altitude or era ?

Mike Amos

The Blackbird was a bit too fast and flew a bit higher, I say unlikely because a decent track report MIGHT allow for a high speed missile like the AA-11 to bring the Blackbird down. Actually formating on the 'bird would be harder due to the systems carried giving good warning on the Mig 25 approach.

Mig25 VS SR-71

Statistics for the Mig-25 and recaps the defection of Lt Belenko in his Mig-25 to the West in 1976

(www.wvi.com)

chedda

Interesting link cheers. Isn't the Mig-25 the plane that was stolen ? They based the film Firefox on that event ?

Mike Amos

The pilot of the Mig 25 defected rather than the aircraft being stolen.

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, and was executed.[30]
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.[31]
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 Aleksandr 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 0-446-51648-1) 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.

Source:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cold_War_pilot_defections

chedda

Right that's interesting he defected and stole the property of the USSR !

Viktor Belenko - Wikipedia

(en.wikipedia.org)

I don't think anyone is in a hurry to get to the west nowadays unless they are a political dissident or embezzling oligarch.

Bryan K

Excellent as always!