Viktor Belenko

Viktor Ivanovich Belenko (Russian Виктор Иванович Беленко; * February 15, 1947 in Nalchik ) is an American aeronautical engineer and former Soviet lieutenant and pilot.

Belenko defected on September 6, 1976, his MiG -25P - until then an absolute military secret of the Soviet Air Force - and landed in Japanese Hakodate. He made ​​the aircraft and its armament including the entrained by him Pilot's Guide to the Western opponents for the first time accessible.

First, the Soviet government disseminated information about the alleged " emergency landing ", or " plane had gone off course ... " and " ... foreign intelligence translated pilot Belenko drugged ". When these speculations rejected by Belenko and after he officially said " I flew here voluntarily ," began the Soviet ambassador in Japan to open to him to threaten.

The aircraft was thoroughly examined by Japanese and American experts and later the USSR returned in pieces.

Belenko remained in the U.S. and acquired U.S. citizenship in 1980. He taught for several years in a military academy tactics and strategy of air combat. He married an American woman and moved with her two children large. The last time he had his own trading company. He traded with several countries as well as Russia. With Russia but it is only under an assumed name.

The former Soviet Union's state and later the Russian media published several times false information about Belenkos " accidental death ". In the USSR and today's Russia it is considered up to now as a state traitor.

• Aeronautical engineer
• Lieutenant (Soviet Union)
• Military Pilot ( Soviet Union)
• Soviet citizens
• Americans
• Born in 1947
• Man