Did you know that... On 6 September 1976, an aircraft Mig -25 appeared out of the clouds near the Japanese city of Hakodate, on the northern island of Hokkaido. It’s a twin-engined jet, but not the kind of short-haul airliner Hakodate is used to seeing. This massive, grey hulk sports the red stars of the Soviet Union. No one in the West has ever seen one before. The Russian Lieutenant Belenko, a very bright man, felt that the Party leaders in his country had been lying to him his whole life. He was right.
The pilot climbs out of the plane’s cockpit and fires two warning shots from his pistol – motorists on the road next to the airport have been taking pictures of this strange sight. It is some minutes before airport officials, driving from the terminal, reach him. It is then that the 29-year-old pilot, Flight Lieutenant Viktor Ivanovich Belenko of the Soviet Air Defence Forces, announces that he wishes to defect!🇺🇸
Belenko and the Foxbat (written by Butch Sheffield )
The Russians had a Mach three fighter called the “Foxbat.” For many years, the Foxbat fighters had been lurking around the borders of Russia, waiting to take a shot at an SR-71.
One morning, as I sat at the kitchen table having breakfast with my wife Rosie, She had the news on; I saw an aircraft landing in Japan on TV. I cried out to Rosie, “That’s a FOXBAT! The USAF needed to see and inspect a Foxbat really badly. The next best thing would be to talk to one of the Foxbat pilots.
By the time I got to work, we started really early; Buck Adams, who worked for me as the SR-71 Program Element Monitor (PEM), had already been at work getting us the authority to talk to the pilot, Belenko ( Buck Adams was an SR 71 pilot known for breaking the record speed run from London to Los Angeles)
Needless to say, every intelligence agency and intelligence officer in Washington wanted to talk to Belenko. When I heard Buck’s plan to speak first to the pilot, I wished him luck but thought it would be impossible.
Buck made the impossible happen. He was the first person to talk to Belenko, an SR-71 pilot!
After inspecting the MiG-25 in Japan, the Americans were surprised to learn that they had overestimated the ability of the Russian aircraft. It was then, in 1976, that we knew that the MiG 25 could not intercept an SR 71.
The Russians lagged in Metallurgy, particularly the exploration of titanium, which, although extremely expensive and complicated to work with, is very light, strong, and heat resistant. The Russians made the MiG out of steel alloy  (the steel tended to rust.) They lack the technology to work with the titanium. Plus, they used vacuum tubes instead of transistors. The aircraft was very heavy.  The Russian groundcrew were known for being drunk most of the time as they used grain alcohol in the MiG for a Hydraulic fluid. At the same time, the Russians were clearly struggling with technology. The United States was importing titanium from the Russians. How did they do this? The CIA made up fake companies and bought their titanium. One company said they needed the titanium to make pizza ovens.  The CIA used titanium to make the airplanes built to spy on the Russians, the A-12, and later the Air Force SR 71.
Victor Belenko has been told his whole life that the Americans were “Dark Forces,” that America was full of crime, and that we were poverty-stricken. They used old videos of the 1930s depression for proof. They also used pictures of gangsters in Chicago  as further proof of our crime problem. This was the propaganda that they taught, and most people believed it in the Soviet Union,  but Victor Blanco did not believe it. That is why he defected to America. As far as I know, he is still alive and well in America. The Russians always said they would get him back, but they did not.
I highly recommend buying and reading MiG Pilot by John Barron; it might be hard to find. I ordered mine on Amazon.~ Linda Sheffield
Le 30M791 est le canon spécialement développé par Nexter pour le Rafale. Avec sa cadence de 2500 coups par minute, c'est le mono-canon le plus rapide du monde. 21 obus et 1 kg d’explosif délivrés en une demi-seconde.
100% conçu et produit en France, avec ses munitions. #industrie
Exploration☑
Innovation☑
Inspiration☑
The time has arrived. Multiple weather studies for the next week did not show stratospheric waves of sufficient strength to soar to high altitude. We made the tough, bittersweet decision to pack up and return to Minden. Our 2023 #AirbusPerlanMissionII accomplished many goals in addition to soaring with CubeSats (science payloads) from U.S. students.
Read on> https://t.co/27K8leXE2c
📄 Rapport sur l'accident du #Centrair 201 immatriculé F-CBLG survenu le 17/09/2022 à #Graulhet / Rupture du câble en montée initiale lors du décollage au treuil, tentative d'atterrissage à contre QFU, collision avec le sol. https://t.co/epi72RKLPB