When Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko landed a top-secret MiG-25 at a Japanese airport in September 1976, American engineers tearing it down expected to find titanium and microchips, and instead they found vacuum tubes, rivets popped by hand, and a stainless steel airframe so heavy it could only fly fast in a straight line. (opens in new tab)

On the morning of September 6, 1976, a Soviet Air Defense Forces lieutenant named Viktor Belenko shoved the throttles forward on a MiG-25 Foxbat, peeled away from a training flight over the Sea of Japan, and brought the most feared interceptor in the Soviet arsenal down on the runway at Hakodate Airport with fuel running […]