A Nork Fishbed crashed yesterday in Northeast China, killing the pilot:
Photographs of the wreckage purportedly taken by an eyewitness have been circulating on Chinese websites, showing the North Korean air force emblem on the fuselage beneath the tail. Military enthusiasts online have identified the aircraft as a Russian-built MiG jet but differed on the specific model, with some calling it a MiG-21 fighter and others claiming it to be a MiG-15 trainer
Yonhap quoted unnamed sources in South Korea as saying the plane’s pilot may have been trying to defect from North Korea to Russia, losing direction en route and killing himself on impact of the ensuing crash. Chinese commentators have speculated that the plane may have run out of fuel.
Based on the condition of the fuselage, I’d say that’s a pretty safe assumption.
The military enjoys a relatively exalted status in Kim Chong Il’s socialist paradise gulag state. When even your fighter pilots start bugging out for parts else, you’ve got problems.
Looks like a Fishbed to me.
…Even accounting for the crash, that beast looks rough. That’s okay, though – between juche and the Fishbed’s notoriously bad gunsight (I’ve been told it’s known as the ‘Skywalkker’ – you need the Force in order to hit anything with it) I’m sure the Norks can handle anything that comes their way.
/sarc OFF
Mike
A “Fishbed”…it’s called a flippen Fishbed?…a NATO designation??…with “a notoriously bad gunsight” ?…the mind reels at the inequity of it all. Best
Yeah – remember when Saddam gave his pilots the choice of going up to face the USAF or being shot on the spot? They went up and flew to Iran.
If you give them enough fuel to fight, you’ve given them enough to run. The only question is how far can they run.
In a Fishbed? Not very far…
Iran was far enough for them.
QM
I think I’ve heard before something along the lines of limited fuel in DPRK A/C for trainng and events in order to limit the temptations. Don’t think too many of them take off with a full bag.
Claudio
wunner why his seat no workee? Cuz the cartridge was manufactured in 1959? Or maybe they don’t install to instill that “fight to the death” spirit?
Mebbe he was shot down.
I wonder if the pilot wasn’t deliberately trying to make it north-west to (Outer) Mongolia (~700 miles, border to border)instead of north-east to Vladivostok, (considering air-intercept and SA defenses one might expect to find in that area).
That’s a 21, innit? The 15 trainer was a two seater but did not have a dorsal hump like that. And the 21 is a front-liner for the nK.
Sometimes defectors are defective…
(I stole that from Herbal)
There are several cases of NORK jet pilots defecting to the South, where they get a pot of gold and a nice career working for South Korean Air Force.
There is a lot about this story that just does not add up. Could hypoxia be the explanation?
Someone at CNN needs to learn to read maps.
The PRC border with the DPRK is in the south east, not north east
It is indeed a MiG-21 of some sorts, the tail is wrong for the -15 and the fuselage appears too deep.
I suspect it is easier to try and defect by your lonesome in a plane with a dubious fuel load, as opposed to say trying to run to the South or to China in a cranky vintage T-55 at a blistering 30 odd miles and hour. Although, I would watch that on YouTube.
The base he launched from is apparently in the far southwest edge of the border with China, and he apparently went down a couple of hundred miles northeast of there in the direction of Russia. The NORK border with China runs northeasterly, and following the border would have been the shortest path to Russia.
Hard to know what really happened…