This Day in History: September 21, 1953

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by Simonov

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This Day in History

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On September 21, 1953, North Korean pilot No Kum-sok defects to the West with his MiG-15bis. Kum-sok was born in northern Japanese-occupied Korea in 1932. As he grew older, he enlisted in the North Korean air force where he received flight training and was deployed into combat during the Korean War as a fighter pilot. However, Kum-sok had been biding his time to defect to the United States as he was actually opposed to Communist rule. Seizing the opportunity to escape, he took off in his Soviet-built MiG-15 and made his way to Kimpo Air Base, successfully evading interception from both North Korean and American fighters over the course of the 17 minute flight. After landing at the airfield, narrowly avoiding a collision with an American F-86 Sabre as Kum-sok approached the runway from the wrong direction, he tore a propaganda picture of North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung and surrendered to American forces.

No Kum-sok's successful landing at Kimpo has been credited to the fact he made the approach from the wrong direction and thus avoided being spotted by American fighters and that the base's radar had been turned off for maintenance that morning. Because of Operation Moolah, an attempt by the US to get an intact MiG-15 fighter for evaluation, Kum-sok was given a reward of $100,000; however, he had never heard of the program and the reward was a complete surprise. In 1954, he moved to the United States, changed his name to Kenneth H. Rowe, and obtained degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering from the University of Delaware. He has since worked with many big names in the field of aviation including Boeing, Grumman, Lockheed, and General Dynamics.

Kum-sok's MiG-15bis was evaluated was transferred to Okinawa for evaluation where it was flown by pilots Capt. "Tom" Collins and Maj. "Chuck" Yeager. The aircraft was then shipped to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for further evaluation. The aircraft is currently on display at the Museum of the United States Air Force.

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