A MiG – 15 To Freedom – No Kum – Sok

They taught us conversational Russian so that we could communicate with the Russian instructors. They had been accepted into Russian universities because their close relatives had connections with the high-level officials in the North Korean government. One of them was a son of Lee Sung-Yup, the first secretary of the Korean Communist party. Lee Sung-Yup, a native of Seoul and a college-educated man, was a Communist party theoretician and a long-time Communist. After the war broke out and the North Korean People’s Army overran most of South Korea, he served as the mayor of Seoul.

Lee Sung-Yup’s son and I got along very well, partly because I surpassed others in fluency in the Russian language. I also felt comfortable talking with an educated Communist like him on diverse subjects ranging from the living conditions in Russia to his childhood in Seoul before 1948, when his parents and he moved to Pyongyang. There were many who shouted Communist slogans who blindly and firmly believed that all the nations on earth would become Communist societies within the next quarter of a century. Lee Sung-Yup’s son went back to Russia to complete his studies after we finished MiG-15 training.

Two months before the Korean War cease-fire went into effect, Lee Sung-Yup, first secretary of the Korean Labor (Communist) party; Park Hun-Young, the North Korean foreign minister, who was an ardent Communist and contender for Kim Il-Sung’s top job; the North Korean ambassador to Moscow; and other high-ranking government officials were arrested for antigovernment activities, especially for plotting a coup against Kim Il-Sung. Lee Sung-Yup was specifically charged as an American spy. All those accused were executed by firing squad. Hu Ga-Ee, a Soviet-trained, high-ranking Politburo member, committed suicide just before his arrest.

I do not know the fate of the Lee Sung-Yup’s son. Unlike the spit-and-polish atmosphere of Kozhedub’s outfit at Anshan, our new Russian pilots wore colorful American-style sports shirts, and they were talkative, humorous, and jolly. I worked hard at my Yak-17 jet training with my next instructor, a blond and quiet Russian pilot. The Yak-17 jet, supposedly the trainer of the MiG-15, was a totally different plane and its cockpit was not pressurized.

Preface by No Kum-Sok Foreword by J.R. Osterholm 1. Crossing the Line 2. Growing Up Under the Japanese 3. Maturing Under the Communists 4. North Korean Naval Academy 5. The Korean War Breaks Out 6. The Allies Retreat 7. Volunteer for the Unknown 8. Flight Training in Manchuria 9. Flying the MiG-15 10. Aerial Combat Against F-86 Sabres 11.

Battles in MiG Alley 12. The End of the Manchurian Sanctuary 13. Communist Party Membership 14. Struggle for Survival 15. Final Decision to Flee 16. Interrogation 17. America Tests the MiG-15bis 18. What an Interesting Country 19. My Early Adjustment 20. Success 21. Retrospective on North and South Korea Epilogue Bibliography 1kitap1.com/en A MiG-15 to Freedom Memoir of the Wartime North Korean Defector Who First Delivered the Secret Fighter Jet to the Americans in 1953 No Kum-Sok with J.

Roger Osterholm McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina, and London 1kitap1.com/en LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA No, Kum-Sok. A MiG-15 to freedom : memoir of the wartime North Korean defector who first delivered the secret fighter jet to the Americans in 1953 / by No Kum- Sok, with J. Roger Osterholm. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7864-3106-9 1. No, Kum-Sok. 2. Korean War, 1950–1953—Personal narratives, Korean. 3. Air pilots, Military—Korea (North)—Biography. 4. Korea (North) Air Force Officers Biography.

I. Osterholm, J. Roger. II. Title. DS921.6.N6 2007 951.904’2’092—dc20 [B] 96-27288 British Library cataloguing data are available ©1996 Kenneth H. Rowe (No Kum-Sok) and J. Roger Osterholm. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

On the cover: No Kum-Sok in his flight gear, September 21, 1953, Kimpo Air Base; detail map of Korea © 2007 Photodisc McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com 1kitap1.com/en 1kitap1.com/en To the memory of five dear comrades in arms, Lieutenant Kun Soo-Sung and four other North Korean fighter pilots, who many times to the last day of the Korean War entered into air combat alongside my MiG-15 against United Nations aircraft.

The crime of those responsible for executing these five innocent North Korean flyers shortly after my defection to the Free World shall never be forgiven nor forgotten. 1kitap1.com/en Acknowledgments I wish to express my gratitude to the Jack Hunt Memorial Library, Embry- Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida, for the use of its collections. The Philadelphia Bulletin generously gave me access in 1955 to its clippings file. I wish to thank the following individuals for their assistance in this project: Joseph L.

Massie, alumni professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, for the earliest advice on writing and help on early drafts; Ralph G.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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