An interesting event in Aviation History for those not too familiar with how the NMUSAF came to acquire a certain MIG-15. And a bit of background on a very brave man. From Wiki:
No Kum-Sok (later Kenneth H. Rowe; born January 10, 1932 in Sinhung, Korea) is a former lieutenant of the North Korean Air Force. A few weeks after the Korean War was over, he defected to South Korea in a MiG-15 aircraft.
Defection. On the morning of September 21, 1953, No flew his Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 to the Kimpo Air Base in South Korea. The time from take-off in North Korea to landing in South Korea was 17 minutes, with the MiG reaching speeds of 620 MPH. During the flight he was not chased by North Korean planes, nor was he interdicted by American air or ground forces; US radar near Kimpo had been shut down temporarily that morning for routine maintenance. No landed the wrong way on the runway, almost hitting a F-86 Sabre jet landing at the same time from the opposite direction. Captain Dave William veered out of the way and exclaimed over the radio "It's goddamn MiG!". Another American pilot, Captain Jim Sutton who was circling the airport, said if No had tried to land in the right direction he would have been spotted and shot down. No taxied the MiG into a free parking spot between two Sabre jets, got out of the plane and began tearing up a picture of Kim Il-sung he carried.
No received a $100,000 ($890,831 in 2014 dollars) reward offered by Operation Moolah for being the first pilot to defect with an operational aircraft, which he said he never heard of prior to his defection. No explained that North Korean pilots were not allowed to listen to South Korean radio, the leaflets broadcasting the award were not dropped in Manchuria where the pilots were based, and even if they had heard about the reward the amount of money would have been meaningless to the young communists; he said the program would have been more effective if they had offered a good job and residence in America. Eisenhower was against paying defectors.
There were repercussions for No's defection. According to Captain Lee Un Yong, a North Korean air force flight instructor who defected to South Korea two years after No, General Wang Yong, the top commander of the North Korean air force, was demoted, and five of No's air force comrades and commanders were executed.[9] One of those killed was Lieutenant Kun Soo Sung, No's best friend and fellow pilot. No's father was already dead and his mother already defected to the South; however, he had an uncle and the fate of him and his family was never known.
No's MiG-15. After No surrendered his aircraft, it was taken to Okinawa, where it was given USAF markings and test-flown by Capt. H.E. "Tom" Collins and Maj. Chuck Yeager. The MiG-15 was later shipped to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base after attempts to return it to North Korea were unsuccessful. It is currently on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
Post-defection life. In 1954, Kum-sok emigrated to the United States. After emigrating, he anglicized his name to "Kenneth H. Rowe". He was joined in the U.S. by his mother, who had been evacuated from North Korea earlier in 1951. He subsequently graduated from the University of Delaware, with degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering. He married an émigré from Kaesong, North Korea, they raised two sons and a daughter, and he became a U.S. citizen. He worked as an aeronautical engineer for Grumman, Boeing, Pan Am, General Dynamics, General Motors, General Electric, Lockheed, DuPont, and Westinghouse.
In 1970, he learned from a fellow defector that, as punishment for his defection his best friend Lieutenant Kun Soo Sung was executed. He learned that four other pilots in his chain of command were also executed by firing squad. One of the pilots and a friend in his squadron became the General of the Korean People's Army. General O Kuk-ryol, who became the vice chairman of the National Defence Commission in 2009, is considered the second most powerful man in North Korea.
In 1996, he wrote and published a book, A MiG-15 to Freedom about his defection and previous life in North Korea. Rowe retired in 2000 after working 17 years as an aeronautical engineering professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
In February 2004, while a guest at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, USA, he was offered the opportunity to fly in a MiG-15UTI operated by the Red Star Aviation Museum. After the flight, his first in a MiG since the day he defected, he commented "It is a fast, fast car".
Lt. No Kum-Sok. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Lt. No Kum-Sok, pictured in 1953 wearing typical communist flight clothing.
Lt. No Kum-Sok in the flying clothing and equipment he wore on his flight to South Korea. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Front and back side copy of the leaflet offering a $100,000 reward to any pilot who delivered a MiG.
Front and back side copy of the leaflet offering a $100,000 reward to any pilot who delivered a MiG
Copies of the memorandum that created the MiG reward leaflet
Copies of the memorandum that created the MiG reward leaflet
Copies of the memorandum that created the MiG reward leaflet
Lt. No Kum-Sok’s MiG-15bis next to an F-86 at Kimpo Air Base about five minutes after he had landed
The MiG-15b is secured in a hangar at Kimpo Air Base. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Repainted in USAF markings and insignia, the MiG-15bis under guard and awaiting flight-testing at Okinawa. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Mig 15 With reassembly and ground checks completed the MiG is taxied to take off position by a U.S. Air Force test pilot on Okinawa
No's MIG-15 in USAF markings
No's MIG-15 in USAF markings
The MiG-15 had a unique system for mounting its three cannon on a section of the fuselage that could be lowered by four cables.
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