During the Korean War, the Soviets were searching for an intact U.S. F-86 Sabre for evaluation/study purposes. Their search was frustrated, largely due to the U.S. military's policy of destroying their weapons and equipment once they had been disabled or abandoned; and in the case of U.S. aircraft, USAF pilots destroyed most of their downed Sabres by strafing or bombing them. However, on one occasion an F-86 was downed in the tidal area of a beach and subsequently was submerged, preventing its destruction. The aircraft was ferried to Moscow and a new OKB (Soviet Experimental Design Bureau) was established to study the F-86, which later became part of the Sukhoi OKB. "At least one F-86 ... was sent to the Soviet Union, the Russians admitted, and other planes and prizes such as U.S. G-suits and radar gun sights also went." The Soviets studied and copied the optical gunsight and radar from the captured aircraft to produce the ASP-4N gunsight and SRC-3 radar. Installed in the MiG-17, the gunsight system would later be used against American fighters in the Vietnam war. The F-86 studies also contributed to the development of aircraft aluminum alloys (V-95 etc.).
Reports in 2012 from newly declassified documents confirmed that the Soviets had acquired some of the US' aircraft technology. In several accounts by American pilots from late 1951 into 1952, at least one F-86 was in operation under Soviet control during the Korean War. The pilots report having come under fire from US planes, including from the F-86.
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During the Korean War, the Soviets were searching for an intact U.S. F-86 Sabre for evaluation/study purposes. Their search was frustrated, largely due to the U.S. military's policy of destroying their weapons and equipment once they had been disabled or abandoned; and in the case of U.S. aircraft, USAF pilots destroyed most of their downed Sabres by strafing or bombing them. However, on one occasion an F-86 was downed in the tidal area of a beach and subsequently was submerged, preventing its destruction. The aircraft was ferried to Moscow and a new OKB (Soviet Experimental Design Bureau) was established to study the F-86, which later became part of the Sukhoi OKB. "At least one F-86 ... was sent to the Soviet Union, the Russians admitted, and other planes and prizes such as U.S. G-suits and radar gun sights also went." The Soviets studied and copied the optical gunsight and radar from the captured aircraft to produce the ASP-4N gunsight and SRC-3 radar. Installed in the MiG-17, the gunsight system would later be used against American fighters in the Vietnam war. The F-86 studies also contributed to the development of aircraft aluminum alloys (V-95 etc.).
Reports in 2012 from newly declassified documents confirmed that the Soviets had acquired some of the US' aircraft technology. In several accounts by American pilots from late 1951 into 1952, at least one F-86 was in operation under Soviet control during the Korean War. The pilots report having come under fire from US planes, including from the F-86.