We Flew the MiG: The $100,000 Defection. How Chuck Yeager and the USAF Dissected the Soviet MiG-15

On September 21, 1953, a North Korean pilot landed a combat-loaded Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 at Kimpo Air Base near Seoul, claiming the $100,000 reward offered under Project Moolah. For Western intelligence, this defection provided the long-awaited opportunity to evaluate the Soviet interceptor that had shocked United Nations forces over the Yalu River. Airlifted to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, the aircraft was inspected and flown by an elite Wright Air Development Center and Flight Test Center team: Major General Albert Boyd, Captain H.E. "Tom" Collins, and Major Chuck Yeager. This documentary combines the declassified 1953 US Air Force evaluation report with the geopolitical and engineering history behind the MiG-15. During eleven intensive test flights on Okinawa, American specialists translated Russian cockpit gauges, tested the pneumatic differential braking system, and fired the removable under-nose cannon pack housing two 23mm cannons and one 37mm cannon. Flight trials pitted the MiG-15 directly against the North American F-86 Sabre. While the lighter Soviet fighter outclimbed the Sabre—reaching 45,000 feet in nine minutes and a ceiling of 55,000 feet—high-Mach dives revealed dangerous pitch-up and control loss at Mach 0.94, alongside poor cockpit temperature regulation and slow roll rates. The film then traces how the Soviet Union achieved such a leap in jet propulsion after salvaging a downed MiG-15 from the Yellow Sea in 1951 revealed a copy of the British Rolls-Royce Nene II engine. Beginning in 1940 with Ambassador Sir Stafford Cripps in Moscow, the narrative explores wartime Lend-Lease deliveries of the Bell P-39 Airacobra, post-war British economic debt under Prime Minister Clement Attlee, and the Soviet capture of German aerodynamic research such as the Focke-Wulf Ta 183 and the unreliable BMW 003 axial-flow engine used in the MiG-9. When Artem Mikoyan and Vladimir Klimov visited England in 1946, Cripps approved the sale of Rolls-Royce Derwent and Nene turbojets. Reverse-engineered into the Klimov RD-45 and VK-1, this powerplant enabled the 35-degree swept-wing MiG-15 to hunt Boeing B-29 Superfortresses and outclass P-51 Mustangs, F4U Corsairs, Gloster Meteors, and F-80 Shooting Stars until the F-86 Sabre restored balance in MiG Alley. To support our work and channel, join @ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTTqBgYdkmFogITlPDM0M4A/join Thank you! 🙏🎖️ ➤ More aircraft and history videos: https://www.youtube.com/@Dronescapes ➤ Join the channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Dronescapes/join ➤ THREADS: https://www.threads.net/@dronescapesvideos ➤ FB: https://www.facebook.com/Dronescapesvideos ➤ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/Atellani/ ➤ IG: https://www.instagram.com/dronescapesvideos ➤ BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/dronescapes.bsky.social ➤ Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/dronescapesvideos ➤ X/Twitter: https://dronescapes.video/2p89vedj VIDEO SERIES: 🎥U.S. AIRCRAFT VIDEOS: https://dronescapes.video/US 🎥AVIATION VIDEOS: https://dronescapes.video/aviation 🎥GERMAN AIRCRAFT VIDEOS: https://dronescapes.video/WWIIGermany 🎥BRITISH AIRCRAFT VIDEOS: https://dronescapes.video/British 🎥ERIC BROWN VIDEOS: https://dronescapes.video/EricBrown 🎥B-29 VIDEOS: https://dronescapes.video/B29 🎥VIETNAM AND KOREA: https://dronescapes.video/Vietnam 🎥TURBOJET VIDEOS: https://dronescapes.video/Turbojet 🎥SUPERSONIC VIDEOS: https://dronescapes.video/fastest 🎥EXTREME AIRCRAFT VIDEOS: https://dronescapes.video/Extreme 🎥STRANGE PLANES VIDEOS: https://dronescapes.video/Extreme 🎥COLD WAR ERA VIDEOS: https://dronescapes.video/ColdWar 🎥 WW2 VIDEOS: https://dronescapes.video/WW2 00:00:00 The 1953 Cold War Jet Race and Frank Whittle's Legacy 00:01:36 Project Moolah and the Kimpo Air Base MiG-15 Defection 00:03:03 Arrival at Kadena Air Base and the Wright-Patterson Test Team 00:04:33 Cockpit Modifications, Systems Inspection, and Wing Design 00:05:52 Instrumentation Upgrades and Pneumatic Braking Trials 00:06:48 Captain Tom Collins' First Flight and F-86 Takeoff Comparison 00:07:59 Airframe Workmanship, Approach Speeds, and Copied Avionics 00:09:14 The Under-Nose Cannon Pack and Live Firing Evaluations 00:10:44 Chuck Yeager and General Boyd High-Mach Dive Tests 00:11:42 MiG-15 vs F-86 Sabre Handling, Cockpit Extremes, and Verdict 00:13:58 The 1951 Yellow Sea Salvage and Rolls-Royce Nene Discovery 00:14:51 Sir Stafford Cripps and the 1940 Moscow Diplomatic Mission 00:19:33 Operation Barbarossa and the 1942 Cripps Mission to India 00:21:24 Allied Lend-Lease and the Bell P-39 Airacobra in the USSR 00:23:02 Post-War British Austerity, Clement Attlee, and War Debt 00:28:33 Captured German Aerodynamics and the Flawed MiG-9 Fighter 00:30:51 The 1946 Soviet Trade Mission and Rolls-Royce Engine Sale 00:35:31 Reverse-Engineering the Klimov VK-1 and Birth of the MiG-15 00:39:31 Korean War Air Shock, B-29 Interceptions, and the F-86 Sabre 00:45:19 Dogfights in MiG Alley and the Unlicensed Engine Legacy #MiG15 #F86Sabre #KoreanWar