Three daring defections to a small Danish island in the Baltic Sea gave the West a unique opportunity to uncover the secrets of the MiG-15bis fighter
BORNHOLM MiG DEFECTIONS
On 5 March 1953, the day Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died, a young Polish Air Force pilot defected with a brand-new MiG-15bis jet fighter to the small Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. This spectacular incident started one of the most successful military intelligence operations of the Cold War.
The defection of 22-year-old 2nd Lt Franciszek Jarecki to Bornholm was nothing short of a sensation. With his daring action Jarecki gave Western military intelligence organisations their first chance to examine an undamaged, armed and fully operational MiG-15bis. Denmark was put under severe political pressure by its NATO allies to delay the MiG’s return. With great reluctance Copenhagen allowed British and American experts to inspect this advanced Soviet combat aircraft, but requested that the foreign intelligence exploitation was kept secret to the rest of the world. This eventually proved a somewhat impossible demand, as not one but three Polish MiG-15 pilots escaped to Bornholm.
On that memorable Thursday in 1953, Jarecki was…
