The best part of the story is perhaps the aftermath (the article doesn't mention the part about the plane being sent back mostly in crates, no doubt as a techni

The best part of the story is perhaps the aftermath (the article doesn't mention the part about the plane being sent back mostly in crates, no doubt as a technical and practical necessity, but which was also seen as something of abackhanded gesture, at the time): The MiG that the Soviet Union had kept hidden from the world for several years was partially reassembled, and then loaded on a boat for its return to the USSR. The Japanese charged the Soviets a $40,000 bill for shipping costs and the damage Belenko had inflicted at Hakodate airport. I miss the Cold War.