Editing Viktor Belenko (section)

{{Short description|Soviet pilot who defected to the West (1947–2023)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{family name hatnote|Ivanovich|Belenko|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Infobox military person
| image             = Viktor Belenko’s military identification (cropped).jpg
| caption           = Belenko's Soviet military identification photo; stored at the [[CIA Museum]]
| native_name       = Виктор Беленко
| native_name_lang  = ru
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1947|02|15|mf=y}}
| other_name        = Viktor Schmidt
| birth_place       = [[Nalchik]], [[Kabardin ASSR]], Soviet{{nbsp}}Union
| death_date        = {{death date and age|2023|09|24|1947|02|15|mf=y}}
| death_place       = [[Pope County, Illinois]], US
| allegiance        = Soviet Union
| branch            = [[Soviet Air Defence Forces]]
| serviceyears      = 1967–1976
| rank              = Lieutenant
| unit              = {{Tree list}}
* [[11th Air Army]]
** 513th Fighter Regiment
{{Tree list/end}}
| known_for         = Defecting to the U.S. with [[MiG-25]] in 1976
| spouse            = {{marriage|Coral Garaas|end=div}}
| children          = 2
}}
[[File:Former Soviet Pilot Viktor Belenko’s Military Identity Document.jpg|thumb|Viktor Belenko's military ID]]

'''Viktor Ivanovich Belenko''' ({{langx|ru|Виктор Иванович Беленко}}; February 15, 1947 – September 24, 2023) was a Soviet-born American aerospace engineer and pilot who [[Defection of Viktor Belenko|defected]] in 1976 to the [[Western world#Cold War context|West]] while flying his [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25|MiG-25 "Foxbat"]] [[interceptor aircraft|jet interceptor]] and landed in [[Hakodate Airport|Hakodate]], Japan. [[George H. W. Bush]], the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] at the time, called the opportunity to examine the plane up close an "intelligence bonanza" for the West.<ref>[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914630,00.html INTELLIGENCE: Bonanza or Bust?] Time Magazine, Monday, 1 November 1976</ref> Belenko later became a U.S. [[aerospace engineering|aerospace engineer]].{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}