The Infamous 'How to Steal a MIG' manual This fascinating Air Force technical report is specifically focused on how a pilot, behind the Iron curtain or enemy lines, could know just enough to start up and fly home a stolen MIG-15 fighter. Finally declassified in 1988, and only released to the public in 2015 via a FOIA request by Governmentattic.org, this unique look at Cold War Air Force intelligence product is a must-read for student’s of Soviet era aviation. Informally as the "How to Steal a MIG" manual, it was interestingly, published by the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson AFB in 1955, a mere two years after the U.S. obtained a functioning Mig-15 from N. Korean defector No Kum-Sok who defected to Kimpo Air Base on 21 September 1953. His MiG-15 was minutely inspected and was test flown by several test pilots, including Chuck Yeager. It is now in the collection of the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton, Ohio. “This manual has been prepared specifically for the purpose of providing USAF personnel with operating information on the MiG-15.” “Only the information the pilot must know is presented,” “Some procedures which might be considered unorthodox for operational flying of this airplane are recommended because they represent the simplest means of assuring safe flight.”

Examines how Kim Il Sung grabbed power and plunged his country into war against the United States while the youngest fighter pilot in his air force was playing a high-risk game of deception--and escape. As Kim ascended from Soviet puppet to godlike ruler, No Kum Sok noisily pretended to love his Great Leader. That is, until he swiped a Soviet MiG-15 and delivered it to the Americans, not knowing they were offering a $100,000 bounty for the warplane (the equivalent of nearly one million dollars today).

As indicated by the subtitle, “The Real Story of the First MiGs in America”, this is a collection of stories that offer, for the first time, a concise depiction of many first-hand accounts of how these jets were acquired. In addition to historical facts and figures dating to the inception of the Russian Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau, substantial effort has been taken to expose myths and bring to light facts that are significant and important regarding how, where, when and why the MiG aircraft were obtained and who obtained them. In addition to the history of the MiG jet’s inception, the modern day stories of the people in America that acquired them are no less intriguing. As a bonus, you’ll learn of the experiences of the first person to own and operate a MiG in the United States and the free world including a peek into the arena of airshow flying.

Second in the Aces High series—an updated military reference of the fighter pilots who had five or more confirmed victories while serving in the RAF. This volume updates the information in the first volume and adds some new names. Information has been added on the pilots who gained success against the V-1 flying bombs during 1944-45. Detail is also provided on those units in which virtually all the fighter pilots served at some time or another—the fighter Operational Training Units—and of specialist units such as the Central Gunnery School, Fighter Leader’s School and Fighter Experimental Units. There is also coverage of the only other conflicts in which British pilots have been able to claim victories since 1945—Korea and the Falklands Conflict. “There are some authors whose name alone is sufficient reason to but a book, and Christopher Shores is surely one of these . . . By profession a chartered surveyor, he served in the Royal Air Force in the 1950s so his writing bears the stamp of authenticity.” —HistoryNet

They came to fight for freedom and their country, they came to fight Germans. Men of the Polish Air Force, who had escaped first to France and then to Britain, to fly alongside the Royal Air Force just as Fighter Command faced its greatest challenge the Battle of Britain.Many of the Polish airmen joined existing RAF squadrons. The Poles also formed their own squadrons, but only four became operational during the Battle of Britain: Nos. 300 and 301, were bomber squadrons, with another two, Nos. 302 and 303, being fighter squadrons. Flying Hawker Hurricanes, both 302 and 303 squadrons were active by the middle of August 1940, just when they were most needed, at the height of the Battle of Britain, with Fighter Command stretched to its limit.The Polish squadrons, battle-hardened from their encounters with the Luftwaffe during the invasion of Poland and Battle of France, soon made their mark. In particular, 303 Squadron become the highest-scoring unit of Fighter Command.In total, 145 Polish pilots, the largest non-British contingent in Fighter Command at the time, fought in the Battle of Britain. While Winston Churchill praised the contribution of the Few, the pilots of many nationalities who had defended Britain, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding was more specific: Had it not been for the magnificent material contributed by the Polish squadrons and their unsurpassed gallantry, I hesitate to say that the outcome of the Battle would have been the same.

As the routed North Korean People's Army (NKPA) withdrew into the mountainous reaches of their country and the People's Republic of China (PRC) funneled in its massive infantry formations in preparation for a momentous counter-offensive, both lacked adequate air power to challenge US and UN. Reluctantly, Josef Stalin agreed to provide the requisite air cover, introducing the superior swept-wing MiG-15 to counter the American's straight-wing F-80 jets. This in turn prompted the USAF to deploy its very best – the F-86A Sabre – to counter this threat. Thus began a two-and-a-half-year struggle in the skies known as “MiG Alley.” In this period, the unrelenting campaign for aerial superiority witnessed the introduction of successive models of these two revolutionary jets into combat. This meticulously researched study not only provides technical descriptions of the two types and their improved variants, complete with a “fighter pilot's assessment” of these aircraft, but also chronicles the entire scope of their aerial duel in “MiG Alley” by employing the recollections of the surviving combatants – including Russian, Chinese, and North Korean pilots – who participated.

In Tales from Langely: The CIA from Truman to Obama author Kross gives us the nitty-gritty on the CIA: its hits and misses; information on the early operations and leaders; their fights with J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI; Operation Paperclip; assassination plots; mole hunts; strange insider murders; and the hunt for bin Laden—all the details are here. As in his recent book The Secret History of the United States, Kross gives us fascinating, short chapters on the people and events that made up the CIA from its inception in 1947 to today’s scandals involving Seal Team 6, Obama and bin Laden. Also included: the latest CIA scandal of how the Benghazi, Libya Consulate contained over 35 CIA operatives on the night that the US Ambassador was killed: they were allegedly involved with running guns to Syria. Chapters include: William Donovan and the OSS; Operation Ajax—the plot to overthrow Iran; J. Edgar Hoover’s vendetta against the OSS; Civil Air Transport: The CIA’s Secret Airline; Operation Paperclip; The CIA and the Corsican Mafia; Operation Mongoose; “John Scelso” and the Secret JFK Assassination Probe; The Murder of William Buckley; The CIA and the Pakistani ISI; The CIA, bin Laden and 9-11; tons more!