Once Zuyev landed in Turkey his first words were: “Finally, I – am American!”
The interesting clip in this post is the only known video of the late Capt. Alexander Zuyev.
In 1989, Zuyev defected to Turkey by flying a MiG-29 Fulcrum. He was a MiG-29 pilot with the Baku PVO regiment at Gudauta, a Soviet Air Base on the northeast coast of the Black Sea, and he flew to Turkey where he requested political asylum in the United States after a shoot-out at Gudauta.
“Take me to hospital,” were the words Zuyev, then 28, reportedly said upon landing at the airfield at the Black Sea port of Trabzon in northeastern Turkey after a 110-mile flight from Tskhakaya air base near Batumi, in Soviet Georgia. At Trabzon University Hospital, he received treatment for a gunshot wound in the right arm.
Tass described the defector as “a military pilot who had been discharged from flying duties for health reasons” when reporting the defection. The report stated he attacked a “sentry who was guarding the parking area of combat aircraft and wounded him with firearms.” The pilot then “hijacked a fighter plane from Tskhakaya airfield to Trabzon airfield in Turkey…” Tass added: “The U.S.S.R. Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested that the Turkish government extradite the criminal offender and return the plane.”
Diplomatic sources revealed that the pilot suffered a gunshot wound in the shoot-out with guards but managed to get the aircraft off the ground and out of Soviet airspace before landing in Trabzon. After entering Turkish airspace, Zuyev asked for permission to land. Though the Trabzon control tower told him to turn back, he insisted on landing.
The MiG-29, one of the Soviet Union’s most advanced fighters at that time, landed with a cloth cover hanging from parts of its fuselage and damage to the left wing, according to Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Inal Batu. The plane was fully armed and a pistol was found in the cockpit, reported Turkey’s semiofficial Anatolian news agency.
It was the Soviet Foreign Ministry that summoned Turkish ambassador Vocan Vural to Moscow and demanded the immediate return of the aircraft and pilot. Moscow dispatched a plane and a crew to recover the jet, but Turkish authorities refused to permit it to land. However, the next afternoon, the Soviets were allowed to depart with the airplane, escorted out of Turkish airspace by Turkish Air Force jets.
A Turkish diplomat stated that the Ankara government immediately consented to the Soviet request to return the aircraft. “The Turkish government wants to maintain good ties with the Soviet Union,” the diplomat said. “Our governments have agreed that a team of Soviet airmen will go to Trabzon and bring the aircraft back to the Soviet Union.”
“Finally, I – am American!” were Zuyev’s first words at the Turkish airfield. He underwent surgery for his wounds. The United States allowed him to immigrate, where he settled in San Diego, California, and opened a consulting firm. Zuyev wrote a book titled Fulcrum: A Top Gun Pilot’s Escape from the Soviet Empire. Originally, he faced criminal charges such as hijacking in the Turkish courts, but the charges were dismissed for political reasons.
On June 10, 2001, Zuyev was killed, along with Mike Warren, when their YAK-52 entered a flat spin and crashed.
Photo by U.S. Air Force
