Chapter 27 Backing up the Engine

"Report." A voice came from outside the commander's office of the Sokolovka base.

"Come in," Kozhedub shouted, and from the voice he knew it was Belenko.

"Belenko, what's the matter?" Kozhedub asked Belenko.

"Commander, I would like to ask, when can my fighter No. 31 be repaired?" Belenko asked Kozhedub.

"Belenko, your engine has reached the overhaul period. It has been disassembled and sent to the overhaul plant in Vladivostok," said Kozhedub.

Adhering to the Soviet Union's traditional practice of using heavy and crude engines, the MiG-25's R-15 engine has a flight life of just over a hundred hours. After reaching the end of its flight life, it needs to be overhauled. The Sokolovka base is unable to complete the overhaul, so all the engines are sent to a specially built overhaul plant in Vladivostok, which is responsible for repairing the engines of the Air Force's MiG-23 and the Air Defense Force's MiG-25.

"But now it's been more than a week," Belenko said. "My engine should have been delivered by now."

"You'll have to ask Vladivostok," Kozhedub said. "Belenko, what's wrong with you today?"

"Commander, we have backup engines in our warehouse. Please install the backup engines on my fighter!" Belenko said.

Thinking of Anne's tears before they parted, Belenko felt anxious. He couldn't wait to fly his fighter plane to the island country opposite and give the MiG-25 to the West. This would be a heroic act that would make the entire Western world accept him, and also make Anne's parents accept him!

After arriving at the island country, he found the American intelligence agency and asked them to rescue Anne's father and Anne from East Germany and send them to the free world of the West!

Over the past few years, Belenko has been very helpless about the Soviet Union's bad things and has long been dissatisfied. At the flight academy, Belenko spent several years in a daze. Finally, after being accused of mental illness by the then academy leaders, Belenko finally got his wish and came to the front-line flight unit, flying the Soviet Union's most advanced MiG-25 fighter to defend the motherland.

But what did he see? It was as dirty as the flight academy! The base commander, Kozhedub, was the best at abusing his power for personal gain. The logistics supervisor was Kozhedub's relative! Just coming from the hangar, Belenko found that his engine had just been dismantled and had not yet been sent for overhaul! Now that war with the Americans could break out at any time, these guys were still slacking off all day. Anyway, they had the base commander's protection, so nothing would happen to them!

After Belenko's wife Lyudmila left him with his son, Belenko no longer had any attachment to this place. The seeds of hatred in his heart had already begun to sprout slowly, and he hated the world here!

The entire flying regiment didn't get along with him. When they heard that he had been diagnosed with mental illness in his previous unit, the other pilots of the 513th Regiment looked at him strangely and never drank with him again.

Except Andre.

Thinking of this young man, Belenko felt a little regretful. Andrei was a good young man, but it was a pity that he would be polluted if he stayed in this dirty army. It would be better to take him with him.

The thought only flashed through his mind, and Belenko did not think further. His action this time was for Annie. It would be fine if he failed, but he could not let Annie get implicated!

"The number of backup engines is limited. They must be reserved for the fighter planes of excellent pilots in the base." Kozhedub said: "Belenko, as a soldier, you must know how to obey orders."

Reserve the fighter planes for excellent pilots! Hearing this, Belenko felt a surge of blood. He finally couldn't control his emotions. Just like in his original unit, Belenko began to fight back.

"To an excellent pilot? Since I switched to flying the MiG-25, I have never had a flight accident. I have carried out thirteen interception missions and completed them all successfully. If I am not considered an excellent pilot, then who is?" Belenko said, "Commander, there are some things I don't want to mention, but your partiality will eventually lead to a major accident! Don't think I don't know that my engine was missed and not sent for overhaul, and don't think I don't know why Andre's fighter plane entered a stall spin during flight training last time. It was not because of Andre's operation, but because of the last maintenance. , when the hydraulic oil system of the fighter plane was replaced, welding slag fell into it, resulting in the control surface being stuck during operation! Andre was lucky enough that when the hydraulic oil flowed in reverse, the welding slag was washed back into the oil tank. At that time, Andre was driving this fighter plane with hidden faults to conduct an air interception, so he made an operational error and crashed into the EP-3! It is precisely because of this that when the military district’s reward arrived, you hurriedly handed over the newest fighter plane to Andre and scrapped Andre’s original fighter plane, just to avoid the exposure of accident hazards and cause a large number of people to go to military court, right? "

Belenko blurted out the incident all at once. It was actually a coincidence that he heard the ground crew member who was also secretly drinking industrial alcohol mixed with water say it when he passed by the hangar that night. These guys, if they are a little careless in their work, will harm the pilots.

Did Andre really think that the new fighter plane was a compliment to him? There was actually a reason why Kozhedub was so anxious to scrap the plane! If his superiors found out about the cause of the accident, Kozhedub would be in trouble!

Hearing these words, Kozhedub's face changed. He looked at Belenko and said, "Belenko, what do you want to do?"

"I just want a backup engine for my fighter. I haven't flown for more than a week. You know, for pilots, flying is their life!" Belenko said.

"Okay, in that case, I'll get the guys on the ground busy. Within three days, we'll get the 032 back in the air." Kozhedub said, "Belenko, you're an excellent pilot. Flying is your life. I'm proud that our country has a pilot like you."

"Thank you, Commander." Belenko said, turned around and walked out. He could feel that the look in Kozhedub's eyes at this moment could kill him.

This time, he offended Kozhedub again. However, since he had already planned to flee to the other side of the sea, he would not linger here any longer. He could not help but contradict Kozhedub. Next, he would go to the hangar and watch and let those people install the backup engine for him carefully. There must be no mistakes!