re: #125 Occasional Reader

Nork pilot? I remember a Russian pilot… flew to Japan. I recall the review was mixed; they had lousy basics to work with, but did some fairly ingenious things with limited resources.

re: #88 pingjockey

Heh. I remember when that Nork pilot defected with a Mig 25. The west thought it was hot shit, until they actually saw it.
Rivets not flush, just crappy workmanship.

Victor Blenko, Russian. The plane was an odd mix. Designed to nail the XB-70, they used lots of steel, and flush rivets only where necessary. Massively powerful radar, but tube powered. It could hit Mach 3.2 but sustained flight would burn out the engines.