BEAR: FLIGHT TO LIBERTY

In September 1976, Viktor Belenko defected to Japan in his MiG-25 Foxbat jet fighter,one of the most well-known defections from the Soviet block. But in that same year,there was another defection so embarrassing to the Soviets that its particulars remaineda secret for more than twenty-five years.All media accounts of Soviet TU-95 flights participating in the Okean 76 navalmaneuvers mention only two planes. Whenever they were confronted in private,however, the Soviets acknowledged that in reality, three planes took off from Russia,with the third aircraft crashing at sea, killing everyone aboard. Since it sank in deepwaters, no one attempted to salvage the wreck.But what the Soviet authorities never acknowledged-publicly or privately-was thatthe third TU-95 made a bold and risky flight from the USSR to Canada. Because itscrew defected, the Soviets never admitted that such an event happened. Bear: Flight toLiberty tells the third crew's thrilling story.BEAR is the product of Vargas-Caba's meticulous research into the Soviet ArmedForces and provides an authenticity few books on the subject can match. His carefulmarshalling of real-world facts to develop his work of fiction makes BEAR an excitingread for anyone who wants to remember how much was at stake during the Cold War."-Nate Braden, co-author of The Last Sentry