[Porsche-O-Phile]

Look for the story of the Soviet MIG-25 defection (pilots name was Kelno I think...). Everyone in the west was intimidated by this new fighter they knew little about other than it could fly close to Mach 2.5 and higher than a lot of NATO jets... After the defection it was reverse engineered and a lot of the anxiety went away. Yes it could fly very fast and high - in a straight line and with minimal armament, for a VERY short period of time (minutes) until it ran out of fuel. It had virtually no maneuvering ability and payload capacity.

Ever look at a MIG up close? I used to hang around KMLB quite a bit and a guy I chatted up there was restoring a MIG-17 he'd purchased - primitive avionics, non-flush rivets and big honkin COUNTERWEIGHTS on the control surfaces! It was almost laughable! Pretty cool resto project though...