Kim Il Sung asks to send Korean students over in order to learn flying and maintenance techniques.
November 20, 1950
Telegram from Stalin to Kim Il Sung, via Shtykov
8th Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces USSR
CIPHERED TELEGRAM No. 75835
To Comrade SHTYKOV
for Comrade KIM IL SUNG
I have received your telegram about the preparation of pilot cadres after a delay which was the fault of the Soviet apparatus.
In the opinion of our military this question is more expediently resolved in the following manner:
1. To organize the preparation of 200-300 pilots from Korean students, in the flight school already existing in YANTSZY on the territory of MANCHURIA. An additional contingent of Soviet instructors will be given for this.
2. The preparation of pilots for two jet fighter regiments can be organized at one of our jet divisions of MIG-15's located in MANCHURIA. After the preparation of the pilots, the appropriate number of MIG-15 planes will be delivered.
With regard to the preparation of pilots for one bomber regiment, it is more convenient to prepare them in the Korean school we have in the Far East Maritime Region. The materiel, TU-2 planes for the bomber regiment, will also be given.
3. We agree to accept an additional 120 men in the Korean pilot school that we have in the Far East Maritime Region, to train them as technicians and crew for attack planes.
4. It is better that the Korean pilots receive flight training in the place where they will study, i.e. in MANCHURIA or in our Maritime Region.
If you agree with these proposals, corresponding orders will be given to our military command.
FYN SI [Stalin].
No. 4/7556
20 November 1950
Copies: Bulganin, Shtemenko, Stalin.
Stalin agrees to train North Korean pilots, but in China, not in the Soviet Union, as Kim Il Sung previously suggested.
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APRF, Fond 45, Opis 1, Delo 347, Listy 90-91 and AVPRF, Fond 059a, Opis 5a, Delo 3, Papka 11, Listy 165-166
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