No Kum-sok

No Kum-Sok (later Kenneth H. Rowe; born January 10, 1932 in Sinhung, North Korea) is a former lieutenant of the North Korean Air Force. During the Korean War he defected to South Korea. On the morning of September 21, 1953, he flew his MiG-15 to the Kimpo Air Base in South Korea, claiming that he wanted to get away from the "red deceit." He was able to land his airplane unchallenged; he had not been detected while crossing into South Korea as the US radar near Kimpo had been shut down temporarily that morning for routine maintenance.

He received a $100,000 reward offered by Operation Moolah for defecting with his aircraft, which he claimed to have not heard about prior to his defection.

No's MiG-15
After No surrendered his aircraft, it was taken to Okinawa, where it was given USAF markings and test-flown by Capt. H.E. "Tom" Collins and Maj. Chuck Yeager. The MiG-15 was later shipped to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base after attempts to return it to North Korea were unsuccessful. It is currently on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Post-defection life
In 1954, he emigrated to the United States. After emigrating, he anglicized his name to "Kenneth H. Rowe". He was joined in the U.S by his mother, who had been evacuated from North Korea earlier in 1951. He subsequently graduated from the University of Delaware, with degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering. He married an émigré from Kaesong, North Korea, they raised two sons and a daughter, and he became a U.S. citizen. He worked as an aeronautical engineer for Grumman, Boeing, Pan Am, General Dynamics, General Motors, General Electric, Lockheed, DuPont, and Westinghouse.

In 1970, he learned from a fellow defector that, as punishment for his defection, No's best friend, several family relatives, his battalion commander, vice battalion commander, the battalion’s political officer, the air division’s chief weapons officer who had sponsored No’s Communist Party membership, his regimental commander, and the commander of the North Korean First Air Division were all executed.

In 1996, he wrote and published a book, A MiG-15 to Freedom about his defection and previous life in North Korea. Rowe retired in 2000 after working 17 years as an aeronautical engineering professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

In February 2004, while a guest at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, USA, he was offered the opportunity to fly in a MiG-15UTI operated by the Red Star Aviation Museum. After the flight, his first in a MiG since the day he defected, he commented "It is a fast, fast car".

In popular culture
No's defection is the basis of one of the missions within the video game Chuck Yeager's Air Combat.