Fulcrum: A Top Gun Pilot's Escape from the Soviet Empire [Hardcover]

Alexander Zuyev (Author), Malcolm McConnell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1992

He was a Soviet Top Gun-yet left all of the power and glory behind when he engineered the most audacious act of defection in Cold War history. On May 20, 1989, Soviet Air Force Captain Alexander Zuyev escaped from an air base in Soviet Georgia. Under the threat of Russian air defense missiles, and with other fighters in hot pursuit, Zuyev carried out a real-life flight to freedom even more breathtaking then classic works of fiction like The Hunt for Red October and Fire Fox.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Alex Zuyev was a brave and talented Russian pilot...[and] one of the America's 'Secret Weapons' in the Gulf War." -- Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 Eagle pilot, author of Men from Earth

"In the grand tradition of Solzhenitsin and Sakharov..." -- Steven Coonts, author of Under Siege

"Stunning!...I have never encountered a better'insider'book-Fulcrum reads like the very best thrillers, but every word is true." -- Ralf Peters, author of the Red Army

About the Author

Groomed from and early age for membership in his nation's fighter pilot elite, Zuyev spent eleven years in the Soviet Air Force, as a star cadet, a pilot handpicked to test the new Mig-29 Fulcrum. Yet gradually Zuyev came to realize that the political system he served was hopelessly corrupt and callously indifferent to the sufferings of the Soviet people.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 358 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; 1ST edition (October 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446516481
• ISBN-13: 978-0446516488
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #275,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fulcrum: Zuyev's escape from the Soviet empire., December 19, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Jason W. Smith--McAllen, Texas (USA)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fulcrum: A Top Gun Pilot's Escape from the Soviet Empire (Hardcover)

This has to be one of the most engrossing titles I have read in a long time. Zuyev gives all the details of life in the Soviet Union from boyhood to elite fighter pilot. Soviet tactics and technology--particularly that dealing with the MIG-29 "Fulcrum"--as well as the barbaric way the Russian government treated its people are included. Zuyev is a man who risked everything--and lost perhaps more--in his struggle to reach freedom.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The world has lost a courageous individual., June 12, 2001

By 

Queen Stitch "zahgon" (Georgia USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fulcrum: A Top Gun Pilot's Escape from the Soviet Empire (Hardcover)

I just saw an Associated Press news article telling of the death of Alexander Zuyev on June 10, 2001. He was only 40 years old. He and a friend died last Sunday when the Yakovlev 52 they were flying crashed in Washington state north of Seattle.

Read this book. It gives a fascinating description not only of growing up in the Soviet Union but of the difficulty of becoming a military pilot. It also gives a sickening picture of just how badly communism chewed up and destroyed its best people: Zuyev's own mother--whom he rescued--and some of his fellow pilots who weren't so lucky. His decision to defect was not made lightly or easily. The corruption and contradictions he saw were too much to take anymore. He had the courage to leave it all behind and take a chance with a nation he had been told so many lies about. The drugged cake was a stroke of genius.

Sadly, a plane crash has done what a sentry's bullet in the arm did not. This world is a poorer place. I never met him but I wish I had, if only to say "Thank you."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An expose' of life in the USSR, December 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Fulcrum: A Top Gun Pilot's Escape From the Soviet Empire (Mass Market Paperback)

I had a chance to hear Alexander speak to a full house at EAA Convention 1994. His account of how he could no longer support a government who spent most tax dollars on war machinery while the population stood in line for essentials of life was most revealing. The things we learned about the MIG training from him later as a consultant to the Pentagon enabled our military to develop maneuvers in combat with Soviet Aircraft.