How to Steal a MiG, Part 1/2: The Pyramid Scheme | CIA

In the skies over Cairo, an unlit military transport plane makes a wary descent in to the city's international airport. Under cover of darkness, it's loaded with a precious consignment - an artefact that the USA has gone to great lengths to procure. Not a cursed relic, or a crystal skull - but a cutting-edge Russian fighter jet.

In Part One, Sophia Di Martino flies cargo-class with the CIA's Jim Fees - the officer who stole a MiG-23 from under the nose of the Soviet Union in the late 1970s. To tell his story, we've enlisted Jim's only daughter, alongside historian and aviation expert Steve Davies.

From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producers: Gemma Newby, Joe Foley. Produced by Max Bower. Music by Nick Ryan.