Citat:
One document, which was made public among thousands of others in October, describes a meeting on March 22, 1962, during which senior US officials discussed a suggestion by then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy. The president’s brother thought the US should acquire Soviet military aircraft or manufacture copies. The Mig-17, Mig-19, and Il-14 were discussed at the meeting.
The estimated cost of building such aircraft varied from $3.5 million for six American planes resembling a Mig-17 from a distance, to $26-$44 million for a Mig-19 copy that non-specialists could mistake for the real thing from the outside. Building exact replicas of the aircraft was deemed impossible, while making a copy of an Il-14 was described as “extremely difficult and time-consuming,” even if it would only have to pass a casual inspection.
The CIA suggested acquiring original Soviet aircraft either through pilot defection or by buying them from a non-member of the Warsaw Pact, the document said.