Viktor Ivanovich Belenko was a Russian-born American aerospace engineer and Soviet pilot who defected in 1976 to the West while flying his MiG-25 "Foxbat" jet interceptor and landed in Hakodate, Japan. George H. W. Bush, the Director of Central Intelligence at the time, called the opportunity to examine the plane up close an "intelligence bonanza" for the West. Belenko later became a U.S. aerospace engineer.

Hakodate Airport is an airport located 7.6 km (4.7 mi) east of Hakodate Station in Hakodate, a city in Hokkaidō, Japan. It is owned by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and operated by Hokkaido Airports.