In early April, North Korean media unveiled a new camouflage scheme for one of its most important military aircraft. The supreme leader himself, Kim Jong-Un, was seen on television footage at the controls of one of the spruced-up examples. But this was no sleek and nimble jet fighter – it was a 1940s-era biplane that looks like a tractor with wings. North Korean An-2s could be used to fly low and slow over the border to drop commando teams behind South Korean lines – so low that they would be difficult to pick up on radar.

The Antonov An-2 proudly displayed by the North Korean military is now painted green on top and blue on the bottom, a colour scheme that makes it difficult to see, both by planes flying above and observers on the ground. But why, in 2015, would the North Koreans be flying a plane that looks more at home in an Indiana Jones film than front-line service?