No matter how old (or new) they are, and no matter who made them, fighter jets still look “futuristic”.
Another serious weakness was thick windshield framing that reduced forward visibility, a problem during combat.
Mix 1.5 oz. single-malt Scotch with .75 oz. Drambuie.
Pour over ice and add a lemon twist.
Would like to read a western pilot's account of what they are like to fly.
That livery looks like something out of a Chris Foss painting!
“In Vietnam, they racked up dozens of kills during the eight years they fought against U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy jets. Although heavily outnumbered, the small MiGs evaded U.S. radar and ambush formations with hit-and-run attacks in which some U.S. jets, including top-of-the-line F-4 Phantoms, were downed or forced to jettison their bomb loads and abort their missions.”
One of the patterns of aerial warfare that repeats itself is how a smaller airforce can rack-up disproportionate Kill-Loss ratios against a numerically superior enemy. Examples:
RAF Fighter Command vs. Luftwaffe (Battle of Britain), Luftwaffe v. Red Air Force (eastern front), Cactus Air Force v. Japanese 1st Air Fleet (Solomons), US Fighter-Interceptor-Wings v. ‘North Korean’ airforce (1951-53).
Call it a target-rich environment, or the airborne version of guerrilla warfare.
Which soviet fighter is ‘more iconic’ the MiG 15 or Mig 21? Close call, I would say.
The Mig 21 is getting the ‘long farewell’ treatment in the Press because a lot of countries are making the decision to retire them, whereas the MiG 15 is already ‘gone’.