Australian Forces Find 51 Migs in Western Iraq

Reuters ^ | Fri April 18, 2003 | Reuters

[klpt]

AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar (Reuters) - Australian special forces have found 51 Mig fighter planes hidden at an airfield in western Iraq, a senior Australian officer said on Friday. Lieutenant Colonel Mark Elliott said some of the planes had been buried or covered over with dirt while others were hidden in buildings or under camouflage netting.

"To date we've found 51 aircraft, various types of Migs," Elliott told Reuters at war headquarters in Qatar.

A photograph of the operation conducted over the past two days showed one plane under a net parked in a grove of palm trees. Another showed special forces uncovering small weapons on the base.

"The base was relatively abandoned. There was a little bit of resistance on the way in but that was dealt with relatively quickly," Elliott said. "Once our lads returned fire they scampered."

He said the newest of the planes found appeared to date from the mid-1980s.

The Iraqi air force played no part in the war during which U.S. and British planes dominated the skies from the start. The latest finds show Iraq did have planes available. Last Saturday Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, said U.S.-led forces had found 15 fixed-wing fighter aircraft beneath camouflage at Al Asad airfield northwest of Baghdad. Brooks said they appeared to be "in undamaged condition."

Brooks said on Friday that U.S. forces had taken 30 prisoners in a skirmish north of Baghdad over the last 24 hours as Washington and its allies continued operations throughout Iraq to clean up pockets of resistance.

Eight vehicles were seized in the firefight with what Brooks described as paramilitaries operating around the town of Samarra on the road from the capital to Tikrit.

[RichInOC]

DIGGERS: G'DAY GENTLEMEN ! !
DIGGERS: ALL YOUR 'MIG' ARE BELONG TO US.

[Nagual]

G'job mate! Now, please put them on e-bay.

[Paleo Conservative]

Looks like equipment headed to our agressor training squadrons.

[katana]

I continue to be immensely impressed with the Aussie SAS. These are some serious (no, not "series") BAMF's!

[ErnBatavia]

Are these people squirrels? Burying jets? Sheesh.

[riverrunner]

Cool At least they were smart enough not to try and fly them against us.

[elbucko]

ALL YOUR FRENCH FIGHTER PLANES ARE BELONG TO US

[Migraine]

These lads are Aus-some!

[Dan(9698)]

They had airplanes, but no pilots.

They were all out of the country on missions to fly into buildings.

[js1138]

Gee, if you can hide 51 aircraft, I wonder how difficult it would be to hide a few pounds of anthrax spores?

Patience.

[usual suspect]

Well at least they didn't give them all to Iran this time. I believe the first plane shot down in the gulf war was American, shot down by a MIG 25. The MIG cruises at Mach 2.5, and red lines at Mach 2.8, but cannot compete with American weaponry.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

ALL YOUR FRENCH FIGHTER PLANES ARE BELONG TO US

??? These are MIGS not MIRAGES.

[Rebelbase]

The Iraqi's were actually exercising common sense by burying the jets early on, as that is where they would have ended up anyway.

[Consort]

...Will this roundel and fin flash ever fly again?

[Poohbah]

Ping. Quit drooling.

[Timmy]

To those who say "If Saddam had WMD, why didn't he use them in his desperation?", I would point at all these aircraft he didn't use. Bottom line. Saddam either was killed early, or he never believed the Americans would follow all the way through, or both.

[elbucko]

??? These are MIGS not MIRAGES.

I stand properly corrected. I won't post anymore, until I've had my third cup of coffee.

[ken5050]

Excellent point.....obviously the Iraqi are really good at cammoflague...this was missed by all our satellites and drones..as wwell as a lot of manned flyovers....so it's not hard to imagine they're good at concealing WMD sites..