Australian Forces Find 51 Migs in Western Iraq

Reuters ^ | Fri April 18, 2003 | Reuters

[hchutch]

I wonder if any will be for sale...

What type of MiGs? Looks like at least one Foxbat, and a two-seater, too. Always wanted to make a Mach 3 run from DC to Milwaukee... :)

[klpt]

[Poohbah]

Uh...the Mach 3 run would end somewhere in Lake Michigan, due to either (a) fuel starvation or (b) completely destroying the engines.

The Foxbat was an overrated piece of crap until Belenko let us see one up close.

[Consort]

[Cicero]

This is what happens when you have a megalomaniac in charge of a country. No one can do anything unless the head megalomaniac gives the order, but no one can be trusted near him to get the order, for fear of assassins.

All the really effective weapons are buried in tunnels or bunkers, because none of his troops can be trusted with them. So when the war starts, the first logical order of business is to dig up the planes, missiles, chemicals, and so forth for use against the enemy; but there's no one to give the order to dig them up. So they are still in storage after our military has overrun the whole country.

[Consort]

Iraqi Air Force:

SQUADRON	BASE	AIRCRAFT
4th	Muthena	MiG-29
6th	Habbaniya	MiG-29
8th	Al Bakr	Su-22M
9th	Al Bakr	Su-22M
9th	Qayyara	MiG-21
14th	Habbaniya	MiG-21
44th	Habbaniya	Su-22M
69th	Al Huriyya	Su-22M
73rd	Habbaniya	MiG-23
79th	Qayyara	Mirage F.1EQ/BQ
109th	Habbaniya	Su-25K
?	Al Bakr	MiG-23
?	Al Qadisiya	MiG-25
?	Al Qadisiya	MiG-21
?	Al Basrah	MiG-25R

[hchutch]

Perhaps...

Maybe if they have a couple of -23s, I'll take them instead.

[klpt]

[F16Fighter]

Only a matter of time before we unearth the entire Iraqi naval fleet from within the middle of the desert?

[johnb838]

These are some serious (no, not "series") BAMF's!

I want to see them do some "syrias" work.

[johnb838]

As someone pointed out on Fox, we came through a frickin' keyhole in Kuwait. Any military commander worth his salt could have made us pay dearly for that. I hadn't realized quite how audacious this was until I thought about that.

[dljordan]

I'm sure we picked these planes up on satellite imagery. I wonder why we didn't bomb them? Must not have been much of a threat.

[Sparta]

The picture appears to be of a MiG-23"Flogger" or its ground-attack varient, the MiG-27.

[Sparta]

ALL YOUR FRENCH FIGHTER PLANES ARE BELONG TO US

The MiGs are Russian-built. The French-built fighters would be either Mirage IIIs or Mirage 5s.

[ellery]

bttt

[Hank Rearden]

Lieutenant Colonel Mark Elliott said some of the planes had been buried or covered over with dirt

Show me where the manual says to do that.

[Sparta]

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

The roundel was used before WWII by Iraq and the flag has been used since the fifties, before the Ba'athists took over. I see no reason why I won't fly again on Iraqi MiG-29s, MirageIIIs, and F-16s(that we sell them).

[Sparta]

Strikemaster ground attack jet, if I'm not mistaken.

[Hoplite]

I now a roundel when I see one, and that, sir, is a triangel.

[BlessedBeGod]

I'm sure they were planted there by us. </sarcasm>