YF-110

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/06/2013 at 09:57 • Filed to: planelopnik

Your eyes are not deceiving you. This photo does in fact show a Russian built MiG-21 Fishbed-E in American colors. In 1967, the USAF acquired this MiG-21 from Israel after an Iraqi pilot defected to Israel during a training flight. The MiG-21 was transferred to the US, where the Defense Intelligence Agency carried out Project Have Doughnut (the project’s name came from the “doughnut” sight on the F-4 Phantom used to target opposing aircraft) to evaluate the MiG-21 against American fighters of the time.

The website !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! says of the MiG-21:

The MiG-21 Fishbed is the most built jet ever. Fast, small, agile dependable, and above all simple, this swept-wing MiG design ... was turned out in prodigious numbers, flooding the skies above Europe, Asia, Africa, and even Central America with literally thousands of modern, deadly fighters. It has flown in more wars than any other airplane in the world, over 10,000 of them produced by the Soviet Union, it’s allies and China with a 30-year record equal, and parallel, to the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.

The MiG-21 prowess isn’t its target capabilities or range. Known as a pilot’s plane partially because it doesn’t have any computers or fancy navigation equipment, the swept-wing Fishbed depended on the pilot’s training and experience. Though this lack of technology might be termed the MiG-21's Achilles verse, it certainly shocked the Phantom pilots when it arrived in the skies over Vietnam and proved itself over and over as a formidable dogfighter against the heavier American fighters, which was another reason for the success of the MiG-21. An analog to the F-104 in that it is a Mach-2 fighter, its reliable engine, easy maintenance, rough field capabilities, and safe flight characteristic made it the most successful jet aircraft of all times. See declassified photos below.

Designated YF-110, the Fishbed was flown against F-4, F-105, F-111, F-100, F-104, B-66, RF-101, RF-4 and F-5 aircraft over Groom Lake. The testing discovered that the Fishbed “has an excellent operational capability in all flight regimes. However, performance is limited below 15,000 feet due to severe airframe buffeting....” Other limitations of the Fishbed were poor forward and rearward visibility, poor gun capacity, high longitudinal control forces, excessive airspeed bleed off at high G loads, and extremely poor engine response at throttle inputs.

The testing led to specific tactics for each aircraft that might face the MiG-21. For example, the F-104 “should employ high-speed, hit-and-run tactics during offensive action and avoid prolonged maneuvering engagements. If the offensive situation deteriorates, the F-104 should separate by accelerate to above Mach .98 below 15,000 feet.” Versus with the F-4, the MiG-21 had more instantaneous G available than the Phantom at any given airspeed up to the limit load factor of the aircraft. The F-111, F-105 and F-100 were suggested to avoid maneuvering against the MiG-21 that was far more agile that those U.S. planes.

The complete !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was recently declassified, and is available for download.

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DISCUSSION (21)

SteyrTMP > ttyymmnn
11/06/2013 at 10:12

When it comes to a country pulling some ballsy intelligence stunts, Israel tends to take the cake.

The Mig-21 wasn't ballsy as useful. Operation Rooster, on the other hand...

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Histor…

but Operation Opera remains my favorite. I'm waiting for Operation Opera II...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation…

ttyymmnn > SteyrTMP
11/06/2013 at 10:25

The defection by the Iraqi pilot was actually prearranged by the Mossad.

Bluecold > ttyymmnn
11/06/2013 at 10:39

Also, cheap

http://www.controller.com/listingsdetail…

Faster than a GT-R for less money!

SteyrTMP > ttyymmnn
11/06/2013 at 10:48

Yeah, they did it for the US. We'd been trying to find out more about it, they're like, "Oh, you mean THIS one?"

ttyymmnn > Bluecold
11/06/2013 at 11:03

That doesn't seem like much money, but I bet maintenance is a bitch.

f86sabre > Bluecold
11/06/2013 at 12:29

Much want on that one!

Goshen, formerly Darkcode > ttyymmnn
11/06/2013 at 15:49

Wasn't the F-110 name originally assigned to the F4H?

LoremIpsum010101 > ttyymmnn
11/12/2013 at 18:34

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a delta wing design, not a swept-wing design?

ttyymmnn > LoremIpsum010101
11/12/2013 at 18:44

I think it's considered a swept rather than a delta wing because it has a traditional elevator at the rear. A true delta would have none, like the F-106. But I'm no aero engineer.

Kinja'd!!!

pauljones > Goshen, formerly Darkcode
11/12/2013 at 20:56

Yes it was, but the moniker was so short-lived that it's become a little-known, but interesting, factoid. Kudos for knowing that.

Thunder > ttyymmnn
11/12/2013 at 21:32

My quick story: I ran into a MiG-21 owner.

I was perhaps 14, out mountain biking with a friend, when I saw a unique aircraft pass overhead on approach to our local airport. It was, for the glance I got, one of two possibilities: F-86 Sabre, or MiG-15. I immediately headed home and told my father the same; he said basically 'no way', and called the tower, to be told I was wrong. It was in fact a MiG-17, and it was taxiing in at that moment.

We headed for the airport, and had a typical pilot to pilot chat, learning that Jim Wickersham had just purchased the MiG-17, and was flying it home to California from Vermont. He was concerned about fog the following morning in Ohio, and elected to put down at our little field instead. Therefore, he had no arrangements for lodging, food, etc, so we took him to a hotel on the airport, then to our house where he joined us for dinner.

He was a retired commander in the US Navy, where he had been diving officer on an Ohio class SSBN; he advised that he was the only diving officer who had never broached the boat. He had a fleet of planes in California, including a MiG-21; he advised if I ever got a chance to get out to the left coast, to let him know and he'd take me up in it; we could go supersonic out over the ocean. Sadly, that never took place, and I've lost track of him over the intervening almost quarter-century.

Anyway, that's my MiG-21 (once removed) story.

ReallyAverageAvalon > ttyymmnn
11/12/2013 at 21:45

This is part of why the F-117 got its designation. It was hoped that if anything about the plane were leaked, spies would think it to be just another captured Soviet aircraft used for testing rather than a new bomber. Also, wanting to attract fighter pilots by obscuring the fact that it was a bomber probably didn't hurt. (The F-117 did have a fighter's landing gear though)

94GTratracer > ttyymmnn
11/12/2013 at 23:17

You can see the engineering in these jets and have an inkling of what they can do. Maneuverability may not make the best weapon, but these are the most beautiful of these terrible machines.

Viggen > ttyymmnn
10/12/2014 at 14:21

Ah, yes, the MiG-21F-13 we acquired from Israel. I highly recommend the book Red Eagles for more knowledge about the MiGs operated out of TTR.

Viggen > ttyymmnn
10/12/2014 at 14:25

It's classified as a tailed delta.

EDIT: Why am I pending approval?

ttyymmnn > Viggen
10/12/2014 at 14:37

No idea.

Viggen > ttyymmnn
10/12/2014 at 14:38

Odd.

ttyymmnn > Viggen
10/12/2014 at 14:50

I wrote this piece almost a year ago, before the reintroduction of pending replies. Perhaps that has something to do with it? Or, because Kinja.

Viggen > ttyymmnn
10/12/2014 at 14:55

That's so weird it showed up as one of the currently popular stories, that's why I replied.

ttyymmnn > Viggen
10/12/2014 at 15:02

I had linked to this in a reply to a Foxtrot Alpha story on Friday. No idea how Kinja decides that will show in the sidebar or wherever.

Viggen > ttyymmnn
10/12/2014 at 15:03

Classic Kinja.