FIGHTER OF THE CENTURY : MiG – 21 The “Hunter Killer”
From the days of Sputnik, Stalin and Yuri Gagarin to the age of space stations, stealth bombers and nanotechnology it appears that the MiG-21 has outflown all time barriers.
So good was the nimble MiG, that between 1966 – 72 it shot down 103 F-4s and many other US fighters sending a cold shiver down the spine of most US pilots over N. Vietnam. Come 2015 and the MiG-21 would be celebrating its Diamond Jubliee – 60 years as the “Hunter Killer”. Even today, Air Forces around the world are still upgrading the MiG, pushing the plane to its limits, like the IAF MiG-21 Bison (formerly known as the MiG-21-93/UPG) armed with the new Phazotron Kopyo radars, R-77 BVRAAMs and helmet mounted sights match up to the F-16s of the Air Force of Pakistan. Another good example is the Elbit Lancer (Israel-Romania).
Pakistan lost its Starfighter to the IAF MiG-21, Iran lost its famed F-14 Tomcat to the Iraqi AF MiG-21 and most recently an American F-15E was shot down by a MiG-21 over village Donja Trnova, 15km southwest of Bijeljina, Republic of Srpska and yet in another incident a Dogfight between a Yugoslav Mig-21 and US F-15 ended up with the F-15 crashing near Avala mountain. Here is the link :
http://www.aeronautics.ru/natodown03240423.htm
If there is a fighter plane that outflew time from the Cold War-Vietnam-Gulf War-Present Day eras of Fighter Aircraft, it undoubtedly is the MiG-21, a plane that was born in the age of the Sabre Jets and lived on to shoot down the F-117 Stealth Bomber in Yugoslavia (as some sources claim).
From the days of Sputnik, Stalin and Yuri Gagarin to the age of space stations, stealth bombers and nanotechnology it appears that the MiG-21 has outflown all time barriers.
So good was the nimble MiG, that between 1966 – 72 it shot down 103 F-4s and many other US fighters sending a cold shiver down the spine of most US pilots over N. Vietnam. Come 2015 and the MiG-21 would be celebrating its Diamond Jubliee – 60 years as the “Hunter Killer”. Even today, Air Forces around the world are still upgrading the MiG, pushing the plane to its limits, like the IAF MiG-21 Bison (formerly known as the MiG-21-93/UPG) armed with the new Phazotron Kopyo radars, R-77 BVRAAMs and helmet mounted sights match up to the F-16s of the Air Force of Pakistan. Another good example is the Elbit Lancer (Israel-Romania).
Pakistan lost its Starfighter to the IAF MiG-21, Iran lost its famed F-14 Tomcat to the Iraqi AF MiG-21 and most recently an American F-15E was shot down by a MiG-21 over village Donja Trnova, 15km southwest of Bijeljina, Republic of Srpska and yet in another incident a Dogfight between a Yugoslav Mig-21 and US F-15 ended up with the F-15 crashing near Avala mountain. Here is the link :
http://www.aeronautics.ru/natodown03240423.htm
If there is a fighter plane that outflew time from the Cold War-Vietnam-Gulf War-Present Day eras of Fighter Aircraft, it undoubtedly is the MiG-21, a plane that was born in the age of the Sabre Jets and lived on to shoot down the F-117 Stealth Bomber in Yugoslavia (as some sources claim).
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