Crob,
The first batches of J-7s built were absolute crap, and were hardly airworthy. A number of these survive in Albania which has been using artisan craftmanship to keep them airworthy, but they were either rejected or operated by the PLAAF for only a very short time. Production then was suspended until the J-7B came around after the Cultural Revolution. The J-7 production seriously only started in the late 1970s.

Also, there is no cg problem with MiG-21M/MF/bis series of spined-Fishbeds, so it is not an issue with the J-7III/IV. That problem only existed with the MiG-21SMT.

I’ll do a cross-reference on your US kill list with Hobson’s Vietnam War Air losses.

I’ll see if i can find anything. But it’s not unlikely that this machine was brought to the park after having been at Zhukovskii (more aircraft preserved in and around Moscow are former test birds, like the T6M-26 aka Su-24MR at the Central Forces museum), the strake being a mod unique to this bird. I hadn’t noticed this before, but then again my eye is no longer trained for modelling 🙂

And thanks for putting me straight on the wing thing. Didn’t mention it in any articles, glad i didn’t goof up too bad on this one 😮

Interesting of MarocMirage’s pic is that it actually shows a Soviet MiG-23BN. If you look at the pic, you’ll see it has the large intake splitter plates, the exhaust and the fuselage-mounted hardpoints that tell you the difference between a MiG-23BN and a MiG-27. After some initial run-ups, there was only one Soviet training regiment equipped with the -BN based at Borisoglebsk.

Alexander, nice to see you here again!

Well, as I see the cockpitsection and the front windows of the Cougar look totally different then of the Super Puma !

That depends on the subvariant, essentially the Super Puma airframe is the same as the Cougar airframe.

In the Aerospatiale designation system, the first digit in the three-digit helo denoted the ‘market’: designator starting with ‘3’ was the civilian variant, while the ‘5’ was for military versions. Like AS532 Cougar and AS[b/3[/b]32 Super Puma, or AS350 Ecureul or AS550 Fennec. The same airframe, but the civilian and military variant of each.
The second of three digits denoted the airframe type. AS355 Ecureuil or AS365 Dauphin.
The third of the digits was for the ‘main variant’ of the particulair airframe: the AS55 Fennec has one engine, the AS355 Fennec has two. And the AS (or SA, when it was still Sud Aviation) 33 Puma has the short fuselage, unlike the AS332 Super Puma.

So the basic system is already pretty complicated, especially if you consider that the numbers itself aren’t really logical: there is no any AS540 or AS562 even though these designations would actually make al lot of sense. Worse is the fact that the designation system has changed a number of times THROUGHOUT production, making steady customers recieve helicopters which are roughly the same but under a totally different designation and designation system.

If you look at the Puma series for example, you’ll see that it has been built under three designation systems now:
1 – The original Sud Aviation SA330 series.
2 – The Aerospatiale AS330/AS332 Puma/Super Puma series. Originally this was both for the civilian AND military airframes.
3 – The separate civilian and military designations, so AS332 Super Puma and AS532 Cougar (the original Puma was no longer built at this time, unless you want to include license-built machines like the IAR330, but let’s keep it simple… brwhahahahaa :p )
4 – The current Eurocopter series. For the Super Puma it’s EC725, but i haven’t yet bothered to get into these designations. Especially since i also have to blend in old MBB designators into the new Eurocopter system.

Sometimes, i understand why there is a certain cult amongst Dutch planespotters which ignores helicopters.

That camouflaged Flagon is definately rare. I’ve seen very few pictures of camouflaged Flagons. Actually, i’ve seen more camouflaged Flagons in real life (and sadly mostly in pieces) than on photos…

And there’s fun to be had with Cuban Floggers as well!

Remember that O-2 or Cessna 337 from the reactionary Brothers to the Rescue which was shot down by Cuban MiGs when on a subversive mission to chew on the rightful chairmanship of Fidel?

One of the defenders of Cuban airspace against those retrobatistas was a MiG-29. The Brothers to the Rescue think it look like this: .

😀

Number 4: Bréguet 965, halfway between the Vultur and Br.1050 Alizé.
Number 5: Myasishchev VM-T, an external cargo hauler made from rebuilding Mya-4 and 3M bombers/tankers.

Threads merged.

Apart from starting new threads, it can be a lot of fun to read the forum as well every now and then… there was a thread on the RAF’s Typhoon guns on the very first page of this forum!