iraqi vampires

I seen other pics of -23MS with red-stars in private archives only.

cheers for the neat photos, esp the lat, which i haven’t seen! 🙂

seems blue 86 got re-branded red 86: and is still around somewhere in Ru

hey pesho!

im guessing the soviet mig-23MS pilot you know was part of the training group based at Tokmok/Tokmak, in now Kyrgyzstan?

From what ive read it seems the soviets only operated a handful of the type for training foreign 23MS operators?

Thanks for the feedback, MiGMan.

Would be interested in knowing why you feel this way (genuinely). I didn’t think that the text would give the impression that *all* MiG-23s were the same; and I thought I had treated the different MiG-21s and copies individually.

This is definitely something I can look at if you can present some specific examples that you have picked up on.

hiya!

not trying to sound nit picky, and i do realize perfectly well the info may not have been available, but from an honest curiosity point of view when reading the stories (if the info becomes/is available) would loved to know whether the pilots were referring to the mig-21F,or the MF/bis in their recollections. Its a very small thing, but would add to the accounts

(similar sort of thing when authors write about the Falklands and refer to mirages and daggers as just “mirages”, its kinda a bumber as aviation enthusiasts always love to know specific types 😀 😀 )

No, it would not have.

In the first place, it was researched from scratch, required a significant amount of relationship building to get people to open up, and called on more than 80 hours of interviews – all things that Mr Gordon is not renowned for.

In the second instance, this book is a collection of anecdotes – I did not present it, and do not pretend that it is, a technically-impeccable book about data, statistics and side-by-side comparisons. I would love to have written such a book, but the reality is that it would not have been accessible to the wider audience. It is what it says it is: a collection of stories that, to the best of my ability, I have tried to weave together to tell the story of the squadron.

im not at all doubting your strenuous research effort, and, on reflection, probably did miss the point of the book 😉 (and I KNEW yeffim would a bad example 😀 ) i was more thinking along the lines of “what would of been really cool, on top of..” to see a small part of the book look at the comparative difference in mindsets, opinions between a WP pilots impression and a US pilots impression, or say an author whos worked a lot on the soviet side of things comment on the US pilot impressions compared to their research on soviet opinions, was more what i was getting at 🙂

BTW if you ever find out the bort number of the afghan Su-22 the US acquired, i can provide the basic history behind the ac if you want 🙂 *pretty sure it was 804, but 2 defected, so could be one, other… or both!)

All the best!

On the other side it does show, that the US pilots did show little understanding about the way a MiG-23 was operated or the author was looking for selling claims at first. 😉

hiya!

I too read the book and came to the same conclusions! great accounts, and certainly a great insight into the horrors of the 23MS (stands for mega S**t? – but i still love it ) 😀

problem i found is it seems to take these accounts and applies it to Mig-23s in general (similar issue with call F-7s and Mig-21s a generic “mig-21” ), in that regard it disappointed me, as i was hoping for more insight vs anecdotal tales.

overall a great first into to the subject, im looking forward to a more comprehensive companion in future years though 🙂

some new shots of old somali ac 😀

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/18466805

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/18466710

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/18466584

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/18466367

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/18466457

angolan

http://sentinel.projects.googlepages.com/C314inSWA.jpg

interesting top down shot of Angolan mig-23….showing like Ethiopian and Iraqi examples, there seems to be a pattern of marking top left wing, bottom right wing with the national roundel

very tragic and mystifying at the same time! :S

of related interest there are ROVs capible of operating in up to 6000 meters, so depending on how fast the debris field can be guesstimated – might be a chance to find the boxes!

pity it didn’t end like air transat 236 🙁