Mig-15’s & Mig-17’s the oldest ones ?
from an article of Feb ‘2009 ;
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 and its Chinese Shenyang J-5 (Jianjiji-5 – Fighter-5) clone was the East’s answer to the F-86. Of the 10,367 that left the assembly lines an estimated 500 are still held in service around the world. The Air Forces of Russia, Cuba, China, North Korea, Tanzania, Pakistan and Angola are known to still possess somewhat working models although they are not seen anymore as front-line fighters. It first flew in 1950, giving the design a lifespan of currently 59 years in active service and counting.
However the award for the longest life of a jet fighter design (narrowly) goes to the MiG-15. Built from a wholly-Sovet design with German WWII influence and Britain’s famous reverse-engineered Rolls-Royce Nene jet engine MiG-15 took to the sky and shocked the world December 31, 1948. It soon became famous while fighting in China and Korea. It was there that it was on the wrong side of the the first all-jet, air-to-air kill in history over “Mig Alley”. Some 18,000 of the jets were manufactured and they served in almost every Eastern bloc ally air force. Replaced as a front-line fighter by the 1960s it was the East’s primary advanced jet trainer. After the Berlin wall came down the old stubby MiG-15 was retired and hundreds of examples have been seen on four continents rusting away on forgotten grass-covered tarmacs. Albania retired the last combat versions in 2005 while both China and North Korea still own (and fly) a few as trainers. The 2009 Flight International Directory of World Aircraft also lists a handful of combat capable MiG-15’s in the airforces of Syria, The Congo, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Bottom line is that about 100 of the 61- year-old MiG-15 design fighters are still flying with no less than a half-dozen airforces.
Read more at Suite101: Oldest Fighter Jets Still in Service | Suite101 http://suite101.com/article/oldest-fighter-jets-still-in-service-a94620#ixzz2IpYQ6ozH
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