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eduard
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Info Eduard - March 2011
eduard
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Info Eduard - March 2011
HISTORY
MiG-21MF,Vietnam People’s Air Force, 921st Fighter Regiment ‘Sao Do’, own by
Pham Tuan, Vietnam War, 1970s
MiG-21MF, Slovak Air Force, 4th Flight, Sliac Airbase, Slovakia, ca.1999
MiG-21MF coded 5121 is currently display-
ed in the museum of the Vietnam People’s Air
Force in Hanoi. Reportedly, on December 27th,
1972, Pham Tuan ew this aircraft when he shot
down an American B-52 taking part in bombing
operations during the Linebacker II offensive.
It would be the only MiG-21MF kill over a Stra-
tofortress, but American sources claim the bom-
ber was lost to a SAM.
Pham Tuan would later become the only
Vietnamese astronaut. He was a crewmember
of Soyuz 37 and orbited the earth 142 times
in the Salyut 6 station. For his accomplishments,
he was awarded high Vietnamese commendati-
ons, and was on of a few foreigners to be awar-
ded the Hero of the Soviet Union.
It is interesting to note that Vietnamese sources
claim another B-52 shot down by a MiG-21.
In this instance, the kill claim is not having been
achieved with an on-board weapon, but rather
using a taran attack. It was supposedly carried
out by Vu Xuan Thieu, when on December 28th,
1972, he collided with a Stratofortress. Both
aircraft were destroyed, and the Vietnamese
pilot did not survive. Interestingly, neither the
pilot nor the wreckage of his aircraft, contrary
to the B-52 which fell in Son La province, were
ever found. This casts at least some shadow
of a doubt on the report.
With respect to the battle of the MiG-21 against
the B-52, there is one interesting rivalry. While
the Vietnamese have been attempting to credit
with kill after kill to the MiG-21, the Americans
have been very quick to attribute B-52 losses
to SAMs.
Three Vietnamese units ew the MiG-21; 921st
Squadron ‘Sao Do’ (Red Star), 923rd Squadron
‘Yen The’ (Peace Hill), and 927th (Blue Mountain).
Czech enthusiasts will be interested to note that
the only non-Vietnamese patriotic name given
to a squadron was ‘Julius Fucik’, a Czech commu-
nist journalist, which was adopted by the 910th
Training Squadron.
The scheme on this aircraft was applied in July,
1997, by members of the 31st Air Base at Sliac.
They were responsible for this unique scheme,
which gained the nickname ‘Milka’. This rather
odd naming is attributed to the similarity of the
scheme to the coloring of a bovine in combinati-
on with the famous Milka chocolate.
The aircraft was delivered to the Czechoslovak
armed forces from the Soviet Union in 1973,
and was transferred to Slovakia in the split
of military assets after the dissolution of the
country in 1993. The aircraft ew with the Slo-
vak Air Force until August, 2000, when it suffe-
red a lost canopy and a damaged stabilizer
in ight. The aircraft was repaired, but did not
y again. 2010 was the last year of existence
for ‘Milka’, when it was taken off charge, moved
to Prelouc in the Czech Republic, and scrapped.
The individual shades were developed by mixing
white and black paints, actually available to the
general public, and as such, were not ofcially
sanctioned camouage paints. Further research
is showing that the best greys to use would
seem to be C 305 and C306 from GSI (Gunze),
or shades UA-22 and UA-36 from Vallejo.
The left side of the front bears the insignia
of the 4th Flight, and the marking of the 31st
Air Force Base Sliac on the right. It was own by
Lt.Col. Frantisek Zsoldos, and the crewchief was
cpt. Krucina
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