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Info Eduard - March 2011
HISTORY
MiG-21 MF, German Democratic Republic, Jagdiegergeschwader 3,
Preschen Airbase, 1990
MiG-21MF No.8460, Egyptian Air Force, Mansoura Airbase, 1981
MiG-21MF No.7628, Egyptian Air Force, unit unknown, Tanta Airbase, 1988
Red ‘687’ was assigned to JG-3 based at Pre-
schen near the town of Forst through the eigh-
ties and into the nineties. At that time, this unit
operated the MiG-21MF as well as the MiG-
29, and pilots also had the MiG-21UM and
MiG-29UB training versions at their disposal.
This unit served in the air force of the German
Democratic Republic, which was the former co-
mmunist East Germany. The JG-3 was graced
with the name ‘Wladimir Komarow’, in honor
of the Soviet Cosmonaut who died in April, 1964,
while landing in the Soyuz I capsule. This aircraft
is in the collection of the Deutches Museum Flu-
gwerft in Oberschleissheim.
The ‘Nile Valley’ camouage scheme appeared
on Egyptian aircraft at the end of the seven-
ties. The Egyptian command concluded that the
two color scheme as delivered by the Soviets
was inadequate for combat in the Middle East.
The result was a scheme composed of three tones
Machine No.7628 represents the appearance
of Egyptian military aircraft that are known
through to the present day. The black outlined
bright orange elds appeared on Egyptian
aircraft at the end of the seventies, not only
on the MiG-21, but also other ghters such
as the MiG-19, F-4 Phantom and the Mirage. The
reason for this was closer American ties and visu-
al recognition of friendly aircraft in combat over
those of Libya. Egyptian-Libyan war, or rather
a skirmish took place over several days in July
1977. Its roots go back to the time after the loss
of the war Yom Kippur and subsequent improve-
on the upper surfaces made up of sand, green,
and dark grey. The front of the nose was ador-
ned with the head of the ‘Red Demon’, but the
relevance of this is still uncertain. It is possible
that it is a unit marking.
ment of relations between Egypt, Israel and the
USA. Libyan leader Gadda, backed by Soviet
support, did not want to accept this orientation
of its neighbor. Everything culminated with ar-
med conicts on the ground, which started
on 21st July 1977 on the Libyan-Egyptian border.
The initial attack by Libya was swiftly countered
by Egypt and which also managed to occupy
some border cities in Libya. The former presi-
dent of Egypt, Anwar Sadat was discouraged
by other Arabic countries from engaging a deep
invasion in the Libyan territory. An ofcial ce-
ase-re was agreed to on 24th of July, 1977.
Mediators in the peace talks included the Alge-
rian president and also Palestinian terrorist and
holder of the Nobel Peace Prize Yasser Arafat.
The Mirage ghter jets were also involved
in these battles on the Libyan side. In order for
the Egyptians to distinguish their own aircraft
of the same type, they started to paint their own
jet in orange colour, with black-lined panels.
By their shape and placement, they were inspi-
red by the Israeli Air Force.
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