Mig 21 Bison
Posted on 12/19/2013 4:59:18 AM PST by MBT ARJUN
Mig 21 Bison
I always liked the MiG-21...good, small, cheap, effective dogfighter.
I don't think so...
Not that good a dogfighter. More like a point defence interceptor. Backward visibility and range aren’t enough. There was a better experimental version (E-7 or something) around 1967 but it wasn’t put into production in favor of Mig-23.
I’m sure the Pak pilots were at the top of their game too. Pakistan is famous for their piloting skills.
I doubt it’s so obvious that the IDF had better pilots.
I have no doubt that a MiG-21 would beat an F-104 in a turn and burn dog fight. But only an idiot F-104 pilot would turn and burn against that delta wing.
I'm all for the Indians whooping up on the Pakis, but this article is a real piece of... happy nostalgia. The MiG-21 was clearly one of the premier aircraft in the world in 1971 and the Indian pilots were superior to the Paki pilots. They also had three times as many MiG-21s as the Pakis had F-104s.
Lol. Just what I was about to post. I remember reading once that we had some plane with a hundred and some gauges. The model we sold them had like 15 or 20 idiot lights.
Like back in the 1980’s when a Pak F-16 accidentaly shot down his wingman.
Top Gun, they are not.
The should be the Boxcar.
With dim bulbs to match their pilots.
You mean Bocks Car?
If the IAF didn't use the soviet style centralized command that the soviets did, the aircraft and pilot have the potential to be quite a threat.
/johnny
The F-104 was West Germany's front-line fighter at the time and was prone to accidents.
An F-86 Sabre vs. a MiG-21? That would be the equivalent of a Nieuport-17 vs. a P-61.
Thanks for the picture. I have one of the EG that my 1st Marine Raider Uncle had taken when it was on Tinian. I had it signed by Tibbets and his Navigator some years ago.
The F-104 was a pure interceptor. It had a stall speed of over 200 mph and was a real handful to land and takeoff.
I’d say the turning radius of a 5G turn would have to be measured in tens of miles.
To dog fight with it would be quite stupid.
It doesn't matter how good the plane is, if the pilot is incompetent.
It doesn't matter how skilled the pilot is, if he's unwilling to actually get up there and engage the enemy.
“The F-104 was West Germany’s front-line fighter at the time and was prone to accidents.”
The F-104G that Germany used was essentially a different aircraft. It was heavily modified for ground attack. Lengthened fuselage, increased fuel capacity, ground-mapping radar, inertial navigation — all the things you’d look for in a low-level strike aircraft. But it was a handful.
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