Posted on 05/01/2026 1:13:18 AM PDT by Red Badger
For 25 years, Soviet pilots flew impossible missions—chasing an American aircraft that flew higher, faster, and more untouchable than anything in their arsenal. The SR-71 Blackbird operated at 85,000 feet and Mach 3.3. Soviet MiG-25 interceptors? They could barely reach 80,000 feet at Mach 2.8—and only for minutes before their engines burned out.
This is the story of over 800 failed intercept attempts. Of pilots who whispered the truth in ready rooms while filing false reports for Moscow. Of the psychological toll of chasing excellence you can see but never reach.
March 6, 1982: Major Mikhail Myagkiy climbs toward 80,000 feet in his MiG-25, fuel gauges plummeting, knowing the SR-71 above him will simply accelerate away. He's done this before. Every Soviet interceptor pilot has. And they all know the same terrible secret.
They're not defending Soviet airspace. They're performing theater for politicians who refuse to accept reality.
36 Minute Video at link..................
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
Yesterday, April 30, was the 59th anniversary of Hill 881S.
Twenty-seven of my Brothers died because that pos of a weapon.
Wow. I will watch later today. Thanks!
RIP for your brothers and all that got F-d by bureaucrats.
Not to disagree but I believe it was the non-spec., high-ash cheap ammo substituted for Vietnam which made the A1 model a POS.
I used a Vietnam-era A1 in training when I first went in. It was fine, jammed once on me from a magazine mis-feed (worn, mushy spring) but was very reliable. We were told the ammo in Vietnam was shit and it got a lot of ppl killed. Still had to clean the F out of those things every time they left the armory.
Liked the A1 and the A2. Found out on Range Duty the A2 would hotfire full-auto after a few mags so no issue with not full auto. It had it baked in and would be there when you needed it.
But yeah F those contractors for swapping in S ammo for profit. CID and FBI should have been all over that.
Name was Belenko. Read his story. Bad marriage. Step father was mean to him. Too many lies told over there. The screw heads were not flat behind the wings as it didn’t effect the speed. It demonstrated how unadvanced they were.
Belenko died recently.
The battle of Kasserine Pass? The problem was General Fredendall. He singlehandedly lost the battle with scattered deployments which could not be covered by artillery and lacked mutual support. He stayed in his bunker way behind enemy lines and refused to listen to his subordinates.
Once he was relieved of command those problems went away. While the Germans may very well have filed false reports during the war(especially later)- in the field the officers were trained and expected to use their own initiative and at that time in the war thry had a lot more experience than the American. What they lacked was among other things, was enough artillery. So, especially early in the war, an experienced German commander and officers would be just as capable and likely of changing tactics as American ones.
Privates filing after action reports? 😀 . OK. That would be something along the lines of - Hey Sarge! those Krauts that surprised us were using those irrigation ditches along the road for coverage whole time. Privates did not write up reports unless it was a very atypical situation and usually meant an investigation with a possible court martial was expected.(e.g. an officer had to shoot one of his own men for turning on him.)
I agree with your assessment that you were likely taken in by an AI generated falsehood.
They Soviets stressed Quantity Over Quality.
The pilots knew the planes were junk. The MIG-20 was so shoddy they would actually come apart at high speed and high altitudes if they made any sudden maneuvers. And some did when ‘chasing’ the SR-71.
The Mig-25 was a flying fuel tank, built especially for intercepting the SR-71. But couldn’t................
It was Victor Davis Hanson who made the 1.7 quote
Numbers seem low for Germans more around 8 million but regardless I think the early German army was very professional and effective, like all wars as it dragged on and losses mounted quality would decline naturally
Much of the early German successes were from this quality and tactics, don’t forget P tabs, but much of it was incompetence of French, English and Soviets.
French alone had more tanks and aircraft than Germany charB and Matilda were good tanks, but used as infantry suppprt weapons and spread out made them less effective
Interesting story where on one occasion where they massed some tanks and attacked Rommels flank, they were only stopped by using 88s perhaps for the first time in AT role. Story goes that rommel basically over inflated the attack and that lead to GS ordering halt to Dunkirk over flank worries 🤔
IMO one of the biggest mistakes made by Germans during war
Yours was readable, the second (smaller) one was gloopy.
A little scrolling is good for the soul, y’know
Bkmk
BFL
How is there enough oxygen at 85,000 feet to keep a jet engine functioning at mach 3.3? Humans suffocate at that level.
Bookmark
Super glue and duct tape? Works every time! ;>)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima
Unique among Pacific War battles involving amphibious island landings, total American casualties exceeded those of the Japanese, with a ratio of three American casualties for every two Japanese.[
The SR 71 is the most beautiful aircraft ever created. It doesn’t look like a machine. It looks like a living being . It’s amazing what can be accomplished when cost isn’t an object.
“Built especially for intercepting the SR71”
From ‘MIG Pilot’ Victor Belenko’s biography, he mentions the B-70, which he was briefed on, and was told there was a ‘special project’ that would take care of that. That became the MIG 25.
In my experience an AR will run dirty but won’t run dry.
That was a Top Secret.....................
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.