Hot & Cold War Foes by Buffalo1
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Description
The McDonnell F-4 Phantom II is in U.S. Marine Corps colors, while the Soviet Union's Mig-21 wears it's red star. These two foes shot it out with each other in the skies over North Vietnam and the Middle East. They are still serving with a number of air forces around the world, but they are showing their age since both first flew in the late 1950s. Which is the better plane? The Phantom is a more versatile fighter-bomber and holds the worldwide honors in fighter combat with more Mig-21 kills. The Mig-21 is no slouch however and the NVAF, Russian and North Korean pilots who flew it over North Vietnam claimed over 90 Phantoms shot down. The actual number of kills is possibly between 50 and 60 and includes unarmed RF-4 recon planes and Phantoms loaded down with bombs. USAF & USN pilots were given confirmed kills on 80 Mig-21s over North Vietnam.
Even the good old Bell UH-1 "Huey" helicopter in the background scored a couple of air to air kills when a CIA crew doing secret stuff whacked two North Vietnamese Antonov AN-2 "Colt" biplane transports.
Photo taken at the National Air and Space Museum - Dulles Airport.
Comments (21)
rainbows
Impressive shot, superb work. Hugs. Diane. xx
tallpindo
Did the Marines ever get J models. I remember them as getting remanufactured B's as L's. I see an A-6 tail, an ATOLL up front and a Black Widow back there too. There is even a puzzle here. Is that light on the floor or a centerline extra sharp drop tank on the MIG? Aha! It is a wing tank on a pylon. So it is with photos. F, PF, J do I remember the little glass in the back of the MIG canopy and that exact height of dorsal hump? Of course not!
Kuiski
a very wonderful capture! cool!
mizoli
Excellent capture!
erlandpil
Great shot erland
texboy
Ain't that Udvar-Hazy display grand?? Good one, B!
rawdodb
Beautiful SHot!!!!!! Although the Mig is an Awesome plane, I still favor the F4....
SapUS59
excellent image and information, that museum looks like a great place to visit, thanks for sharing my friend !!
DCLEW2
Great perspective here. I'd love to visit this museum.
Buffalo1
I'd trust tallpindo on what mark of Phantom this is since he worked with Phantoms.
wingnut55
Nice shot. Maybe, when the lights are out and everyone has gone home, these two talk about their glory days.
jocko500
tallpindo knows his stuff. all I know it is something to see two planes that fought each other in the same shot. real cool
Vik9740
very sleek machine.. i like the lighting
Silgrin
Wow, so old version of MiG-21... Probably F, or F-13? Both had no radar yet! Regarding the shots, remember that well trained U.S. pilots opposed guys from poor countries who sometimes could hardly perform basic maneouvring! This heavily influenced the score. The same was true for Korean war, where Sabres shoot down "hundreds" of MiG-15 despite being more or less equal in mock combat! A true comparison would be between, say, India and Pakistan... where Sabres suffered heavy losses.
Richardphotos
not easy to get good povs in museums but you done it really well.love the history also
busi2ness
Even here as close as Angola the Mig-21 was maybe not that successful in aerial combat, but the South African forces mainly equipped with the likes of the Impala had NO chance after they had been deployed. As a matter of fact, the Impala's did not even dare take off. I have a friend here on Renderosity who was on the Russian side during the war years and it would be interesting to meet one day and discuss those days - over a decent Vodka of course, lol.
Buffalo1
Both the Mig 21 and the Phantom were fairly evenly matched in the air to air category looking at performance stats, each had its strengths and weaknesses that could be exploited. The same thing goes for the Mig-15 versus F-86 Sabres in Korea. Pilot training in effective tactics makes all the difference. U.S. and Israeli pilots have proved this time and again in the Phantom. As Manfred von Richtofen said, "It's not the crate. It's the man flying the crate." The Red Baron was an excellent judge of such things.
e-brink
Wonderful photograph! Excellent equipment!
junge1
Nice shot and excellent documentation. The F-4C was my favorite aircraft when I was at DaNang, Sig...
Jaml
Excellent capture
katy555
Gorgeous scene image, perfectly done...