The Secret MiGs at Area 52 | Behind the Wings

[@TheStabbyCyclist]

As a Navy F/A-18E/F/G maintainer, I cannot overstate how much I appreciate the mention of the maintainers that were crucial to this program. I've always found the acquiring and maintaining aspects of Constant Peg to be the most intriguing.

[@Tubes12AX7k]

I was wondering the same thing - how did they know what lubricants were needed, were did they find spare parts, etc. Somehow they must have gotten service manuals, as well. Or maybe not?

[@mustangswede]

​@@Tubes12AX7k Reverse Engineering on everything i guess? (including fluids) but surely through intel work they got hold of manuals too.. right?

[@EliteExteriorPaintingCalgary]

​@@Tubes12AX7k❤😊

[@robo3915]

Check out the “10 percent true” channel. That guy wrote the book on Constant Peg. Has lots of videos about it. The book is crazy, what the mechanics had to do to keep those aircraft flying is truely above and beyond!

[@guillermogarcia6248]

It has to be a real challenge to keep those aircraft flyable, I guess they did an incredible job. Same happened with the IRIAF F-14, but in my opinion their project was more focused on cannibalization of other aircraft but still incredible how ground engineers could copy and manufacture real components or manufacture HYD fluid through an analysis of the real fluid. As a ground engineer it blows my mind 😂😂

[@talltanbarbie5136]

Soviet pilots did get to fly American aircraft. If you want to know more about the tests and to see how the F-5 also held up against the MiG-23M, you can read this excerpt from the book Life-Long Runway written by Soviet Air Force test pilot Vladimir Kondaurov. "In the summer of 1976 a disassembled American F-5 fighter jet was delivered to our base at Aktubinsk. To be correct, it was F-5E - the latest variant with increased engines thrust. By the size it was smaller than MiG-21, had two engines installed side-by-side in the fuselage, a sharp swept-down nose and short tapered wings. The war in Vietnam had finished, and the United States Air Forces were leaving this long-suffering country, hastily abandoning several aircraft of this type on one of the airfields. One of them was handed over to the USSR together with its pilot manual. There were no technical descriptions, but our engineers figured everything out, assembled it to the last bolt and made it flyable, bringing not only the foreign hard pieces together, but also tons of electric wiring. A test brigade was formed to conduct special flight tests, and a program was written, which assumed 35-40 test flights. I was one of the test pilots, our lead was Nikolay Stogov." theaviationgeekclub.com/soviet-pilot-who-test-flew-captured-f-5-against-mig-21-mig-23-explains-why-the-tiger-beat-the-fishbed-flogger-in-every-engagement/

[@looseygoosey1349]

nice read.

[@dennisa7784]

I mean it was just an F5 though. The mig 23 and 21 was top ussr spec at the time whereas the f14 and f15 would've been the top US spec

[@stevetobe4494]

When Iran changed governments, the Russians had access to Iranian F-4s, F-5s, and the F-14s.

[@dennisa7784]

@@stevetobe4494 sure but by then the US were on to f16s f15s and fa18s which there is no evidence they aquired

[@chronozeta]

⁠​⁠@@dennisa7784Agree, its just not the same. By the time Russians had access to F5s F4s and F14s (most likely not) US was already done with them and switched to superior aircraft which Russians never had access to. Meanwhile US had access to 21s 23s when Russians and USSR relied on them heavily.

[@bossbluff3577]

One of the most sincere shout-outs to the maintenance team. 👍🏼👍🏼

[@hafidzrahman4533]

I was told by my friend who served as a pilot in Indonesia Air Force (TNI AU) that beside Bulgaria and warsaw pact countries, the US acquired the MiGs are from Indonesia service too. It was happened in 1965 after the 30th September coup, the Soviet imposed sanction to Indonesian government. To paying the debt and searching a new aircraft, the Indonesian then turn to US after the Soviet bloc. The US acquired the MiG fleet after the Indonesian government agreed to exchange the MiG-21F-13 fleet it had previously purchased from the Soviet Union for the F-5E/F Tiger II.

[@Steve-Loring]

Who’s here because of the short?

[@ottonormalverbrauch3794]

Guilty as charged.

[@viniciusmartins7363]

​@@ottonormalverbrauch3794 me too

[@zoltanszabados8445]

Present

[@deanseymour4961]

🫡

[@BBC42618]

😂me

[@mig29fulcrumflyer]

I was a brand-new USAF 1Lt and had been flying the F-15 for about 7 months when my squadron was headed to Nellis for my first Red Flag. During the predeployment briefing the squadron's deployment project officer put up a slide showing the calendar of events for the two weeks. The first Monday was fam day where we would fly across the Nellis ranges and familiarize ourselves with the geographical references. Day two showed I was scheduled for something called Constant Peg. My reaction was what's up with this? I want to go do Red Flag. The person sitting behind me leaned forward and told me not to worry, I was going to like Constant Peg. On the Tuesday after fam day, I and my flight lead went to the Red Eagles' facility at Nellis, which was a single-wide trailer. I got in-briefed and flew two sorties against MiG-21s that day. My thought was "is this a great country or what?" My next assignment after the F-15 was to fly F-5s as an Aggressor pilot. The two Nellis-based F-5 squadrons and the Red Eagles made up what was called Adversary Tactics, meaning that the commanders of the three squadrons worked for the same colonel. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted, I never got a chance to join the 4477th. I was probably too young in the fighter pilot business anyway. The 4477th shut down in 1988 and over the next year the F-5s went the way of the dinosaur. I did, however, get to fulfill my dream of flying MiGs when in 1995 I was selected as the first of three USAF pilots to fly MiG-29s as an exchange pilot with the German Air Force, which I did for 2 1/2 years from Jan 96 until Jul 98. Germany inherited 24 Fulcrums with the reunification. My last job in the Air Force was as commander of the Red Eagles from 2002 to 2004 in the unit's then incarnation.

[@cdyjv118]

Mustve been an incredible experience getting hands on with the real threat! Im sure you put that first-hand Fulcrum experience to good use when you got back to Nellis ;)

[@dustinalkire]

I'm sure you have some awesome stories!

[@highroller96]

Username checks out

[@DanelectroJazz]

Absolute legend, I envy your life. Lucky/hardworking man

[@dzonibravo7867]

I was expecting to read some reviews of the MiG, not biography... 😐

[@alanrogers7090]

Thanks for this second episode. Would love to hear more about Constant Peg and the MiG-21s. Speaking about aircraft maintenance people, my late father-in-law was a maintenance Staff Sergeant in the Air Force until he retired. He worked on B-52s and later several types of fighters.

[@towmotornoises]

Was an Air Force aircraft maintainer from 2006-2013 and I really, really appreciate the love for maintainers that the pilot here has.

[@AvengerII]

Wings Over the Rockies is producing some VERY nice videos! I'm impressed by what's been popping up in my YT video feed lately. This guest from the secret US MiG program in particular has been an excellent one. I've read and heard a little bit about the US MiG program -- believe it or not, some things WERE leaked in the 1980s and early 1990s when I was at the peak of my aviation reading -- but hearing a frank appraisal of the MiGs vices and pluses from a US pilot is night insight. I think the MiG-29 was the prettiest fighter design the Soviets produced.

[@johnblaze3546]

I was just a young lad back then, But today in my DCS World cockpit and sim, it is the next best thing. Thanks guys great show, both of them. I salute you.

[@huskyflylangley6053]

I have flown AN-2s and I love the design philosophy. Really rugged, self sufficient, we were carrying a 1400 kg load out of a 600' rough, dirt strip. It has an onboard electric fuel pump so someone can leave fuel drums out in the middle of nowhere, and you can fill up the plane with no ground facilities. If the battery goes you can crank up the starter by hand to get yourself started, Pneumatic system for brakes, and to pump up tires, struts, and to blow out the cabin after working; it has no registered stall speed at all, and are available all over. Perfect bush plane for Alaska, but Cessna lobbied our congress to not grant certificate, because they want you to buy a 5M dollar Caravan that does less. I'll take Antonov over Caravan. Put a turbine on it if you want to work with it, and it's a beast.

[@deltavee2]

Annies have been around for eeeever and their reputation is thoroughly justified. Some tech crosses political lines and the AN-2 is absolutely one of them. I'd love to have one! Would have been a fabulous bush plane here in the Canadian North.

[@FishFlys]

Listening to these guys talk is something else man, so much appreciation for what these men have accomplished

[@EmTekTube]

Crazy how much knowledge was packed into a 30 second short that led me here, well worth the watch

[@richiephillips1541]

You maintenance folks may like this: I worked at a large plant and hired on as an 'operator'. I was told that maintenance guys fix the 'jet', but I was like the fighter pilot who flew it. (Top Gun visions!) To my surprise, I quickly discovered that the plant management was pro maintenance, and not so fond of operators. Well, I have to say that the plant set records for availability and we operators (although sometimes treated like the proverbial stepchildren) recognized the absolute value of a top shelf maintenance program.

[@rndullrobinson3076]

I was a civilian tech at the tonopah test range.I was on range, talking to a AF lcol and we stopped talking to watch a b52 fly by at about a thousand feet. From behind us a mig 17 comes over makes a simulated flank attack on the buff and flies off. I"m standing there slackjawed and said "holy crap, that was a freaking mig". The AF officer says " What?? I didn't see anything!!!!! The fact that I didn't see anything was emphasized by a series of more important civilian and military types. This was f117 time and despite being on the same test range we never had a clue about it. I remember that mig sounding like a high time vacuum cleaner being dragged through the air sideways.

[@bogdanmacoviciuc]

Great video you guys. For part 3 can you also bring in a person from the maintenance of Constant Peg. I'm curious about the technical hurdles these guys must have gone through to keep these planes up and running. Love from Romania ❤

[@tophercaesar5375]

This was an amazing interview! Please thank everyone who participated, I absolutely loved this

[@ssaraccoii]

Would have been fascinating if they wouldn’t have told them the aggressors were going to be actual migs, then get the adrenaline going by being unexpectedly being approached by actual migs while they were unarmed for training.

[@stevetobe4494]

The problem with that is they were not to blurt out the words , "Mig-17, 21, or 23" over the radio for security reasons and had other names to designate their new identities over the radio..That is why they were told in advance.

[@sgsheff]

I did hear on another interview from an F-14 pilot that they actually didn't tell them what they were flying against for the first sortie and they only used call signs over the radio.

[@sgsheff]

And the F-14 pilots were shocked at how much faster the Mig-23 accelerated than the F-14. They would fly next to each other and go full throttle at the same time and the Mig-23 would leave the F-14 behind fast.

[@ximimi2440]

The US always was the aggressor

[@LordNinja109]

​@@sgsheffThe MiG-23 was just a large engine with Variable Sweep wings attached after all

[@guyray1504]

Thank you sir for this interview. I was at TTR July 1982 - DEC 1988. Supply 4450th. The first time i got off that airplane the first thing i saw was a few Migs on the runway. It blew my mind. The Red Hats could never beat us in softball at Nellis.

[@dylanthomas12321]

Haha!

[@tommasocosta7119]

One of the most interesting video and interview i've ever seen on the web. Many compliments to you and to mr. Mann, who gave us great and exhaustive answers without revealing more that he could really talk about. Thanks from Italy

[@rayF4rio]

Flew against the MIG-21/23 in 1987 out of NFWS. Awesome, and a pretty cool looking bird up close in the air.

[@fly69er1]

Were you a top gun student?

[@KeithChegwin24]

I love these interviews...I spent 4 years on Kandahar airfield and stayed at the hotel on there. The room across from me housed pilots that flew U2 spy planes, I think from NASA from memory, they gave me a patch and other cool memorabilia - I'm not a pilot and know nothing about planes or flying them - the many chats I had with those lads over time were memorable. Many of them worked on different projects over the years and had some amazing stories.

[@EnterpriseXI]

The Mig-23 is a very exotic looking fighter. A single powerful engine, swing wings, and its unique landing gear. That’s why I love it. Hopefully we’ll see another Flogger flying at air shows.

[@PasleyAviationPhotography]

3:42 Nellis is in Nevada, not New Mexico.... 29:20 you have Draken, ATAC and Top Aces. Proof has also been provided of Su-27's spotted over Groom lake, take that how you want.

[@tylerbuckley4661]

So true I heard about that Russian pilot back in the 80s bringing I think a mig 25 or was it a su27 one of the top Russian fighter jets to America

[@blakeskidmore523]

@@tylerbuckley4661 was a mig 25, which was a real bogeyman at the time.

[@tylerbuckley4661]

@@blakeskidmore523 I know I have books on migs and other Russian built aircraft

[@Nightsd01]

I actually had the pleasure of sitting inside a MiG-21 cockpit when I was in high school. I was in JROTC and for a history class film project, the colonel in our JROTC program got in touch with the Threat Museum folks on Nellis Air Force base to let us film a short video. They were even nice enough to lend us a fighter pilot helmet. It’s incredible to see this same magnificent jet all these years later

[@Wings_Museum]

Thanks to John Mann for coming back for MORE Constant Peg. We couldn't cover everything, so leave your questions and comments and Watch Part 1 kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZnmWf5mCg9ppsJY

[@h.cedric8157]

I have a question for any info as to what had happened to around 14 MiG-29s(bunch of 29As, one 29UB, and bunch of 29Cs) acquired by the US under the CTR program, purchased from Moldova around 1996, are they still around? Are they being used to now test US munitions on them to help Ukraine deploy HARM'S?

[@tylerbuckley4661]

No secret I heard about these jets I live next to Nellis AFB IN LV NV NOT NEW MEXICO NEW MEXICO IS WHITE SANDS AFB AND TEST SIGHT

[@tylerbuckley4661]

Hell we even have a hind 24 and hind 25 helicopters along with the other helicopters of Russian manufacturing

[@coguy999]

Colonel John Mann is a great pilot , mentor and friend. His career reads like fiction!

[@off_mah_lawn2074]

Would love to have him talk more about the aircraft and even have him talk us through all the startup procedures and emergency procedures for the aircraft!! Just watched both videos back to back would love to see this guy again.

[@Argyle117]

I would love to see a collab with paper skies for a Soviet perspective of this discussion. It’s really interesting to hear these stories.

[@darrenhillman8396]

Great interview. Fascinating to hear the accounts of DACT and the various models of MIG and how they flew. Greetings from across the pond! 🇬🇧

[@tooManywaystoFall]

As Marine EOD our team was invited by Nellis EOD to do some bombs and bullet training out at Tonapah, after clearances and official stuff we were granted acess to training areas very few ever see was witness to some high speed low drag stuff pertaining to the subject of this video, it was a blast no pun intended. Military pilots a cut above, God Bless America

[@bodiesteinwand6341]

good times in those dorms, and cheep drinks at the bar.🍻

[@DaftDrunk24]

I love the MiG-21 and MiG-29. Such beautiful aircraft and impressive performance.

[@JoJo-vm8vk]

Expandable engines 😅

[@xlgapelsin6173]

@@JoJo-vm8vk Mig 29 is super interesting since the engines give absolute insane amounts of thrust and many pilots say they are a dream to fly in that aspect

[@AiOinc1]

Almost everyone in the military has amazing stories, it's a shame that we'll never hear many of their tales but it's wonderful to hear the ones we can

[@Flammenwerfer1935]

It's sad that some people don't want to talk about it.

[@montanasnowman3138]

That guys hair piece is next level.

[@zagger_]

I got the opportunity to talk with this man during my last visit to this museum. He's a font of knowledge and a pleasure to learn from

[@TrakaBat]

Love the idea of some Soviet MIG pilot standing on the tarmac trying to remember where he left his plane.

[@abelandrepina97]

Seeing these videos of TTR is crazy, not a thing has changed!

[@CollectWithRyan]

Another amazing video! I’d love to hear more about constant peg and another episode.

[@foxbodyblues6709]

I remember driving past and marveling at the big hangar at Lowry in Denver.

[@kollektivdesignlabs]

This was so amazing to watch. Thanks for the great content !!!

[@nickhahn5412]

Reason number 194874 why the USAF is so far beyond the scope of its nearest competitor. Props to the air force for actually wanting to and not being afraid to put their aircraft to test against our soviet adversary. -old army sergeant

[@imchris5000]

you really think they were not also doing the same thing? they got a mountain of us technology when they pulled out of vietnam. they were playing the exact same spy games

[@705_radhe9]

The more you know about, What you're flying. "The Better Pilot You Are". thank u CL JOHN MANN & CHUCK STOUT for this grt episode.

[@mooradchoudhry4035]

What an excellent interview! Two gracious hosts, and Col. Mann is such a great interviewee, not a single superfluous word from him and so spot on with everything. As a UK citizen saddened to see the current state of the Royal Air Force, it's good to know that at least somewhere in the West there is a top notch Air Force that manages to run such advanced programmes and learn things that benefit the West. And Constant Peg proved that the Russian design and training philosophy was a long way behind in 2nd place to Western design and training philosophy. For me the best line from Col. Mann was this one: "I wonder why people even buy their equipment". Yes indeed! These MiGs, compared to Western designs, were clearly not in the same league. Why would any non-Russian air force want to use them?

[@SimplyTakuma]

Thank you so much for this episode!

[@frankwestphal8532]

Great video. I love hearing first hand stories of pilots and soldiers.

[@technojerry]

BTW you mis-titled Nellis AFB in you video. It is in Nevada outside of Las Vegas.

[@pauld6967]

😎 Thank you for doing this interview.

[@kinch613]

The graphic said Nellis AFB in New Mexico. It’s actually Las Vegas , Nevada. I was assigned to TTR in the late 80s-1992 with the 37th TGW. Some of the best days of my life. Also some of the harriest flights from Nellis to TTR haha.

[@Wileybird03]

Been to that museum about a year ago. Highly recommend if you’re an aviation guru! Lotta cool stuff in there

[@Ussmak]

A truly wonderful interview. Thank you.

[@jess500texas]

Yes, the soviets had something similar to the Americans. They got their hands on some F 5s from Vietnam and if I'm not mistaken, some A 37s as well. That helped them somewhat with tactics on how the American aircraft were used in ground attack, interception, etc

[@LiamPattisonPhotography]

Wow what a fantastic interview, such an informative and interesting video. John is a great guest!

[@OldmanGamerYT]

This was absolutely fascinating! Thank you for sharing!

[@golfrick007]

Back when I was in at the end of the first Gulf war I think we had a mig 21 in our Hanger, I can't remember but I think it was Chinese. Our squadron went to Red Flag at Nellis. The let us go into the war room and see the battle unfolding. The ACMI PODS were pretty neat.

[@robburns4176]

Ben Rich in his Book about the Skunkworks talks about how they would roll aircraft into hangers to keep them from being seen by Soviet spy satellites. They found out that the Soviets were using infared photos, so if an aircraft was parked in the sun and removed, they could still see a thermal shadow and identify what might have been sitting there. They could also see the after image of the heat from a power plant and make useful estimations from that. With that knowledge in hand, plywood shapes and kerosene heaters were put together to fabricate wing shapes and heat signatures to give Soviet intelligence annalists something to look at and puzzle over.

[@montanasnowman3138]

What truck was shown at 20:24 Is that a tatra? I think it was a fuel truck

[@jkim6200]

Interesting. How the opposing sides took different routes from the Vietnam experience. The U.S. went from powerful aircraft (including F4s, crusaders, and Starfighter) to agile aircraft and the Soviets went from maneuvetable MiGs (incliding MiGs 17 and 21) to pwerful engines with wings.

[@PaulJohnson-ow1mq]

Declassified information on acquisition of Soviet/Russian aircraft is all out there. They came from Israel, Morocco, (East) Germany, Indonesia, Pakistan, Cambodia, Bulgaria, Egypt, Somalia, China, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, etc.

[@Phantom-rb8yv]

Its a american propaganda channel. No wonder they copy a lot of Russian technology, given everything they could steal. But they still can't shoot down a Chinese weather balloon 🤣🤣

[@jiminysnicket86]

​@Phantom-rb8yv it is better to be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

[@deandeki]

No doubt there. US cares so it obtained few MiGs 29s but also SU 27(few variations of it). But never MiG 31 or its derivatives. Also, this kind of thinking and actually make it real is expected from a superpower country like the USA. Military, economy, technology and all that means superpower. That does not mean that it's best in all those fields, but probably it is. Of course that US learned something(much)through industrial and high tech espionage(Soviet Phasotron engeneer who saved US probably 15 years in super advanced phased aray radar systems and countless more). What an impressive country ! That also shows how impressive and smart were Soviets(Russians) when they were far ahead od a gigant like Raytheon (or Hughes aviation and aerospace).

[@Shifftee]

The US also obtained a Mig-25P when a Soviet traitor flew it to Japan in 1976. As a result, the Soviets had to change all of their friend-or-foe identification system equipment. Even though the Americans later returned the plane to the Soviets, many parts were missing.

[@busman2050]

Weather balloon can be shot down any time. You didn't listen to why Air Force didn't shoot it down earlier did you?

[@StavTech]

Great video, had never heard of this until now, and thanks to KZbin for recommending this video to me about 10 times in the last few days so it knew I'd like it I guess! Also the vid makes me want to take a trip to the USA and see the museum, as it looks a great place!

[@Wings_Museum]

We hope to see you soon in beautiful Denver, CO

[@geechisuede98]

Interview is GOLD. That last point about stovepipe is key. Its why WE are ahead.

[@eskimo05w]

From 1977 to 1981 I was a USAF Aircraft Maintainer (Jet Engine Mechanic.) Glad to be of service.

[@KawsikaBasnayake]

What a well produced show awesome!

[@SuperTFRO]

Great interview. Well done.

[@_Alfa.Bravo_]

I'd like to know what car is this superb pilot driving, please ...?

[@ekuche8335]

God this is an amazing conversation.

[@HistoryBuff101-1]

What a great video i always knew about the agressor squadron but this was completely new to me. Left a follow and ill watch every video from now on.

[@DaveStewartLondon]

Great presentation and editing fellas! Best wishes from the UK 🇬🇧

[@W.Khairi]

Excellent work, Thanks a lot.

[@f3xpmartian]

My question revolves around the other program at TTR about the same time frame. Did the "Red Hats" know what the "Black Hats" was doing or working on? I.E. the F-117. As one of those "Black Hats", getting a Red Hat was a prized trophy. Enjoyed the viedo.

[@safetyharborfirearms]

Great interview ....the Mig 23 from what I have heard is not easy to fly....hats off to the pilots that did that job

[@erdngtn9942]

So where is area 17? This is like ranger battalions having large numbers when few exist. To mislead foreign intelligence. Unless there really is area 1-50-something but me thinks not the case. I’m really curious how we ever learned the name of Area 51. Leak or was it always posted?

[@Teledabby]

Question after this clips and reading 'red eagles' Did US got other east planes than Mig? Tupolev? Yak? Only found sources for MIG. And: After 1989 when you are able to talk to east german or russian pilots.. did you learn something new about MIG 21/23 you could not figure out self? Thank you. Greeting from (east) germany.

[@andysmith4394]

Awesome very interesting just love watching your show thanks to the pilots for there service 🛩❤️🇬🇧

[@allgood6760]

Thanks for this👍 we have a MiG-21 here in NZ ✈️🇳🇿

[@larrydaly6469]

What yrs were you at mcDill ?

[@Za7a7aZ]

Really like this channel and should be a bit longer..I would also hold a bit back on the word *cool* Too much cool can freeze the lot up😮

[@railscanner]

Great content and discussion

[@FromGamingwithLove0456]

Very, VERY informative session... what a great speaker- like maintainers another underappreciated asset as the masses flock to youtube to produce all manner of webcasts!

[@jcak552]

Area 52? You mean Tonapah? I was there when this started. Never knew the code name. But we use to watch they take off and land.. from the main compound, as the hangers were right across the runway..

[@Cancun771]

This reminds me of a second-hand tale I heard about some shady military types turning up in the machine shop of a German factory that makes lighting fixtures and such and gave them some exotic material to machine into certain parts which was astonishingly hard and resilient. At the time, my friend of a friend thought it was for a German navy submarine but that makes no sense - no reason a German shipyard outsource that kind of work to some company from a completely different industry. They'd just make it in-house or source it from their regular suppliers. The sensible explanation would be that it was foreign, and acquired through intelligence channels for classified purposes.

[@BeanDip2288]

Probably the reason they can discuss details about how they acquired the planes, is because they are probably still doing the same thing to this day with newer planes and obtaining them them in similar ways.

[@Ryanhothersall]

Not sure if the MiG-21s (genuine Russian ones, not the Chinese version) came from Algeria or Indonesia. The MiG-23s came from Egypt. The Chinese version of the MiG-21 might have come from Egypt as well.

[@1dxvictor]

Great episode. Really enjoyed it.

[@MessedUpSpaghettios]

Terrific. What a great story.

[@agdgdgwngo]

@29:16 absolutely they carried on doing it with more modern Russian planes. I can't remember where I heard it but apparently there was an accident involving a US pilot flying a Flanker. Post cold war the need for it dipped but also there was the availiability to train with German MiG 29s for example

[@Tigershark_3082]

As a matter of fact, flying against Mig-29Gs taught as how effective Helmet Mounted Missile Queuing Systems and HOBS missiles were, which jump-started development on the AIM-9X

[@RyanN880EP]

Maybe couldn't slow at landing because wing sweep was stuck. Well didn't almost all of those factory mig's have parachutes for landing, in case of something like that?

[@FanboyWT]

I saw a MiG-27 on the footage, so I would like to know about what part it had in this program as it is not a dedicated fighter airplane

[@mmntmusa]

Hold on - learning about Taosim @ 3:14? Pretty sure we were trying to understand the enemy at their core.

[@chuckmccollim]

Loved this!

[@ilaril]

There is an excellent book about these MiG's and operating them called "Red Eagles". Worth a read.

[@dukeford8893]

I've met the author and know one of the F-15 pilots quoted in the book. Both had stories that didn't wind up in print.

[@merrickmoriel8878]

That's awesome the small simulator bits you guys used. Was that on Digital Combat simulator or Microsoft Flight?

[@Paul-AnthonyEdwards]

Any idea where the east german mig 29's went?

[@johnrow8376]

Very impressive presentation.

[@onemantwohands5224]

This was a solid interview with solid men , absolutely loved it !! Thanks this was fun to watch ❤

[@SimPilot7777]

There is a book called "Red Eagles" that talk about this program. In the end, book strongly hinted that program hasn't been ended.

[@cdyjv118]

Pure speculation

[@10TonneSkeleton]

Why MiG-23 didn’t turn? Does they tried to turn on 72’ wing angle or 45’?

[@dotnask0001]

They had older MiG-23M airframes probably. That was a interceptor only, the MLD was the fighter variant. Which could even compete with the MiG-29.

[@10TonneSkeleton]

@@dotnask0001 idk if mld comparable with mig29, but I’ve heard they were kinda similar with Pakistan f16 during the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan

[@JFHeroux]

DECLASSIFIED!😂 The Mig-23s came from Egypt. It's not like it's top secret anymore...

[@mrimmortalis]

What a great content!

[@frankgiovanello4015]

That was great, thank you.

[@noquartergiven7789]

3:42 Nellis is not in New Mexico. It's in Nevada.

[@WilliamCassin]

Very very interesting thank you

[@mikehicks4411]

Did you know Canada purchased 30 Mig 21s in 1960...designated CF-121 Redhawk...they were trialed for 1 yr and sold back to the Soviets....deemed unsuitable.