CFS Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG 21 Fishbed in North Vietnam's Air Force Livery.
Upgraded version with new textures to upper fuselage, drop tank and landing gear doors, to correct the mistake of the first version, allowing to place the national markings in the accurate position on fuselage sides.
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (NATO reporting name "Fishbed") is a supersonic jet fighter aircraft, designed and built by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. It was popularly nicknamed "balalaika", from the aircraft's planform-view resemblance to the Russian stringed musical instrument or olowek (English: pencil) by Polish pilots due to the shape of its fuselage.
The MiG-21, which initially achieved renown during the Vietnam War, in which it saw extensive action, was designed for very short Ground Controlled Interceptor (GCI) missions, which is precisely the type of missions that it was employed for in the skies over North Vietnam. The first MiG-21s arrived directly from the Soviet Union by ship in April 1966, and after being unloaded and assembled, were transitioned into North Vietnam's oldest fighter unit; the 921st Fighter Regiment, which had been established on 3 February 1964 as a MiG-17 unit.
Since the North Vietnamese Air Force's 923rd FR was newer and less experienced, they would continue to operate strictly MiG-17s; while the arrival of the MiG-19's (J6 versions) from Communist China in 1969 would create North Vietnam's only MiG-19 unit, the 925th FR. On 3 February 1972 North Vietnam commissioned their fourth and last Fighter Regiment of the war while engaged with the United States, the MiG-21PFM (Type 94) equipped 927th Fighter Regiment.
The MiG-21 was one of the most advanced fighter aircraft of the time; and although 13 of North Vietnam's flying aces attained that status while flying the MiG-21, and only 3 airmen became aces while flying the MiG-17, it is thought by many, that North Vietnamese aces preferred flying the MiG-17, since the high wing loading on the MiG-21 made it less maneuverable than the MiG-17, and the less heavily framed canopy of the MiG-17 allowed pilots to more easily detect US launched air to air missiles. Although the MiG-21 lacked the long-range radar, missiles, and heavy bombing payload of its contemporary multi-mission U.S. fighters, it proved a challenging adversary in the hands of experienced pilots especially when used in high speed hit and run attacks under GCI control. MiG-21 intercepts of F-105 strike groups were effective in downing US aircraft or forcing them to jettison their bomb loads.
After a million sorties and nearly a thousand lost US aircraft, Operation Rolling Thunder came to an end on 1 November 1968. Poor air-to-air combat loss-exchange ratios against the smaller, more agile enemy MiGs during the early part of the Vietnam War eventually led the USN to create their Navy Fighter Weapons School, also known as "Top Gun" at Miramar Naval Air Station on 3 March 1969. The USAF quickly followed with their own version, titled the Dissimilar Air Combat Training (sometimes referred to as Red Flag) program. These two programs employed the subsonic A-4 Skyhawk and the supersonic F-5 Tiger II, as well as the Mach 2.4-capable USAF F-106 Delta Dart, which mimicked the MiG-21. Over the course of the air war, between 3 April 1965 and 8 January 1973, each side would ultimately claim favorable kill ratios.
Two MiG-21s were claimed shot down by U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress tail gunners; the only confirmed air-to-air kills made by the B-52. The first aerial victory is said to have occurred on 18 December 1972, kill awarded to tail gunner SSgt Samuel Turner, who was awarded the Silver Star for his feat. The second air to air kill is said to have taken took place on December 24, 1972, kill awarded to A1C Albert E. Moore for downing a MiG-21 over the Thai Nguyen railroad yards. Both actions occurred during Operation Linebacker II (also known as the Christmas Bombings).
The biggest threat to North Vietnam during the war, had always been the Strategic Air Command's B-52 Stratofortress. Hanoi's MiG-17 and MiG-19 interceptors could not deal with those bombers at the altitude that they flew. In the summer of 1972, the NVAF was directed to train twelve MiG-21 pilots for the specific mission of attacking and shooting down B-52 bombers; with two thirds of those pilots specifically trained in the night attack. On 26 December 1972, just two days after Tail gunner Albert Moore downed his MiG-21, a VPAF (North Vietnamese Air Force) MiG-21MF (number 5121) from the 921st Fighter Regiment, flown by Major Pham Tuan over Hanoi, North Vietnam was responsible for the first claimed aerial combat kill of a USAF B-52 Stratofortress in aviation history. The Stratofortress had been above Hanoi at over 30,000 feet during Operation Linebacker II, when MAJ Tuan launched two Atoll missile missiles from 2 kilometres, and claimed to have destroyed one of the bombers flying in the three plane formation. What appears to have in fact happened, was that he attacked the last three-bomber cell of a group of four. While his missiles missed their marked, as he was disengaging, a B-52 from Cobalt cell in front of his target took a hit from a SAM, and exploded in mid-air: this may have caused Tuan to think his missiles destroyed one of the B-52s.
The Vietnamese side also claims another kill to have taken place on 28 December 1972 by a MiG-21 from the 921st FR, this time flown by Vu Xuan Thieu. Thieu is said to have closed in on one bomber too close, having fired a missile, and perished in the explosion of the B-52 resulting from his missiles hitting it. In this case the Vietnamese version appears to be a complete fabrication: while one MiG-21 kill was claimed by Phantoms that night (this may have been Thieu's MiG), no B-52s were lost to any cause on the date of the claimed kill.
Year-by-Year Kill Claims involving MiG-21s
1966: US claimed 6 MiG-21s destroyed; North Vietnam claimed 7 F-4 Phantom IIs and 11 F-105 Thunderchiefs killed by MiG-21s.
1967: US claimed 21 MiG-21s destroyed; North Vietnam claimed 17 F-105 Thunderchiefs, 11 F-4 Phantom IIs, 2 RF-101 Voodoos, one A-4 Skyhawk, one F-8 Crusader, one EB-66 Destroyer and three unidentified types killed by MiG-21s.
1968: US claimed 9 MiG-21s destroyed; North Vietnam claimed 17 US aircraft killed by MiG-21s.
1969: US destroyed 3 MiG-21s; one Firebee UAV killed by a MiG-21.
1970: US destroyed 2 MiG-21s; North Vietnam claimed one F-4 Phantom and one CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter killed by MiG-21s.
1972: US claimed 51 MiG-21s destroyed; North Vietnam claimed 53 US aircraft killed by MiG-21s, including two B-52 Stratofortress's. Soviet General Fesenko, the main Soviet adviser to the North Vietnamese Air Force in 1972,[28] recorded 34 MiG-21s, 9 MiG-17's, and 9 MiG-19's destroyed in 1972.
General characteristics (MiG-21PFM)
Crew: 1
Length: 14.5 (with pitot) m (47 ft 6.86 in)
Wingspan: 7.154 m (23 ft 5.66 in)
Height: 4.125 m (13 ft 6.41 in)
Gross weight: 7,800 kg (17,195 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Tumanskiy R11F2S-300, 38.74 kN (8,710 lbf) thrust dry, 60.54 kN (13,610 lbf) with afterburner.
Performance
Maximum speed: 2,230 km/h (1,385 mph)
Maximum speed: Mach 2.05
Range: 1,670 km (1,037 miles)
Service ceiling: 19,000 m (62,335 ft)
Armament
1x GP-9 cannon pod with 23 mm GSh-23 cannon.
2x K-13A (R-3S) AAM or
2x 500 kg (1,102 lbs) of bombs.
FS98 Aircraft Designer: Mike Hill.
Upgraded version with North Vietnam's textures, moving parts and damage profile: Edmundo Abad April. 2010
Also special thanks to Juan Concha & Roberto Ibarra, former FACH officers, by the great provided information for the development of this virtual model.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I have included a damage profile for use with CFS1, with armament of GSh-23 twin barrelled 23mm cannon, rockets and bombs, and repainted in three textures of Vietnam People's Air Force:
-MiG 21, # 5020, 921 fighter regiment, all silver.
-MiG 21, # 5015, 921 fighter regiment, green spots camouflaged.
-MiG 21, # 5071, 921 fighter regiment, silver with green spots camouflaged.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Installation FS98/CFS
1. Unzip to Temporaly directory "mig21.zip".
2. Copy "mig21" folder to X:\CFS\aircraft directory.
