CFS Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG 21 Fishbed in Egyptian Air Force (EAF) Livery.
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 was used extensively in the Middle East conflicts of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s by the air forces of Egypt, Syria and Iraq. The MiG-21 first encountered Israeli Mirage IIICs on 14 November 1964, but it wasn't until 14 July 1966 that the first MiG-21 was shot down. Another six Syrian MiG-21s were shot down by Israeli Mirages on 7 April 1967. The MiG-21 would also face F-4 Phantom IIs and A-4 Skyhawks, but was later outclassed by the more modern F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon, which were acquired by Israel beginning in the mid-1970s.
During the opening attacks of the 1967 Six Day War, the Israeli Air Force struck Arab air forces in four attack waves. In the first wave, IDF aircraft claimed to have destroyed eight Egyptian aircraft in air-to-air combat, of which seven were MiG-21s; Egypt claims ten Israeli aircraft destroyed, four or five of which were scored by MiG-21PFs. During the second wave the Israelis claimed four MiG-21s downed in air-to-air combat, and the third wave resulted in two Syrian and one Iraqi MiG-21s claimed destroyed in the air. The fourth wave destroyed some more Syrian MiG-21s on the ground. Overall, the Egyptians lost around 100 out of about 110 MiG-21s they had, almost all on the ground; the Syrians lost 35 of 60 MiG-21F-13s and MiG-21PFs in the air and on the ground.
Between the end of the Six Day War and the start of the War of Attrition, IDF Mirage fighters had six confirmed kills of Egyptian MiG-21s, in exchange for Egyptian MiG-21s scoring two confirmed and three probable kills against Israeli aircraft. During the War of Attrition itself, the Israelis claimed 56 confirmed kills against Egyptian MiG-21s, while Egyptian MiG-21s claimed fourteen confirmed and twelve probable kills against IDF aircraft. During this same time period, from the end of the Six Day War to the end of the War of Attrition, the Israelis claimed a total of 25 Syrian MiG-21s destroyed; the Syrians claimed three confirmed and four probable kills of Israel aircraft.[1].
High losses to IDF aircraft and continuous bombing during the War of Attrition caused the Egyptians to ask the Soviet Union for help. In June 1970, Soviet pilots and SAM crews arrived with their equipment. On 22 June 1970, a Soviet pilot flying a MiG-21MF shot down an Israeli A-4E. After some more successful intercepts by Soviet pilots and another Israeli A-4 being shot down on July 25, the Israelis decided to plan an ambush in response. On July 30 Israeli F-4s lured Soviet MiG-21s into an area where they were ambushed by Mirages. Asher Smir, flying a Mirage IIICJ, destroyed a Soviet MiG-21; Avihu Ben-Nun and Avie Stella, both piloting F-4Es, each got a kill, and an unidentified pilot in another Mirage scored the fourth kill against the Soviet-flown MiG-21s. Three Soviet pilots were killed and the Soviets were alarmed by the losses. However, Soviet MiG-21 pilots and SAM crews destroyed a total of 21 Israeli aircraft, which helped to convince the Israelis to sign a ceasefire agreement.[1]
In September 1973 a large air battle erupted between the Syrians and the Israelis; the Israelis claimed a total of twelve Syrian MiG-21s destroyed, while the Syrians claimed eight kills scored by MiG-21s and admitted five losses.
During the Yom Kippur War in the Air Battle of El Mansoura, Israel launched a large scale raid with over 100 aircraft F-4s and A-4s attempting to hit the huge air base at el-Mansourah. It culminated in an almost continuous dogfight lasting no less than 53 minutes. According to Egyptian estimates over 180 aircraft were involved at one time, the majority belonging to the Israelis. At 10:00pm local time Cairo Radio broadcast Communiqué Number 39, announcing that there had been several air battles that day over a number of Egyptian airfields, that most intensive being over the northern Delta area. It also claimed that fifteen enemy aircraft had been downed by Egyptian fighters for the loss of three Egyptian aircraft, while an even greater number of Israelis had been shot down by the Army and the Air Defense Forces over Sinai and the Suez Canal. For its part, Israel Radio claimed, early the following morning, that the IDF had shot down fifteen Egyptian aircraft, a figure subsequently reduced to seven. Following a more detailed analysis after the war had ended, the EAF actually increased its original claims and now asserts that the results of the el-Mansourah air battle were as follows: seventeen Israeli aircraft were shot down for the loss of six MiGs. Of the EAF aircraft lost, three were shot down by the enemy, two crashed because they ran out of fuel before their pilots could return to base and a third blew up after flying through the debris of an exploding Phantom which it had just shot down.
For the whole war on the Egyptian front, the Israelis claimed a total of 73 kills of Egyptian MiG-21s, against 27 kills of Israeli aircraft claimed by Egyptian MiG-21s, plus eight probables.
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.
Egyptian's textures, moving parts and damage profile: Edmundo Abad Dec. 2009
Also special thanks to Juan Concha & Roberto Ibarra, former FACH officers, by the great provided information for the development of this virtual model.
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I have included a damage profile for use with CFS1, with armament of GSh-23 twin barrelled 23mm cannon, rockets and bombs, and repainted as MiG 21 Fishbed Egyptian Air Force, tan/green/grey camouflaged.
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Installation FS98/CFS
1. Unzip to Temporaly directory "mig21e.zip".
2. Copy "mig21e" folder to X:\CFS\aircraft directory.
