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 Soviet Evaluation Aircraft in USA |
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Very soon USA will beat China by number of the "operational" MiG-15 and MiG-17 fighters. More and more of these birds migrate to North America. This story is an example of one of the private MiGs owned by friend of mine David Sutton. These MiGs are collector items and hardly present any value for dissimilar combat training much less for uncovering the secrets of the adversary weapons. However upon collapse of the Soviet Union, west received a tremendous access to many levels of the military technology of east which was classified just a year or two before. A number of aircraft was acquired as well. A couple of Belarus Su-27 Flankers were sold in 1995-96 to a private owner. Both were spotted since then in dry and sandy locations in US mainland. The details are still sketchy, perhaps one of the links at the bottom of this page can give a bit more clues. Recently (Spring 97) Japan expressed interest in perchase of MiG-29 Fulcrum or Su-27 Flanker type for evaluation purposes. Chinese Flankers accelerated allocation of funds for deals like this as well as trips of Japanese and Taiwanese pilots to Russian and Ukranian bases where they were familiarized with Su-27s. More alerting is the fact that rare World War II era aircraft find their way to warmer places. Among ones I can think of are six Polikarpov I-16 in New Zealand to be auctioned anytime soon (one will remain in NZ), Lavochkin La-11 in Great Britain "liberated from Russian museum" (can you believe that this is actually the phrase used by the British museum!!!), Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik at NASM in Washington DC and at least two Yakovlev fighters - the first, Yak-3 in Santa Monica Museum of Flight on "temporary" loan to promote the sales of the Yak-3B replica and the second, Yak-9U at Chaplin Fighter Aces museum in Arizona in US. The following documents provide some information on the Soviet made aircraft which ended up in US.
From: Brian Elliott (fx34@cityscape.co.uk) The US Army Operational Test & Evaluation Command's Threat Support Activity at Fort Bliss operate a number of ex-warsaw pact aircraft.
Then, of course there were the MiG-15/17s that operated out of Kirtland in a mass threat evaluation exercise and, of course, there's the Red Hatter squadron.......
A report in the magazine British Aviation Review reports that details have emerged of a "Capability Improvement Program" evaluation exercise undertaken by the US DoD in 1988. A number of aircraft (and helicopters) were obtained by the Defence Test & Evaluation Support Agency (DTESA), from Combat Core Certification Professionals of Reno Nevada, during March 1988. These aircraft were used during a three week Mobile Integrated Threat Test exercise over the White Sands missile range in September 1988. Soviet communications and air defence systems were also bought for use in the exercise. Following this exercise, the MiGs were placed in store at Kirtland AFB NM, ultimately finding their way to secluded storage at AMARC Davis-Monthan by April 1990. They remained their until 1992 when a decision was made to dispose of the aircraft. Four of the aircraft are now displayed at the Pima County Air Museum, Tucson AZ while a fifth aircraft is reportedly destined for the UK. A number of airframes (possibly three) remain at Davis-Monthan while the fate of the remainder is presently unknown. The following aircraft have been identified. They are all licence built (LiM = Licencyjny Mysliwiec licence fighter) and are ex-Polish Air Force.
Brian Elliott adds: A large number of aircraft including Mil-24/MiG-23 and Su-22 were donated to the USAF by Germany following unification and USAF received the following (at least) from the German AF MiG-23ML
339 20+16 0390324635 551 20+28 0390324019 567 20+32 0390324033 606 20+36 0390324051 [RAP comment: Also Flogger-G MiG-23ML 20+24 (ex NVA 471) c/n 0390324250 ex JG-9]. Su-22M4
724 25+33 31203 Mil-24D
In addition, the USN received Mil-14PL
643 95+08 B 4009
From: Stan@madhouse.dungeon.com (Mike Stannard) ...The US army has presumably had Hinds for evaluation for a while, aquired through covert dealings (via similar sources to the early Mig's which appeared in Davis Monthan a while ago). Since the wall came down, former Soviet hardware has far been easier to obtain. They'e also gone public with their Eastern Bloc hardware - the August '94 edition of Airforces Monthly (a UK publication) shows on page 3 a US army Hind-D serialed 80616 at Orlando Executive Airport, 30th April '94 (unmarked other than tail number). So if Hinds are available, why bother with mockups? It would seem sensible that if there have been Hinds around for evaluation for a number of years, that they might as well be used as bad guys in exercises - the ultimate agressor squadron as it where - while the spares last. The converted Sikorsky concept, although valid in the '70s and early '80s is in my opinion rather outmoded. Out of interest, There was a converted Whirlwind (license-built Sikorsky S55 - ex UK military serial XN382) dumped at Thruxton airfield in the UK some years ago - from the front it made quite a convincing Hind-A, if you ignored the non-retractable undercart. It met it's end as a rather short lived prop in a promotional film for a missile system.
From: jhairell@ccmail.gsfc.nasa.gov (John L. Hairell) ...The Army had a Florida company convert a whole boatload of Sikorsky H-19/S-55 type airframes a few years ago to use as air recognition trainers and as drones. There were several articles and photos in Aviation Week about it at the time. It is also well known that the Army's Test and Evaluation Command has some flying Warsaw Pact helicopters in New Mexico and Arizona and has had them for quite a long time. There have been intermittent reports for years coming out of the Western states about Hinds, etc. The U.S. has had several Hinds for years, one apparently coming from Afghanistan via the pilot's defection to Pakistan. Another source is captured Iraqi airframes and from East German stocks. I wouldn't put it past the technical intelligence people to have tried early-on to get a Hind from one of the countries which bought the export versions which the Soviets sold. I remember when the CIA was trying to buy a T-72.... With the relatively easy availability of Russian equipment, the Army has evidently started to open up a little bit as far as letting their "secret" aircraft be seen by us "civilians".
From: OctoberL@aol.com
When a experienced American military air crewman saw two Russian helicopters conducting what were apparently trainingin maneuvers at a US airfield, his curiosity was naturally aroused. What he discovered was even more curious. Speaking to the SPOTLIGHT on conditions of strict anonymity, the military officer said that "On August 26, at a bout 5 pm local time, I noticed two unusual helicopters heading toward the White Sands Regional Airport in Alamagordo, New Mexico. I grabbed my camera and headed toward the field." At the time, the officer was about three miles from the airfield. "For the next 20 minutes I watched and photographed two Russian helocipters, a Kamov-32 Helix and a Mil, Mi-17 Hip, 'shoot landings' and practice autorotations (a simulated engine-failure maneuver0 at the small airstrip," he said. The observer told the SPOTLIGHT that after about 25 minutes the Mi-17 flew off, but th KA-32 landed to take on fuel, "so I walked out on the ramp to get some close-up shots of the bird. The ship was crewed by three men: One was a US Army chief warrant officer 5, and the other had US Army command pilot wings on his flight suit, but no rank on the suit chest tag." (This is unusual, if not actually against military regulations.) "The third man, apparently the crew chief/gunner, also had no ID on his flight suit.: the observer said. "The CWO 5 and crew chief went into the terminal to get some cold drinks, leaving me alone with the remaining pilot, apparently the aircraft commander." According to the SPOTLIGHT's source, the command pilot was "quite friendly and talkative when he found out I was a professional pilot. For the next 10 minutes I was given a thorough briefing on the capabilities and limitations of the KA-32. He told me the Army had bought quite a few of them and that they were based out of Ft. Polk, Louisiana." (Ft. Polk is where Delta, Multi-Jurisdictional Task Force (MJTF), BATF and a host of other agencies practice kicking in doors and gunning down those inside.) When the other two crewmen returned, "The crew chief asked me if I had gotten some good pictures. His English was excellent, but there was no hiding his Slavic/Baltic accent." After that conversation, the helicopter flew off. The American officer expressed his disgust with the arrangement. "So now, in addition to a full squadron of "Luftwaffe" F-4 fighter-bombers and a "Luftwaffe" squadron of Tornado attack jets on a permanent German base here in Alamagordo," he siad, "we also have Russian helicopters flown by joint US Army and Russian crews." Permission to post, granted by "The Spotlight" as long as credit is given to the source.
Web Sources: Flying the Threat by Steve Harding in SOLDIERS June 1995, Vol. 50, No. 6. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
