Daraw (HE23) - El Miya (HE25) Egypt Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 21bis

[hasegawa]

A flight along the Nile. The MiG 21 was created at the same time as the Dassault Mirage III and the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter in the 1950's.
It was the most famous Warsaw Pact fighter plane of its time. When I was a little boy it was a MiG 21 that made me want to be a pilot. The dream ended at the age of 9. glasses wearer. later I was only a conscript. Then came the turning point and had a sensible civilian job. I was in Egypt almost exactly 20 years ago. Anyone interested in history cannot ignore this country.

[Splitpin]

Great post. An unusual scheme on the Mig.
The Mig-21 up until retirement, I believe was a very relevant aircraft.

[Charl]

Possibly still in use against ISIS in Syria, and definitely in N Korea and Bangladesh.
The Fishbed (don't you love NATO's sense of humour) probably saw more action than anything else flying.
It made F-4 Phantom drivers blink on several occasions, too.

The screens above look like a bureaucratic bungle in the Egyptian paint standing orders:
1. Paint it camouflage so you can't see it.
2. To avoid accidentally shooting our own planes, paint a panel on every surface you see, orange.
3. To save money, don't repaint them.

Also made me go read about the 1973 Middle East war, it was a close run thing.

[hasegawa]

The MiG 21 at the end of its useful life was abolished in Russia by Boris Yeltsin himself, who abolished all single-engine fighters and fighter-bombers with the stroke of a pen after a series of accidents due to engine failure.