"The U in Mig-21U" to be precise there were 3 versions of dual-seat 21: 21U (1st generation) 21US (2nd generation) and 21UM (3rd generation). Now you can find only the last ones. and U at the end in Soviet planes always means dual-control version: MiG-21U, -23UB, -25PU and RU, 29UB and Su-15U, -17UM, 27UB and so on
@CREEP MATT GAETZ if you ever feel useless, just imagine how the pilot of falcon would feel. That F-16 was like a cool kid who got clipped by the oldest grandpa on the hood.
I grew up watching these planes here in India, Punjab, during 90's, Air force station of Adampur is 7-8 km from my Village, now Mig-29 replaced Mig-21.
When I was a kid there was an airbase with MiG-21s nearby. Them breaking the sound barrier above our house was a really cool thing for a small kid. And the speed of that dot moving across the sky, was amazing too.
@@H-cranky I found it strange that he assumed straight away that I was talking about India when I made no indication of that. Mig-21 is one of the most widely used fighter plane in the world (or was, it is not used that widely any more)..
I think I fell in love with these because of how identifiable they were in early combat flight sims. You passed one and you knew that wasn't a friendly that just went by.
Small correction, the mig-21 has two afterburner modes The emergency afterburner is only to be used in emergencies, and if you use it for more than 2 minutes you risk damaging the engine, and any use of this mode reduces the engine's lifespan by about 20 hours But the normal afterburner is unlimited, and doesn't burn fuel nearly as quickly
At least Bis has limited afterburner. You can keep it on for little over 2 minutes and then your feeder tank (no:3) is empty and your engine is dead. You need to pull throttle back to mil power after 2 min and wait a moment to feeder refill, before you can push afterburner back on. This was common problem in air shows as you need to time the refill between maneuvers. For interception it wasn't problem, as in 2 min after releasing wheel brakes you were at 10 km altitude at Mach 1.2. then you started climb and in three minutes you were at 20 km at Mach 2.05, and now your 500 liter warning light lits up and you need to return. You can glide down at rate of 5:1 when engine idle by keeping 500 km/h indicated air speed.. So you get 5 km ground distance for every 1 km altitude. Transferring you from 20 km altitude to about 90 km distance, leaving you 2 km altitude to get airfield. After deploying landing gear, glide ratio change to 3.8:1 so it gave you with idle engine 7.6 km glide distance to land the plane. At that moment you had about 300 liters fuel left that was enough for two patterns and landing touches around the airfield if required. The Fishbed is amazing for what it was designed, you take off from roadbase at specific time calculated for a second, intercept a high flying target, shoot the missiles and return to base. Multiple fighters doing that, in multiple waves and you get targets destroyed. No need for fancy long range radars, enough that you find target at 10-15 km distance and can engage them inside 15 km. As GCI is your guidance through whole intercept.
@Anon Ymous 😁 Exactly. My absolutely first idea when I read that comment. Starfighter. They had to do some dwarfs selection to get the pilots for the thing. I had a chance to sit into cockpit of the Bf-109 that was described as cramped compared i.e. to Spitfire - no problem. F-104? No chance. I'd need to push my knees through the instrument panel and i was at least half-head above canopy frame.
At 5.58 minutes, in the picture is a Mig21 LanceR C, the air-to-air combat variant. At 6.30 minutes, there is a Mig21 LanceR B, the training variant, with double control. The variant mentioned in minute 5.58 - Mig21 LanceR A (and does not appear in the picture), of air-ground combat, is painted in the same colors as variant B (with double control). All three variants of Mig 21 LanceR were modernized in 1990-1995 by the companies Elbit from Israel and Aerostar Bacău from Romania.
He pointed that Romanian LanceR-s (A) are only for air-ground attack which is wrong! Mig21 LanceR C is the air-to-air combat variant, in fact that is the only variant simple command which fly now.
For those who don’t know, the red circle and rectangle emblem with a star in the middle such as one in 2:53 and 4:12 belongs to the Vietnamese air force.
Watching a MiG-21 land reminds me of my first landing in a tail dragger glider. I came in too fast and while floating off the extra energy, the wheel touched ground and stuck. It was a dirt/gravel field with ruts. I could feel the glider was ready to fly again and enter a PIO if I pulled back on the stick. And the ruts in the runway had a tendency to knock the ground roll in this direction and that. I was dancing like crazy on the rudders with short but sharp inputs. I eventually wound up scratching the chin of the glider in the dirt before I was able to put the tail down and start using the brakes. Whenever I watch a MiG-21 come in at high speed I can see the plane operating just above flying speed in the ground effect, and I'm mentally putting in short control inputs to keep it going strait, on center, and not pop the aircraft up into a PIO.
now imagine all this happening at 340+km/h (212+mph) and the empty plane is pretty much 5 tons. Also, once you're touching down, you can't see jack shit because of the nose ;-) This thing requires balls to fly, it does not forgive mistakes.
while working at a regional airline in Canada, I flew with a Romanian Air Force pilot that flew the mig-21. He reminisced about the Soviet Era. "At least people had food to eat". He kept pointing out different aircraft while we were flying through US airspace, I hardly saw any of them. What great eyesight he had. I believe he said, the MIG-21 was prone to high-speed stall and/or the AOA was crude... I forget the rest of the conversation, but he had an interesting perspective.
When I was 7, I drew a picture of myself in what obviously was a MiG-21 and wrote "I want to be a pilot". Not that I managed to become one, but I still remember the sound of the engine! They were impressive!
That was an interesting video, thanks Magnar. The only mistake I heard is at 6:12 minute, Mig-21U doesnt stand for Обучение (Obuchenie-education ) but учебно-тренировочный (Uchebno-trenirovochniy) which means training.
How have I not seen this channel before??????? You do brilliant work man. Liked and subbed immediately!!!! I will be coming back for more very soon!!! Thank you for the fantastic content!!!!!!
I would say the cockpit IS organized, it's not like you got fuzes and pumps all over the cockpit.. All the fuzes are on the rear right, all the systems are on the front right, all the external systems (nose cone, blown flaps) and Environmental Control Systems (cockpit air) are on the left.. Instruments are all in the front and are easy to read. Glass cockpits take just as long to get used to than a series of steam gauges. That, and steam gauges give you more information, separately, quicker, and more accurately than a computer screen can. It's difficult to pick out specific numbers and information quickly on a computer screen, near impossible in high stress scenarios, whereas with gauges, you know where to look for speed, it's a big needle. Altitude is one long needle and one short stubby needle. Heading is one big compass. Artificial horizon is one big gauge with lines in the middle. Everything is where you expect it to be, no need to squint at the Heads Up Display like on a F-16 or F/A-18. Mig-21 is good aircraft, reliable aircraft, like AK-47. Bury AK-47 into the ground, dig it back up, still works. Bury Mig-21 into the ground, dig it back up, still works.
If you need to look down during battle, that is automatic handicap if opposition has HUD! (best sustained turn rates, tightest turns etc all need their own speed) And especially in BFM/"dogfight" Mig-21 would have problems... Starting from more limited pilot visibility. Also while physical switches are good for some things, that Soviet steampunk cockpit demanded lots of learning and wasn't pilot friendly. One switch in wrong place could have literally burnt the engine at start up: th-cam.com/video/RaPQYCvVN6k/w-d-xo.html
@@tuunaes You don't need to look down to instruments in dogfight. You feel in MiG very well all the behaviors of the plane in dogfight. You don't even look at the G or AoA instrument as you feel it so well that where you are going. The visibility is limited to rear, that is a hard fact that can't be denied. But there is a another hard fact, that is denied often, that when you are pulling a high G (5+) then you are not capable move your head and upper torso anyways at all so freely. At 6 G maneuver your head weights just about 30-33 kg. Your upper torso is about 25% of your body weight, so by average about 20 kg on 80 kg male and that turns in 6 G maneuver to weight about 120 kg. Especially in the games when cameras move freely, people get this illusion that looking around is simple as that until pilot reaches some mystical number like "9G" or something. But every maneuver needs to be prepared and anticipated so that you know when to move head and torso based the phases of the flight. The Soviets didn't see the cockpit visibility such a weakness as MiG-21 was primarily a interceptor and front-line fighter as second, where you anyways either acquire a position in the first merge, or you are extending away. And you have wingmen to check your six, as well you need anyways to perform various turns to check your six as someone can be behind you and lower than you and you don't see them, even if you sit in a F-16. The USA has gone to similar thing, look at the F-22 and F-35 canopies, the rear visibility isn't so great as in F-16, because it is not really required. The MiG-21 limited design for canopy is it larger front canopy frame, side view and to up is excellent (even when there is the mirror periscope above your head). And later on in the modernization the more expensive one piece front canopy was made, as in MiG-21Bison or MiG-21-93. So there was no more the armored glass with oval shaped piece limiting frontal view. The cockpit gauges doesn't require much learning at all. If you know the instruments purpose, then they are easy to interpret and check. And you are anyways mainly looking just four instruments, AHI, HSI, Speed and Altitude. And all are grouped to the left side, large ones: Example www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/upload/iblock/103/Main.jpg The start-up procedure was important to learn, as it was not just MiG-21 (or Soviets) that burned engine if wrongly started. The same thing was on many western fighters back in the day. But MiG-21 speciality was that you got it started under 30 seconds at best and you were moving, and you completed rest of the start-up process while taxiing to runway, with extra 10-15 seconds for that. And many systems you could even start in the air when needed. The simple gunsight is handicap for the pure-numbers maneuver, but you can do that as well with the gauges and not need HUD for that. As the best turn rate, turn radius etc are as well highly dependent from the altitude and temperature. Those same information is shown on the HUD as it is shown on the gauges. You have altitude and speed right there. It is little different but when you chase someone, you don't take your eyes off him even for reading the HUD. And when you pull high G, you concentrate for the center part of cockpit and just hope that your maneuver was well timed and enemy will be where you estimated it to be as you can't look at it while your view is black and white, your surrounding vision can be blinking, it is blurred and you need to focus for breathing to stay awake and concentrate to get yourself through the plan. Where the HUD really shines is landing, you get all the information and no need to perform instrument approach similar way. But as HUD is used for showing ILS same way as a HSI does it with gauge, you don't need to even look outside to perform landings. th-cam.com/video/v6Hs4ll93Ms/w-d-xo.html Don't get me wrong, I am for the modern instruments and systems, but MiG-21 was not bad at all as it is told to be. The real clutter in the MiG-21 is from everything else than the switches, buttons, knobs and instruments. They are from the switch shields, the turnable lights, the screw heads and metal sheet edges, as well few metal objects that are just extruding from few places. And that "unpolished" look is what makes MiG-21 cockpit look "unergonomic" as average person eye catches all those small things and it feels so cluttered etc. But in short time using it it becomes very clear and simple.
Hi Magnar, I really enjoyed your video, it is well documented and I actually learned something new out of it. However I would like to add that Romanian Air Force has three variants of LanceR: A is the ground attack version, B is the trainer version and C, the one that you had at the end of the video, is the air-to-air version. All the best
I’m always amazed that this sixty+ year old jet is still in service. While outclassed by most modern jets it can compete with them and is still capable winning in a fight.
That shitbucket hasn't been a danger for western jets in last 40 years...(50 years) Only thing mig21 does is that it's somewhat fast(If not turning), but it's still just a museum piece😂 has been for decades...
Finland also used the Saab J 35 Draken at the same time as the MiG-21 and from what I understand there was a bit of rivalry between the pilots of the faster MiG-21 and the more maneuverable Draken. according to a former pilot the earlier F-13 variant was more enjoyable to fly than the later MiG 21bis, although obviously the later variant had other advantages.
I Love This Plane too much and it was my dream when I wanted to become an Indian Airforce Pilot and wanted to Fly MiG-21. I Love it's Design, Sound and it's speed.....!! When it was flying over the Sky it was look like a Beautiful Bird is flying....!! But Sadly i didn't become Pilot but i am still crazy about the same. Thankyou for the Beautiful and Different Type of Video(s) you have shared.
Fun Fact : An IAF MiG-21 Bison had shot down a F-16B in 2019. They were such Chads that they even published radar images. It proves that how lethal that interceptor could be with highly upgraded radars and avionics.
Absolute none sense. All four missiles were found attached to their warheads when the Mig 21 plane came down. His radar were jammed and didn't match the Pakistani technology. So the Indian media tell you an Mig 21 brought down an F16 with bullets at bvr range then. That air plane and its wreckage, missiles attached to their war heads is still at display with the Pakistan Air Force inspected by the militaries of the US Russia China the UK, KOREA, THE UAE, SAUDI ARABIA and many others plus personnel of the Aviation week. No contest there. The pilot of that Mig 21 plane was blind, there was total jamming, an Indian female controller begged him to turn back he couldn't hear her. The pilot was handed back after spending couple of days in Pakistan. During one interview the Indian Air Force chief in a classic show of a man lying ducked his eyes away from the camera and attributed the kill to the disastrous showing by a large air force's pilot abhinondun, the Pakistanis call him 'abhi-none-done". The US count of Pakistani F16s at PAF is a bases confirmed the Indian lie. Nothing can be more ridiculous than this Indian bs, their propaganda for beibv some unassailable air force worked against them. They conveniently thought they wud get away with an earlier bombing of Pakistani forest which they said killed 350 terrorist but every sat foto, including the ones published by the Australians showed where the bombs had fallen. They had dropped their bombs in utter haste when the PAF planes had neared for bvr. You certainly haven't read the Pakistan Air Force's combat history to which Gen Chuck Horner, Commander US Air Force 1991 said 'one of the best most combat ready air forces of the world. Pakistanis engaged in combat Israeli air force flying lesser capable Mig 21s during a 1974 encounter. The Israelis had the Mig 21 in their possession from 1966 whereas the Pakistanis had fought the mug621 in its war with India on one occasion shooting it down with a Saber F86, a sub sonic plane. The fact is on Feb 27 2019 the Pakistan Air Force attacked Indian military installations, did good damage and shot down an Su30mki (call sigh Avenger) right at the start of the battle when they were vectored towards Pakistani strike package. The remaining Su30mki called bingo and left despite nearly 2 hour fuel in its tanks. The Mirages of the Indian Air Force called radar bust and exited the area, despite being picked by Pakistanis radars for having serviceable radars thru out the battle hiding behind each other's tails. The Pakistanis could have shot down 6 more indian planes that day, why waste missiles on sitting ducks. And when an air force is willing to oblige the enemy by shooting their own helicopters you just can wait and watch the show. Finally, few days later after the Su30mki was shot down, Indian newspaper ran a story of two Su30mki pilot being killed in a road accident. From an Indian movie and propaganda they beat both Pakistan and China, from scientific standpoint, only in India, Indian Air Force flying coffin took down an F16 from a much superior military by their farts.
@@Bluevelvet-MD lmao. The delusion of Pakistanis baffles me. You're talking about the same forces that refused to take back the dead bodies of their own soldiers who were KIA during the Kargil war. Absolutely pathetic. The fact that you believe everything that Pakistan's forces says explains why Pakistan's literacy rate is amongst the lowest in the world. From a technological point of view, Pakistan is way behind of India. And you must have a two celled brain to believe that a missile can be recovered intact from a crash. If those missiles were really Indian, why did Pakistan hide the serial numbers of the missile?? Btw good luck finding your "Doosra Banda". Your notion that jamming a radar shuts it down is self explanatory that you know absolutely nothing about military aviation.
I had the opportunity and privilege to design a successful FDR system upgrade for this fantastic machine. All the pilots I met used to say, they did not want to fly any other machine!
Subscribed! You're one of those rare channels that explain a complex topic in a very simple way. Thank you for all the effort. I look forward to your future videos
MIG-21s are the sleekest, meanest, nastiest looking aircraft around & very capable. From any angle, this aircraft looks to mean bad business on it's adversaries. Outstanding video of my favorite jet interceptor. Thank you for posting it.
Been in love with it since I was a kid in the 80s. Read about it religiously. Wouldn't have thought there was still things to learn, can't wait for more.
Mightier MIG in its prime time literally had shaken up almost all countries ..it was more like facing a maniac monster in air. Fast enough that handling costed many lives ..but I read that most pilots love to fly this badass fighter.
A former Yugoslav Air Force (RV i PVO) pilot who flew all the variants of MiG-21 told me that the most pleasant to fly was PF model, a second generation as you call it. He also flew Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star and Republic F-84G Thunderjet.
It has such a "mechanical", kind of steampunk-ish look to it, and in a way it reminds me of an early steam locomotive. Thank you for this very informative and well done video, you've definitively earned yourself a new subscriber!
@@ashleycollard8968 That's the point of the awesomeness of both, as the aerodynamic drag caused by the undercarriage would be massive and speaks to the skill of the pilot and the mechanical design of the MIG 21. :)
@@zsus1 I think you might be mistaken.... if by retracted, you mean as far back as possible then no.... that setting is for the slow speed regime. The idea is that you use a narrower intake at higher speeds so that the high pressure high speed air has a chance to slow to subsonic speed before it gets to the engine compressor stages as they cannot work properly with supersonic air (This was also true on the SR71 and all other aircraft that used variable geometry air intakes)
@@musharrafhanif confirmed from Russian Publication...at high speed cone retracted .and low speed cone extended..and you are right .but design of intake is such that if cone is extended it will reduce the open area for air flow and vice versa.
@@zsus1 Wrong.It is mandatory to ensure that the cone is fully retracted during all Preflight(PFS) Turnaround (TRS),and Last Flight servicing(LFS). At ground level air dencity and Oxygen is more.At heigh altitudes the cone is extended to get more O2, thus flame out of the engine is avoided.There is a provision to re-light the engine with Oxygen & O2 bottles are kept in starboard wheel- bay.Young pilots sometimes forgets to re-light and accidents happen. This is one of the Pilots Errors. The Cone also works as radar aerial. R35 is the engine used in Mig21 Bis, Speed 2Mac.
It's interesting to see that the U.S. labeled their Mig 21s the YF-110. The F-4 Phantom was originally designated the F-110. I suspect that this was not a coincidence.
They labeled them that because they needed to disguise their origin. Next point is, YF-110 and F-110 have nothing in common, And next, the F-110 designation was unofficial. So what in the world do you suspect?
Still remember the first time I saw a MiG-21 fly! Back in the early 90's Combat Jets Flying Museum out of Houston Texas brought their fleet to EAA in Oshkosh. It consisted an A-4, T-33, F-86, MiG-15, Hawker Hunter, F-104 and the MiG-21! It was my first time seeing jet warbirds. Even though his favorite jet was the F-86, my Dad was most excited to see the MiG-15. (He couldn't believe his eyes when he spied its tail when we were walking through the warbirds!) He never thought he'd see one, let alone see one fly! My favorites were the 104 and MiG-21 as they were exciting in burner!
I'm also an American and I can say that Soviet made aircrafts were bad ass looking and more beautiful than ours.in terms of tanks,p t-72 is far more beautiful to watch than the m-60 of ours, t-80ud is very beautiful than the m1 Abram.
I spent my entire 90's childhood living close to an airforce base in northern Poland. It was something which determined our life cycle. They were training all the time, days and nights. We spent a lot of time near the runway to wave the pilots who were lining up for take-off, greeting them when they landed. Mig-21 Bis is part of my DNA I guess. It's funny, because when in late 90s the base limited its activities (less flights and training for the pilots), ultimately striving to close it in its original shape I had a huge problem with falling asleep without the noise of jet engines roaring outside. Good memories, sad, that the base is not Fighter Aviation Regiment anymore, yet it serves as a military airfield, for the Naval Aviation unit and Coast Guard.
Never expected at detailed video on the Mig 21 on your channel. Keep up the good work!! Unfortunately it is labelled by some as The Flying Coffin due to its high fatality rate.
@Uncle Joe No, I was referring to the F104, which was designed as a high altitude interceptor - all engine and no wings. The Luftwaffe then needed a low level fighter bomber, and shoehorned the F104 into the role, leading to the Luftwaffe joke: "Question: How do you catch a F104? Answer: You buy a plot of land and wait!" But according to some they made it work eventually, after lessons learnt was applied to training and tactics. But a lot of guys died before that happened.
Actually, "U" in MIG-21U (МиГ-21У) stands for Russian letter "У" (which is pronounced same as U) - "учебный". It is close to "обучение", Google translate will display both of them, but the former is an adjective, and this is what they usually add to the main model name ("учебный", "высотный", "ночной" and so on) to indicate the purpose. The latter is a noun and it starts with "О", which does not match the letter "У".
This plane is sadly infamous in Italy because of the Ustica crash. A DC-9 plane lost a wing when a MIG-21 created a turbolence overtaking it very close. The DC-9 crashed in the sea and all the passengers died. It was 1980. At that time it was customary for Lybian MIG to overfly Italy back an forth when going to USSR for mechanical maintenance. In order to avoid NATO radars they used to follow by close italian civil planes. Sometimes they were intercepted by italian f-104 or NATO fighters but most times the trick worked.
Very good presentation. Now i know a bit more about this famous Mig. Would like to see something similar on the Mig 23 and 27. As well as historical info on how they had fare in different wars.
@babayada2015 Just ask an Isreali pilot if the mig 21 is the same as having an f 16 . They will take the f 16 100% of the time. A mig 21 is not the same as a f 16, not even close. cmon, you must know that
@@thomasvelazquez9789 Nobody ever claimed Mig 21 was better than F 16, The proof was given in the form of multiple overlapping radars showing it being shot down. Ofcourse people ask India for the wreckage of something that was brought down in enemy territory and treat it as "lack of evidence"
@@thomasvelazquez9789 And since you mentioned F 16, I'm sure you understand how much the block versions affect the performance. Look up the block of F 16 in Pakistan
I love expanding my knowledge of the aircraft i like, and this was just what I needed. Just spent part of Christmas Eve researching why it had a shock cone 😂
A combat airplane starts life as a sports car and ends life as a pickup truck. Things only ever get heavier and bigger over time, never lighter. Performance, visibility, and handling are always sacrificed for fuel, payload, and sensors.
Anyway F.6 or F.3 (I can't remember what) is heavier than F.1 And, remember, it wasn't fighter but interceptor. Our Su-9 (for example) also remained unchanged
@@FlywithMagnar At least, to have a look at the wiki page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-21_variants#Trainer_variants_(1960%E2%80%931968+) Sorry for being square ;)
I saw one of these at the airport outside of Arad, Romania on a misty January or February day in 1991. He circled the airport at a very low altitude of around 300 feet??? From where I was standing, he looked like he was zipping though the distant trees. I couldn't even tell what it was (had to be a Mig-21), but it was going quite fast. It was a sight like I never saw in the U.S.
Stole German technology-just like Kalashnikov ripped off the German Sturmgewehr 44 for the AK-47 Deutschland uber alles! Sold the last of our Mig-29s to Poland.
Flew these for most of my service in the Indian Air Force. A beautiful aircraft with some quirks. Could be flown beyond the stall. Of course you were descending all the time so you had to have enough height below to recover. Those who did not ensure that did not live to tell the tale.
@@mverick5444 Not particularly..About 330 to 340 kmph..Blown flaps and 57 degree sweptback tailed delta. Par for the course, though higher than for eg the MiG-29 or the Su-30
From Blackadder Goes Forth, specifically the episode in which the boys join the Royal Flying Corps and discover that the 'Twenty Minuters' are known as such as this is the amount of time they can expect to spend in the air before being shot down and killed. George: "Crikey, sir. I'm looking forward to today. Up diddly up, down diddly down, whoops, poop, twiddly dee - decent scrap with the fiendish Red Baron - bit of a jolly old crash landing behind enemy lines - capture, torture, escape, and then back home in time for tea and medals!"
From Blackadder Goes Forth, specifically the episode in which the boys join the Royal Flying Corps and discover that the 'Twenty Minuters' are known as such as this is the amount of time they can expect to spend in the air before being shot down and killed. George: "Crikey, sir. I'm looking forward to today. Up diddly up, down diddly down, whoops, poop, twiddly dee - decent scrap with the fiendish Red Baron - bit of a jolly old crash landing behind enemy lines - capture, torture, escape, and then back home in time for tea and medals!"
Indian Mig 21 shot down Pakistan F 16 block 50 and mig pilot got most prestigious award from Indian president recently, it total depend upon the pilot capability 💪💪💪🇮🇳🇮🇳 Jai hind
MiG-21U was produced since 1962 (plus there are 2 more training variants - US and UM). And "U" doesn't stand for "obuchenie" (noun = learning) it stands for "uchebnyi" (adjective = training) instead. Nice video though.
As many have pointed out, I have used a wrong translation. The U in Mig-21U doesn't stand for oбучение (training), but учебный (trainer).
Prithwi Raj R OY the
Croatia win a war in 1995. whit Mig 21
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All in all it is a fantastic presentation.
"The U in Mig-21U"
to be precise there were 3 versions of dual-seat 21: 21U (1st generation) 21US (2nd generation) and 21UM (3rd generation). Now you can find only the last ones.
and U at the end in Soviet planes always means dual-control version: MiG-21U, -23UB, -25PU and RU, 29UB and Su-15U, -17UM, 27UB and so on
I started my career flying the MiG 21 in 1985 .Have many beautiful memories. Beautiful aircraft
You lived a life many dream off.
Salute to you sir
@@smarakmohanta1445 Thank you sir 👍
Indian airforce?? Congratulations to the IAF on shooting down an F-16 with a Bison.
@CREEP MATT GAETZ if you ever feel useless, just imagine how the pilot of falcon would feel.
That F-16 was like a cool kid who got clipped by the oldest grandpa on the hood.
I have a MIG-21 BIS parked 50 meters from my house in Zagreb, Croatia. I see it every day, and the view never gets old.
I found it! That’s so cool
was it painted like this? 6:17
Yes, still exist white/red and next year they will be retaired.
Mig 15 here down the street in texas :) defector plane
Croatian MiG-21's are the best ngl
I grew up watching these planes here in India, Punjab, during 90's, Air force station of Adampur is 7-8 km from my Village, now Mig-29 replaced Mig-21.
When I was a kid there was an airbase with MiG-21s nearby. Them breaking the sound barrier above our house was a really cool thing for a small kid. And the speed of that dot moving across the sky, was amazing too.
Then, you may be in Pune around No 2Wing,Viman Nagar or Visrant Wadi?
I lived in Khese Park,Lohagaon.
@@valsakumar3673 no. I don't even know which country you're talking about.
They are still active in Croatian Air Force and i'm livin near the airbase.
That thunder sound i wouldn't change for anything ❤️
@@srelma he was talking about India
@@H-cranky I found it strange that he assumed straight away that I was talking about India when I made no indication of that.
Mig-21 is one of the most widely used fighter plane in the world (or was, it is not used that widely any more)..
I think I fell in love with these because of how identifiable they were in early combat flight sims. You passed one and you knew that wasn't a friendly that just went by.
Nice to see someone else who thinks this way. I always think of Falcon when I see one. When I see a 23 I think of Comanche.
@@endgovernmentextremism I fly loads in VR these days it is awesome.
Small correction, the mig-21 has two afterburner modes
The emergency afterburner is only to be used in emergencies, and if you use it for more than 2 minutes you risk damaging the engine, and any use of this mode reduces the engine's lifespan by about 20 hours
But the normal afterburner is unlimited, and doesn't burn fuel nearly as quickly
I see your two, and raise you three afterburner modes.
Ummmmmm, I sorry but your incorrect.
@@hailandfire1822 Four, take it or leave it
At least Bis has limited afterburner. You can keep it on for little over 2 minutes and then your feeder tank (no:3) is empty and your engine is dead. You need to pull throttle back to mil power after 2 min and wait a moment to feeder refill, before you can push afterburner back on.
This was common problem in air shows as you need to time the refill between maneuvers.
For interception it wasn't problem, as in 2 min after releasing wheel brakes you were at 10 km altitude at Mach 1.2. then you started climb and in three minutes you were at 20 km at Mach 2.05, and now your 500 liter warning light lits up and you need to return.
You can glide down at rate of 5:1 when engine idle by keeping 500 km/h indicated air speed.. So you get 5 km ground distance for every 1 km altitude. Transferring you from 20 km altitude to about 90 km distance, leaving you 2 km altitude to get airfield.
After deploying landing gear, glide ratio change to 3.8:1 so it gave you with idle engine 7.6 km glide distance to land the plane. At that moment you had about 300 liters fuel left that was enough for two patterns and landing touches around the airfield if required.
The Fishbed is amazing for what it was designed, you take off from roadbase at specific time calculated for a second, intercept a high flying target, shoot the missiles and return to base.
Multiple fighters doing that, in multiple waves and you get targets destroyed. No need for fancy long range radars, enough that you find target at 10-15 km distance and can engage them inside 15 km. As GCI is your guidance through whole intercept.
@@henri6311 I'll go all in with my FIVE 5 afterburners.
I saw a MIG-21 at a museum last month. The 3 things that struck me were it's short height above the ground, it's tiny wing, and it's Mach 2 speed.
It flew at Mach 2 ...... in the museum????
It was a pilot strapped to an engine. Both the MIG-21 and Starfighter met that definition. I know ex Starfighter pilots, not a dogfighting plane.
@Anon Ymous 😁 Exactly. My absolutely first idea when I read that comment. Starfighter. They had to do some dwarfs selection to get the pilots for the thing. I had a chance to sit into cockpit of the Bf-109 that was described as cramped compared i.e. to Spitfire - no problem. F-104? No chance. I'd need to push my knees through the instrument panel and i was at least half-head above canopy frame.
It passed you inside a museum at M2?? Superb low-level piloting!
This was both interresting and educational. Looking forward to part II.
And amusing too. I really like his style. Just like the cop in The Transporter film his humour has just enough "flavour" . Tea and medals. Haha.
At 5.58 minutes, in the picture is a Mig21 LanceR C, the air-to-air combat variant. At 6.30 minutes, there is a Mig21 LanceR B, the training variant, with double control.
The variant mentioned in minute 5.58 - Mig21 LanceR A (and does not appear in the picture), of air-ground combat, is painted in the same colors as variant B (with double control).
All three variants of Mig 21 LanceR were modernized in 1990-1995 by the companies Elbit from Israel and Aerostar Bacău from Romania.
He pointed that Romanian LanceR-s (A) are only for air-ground attack which is wrong! Mig21 LanceR C is the air-to-air combat variant, in fact that is the only variant simple command which fly now.
fb == facebook.com/Premaratne-Marketing-115635081134222
For those who don’t know, the red circle and rectangle emblem with a star in the middle such as one in 2:53 and 4:12 belongs to the Vietnamese air force.
²,
10
1
Noted from netizen
North Vietnamese air force.
Watching a MiG-21 land reminds me of my first landing in a tail dragger glider. I came in too fast and while floating off the extra energy, the wheel touched ground and stuck. It was a dirt/gravel field with ruts. I could feel the glider was ready to fly again and enter a PIO if I pulled back on the stick. And the ruts in the runway had a tendency to knock the ground roll in this direction and that. I was dancing like crazy on the rudders with short but sharp inputs. I eventually wound up scratching the chin of the glider in the dirt before I was able to put the tail down and start using the brakes. Whenever I watch a MiG-21 come in at high speed I can see the plane operating just above flying speed in the ground effect, and I'm mentally putting in short control inputs to keep it going strait, on center, and not pop the aircraft up into a PIO.
Is beeing used today. Is like my supped up pontiac gto
Wow.. so much technicalities to digest.. thx for sharing.. cheers
Cool story Bro! 👍
now imagine all this happening at 340+km/h (212+mph) and the empty plane is pretty much 5 tons. Also, once you're touching down, you can't see jack shit because of the nose ;-)
This thing requires balls to fly, it does not forgive mistakes.
What does PIO stand for?
while working at a regional airline in Canada, I flew with a Romanian Air Force pilot that flew the mig-21. He reminisced about the Soviet Era. "At least people had food to eat". He kept pointing out different aircraft while we were flying through US airspace, I hardly saw any of them. What great eyesight he had. I believe he said, the MIG-21 was prone to high-speed stall and/or the AOA was crude... I forget the rest of the conversation, but he had an interesting perspective.
we are still flying with Mig-21 at least until 2024-2025
When I was 7, I drew a picture of myself in what obviously was a MiG-21 and wrote "I want to be a pilot". Not that I managed to become one, but I still remember the sound of the engine! They were impressive!
God helps those who help themselves 🇮🇳 🙏
That was an interesting video, thanks Magnar. The only mistake I heard is at 6:12 minute, Mig-21U doesnt stand for Обучение (Obuchenie-education ) but учебно-тренировочный (Uchebno-trenirovochniy) which means training.
Thanks for the info! I asked a Russian friend about this, and still got it wrong...
УБ- Учебно бојеви!!
Its a learning fighting jet, you can use in a battles
Retournes et va retrouver Poutine si tu aimes tant ton sang rouge. Tu n'as pas affaire ici.
I was real surprised how beautiful this jet was in real life, up close.
Simple, powerful and effective... I had the honor to sit in his cockpit 🙂
The Russians have always built beautiful airframes. Especially like the su 34 & 57, amazingly beautiful planes. .
I learnt so much about it from just this one video, and I have lots of aviation books and magazines !
Thank you for this video. MIG-21 is real icon and unforgettable legend on the sky. She is beauty even after decades ❤️👍👏
How have I not seen this channel before??????? You do brilliant work man. Liked and subbed immediately!!!! I will be coming back for more very soon!!!
Thank you for the fantastic content!!!!!!
Subbed, Magnar. You are the right man for the job of informing us about what we all love most . Aircraft.
More historic contents like this please, the way you present a piece of history is amazing
Huge like for saying "Форсированный" with no mistakes or misspellings! What a quality even in details)
I would say the cockpit IS organized, it's not like you got fuzes and pumps all over the cockpit..
All the fuzes are on the rear right, all the systems are on the front right, all the external systems (nose cone, blown flaps) and Environmental Control Systems (cockpit air) are on the left..
Instruments are all in the front and are easy to read. Glass cockpits take just as long to get used to than a series of steam gauges. That, and steam gauges give you more information, separately, quicker, and more accurately than a computer screen can.
It's difficult to pick out specific numbers and information quickly on a computer screen, near impossible in high stress scenarios, whereas with gauges, you know where to look for speed, it's a big needle. Altitude is one long needle and one short stubby needle. Heading is one big compass. Artificial horizon is one big gauge with lines in the middle.
Everything is where you expect it to be, no need to squint at the Heads Up Display like on a F-16 or F/A-18.
Mig-21 is good aircraft, reliable aircraft, like AK-47.
Bury AK-47 into the ground, dig it back up, still works.
Bury Mig-21 into the ground, dig it back up, still works.
There it goes Magnar.!!
No downgrade the 21.
Cheers
LOL!! Hear hear!!
If you need to look down during battle, that is automatic handicap if opposition has HUD! (best sustained turn rates, tightest turns etc all need their own speed)
And especially in BFM/"dogfight" Mig-21 would have problems... Starting from more limited pilot visibility.
Also while physical switches are good for some things, that Soviet steampunk cockpit demanded lots of learning and wasn't pilot friendly.
One switch in wrong place could have literally burnt the engine at start up:
th-cam.com/video/RaPQYCvVN6k/w-d-xo.html
@@tuunaes You don't need to look down to instruments in dogfight. You feel in MiG very well all the behaviors of the plane in dogfight. You don't even look at the G or AoA instrument as you feel it so well that where you are going.
The visibility is limited to rear, that is a hard fact that can't be denied. But there is a another hard fact, that is denied often, that when you are pulling a high G (5+) then you are not capable move your head and upper torso anyways at all so freely. At 6 G maneuver your head weights just about 30-33 kg. Your upper torso is about 25% of your body weight, so by average about 20 kg on 80 kg male and that turns in 6 G maneuver to weight about 120 kg.
Especially in the games when cameras move freely, people get this illusion that looking around is simple as that until pilot reaches some mystical number like "9G" or something. But every maneuver needs to be prepared and anticipated so that you know when to move head and torso based the phases of the flight.
The Soviets didn't see the cockpit visibility such a weakness as MiG-21 was primarily a interceptor and front-line fighter as second, where you anyways either acquire a position in the first merge, or you are extending away. And you have wingmen to check your six, as well you need anyways to perform various turns to check your six as someone can be behind you and lower than you and you don't see them, even if you sit in a F-16.
The USA has gone to similar thing, look at the F-22 and F-35 canopies, the rear visibility isn't so great as in F-16, because it is not really required.
The MiG-21 limited design for canopy is it larger front canopy frame, side view and to up is excellent (even when there is the mirror periscope above your head). And later on in the modernization the more expensive one piece front canopy was made, as in MiG-21Bison or MiG-21-93. So there was no more the armored glass with oval shaped piece limiting frontal view.
The cockpit gauges doesn't require much learning at all. If you know the instruments purpose, then they are easy to interpret and check. And you are anyways mainly looking just four instruments, AHI, HSI, Speed and Altitude. And all are grouped to the left side, large ones: Example www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/upload/iblock/103/Main.jpg
The start-up procedure was important to learn, as it was not just MiG-21 (or Soviets) that burned engine if wrongly started. The same thing was on many western fighters back in the day. But MiG-21 speciality was that you got it started under 30 seconds at best and you were moving, and you completed rest of the start-up process while taxiing to runway, with extra 10-15 seconds for that. And many systems you could even start in the air when needed.
The simple gunsight is handicap for the pure-numbers maneuver, but you can do that as well with the gauges and not need HUD for that. As the best turn rate, turn radius etc are as well highly dependent from the altitude and temperature. Those same information is shown on the HUD as it is shown on the gauges. You have altitude and speed right there.
It is little different but when you chase someone, you don't take your eyes off him even for reading the HUD. And when you pull high G, you concentrate for the center part of cockpit and just hope that your maneuver was well timed and enemy will be where you estimated it to be as you can't look at it while your view is black and white, your surrounding vision can be blinking, it is blurred and you need to focus for breathing to stay awake and concentrate to get yourself through the plan.
Where the HUD really shines is landing, you get all the information and no need to perform instrument approach similar way. But as HUD is used for showing ILS same way as a HSI does it with gauge, you don't need to even look outside to perform landings. th-cam.com/video/v6Hs4ll93Ms/w-d-xo.html
Don't get me wrong, I am for the modern instruments and systems, but MiG-21 was not bad at all as it is told to be. The real clutter in the MiG-21 is from everything else than the switches, buttons, knobs and instruments. They are from the switch shields, the turnable lights, the screw heads and metal sheet edges, as well few metal objects that are just extruding from few places. And that "unpolished" look is what makes MiG-21 cockpit look "unergonomic" as average person eye catches all those small things and it feels so cluttered etc. But in short time using it it becomes very clear and simple.
You forgot to mention the beauty of cockpit at night when panel lights are switched on. 😀😀 🇮🇳
Ex Sgt V Kumar IAF.
Several times you show Croatian mig 21. Flaying today with respect
Hi Magnar, I really enjoyed your video, it is well documented and I actually learned something new out of it. However I would like to add that Romanian Air Force has three variants of LanceR: A is the ground attack version, B is the trainer version and C, the one that you had at the end of the video, is the air-to-air version. All the best
Thanks!
I’m always amazed that this sixty+ year old jet is still in service. While outclassed by most modern jets it can compete with them and is still capable winning in a fight.
That shitbucket hasn't been a danger for western jets in last 40 years...(50 years)
Only thing mig21 does is that it's somewhat fast(If not turning), but it's still just a museum piece😂 has been for decades...
One of my most favorite soviet era aircrafts ever! Loved flying this in DCS, such a beautiful thing!
Finland also used the Saab J 35 Draken at the same time as the MiG-21 and from what I understand there was a bit of rivalry between the pilots of the faster MiG-21 and the more maneuverable Draken. according to a former pilot the earlier F-13 variant was more enjoyable to fly than the later MiG 21bis, although obviously the later variant had other advantages.
I always thought that the very early Migs were the most beautiful planes ever!
I Love This Plane too much and it was my dream when I wanted to become an Indian Airforce Pilot and wanted to Fly MiG-21. I Love it's Design, Sound and it's speed.....!! When it was flying over the Sky it was look like a Beautiful Bird is flying....!!
But Sadly i didn't become Pilot but i am still crazy about the same.
Thankyou for the Beautiful and Different Type of Video(s) you have shared.
Fun Fact : An IAF MiG-21 Bison had shot down a F-16B in 2019. They were such Chads that they even published radar images. It proves that how lethal that interceptor could be with highly upgraded radars and avionics.
@Anon Ymous well, it happened wvr. Maybe that's why it stood a chance.
@Anon Ymous Better lucky than good!
Gentlemen, please keep the discussion at a civilized level.
Absolute none sense. All four missiles were found attached to their warheads when the Mig 21 plane came down. His radar were jammed and didn't match the Pakistani technology. So the Indian media tell you an Mig 21 brought down an F16 with bullets at bvr range then. That air plane and its wreckage, missiles attached to their war heads is still at display with the Pakistan Air Force inspected by the militaries of the US Russia China the UK, KOREA, THE UAE, SAUDI ARABIA and many others plus personnel of the Aviation week. No contest there. The pilot of that Mig 21 plane was blind, there was total jamming, an Indian female controller begged him to turn back he couldn't hear her. The pilot was handed back after spending couple of days in Pakistan. During one interview the Indian Air Force chief in a classic show of a man lying ducked his eyes away from the camera and attributed the kill to the disastrous showing by a large air force's pilot abhinondun, the Pakistanis call him 'abhi-none-done". The US count of Pakistani F16s at PAF is a bases confirmed the Indian lie.
Nothing can be more ridiculous than this Indian bs, their propaganda for beibv some unassailable air force worked against them. They conveniently thought they wud get away with an earlier bombing of Pakistani forest which they said killed 350 terrorist but every sat foto, including the ones published by the Australians showed where the bombs had fallen. They had dropped their bombs in utter haste when the PAF planes had neared for bvr. You certainly haven't read the Pakistan Air Force's combat history to which Gen Chuck Horner, Commander US Air Force 1991 said 'one of the best most combat ready air forces of the world. Pakistanis engaged in combat Israeli air force flying lesser capable Mig 21s during a 1974 encounter. The Israelis had the Mig 21 in their possession from 1966 whereas the Pakistanis had fought the mug621 in its war with India on one occasion shooting it down with a Saber F86, a sub sonic plane.
The fact is on Feb 27 2019 the Pakistan Air Force attacked Indian military installations, did good damage and shot down an Su30mki (call sigh Avenger) right at the start of the battle when they were vectored towards Pakistani strike package. The remaining Su30mki called bingo and left despite nearly 2 hour fuel in its tanks. The Mirages of the Indian Air Force called radar bust and exited the area, despite being picked by Pakistanis radars for having serviceable radars thru out the battle hiding behind each other's tails.
The Pakistanis could have shot down 6 more indian planes that day, why waste missiles on sitting ducks. And when an air force is willing to oblige the enemy by shooting their own helicopters you just can wait and watch the show.
Finally, few days later after the Su30mki was shot down, Indian newspaper ran a story of two Su30mki pilot being killed in a road accident.
From an Indian movie and propaganda they beat both Pakistan and China, from scientific standpoint, only in India, Indian Air Force flying coffin took down an F16 from a much superior military by their farts.
@@Bluevelvet-MD lmao. The delusion of Pakistanis baffles me. You're talking about the same forces that refused to take back the dead bodies of their own soldiers who were KIA during the Kargil war. Absolutely pathetic.
The fact that you believe everything that Pakistan's forces says explains why Pakistan's literacy rate is amongst the lowest in the world.
From a technological point of view, Pakistan is way behind of India. And you must have a two celled brain to believe that a missile can be recovered intact from a crash.
If those missiles were really Indian, why did Pakistan hide the serial numbers of the missile??
Btw good luck finding your "Doosra Banda".
Your notion that jamming a radar shuts it down is self explanatory that you know absolutely nothing about military aviation.
Those Romanians put on a good display with their Migs. My first 21 display at an airshow was courtesy of them and, could very well have been the last.
I had the opportunity and privilege to design a successful FDR system upgrade for this fantastic machine. All the pilots I met used to say, they did not want to fly any other machine!
I always love soviet content creators. Very funny and knowledgeable at the same time.
Subscribed! You're one of those rare channels that explain a complex topic in a very simple way. Thank you for all the effort. I look forward to your future videos
MIG-21s are the sleekest, meanest, nastiest looking aircraft around & very capable. From any angle, this aircraft looks to mean bad business on it's adversaries. Outstanding video of my favorite jet interceptor. Thank you for posting it.
Wonderful video. One of my favorite DCS World modules.
Shared. Off to watch part 2!
Classic and legendary aircraft, thanks for this👏🏻
Been in love with it since I was a kid in the 80s. Read about it religiously. Wouldn't have thought there was still things to learn, can't wait for more.
Mightier MIG in its prime time literally had shaken up almost all countries ..it was more like facing a maniac monster in air. Fast enough that handling costed many lives ..but I read that most pilots love to fly this badass fighter.
one IRIAF pilot clearly confessed that flying a F-7 is much more enjoyable than a tomcat.
A former Yugoslav Air Force (RV i PVO) pilot who flew all the variants of MiG-21 told me that the most pleasant to fly was PF model, a second generation as you call it. He also flew Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star and Republic F-84G Thunderjet.
As a modeler. I love the MF variant. Saw on air shows. Beautiful
Whoa whoa, let's keep these comments family friendly
Excellent description of the MIG 21 capabilities.
Magnificent afterburner shots!
EXCELLENT Presentation and information.
Very interesting and well done!
An iconic fighter aircraft. A world-class fighter in its era.
It has such a "mechanical", kind of steampunk-ish look to it, and in a way it reminds me of an early steam locomotive.
Thank you for this very informative and well done video, you've definitively earned yourself a new subscriber!
Thank you!
Great video!
That Romanian pilot was AWESOME, and the aircraft equally so, and to perform as it did under their control!!
Liked and subbed - :)
coulda retracted the undercarriage though...
@@ashleycollard8968 That's the point of the awesomeness of both, as the aerodynamic drag caused by the undercarriage would be massive and speaks to the skill of the pilot and the mechanical design of the MIG 21. :)
@@craigywaigy4703 oh... i thought an awesome pilot would know where the retracts were actuated :P
*Thanks for sharing this vid. Liked & subcribed!!!*
Amazing thing is I have been seeing them fly since I was a child, now I'm 33years old and our airforce still flies them
Excellent video , good job !
The front cone of MiG-21 is so iconic but this is the first time that I know it can move forward and backward according to the jet's speed.
but he told completely wrong.... at high speed cone is fully retracted--low speed fully extended..
@@zsus1 I think you might be mistaken.... if by retracted, you mean as far back as possible then no.... that setting is for the slow speed regime. The idea is that you use a narrower intake at higher speeds so that the high pressure high speed air has a chance to slow to subsonic speed before it gets to the engine compressor stages as they cannot work properly with supersonic air (This was also true on the SR71 and all other aircraft that used variable geometry air intakes)
@@musharrafhanif confirmed from Russian Publication...at high speed cone retracted .and low speed cone extended..and you are right .but design of intake is such that if cone is extended it will reduce the open area for air flow and vice versa.
There are also two additional air intakes on both sides.
@@zsus1 Wrong.It is mandatory to ensure that the cone is fully retracted during all Preflight(PFS) Turnaround (TRS),and Last Flight servicing(LFS).
At ground level air dencity and Oxygen is more.At heigh altitudes the cone is extended to get more O2, thus flame out of the engine is avoided.There is a provision to re-light the engine with Oxygen & O2 bottles are kept in starboard wheel- bay.Young pilots sometimes forgets to re-light and accidents happen.
This is one of the Pilots Errors.
The Cone also works as radar aerial.
R35 is the engine used in Mig21 Bis, Speed 2Mac.
Great video, VERY informative. Loved it, thanks!
It's interesting to see that the U.S. labeled their Mig 21s the YF-110. The F-4 Phantom was originally designated the F-110. I suspect that this was not a coincidence.
They labeled them that because they needed to disguise their origin.
Next point is, YF-110 and F-110 have nothing in common,
And next, the F-110 designation was unofficial.
So what in the world do you suspect?
@@samuellatta6774 point 1 ...u missed his point in ur point 1.
Still remember the first time I saw a MiG-21 fly! Back in the early 90's Combat Jets Flying Museum out of Houston Texas brought their fleet to EAA in Oshkosh. It consisted an A-4, T-33, F-86, MiG-15, Hawker Hunter, F-104 and the MiG-21! It was my first time seeing jet warbirds. Even though his favorite jet was the F-86, my Dad was most excited to see the MiG-15. (He couldn't believe his eyes when he spied its tail when we were walking through the warbirds!) He never thought he'd see one, let alone see one fly! My favorites were the 104 and MiG-21 as they were exciting in burner!
Late-model 21s are the best looking jet fighters, IMO. And I'm a red-blooded American. Nice video. Thanks.
@Anon Ymous Well, I'm an American (born and raised) and I said it, so obviously you're wrong. Get over it. Get over yourself too.
I'm also an American and I can say that Soviet made aircrafts were bad ass looking and more beautiful than ours.in terms of tanks,p t-72 is far more beautiful to watch than the m-60 of ours, t-80ud is very beautiful than the m1 Abram.
@Anon Ymous and ure very sad and pathethic. Damn. No wonder the world has gone to shit. Ignorant people are everywhere
It's still a damn good one at intercepting with that epic acceleration!
I spent my entire 90's childhood living close to an airforce base in northern Poland. It was something which determined our life cycle. They were training all the time, days and nights. We spent a lot of time near the runway to wave the pilots who were lining up for take-off, greeting them when they landed. Mig-21 Bis is part of my DNA I guess. It's funny, because when in late 90s the base limited its activities (less flights and training for the pilots), ultimately striving to close it in its original shape I had a huge problem with falling asleep without the noise of jet engines roaring outside. Good memories, sad, that the base is not Fighter Aviation Regiment anymore, yet it serves as a military airfield, for the Naval Aviation unit and Coast Guard.
Let me guess, Hexengrund aka The Valley of Witches? ;)
@@saoha11 Yes
Brilliant Son. Keep it up. Blessings.
Два года я ремонтировал эти машины,помню каждую заклепку,все 11антенн,ВВС ГСВГ Альтес Лагер ГДР.
Great video. Great format
12:30 That is a folding mirror arrangement usually called a periscope.
Good information filled content. Thank you.
Never expected at detailed video on the Mig 21 on your channel.
Keep up the good work!!
Unfortunately it is labelled by some as The Flying Coffin due to its high fatality rate.
@Uncle Joe some good for nothing media outlets as a matter of fact.
But that is due lot many factors actually.
The flying coffin is F-104 🤷🏼♂️
@Uncle Joe I think the Luftwaffe's main problem was they used a high altitude interceptor as a low level fighter/bomber.
@Uncle Joe Foe the record, a MiG-21 Bison did shoot down an F-16
@Uncle Joe No, I was referring to the F104, which was designed as a high altitude interceptor - all engine and no wings. The Luftwaffe then needed a low level fighter bomber, and shoehorned the F104 into the role, leading to the Luftwaffe joke: "Question: How do you catch a F104? Answer: You buy a plot of land and wait!" But according to some they made it work eventually, after lessons learnt was applied to training and tactics. But a lot of guys died before that happened.
Great video, would enjoy other mig videos.
Actually, "U" in MIG-21U (МиГ-21У) stands for Russian letter "У" (which is pronounced same as U) - "учебный". It is close to "обучение", Google translate will display both of them, but the former is an adjective, and this is what they usually add to the main model name ("учебный", "высотный", "ночной" and so on) to indicate the purpose. The latter is a noun and it starts with "О", which does not match the letter "У".
This plane is sadly infamous in Italy because of the Ustica crash. A DC-9 plane lost a wing when a MIG-21 created a turbolence overtaking it very close. The DC-9 crashed in the sea and all the passengers died. It was 1980. At that time it was customary for Lybian MIG to overfly Italy back an forth when going to USSR for mechanical maintenance. In order to avoid NATO radars they used to follow by close italian civil planes. Sometimes they were intercepted by italian f-104 or NATO fighters but most times the trick worked.
Everybody in Italy turns an angry face at the sight of mig-21 to this day.
Mig-21 is not a plane. It's a jet engine with wings
F104 /105 was like that also.
Wrong, its a rocket with wings which carry the rockets 😁😁
wait till you see an F-104!
Jet's just need wings to maneuver, and hold rockets.
Very good presentation. Now i know a bit more about this famous Mig. Would like to see something similar on the Mig 23 and 27. As well as historical info on how they had fare in different wars.
"У" mean "учебный" Trainer aircraft. "Обучение" meaning is an educating process.
I concur. Uchebniy translates as trainer. Obuchenie is a verb, that means training, education, process of education or learning.
А ТЫ КТО?
At last someone said it !!! the Mig 21 was designed as an interceptor !!!! Bravo !!!
Fun fact-
An Indian IAF Mig21 biston shot down a Pakistani PAF F16 block 15 variant
Which for me is quite impressive
Still trying to live of that story huh guess what ITS NOT AN F 16 just ask an Israeli pilot
@@thomasvelazquez9789 Why Israeli?
@babayada2015 Just ask an Isreali pilot if the mig 21 is the same as having an f 16 . They will take the f 16 100% of the time. A mig 21 is not the same as a f 16, not even close. cmon, you must know that
@@thomasvelazquez9789 Nobody ever claimed Mig 21 was better than F 16,
The proof was given in the form of multiple overlapping radars showing it being shot down.
Ofcourse people ask India for the wreckage of something that was brought down in enemy territory and treat it as "lack of evidence"
@@thomasvelazquez9789 And since you mentioned F 16, I'm sure you understand how much the block versions affect the performance.
Look up the block of F 16 in Pakistan
I love expanding my knowledge of the aircraft i like, and this was just what I needed. Just spent part of Christmas Eve researching why it had a shock cone 😂
Saw Migs flying in Sri Lanka as a child and wanted to become a fighter pilot. Ended a Banker and still love those crazy flying machines.
Very Nice ! Thanks for this huge amount of work on my favorite jet fighter … cheers from France
A combat airplane starts life as a sports car and ends life as a pickup truck. Things only ever get heavier and bigger over time, never lighter. Performance, visibility, and handling are always sacrificed for fuel, payload, and sensors.
Except for the English Electric Lightning, which remained largely unchanged throughout its service life.
Anyway F.6 or F.3 (I can't remember what) is heavier than F.1
And, remember, it wasn't fighter but interceptor. Our Su-9 (for example) also remained unchanged
This aircraft is like Sputnik-it gives Americans chills down the spine till this day :).
Thanks for the great video about the great plane!
I have to say that Google deceives you: in МИГ-21У, "У" stands for "учебный", /uchebny/ ("training")
I blame it on Google. What else can I do? ;-p
@@FlywithMagnar At least, to have a look at the wiki page:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-21_variants#Trainer_variants_(1960%E2%80%931968+)
Sorry for being square ;)
Great video, thanks for notify! Greets!
This plane can be fitted with hypersonic missiles and modern avionics. It can still go head to head with 4th generation planes.
its too small to fit a modern radar
It's a POS that must be retired already
I saw one of these at the airport outside of Arad, Romania on a misty January or February day in 1991. He circled the airport at a very low altitude of around 300 feet??? From where I was standing, he looked like he was zipping though the distant trees. I couldn't even tell what it was (had to be a Mig-21), but it was going quite fast. It was a sight like I never saw in the U.S.
1955 just 10 years after ww2 . That is amazing !
Stole German technology-just like Kalashnikov ripped off the German Sturmgewehr 44 for the AK-47 Deutschland uber alles! Sold the last of our Mig-29s to Poland.
@@thomaswittek5337 AK is not a STG 44 system. Kalashnikov used american M1 Garand idea.
@@VovaSidorOff thanks.
Not really
Congratulations to you AND Jackal_21 & Others .. Beautiful and great video! Thank you.
Flew these for most of my service in the Indian Air Force. A beautiful aircraft with some quirks. Could be flown beyond the stall. Of course you were descending all the time so you had to have enough height below to recover. Those who did not ensure that did not live to tell the tale.
I heard the landing speed was unusually high
@@mverick5444 Not particularly..About 330 to 340 kmph..Blown flaps and 57 degree sweptback tailed delta. Par for the course, though higher than for eg the MiG-29 or the Su-30
@@rameshsnayar what base? Hindon Or palam? Or something else?
@@mverick5444 Jamnagar with TACDE
Beautiful flight demonstration, thanks.
At 10:46 it looks like a missile with afterburn lit
Awesome video. Thank you so very much
Hi Magnar, great video really informative👍👍👍
"then the pilot returns to the base for tea and medals" - молодец
I had to repeat that part many times to believe it!
😂😂 best line
From Blackadder Goes Forth, specifically the episode in which the boys join the Royal Flying Corps and discover that the 'Twenty Minuters' are known as such as this is the amount of time they can expect to spend in the air before being shot down and killed.
George: "Crikey, sir. I'm looking forward to today. Up diddly up, down diddly down, whoops, poop, twiddly dee - decent scrap with the fiendish Red Baron - bit of a jolly old crash landing behind enemy lines - capture, torture, escape, and then back home in time for tea and medals!"
From Blackadder Goes Forth, specifically the episode in which the boys join the Royal Flying Corps and discover that the 'Twenty Minuters' are known as such as this is the amount of time they can expect to spend in the air before being shot down and killed.
George: "Crikey, sir. I'm looking forward to today. Up diddly up, down diddly down, whoops, poop, twiddly dee - decent scrap with the fiendish Red Baron - bit of a jolly old crash landing behind enemy lines - capture, torture, escape, and then back home in time for tea and medals!"
I am here cuz I started to watch part 2 and it was awesome and then I realized holy crap there is a part one let's do that first.
👍
Still consider these one of the most beautiful aircraft ever.
Had privilege to watch activity of this machine on radar console and lucky enough to view take of and landings from tower.
The smaller size of the Mig 21 still makes it very effective
really great video, thank you for making it
Indian Mig 21 shot down Pakistan F 16 block 50 and mig pilot got most prestigious award from Indian president recently, it total depend upon the pilot capability 💪💪💪🇮🇳🇮🇳 Jai hind
What a nice and instructive video ¡Thank you so much!
A damn good design indeed, just need a whole new improvement for the 21 century.
Just found your channel.
Great content - subscribed.
MiG-21U was produced since 1962 (plus there are 2 more training variants - US and UM). And "U" doesn't stand for "obuchenie" (noun = learning) it stands for "uchebnyi" (adjective = training) instead. Nice video though.