I took these photos at the Polish Air Force Museum in Kraków. I have 3 unbuilt Mig-21 kits so these photos will come in handy soon. This is a late Mig-21 model, an MF or a Bis.
Walkaround starting on port side, front landing gear, and then continuing clockwise, like a pilot would pre-flight the aircraft.
Aircraft description says it was an aircraft of a regimental commander and it fired live guided missiles (against drones) eight times. I don’t know if they meant 8 live intercepts lifetime total, or in just one exercise.
Great walkaround! I’ve got a few 21’s as well, your photos will be very useful. The aircraft itself is a much better example of the type than the one I photographed at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, AZ last spring.
The rivets, screws and joints between panels are very obvious, so I do not think it was painted. Paint would have covered the rivets and screws. The gold color is probably due to the time of day the photos were taken. If the photos were taken close to sunset, the color of the natural light would be yellow in color. The airplane is old, so the aluminum panels would have oxidized to a grayish/white.
It was a metallic bronze color. Of course the paint job is special for some kind of anniversary in the Polish Air force. It said so on the description but I wasn’t paying attention.
Nope, you should trust iPhone, that phone takes amazingly reliable pictures. The fighter was deliberately painted a metallic bronze color for some kind of holliday or remembrance flight or something. It said so in the description that was planted in the ground in front of the plane.
If you photographed the description, that could give us more info to work with. On the internet it says that the aircraft was manufactured in 1974, and in the beginning of 2000, while serving with the 10th Fighter Regiment in Lask, to mark the 55th anniversary of the Regiment was painted gold by the designer of the special scheme, WO Piotr Polit. It was later flown by the Regiment’s commander, maj. Dariusz Pacek.
Thanks a lot for sharing the photos and have a nice day
The last hour of daylight is called the golden hour. The Sun is on the horizon and the spectrum is red shifted. The shorter wavelength colors like green indigo and violet are greatly diminished while red and orange are boosted. It gives photos a “warm” appearance, also messes with colors.
The belly color is what threw me- while the warm color temperature of the ambient light undoubtedly affected the color, it seemed like the top was too warm for the bottom, and I find from other comments above that it was not just a bare aluminum.
