A while back someone asked if there were any Russian aircraft in the Us or Us markings. I was out a Nellis this morning and checked on three aircraft on display there . There was a Mig 17 Fresco with No. Korean markings, a Mig 21 Fihbed with Russian Markings and a SU7 Fitter with Iraq markings. Also there is the first F117 on display, a F105, F111, F86, F5, F100 and F4 there No bombers of any kind . I guess its cause Nellis is the Home of the fighter pilot and Thunder birds. I also found a T bird site with some neat t bird flying around screen saver you can download Its www.airforce.com/thunderbirds
That was me looking for Soviet A/C in US markings. Thanks for the info on what is there at Nellis, By any chance did you see any references for the 4477 TES? They’re the squadron thats supposedly operating MiG-29s’. I’m hoping that since they were bought overtly, they might be in US markings. Thanks to Salbando I have enough reference on the MiL-24 that are operated by the US. My next trip out that way I plan on stopping at Nellis and taking a peek at the Threat Assesment Museum.
Boy things sure have changed. When I used to go to the Threat Assessment Museum you had to have a secret clearence and a “need to know” to get into it. Plus there apparently were more aircraft then as they weren’t mentioned above as being there.
Oh, what other aircraft do you remember?
James,
Your post spawned a memory of an article in one of my reference books, which I thought I’d post the picture that accompanied it.
Take care,
Frank
Get the book “Wings of Fury”, by Robert K. Wilcox. He talks of a secret US fighter squadron, called the “Red Eagles”, that flew overtly-purchased Russian aircraft, some of which flew with US markings. The squadron was supposedly based at Nellis, and the planes were used to get US pilots used to seeing real enemy planes in a combat scenario.
Thanks for all the info. I’ve allways been most interested in Russian aircraft, and it’s especially intriguing when you find some in really strange places.
I’m not sure if I’m allowed to talk about them or not. They made us sign statements that we wouldn’t discuss them. It was 20 years ago though.
You mean you just can’t blab on public forums… or in private conversations at AppleBees? [;)] [:p]
Anyhoo, mention was made of the Red Eagles…
The 4477th TES ‘Red Eagles’ operated out of Groom Lake along with the 6513th TES ‘Red Hats’ and flew MiGs, among other types.
Fade to Black…
Blackwolf thanks for that info! That gives me two squadrons to look for. In your vast collection of A/C pics, do you by any chance have any of the US operated MiGs?
Eagle334, Don’t get yourself into trouble with the feds on my behalf.
Oldhooker (love that name!!) 7616 is still with us and is located at Wright-Pat in the USAF Museum. But thanks for the pic.
Dont know about the Red Eagles squadron But Nellis has a Red Flag Squadron (no big secret) in fact the F5 display I mentioned is painted in the Russian blue/gray scheme. And theres no telling whats at groom lake (area 51) If you look at any map of Nevada or central Calif You can see a huge porttion is shown as miltary restricted area. Boy ! theres a lot of desert out there
Actually, I guess I can mention some of them. They had both versions of the Mig-31. The black one that looks like an F-5 from Topgun AND the Firefox version. Some Migs that looked an awful lot like F-84’s and F-86’s, ( I’m not sure of the variants though, they were just referred to as Migs). Plus, and this shocked me, they had one of the ultra rare Japanese dive bombers that attacked Pearl Harbor that look identical to Dauntlesses. [;)]
Are those MiG’s the F-112 to -116?
about the US hinds: they are used to train infintry on how to deal with them if they become attacked by one. (there is a group build on hinds in teh helicoptor section)
and with that mig pic, i’m not sure if it is the same mig, but i remember a story where the US airforce wanted a mig to study something on it that gave it very good manouverbility, so they spread leaflets over somewhre saying that if they piloted on to bring it to some US airbase, and they would get money and get to move to the US.
The last I knew, the Army was still operating three ex-Sov helicopters at Ft Polk to train ADA (Aerial Defense Artillery) troops, a Hind and two Hips. All were GSFG (Group of Soviet Forces Germany) and were procured shortly after the Fall of the Wall. Hind has a really nice airbrushed picture on the door in the Frank Frazetta style. They were on a History Channel program about 6 months ago.
Rumors have been around for about a year now that 2 to 4 Hinds and a half dozen Hips will eventually join the OPFOR at NTC.
In 1992 there were quite a few of Soviet choppers (Hips, Hinds, Hoplites…etc) at Ft. Bliss in El Paso, TX. There were also a few planes, one was a IL-2. We crawled all around the aircraft there and the Hind played opfor while we were on manuvers there.
They may have moved them since.
One thing for you Hind experts. One of the Hinds that was a capture from the first Iraq war had a 25mm, or was it 40mm, gun mounted on the side of the fuselage (not the wing). The OPFOR pilot that was giving us the tour in the hanger there told us it was a new model. I cannot remember the model. Can anyone enlighten me?
Lon
That still holds true today. I saw, heard, and read many things that I still can’t talk about today. I know most has been declassified, but I am sure parts are still classified as secret or top secret.
I went to a classified briefing when I was stationed at a state side base, many years ago. That evening on the local news, they were talking about the same thing that was in our briefing. I had the OSI and FBI at my door within an hour trying to find out who leaked the information. It turned out that an officer told his wife and a son overheard it. He told a friend, who’s dad worked for the TV station. That officer was told to get out of the service or face a trial. The military is very serious when it comes to classified material, especially in todays world.
If thats a forward pointing twin barrel arrangement on the right side of the fuselage rather than the gatling type gun in the nose, then I’d say thats an E or an F version of the Hind. From what I’m told, the D version was the last to have the gatling type nose gun.
Iraq used mi-25s which is an exported version of the mi-24D