Mig 21 over Tyneside?

[redstu]

I was out earlier today at Gibside , just strolling along and heard a jet approaching from the north, I didn't think much of it as it's on the fightpath from the airport. However over the trees and flying quite low flew a deltawing!
A quick google pic search and to me it looked like a mig 21.
Did anyone else spot it? This was about 4:30 this afternoon.

[gowmonster]

hmm, looks like Germany is the closest country still to have them in service, so quite possible.

looks to have quite a distinguishable nosecone, could it have been an f16? these are still in service in France.

[dome]

The Vulcan on its way back from Leuchars perchance?

[dome]

The Vulcan on its way back from Leuchars perchance?

[Simpo Two]

Mig 21, F-16 or Vulcan? Strewth, something needs tightening up!

[H100S]

dome said:

The Vulcan on its way back from Leuchars perchance?

According to their twitter feed it was in that area.

[perdu]

You know the Vulcan doesn't look anything like a MIG 21 don't you

Vulcan wider than it is long
MIG 21 longer than it is wide

and has a very obvious tailplane section too

If one of my cadets had identified a Vulc as a MIG 21 I'd have walked out...

very pissed off






I wonder what it was though

intriguing huh?

[redstu]

Actually my first thought was that it was a Vulcan, I hadn't realised that it was flying again.
Very nice to watch, the last one I saw was about 40 years ago and considerably higher.

[Eric Mc]

MiG 21 profile -



Vulcan B2 profile -

[Blib]

Are we being invaded?

[Dr Jekyll]

Blib said:

Are we being invaded?

From 1959?

[Simpo Two]

We'd lose for sure then.

[Eric Mc]

MiG 21s are still in service.

[Blib]

So, we are being invaded?

I'd better pack.

[redstu]

Stand down false alarm!

[XG332]

redstu said:

Stand down false alarm!

Just a big seagull then?

[Eric Mc]

Now THAT would be nice -

[Simpo Two]

My god, a Catalina/Spitfire cross.

[dome]

perdu said:

You know the Vulcan doesn't look anything like a MIG 21 don't you

Vulcan wider than it is long
MIG 21 longer than it is wide

and has a very obvious tailplane section too

If one of my cadets had identified a Vulc as a MIG 21 I'd have walked out...

very pissed off

I do yes, I could even dust off my Aircraft recognition trophies to prove to you. However, not everyone has reached my levels of geekiness awesomeness

H100S said:

According to their twitter feed it was in that area.

As I was watching it at Leuchars earlier in the day and the OP said it was coming from the North call it an educated guess.


OP, did you find out what it was?

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

gowmonster said:

hmm, looks like Germany is the closest country still to have them in service, so quite possible.

looks to have quite a distinguishable nosecone, could it have been an f16? these are still in service in France.

The Luftwaffe did operate some ex-Luftstreitkräfte Mig 21s for test and evaluation purposes for a while post the re-unification of Germany, but I'm not sure they still do.

France has never operated the F16.

OP, if what you saw was a delta-winged a/c of (small) fighter size it might have been a French Mirage 2000.