Soviet air force scrap yard in Riga, Latvia
Discussion
The MiG had some incredibly impressive records though, take off to 20,000 meters (not feet!) in less than three minutes!
I came back to this again this morning:
That's 20km vertical.
If you wanted to drive 20km horizontally in three minutes you'd have to average 400km/h, or 250 mph.
20km is 66,000feet, or twice the cruising altitude of a modern airliner. Most airliners take between 15 and 30 minutes to reach their cruising altitude.
The MiG-25 hits double that in 3 minutes. Just mind blowing stuff, and in the 60's!!
Jake899 said:
The MiG had some incredibly impressive records though, take off to 20,000 meters (not feet!) in less than three minutes!
I came back to this again this morning:
That's 20km vertical.
If you wanted to drive 20km horizontally in three minutes you'd have to average 400km/h, or 250 mph.
20km is 66,000feet, or twice the cruising altitude of a modern airliner. Most airliners take between 15 and 30 minutes to reach their cruising altitude.
The MiG-25 hits double that in 3 minutes. Just mind blowing stuff, and in the 60's!!
The structure of the Mig was mostly high nickel content steel that had been welded so it was a heavy old lump too, make the records even more impressive.I came back to this again this morning:
That's 20km vertical.
If you wanted to drive 20km horizontally in three minutes you'd have to average 400km/h, or 250 mph.
20km is 66,000feet, or twice the cruising altitude of a modern airliner. Most airliners take between 15 and 30 minutes to reach their cruising altitude.
The MiG-25 hits double that in 3 minutes. Just mind blowing stuff, and in the 60's!!
Jake899 said:
The MiG had some incredibly impressive records though, take off to 20,000 meters (not feet!) in less than three minutes!
I came back to this again this morning:
That's 20km vertical.
If you wanted to drive 20km horizontally in three minutes you'd have to average 400km/h, or 250 mph.
20km is 66,000feet, or twice the cruising altitude of a modern airliner. Most airliners take between 15 and 30 minutes to reach their cruising altitude.
The MiG-25 hits double that in 3 minutes. Just mind blowing stuff, and in the 60's!!
to be fair that's a similar rate of climb to the Lightning (20,000 feet per minute)I came back to this again this morning:
That's 20km vertical.
If you wanted to drive 20km horizontally in three minutes you'd have to average 400km/h, or 250 mph.
20km is 66,000feet, or twice the cruising altitude of a modern airliner. Most airliners take between 15 and 30 minutes to reach their cruising altitude.
The MiG-25 hits double that in 3 minutes. Just mind blowing stuff, and in the 60's!!
DodgyGeezer said:
to be fair that's a similar rate of climb to the Lightning (20,000 feet per minute)
true, what a beautiful brute the Lightning is! But it couldn't, as the old saying goes, carry a fag packet across a tennis court! The MiG was obviously designed to provide interception over Siberia, so it needed legs. and it can carry four A2A missiles the size of a telegraph pole.I was of the understanding that when the guy defected they kept it for quite a long time, and were less than impressed with it, some of it was amazing but a lot of it was very old tech.
I would imagine this is still the case to this day, it doesn't matter really as the threat was real, this thing could potentially shoot down a U2 or even SR71 and the basics of the F15 were designed to see this off, which is why it was massively well or even over engineered! And also costly and also perhaps why the push to stealth came so rapidly on the abck of all that.
I was an airshow in the glory days, do I really only ever saw Western stuff, I did see 29s and 27s obviously and a Mig 21 back in the day but no big stuff.
I had an obsession with Soviet era jets, even the wild stuff, and even now subscribe to a few channels that show it from there,
I would imagine this is still the case to this day, it doesn't matter really as the threat was real, this thing could potentially shoot down a U2 or even SR71 and the basics of the F15 were designed to see this off, which is why it was massively well or even over engineered! And also costly and also perhaps why the push to stealth came so rapidly on the abck of all that.
I was an airshow in the glory days, do I really only ever saw Western stuff, I did see 29s and 27s obviously and a Mig 21 back in the day but no big stuff.
I had an obsession with Soviet era jets, even the wild stuff, and even now subscribe to a few channels that show it from there,
They've moved the backfire back so you can go prod at it now? Was disappointed as when we were there it was off-site on the other side of the airport. Place looking a bit different.
And that yak 28 looks mental, if you didn't know better you'd assume it was some steampunk render fantasy thing.
And that yak 28 looks mental, if you didn't know better you'd assume it was some steampunk render fantasy thing.
There’s an engineless MiG-25 on display at the Indian Airforce Museum at Delhi airport. I went about 10 years ago and posted some photos on here, but the Great Photobucket Purge a few years ago for non fee-payers deleted them all. 
Assuming nothing has changed, they also have a MiG-23, Liberator, Canberra, Tempest II, Spitfire, Hurricane, Lysander, amongst many others. Certainly worth a trip if you happen to be using Delhi airport and have the time.
Assuming nothing has changed, they also have a MiG-23, Liberator, Canberra, Tempest II, Spitfire, Hurricane, Lysander, amongst many others. Certainly worth a trip if you happen to be using Delhi airport and have the time.
Jake899 said:
This was the one that i was far and away most excited by. It's a Tupolev TU-22M Backfire. As far as i know this is the only one outside of Russia/Ukraine and it's a long range Nuclear bomber. Terrifyingly singular in design and really impressive. Never thought I'd get to see one.
Great pics - thanks for posting. I'd love to see that lot. Any idea how he managed to acquire the Backfire?
M22s said:
I remember the TU-22 at RIAT one of the years it was at RAF Cottesmore as a teenager - I just remember the grandstand shaking when it took off to depart.
When the Tu-22M came to Farnborough in, I think, 1992, the thing a lot of people commented on was the apparently worn out tyres with multiple layers of fabric visible. The explanation given was that the Russians used a different construction of tyre with the fabric layers all the way to the outside and that this was perfectly normal and acceptable.
Edited by GliderRider on Monday 27th March 02:14
Another couple of snaps from this trip, just to flesh out the airframes that seem to have got the most appreciation: a slightly elevated pic of the Yak-28, showing the wingsweep nicely.
And another of the Bullet that is the MiG-25.
Another fun fact on the Foxbat is that the air conditioning unit operates with 300liters of pure alcohol. Needless to say, deployments of MiG-25s were welcomed everywhere they went with well wishers carrying all sorts of bottles and containers. Needless to needlessly say, the last flight back to home base was always a hot one for Foxbat pilots!
I thought it was the Tu-22 Blinder that had the ethyl alcohol air conditioing system. It was referred to as the "Vodka Bomber".
Note that the original Tu-22 is a very different aeroplane to the Tu-22M Backfire. In reality, the Backfire was the Tu-26 but Tupolev used the Tu-22M designation to try and fool the Politburo into thinking it was a mere upgrade to the original Tu22 rather than a completely new design.
Note that the original Tu-22 is a very different aeroplane to the Tu-22M Backfire. In reality, the Backfire was the Tu-26 but Tupolev used the Tu-22M designation to try and fool the Politburo into thinking it was a mere upgrade to the original Tu22 rather than a completely new design.
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