At the Selfridge Open House, Randy Ball put his MIG-17F through some serious paces.
Sadly, I was stuck in traffic and could only watch it fly by without getting any shots, but I did get some decent close-up shots when it had landed and was being refueled.
A Soviet fighter that served in the east bloc starting in the 50s and with impressive longevity, continued serving through the 90s in some East Bloc air forces, and is still in service today with some African countries and North Korea. The MIG-17 had the tightest turning ratio of a jet fighter in the world until the F-16 was introduced.
With a top speed of 711 miles per hour and armed with two 23 mm cannons and a 37mm cannon, the MIG-17 was a fearsome dog-fighter in the Vietnam War. Mr. Ball, holder of an FAA unlimited jet aerobatics license, ably showed its tight turning radius and impressive speed and maneuverability.
It's an impressive, loud and fast moving aircraft and in the hands of capable pilots the aircraft gave our pilots a tough time over the skies of Vietnam.
4 comments:
When I worked at LZU, there was a company at the next airport up the highway that did refurb work on surplus East Bloc planes. It was always cool seeing MiGs zipping by. :D
That must have been cool, seeing just this one was pretty awesome.
Good to see you're back to blogging, your posts were missed.
Oh, now that's cool.
And yeah, if I'd flown up for that show just to have you get us stuck in traffic and make me miss seeing that wonderful creature fly, I'd be seriously postal.
When they were first being sold in the US, they went for $20k, a fifth the cost of a new FAA approved Cessna 172.
Spending $1k per flight to refuel the beast was the big gotcha with them.
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