On Monday, April 7th, 2003 "Ian" an avid watcher of the skies around Nellis/Groom Lake (Area 51) spotted Russian aircraft flying into Groom Lake. His video stills are below:

SU-27 in banked turn, flying towards Groom Lake


Mig-29 and Gulfstream G2 (or Yak-40) flying into Groom Lake-
Call signs were as follows: MiG-29 'Cowboy 18' and G2 'Cowboy 03'


Second shot of Mig-29 and G2 (or Yak-40) flying into Groom Lake


Special thanks to Fulcrum and Seekerof for ID on Mig.
Comments welcome~

first pic: i cant see # exept a blimp...
it looks like no aircraft...
how can you tell its a su-27...

second pic:
you can prove it that its a mig-29
its to fuzzy and it can be many other aircrafts...

three pic:
look the same as second...
aslo cant prove it to be a mig-29...

Groom lake does have russian aircraft, which they some how got a hold of during the cold war. They have been flying migs around Groom lake since the late 70s early 80s, but i don't know why they would be interested in russian aircraft now.

where is your proof...

i need proof to believe this...

It is known that both USAF and Luftwaffe have flown MiG-29s in US airspace..
(Luftwaffe has been the 'bad guys' in Red Flags.. etc..)

US has some 20-30+ MiG-29s in its inventory, most bought from Moldovia.

So this could well be..

And if they are in US, i doubt that this 'business jet' is a Yak-40..

Its more likely to be Learjet or Gulfstream.
(more likely the later..)



And about the Fighter jets on these pics.

In 2. and 3. its MiG-29.

But in the first it could as well be a F-15.
(Its too fuzzy, hard to tell..)

Nice find!

it can be f-15s in both...

its to fuzz to say anything...

EDITED* due to Russian playing nicey nice.



I'm working on a visual ident of the other plane mentioned.
I'm not as technical as intelgurl, fulcrum, or seekerof...but I can do graphics. Which some people evidently need.

[Edited on 12-16-2003 by darklanser]

Not sure about the first pick, but the 2nd and 3rd (if I had to guess - being ex-Navy Intel) look like a MiG-29 to me. Two reasons why:

1. The aircraft appears to have extended leading wing edges/root/chines that extend along the forward fuselage under the canopy. The F-15 does not have this feature (although the F-18 does).

2. There is a fair amout of separation between the engines/nozzles. The MiG-29 was designed this way to be better able to absorb battle damage (less chance of losing both engines due to a single hit). Both the F-18 and F-18 have engines/nozzles that are closer together.

MiG-29's are available on the world market for the right amount of cash, and as was previously stated the USAF has defenitely obtained flyable copies.

The Su-27 or it's derivatives, however, would be a completely different story..................probably a very classified one at that......


Nice job, Intelgurl!

Look at the tail of this aircraft..
(in Intelgirls pics 2. and 3.)

Now compare to these:

MiG-29 #1

MiG-29 #2

MiG-29 #3

There is no doubt.



And here:


Lufwaffe MiG-29s at Red Flag Exercise, Nellis AFB, November 5, 1999.



[Edited on 16-12-2003 by FULCRUM]

Pyros,

US has bought about 30 MiG-29s from Moldova..
and has also captured a number..
and has those also available from 'frienlies'.



And Su-27(s) US bought from Belarus.

ok ok it a mig...

its a mig...

but the first one cant be proven...

also i believe its a mig cause i found some German MIG-29s...

so if Germans have them then so deos US...

The second (larger) plane is most likely the G2. A Yak-40 has more straighter wings and stabilizers (?).



The plane in the picture has swept back wings and stabilizers.

German MiG-29s were at first DDRs MiG-29s..
(DDR = Communist East Germany..)

Then Germanys united..

Youll figure the rest out..



Now Germany has/or will soon donate those MiG-29 to Poland at token price of one (or 5, i cant remember..) Euros..

All 20-23 of them..

darklanser...

nice find...


so the second one is not a Russian aircraft...

or maybe another one...

cant they donate them to me!!!

BTW, the following link describes in detail the civilian aircraft in the photos. I can personally vouch for the accuracy of the description of this aircraft (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, saynomore!).





G2 Aircraft

I know why the luftwaffe donates the Migs.. becaus they are all export versions of the MiG-29A, which is inferior to the MiG-29 version currently used in Russia.
Still its a nice plane.. I wish I could have one

that website might have been made by a person who didnt know anything about these aircrafts either....

Gulfstream II, so i was right about even that as soon as i learned that these pics were taken in US.







Damn im good..

But im supposed to know these things so..

Get a grip.

Mystery solved.