Western Aircraft in the Soviets's Inventory

The Soviet union and her allies have also been able to aquire Western Aircraft over the years. OF these aircraft, only a few have been in flying condition:

THe most famous is the B-29. Several of the bombers had to land in the USSR during WWII. They were confiscated and re-enginneered as the T-4 bomber.
aeroweb.lucia.it...

A few F-5E's and a A-37B were given to the Sovietsd following the takeover of Vietnam

According to 'Red Ladies in Waiting' by Hans-Heiri Stapfer (Squadron/Signal) at least two F-5E Tiger II's and an A-37B Dragonfly were donated to the Soviets by the North Vietnamese after their takeover of Vietnam. The a/c were evaluated at Zhukovsky and eventually ended up in Poland and Czechoslovakia.

A CH-47 is on display at the Mil design division.

A F-86 was found in a tidal marsh and taken to Moskow

On one occasion F-86 was downed in the tidal area which subsequently was covered with sea. This prevented F-86 from destruction. It was ferried to Moscow and a new OKB was established to study F-86 which later became part of the Sukhoi OKB. Author mentioned that Mikoyan and Sukhoi were impressed by the design and Sukhoi managed to learn enough to keep the engineering "culture" for years. The F-86 studies contributed to the development of the aircraft aluminum alloys (V-95 etc.).

Other bits and pieces: A F-111a Escape capsule, and at least 5 U-2's were downed. 1 over the CCCP and 4 over China.

There are persistent rumors that a F-14I Tomcat was given to the Soviets after the 1979 Iranian revolution, but confirming that is difficult.

I don't think it would have been hard for them to get some US planes form the Vietnam and Korean war, also the Iranian's might have given some F-14 to the soviets. I never understood why the US did not call in an air strike to destroy the F-14 that Iran had.

Originally posted by WestPoint23
I don't think it would have been hard for them to get some US planes form the Vietnam and Korean war, also the Iranian's might have given some F-14 to the soviets. I never understood why the US did not call in an air strike to destroy the F-14 that Iran had.

Id put my money on the fact that they did not feel the need. The IRAF used US contractors to maintain the planes (Kind of how Kuwait and SA do now), as the story goes, the contractors simply took out all of the critical electronic components and rendered them useless in an electronic sense. The planes flew but without alot of the critical avionics

Originally posted by WestPoint23
I don't think it would have been hard for them to get some US planes form the Vietnam and Korean war, also the Iranian's might have given some F-14 to the soviets. I never understood why the US did not call in an air strike to destroy the F-14 that Iran had.

I heard the F-14 avionics and Phoenix misiles were sabotaged by CIA and Iranians loyal to the shah family. The result was the aircrafts were not able to fire it's Phoenix misilles.

Yeah I was watching a show and US contractor that were leaving Iran may have been CIA, and they took out electronics so the missiles would not come off or fire. Some engineers of the F-14 said that after a couple of months if you don't maintain the plane or replace parts it rusts and is useless.

I'm not surprized. Capturing and testing enemy aircraft has been going on for decades on both sides of the cold war. I know they took the U-2 spyplane that was shot down on May 1,1960 to a special research center for analysis. The Russians also have a D-21 spy drone that was lost over Russia on an early flight, after an unstart and a electrical malfunction lead to a flame out.

Tim
ATS Director of Counter-Ignorance

The back out of the maintenance crew would be a very good reason for Iran to give at least some planes to Russia if for no other reason then to work out how Russian engineers would be able to maintain them.
However they were not sabotaged....... certainly not effectivly enough to not have them used against the Iraqi's.
"The Iranian F-14s scored most of their kills with AIM-54A Phoenix missiles"
www.iiaf.net...

[edit on 2-8-2004 by Amur_Tiger]

This is from a magazine:
US Army Test & Evaluation Command - Alexandria, VA - Aircraft:
Antonov An-2, Kamov Ka-32, Mil Mi-2, Mi-8, Mi-14, Mi-17, Mi-24, Mi-25

If I'm not mistaken thanks to lack of spare parts the Iranian F-14s can't even fly. A good thing because F-14s are extremely formidible fighters. Lets see considering how many F-16s we've sold its not exactly difficult to purchase them. Then of course some Mig-21s can actually be armed with AIM-9 Sidewinders. And of course remember the famous U-2 mission were Gary Powers was shot down. The Russians found a good bit of the plane intact. Remember in I think it was 2001 a Chinese aircraft (probably a J-7) got to close to one of our planes, started showing off yelling at us about being in their airspace (we were in international waters) and he collided with our plane. Yeah China got a hold of one of our planes that way.

Originally posted by Amur_Tiger
"The Iranian F-14s scored most of their kills with AIM-54A Phoenix missiles"
www.iiaf.net...
[edit on 2-8-2004 by Amur_Tiger]

Good find, I was poking around the site and aparantly the IIAF was going to take delivery of of a total of F-16's but canceled due to costs. Some of those planes aparently were purchaed by Isreal.... Small world eh?

That incident with the Chinese pilot ramming an unarmed US plane in international waters still pisses me off just wish he had tried tied to ram an F-15 he will have gotten blown to kingdom come.

I have a pet theory regarding the Chinese embassy bombing in Kosovo. Many people think the bombing was deliberate. (See for example www.fair.org... ). Personally, I can't believe that it was just an accident.. I mean of all the buildings that the CIA should have known the location of, the Chinese embassy should have been pretty high up on their list, and yet they claim it was due to "outdated maps".

Remember the F-117 that was shot down and never recovered? My theory is that the Serbs decided to sell various parts of it to the Chinese. Where would they store the parts? The embassy! We had to bomb it before they could ship the parts back to China for analysis.

It's probably a wacky theory, but I haven't heard many better explanations.

-koji K.

they do have F-14 Tomcats. but i don't think we need to worry. when the get say maybe a F-117 or B-2 then we can worry.

Originally posted by koji_K
Remember the F-117 that was shot down and never recovered? My theory is that the Serbs decided to sell various parts of it to the Chinese. Where would they store the parts? The embassy! We had to bomb it before they could ship the parts back to China for analysis.

Koji, what can I say to this..... I LIKE IT! It makes perfect sence. I a firm in my belief that the bombing was not an accident. Based on some of the stories I had read, that the Embassy was being used to relay information to Milosovich, and the US sent them a message.

One has to wonder why the plane was not turned over to the Russians though.

Great Idea. Good one Koji!

Originally posted by FredT

Originally posted by koji_K
Remember the F-117 that was shot down and never recovered? My theory is that the Serbs decided to sell various parts of it to the Chinese. Where would they store the parts? The embassy! We had to bomb it before they could ship the parts back to China for analysis.

Koji, what can I say to this..... I LIKE IT! It makes perfect sence. I a firm in my belief that the bombing was not an accident. Based on some of the stories I had read, that the Embassy was being used to relay information to Milosovich, and the US sent them a message.

One has to wonder why the plane was not turned over to the Russians though.

Great Idea. Good one Koji!

Thank you

Regarding the russians- I guess it is strange, seeing as how the Serbs and Russians have close ties, but I'm guessing it's just a matter of the Chinese offered to pay more.

-koji K.

You know that theory might be true, before the US bombs a target they have to study it and take picks and do all sort of stuff to determine the angel of the PMG to hit and all sort of things. The USAF couldn't do all of this from a map that need up to date photos and other stuff so im guessing the bombing was deliberate.

Originally posted by WestPoint23
That incident with the Chinese pilot ramming an unarmed US plane in international waters still pisses me off just wish he had tried tied to ram an F-15 he will have gotten blown to kingdom come.

Are you equally pissed off about the US destroyer that shot down an Airbus with a SAM? Or do you not treally care as it had no Americans on it?

It has been posted here before

US F-14 in Russia and other captured 'enemy' aircrafts!





Also found this Captured planes Website

With loads of interesting images.

Soviet F-86 Sabre

Originally posted by koji_K
I have a pet theory regarding the Chinese embassy bombing in Kosovo. Many people think the bombing was deliberate. (See for example www.fair.org... ). Personally, I can't believe that it was just an accident.. I mean of all the buildings that the CIA should have known the location of, the Chinese embassy should have been pretty high up on their list, and yet they claim it was due to "outdated maps".

Remember the F-117 that was shot down and never recovered? My theory is that the Serbs decided to sell various parts of it to the Chinese. Where would they store the parts? The embassy! We had to bomb it before they could ship the parts back to China for analysis.

It's probably a wacky theory, but I haven't heard many better explanations.

-koji K.

It makes complete sense. Like Westpoint said the USAF doesn't just bomb targets without proper recon. We would have noticed an embassy by satellite seeing as they would normally check the area for AAA and SAMs. Now a F-117 is pretty dangerous in the wrong hands, especially those of China. F-14s are equally dangerous. If Russia or China obtained an F-14 and Phoenix missle than thanks to a bit of reverse engineering they could easily produce a replica of the worlds best interceptor. A Phoenix might even be able to intercept a stealth.

I'm suspicous of the incident in which the Chinese fighter collided with our plane. Its perfect, it looks like an accident, the plane is still reletivly intact, and it has no were to land except China. And seeing as China obviously has an interest in pirating aircraft designs it seems a bit suspicious. Now about that airbus, me I think that it might have been highjacked. That or it was carrying some important cargo.

Originally posted by cyberdude78
I'm suspicous of the incident in which the Chinese fighter collided with our plane. Its perfect, it looks like an accident, the plane is still reletivly intact, and it has no were to land except China. And seeing as China obviously has an interest in pirating aircraft designs it seems a bit suspicious. Now about that airbus, me I think that it might have been highjacked. That or it was carrying some important cargo.

Im not sure if it was s deliberate attempt to obtain an Aries aircraft. This pilot had had a history of erractic behaviour in the past. Flying close, playing chicken etc. In fact one picture showed him holding up his e-mail address to the plane he was hasseling. In short he behaved as if he was a cast member of the film "top gun". Not that the CHiCOms lost any sleep about getting a lookover on the Aries plane. But they would have had to order thier pilot to ram the plane which I just can't see them doing. Now these flights have F-15 with them and hopefully this does not happen again.