The MiG-21 Fishbed was the scourge of American pilots during the Vietnam war. Although not as sophisticated as the American F-4 phantom, the MiG-21 was lighter and much more manouverable then any of the American fighters at the time. The People’s Army of North Vietnam bought the jet during the conflict and it soon proved itself to be a highly capable fighter against the onslaught of the American planes.

The biggest advantage the MiG-21 pilots had was that the American pilots had to visually identify a target before engaging it, and by that time the range was way to close for AA-missile combat.

What would usually happen next would be a vicious dogfight between the two opposing jets and more often than not the MiG-21 would come out victorious. The best Vietnamese fighter aces would usually have about 5-8 kills while the Americans would be lucky to have 4.

On an ending note one of my favourite war stories is of Pham Tuan, who on 27/12/72 shot down a B-52 over Hoa Binh with his MiG-21. To think that he single-handedly shot down a B-52 is mind blowing (they don’t call the B-52 a stratofortress for nothing you know!!)