| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| IAF MiG-23s make their last sorties |
| 2007-03-21 |
| Squadrons may be reactivated with F-16s Four Mig-23 MFs belonging to 224 Squadron of IAF, nicknamed 'Warlords', took to the skies here for the last time on Tuesday while a fifth one was towed with her ground equipment in tow along the tarmac, signalling the end of an era of the swing-wing fighter's association with IAF. Inducted in the '80s to counter the threat of F-16s in the western borders, the fighter aircraft now joins the ranks with other venerable warplanes that are already part of aviation folklore of the IAF. The historic flights took place in the presence of Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi, Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal PK Mehra, AOC-in-C, South Western Air Command (SWAC), Air Vice Marshal (Retd) W Raymond, Commodore Commandant of the Squadron, Air Commodore Devinder Singh, AOC, Jamnagar and the Commanding Officer of the squadron and Wing Commander K Khajuria. At an emotional farewell flight of the last of the Rakshaks (Indian nomenclature), a Mig-23 MF first took off with the target banner trailing that was followed by three other fighter aircraft trailing rings of blue flame in their jet wake, a thunderous reminder of their enormous power. With 'end of an era' emblazoned in the banner that is normally used for air-to-air gun firing practice, the banner tow aircraft made two passes jettisoning the banner in her final run. The remaining three aircraft came in tow in a vic formation and peeled-off in front of the cheering onlookers before executing individual last landings. Wing Commander MK Singh, Flight Commander of the 'Warlords', then taxied in at the tarmac and switched-off his aircraft in front of the audience. In a symbolic drill, the pilot, together with the ground crew, marched up to the Air Chief and handed over the Form-700 (the log book of the aircraft) and the Pilots Notes (flying manual) signifying the end of the era of this veritable warplane. No 224 Squadron is the last of the only two fighter squadrons ever raised that operated this variant in the IAF. Earlier No 223 Squadron, that also operated the same variant, switched over to Mig-29 in May 1989. With the last flights undertaken on Tuesday, the Warlord squadron is set to be number-plated on March 31. The squadron will now get reactivated on a later date when it is re-equipped with a new type of aircraft and assigned a new operational role. |
| Posted by:John Frum |
| #10 Phil, we'll just have to go with ETLAs. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2007-03-21 22:22 |
| #9 The Israelis have flown Indian Migs (and Indian pilots have flown their F-16s). These exercises are of course hush-hush but they provide each nation with valuable training on the aircraft their opponents are using. |
| Posted by: John Frum 2007-03-21 15:25 |
| #8 Took me til the 4th paragraph before the article told me who the IAF was. Isreali? Iraqi? Indonesian? |
| Posted by: gromky 2007-03-21 14:43 |
| #7 Yes they do. In 1965 they managed to have an Arab pilot escape to Israel with his Mig21. This allowed the Israelis to know all the strong and weak points in her handling as well as where to aim to have her catch fire. I doubt they haven't managed to get their hands on Mig29s and later, when Poland or East Germany became part of the NATO. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-03-21 09:47 |
| #6 "hold on, the Israeli Air Force doesn't fly MIGs". heh heh heh. |
| Posted by: Clyde Threaling1504 2007-03-21 09:29 |
| #5 Dan, except that there would still be the confusion between the Iraqi and Iranian Air Farces. |
| Posted by: Rambler 2007-03-21 08:40 |
| #4 Yeah, IsAF, InAF, IrAF would be a little more intelligible... |
| Posted by: DanNY 2007-03-21 07:49 |
| #3 When I saw the headline, I thought "hold on, the Israeli Air Force doesn't fly MIGs". Soon we will have the Iraqi Air Force. Forget about Global Warming, we are all doomed by the TLA crisis. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2007-03-21 03:03 |
| #2 STRATEGYPAGE > INDIA is happy as larks wid their MIG-29's, want work wid RUSSIA to lengthen lives of MIG-29 airframes and systems. See also THE COMMIE THREAT IN THE JUNGLE - you know, Radical Islam. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-03-21 02:28 |
| #1 Four Mig-23 MFs belonging to 224 Squadron of IAF, nicknamed 'Warlords', took to the skies here for the last time on Tuesday I guess four of their pilots were still tired of living. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-03-21 00:56 |