70's 80's secret u.s. mig program detailed

Sat Nov 18, 2006 12:12 am

a once secret program that enabled thousands of u.s. military pilots to practice aerial combat against soviet mig fighters was detailed yesterday by the usaf as the 1st aknowledgement of the program's existence. the classified program ran from 1977 to 1988 at the nevada tonopah test range near las vegas's nellis afb. as many as 25 migs were used including mig 17's, & 21's, & 23's. they were flown by usaf, usmc, & usn pilots. trainees would 1st observe the migs in operation & then hone dogfighting skills they would possibly encounter in combat. around 6800 pilots went though the program which was code named "constant peg". if you talk to any general officer who flew then & who is still on duty, chances are he participated. it was that big of a program. the migs were kept in their hangars or put into the air to avoid satellite detection when the soviet systems were over head. when u.s. military pilots made emergency landings at the field they would have to sign secrecy oaths about what they had seen. the maintenance crews that serviced the planes dressed in civvies to avoid drawing attention. it's unknown how the migs were obtained. 2 pilots perished during the training years. 100 accidents occured for every 100,000 hours for airforce fighter jets. the end of the cold war, along with the program's expense nixed it to a close in 1988. the program was recently declassified because public knowledge no longer held the possibility of harm to anyone.

Sat Nov 18, 2006 12:52 am

Cool stuff & our government is still doing it.

I was watching one of those Area 51 shows on either the discovery or history channel.
They had some guys camped out as close as they could get to the base hoping to catch a glimpse of any experimental aircraft.
The morning they were leaving they caught a Mig 29 pulling some pretty serious acrobatics on film.
Clear as day it was a mig 29, I just wish they would have shown more footage of it.

Website · Sat Nov 18, 2006 9:21 am

Warplanes Inc.?

Sat Nov 18, 2006 10:14 am

I believe there vist coincided with one the visit's of JG73 to Red Flag or to support the WIC employment phase ... This being one of there Fulcrums caught out on the range ..

RJ

TTR 91-92

Sat Nov 18, 2006 2:13 pm

Hi ; I think that Al Reddicks Classics in Aviation was the company that recovered several of these a/c from Poland and other eastern countrys and worked very closely with the U.S. government.They also brought in several Soviet helicopters at the same time. :shock:

Thanks Mike

Sat Nov 18, 2006 4:07 pm

HELLDIVERS wrote:Hi ; I think that Al Reddicks Classics in Aviation was the company that recovered several of these a/c from Poland and other eastern countrys and worked very closely with the U.S. government.They also brought in several Soviet helicopters at the same time. Thanks Mike

The aircraft that were used by the "Red Hats" and "Red Eagles" (two different programs, by the way) were obtained through covert means in the 60s and 70s from Egypt, Israel, and other places.

Sat Nov 18, 2006 8:37 pm

Al's airplanes were on a contract down in New Mexico, I remember the those days, I was working as a mechanics helper / line boy.
Scott.....

Sat Nov 18, 2006 9:29 pm

randy, obtained covertly from israel?? i thought they were our staunchest allies in the mideast!! especially in the 60's & 70's!!!

Sat Nov 18, 2006 9:36 pm

Warplanes Inc.?

Maybe, I do remember dean taking his 2 seat Mig 21 to pax river alot to help navy pilots.

Sun Nov 19, 2006 12:21 am

The program wasn't THAT secret after a high ranking general...vice commander of TAC or something...was killed flying one of the jets in the mid-80s.
The Air Force press release did not say what he was flying...a rather obvious omission. Instead it said he was flying some sort of classified aircraft. Anyone with half a brain could figure out what he was doing there.

If fact, for years there were rumors of MiGs being used by the USAF for classified training. In 1982 while at a tech school, I (a new lieutenant who didn't know better) asked a classmate, an Egyptian general, if they had supplied MiG-21s for ACT.
He was clearly caught off-guard and after conferring with an Egyptian colonel, came back to me, smiled and said "What's wrong with giving airplanes to our friends?"

Sun Nov 19, 2006 11:43 am

tom d. friedman wrote:randy, obtained covertly from israel?? i thought they were our staunchest allies in the mideast!! especially in the 60's & 70's!!!

The airplanes were captured by Israel...the covert part was whom they captured the airplanes from and that they were lending them to the US.

JBoyle wrote:The program wasn't THAT secret after a high ranking general...vice commander of TAC or something...was killed flying one of the jets in the mid-80s.

The "YF-113G" is the airplane you're looking for -- it was a MiG-23. My understanding is that this crash wasn't part of the "Red Eagles" program that is the subject of this thread, but part of the "Red Hats" program which was similar...but different.