Mikoyan MiG-23S Fuerza Aérea Argentina

[Spinners 15,974]

Mikoyan MiG-23S - 1 Grupo Caza-Bombardero, Fuerza Aérea Argentina, 1977

The Argentine coup d'état of March 1976 which saw Jorge Rafael Videla depose the largely unpopular and ineffectual presidency of Isabel Perón soon attracted the attention of senior Kremlin officials who were ever eager to seek opportunities to destabilise South America by fair means or foul. They quickly gifted the new Military Junta of Argentina 40 ex-VVS MiG-23S fighters with deliveries commencing in July 1976. The MiG-23's entered service with 1 Grupo Caza-Bombardero in August 1976 and saw action in the 1982 Falklands conflict but at least eight were shot down by Royal Navy Sea Harriers with only one confirmed victory against an RAF Harrier GR.3 over Goose Green. When Argentina returned to constitutional rule in late 1983 the incoming president Raúl Alfonsín instructed the Argentine Air Force commander, Teodoro Waldner, to offer the Mig-23's back to the Soviet Union free of charge in a move designed to send a message back to the Kremlin that Argentina was moving in a different and democratic direction. The aircraft languished in outdoor storage at Villa Reynolds Military Air Base for several years before being scrapped.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lindr2's Mig-23S mod. I love the different shape of this early Flogger.

 

 

Edited June 23, 2012 by Spinners

[B52STRATO 215]

Pretty cool, it will be a real challenge to be able, from Argentina, to intercept Harrier with its range