North Vietnamese MiG-19PFL

Spinners · May 5, 2019

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19PFL 'Farmer-M' - 921st Fighter Regiment, Vietnamese Peoples Air Force, 1972

Even though Operation Linebacker did not start until May 9th, 1972 the build-up of forces was clearly observed by both the North Vietnamese military and their Soviet advisors. The build-up was also clearly felt by the North Vietnamese on April 10th following the first large-scale B-52 raid when 12 B-52s and 53 supporting attack aircraft struck several petroleum storage facilities around Vinh. This attack prompted VPAF commanders to report that, with only around 200 interceptors, they simply did not have enough aircraft to deal with sustained attacks on strategic targets in the North leading to President Hồ Chí Minh urgently seeking further assistance from the Soviet Union. The Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, authorised the urgent transfer of 50 aircraft from the Soviet Air Force and US analysts were surprised to discover that these consisted of 30 MiG-17PF's and 20 of the hitherto unknown MiG-19PFL radar equipped interceptors. The MiG-19PFL's were pressed into service with the 921st Fighter Regiment based at Phúc Yên and although there were persistent reports that they were flown by Soviet pilots this has never been confirmed.

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