2skicomrade

Although their country is falling apart around them, it looks like these guys have found a way to have fun....

Gosh the 'White Swan' looks gooood in HD. Here are two more :)

Not necessarily "unflyable"..., but at high angles of attack, the airflow around the tail fin would be blocked by the MiG-23's high mounted wing. This was made worse by the roll-induced yaw from the tailerons, and vortexes coming off the wing leading edge "claws." As you said, the SAU-23 flight control system fixed this by automatically putting the rudder opposite of the yaw caused by the tailerons when rolling. Other planes with tailerons (the mig-29, f-15 etc) use similar systems. MiG's leading test pilot, Stepan Anastasovich Mikoyan, had some interesting opinions about the MiG-23 and its wings. He actually liked the setup on the original MiG-23S best, and he thought that the 2nd edition wing (without leading-edge slats) was a death trap that would stall without any warning on take-off. The final 3rd edition wing (with the claws) had the above mentioned problems. The plane certainly had plenty of thrust, as seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSsiMUKaMxc

Glad to hear that the little helicopter is back in business. I would ask Eburger about the flight model, he did an amazing job revamping yeye's mi-24 included in his recent mega-mods

I wonder when Draken will start flying their ex-polish MiG-21s?

You're right FastCargo that neither military would want a mid-air collision (especially in international airspace). Its the language of journalism these days that gets to me. A Russian Il-20 spying on NATO from international airspace is "aggressive Russian posturing," while an American RC-135 on a similar mission over the Black Sea is said to be "dangerously" intercepted by a Russian jet... Our media and politicians always find a way to cast Russia in a poor and inaccurate light, relying on cliches and small snippets of the larger picture to portray its people as an "Other," whom we should fear. That being said, Russian media and politicians are depressingly guilty of the same sin... No one these days seem capable of seeing the situation from the other perspective. Now, having gone on my little rant)), does anyone know the type of fighter the Russians intercepted our spy plane with? I know naval aviation started to deploy their new Su-30SMs to Crimea with this cool paint scheme: http://russianplanes.net/id162789 We've seen lots of photos of Russian planes being intercepted by NATO fighters, but does anyone have pics of NATO planes being intercepted by their soviet/Russian counterpart? They could be cool to see

Yup, tail number 34 is a Su-24MR, based out of the Gvardeiskoe air base, Simferopol, Crimea. Pics: http://russianplanes.net/regs/RF-33781 And here's video of another flyover, where we can see the Ukrainian frigate Hetman Sahaidachny next to the Ross. The Russian Krivak class frigate "Ladny" can be seen in the background.

Pretty standard. It seems that the USS Ross was sailing towards Russian territorial waters, and Black Sea Fleet decided to send a couple of "Fencers" out as a reminder of whose country the ship was next to. I bet we would do the same if a destroyer armed with many tomahawk cruise missiles was getting too close for comfort. Note that there was nothing overtly hostile about the actions of either navy, and I'd assume that was the reconnaissance variant of the Su-24.

As an American who has briefly lived and worked in Russia (and who would love to return one day), I want to say how similar the politicians and media of both counties are. Both nations are fed heavily one sided reports and articles by their respective societal leaders, while barely anyone bothers trying to view the incident from the other perspective. We hear about Russians 'dangerously' intercepting our planes, while Russians hear about NATO exercises along their boarders. Its time for a little empathy, people.

For everyone's viewing pleasure) links to pics of the three ships of the Ivan Rogov class: http://navsource.narod.ru/photos/07/425/index.html http://navsource.narod.ru/photos/07/427/index.html http://navsource.narod.ru/photos/07/426/index.html navsource.narod.ru is a true treasure trove of Russian warship pictures, let me know if you need help navigating/deciphering it. Interestingly, but it seems that the designers of the Ivan Rogov never accommodated for the replacement of the ships two gas turbines... meaning that once the engines became worn out, the ships were as good as gone.

Thanks for the great pack! I'm really enjoying gun runs in YEYE's Mi-24! Awesome cockpit and now a very workable flight-model

Of course, this was (and still is) a game played by all navies.... even if the fighters stayed on the ship Pics from http://aviaforum.ru/threads/reestr-jak-38.32319/

This thread sounds awesome! For the first time, it'll make me fly a complete campaign. Might as well make it unusual.... I'll fly the Yak-38 from the cruiser "Kiev" in Eburger's 1979 "Nordic Sword" campaign. The aim is to "secure" (conquer))) the northern tip of Norway, so that our Fleet can break out into the Atlantic and wreak havoc On the evening of September 18th, with war raging across central Europe, the cruiser "Kiev" sailed from Severomorsk and out into the Barents Sea. The cruiser "Slava" accompanied her, together with an escort of two "Kresta" class cruisers, 4 "Kashin" class destroyers, and 6 "Krivaks". By the next morning, the fleet was patrolling off Norway's North Cape, ready to support the ground forces in their upcoming offensive. My first mission is to fly CAP south of the battle group. Intel said that two NATO carriers were being scrambled from Scotland to reinforce the Norwegians. I hope I don't meet any Tomcats in my little Yak, otherwise I'm done for. The so-called "plan" is to stay under our ships SAM umbrella, and do our best to pick off any intruders. The mission turned out to be somewhat of a let-down, as my wingman and I failed to meet any bogeys during the flight. We did hear plenty of chatter over the radio, though, as the offensive began. Friendly MiGs struck an airfield, while others fought off A-7's attacking our tanks as they pushed forward. Ominously, one flight leader called out "Tomcats!" before going off air... After landing back aboard the "Kiev," we are told that the offensive is going well, and that our forces have captured "Nikel" from the Norwegians. In order to support the Air Force in its attempt to permanently ground its NATO counterpart, we are instructed to strike a hardened shelter at "HFT Hammerfest." Another flight will take over our fleet defense duties.