LCol
W.A. Bishop, VC, on the left and Col W.A. Barker, VC, on the right,
in front of a Canadian Fokker D VII War Prize, Leaside,
Toronto.
The flight
testing of former enemy aircraft is not new to Canadians. Both LCol (later Air Marshal) Billy Bishop VC[1],
and LCol William Barker VC,[2]
flew Fokker D.VII[3] fighters brought to Canada after the Great War.[4]
Two RCAF pilots, Squadron Leader Joe McCarthy and Squadron
Leader Ian Somerville, provided the a great deal of Air Technical
Intelligence through test flights on a number of Messerschmitt,
Focke-Wulf, Junkers and Dornier War Prize aircraft flown at the end
of the war in Europe in May 1945.[5]
Dornier Do 335
flown by S/L Joe McCarthy in 1945.
Note the Roundel applied over a USAAF star and bar following
the transfer of the German War Prize to the RAF in exchange for a
number of Focke-Wulf Fw 190s.
The question
has been raised as to where and when Canadian Forces pilots
conducted flights on the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum and other
combat aircraft of the former Soviet Union. The following is a brief outline of a few these flights drawn
from contacts provided by the 1 Canadian Air Division Office of Air
Force Heritage and History. Their
comments and a few notes on aircraft and pilots that defected from
other nations should help to shed some light on the story.[6]
Top view of Russian
MiG-29
escorted
by a CF-18
.
1989
Airshow Season
In
1989, the USSR was represented by a large
number of aircraft at the Abbotsford International Airshow in British Columbia.
Making their North American debuts were two MiG-29s
(codenamed “Fulcrum“), a single and two-seater, a Sukhoi Su-26M
aerobatic plane, a Kamov Ka-32 helicopter and the Antonov An-225 Mriya, the world’s largest aircraft. The MiG-29 demonstration pilot at Abbotsford was Anatoly Kvotchur, who
had ejected out of a MiG-29 at Le Bourget, France just months
earlier. History was
made at Abbotsford on the last day of the show when Major Bob Wade,
a Canadian Armed Forces CF-18 Hornet pilot, became the first western pilot to fly a modern
fighter jet from the USSR. Major
Wade took the controls of the MiG-29UB two-seat aircraft with
Soviet test pilot Valery Menitsky.[7]
In
the words of Captain Douglas Martin, the Soviets had, “offered an
unprecedented act of glasnost
to a Canadian fighter pilot.”[8]
Major Wade related these historic events as he remembered them taking
place, stating, “The story really started several months prior to
the MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters arriving in Canada.
The Soviets expressed a desire to participate in the
Abbotsford Air Show and
in return wanted to have the opportunity for their pilots to fly in
the F-18 Hornet, F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft.
American and Canadian pilots would also be given flights in
the MiG-29. The US
government decided that this would not occur under any circumstances
because of the potential loss of intelligence compared to what would
be gained in return. The
Canadian Minister of National Defence had little option but to agree
with this decision as the technology and intelligence was
essentially American.
“I was the
Alert Force Commander at CFB Comox at
the time the MiG-29s were due to arrive for their demonstration at
Abbotsford. We were
tasked by Fighter Group to provide an escort for the MiG flight
through Canadian airspace on the 6th of August 1989.
The MiG-29s came from the USSR into Alaska and spent the night at Elmendorf AFB
on the 5th of August.
The F-15 Sqn at
Elmendorf hosted the crews well and then provided an escort for them to
the Canadian border at the bottom of the Alaska pan handle.
We launched out of Comox with three armed CF-18s to make good the rendezvous as the
MiG-29s entered Canadian airspace.
NORAD controlled all the fighter aircraft and the MiG-29s
were operating under civilian air traffic control.
“My direction
from Fighter Group was to escort and monitor the MiG-29 flight from a distance not closer than 1000 feet and not to
attempt communication with them throughout the flight.
This was still at the height of the Cold War and the military
and civilian authorities didn’t want any incidents.
We took lots of pictures during the initial portion of the
escort and were excited to see these fighters in real time versus an
intelligence slide. AWACS[9]
was monitoring our flight but we had neither received nor requested
tanker support.
“The MiG-29 flight drifted about twenty degrees right of track and climbed
two thousand feet after about twenty minutes.
I was not monitoring their civilian ATC frequency and
therefore requested clarification about their routing change from
AWACS. The boys
in AWACS said they had no idea where they were heading.
I then called the Hornet formation over to the Vancouver
Centre frequency on the second radio and requested information on
the routing change. A very desperate controller then responded to my call stating
that I was the first voice they had heard from this whole package
transiting their airspace. There
was little option at that point other than to break all the rules
and fly up beside the lead MiG-29 in an attempt to determine their
intentions.
“The
lead MiG pilot watched me approach.
I pointed at him and then to a position in front of us twenty
degrees left of track. The
MiG flight immediately turned to the left.
The MiG fighter lead then pointed to his headset and gave me
a thumbs down indication. He was advising me of a radio failure. This was the dual seat MiG-29 and
the back seat pilot/navigator had his hands in the air palms up,
moving them up and down quite rapidly.
It was pretty obvious that the boys didn’t know where they
were and couldn’t solve the problem due to an inability to
communicate. Navigation
aids are also fairly scarce in the northern part of BC.
“I advised
AWACS and NORAD of the situation and told them I was taking the lead
of the formation. I
pointed at the lead MiG-29 pilot with my left forefinger and then patted my right
shoulder. The MiG lead
nodded and moved into a very close echelon formation on my right
wing. His wingman was tucked close in on his right wing.
I was impressed. My F-18 wingmen remained in a battle formation behind us to
monitor the situation.
“Through hand
signals used by most of the world’s fighter pilots I determined
that the MiGs had less than 30 minutes of fuel remaining.
Abbotsford was
more than 30 minutes flying time away under the present routing.
I changed to civil control for separation and got clearance
for direct routing to Abbotsford. We had thirty thousand feet of cloud to penetrate during a
long en route descent into Abbotsford.
I brought my two F-18 wingmen into close echelon left
formation and we penetrated some dark and dirty weather for the next
twenty minutes. Both
MiG-29 pilots remained stable and tucked in on my right wing like
they just came off a formation aerobatic team.
We broke out of cloud about five miles short of the runway in
Abbotsford, cancelled IFR, and completed a flypast down the runway
in this big Vic formation. I
turned the formation to downwind and then waved off the MiG flight
to land. The three F-18s then returned to Comox and
went back on Alert.
“I was
messaging Fighter Group on the activities of the day when I received
a phone call in the Alert Centre from whom I think said was the
Russian Air Attaché to Canada.
He wanted to express his sincere appreciation for the
assistance provided to the MiG-29 flight. I was
also invited to be his guest at the Soviet Pavilion at the
Abbotsford Air Show.
I was planning on taking two CF-18s to Abbotsford for static
display anywise and accepted the invitation.
“On the first
day of the air show I approached the Soviet Pavilion and asked the
rather large and burly guy at the entrance to speak with the MiG-29 pilots. He took
my name and returned several minutes later to advise me that I could
not see them. I tried
one more time on the second day of the air show and was treated
quite poorly. I laughed
it off and knew we were still a long way off from detente.
“The third
day of the air show, Sunday, 13 August, 1989, I was taking my turn
at standing with the static display CF-18.
One of my buddies came out of the crowd and said MGen Scott
Eichel wanted to see me. MGen
Eichel advised me that the Soviets had decided to allow a Canadian
pilot to fly the MiG-29 without any reciprocal requirement for a Russian pilot to fly
a Western aircraft.
“Associate
Deputy Minister of Defence, Mary Collins, who was visiting the air
show, was convinced to allow this to happen and reversed the
decision by the Minister of Defence.
This was a very gutsy call on her part as it was a very
politically sensitive issue. I
was putting on Russian test pilot Roman Taskaev’s G-suit when Mary
Collins introduced herself to me.
I can quote exactly what she said, “Major Wade, Don’t
Fuck This Up”, and then walked away.
“I had to
wear Roman’s helmet and G-suit as our gear would not connect to
the MiG-29 system. Roman is
about six inches shorter and 40 pounds heavier than me so the
equipment really didn’t fit that well.
Mikoyan test pilot Valerie Menitsky was to fly with me in the
rear seat. Valerie was
very personable and spoke to me through the use of a translator as
he had very little command of the English language.
He showed me the front cockpit and controls and the use of
the emergency escape systems. I
strapped into the front seat with the help of a ground crew
technician and he assisted me in starting the engines.
“I taxied the
aircraft as Valerie had very poor visibility from the rear cockpit. Valerie and I had agreed on the ground that he would shake
the stick and say “Valerie pilot” when he wanted control to fly
and would say “Bob pilot” when I was to take control.
The HUD (heads up display) and all weapons systems were turned off for
the flight due to intelligence concerns.
The flight instrumentation was analog with height displayed
in meters and speed displayed in kilometres.
It was readily apparent that this would be a seat of the
pants experience as the instrumentation meant little without any
time to study numbers such as speeds for take off and landing and G
limitations.
“I got
clearance for take off from the tower and then taxied to the runway
centerline. Valerie said nothing throughout this portion of the flight.
After selecting full afterburner the aircraft accelerated
incredibly fast and it was obvious that we had better thrust to
weight power than that of the CF-18.
I was the CF-18 demonstration pilot in 1986 and had a fair
amount of experience at low altitude high performance manoeuvring.
This gave me a good reference when making an assessment of
the MiG-29‘s performance. The take-off loop was part of my F-18 air show routine but I
had noticed that the Russian pilots did a roll off the top manoeuvre
during their shows. I
elected to do the roll off the top as per the Russian routine on my
take off.
“The MiG-29 accelerated as I pulled through the vertical after take off.
It was obvious now that the MiG-29 had superior thrust to
weight performance. I
rolled the aircraft to level flight as the nose approached the
horizon and could see that there was an excellent roll rate even at
low airspeed. I wanted
to see the low speed performance of the aircraft and pulled hard
into the vertical again to complete the first half of a snowman
manoeuvre or one loop on top of the other. The MiG’s roll rate and
stability at slow speed was equal to or better than any fighter I
had flown. Valerie then
shook the stick and said “Valerie pilot”.
I relinquished control to him and Valerie took the aircraft
into a hard 180-degree turn and then pulled the nose to the vertical
while bringing both throttles to idle.
"The
MiG decelerated rapidly as we climbed through about 5000 feet AGL
(above ground level). I
could feel the G forces drop below one as the speed decreased to
zero with the nose still 90 degrees to the horizon.
The aircraft entered a tail slide with no vibration or
pitching moment and appeared quite stable as we began to fall back
toward the ground. Valerie
held the nose vertical with small stick inputs for several seconds
and then relaxed the back pressure on the stick and the nose began
to fall immediately. I
had seen the tail slide several times from the ground and knew the
recovery was quick and predictable but had no idea how little pilot
input was required. The
CF-18 required about 5000 of altitude to recover from a tail slide
and was not always predictable.
The MiG-29 recovered in less than 500 feet and was very stable throughout
the entire procedure.
"Valerie
used full afterburner on the recovery and both engines lit off in
burner at exactly the same time.
Western jet engines are great but afterburner light off
varies somewhat at that extreme edge of the flight envelope.
I was pleased to then hear Valerie say “Bob pilot” and I
assumed control without delay.
I pulled the aircraft back into the vertical and duplicated
the tail slide Valerie had just demonstrated.
The aircraft handled just as easily as Valerie had made it
look. I next wanted to
assess the high angle of attack manoeuvring capability of the MiG-29 and
pulled the aircraft up and entered another tail slide.
I held the aircraft nose at about 70 degrees nose up on the
recovery in full afterburner and then tried manoeuvring laterally
through the use of aileron and rudder.
"The MiG
had an amazing ability to point its nose and remain stable at high
alpha. Valerie then
took control and flew back over the airfield.
He entered a flat 360 turn at about three hundred feet AGL
and maintained what I thought felt like seven or eight G.
The aircraft didn’t decay any airspeed throughout the turn
while in full afterburner. Valerie
then passed control back to me and was trying to get me to land as
we were a bit low on fuel. I
set up for landing, dropped the gear and flap, and tried to guess at
an appropriate airspeed. Valerie said nothing so I was happy touching down at the
speed we had and braking to a stop was effortless.
The MiG-29 had no nose wheel steering so differential brake
was required to get the MiG to where we wanted to go.
I was very impressed with what I had just seen.
The obvious lesson to be learned was that given equal pilots
we in the West would be at a disadvantage when gun fighting the
MiG-29. I had no
opportunity to assess the MiG’s performance at medium to high
altitude or to see the weapons displays or radar capability but from
a visual dog fight arena this was one fine fighter.
"The
Russians swept me away to their private pavilion after we deplaned.
There were about ten of us in the tent and I was the only
Westerner. The
atmosphere was very happy and celebratory. Tumbler size glasses were
filled to slightly more than half full with vodka.
The translator called for a toast to Mikoyan and the MiG-29.
Everyone emptied their glasses in one set of thirsty gulps
and I followed suit. The
next toast with an equal amount of vodka was to Canada and Major
Wade. Again the glasses
were emptied in one non- stop set of gulps.
My ears started to ring and my skin tingled.
I wasn’t a teetotaller but rarely drank.
“Once again
the glasses were filled and this time it was a toast to the Soviet
Union. I couldn’t refuse and once again downed the drink.
Everything became a bit of blur after this point and I
don’t really remember how long the celebrations lasted.
I did several interviews with the media after departing the
Soviet Pavilion and they weren’t the most eloquent of
presentations. You can
still see some of the interviews if you search Google for Major Bob
Wade and also MiG-29.
“The Canadian
Forces gained a bit of an intelligence coup from this flight and I
spent a good deal of time traveling around to various NATO and USAF
Bases during the next year telling of my experience.
This was a tense time during the Cold War as the world knew
the Soviets were experiencing financial difficulties.
The world didn’t know how they would solve that problem and
the collapse of the USSR wasn’t a first guess. It
is my belief that the Mikoyan Aircraft Company knew they were going
to have to market the MiG-29 to
remain solvent. They
needed to establish credibility in the Western world to accomplish
that goal. The air
shows at Paris and Abbotsford were the first two stops.
“By the third
day of the Abbotsford show it became obvious that the Canadians and
Americans would not allow them to fly the F-18, F-15 or
F-16 aircraft. The
Soviets then presumably thought that the good press they would
receive by allowing a Western fighter pilot to assess their aircraft
was the best alternative. I
think they liked the press I gave them as they asked me to fly a new
air superiority vectored thrust variant of an aircraft then known as
the Sukhoi Su-27 (codenamed “Flanker“) at the Farnborough Air Show in 1996.
“I left the
military in 1991 to fly with Canada 3000 Airlines and was an A320
Captain at the time. The
Russians were working through an associate from Langley, Virginia
and knew that I was no longer a fighter pilot.
I had the airline tickets from Vancouver to London Heathrow
on the Saturday before leaving for the show on Sunday.
Twelve hours before the flight was to depart I received a
call from this same guy in Langley to advise me that the aircraft
would not be shown in Farnborough and the trip was cancelled.
In 1999 I joined Korean Air Lines and flew out of Seoul,
South Korea. I was an A
330 Captain and had many flights into Moscow.
Through friends I found Anatoly Kvotchur, the Russian MiG-29 test pilot that bailed out in the Paris Air Show oF-1989.
Anatoly is now Deputy-Head of the Institute, State Scientific
Centre, Gromov Flight Research Institute in Moscow.
His business card reads: Hero of the Russian Federation,
Honoured Test Pilot. Anatoly
still flies many of the advanced Russian fighter aircraft and has
several world records. He confirmed the Su-31 was not ready for the
Farnborough Show. Valerie
Menitsky didn’t remain in the test and development world but is
doing well in business. Roman
Taskaev is a test pilot
on helicopters.”
Major Wade concluded, “It makes me smile to think of all (these)
wonderful guys. We did have fun!”
Major-General
Scott Eichel provided his recollections on the events around the MiG
exchange flight Major Wade made at Abbotsford in
1989, stating, “I had flown to Vancouver to attend the Abbotsford
Airshow and arrived in the terminal to receive a “page” from
which I learned I was to call Ottawa immediately.
There was, as I recall, a message from the Deputy
Minister’s office explaining that a Soviet Airforce delegation led
by Marshall Skomorokhov was arriving for the Airshow, apparently
without the foreknowledge of either DND or External Affairs!
This seemed a bit strange but the game was afoot and I was
instructed, as the senior officer in the neighbourhood, to host the
Marshall and his party. There
were no other details beyond his arrival time.
“I met with
the air display organizers who were local people and who had been
doing this for some years.
Apart from this group were the trade show people who appeared
to have invited the Soviets. At a reception on the Friday , the Chief of Defence Staff
(CDS) General Paul Manson, who
had been made aware of the situation, told me that
exchange flights between the Canadians and Soviets were not
to take place. It was
well understood the Russians would have liked to have a good look at
the CF-18 and I didn’t
need any prompting to understand how pressure would be applied
accordingly.
“The air
display organizers allowed me to set up a small “Ops” area, with
telephone, in one corner of their pavilion and from there I enlisted
the help of LCdr Considine who was a CF public affairs officer and
who turned out to be a considerable help.
I secured a staff car and duly met the Marshall on his
arrival at the airport. We
got along quite well and agreed to visit certain static displays
together, a situation which was greatly helped by the intervention
of the air display organizers.
We started doing the rounds during which time the Associate
MND, Mary Collins showed up and offered to assist in what she had realized was
an unusual and unexpected turn of events.
She had been on a private visit with her daughter.
“It was not
long of course before the Marshall began asking about exchange rides
between the MiG-29 and
the CF-18. He kept the
pressure on throughout the weekend, frequently repairing with his
delegation to caucus. I
consistently refused any idea of exchange rides and Ms. Collins, who
read the situation well, regularly made herself available for
discussion. She was
supportive and understood the CDS direction.
But as the weekend wore on, it was possible to discern a
shift in the situation. Not
only were the Soviets keeping the heat on but some of our own
people, notably Col Dave Jurkowski, BComd Cold Lake, were suggesting
that a Canadian pilot, namely Major Wade making a flight in the
MiG-29 might be a good thing to do.
Bob himself made it plain that he was willing and able,
indeed anxious, to do so. The
on- scene Pentagon representative whom I knew professionally, was
naturally concerned about CF-18 technology being accessed by the
Soviets but it seemed to me there was no clear
reason why we could not go in the other direction, being
mindful of the CDS\s instructions. The challenge was to resist pressure for reciprocity.
“By the
Sunday afternoon of the last day the Soviets had apparently given up
any hope for a CF-18 ride and the issue became one of whether or not Bob Wade could
be allowed to fly in the MiG-29.
The Russians were keen to have this happen (perhaps with a
view to future considerations?), and at about 1500 hrs Ms. Collins
and I met to go over the situation.
I recall saying “...the world is changing”, and I went on
to say that I thought we
(the Canadian Forces) would appear more out of tune with reality if
we prevented the flight than if we gave the OK.
She did not disagree. It
was decided to let the flight go ahead with a couple of provisos
which I set out and to which she agreed; these being that the flight
would take place after the show’s end at 1700 hrs and that there
would be no public announcement
of the event. We called
over Colonel Jurkowski and Major Wade, told them of this decision
and then advised the Soviets accordingly.
Ms. Collins added another proviso to me that I was to call the CDS
immediately on my return to my hotel in Vancouver.
I needed no prompting on that count.
“Immediately
on completion of the regular airshow,
cheerfully disregarding my instructions, a PA announcement blared
out that history was about to be made, or something to that effect
and whatever numbers of the crowd who were leaving turned around and
came back to watch the show. And
a very good show it was. Indeed
it would have been a pity to have missed it.
“On returning
to my hotel I called the DCDS, LGen David Huddleston and briefed him
fully on what had happened. He listened without comment.
“By the time
I returned to Ottawa it was considered that Bob had scored a coup,
as indeed he had, and he was soon invited to speak of his experience
to all and sundry.
“A
post-script to this might be a question as to why I didn’t call
the DCDS for guidance before agreeing to Major Wade’s ride.
The answer is that until Sunday around noon the issue had
been fairly clear. But the situation had indeed been shifting and, as you will
doubtless understand, there are times when the person on the spot is
in the best position to appreciate and assess the intangibles.
And take the consequences.
“That …is
how I remember events. It
all seems fairly quaint now but 1989 was another time and such
contact was not usual for most of us in those days.
Interestingly, to me at least, is that not long after, while
I was still CADO, I led the first Canadian Airforce delegation to
the USSR. Perestroika
was under way and we were afforded some very interesting insights
that would have been out of the question not long before.”[10]
1990
Airshow Season
The following
year the Russians brought another MiG-29 team to Canada, with plans made for putting on an airshow in
Ottawa for Canada day festivities.
Warrant Officer Vic Johnson, a Canadian Forces Photo
Technician provided the details and photos in the story that
follows.
Captain Craig
Richmond of 441 Tactical Fighter Squadron, CFB Cold Lake, Alberta,
led a flight of five CF-18s from 441 and 416 Tactical Fighter
Squadron to escort the MiGs as they transited from Elmendorf Air
Force Base near Anchorage, Alaska to CFB Comox in
British Columbia. Captain
Craig stated, “Our job was to make sure they got there.”
From CFB Comox,
Captain René Leblanc of 441 Squadron took over as flight leader for
the Comox to Winnipeg
leg of the trip. In
Winnipeg, four CF-18s from CFB Bagotville, Quebec, led by
Lieutenant-Colonel Ray Levasseur, Commanding Officer of 433 Tactical
Fighter Squadron, took over the escort for the next leg of the trip
to Ottawa.
CF-18
flown
by LCol Ray Levasseur
, CO of 433 Sqn, escorting MiG-29
single
seat variant flown by Roman Taskaev
, and a MiG-29 dual seat variant flown by Marat
Alykov
, and navigator Yuri Bramkov
in
the back seat on the Winnipeg to Ottawa leg of their flight on 30
June 1990. (CF Photo by
Vic Johnson
)
View of the MiG-29
flown
by Roman Taskaev
, from the back seat of the CF-18
flown
by LCol Ray Levasseur
, 30 June 1990.
(CF Photo by Vic Johnson
)
The two MiG-29s
included a single-seater which would perform a spectacular air
demonstration in Ottawa and a dual-seat aircraft for static display.
Both had flown into Elmendorf AFB
from Anadyr, a Russian Air Base in north-eastern Siberia, following
several hops across the Asian continent.
The longer route from west to east was chosen rather than
staging through Europe because of the complications of overflight
clearances through several European countries.
The MiGs were followed by an Ilyushin Il-76 (codenamed
Candid) transport aircraft that carried support crews, spare parts
and ground handling equipment.
The Soviet
pilots, Roman Taskaev and
Marat Alykov, were both civilian test pilots serving with the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry.
Both pilots were assigned to the Mikoyan Design Bureau in
Moscow, which is the same company that builds MiGs.
Their navigator flying in the back seat of the dual MiG-29 was
Yuri Bramkov
The CF-18 and
MiG-29 crews met at Elmendorf AFB
for their first face-to-face briefing and mission planning session.
Captain Richmond stated, “Communication wasn’t a great
problem, but it wasn’t easy either. The Russians had a fair grasp of English, but spoke with
heavy accents.”
The airmen
tried to foresee and resolve any potential problems that might arise
as a result of equipment and procedural differences in their rather
unorthodox mixed formation. Soviet
equipment and procedures differ from those in the Canadian Forces,
sometimes significantly. In
Russia, for example, military aircraft have top priority over all
other air traffic.
Captain
Richmond stated, “On a previous escort mission through Elmendorf,
the Soviet fighters were parked where we couldn’t see them from
where we were. We were
strapped in our aircraft, ready to go for more than an hour while we
waited for the Russians to get ready.
Then they just suddenly flashed up their engines and blasted
off. All we could do
was scramble our aircraft and try to catch up with their smoke.
At any other time or place, that could be seen as a violation
of regulations, but under the circumstances, everyone just tended to
look the other way.”
To ensure this
didn’t happen again, the two lead CF-18s positioned themselves in
front of the MiGs with three CF-18s in trail for taxi and take-off
procedures. That worked well and the departure went without incident,
although Captain Richard noted that, “In spite of that, there were
moments of consternation once we were airborne.
Most of the flight was over open seas, and that, combined
with coastal weather and a lack of alternate airports, was enough to
keep our attention up.
On arrival in
Comox, more than 1,000 spectators watched the fighters perform a
seven-plane “V” formation flypast before landing.
The first and
only significant hiccup of the trip occurred at CFB Comox where it was discovered that the MiG-29s don’t burn JP-4
fuel – the type used by NATO fighters.
Instead, they use Jet-B, a fuel used by civilian airliners. The nearest Jet-B fuel available was in Vancouver, and it had
to be shipped in by tanker trucks aboard a ferry.
This caused a 12-hour delay but was a relief for the pilots
who had already experienced a 14-hour duty day.
They just went to bed.
The next
morning, all flight crews were up early and airborne shortly after
sunrise. By the time the crews were flying over the Rockies and the
Prairies they had grown comfortable with each other. After a formation approach and flypast, the fighters landed
in Winnipeg on a glorious Manitoba summer day and were met by
Lieutenant-General Fred Sutherland, Commander of Air Command.
He and his staff, along with a large group of local media,
were given the opportunity to closely inspect the MiGs.
While they were doing so, the Soviet aircrew wolfed down an
huge breakfast during a briefing with Lieutenant-Colonel Levasseur and
the 433 Squadron pilots who would lead them on to Ottawa.
LGen Fred Sutherland
, Commander Air Command, poses in front of a
MiG-29
with
Soviet aircrews at CFB Winnipeg, prior to their flight to Ottawa in
June 1990. To his right
are Yury Brmakov
, navigator, Marat Alykov
and
Roman Taskaev
, pilots. (CF
Photo by Vic Johnson)
Lieutenant-Colonel
Levasseur reported, “They speak better English than I do Russian.”
He explained certain manoeuvres with hand gestures – the
international language of pilots, but it all came down to one basic
concept, expressed by Lieutenant-Colonel Levasseur, “We lead –
you follow – no problem!”
After taking
off from Winnipeg, the fighters swung wide to fly to the west of the
city, then joined up in tight formation for a low flypast for media
and spectators before climbing to 39,000 feet for the transit to
Ottawa. En route, the
weather changed from a gorgeous prairie high pressure system to an
Ontario low with associated clouds and rain.
At altitude, that was no problem and so the fighters flew
above the weather. However,
a formation let-down through the murk could have been precarious if
the aircraft had become separated.
Although the
Soviet pilots were familiar with the international rules of flight,
and their aircraft were equipped with an instrument landing system
(ILS), approaching a busy, unfamiliar airport – even under ideal
conditions – can be a challenge. But when weather conditions make you feel like you’re
inside a ping-pong ball, and the radios crackle with an unfamiliar
language, the pucker factor goes up in direct relation to the number
of minutes of fuel remaining.
Thirty minutes
from Ottawa, the fighters began their approach.
Viewing the situation from the front seat of his dual CF-18,
Major Yvan Blondin, the Deputy Flight leader commented, “It sure
is dark down here,” as six ghostly shadows groped their way
through the gloom. Fortunately,
the formation stayed together until it broke through to a low
ceiling and heavy rain showers over the city of Ottawa.
Once again the
fighters tucked in tight for a formation flypast by Ottawa airport
and the site of the National Capital Airshow, then made a wide swing
over the city before landing. After
a flight of more than 20,000 kilometres – half way around the
world – the MiGs had arrived.[11]
1993
Airshow Season
During the
first summer after the declaration of Independence of Ukraine
from the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian Air Force embarked upon a
tour of air shows across Europe and North America. It was the first time that Ukrainian colors were flown on
Ukrainian Air Force fighters in the West.
Major Hank “Hankster” Blasiak
stated, “I had the good fortune to fly with the MiG-29
Demonstration Team for the summer of 1993 across Canada and
the USA.”[12]
He was serving as the CF-18
Standards Officer in North Bay
in
1992, when, “a request was made for a Ukrainian/Polish speaking
pilot in the CF to fly with the MiG-29 Air Demonstration Team for
the summer. I jumped at
the opportunity and headed to Edmonton to meet the pilots that were
going to spend the summer bringing their MiG-29 Demonstration Team
to various airports across North America.
(They didn’t speak a whiff of English).
Our first trip was a test flight after the two aircraft were
unloaded from their Antonov An-225
“Mirya” (codenamed “Cossack
”) transport plane.[13]
Ukrainian Air Force
MiG-29
with
a pair of USAF F-16s. (Photo
courtesy Hank Blasiak)
“The wings
were put back on the aircraft and an uneventful test flight was
carried out. The fun
started when we were RTB (return to base) and Valery requested an
airshow practice. None of this was coordinated with ATC (air traffic control),
so on the fly, I arranged this with Tower and we shut down the
airspace over the base for 10 minutes.
The first surprise, which I was not prepared for was the
cobra manoeuvre followed by a tail slide right over the base.
After flying over 2,000 hours in the CF-18
, I was duly impressed and over the course of the
many airshows we flew in, the plane behaved exactly the same way
each time.
Ukranian Air Force
MiG-29
with
CF-18
.
“The pilots
were extremely competent and I got to know them quite well as we
progressed through the airshow season. I was even able to get all of
them (four Colonels) to my grandmother’s house in Toronto for
Borsch and perogies! We
became and still are very good friends and despite the geographical,
military and cultural differences between our two countries, it
showed that the pilot brotherhood is alive and well!
“Much
preplanning had to go into each transit to the airshows as you had
to program all the nav aids and radio frequencies on the ground.
Once airborne, you could not select a different frequency, so
we had to be spot on with our preparations.
(No defecting for us!).
After the third airshow, while we were in London, I purchased
a Garmin 200 GPS (Global Positioning System), which we installed on
the aircraft. This
enabled us to get around with a little more confidence as I’m sure
we stressed many of our center controllers with our navigation
abilities.
“On many
airshows, the advance team wasn’t able to make it to the next
airport, so many times we landed without a drag chute.
Some of the runways were 5,000 feet long and believe me, we
used up every inch of the pavement just so we wouldn’t have to
pack the chute (and the brakes were “red-hot”).
On the odd time we did use the chute, it was deployed while
still about 2,000 back from the runway and about 10 feet in the air.
This also got my attention the first time they did this, as
it was the last thing I expected and something we had never done in
the CF.
“The aircraft
was very sturdy and rarely broke down during the summer...a great
workhorse. The cockpit
was tight and nothing like HOTAS
(hands-on throttle and stick) capabilities of the Hornet.
Every switch was a manual selection, much like the F-5
. The aircraft had a very rudimentary HUD
(head-up display) and their version of “bitching Betty”
(audible spoken warning system) frankly scared the pants off
me...you wouldn’t want to make any mistakes with that voice
barking at you! The acceleration was more powerful than the CF-18
but
it couldn’t turn very well, due to the “alpha-limiter” (angle
of attack limiter) on the control column, which restricted the rate
at which you could turn, at least on this earlier version of the
MiG-29
we
were flying.
"I
fondly remember the first time we crossed the US border on the way
to Fort Wayne, Indiana from London, Ontario.
Immediately upon entering US airspace, we were intercepted by
F-16
Fighting Falcon fighters from Vermont and numerous photo
opportunities were taken. To
compliment the photos, the F-16’s took advantage of getting all
the HUD
film
they could get on us, since this was the first chance to have a
MiG-29
in
their sites. Fox 1s,
Fox 2s[14]
and Guns were called from all angles and I’m sure these films
became prized possessions for the lucky few who could say they had
accomplished this. (The
back of my head is probably in a lot of these photos!).
“The summer
ended up passing all too quickly, and in all we had performed
airshows in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Bagotville
, North Bay
, Trenton
, Toronto, London, Indiana and Pittsburgh.
I finished my “brief” MiG-29
tour with 24 hours on the machine, 4 of which were front seat
time. Best summer in my
23 years with the Canadian Air Force!”[15]
BGen (Ret’d)
Claude Thibault
, a former Commander of Canadian Forces Europe
(CFE) wrote, “in May 1993, as Comd CFE, I led a delegation from
Lahr to Posnan in Poland
. This
was a reciprocal visit as the Poles had visited CFE and four of them
got rides in the CF-18
. We
were later joined in Poland by LGen Huddleston
, Commander Air Command.
In the delegation, I had the likes of Col Lloyd Campbell,
Comd 4 Wing, LCol Ed Campbell and Maj Cash Poulson and eight other
officers from CFE. Four
of us got to fly, two on the MiG-29
and
two on the Sukhoi Su-22
(Fencer F). I
flew in the Su-22 and I believe Dave Huddleston
flew in the MiG but I’m not sure about the other two.
On a related topic, on 17 June 1992, Capt Koturna and I flew
to Berlin (Schonefeld) in CF-18D 928.[16]
“The flight I
took was on 5 May 1993 with Polish Air Force Major Ostaszewski in
Su-22
No.
304. After a good
briefing on the aircraft and the ejection system, I was strapped
into the back seat and we took off.
It was a very impressive take-off, the acceleration
comparable to a CF-101
Voodoo. The
aircraft was very stable and felt solid and heavy on the controls. We had a 250 kg bomb under each wing and the cannon.
We proceeded to a gunnery range north of Poznan where the two
bombs were dropped separately in two passes.
The targets were old MiG aircraft and some army vehicles.
We then did two strafing passes on the same targets.
As all the air-to-ground communications were in Polish, I
missed a lot of the commentary.
We then went low level to just under Mach 1 and returned to
base for a full stop landing. The
flight lasted some 35-40 minutes.
“The aircraft
itself seemed very powerful with its huge engine but not very
manoeuvrable. The
forward visibility from the back seat was very limited and, in fact,
there was a periscope undoubtedly to assist a backseat monitor or
instructor on approach and landing.
“The thing
that struck us all the most was how structured all their missions
were. In the first place, the flying time was extremely limited and
each mission was rehearsed ad nauseam before the actual take-off.
Even then, the whole flight was monitored very closely from
the ground using a variety of sensors.”[17]
Lieutenant
General David Huddleston
stated, “I did fly a Polish MiG-29
(back seat) at Minsk on 6 May 1993 during the visit Claude
describes. Actually, my
ADC and I joined the CFE group at Rhein-Main (USAF Base, Germany
) where the Poles picked us up in a Yak-40
(codenamed “Codling”) – a small three-engined airliner.
I had perhaps a 30-minute flight in the MiG-29 at Minsk and
found it much like other aircraft of that vintage in handling and
performance generally. We
stayed very close to the airfield; indeed the furthest we flew was
at the very end when he positioned the aircraft for a straight-in
approach from at least 10 miles out, which left me staring into the
periscope to see the field ahead.
It seemed so incongruous after throwing the aircraft through
a whole series of aerobatics within sight of the runway.
“This
seemed to demonstrate something of a paradox which, I suspect, we
only came to appreciate fully as we came to know these people, and
which was reinforced at Minsk when we visited the simulator.
They would go through each sortie from take-off to landing in
the simulator under close supervision before flying it, leaving
little room for deviation. They
certainly flew much less frequently than our pilots did (probably
around 100 hours a year), so they should reasonably have wanted to
extract the maximum from each sortie, but it seemed to be more a
matter of overcontrol, even mistrust.
How that attitude played into my flight is hard to deduce,
but I had rather expected a more expeditious return to the runway
after an energetic flight.”[18]
LGen
Huddleston
‘s comments reminded me of the stories from the
Korean War, in which a number of aviation analysts assessed that if
the MiG-15
equipped with a copy of a British jet engine and heavy cannon
had been flown by well-trained (Western) pilots, the combat kill
ratios against North American or Canadair-built F-86
Sabres would have been reversed.
The MiG-15 could out-climb, out-turn, and fly higher than the
US-built F-86 Sabre.[19]
The advantage western pilots had was that they had far more
training and flying hours and if the Russian, Chinese and Korean
pilots had had the same skills, the air war would have been far more
deadly for opponents on all sides in the Korean conflict.
Based on these reports, it would appear that little has
changed, even in peacetime, and that it would appear we still have
the formula right - getting more experience in the air, even if the
equipment is old. Colonel
Erich Alfred “Bubi” Hartmann
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