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MiG-21 ‘Blows Away’ A B-52 Bomber: How Did Russian-Origin Jet Manage To Shoot Down The Invincible Stratofortress

The MiG-21 is one of the world’s most popular fighter jets, with nearly 60 countries across four continents having operated it. It still serves several countries seven decades after it first took to the skies.

In the Southeast Asian region, the MiG-21, also called the ‘Fishbed’ by NATO, proved to be a formidable adversary for the US Air Force (USAF), mainly because of its agility.

The USAF lost a staggering 50 aircraft approx to MiG-21s, although the service also scored 68 kills against MiG-21s in aerial combat. Overall, the record of the North Vietnamese MiG-21s is said to stand at 78 kills and 95 losses in aerial combat during the Vietnam War, according to some estimates.

The Fishbed was also pitted against the legendary B-52 Stratofortress bombers used in the USAF’s strategic bombing campaign, Operation Linebacker II, against North Vietnam, in December 1972.




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Romanian MiG-21flying with a B-52 (Twitter)

As EurAsian Times reported earlier, several of the B-52s used in Linebacker II were downed by the Soviet-made S-75 Dvina operated by the North Vietnamese air defense units.

North Vietnam’s missile gunners are said to have downed fifteen B-52s, with six bombers shot down in one night. However, the Vietnamese records have at least one of these B-52s shot down by a North Vietnamese MiG-21 pilot.

North Vietnamese Air Force (NVNAF) MiG-21 pilot Pham Tuan is said to have successfully downed a B-52 bomber on December 27, 1972, the ninth day of the 11-day bombing campaign.

B-52 Vs. MiG-21

Lieutenant General Pham Tuan, while recalling the USAF’s bombing campaign, noted that each B-52 bomber was equipped with dozens of jamming devices and 20mm guns to counter MiG-21s.

Tuan further noted that the USAF had employed around 1,000 tactical aircraft equipped with jamming devices, including the F-111A ground attack aircraft and EB-66, which were used to suppress enemy air defense (SEAD) operations, EA-6B electronic warfare aircraft, and EC-121 AWACS.




A US B-52 bomber flies over Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. (Wikipedia)

According to Tuan, the US military had also jammed the entire operational area, and the USAF prioritized attacks on the airport and deployed fighters to prevent Vietnamese MiG-21s from approaching B-52s.

Tuan belonged to the Regiment 921 of the North Vietnamese air force, which is said to have established a night flight team in 1967 to train and devise ways to shoot down B52 at night.

Also, according to the Vietnamese newspaper VN Express, Ho Chi Minh, President of North Vietnam from 1945 to 1969, tasked the then Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army, Phung The Tai, with devising a strategy to counter B-52s.

So, overall, it would seem that the North Vietnamese armed forces were focused on the threat posed by USAF’s B-52 bombers.

In 1970, Pham Tuan was transferred from MiG-17 to MiG-21 pilot and offered training to shoot down B-52 at night.




Vietnam People’s Air Force MiG-21 No.4326, which shot down 13 aircraft during the war (Wikipedia)

However, Tuan recalls that the Vietnamese air force faced difficulties in approaching the B-52s, mainly because of the jamming by the bombers and the USAF F-4 Phantom, which served as the MiG Combat Air Patrol (MiGCAP) for the bombing campaigns.

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