The piece of the cold war nobody told you about - Africa's forgotten war - the SA Fighter Aircraft.
Yesterday I introduced you to the South African Border war and some of its air battles in its Angolan stage.
Many different aircraft were deployed by South Africa over 15 or so years of the conflict in various roles.
Air to Air combat was mostly avoided since there was no guarantee of air supremacy of the Mirage variants against the MiG 21 and once the MiG 23 arrived they definitely had the upper hand in maneuverability over the French Mirages.
A number of different Mirage variant and types were deployed and some are shown below in various color variations.
The Mirage covered yesterday with with the MiG 21 kill and some of the various types of ordinances and weaponry it could carry.
A close-up photo of the Kill badge I took.
The crash landed MiG 21 and its story.
The restored MiG21
Since South Africa was arms embargoed near the end of the war, due to its unpopular race policies, It had to develop its own fighter capabilities to counter the now clearly superior MiG 23's.
The result of modifying the mirage design to give it greater maneuverability was the aptly named "Cheetah"
The Cheetah also came in a number of variants but was never combat tested against the MiG 23 before the cessation of hostilities.
None of the Cheetah variants ever saw combat in the Border War, so their performance was never tested against the dominant fighter in the conflict, the MiG-23. The Cheetah Es were used as permanent interceptor aircraft, with a minimum of two aircraft on round-the-clock alert status, until the end of the Border War in 1989.
The extended nose housed the aerial radar system.
I never knew of this border. South Africa had ever fought war apart from internal conflict emanated from apartheid policy. Thanks for sharing this
Great pictures. Thanks for sharing...Proudly South African! 🇿🇦
As stated yesterday I was in the anti aircraft unit. We had to identify all these planes from a distance to ensure that we do not shoot down friendly aircraft. We had to write very strict tests on this.
I went through an F-16 Intel top off course, and we had to do aircraft identification as well. I got to ride in one of the jets too! One of my greatest regrets in life is not taking the controls when offered. When the Pilot Instructor offered them to me, I was too sick to say yes. We were doing a dog fight flight, and the hard turns were not the problem. As people warned me, it was the flat level flight that made me sick. The jets float through the air bobbing up and down the entire time ever so slightly. That's what makes you want to puke!
Yes a great pity, I never had the opportunity to fly in one, howver I flew the impala simulator but definitely not the same!
I wish that once in a lifetime I could fly in such a powerfull machine. It must be great to feel the g forces..
For sure
So good @gavvet
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Great post
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Incredible and scary at the same time. I have friends that live in Capetown SA. I will visit eventually.
Nice post those Cheetah surely was impressive, I supposed one cannot say it is a pity that it was never tested in combat as peace is definitely preferable.
Agreed
Your post reminds me of my country, the country of decades of conflict between the government and the movement that wants to secede from the state. The impact of many lives floating, home burned houses, schools and everything. I am reminded of a tragedy where people in the pile and instantly collapsed in blood and died. Then the conflict ended when a devastating disaster struck Aceh, the 2004 tsunami disaster that was the end of the conflict
The air fighter is machine, this is the first time I am hearing this. Welcome
A well analysed and researched piece of work @gavvet.
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