RETURN OF THE FOXBATSGrechko demanded tight security on the ground in Eg ypt, which fell to pilot-
politruk Borshchev. “The responsibility was great: 400 men under my supervision,
both officers and conscripts. Personal documents were left in Moscow and everybody
was dressed in civvies.” The elaborate transport operation began on 16 March—the
day a $376 million credit line for Eg yptian development projects was signed in
Moscow, and hailed in Cairo as a token of continued military support as well.^7 Both
to supervise the planes’ reassembly and to highlight the event’s significance, the 63rd
was accompanied by Deputy Minister Minayev and the Mikoyan bureau’s deputy
chief designer, P.G. Shengelaya, leading a group of experts.
Four An-22s carrying one crated MiG-25 apiece took off for Eg ypt. No fewer than
fifty-six An-12 flights were needed for personnel and other equipment. Additional
gear was sent by train to Novorossiisk and shipped on a merchant freighter to
Alexandria. Tankers were henceforth dispatched regularly to deliver the special fuel
necessitated by the Foxbat’s extreme operating envelope.
After an overnight stop at Tököl that was dictated by a sandstorm in Eg ypt, the
convoy landed at Cairo-West. It was met by the deputy to the chief Air Force adviser,
Gen. Grigory Dol’nikov, who had headed the Soviet MiG-21 force since its arrival.
Like others in the original Kavkaz leadership, he was a legendary Second World War
ace (under Pokryshkin) and HSU, who was featured by Mikhail Sholokhov as the
protagonist in the novel and film Destiny of a Man.^8
Like their predecessors in Kavkaz, the MiG-25 crews were issued Eg yptian fatigues
without insignia. More noteworthy, and apparently indicative of an urgent dispatch,
were the inadequate quarters. Bezhevets recalls that the entire complement lived for
two or three weeks in barracks with no running water and only makeshift latrines in
the desert, before the flight crews were moved to a renovated hotel, guarded by
Eg yptian soldiers. Baevsky and Minayev were quartered in a suburban cottage, and
each of them was given a car with an Eg yptian military chauffeur who—so they were
told—did not speak Russian.
Baevsky recalls that “the day after arriving we were briefed by the advisers, which
did not improve our mood—indeed, the opposite. An enemy offensive was
expected shortly. ... War was expected to begin in 10 days.” Bezhevets recalled the
chief adviser, Okunev, warning him that “war will begin in a week.” Signs of escala-
tion increased from day to day: on 19 March, Eg yptian anti-aircraft guns opened
fire for the first time since the ceasefire at two Phantoms that penetrated Eg yptian
airspace. On the 20th, at a meeting of a “commission to prepare the nation for war,”
Sadat granted expanded emergency powers to regional governors.^9 On the 21st,
military conscription in Eg ypt was extended to five years.^10 On 1 April, the Israeli
Ambassador cabled from Washington that without a political breakthrough, Sadat
was liable to restart hostilities.^11
The MiG-25s had to be assembled fast, and thanks to the efforts of the technical
experts, this was accomplished in three days. General Mahmut Gareev, who had