to get used to the high position above the
ground. Take-off without afterburner was
more powerful than an ordinary afterburner
deprture with a MiG-21, providing an
enormous thrust of unimaginable force, which
allowed a vertical climb after take-off. The
view to the front was much better compared
to the MiG-21.
“At first, I often caught myself in a slight
climb because I pulled the nose over the
horizon, as I was accustomed to the MiG-21.”
The machine had extraordinarily
good acceleration and climb ability. The
acceleration from 600 to 1,100km/h was only
13.5 seconds and the maximum climb speed
was 330m/s (metres per second).
“The MiG-29 was able to fly with a high
supersonic speed up to Mach 2.35 (up to
2,450km/h), but also at a very low speed
of 180km/h. I quickly got used to the HUD[Head Up Display]. All-important flight data
was now in view,” he said.
“The helmet-mounted targeting system,
we knew only from science fiction movies.
Now we were able to slew the seeker heads
of the infrared missiles, the radar and the
IRST [infrared search and tracking system]
with a head movement towards the target.”
NVA pilots took to the air for the first time
at 1000hrs on May 3, 1988 when a MiG-
29UB, with the Soviet flight instructor Colonel
Kotow in the back seat, and Colonel Skeries,
head of NVA fighter command, in the front.
The primary role of the MiG-29 with the NVA
was air defence, with a secondary role of air-
to-ground strike.Because of the density of airfields and
number of aircraft, flying for all Soviet and
East German units was restricted to certain
days. Preschen Air Base, for example,
was allocated Tuesdays, Thursdays and
Saturdays. The exception was when there
was an exercise.
Wegerich continued: “In order to avoid
conflicts during the still high number of flight
movements, each squadron was assigned
standard routes for interception flights and air
combat zones.
“Despite these pre-determined routes and
spaces, all flight movements in the entire
airspace were monitored militarily. Civilian
airplanes were allowed to fly only in pre-
determined regional and international air
routes with altitude and lateral restrictions. In
short, the rule over the entire airspace of the
GDR had military control and co-ordination
points.”
Civilian aircraft had no priority in the
airspace of the GDR and, indeed, in any
of the Warsaw Pact countries and were
restricted to fixed corridors.
Training with the MiG-29 in the NVA
focused on the following priorities:- 30% interception at low altitude in all
weather conditions, day and night, with
particular attention paid to IMC (instrument
meteorological conditions) intercepts at night; - 29% identification of targets at medium
altitude, including from Quick Reaction Alert
(QRA) status; again with a concentration on
IMC night intercepts; - 26% interceptions at high altitude in all
weathers; - 3.5% interceptions of supersonic targets,
up to speeds of Mach 2, and up to an altitude
of 59,000ft; and - 11.5% air-to-air combat.
Training for the air-to-ground role was not a
priority, but in the NVA, all pilots had to spend
some time practising for this task in support
of the army or navy.
A minimum of seven flights had to be
carried out every year, and at least two with
live air-ground armament.
FIREPOWER
The MiG-29 was fitted with one, single-barrel
Gryazev-Shipunov 30mm GSh-30-1 cannon
in the port wing root, capable of firing 1,
rounds a minute, with a magazine carrying a
load of 150 rounds.http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 19Top: The first air defence MiG-29s arrived with
the NVA (Nationale Volksarmee, East German
Armed Forces) on March 12, 1988 to join
Jagdfliegergeschwader 3 (JG-3) at Preschen.
Stefan Petersen
Right: MiG-29UB 148 received the brown
and green camouflage colours shortly after
arriving at Preschen. Not all the trainer
aircraft received new paint schemes. Udo
‘Sadzu’ Sadzulewski18-23_german_migsDCDC.mfDC.mf.indd 19 05/02/2018 14: