NEWS Special
24 // DECEMBER 2018 #369 http://www.airforcesmonthly.comAbove: Chengdu F-7IIK serial 1635,
one of two Myanmar Air Force
(Tatmadaw Lei) ‘Fishbeds’ noted
fl ying on September 7; the second
was 1660. Yangon’s Mingaladon air
base hosts regular F-7 operations
but usually only a maximum of three
jets are seen. The type’s permanent
bases are at Magway and Taungoo.
Thirty Airguards were delivered from
1991, followed by another 30 ordered
in 1994. Confi rmed attrition losses
occurred on January 22, 2010 (while
landing at Mingaladon); on April 3 this
year; and two in separate incidents on
October 16.
Left: Sunshades have been built at
Mingaladon, Mandalay International
Airport, Magway and Nampong
for Myanmar’s MiG-29 fl eet.
Aircraft serial 2711 was one of four
‘Fulcrums’ detached to Mingaladon
in September; among the others was- All 11 single-seat MiG-29Bs in
the initial batch for Myanmar were
originally manufactured for Iraq as
9.12B aircraft but, due to an arms
embargo, were not delivered; a single
two-seater originally destined for Iraq
was supplied at the same time. In
December 2009 a €400m contract for
20 additional MiG-29s was concluded
with RAC MiG and these were
delivered to the Tatmadaw Lei from
March 2011: the batch comprised
ten more MiG-29Bs, six MiG-29SEs
and four MiG-29UBs from surplus
Russian stocks. A known attrition loss
occurred on June 11, 2014.
All photos Hans Jacobs
Right: This Beech 1900D is
one of three (serials 4602,
4604 and 605) seen at
Mingaladon, two of which
were fl ying. The reported
operator is 3 Squadron.
At least ten Beech 1900s
are thought to have been
delivered to date, all
acquired second-hand.
Six had been delivered
by the end of 2015 and
four more were inducted
in December 2016. One
crashed on February 10,
2016, killing four of the
fi ve on board.
Shaanxi Y-8D serial 5816 (c/n 080804) – one of four reportedly delivered to the Myanmar Air Force in the early 1990s.
Two appear to be permanently based at Mingaladon and both were airborne for short periods before returning
to base. The other ‘Cub’ noted as being operational is 5815. The transports are understood to be operated by 7
Squadron. More recently, Myanmar received two Y-8F-200W aircraft, formally inducted into service in August 2016
at Meiktila air base – one of which was lost, with all 122 on board, on June 7 last year.Postcard from Myanmar
Hans Jacobs photographed
types from one of the
world’s most secretive air
arms during a recent visit to
Yangon, formerly Rangoon.