aviation - the past, present and future of flight

T

he Mikoyan MiG-29 Fulcrum’s

arrival as part of NATO’s air

defence structure presented

a big opportunity for training

against the Soviet-built fighter. Prior to

this certain Soviet types acquired from

various sources and operating under the

control of the 4477th Test and Evaluation

Squadron based at the Tonopah Test

Range (TTR) airfield in Nevada had given

some pilots an insight into fighting Warsaw

Pact aircraft.

It also enabled NATO to develop tactics

against the MiG-29.

The Federal Republic of Germany and

the German Democratic Republic became

one nation on October 3, 1990. A day later,

JG-3 (of the former East German Armed

Forces/NVA) at Preschen and its 24 MiG 29s

came under the control of the Bundeswehr,

the armed forces of the Federal German

Republic. They were then assigned to 1.

Jagdstaffel, Jagdgeschwader 73 (from

September 1997 the Wing received the

right to use the name Steinhoff in honour

of the World War Two fighter ace Johannes

Steinhoff who also became a four-star

general serving high-up in NATO).

The jets were relocated from Preschen to

Laage in northwest Germany in 1994. The

majority of Dissimilar Air Combat Training

(DACT) exercises were conducted from the

latter base. There were deployments to

other NATO countries and regular exercises

were held at Decimomannu, Sardinia. A

number of visits were made to North

America from 1999 onwards.

The adversaries were varied, but

typically were from most of NATO’s main

fighter units.

Last month, Doug Gordon told the story

of how 24 MiG-29 Fulcrums switched from the

Warsaw Pact to NATO after the reunification of

Germany and flew with the Luftwaffe. In this

concluding part, he assesses how the West

used the Russian fighter for training.

GERMAN

FULCRUMS

FLYING FOR BOTH SIDES

PART 2

26 Aviation News incorporating Jets April 2018

26-30_german_migs_part_2DC.mfDC.indd 26 02/03/2018 14:08