"Powerful Yet Calm, 'BAHADUR' Couldn't Be A More Accurate Name!"
- arnavpaiphotography
- Aug 20, 2020
- 3 min read
Of Soviet origin, built by Mikoyan-Gurevich, the MiG-27, was based on MiG-23 but optimised for air-to-ground attack. Powered by single Tumanski R-29 Engine, MiG-27 was a result of the rectification of flaws faced by MiG-23 pilots. Downslope profile improving the visibility horizon, complementing a stronger undercarriage with better avionics and weaponry.
The MiG-27s were widely used by the Soviets in the Afghanistan conflict, by Indian Air Force over Kargil and by Sri Lankan Air Force during the civil war. During these missions, the aircraft’s capabilities were tested to their operational limits, notably it’s swing-wing action, from 16-degrees for take off, landing and low speed flight, 45-degrees for combat and weapon delivery, and, sweepback 72 for high speed getaway.
With Indian Air Force retiring it’s fleet of the MiG-27, marking the end of their four decade long swing-wing era, in December 2019, making Kazakhstan the sole user of the ‘Flogger’,
On the 50th Anniversary of the First Flight, sharing excerpts from an interaction with former MiG-27 pilots who reminisce their days of 'swinging their wings' below:
An IAF Experimental Test Pilot explains; MiG-27, and MIG-23BN from which it was derived, were excellent platforms. MiG-23's low tail clearance was successfully addressed by MiG-27's redesigned undercarriage. When inducted, MiG-27 was ahead of time with a digital nav-attack computer and precision guided weapons. It's 30mm 6 barrel gatling gun had devastating fire power.
A thoroughbred swing-winger Kargil War Veteran, having flown the MiG-23BN, 27ML & 27 UPG, says polymorphics had great advantage, adequate low speed performance at take off & landing, high acceleration rate when wings swept back. It was a very stable platform, ideal for weapon delivery. Indigenous avionics upgrade had given it an even greater edge in terms of weaponeering accuracy, winning many the coveted trophy ‘Eklavya’.
Quoting an Instructor with vast experience on the same, "She's versatile, and have to respect her in totality. Airframe, intake design & matching engine performance. If you have the intelligent maturity to understand the subtle harmony of these, you'd fly her to the extremes that she's been made for, at low and high level! At combat, you can achieve a kill, strike and do the max damage without even anyone coming close to you."
A Young Flight Lieutenant in Indian Air Force, who was among the last pilots to fly the MiG-27 says “MiG-27 will always remain close to me. It had a unique swing-wing design, unlike most(or all) modern day fighters, it could change the sweep of its wings in air. If you had the honor of watching it change its sweep in air, you'd find few things more beautiful. It was like flying 3 different aircraft rolled up into 1. The wing turning mechanism in itself weighed close to 1.5 tonnes and even legend doesn't talk about it failing. Images taken during firing the gun could be easily mistaken for the aircraft being on fire, such was its ferocity! It could dish out almost 5000 rounds per minute, putting even the A-10 Warthog's Avenger gun to shame.” Most of the Ex-Flogger pilots in Indian Air Force have been posted to the strength of different fighter squadrons, but the take-away from being a ‘swing-winger’ was to be as robust as the MiG-27, for the fact that she treated them just the way they treated her.
Despite being fascinated by the MiG-27, purely for it's unique ability of varying the geometry of its wings, I have never had the opportunity to witness the aircraft in action. However, I did get to admire two static models; one of Indian Air Force [ABOVE-Shot On Apple IPod Touch 6],during Aero India 2019, Yelahanka (Bangalore), which was then in service, and the other of Sri Lankan Air Force, Ex-Ukranian, which had been decommissioned and added to the exhibits at SLAF Museum, Colombo [BELOW-Shot On Canon 550D].
Comments