Mig-25 “Foxbat”
I’m sure many of you remember this. The story about the MiG is here.
The MiG-25 (NATO codename “Foxbat”) first flew in 1964 and created quite a stir. She was built to counter the XB-70 Valkyrie. Western over estimates of her performance resulted in the F-15 Eagle.
Then on September 6, 1976 Lt. Viktor Belenko defected to the U.S. by way of Japan with his MiG-25P giving western analysts their first up-close glimpse of this monster (I met him in college btw…random and interesting story I’ll tell in a later post).
2 random things about the Foxbat: 1) She was known to Soviet Air Defense Forces as the “Flying Vodka Bottle.” Not sure why but want to say it was the anti-freeze coolant in the airplane. 2) The 5-kw radar was so powerful dead bunny carcasses (fried from all that microwave radiation would pile up on the upwind side of runways of Foxbat bases.
Anyway back to the Iraqi Foxbat in the sandbox. She ended up in the restoration hangar of the National Museum of the USAF:
Anyway enjoy the pics. I took them while on the restoration tour.
*As an aside an Iraqi MiG-25 is rumored to have shot down Lt. Scott Speicher in the F/A-18C from VFA-81 “Sunliners” on 17 January 1991.