My up close visit with the Mig-29
I know I am posting into an older post, and that maybe no one will see it, but when I saw this, I had to subscribe and write the below from the perspective of my poor memory.
Hi, just a newbie here. My story about the visit of the Mig-29 at Farnborough in 1988 is a bit sketchy in my memory but I was there. Myself and our shooting team (for RAF Stafford) were at Bisley in competition. Our boss, who we had nicknamed 'Tackleberry' after the gun nut in the Police Academy film, asked if anyone wanted to go to see the airshow at Farnborough. Being an avid fan of airshows I and a few others jumped in the Land Rover and off we went. What we didn't realise was that he got us special access to the place. I recall we went through a crash gate and parked up next to a big old looking jet that I had only seen in pictures, the aforesaid Mig-29.
Needless to say, I was a little gobsmacked. Forget how long we were there, but we spoke to a few people nearby, I think the pilot was there too. I am assuming, as my memory is a little faulty, that this was the display aircraft. I ran my hands over different parts of the fuselage, and was quite surprised at how 'robustly' it was built. I thought the last time I saw rivets like that they were on the Ark Royal. It felt somewhat like the skin of the Buccaneer, very tough. The memory, despite it being so long ago, feels as surreal as the experience was.