Flight Hours - Cold War Era

[MiG21SM]

From the logbook of a HuAF captain who flew on MiG-21bis. The yearly flight-hours in the late '70s >

1977 - 133h 36m


1978 - 171h 3m


1979 - 139h 17m


Repülések száma = Flights
Nappal = Daylight
Éjjel = Night
Befüggönyzött kabinban = under curtain
Felhőben = in clouds
Korlátozott látás... = at restricted visibility

Please comment with your data from the same period!
The most interesting: USAFE F-4, Luftwaffe F-4F, RAF FGR Mk2., Lightning etc

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I can give data from a decade later; 1989, last year of the Cold War (Tornado F3)

hrs
236 total
182 day
54 night
(6) twin-sticker
17 day IMC
16 night IMC

150 sorties

His average sortie length was 40 minutes, whereas mine was over an hour and a half.
I see he only had 26 hours in day / good weather,vs 165 hrs for me.

I would guess a large part of his sorties were GCI. I had 47 sorties on low level affiliation training or big exercises, and 10 dedicated D/ACT.

I note the Hungarian guy did more hours IMC at night in 1979 than he actually spent airborne*
(*yes, I was the Sqn stats Officer for a while)

[2Planks]

F3 - and how many practice Q launches at weekends for the "Wing Commander's AFC".

Knight's Templar this afty??

[wiggy]

RAF F4 ( AD), First Tourist...

Jun 81 - Jun 82
Day 160:55
Night 49:20

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

2Planks- One!, and he didn't get one!

[MiG21SM]

Thank you for your comments!

His average sortie length was 40 minutes,

Or shorter..

I would guess a large part of his sorties were GCI

He is from 2nd sqdn. Taszar airbase, MiG-21bis. Their primary task was 'dogfight'(most of the GCI work were done by the other sqdn. with MiG-21PF).
10 days in '78 May for example:


Rep-gep tipusa = aircraft type, 75 = MiG-21bis, 66 = MiG-21U, 69 = MiG-21UM
Melyik ulesbol lett vegrehajtva = from which seat on double seater, E = front, H = back-seat
A repules max. magassaga(km-ben) = max height of the flight in Km
Tenyleges idojaras = real weather
f. teto = cloud roof
f. alap = cloud base
borults = overcast
latas = visibility

The exercises >

533 gp. leharc = 2 vs 2 dogfight
500 "O" = low level, complex aerobatics, teaching from back-seat, over the airbase(with full afterburner from takeoff to landing, the 'famous' Soviet 500 )
226 = low level night intercept
212 = night from backseat as instructor
124/333 = attack on other airfield with full squadron
124/111/68 = attack on other airfield with full squadron
71/534 = 2 vs 2 dogfight
71/535 = 2 vs 2 dogfight
71/536 = 2 vs 2 dogfight
71/537 = 2 vs 2 dogfight
498 = complex aerobatics, ACM, as instructor from backseat
71/95 = low level intercept in pair
71/19/134 = chek flight in front seat - low level route flying
71/250 = low level intercept in clouds, night

and 10 dedicated D/ACT.

Officially 0 for him. Just some occassional 'bouncing' with Hungary based Soviet MiG-23M,ML

I note the Hungarian guy did more hours IMC at night in 1979 than he actually spent airborne*

RAF F4 ( AD), First Tourist...

Jun 81 - Jun 82
Day 160:55
Night 49:20

Please give the Nr. of flights also!
Is this typical for Germany based RAF F-4 units also in that period? AFAIK the USAFE and Luftwaffe F-4 guys flew less in the late '70s.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Would be interested to know what they called a dogfight
Base Height?
Radar-Vis or just Visual?
How many splits in a sortie? 2/3?
How 'canned' the exercises were?

..and what did they call "low level"?

[Yellow Sun]

Those with an interest in this area would do worse than obtain a copy of

Nigel Walpole's "Thinking the Unthinkable"

Nigel Walpole's "Thinking the Unthinkable"

. Although it deals primarily with the former East German Air Force (EGAF) there is much that could be read across to the Hungarian Air force of the period.

YS

[MiG21SM]

Would be interested to know what they called a dogfight

'Manőverező légiharc' = 'Manouvering air combat'

Base Height?

For example > nr.500 started at 50-100m with horizontal 8, with full afterburner, full overload, vertical man's etc..bit something like an airshow. With full burner for 12-14min, must to pull really hard, average G checked by black-box tape after. If you switch off the full burner for a second or the average G's are too low: try again. Nothing tactical, just complex aerobatics at the deck, something like physical training for dogfight....

Radar-Vis or just Visual?

Visual

How many splits in a sortie? 2/3?

Most of the exercises in the series 482-592 came from the Soviet standard ACT program '500s'.
For example n.533-37, some scripted scenarios, 2 in each: you are on CAP, you are under attack, must to react with manouvers 'loop' 'knot' 'roof' ' shell' 'fork'
In other scenarios you are the attacker, in others free-fight etc.

..and what did they call "low level"?

For example this: " 226 = low level night intercept " at the possible lowest height where your radar is working(21bis - no lookdawn capability

[MiG21SM]

I think the first RAF pilots who tasted the '21. 1992 Hungary:

[TEEEJ]

Link back to Air Forces Monthly thread for further discussion.

Why didnt Warpac states adopt MiG-23 en masse and still relied on MiG-21 by 1990? - Page 3

Why didnt Warpac states adopt MiG-23 en masse and still relied on MiG-21 by 1990?

[RAFEngO74to09]

In 1977-1980, aircrew on the Phantom FGR2 Wing at RAF Wildenrath could get around 30 hours a month. A number who transferred in from a previous tour on the Phantom in Germany in the strike/attack/recce role were getting their 1000-hour Phantom badge part way through their 2nd tour. A major contributor to getting these hours were the MINEVALs, MAXEVALs and TACEVALs with an event occurring approximately every 4-6 weeks. During these, aircraft availability was maximized with up to 12 aircraft on a 10 AE squadron whenever it was possible to generate the in-use reserve from 2nd-line and also "arrange" for the aircraft due out to Major at RAF St Athan being retained for a few days after the replacement had been delivered. The normal modus operandi would be to have the QRA(I) aircraft + 7 others each on their own in 8 x Hardened Aircraft Shelters (HAS) and 4 x "spare" aircraft doubled up in a further 2 x HASs. It was not uncommon for each crew to get the 3 sorties allowed each day by RAFG regulations and I distinctly remember occasional waivers being obtained for a 4th sortie in a day. I also remember 92 Sqn getting more than 65 hours in one day and an average serviceability rate of 118% for a 3-day event (before the NATO rules were changed only allowing aircraft established - with tail numbers agreed at the start of the evaluation - to count).

[Wrathmonk]

It was not uncommon for each crew to get the 3 sorties allowed each day by RAFG regulations and I distinctly remember occasional waivers being obtained for a 4th sortie in a day. I also remember 92 Sqn getting more than 65 hours in one day

Not difficult when you didn't need to (have to) do any flight planning....

[27mm]

Guess you must have been one of those Bruggen wing targets then....

[Wrathmonk]

Guess you must have been one of those Bruggen wing targets then

Not Bruggen and only a target when the AD playmates had been given exact route, timings, squawk etc to help them find us .....

[MiG21SM]

In 1977-1980, aircrew on the Phantom FGR2 Wing at RAF Wildenrath could get around 30 hours a month.

Do I understand correctly? Three consecutive years in Wildenrath = more than 1000 hours on the Phantom? Well...respect.

[60024]

<<Not difficult when you didn't need to (have to) do any flight planning...>>

And they usually briefed on Guard......

[27mm]

Well maybe that happened once or twice, but LLAD in a Wilders jet was definitely the sport of kings, especially when the gingerbeers took the fletchers off.....

[Onceapilot]

Well done 27mm! You sure did good against all those LCR crews working up on singleton "no evasion" sorties.

OAP

[Onceapilot]

BTW 27mm, the sport of kings was ACM, or maybe not, in an F4?
Why are you not 20mm?

OAP