Tyndall 2000 Mig29 22 yw

[AK01]

During a visit to Tyndall /FL in 2000 i was able to take a picture of this Mig29.
I believe this was later repainted as 53 Bl, which is often quoted as ex 03 White ex Moldovan Air Force. See for instance https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/339316 for a picture.
My picture shows 22 Yellow with a sort of Soviet red Star on the tail, for the rest it looks pretty much the same as the picture on jetphotos.com so i doubt if the 53 blue is really ex 03 white.
Can anyone add anything to this for me?


Pieter,

[Yammer]

Interesting photo - thanks for posting.

Would appear to be the same machine - lack of canopy and engines - maybe an early example.

[michael]

Found this list on the internet and it seems that that plane is in Pima so it has to be 53 "blue" (number 6 in the list)
Was at Pima this year an indeed the canopy is really really weird.

The complete list of MiG-29s involved in the 1997 deal:


1) MiG-29 Fulcrum A 2960512124 27 White Now at Goodfellow AFB.

2) MiG-29 Fulcrum A 2960512140 28 White

3) MiG-29 Fulcrum A 2960516753 20 White

4) MiG-29 Fulcrum A 2960516755 21 White

5) MiG-29 Fulcrum A 2960516761 25 White Now at Wright-Patterson Museum

6) MiG-29 Fulcrum A 2960516766 22 White MiG-29A 2960516766 ex 22 White, now wears "53 Blue".

Preserved at Pima, AZ, since Oct 2008. Formally at Tyndall, Florida. Possibly line no. 2005.

7) MiG-29UB Fulcrum B 50903012038 61 White Now at Wright-Patterson AFB

8) MiG-29S Fulcrum C 2960707750 24 White

9) MiG-29S Fulcrum C 2960707753 29 White

10) MiG-29S Fulcrum C 2960710828 09 White

11) MiG-29S Fulcrum C 2960717456 03 White

12) MiG-29S Fulcrum C 2960717458 10 White Now at NAS Fallon

13) MiG-29S Fulcrum C 2960717459 11 White

14) MiG-29S Fulcrum C 2960717464 12 White Now at Nellis AFB

15) MiG-29S Fulcrum C 2960717469 04 White

16) MiG-29S Fulcrum C 2960717473 06 White Now at Nellis AFB

17) MiG-29S Fulcrum C 2960717940 02 White

18) MiG-29S Fulcrum C 2960721907 08 White Appeared at Wright-Patt Airshow in May 2003.
Had '21' stencilled in fin tips.

19) MiG-29S Fulcrum C 2960721930 41 White Now at McMinnville Museum

20) MiG-29S Fulcrum C 2960721940 46 White

21) MiG-29S Fulcrum C 2960721945 48 White

[AK01]

Michael thanks for the reply. My problem is that it is everywhere listed as 22 white and ex Moldova. My picture shows 22 yellow and what seems to be the remains of a red star.
This makes it doubtful for me what the real history is for this one.
Hope someone can tell me why it's yellow after all.
Pieter,

[Yammer]

Red Star - When the Soviet Union split into a multitude of nations, the "new" nations would have inherited a share of ex Soviet aircraft, ie red star machines.

Not all of these would have continued to fly with the new nation, consider expense, spares, local qualified pilots etc - I *suspect* some would have been parked and gathered dust the day after the new nation accquired them.

So "22" may well have been Soviet and subsequently allocated to Moldova, bit it doesn't mean Moldova ever actually operated or bothered to re-paint the entire fleet they accquired - this is my specualtion - happy to learn more.

Following the split in the Soviet Union the Americans were no doubt keen to accquire new Soviet technology if they could - Moldova appears to have been happy to trade a "big box" of older wfu airframes that were gathering dust in exchange for dollars. ie "22" never got re-painted from a Soviet red star to Moldovan colours.

Just my guess.

[joostvdburgt]

Hi Pieter,

I agree with Yammer. Probably not all Fulcrums were active with the Moldovan Air Force. Please note this pic (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... _truck.jpg), where an unmarked MiG-29 can be seen. Combine this with the fact that the Moldovans did not only fly the green MiG-29 but also grey painted examples. Those grey pieces had their bort number on the air intake.
Add to this that at least nowadays the MiG-29 that stayed behind in Markuleshti weir yellow codes on the air intake. So most likely they flew white and yellow borts together all the time since independence.

The last fact I would like to point out is that the USAF most likely never registrated the color of the bort code. I have received the full list of construction numbers directly from USAF air intel department (!) and they gave all construction numbers and bort numbers, but no colors.

Good luck,
Joost

[AK01]

Thanks both of you for the replies, especially the last reply makes it a clear for me, the colour White is not confirmed and can be Yellow as well.
Pieter,

[Andy Marden]

Relatively few MiG-29s flew in Moldova after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some, but not all of the active ones, received white borts to replace the yellow borts.
It might be worth mentioning at this point that only us "westerners" seem remotely concerned with the colour of the bort, it is rarely if ever mentioned in "eastern" documents. It is after all only really a unit code, not a serial.
The reason 03 white has become linked with 22 yellow is because 22 yellow was originally thought to be c/n 17456. This is incorrect, because 17456 is the last five of a MiG-29 9-13 (indeed 03 white), whereas this aircraft is clearly a MiG-29 9-12. The line number of 22 yellow has been checked as 2005, the c/n is 2960516766 I believe. Release date of this aircraft was 18Oct85, initially to the 234 GvIAP at Kubinka before transfer to the 86 GvIAP at Marculesti