Harrier T4 N 899 Sqd

ZB 605 (721) Harrier T4 N 899 Sqd FAA Yeovilton @ Biggin Hill Jun 1988.

Kawasaki Ki-102 “Randy” - late-war Japanese heavy fighter

 

A development of the Ki-45 'Toryu', the Ki-102 was the ultimate incarnation of the Japanese heavy fighter doctrine and itself a development of the rejected IJA single-seat heavy fighter, the Ki 96. The Ki-102 first flew in early 1944, and three main variants - a day fighter, attacker, and night fighter - were ordered into production. While the type entered service by mid 1944, it never replaced the Ki-45, partly due to the aircraft being reserved for the defence of Japan. Several Ki-102 Bs (attackers) made an appearance at Okinawa, but the majority remained in Japan. Even the day fighters saw little service, as the Japanese hoped to use them as carriers of primitive guided missiles in the event of an invasion of the mainland. Perhaps the most promising variant, the Ki-102 C night fighter, took until July 1945 to fly, and the war ended before it could complete flight trials. 

In total some 200 examples were constructed.

The type scored just a handful of 'kills'.

Ukranian AF 'drone-killer' Maj. Vadym Vorochylov, call sign 'Karaya 1'

 

Ukranian fighter pilot Vadym Oleksandrovych Vorochylov - call sign 'Karaya' - in front of his 204th BrTA MiG 29 'blue 47' armed with R-73 and R-27R air-to-air missiles. 

 A 'star' of Western media outlets Vadym Oleksandrovych Vorochylov was born on 2 February 1994 at Kremenchuk, south-west of Poltava. A graduate of the Ukranian air force national academy 'Ivan Kojedub' in 2016 he was assigned to the 204th Tactical Brigade (204 brihada taktichnoyi aviatsiyi or BrTA, tactical aviation brigade) in Kulbakino and from 2018 in Lutsk flying the MiG 29. In 2020 he earned the homour of 'best Ukranian fighter pilot' but in June 2021 he resigned after his short service commission of five years, citing as one of his principal reasons in an article in the Kyiv Post newspaper the lack of flying hours in the UkAF - between 35-80 per year- as compared to the NATO standard of around 180 hours (including 40 on simulator) and his low salary (the equivalent of around 750 euros/month)

With the launch of Putin's 'special military operation' on 24 February 2022 Vorochylov immediately rejoined the 204 BrTA with the rank of Major. According to various internet sources his unit comprised just 22 aircraft - 16 single-seat MiG 29s, including 'blue 07' and 'blue 08' (MiG 29 MU 1 'modernised'), four twin-seat MiG 29 UBs and two training Aero L-39s.

After sustaining heavy losses - including that of Maj. Yevgeny Lysenko on 9 March - the MiG 29s were removed from operations over the front lines and tasked with defending Ukranian territory from Russian cruise missile and drone attacks which became a virtually nightly feature of the war. The Iranian Shahed-136 drones in particular were almost impossible to bring down for Ukranian anti-aircraft defences, being too small and too slow with their low 'thermal' signature and small radar cross section - explosive charge 35kg, range 1000 kms, speed 185 km/h. At night the drones were impossible to detect visually, especially from the cockpit of a MiG 29. On 5 October 2022 the MiGs of the 204th brought down their first three Shahed drones.

On 11 October Vorochylov downed his first two drones and a further three on the following morning. That evening Vorochylov was again airborne and brought down his fourth and fifth drones. However his MiG was hit by the debris of his last target. He managed to turn his machine away from a built-up area before ejecting as fire erupted in the cockpit. Hanging in his parachute straps and with bloodied features after his windshield shattered wounding his cheek, Vorochylov had the presence of mind to take the 'selfie' for which he is 'famous' across the internet!

 " The pilot’s skillful defense of the sky over the Vinnytsia region brought him the fame as the “Shahed killer": Vadym managed to hit five enemy drones and two missiles in a week. When the fighter’s plane got damaged by the debris, Vadym led it away from a populated area and only then ejected from the aircraft. The feat brought him a head and а neck injury, and the Order for Courage of the third class" 

In December Zelensky awarded him the title of 'Hero of Ukraine' for his feats.

Best (re)posts from TJ's Hangar - Iraqi Tu 22 and MiG 21

 

One of my favourite blogs is/was TJ's Hangar. While technically not defunct, it hasn't been updated for years, so - with apologies to TJ if he's still stalking the internet - I've decided to repost some of 'his' old posts, newly translated by myself! Starting with this one featuring Iraqi Tu 22 Blinders and a rare MiG 21 image..here 'TJ' explains how he went about locating some of 'his' rare images on the net...

" ..The last few weeks have seen the 40th anniversary of the start of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. For this reason, I think it is a good occasion to share some of the various photos I have been finding in recent months on the subject, after many hours of research, often tedious and boring research, until something worthy of interest appears. As in this case, it makes the effort expended worthwhile. This is a new image, at least for me, of an Iraqi Tupolev Tu-22 Blinder, probably photographed at the Al Takkadum base. It is taken from one of the many personal profiles or Arabic Facebook pages I have visited that were open to the public..."

From a different angle, another image of another Iraqi Tu-22, apparently in an operational state, judging by the tyres and attire of the posing pilots. Unfortunately the serial that should be seen on the front door of the front landing gear leg is either blurred or has been censored out. Once gain this is probably Al Takkadum base.

Below, Iraqi Mig 21 showing two Iranian 'kill' markings

" ...The story of how I found this photo is curious, because I almost lost it. I was surfing Facebook looking at dozens of profiles of Iraqi and Syrian soldiers and I hadn't found anything interesting for a while. Suddenly, in one of the profiles, a picture of a Mig-21 appeared, small and of poor quality. I don't usually copy such pictures. But it had a lot of comments, so that caught my attention and I decided to scroll through the comments, all in Arabic so I didn't know what they were saying, until, scrolling down, scrolling down, in one of them, Bingo! this picture appeared. But it was late and I was already tired, so after checking that there were no more photos in the thread, I copied it, closed it and went to bed. It is a very tedious and tiring task, opening one by one public Facebook profiles, looking at the photos one by one when there are hundreds of them and then stopping to read all the comments on each photo. If you do the latter, you may never finish and you don't make any progress. It is really tiring. So in these cases of "exotic" profiles, it's often a matter of luck to find something interesting, as you can say that I'm going blind, as I don't know the language in this particular case. I know that there is a translator incorporated into the Facebook answers, but its usefulness is sometimes limited, and there is a risk of crashes or loss of access to the original links, which has happened to me, so I don't usually use it, unless I see something worthwhile..."

"...Once I found the photo, we moved on to another phase, the identification phase. What do we have? Well, we have nothing more and nothing less than a MiG-21MF or maybe a Bis, with two Iranian "kills" painted on the nose of the fuselage. So this pilot is not just anyone. I then started looking for information on Iraqi "Aces" in the war against Iran, both on the net and in books I have at home. In the latter respect, among others, I have the fabulous "Iran-Iraq War in the Air" by Tom Cooper and Farzah Bishop, published by Shiffer in the 1990s, which is the best thing I have read to date on this conflict. On the other hand, when looking for Iraqi aces on the web, Mohommed (curious about the O, it's not Mohammed) Rayyan appeared among others, and consulting several pages, I found that he shot down two Iranian planes with a Mig-21 on 23 October 1980, before becoming a MiG-25 pilot. With this information I went to Tom Cooper's book, who confirmed the date of the shoot-downs, adding that they were Iranian F-5 fighters, which probably means that the plane in the picture is none other than the one involved in those two shoot-downs. The photo is simply very interesting because it allows us to identify the serial number of the plane with the two victories, which is 2092, a detail that I have not seen published anywhere until now, so perhaps, just perhaps, we have an unpublished piece of information, and we also have a pilot posing for the camera, perhaps Mohommed Rayyan himself? Probably, I suppose. The photo of the year so far without a doubt.... :) Photos like this and the previous ones make the searches and the time spent on them worthwhile..."

And subsequently on the cover of Tom Cooper's "Wings of Iraq", published in 2022

also on this blog

Iraqi Mirage F.1s over Baghdad

Phantom Phinale 74 Sqd 1992 display routine

Further to a previous post featuring a Phantom Phinale (1992) scrapbook, here is a look at the 1992 display routine, posted by Stuart Parish on FB from an old 'Aircraft Illustrated' feature (?) 

 Pic below shows the Leggat/Manwaring 74 Sqd display F-4 in a 'Dirty Barrel Roll' with gear and hook down, slats out and probe out etc seen over Wattisham.

also on this blog;

Phantom Phinale scrapbook 1992