{"id":15864310,"date":"2026-08-24T14:51:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T12:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/mig-23-flogger-swing-wing-fighter-history\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T14:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T12:18:14","slug":"mig-23-flogger-swing-wing-fighter-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/mig-23-flogger-swing-wing-fighter-history\/","title":{"rendered":"MiG-23 Flogger: The Swing-Wing MiG American Pilots Feared"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n\n<p>More MiG-23s were built than any other variable-sweep aircraft in history. Over five thousand of them, across sixty air forces, from East Germany to North Korea. It was the Soviet Union&rsquo;s first fighter with look-down radar and one of its first with a real beyond-visual-range missile.<\/p>\n\n<p>American pilots who flew it in secret over Nevada came away with a very specific opinion. It would out-accelerate anything they had. And they were frightened of it.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:20px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;color:#333;font-size:17px\">Informations cl\u00e9s<\/p><table style=\"width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:15px;text-align:left\"><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#666;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Premier vol<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#1a1a1a\">10 June 1967 (prototype &ldquo;23-11&rdquo;, pilot Aleksandr Fedotov)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#666;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Design bureau<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#1a1a1a\">Mikoyan-Gurevich (Mikoyan) OKB<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#666;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Commissioned<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#1a1a1a\">4 January 1974, Soviet Air Forces<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#666;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Nombre construit<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#1a1a1a\">5,047 (1967&ndash;1985) &mdash; the most-produced swing-wing aircraft ever<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#666;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Wing sweep<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#1a1a1a\">16&deg; \/ 45&deg; \/ 72&deg;, hydraulically selected (a fourth 33&deg; setting on the MLD)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#666;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Powerplant (MLD)<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#1a1a1a\">1 &times; Khachaturov R-35-300, 83.6 kN dry \/ 127.49 kN reheat<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#666;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Max speed<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#1a1a1a\">Mach 2.35 at altitude; 1,400 km\/h at sea level<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#666;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Armement<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#1a1a1a\">1 &times; 23 mm GSh-23L; R-23\/R-24 (AA-7 Apex), up to 8 &times; R-60 (AA-8 Aphid)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#666;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Combat<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#1a1a1a\">Syria, Iran&ndash;Iraq War, Libya, Afghanistan, Gulf War<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;color:#666;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Toujours en vol<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#1a1a1a\">North Korea, Cuba, Angola, Ethiopia, Libya, Sudan<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Wing Was the Point<\/h2><p>The Soviet Air Force wanted a fighter that could take off from short, rough strips, dash at Mach 2, and land slowly enough not to kill its pilots. Those requirements pull in opposite directions. A wing good for landing is bad for Mach 2, and vice versa.<\/p>\n\n<p>The answer was a wing that changed shape. Sixteen degrees for takeoff and landing, forty-five for cruise, seventy-two for the dash. Mikoyan also tried the other approach &mdash; the 23-01 with dedicated lift jets flew in April 1967 and was abandoned, because lift engines are dead weight for the ninety-nine per cent of the flight when they are switched off.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5gbZi2YTxyc\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>The Flogger also brought the Soviet Union its first look-down, shoot-down radar in the Sapfir family, and the R-23 missile to go with it. Before this, a Soviet interceptor largely could not see a target below it against ground clutter. After it, NATO&rsquo;s low-level penetration tactics stopped being a free pass.<\/p>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Americans Who Flew It in Secret<\/h2><p>Between 1977 and 1988, the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron &mdash; the Red Eagles &mdash; flew captured and acquired Soviet aircraft against American crews over Nevada under the programme name Constant Peg. They had MiG-17s, MiG-21s and MiG-23s.<\/p>\n\n<p>The MiG-23 was the one nobody wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;The guys really didn&rsquo;t like flying the 23. They were scared of them.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Col. (ret.) John T. Manclark<\/strong> &mdash; former commander, 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron &ldquo;Red Eagles&rdquo;<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=752317580  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/mig-23-front-cockpit-4477th-test-evaluation-squadron-constant-peg.jpg\" alt=\"MiG-23 front cockpit of the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The front cockpit of a 4477th TES MiG-23. Visibility was, in the words of one Red Eagles pilot, the worst of any fighter he ever flew. (U.S. Air Force)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Their reasons were concrete. The aircraft became unstable approaching high angle of attack and would depart controlled flight. There was a device on the control column that physically rapped the pilot&rsquo;s knuckles as he neared the limit. The Red Eagles nicknamed it the Looping Hog.<\/p>\n\n<p>And yet.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;In side-by-side acceleration demonstrations, the MiG-23 would out-accelerate every fighter I ever flew against.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Lt. Col. (ret.) Rob &ldquo;Z-Man&rdquo; Zettel<\/strong> &mdash; U.S. Air Force, 136 sorties in the MiG-23MS and MiG-23BN with the Red Eagles<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>That is the MiG-23 in two quotes. Terrifying to fly, and faster off the mark than an F-15. Soviet design philosophy in a sentence: build the machine around one overwhelming advantage and accept the cost everywhere else.<\/p>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Ledger Nobody Agrees On<\/h2><p>The Flogger fought almost everywhere, and almost every claim about it is disputed.<\/p>\n\n<p>Over Lebanon in 1982, Russian historian Vladimir Ilyin records Syria losing six MiG-23MF, four MiG-23MS and fourteen MiG-23BN in June alone. Israel confirms losing a target drone to a Syrian MiG-23MF and little else. Western and Russian accounts of that campaign diverge so completely that Wikipedia opens its own combat section with a warning.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=2054635356  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/f-4j-vf-74-escorting-libyan-mig-23-gulf-of-sidra-1981.jpg\" alt=\"US Navy F-4J Phantom of VF-74 escorting a Libyan MiG-23 over the Gulf of Sidra in 1981\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A VF-74 Phantom escorts a Libyan MiG-23 over the Gulf of Sidra, August 1981. Libya&rsquo;s Floggers had a poor war against the US Navy. (U.S. Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Iran&ndash;Iraq War is better documented. An Iraqi MiG-23MS downed an Iranian F-5E on 23 September 1980 &mdash; the type&rsquo;s first air-to-air kill. An Iraqi MiG-23ML killed an Iranian F-14 with an R-60MK in August 1984, and another in September 1986. On 20 February 1986 an Iraqi MiG-23ML shot down a Fokker F27 airliner, killing all fifty-one people aboard. Iraq&rsquo;s own post-war documents admit forty-three MiG-23s lost, and those figures are demonstrably understated.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"display:flex;justify-content:center;margin:2em 0\"><blockquote class=\"reddit-embed-bq\" data-embed-height=\"500\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/WarplanePorn\/comments\/w8lis6\/1989_two_grumman_f14_tomcats_of_the_us_navy\/\">1989: Two US Navy F-14 Tomcats shooting down two Libyan MiG-23s with AIM-7 missiles in the Gulf of Sidra<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/embed.reddit.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The One That Flew Itself to Belgium<\/h2><p>On 4 July 1989, Colonel Nikolai Skuridin ejected from a MiG-23M near Ko&#322;obrzeg in Poland after his afterburner failed at about 150 metres.<\/p>\n\n<p>The engine then recovered. The aircraft, on autopilot and with nobody in it, flew roughly 900 kilometres across East Germany, West Germany and the Netherlands. American F-15s from Soesterberg intercepted it and confirmed the cockpit was empty. A Phantom scrambled from RAF Wattisham. Nobody shot it down over populated Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3yZ0iFJWQ-A\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>It ran out of fuel and crashed into a house at Bellegem, near Kortrijk in Belgium, killing an eighteen-year-old student named Wim Delaere. The Soviet Union paid Belgium $685,000.<\/p>\n\n<p>Russia retired its last MiG-23s by 1998. The type still flies with North Korea, Cuba, Angola, Ethiopia, Libya and Sudan &mdash; a handful of airframes apiece, more than half a century after Fedotov first swept the wings back over Zhukovsky. Syria, contrary to a widespread assumption, no longer operates them; the aircraft insurgents found at Aleppo in 2024 were derelict.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Sources: Peter Grier, &ldquo;Constant Peg&rdquo;, Air Force Magazine, April 2007; Hush-Kit interview with Lt. Col. Rob Zettel, 29 December 2025; Vladimir Ilyin via published Russian accounts; ACIG Iran&ndash;Iraq War records; Hoyle, <\/em>World Air Forces<em>; IISS <\/em>Military Balance<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Articles similaires<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/variable-sweep-swing-wing-x-5-f-14-tornado-mig-23\/\">L&#039;aile qui changeait de forme en plein vol<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/constant-peg-red-eagles-secret-migs\/\">Constant Peg: The Secret MiGs of the Nevada Desert<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/abattages-de-f-14-tomcat-dans-le-golfe-de-sidra-libye-1981-1989\/\">Tomcats 4, Kadhafi 0\u00a0: Les affrontements du golfe de Syrte<\/a><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More MiG-23s were built than any other variable-sweep aircraft in history. Over five thousand of them, across sixty air forces, from East Germany to North Korea. It was the Soviet Union&rsquo;s first fighter with look-down radar and one of its first with a real beyond-visual-range missile. American pilots who flew it in secret over Nevada [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":15863849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15864310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>MiG-23 Flogger: The Swing-Wing MiG American Pilots Feared | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Over 5,000 MiG-23 Floggers were built. 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