{"id":4531401,"date":"2026-07-08T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/?p=4531401"},"modified":"2026-10-02T22:37:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T20:37:29","slug":"etoiles-rouges-constantes-au-dessus-du-nevada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/constant-peg-red-stars-over-nevada\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00c9toiles rouges au-dessus du d\u00e9sert du Nevada"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background .15s,color 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Heat is already shimmering off a runway that appears on no aeronautical chart worth trusting. A fighter pilot fresh from <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/air-bases\/nellis\/\">Nellis Air Force Base<\/a> rolls out of a turn at 15,000 feet and sees something his intelligence briefings have only ever shown him in grainy photographs: a small silver delta with a red star on its flank, pulling toward him. His heart rate spikes. That reaction has a name in the squadron he is about to meet. They call it buck fever, and curing it is their entire job.<\/p>\r\n<p>The unit was the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron, call sign \"Red Eagles\", and between 1977 and 1988 it operated genuine Soviet-built <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/mig-17-fresco\">MiG-17s<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/mig-21-fishbed\">MiG-21s<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/mig-23-flogger\">MiG-23s<\/a> from the Tonopah Test Range Airport, roughly 70 miles northwest of Groom Lake. The program's name was Constant Peg. Its existence remained formally classified until November 2006.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f5f5f5; padding: 20px 24px; border-radius: 8px; margin: 8px 0 28px;\">\r\n<p style=\"margin: 0 0 10px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 17px;\">Quick Facts<\/p>\r\n<ul style=\"margin: 0; padding-left: 20px; line-height: 1.8;\">\r\n<li>Established 1 April 1977 as the 4477th Test and Evaluation Flight; MiG training from Tonopah began July 1979<\/li>\r\n<li>Flew MiG-17s (to 1982), MiG-21s and MiG-23s, plus Chinese-built J-7Bs from 1987; cover designations YF-110, YF-113, YF-114<\/li>\r\n<li>Over 15,000 sorties flown; nearly 6,000 <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/air-forces\/united-states-air-force\/\">US Air Force<\/a>, Navy and Marine Corps aircrew exposed to real MiGs<\/li>\r\n<li>69 pilots served, each assigned a \"Bandit\" number<\/li>\r\n<li>Aircraft sourced via Israel, Indonesia, Egypt and China \u2014 often without manuals or spare parts<\/li>\r\n<li>Operations ended March 1988; unit inactivated 15 July 1990; program declassified November 2006<\/li>\r\n<li>Its exposure training flows directly into today's Aggressor squadrons<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin: 24px 0 8px;\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: 0; border-radius: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/U8fKp6Nd8YQ\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-no-lazy=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n<p style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; font-style: italic; margin: 0 0 24px;\">The USAF's own declassified mini-documentary on the Red Eagles of Constant Peg.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">From Have Doughnut to Constant Peg<\/h2>\r\n<p>The story begins, with technical precision, in 1968. When Israel obtained an Iraqi MiG-21 through the defection of pilot Munir Redfa in 1966, the aircraft was loaned to the United States and evaluated at Groom Lake under the code name Have Doughnut. Two ex-Syrian MiG-17s followed in 1969 under Have Drill and Have Ferry. These were exploitation programs: performance measurement, systems analysis, and limited trial combat against US types. The results were sobering. In early Have Drill engagements, no Navy pilot won his first fight against the MiG-17.<\/p>\r\n<p>The context was Vietnam. Between 1965 and 1968 the US Air Force was trading roughly one of its own aircraft for every two MiGs shot down, an unacceptable ratio against a supposedly inferior opponent. The Navy responded by founding Topgun in 1969, fed directly with Have Doughnut and Have Drill data, and its kill ratio improved sharply. The Air Force lagged, and a group of frustrated veterans decided the fix was not another paper study but a permanent squadron of real MiGs, flown daily against ordinary front-line crews.<\/p>\r\n<p>The driving force was Colonel Gaillard \"Gail\" Peck Jr., a Vietnam <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-4-phantom-ii\">F-4<\/a> pilot then working in the Pentagon. His proposal won the backing of Major General Hoyt S. Vandenberg Jr., and the program name was assembled from Vandenberg's call sign, \"Constant\", and the nickname of Peck's wife, Peg. The 4477th stood up on 1 April 1977; by July 1979 regular MiG training sorties were flying from a purpose-expanded strip at Tonopah, an airfield Peck first sketched on an airline napkin. The base was remote enough that it was not publicly acknowledged as a military airfield until 1985, by which time it was also quietly hosting the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-117-nighthawk\">F-117<\/a> program at night.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">Swamps, Scrapyards and Diplomatic Channels<\/h2>\r\n<p>Where do you buy MiGs when you are the US Air Force? Anywhere you can. Israel supplied captured Syrian and Iraqi machines. Indonesia sold stored MiG-21F-13s in the early 1970s, a deal later balanced with deliveries of <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/northrop-f-5\">F-5E<\/a> Tiger IIs. After Egypt broke with Moscow, it reportedly provided MiG-23s as part of an arms relationship that brought Cairo F-4E Phantoms. In 1987 the squadron even bought twelve factory-fresh Chinese-built J-7Bs, MiG-21 copies. In US paperwork the jets carried cover designations: YF-110 for the MiG-21, YF-113 for the MiG-23, YF-114 for the MiG-17.<\/p>\r\n<p>The aircraft arrived without manuals, without spare parts and frequently without airworthiness. The squadron's maintainers, living in double-wide trailers with tires holding the roofs down against the desert wind, reverse-engineered brake assemblies, reconditioned engines with a design life of 500 hours, and occasionally received newly manufactured parts painstakingly copied from worn originals. Their accident rate, former officials later said, ran to about 100 per 100,000 flying hours, an order of magnitude above the Air Force norm.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f8f9fa; border-left: 4px solid #5C91FF; padding: 20px 22px; margin: 18px 0 24px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7; display: flex; gap: 20px; align-items: flex-start;\">\r\n<div><em>\u201cThey took airplanes that had been pulled out of swamps and deserts and God knows where they got 'em. We didn't even pre-flight 'em, we had that much trust in our maintenance team and they didn't let us down.\u201d<\/em>\r\n<div style=\"margin-top: 10px; font-size: 14px; color: #555;\"><strong>Col. Gaillard \"Gail\" Peck<\/strong> \u2014 founder and first Tonopah commander of the 4477th, in the USAF Constant Peg documentary<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>The results were consistent enough to bet lives on. To minimize risk, the MiGs never flew at night or in bad weather, and sorties were short, around 20 minutes, dictated by the small fuel loads of the types. The MiG-17 was retired by 1982 as obsolete and increasingly unsafe; the MiG-21 became the workhorse; and the swing-wing MiG-23, fast in a straight line and unstable everywhere else, was reserved for the squadron's most experienced hands.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin: 0 0 24px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto; border-radius: 6px;\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/red-eagles-mig-23-flogger-tonopah.jpg\" alt=\"Red Eagles MiG-23 Flogger in flight\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" \/>\r\n<figcaption style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; margin-top: 6px; font-style: italic;\">A Red Eagles MiG-23 Flogger over the Tonopah ranges \u2014 fast, twitchy, and feared by its own pilots. US Air Force photo via the National Museum of the USAF<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">Exposure: Curing Buck Fever<\/h2>\r\n<p>The syllabus was deliberately incremental. A visiting fighter crew, often not officially told what awaited them, first flew a performance profile alongside the MiG simply to look at it, because the shock of the first sighting was itself the enemy. Then came one-versus-one offensive and defensive setups, then two-versus-two, and eventually many-versus-many engagements woven into Red Flag exercises. Every phase ended in long debriefs. The lessons were concrete: do not turn with a MiG-17, take the fight vertical; do not slow down against a MiG-21; and if a MiG-23 pilot makes the mistake of turning instead of running, he is yours.<\/p>\r\n<p>The numbers, confirmed when the US Air Force declassified the program in 2006, are remarkable in the sober sense of the word: more than 15,000 sorties flown and nearly 6,000 American aircrew given direct exposure to Soviet hardware. Sixty-nine pilots served as Red Eagles, each issued a sequential \"Bandit\" number. They were drawn from the Fighter Weapons School, Topgun and the Aggressor squadrons, typically with 2,000 to 3,000 hours behind them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f8f9fa; border-left: 4px solid #d32f2f; padding: 20px 22px; margin: 18px 0 24px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7; display: flex; gap: 20px; align-items: flex-start;\">\r\n<div><em>\u201cThe guys really didn't like flying the 23. They were scared of them.\u201d<\/em>\r\n<div style=\"margin-top: 10px; font-size: 14px; color: #555;\"><strong>Col. John Manclark<\/strong> \u2014 commander of the 4477th TES 1985-87, to Air Force Magazine, 2007<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>The risks were not theoretical. Navy Lieutenant M. Hugh Brown, Bandit 12, died on 23 August 1979 when his MiG-17 entered a second spin too low to eject. Air Force Captain Mark Postai was killed in a MiG-23 crash on 21 October 1982; his family learned the true circumstances only around the 2006 declassification. Technical Sergeant Rey Hernandez died in a ground accident.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin: 24px 0 8px;\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: 0; border-radius: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BayjAFra_6U\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-no-lazy=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n<p style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; font-style: italic; margin: 0 0 24px;\">Constant Peg pilots react to previously unreleased footage of their MiGs, via 10 Percent True.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">The Cost, the General, and the Legacy<\/h2>\r\n<p>And on 26 April 1984, Lieutenant General Robert M. Bond, vice commander of Air Force Systems Command, was killed attempting a high-speed ejection from a MiG-23 over the Nevada Test Site. Precision requires a distinction here: Bond was flying with the separate \"Red Hats\" exploitation unit at Groom Lake, not the 4477th, a point the Air Force itself made when it declassified Constant Peg. A three-star general dying in a Soviet fighter over Nevada nonetheless forced awkward questions years before the program was acknowledged.<\/p>\r\n<p>Constant Peg ended for unglamorous reasons: money, aging airframes, and a new generation of Soviet types the old fleet could no longer represent. The last sorties were flown on 4 March 1988, and the squadron was formally inactivated on 15 July 1990. Several of its MiGs stand in museums today; the fate of others remains classified. Foreign materiel exploitation itself never stopped, and repeated sightings of <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/su-27-flanker\">Su-27s<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/mig-29-fulcrum\">MiG-29s<\/a> over Nevada suggest the mission simply returned to deeper shadow.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin: 0 0 24px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto; border-radius: 6px;\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/4477th-tes-manclark-red-eagles.jpg\" alt=\"4477th TES personnel with a MiG-21\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" \/>\r\n<figcaption style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; margin-top: 6px; font-style: italic;\">Lt. Col. John Manclark and 4477th personnel with one of the squadron's MiG-21s, around 1986. US Air Force photo via the National Museum of the USAF<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"display: flex; justify-content: center; margin: 2em 0;\">\r\n<blockquote class=\"reddit-embed-bq\" data-embed-height=\"500\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/WeirdWings\/comments\/9ubtr8\/project_constant_peg_mig21_fishbed_in_usaf_service\/\">Project CONSTANT PEG: MiG-21 Fishbed in USAF service (r\/WeirdWings)<\/a><\/blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/embed.reddit.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>The accounting, in the end, is favourable. The exposure training pioneered at Tonopah flows directly into today's Aggressor squadrons, whose paint schemes still echo the Red Eagles' jets. In Operation Desert Storm, US Air Force pilots destroyed some 40 Iraqi aircraft, including MiG-21s and MiG-23s, without a single air-to-air loss; many credit the men who spent a decade making sure no American pilot ever saw a red star for the first time in combat. How some of those first MiGs reached the West at all \u2014 via <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-diamond-mossad-munir-redfa-mig-21-1966\/\">a spy, a pilot and a stolen MiG-21<\/a> \u2014 is a story we told here last week.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-style: italic;\">Sources: National Museum of the United States Air Force, Air &amp; Space Forces Magazine (April 2007), The War Zone, Steve Davies' Red Eagles, Wikipedia<\/p>\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\r\n<!-- mf-faq -->\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-block\"><style>.mf-faq-block{margin:34px 0}.mf-faq-item:not([open]) .mf-faq-answer{display:none !important}.mf-faq-block h2.mf-faq-h{padding-top:22px;margin-bottom:14px}.mf-faq-item{border:1px solid #e2e8f5;border-radius:8px;margin:0 0 10px;background:#fff}.mf-faq-item summary{list-style:none;cursor:pointer;padding:15px 50px 15px 18px;font-weight:600;color:#1a1a1a;position:relative;line-height:1.45;user-select:none}.mf-faq-item summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mf-faq-item summary::after{content:\"+\";position:absolute;right:18px;top:50%;transform:translateY(-50%);font-size:1.5em;font-weight:400;color:#5C91FF;line-height:1}.mf-faq-item[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mf-faq-item[open] summary{border-bottom:1px solid #eef1f8}.mf-faq-item summary:hover{background:#f5f8ff}.mf-faq-answer{padding:14px 18px;color:#333;line-height:1.6}.mf-faq-answer p{margin:0}.mf-faq-answer a{color:#5C91FF}<\/style>\r\n<h2 class=\"mf-faq-h\">Related Questions<\/h2>\r\n<details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>What was the Constant Peg program?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>Constant Peg was a secret US Air Force program that flew genuine Soviet-built MiG fighters to train American aircrew. From 1979 the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron \u2014 the \"Red Eagles\" \u2014 operated MiG-17s, MiG-21s and MiG-23s from the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada until 1988.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>Who were the Red Eagles?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>The Red Eagles were the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron, established in 1977. They flew real Soviet MiGs against US Air Force, Navy and Marine crews so pilots could meet the enemy aircraft in training rather than for the first time in war. 69 pilots served, each given a \"Bandit\" number.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>Where did the US get its secret MiGs?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>The MiGs were sourced covertly through countries including Israel, Indonesia, Egypt and China \u2014 often without manuals or spare parts. One early example, an Iraqi MiG-21, reached the West after <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-diamond-mossad-munir-redfa-mig-21-1966\/\">an Israeli Mossad operation persuaded its pilot to defect<\/a> in 1966.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>What aircraft did Constant Peg fly?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>The program flew MiG-17s (until 1982), MiG-21s and MiG-23s, plus Chinese-built J-7Bs from 1987. To disguise them, the jets carried US \"century-series\" cover designations such as YF-110, YF-113 and YF-114.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>How many pilots trained against the secret MiGs?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>Constant Peg flew over 15,000 sorties and exposed nearly 6,000 US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps aircrew to real MiGs. That experience \u2014 curing pilots of \"buck fever\" at the sight of a MiG \u2014 flows directly into today's Aggressor squadrons.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>When was the Constant Peg program declassified?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>Operations ended in March 1988 and the unit was inactivated on 15 July 1990, but the program stayed secret until it was declassified in November 2006. Its legacy lives on in modern adversary training, including <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/the-civilians-paid-to-fly-enemy-jets-against-the-us-navy\/\">privately operated aggressor jets<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>Where were the secret MiGs based?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>The Red Eagles operated from the Tonopah Test Range Airport in Nevada, roughly 70 miles northwest of Groom Lake (Area 51). MiG training there began in July 1979 after the 4477th was established in 1977.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><\/div>\r\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was the Constant Peg program?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Constant Peg was a secret US Air Force program that flew genuine Soviet-built MiG fighters to train American aircrew. From 1979 the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron \u2014 the \\\"Red Eagles\\\" \u2014 operated MiG-17s, MiG-21s and MiG-23s from the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada until 1988.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who were the Red Eagles?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Red Eagles were the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron, established in 1977. They flew real Soviet MiGs against US Air Force, Navy and Marine crews so pilots could meet the enemy aircraft in training rather than for the first time in war. 69 pilots served, each given a \\\"Bandit\\\" number.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Where did the US get its secret MiGs?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The MiGs were sourced covertly through countries including Israel, Indonesia, Egypt and China \u2014 often without manuals or spare parts. One early example, an Iraqi MiG-21, reached the West after <a href=\\\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-diamond-mossad-munir-redfa-mig-21-1966\/\\\">an Israeli Mossad operation persuaded its pilot to defect<\/a> in 1966.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What aircraft did Constant Peg fly?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The program flew MiG-17s (until 1982), MiG-21s and MiG-23s, plus Chinese-built J-7Bs from 1987. To disguise them, the jets carried US \\\"century-series\\\" cover designations such as YF-110, YF-113 and YF-114.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How many pilots trained against the secret MiGs?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Constant Peg flew over 15,000 sorties and exposed nearly 6,000 US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps aircrew to real MiGs. That experience \u2014 curing pilots of \\\"buck fever\\\" at the sight of a MiG \u2014 flows directly into today's Aggressor squadrons.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"When was the Constant Peg program declassified?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Operations ended in March 1988 and the unit was inactivated on 15 July 1990, but the program stayed secret until it was declassified in November 2006. Its legacy lives on in modern adversary training, including <a href=\\\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/the-civilians-paid-to-fly-enemy-jets-against-the-us-navy\/\\\">privately operated aggressor jets<\/a>.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Where were the secret MiGs based?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Red Eagles operated from the Tonopah Test Range Airport in Nevada, roughly 70 miles northwest of Groom Lake (Area 51). MiG training there began in July 1979 after the 4477th was established in 1977.\"}}]}<\/script><!-- \/mf-faq -->\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f0f4ff; border-left: 4px solid #5C91FF; padding: 16px 20px; margin: 32px 0 8px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0;\">\r\n<p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; font-weight: 600; color: #333;\">Related Posts<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin: 4px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-diamond-mossad-munir-redfa-mig-21-1966\/\">A Spy, a Pilot, and a Stolen MiG-21<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin: 4px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/the-mig-25-foxbat-panic-that-rewrote-fighter-design\/\">The MiG-25 Foxbat Panic That Rewrote Fighter Design<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dans les coulisses de Constant Peg : comment le 4477e escadron des Red Eagles a secr\u00e8tement pilot\u00e9 des MiG sovi\u00e9tiques depuis Tonopah, form\u00e9 6 000 membres d&#039;\u00e9quipage am\u00e9ricains et est rest\u00e9 classifi\u00e9 jusqu&#039;en 2006.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":4530538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4531401","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 v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Constant Peg: Red Stars Over the Nevada Desert<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Under the secret Constant Peg program, US pilots flew real Soviet MiGs over Nevada to learn how to defeat them in a real war.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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