Saturday 23 February 2019

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI, part four, African users

The MiG-15UTI served also in many African countries. Those are:

  • Angola: When the Angolan Air Force was established in 1975 it was equipped with Soviet equipment and trained by Cuban pilots. Among the material supplied by the Soviet bloc there was a batch of MiG-15UTI trainers that were used both for training pilots and recon missions against South African and UNITA forces in the context of the Angolan Civil War. The UTIs continue to serve nowadays, together with other trainers, with the Angolan 9th Training Squadron which is part of the 24th Training Regiment, based at Menongue Air Base.
  • Congo-Brazzaville: After achieving independence in the 1960s, and undergoing a revolution, in the 1970s the Congo-Brazzaville Air Force decided to switch to Soviet equipment. Among that new supplied aircrafts there were a number of MiG-15UTIs that served in the FAC (Force Aérienne Congolaise) and, during the late 1990s it's known that many of them, due to the Congolese Civil War, were in derelict condition.
  • Guinea-Bissau: After achieving independence, the air force was equipped (as initially they just had three North-American T-6Gs) with limited Soviet material, among them, two MiG-15UTIs. They served until 1991 when they were put in storage condition at the hangars of the Osvaldo Vieira International Airport due to the lack of funds.
  • Guinea-Conakry: After achieving independence, the air force was established with Soviet assistance in 1961. Just like Bissau, they got two MiG-15UTIs together with other Soviet aircrafts. They were most probably retired from service and/or scrapped in the 1980s when their air force underwent a small modernization process.
  • Madagascar: The Madagascar Air Force received a small number of UTIs when their air force was founded. Not much is known about their usage, but most probably they haven't been used a lot. As the information about these UTIs is rather scarce, the drawing should be taken as speculative.
  • Mali: During the mid 1960s the Soviets supplied a single MiG-15UTI to the newly founded Mali Air Force. It was used to train pilots in the usage of the MiG-17F which just had 5 of them. They served well until the 1990s when the air force was somewhat modernized.
  • Mozambique: Apparently, the Mozambican Air Force got some ex East-German UTIs shortly after their independence. They were used during the Mozambican Civil War during the 1980s and most of them were probably destroyed. 









Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-15
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angolan_People%27s_Air_Force_And_Air_Defence_Force
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Air_Force_of_Angola
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People’s_Republic_of_Congo_Air_Force
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_of_the_Republic_of_Congo
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea-Bissau_Air_Force
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea_Air_Force
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malagasy_Air_Force
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_Mali_Air_Force
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozambique_Air_Force

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