Shenyang F-6, Egyptian and Somalian users

 

The Shenyang F-6C is a day fighter version armed with three Type 30-1 30 mm cannons, which are a copy of the Soviet NR-30. It's a direct copy of the MiG-19S but it differs in having a braking parachute at the base of the rudder. 

The aircraft has been exported to various countries, among them, Egypt and Somalia, which are the main topic of this post:

• Egypt: When Cairo and Moscow broke up relations in 1976, Egypt turned to China for spares support. China saw the opportunity and sold around 40 Shenyang F-6C fighter-bombers and an unknown number of FT-6 trainers. According to Interavia, Egypt had no less than 100 F-6C and FT-6 in two air brigades, No.241 based at Bilbeis-East Air Base and No.242 based at Beni Suef Air Base, in early 1987. Some other sources claim that Egypt sold some F-6Cs to Iraq which were employed in the Iraq-Iran War.
  Flight International reported that by 1991 the Egyptian Air Force had 72 F-6C and six FT-6s in service. Those surviving F-6C and FT-6s were assigned mainly to the Nos.20 and 21 Squadrons both of which were part of the No.211 Fighter Ground Attack Brigade, based at Gianaclis Air Base, with a reduced number serving as an Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) with the Air Force's Academy at Bilbeis Air Base. 
  The F-6C were fitted with pylons for two 100 kg (220 lb) or 250 kg (551 lb) bombs for runaway cratering, ORO-57 FFAR pods or 212 mm (8.34 in) rockets. Some aircraft were even fitted with non-standard trapezoidal blast panels and a number were also upgraded with the Matra R.550 Magic IR-homing air-to-air missile. 
  They served until the mid-1990s when they were progressively replaced by the General-Dynamics F-16.
• Somalia: As the USSR supported Ethiopia at the border conflict with Somalia in 1977-1978, Somalia promptly terminated its friendship treaty with the USSR in November 1977. Therefore, Soviet military aid to Somalia was cut off and, after the Ogaden War, Somalia looked up to China to replace their MiG-17 and Shenyang F-5 that were lost in combat. Hence, from 1980 onwards, the Somali Air Force was supplied with 50 Shenyang F-6C fighters and FT-6 trainers. 
  When Somalian dictator Siad Barre fled the country in 1991, the country fell into chaos causing the Somalian Air Force to cease its existence and leaving most of its aircraft to rot at the different airfields around the country. Nowadays the remaining number of F-6Cs are listed as "in storage" but they are most likely, derelict.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenyang_J-6

2. Midland Publishing - Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 - The Soviet Union's First Production Supersonic Fighter

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Air_Force

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_Air_Force

5. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17F, part ten, Egyptian users

The MiG-17F was used in a big number of wars, among them the middle-east ones. They saw action for the first time in Egyptian hands in October 1956 at the Suez Crisis facing the French fighters Dassault Ouragan and Dassault Mystére IV.
However, during that conflict, the Egyptian Air Force had just 12 MiG-17F, so the bulk of the fighting was undertook by the MiG-15bis, as the MiG-17F played a small role. According to Egyptian sources, during the aerial battle that took part over Kabrit Air Base, close to the Suez Canal, in Egypt, three Egyptian MiG-17Fs shot down another Dassault Mystére IV without suffering any casualties at all in the Egyptian side.
It was also used during the next Arab-Israeli War, the Six-Days War in 1967 and again during the Yom-Kippur War in 1973 but already in 1967, as the MiG-17F lacked radar, and Egyptians had better fighter aircraft, the MiG-17F was used in the ground support role, for which some of them were ad-hoc modified by the Egyptian General Aero Organisation with two bomb racks under the fuselage and rocket launchers at the tip of the wings.
From the late 1950s, when the first MiG-17Fs arrived until the 1980s, the MiG-17F served with the Egyptian Air Force when it was replaced by more modern types and put into reserve (status that keeps nowadays).
After the big losses that the Egyptian Air Force took in the Six-Days War, they decided to camouflage their MiG-17Fs with a variety of colours applied directly to the bare metal fuselages. In emergency, and lacking suitable colours, the Egyptians decided to use paint stock from a car factory at Helwan. This particular colour scheme was popularly known as the "Nile Scheme" due to their flashy and gaudy combination of green, sand and black-green.

Sources:
1. https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/mig-17-action.htm
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Air_Force
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-17
4. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Aero L-29 part six, African and Middle-east users

As we've said previously, the Aero L-29 was exported to an enormous amount of countries. Here are some of them:

• Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA): Apparently, when the USSR invaded Afghanistan and created the DRA, they received a small amount of Aero L-29s together with some L-39s. As we couldn't find any graphical evidence of this, the drawing should be considered as speculative.
• United Arab Republic/Egypt: The United Arab Republic's Air Force received the Aero L-29 in 1959. It was the main trainer of the Egyptian Air Force during the 1960s and it was used in active combat role during the Yom Kippur War of 1973 when some of them were armed with missile launchers and sent to attack Israeli ground forces. It served as their main trainer until the late 1970s when it was replaced by the more advanced Aero L-39.
• Iraq: It seems that some Aero L-29s were delivered to Iraq after the 1958 coup d'etat that overthrew the King of Iraq. The L-29s served with the 2nd Training Squadron at the Tikrit Air Force Base during the 1960s until they were phased out by the more advanced Aero L-39.
• Libya: Some sources claim that the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (Gaddafi's Libya) received some Aero L-29s to equip the air force. As we couldn't find graphical evidences or even text references, the drawing should be considered as speculative as most probably only the L-39 served in Libya and not the L-29.
• Mali: Just like in the Libyan case, it seems that the Malian Air Force bought some L-29s in the mid-1960s to equip their air force. Apparently they served during the 1960s, however as we couldn't find neither graphical nor text evidence, the drawing should be taken as speculative.
• Syria: It seems that the Syrian Air Force was supplied with some Aero L-29s in the very late 1950s and served through the 1960s. Most of them were either destroyed in the Six-Days war and those that survived, served until the 1970s when they were replaced by some other more modern type like the Aero L-39.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_L-29_Delfín

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_Afghanistan#Air_Force

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Air_Force

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Air_Force

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_of_the_Libyan_Arab_Jamahiriya

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_Airforce

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Air_Force

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI, part three, North African users

As we said before the MiG-15UTI was widely used all accross the world not just by those countries in the Soviet sphere of influence, but also by some neutral ones.
In this post we're going to cover the North African users of the MiG-15UTI.

• Algeria: Inmediately after achieving their independence, the newly founded Algerian Air Force received MiG-15UTIs from Egypt to make them the backbone of their training units. They served in the trainer role well until the 80s when they were replaced with the Aero L-39 Albatross.
• Egypt: The Egyptian Air Force bought some MiG-15s back in 1951 together with a number of MiG-15UTI trainers. They were assigned to their training squadrons and, many of them were destroyed in the aerial raids during the Suez Crisis and some others were gifted to Algeria in the early 60s. The UTIs served in the trainer role at least until the 1970s.
• Libya: The Air Force of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya received some old-fashioned yet efficient MiG-15UTIs in the late 70s. They served in the trainer role until they were replaced with the Aero L-39 in the late 80s.
• Morocco: In 1961 the Royal Moroccan Air Force underwent deep reforms and obtained some MiG-15UTIs which were used until the 1970s when they were replaced by the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet E in the 90s.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-15

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Air_Force

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Air_Force

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Moroccan_Air_Force