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