Inside the enemy’s cockpit: American pilots on MiG planes

The Fighter Combat Tactics Instructor Training Program, better known as TOPGUN, trained U.S. Navy pilots in combat tactics and flight techniques, these pilots then had to return to their units as instructors.

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The Topgun was formed during the Vietnam War due to concerns about the relative lack of success that American pilots had against North Vietnamese MiGs. Initially, the Topgan consisted of eight pilots and officers, led by a young lieutenant Dan Pedersen.

In 1968, the Pentagon gave Pedersen the grand task of creating a kind of high school for fighter pilots. The plan was to teach them not only to get the most out of their aircraft, but also to demonstrate advanced air combat tactics to their squadrons.

During the Vietnam War, American pilots encountered MiG-17s and MiG-21s. Lieutenant Dan Pedersen and the Topgan pilots sought to gain some information about enemy aircraft and gain experience with them, so that they could then train their pilots in effective combat tactics.

Soon Pedersen’s wish was fulfilled. Around the same time that Topgan was created, the US began flying MiG-17s and MiG-21s obtained from Syrian and Iraqi pilots who defected to the US several years ago. They were located at a top-secret Air Force base in Groom Lake, Nevada, known as Area 51. Pedersen recalls flying a formidable Russian fighter jet:

“When I first saw 17 up close, I was thrilled… Sitting on its short nose and leaning against the glass to peer into the cockpit, I was impressed in both good and bad ways. It was old, rough, simple, heavy, and beautiful in its own way… I made six or seven flights in an enemy plane. Sure, he was agile, but I still felt like I was flying on a very fast anvil… The plane ran out of fuel so quickly, even without using the afterburner, that you had to quickly complete tasks. I had to get into a rhythm. If you did, you became dangerous.”

But with only a few MiGs in U.S. hands, Topgun aviators knew they needed convincing stand-ins for Soviet fighters. The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk and TA-4, with their small size and impressive maneuverability, could pass for a MiG-17. The similarly sized Northrop F-5 Tiger II, with its supersonic performance, was a pretty good replacement for the MiG-21.

When this training practice became established, the desire for more realistic combat led to a secret project known as the Constant Peg, and the creation of the 4477th Test Squadron of the United States Air Force in 1977. The new unit, called the Red Eagles, flew a squadron of MiGs.

With the MiG-17, 19, 21, and 23 produced in various ways around the world, the Red Eagles have become the most realistic imitation of enemy troops in the world. In the 1980s, they added the MiG-27, 29, and Chinese F-7BS to the lineup.

Thousands of Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps pilots have been trained on these Soviet-designed aircraft in secret exercises over the closed territories of the US Air Force test ranges in Nevada.

With the end of the cold war and the reduction of the military budget in the 1990s, such units began to be abolished. Training pilots to fight a well-equipped enemy was no longer a priority.