The erstwhile enemy of the USAF and US Navy during the nine years of American involvement in the Vietnam War (1955-1975), the Vietnamese Peoples' Air Force (VPAF) quickly grew from an ill-organised rabble of poorly trained pilots flying antiquated communist aircraft into a highly effective fighting force that more than held its own over the skies of North Vietnam. Flying Soviet fighters like the MiG-17, and -19, the VPAF produced over a dozen aces, whilst the Americans managed just two pilots and three navigators in the same period.
The erstwhile enemy of the USAF and US Navy during the nine years of American involvement in the Vietnam War (1955-1975), the Vietnamese Peoples' Air ...
Osprey's study of the use of MiG-21 Units in the Vietnam War (1955-1975). Having honed their piloting skills on the subsonic MiG-17 and transonic MiG-19, the Vietnamese Peoples' Air Force (VPAF) received their first examples of the legendary MiG-21 supersonic fighter in 1966. Soon thrown into combat over North Vietnam, the guided-missile equipped MiG-21 proved a deadly opponent for the USAF, Navy and Marine Corps crews striking at targets deep into communist territory. Most of the VPAF's 12+ aces scored their bulk of their kills in the MiG-21, which was then the best fighter produced by...
Osprey's study of the use of MiG-21 Units in the Vietnam War (1955-1975). Having honed their piloting skills on the subsonic MiG-17 and transonic MiG-...
At the beginning of the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese People's Air Force (VPAF) was equipped with slow, old Korean War-generation fighters--a combination of MiG-17s and MiG-19s, types that should have offered little opposition to the cutting-edge fighter-bombers such as the F-4 Phantom II, F-105 Thunderchief, and the F-8 Crusader. Yet when the USAF and US Navy unleashed their aircraft on North Vietnam in 1965, the inexperienced pilots of the VPAF were able to shatter the illusion of U.S. air superiority.
Taking advantage of its jet's unequaled low-speed maneuverability, small size,...
At the beginning of the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese People's Air Force (VPAF) was equipped with slow, old Korean War-generation fighters--a combina...
Having learned their trade on the subsonic MiG-17, pilots of the Vietnamese People's Air Force (VPAF) received their first examples of the legendary MiG-21 supersonic fighter in 1966. Soon thrown into combat over North Vietnam, the guided-missile equipped MiG-21 proved a deadly opponent for the US Air Force, US Navy and US Marine Corps crews striking at targets deep in communist territory.
Although the communist pilots initially struggled to come to terms with the fighter's air-search radar and weapons systems, the ceaseless cycle of combat operations quickly honed their skills....
Having learned their trade on the subsonic MiG-17, pilots of the Vietnamese People's Air Force (VPAF) received their first examples of the legendar...
