Suggested reading on the MiG-21

[Scooper91]

Hello! 

Just started learning to fly the MiG-21 and wanted to ask if anyone has any suggestions on books to read about the Fishbed? Just went through some about American naval aviation (Topgun Days, Raven One, Lions of the Sky, Punks War). So I'm looking for similar novels to those. However, any genre is fine as long as you think it's a good read. Even better if it's an audiobook, not much time to sit and read at the moment.

Cheers!

[303_Kermit]

Start form original flight manual, cause the one in DCS is useless. Chuck is only bit better, but it's incomplete and has some errors. Plane itself is hard to fly, and it's made to fly with EWR operator support. 

If you're very experienced, you find it as a challenge to fly and fight. If you're beginner in DCS, you're going to have a hard time. I wish you patience, and good luck. Search for a squad flying MiG-21. Usually such guys posses detailed knowledge, experience and sources you look for.

Good luck.

Unfortunately there's no perfect book about MiG-21. Nobody made a book about full spectrum of MiG-21 without serious mistakes. I found also no honest book about the plane. Some books are excessivly flattering, others are overly critical - up to pure hatred to the plane itself .

PS. I'd like to share with you my sources, but they're in Polish language

Edited May 29, 2022 by 303_Kermit

[Dragon1-1]

I wonder if there are any novels from the Vietnamese MiG drivers. I'd love to hear how that war looked from the other side. The US fighter jocks talk tough, but they had a lot of respect for their counterparts. Unlike the forces the US faced in ME, the Vietnamese were very competent and knew how to use the Soviet tech they had to its strengths. AFAIK, there are some snippets in English about how they saw fighting the US Thuds and Phantoms, but I don't know of any story that'd show us the life of a North Vietnamese pilot.

Of course, the MiG-21 they flew was very different from what we have, and a much better dogfighter, but I suspect their tricks would still apply. They didn't have quite the scientific approach to air combat that the US came up with (largely as a result of getting its ass whooped by said MiG drivers), but they likely drew on Soviet gun combat experience in WWII and Korea.

Edited June 5, 2022 by Dragon1-1

[MickV]

I'm just getting started with DCS, and I did what everyone advises not to do - selected the MiG-21 as my first module and went in whole hog, despite being completely new and inexperienced. It's been a HUGE learning curve, and I'm still very much a novice, but I've enjoyed studying the aircraft and finding people to learn from almost as much as I've enjoyed actually flying the damn thing.

Some issues that I've found - because it's an older module and there have been revisions over the years, figuring out what information is still applicable and what's out of date isn't always easy. If you're a visual learner like me, there are a number of Youtubers out there - Enigma89, Hadwell, Rossmum, CrazyGMan and Tactical Pascale all have MiG-21 specific material that I found super helpful. The Grim Reapers' stuff is very beginner friendly as well; short & sweet, plus really entertaining IMO.

As for reading:  English language books have been tough to come by, and there are a lot of conflicting sources as 303_Kermit alluded to above. I'm currently reading MiG-21 Aces of the Vietnam War. It's a lot of dates and names and events, but very little about tactics or equipment. I also bought and read this book on the Phantom vs MiG-21, but it was also only superficially useful in terms of technical information that I didn't already know. Still an enjoyable read with ideas for further research, however. The first chapter (about VPAF MiG-21 pilot selection and training) is identical in both books, IIRC. Useful tips and tactics are only indirectly referred to, but I've gleaned a few things.

There's this one by Yefim Gordon, but as its out of print hard copies are ludicrously expensive. I found a PDF online, and am just going through it, too early for a verdict. The development sections are very in-depth, and I definitely gained an appreciation for all the pre-Bis variants. I'm DYING for a MiG-21-93/Bison variant at some point, though I realize it's unlikely to become a reality.

I realize this post isn't terribly helpful, but I feel like I'm learning more and improving as each day goes by. If you find any sources of value, please let me know! 

Cheers, 

Mick 

[Delta-canard]

On 5/29/2022 at 3:45 AM, 303_Kermit said:

PS. I'd like to share with you my sources, but they're in Polish language

 

I'd take those, if you don't mind! I don't have the MiG-21 yet but it definitely is one of the planes I would definitely like to fly and I spent first 17 years of my life in Poland.

I've tried to find some good testimonials in Polish but I didn't find that much. A great description of a mock-fight between à Polish MiG-21 and two German Tornados in the '90s, a vague account of the sort of scripted-dogfight tactics they tried to develop after Bekaa Valley made everyone aware of the large furballs, and a rather confuse memoir of a pilot named Mizera (Józef?) which features some anecdotes about the Pencils.

I picked the English translated Flight Manual for the 21Bis but one thing it is lacking are tactics (obviously) and bombing tables. Also, I gather from the Kursant campaign that Eastern practice was to overfly the targer and then execute a timed half-loop to place oneself in the right spot. Still, overflying the target and turning back sounds like a good way to get killed...

I know there is a memoir book by a Hungarian cold-war pilot but haven't read it, quite a few reviews criticize the style as very bland.

You may also want to check the Czech (sorry) Youtube channel called O letani. Basically, it is a sort of Czech Aircrew interview, some episodes are subtitled. Both Vaclav Vasek and the MiG-23 pilot they interviewed had flown the 21 before.

 

[rossmum]

Gordon's stuff is a mixed bag. He's very good at telling the story of the aircraft but regularly mixes up or misinterprets technical data, so take assertions about systems capabilities or flight performance with a few grains of salt - but at least in English, you will not find a better source for info on development, operational history, aircraft operators, etc., and the photos and diagrams are hard to equal. Markovskiy is generally a very good source if you can read Russian, though I don't know what he's written on the 21 - just that he's the usual go-to for the 23 and has some other stuff out there as well.

[Bremspropeller]

This in prolly the best bang/buck on the MiG-21 if you're into it's history and some tech stuff, rather than "dere I wuz" stories:

https://www.amazon.com/MiG-21-Legendary-Fighter-Interceptor-Worldwide/dp/0764356364

 

Author used to be a tech on the 21. He also has a website:

https://mig-21.de/english/default.htm

[MickV]

On 7/1/2022 at 4:08 AM, Bremspropeller said:

This in prolly the best bang/buck on the MiG-21 if you're into it's history and some tech stuff, rather than "dere I wuz" stories:

https://www.amazon.com/MiG-21-Legendary-Fighter-Interceptor-Worldwide/dp/0764356364

 

Author used to be a tech on the 21. He also has a website:

https://mig-21.de/english/default.htm

I picked up Muller's book on your recommendation and it's fantastic. Thank you! Lots of really cool reference photos of systems that I've not seen anywhere else. I'm trying to find high-res copies of some of the full-page photos for use as my desktop wallpaper, without success.

MiG-21 Pilot's manual.  also really cool, and helped me understand better what I was doing wrong when using the ASP for aerial gunnery.  It's also helped me refine my startup, taxi and takeoff procedures to be a little closer to the real thing. I'm exceedingly hopeful that any module updates in the future will make this book even more applicable.

I'm a hundred or so pages into Clashes: Air Combat over North Vietnam and its outstanding. It's not MiG-21 specific, obviously, but so far it's had more and better info about actual tactics, real-world employment and technical details of the major American fighters and the MiG-17 and MiG-21 than anything else I've yet come across. Lots of good stuff for building missions to try and replicate air combat during the Vietnam War, such as typical loadouts, mission profiles, etc. A lot of detail about how and why the VPAF employed the MiG-21's the way that they did, which is often lacking or minimally explored in a lot of other books.