Fishbed and the Phantom

Fishbed and the Phantom, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

The Russian MiG-21 "Fishbed" Fighter/Interceptor in the foreground led an interesting life and must have made quite a journey. "Acquired" by the CIA at the height of the cold war, it was transported to a secret airfield run by the U.S. Navy. There it was test flown by American pilots to discover its secrets and weaknesses. Later as part of a highly classified project called "Have Donut", it along with other Russian aircraft participated in mock air combat to train American Naval aviators how to defeat this aircraft in the skies over North Vietnam. The aircraft you see behind the silver MiG is the American F-4 Phantom II.