How to Fly a Fighter in the Soviet Era

Arms races have existed as long as humans have been warring, and the Cold War was no exception. In the late 1970’s the U.S. fielded the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F/A-18 Hornet air superiority fighters. The Soviet Union, meanwhile, fielded its own advanced fighter that was in many ways superior. With amazing agility, a high thrust-to-weight ratio, and a helmet-mounted sight with associated high off-boresight weapon, the MiG-29 Fulcrum was a credible opponent to the West.

On this episode, retired Indian Air Force Air Marshal Harish “Fulcrum 1” Masand phones in from Central India to describe the MiG-29 and his key role inducting the Fulcrum into the IAF. He describes the variants, weapons, and how it was so easy to fly that he was able to put on aerial demonstrations with only 20 hours of experience in the Fulcrum. Read more about Air Marshal Masand’s experience flying the MiG-29, fighting it against a Mirage 2000, and why he lovingly referred to the Fulcrum as the “Super Hunter.”

Guest co-host Darin “Wang” Chung from episode 26 joins us after the interview to describe his experiences training against Malaysian MiG-29s during one of his Marine Corps F/A-18D Hornet unit deployments. There is no listener question segment on this episode.

Bumper music by Jaime Lopez / announcements by Clint Bell. This episode was produced by our friends at the MuscleCar Place Podcast Network.