Vietnamese MiG-21 Fighter Ace Interview

[Ματθιας]

Vietnamese MiG-21 Fighter Ace Interview​

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Our first of many episodes featuring a rare viewpoint from the other side of the Vietnam War, translated in English. Nguyễn Đức Soát successfully flew the MiG-21 against American forces and proved himself one of North Vietnam's top fighter pilots. General Soát is one of only four MiG-21 aces ever confirmed—three were Vietnamese, one was a Syrian. More MiG-21s have been shot down than have downed opponents, so this is truly a rare interview to hear from someone who completely mastered the MiG-21 'Fishbed' in combat. General Soát's prodigious kill tally was verified by US records.

Recording Date: 28 October 2022

 

[LVSteve]

I'd be interested to know what missile types he used. A little known fact about the Soviet Sidewinder clone is that one variant came wasn't an IR homer, it carried a RF seeker for semi-active homing. He never mentioned using the gun, but maybe the Vietnamese had the gun-less model. The Internet is pretty vague on exactly what they had, and the MiG-21 variant list is a morass of designators that are frequently reused in later generations.

I was a little surprised that he never compared visually spotting USAF aircraft versus finding the MiG-21. On TV shows from the US perspective a frequent comment was that MiGs of all types were hard to spot due to their small size.

 

[Ματθιας]

At 14:00 he stated he shot an A-7 down with an Atoll missile.

At 20:30 he compares the F-4 to the MiG-21

 

[Greyman50]

There is a Mig-21 at a closed Army Navy store in Florida. Looks complete and just sitting in parking lot, worth lots of $$$$$.

 

[Rudi]

IIRC, one of our sidewinders was a dud and stuck in the skin of a MIG. They sent it of to Moskva.

 

[LVSteve]

At 14:00 he stated he shot an A-7 down with an Atoll missile.

At 20:30 he compares the F-4 to the MiG-21

Sorry, the Atoll was an AIM-9 Sidewinder clone in its basic form. The Russian radar seeker version was similar to the AIM-9C, which the US decided not to use. The Russians deployed their version widely, and even fitted the seeker to an older missile. The idea of putting an RF seeker in the AIM-9 pops up from time to time even now.

Yes, h compared certain aspects of the two aircraft, but if he compared the difficulty in spotting them visually, I must have missed it.