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 $$$$$.