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MiG-21SM tactical fighter aircraft of the
404th Fighter Aviation Regiment at Ozernaya Pad
and Orlovka airfields between 1969 and 1978.
Following the escalation of Sino-Soviet relations to the brink of war, the 404th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Soviet Far Eastern Military District's 1st Special Tactical Air Army was the first to be modernized. In 1969, designated personnel from the regiment traveled to the Lipetsk Training Center to transition to the modern MiG-21SM 'Fishbed-J' type.
This represented a massive technological leap compared to their aging, subsonic MiG-17 fleet. After retraining, the 404th Regiment pilots ferried the aircraft themselves from Lipetsk to the Far East - a 7,000 km (4,300 mi) flight to Ozernaya Pad (Kremovo) airport near the Pacific coast.
These aircraft amounted to barely a squadron’s worth of used planes. However, by 1970, the remaining two squadrons of the 404th Regiment were fully equipped with factory-new MiG-21SM ‘Fishbed-J’s. Additionally, they received twin-seat MiG-21 ‘Mongol’s too while retaining a few aging MiG-15UTI ‘Midget’s, which were used primarily for weather reconnaissance. Additionally, they operated a single Antonov An-14 utility aircraft.
Their beloved, older MiG-17 ‘Fresco-A’s were transferred to the 34th Independent Training Air Regiment stationed at the Kirovabad airfield in the Transcaucasus in 1970.
Furthermore, as Soviet Tactical Airforce personnel were rotated across units every five years on average, a new complement of staff arrived. Among them were highly experienced, combat-ready pilots previously deployed to Egypt, who joined the 1st Squadron to fly the new MiG-21SMs. Prior to their deployment to Egypt, these pilots had undergone advanced Soviet air combat training at the 1521st Center at Mary airfield in Central Asia. During the first half of the 1970s, they leveraged this training and their Middle Eastern combat experience here within the 404th Fighter Aviation Regiment along the sensitive Chinese border.
During this time, young pilots who had undergone accelerated training also arrived at the Ozernaya Pad (Kremovo) airfield. Due to the military incidents along the Chinese border, the tactical air armies serving in the region were suddenly and massively expanded. Over a period of more than half a decade, the overall strength of Soviet Tactical Aviation surged by 50 percent. This created a critical demand for new airmen, who were rushed through accelerated one- to two-year training programs following their preliminary DOSAAF training. After training, a portion of these young pilots were assigned to the Ozernaya Pad (Kremovo) airfield, where they obtained their Third-Class Pilot proficiency ratings within the 404th Fighter Aviation Regiment.
In September 1973, the 404th Fighter Aviation Regiment finally redeployed to the Orlovka airfield in the Amur region. The airfield, the military barracks, and the housing estate for the families of the professional staff had been constructed in the taiga near the city of Belogorsk by military construction units between 1970 and 1973. The relocation was executed via An-12 transport aircraft.
The regiment had been anticipating this relocation since the late 1960s. Finally, they had their own airfield. When the regiment’s personnel arrived, they were welcomed by mild, late-summer weather. Quarters were assigned to the staff. While the garrison mess hall was already operational, the local store was still under construction. However, the construction battalion ran a small shop, which sold soap, shoe polish, canned goods, and pasta. The personnel were satisfied. Then, winter arrived abruptly.
The region’s climate is characterized by a brief, three-month summer and long, intensely cold winters. While heavy snowfall was uncommon, winter temperatures frequently plummeted to minus 50 degrees Celsius, which took a severe toll on the personnel and equipment.
The most extreme freeze was recorded between 1976 and 1977, when the temperature sank to a staggering -57 °C (-70.6°F). Thick fog persisted until 11:00 AM, and all flight operations were prohibited before that time. Later, when the temperature climbed back up to -35 °C (-31 °F), the personnel felt as though spring had finally arrived.
Life at Orlovka. Photos: Sergey Kabanov collectoon
With the completion of the new Orlovka airfield and the transfer of the 404th Fighter Aviation Regiment to the Amur Region, the Soviet Far Eastern Armed Forces established the 33rd Mixed Aviation Division in 1972, whose mission was to provide direct air support to the 35th Guards Combined Arms Army in the event of a clash with China.
Between 1966 and 1970, four motorized rifle divisions joined the 35th Guards Combined Arms Army from the Baltic region. In addition, the 12th Fortified Region, also part of the army, was stationed along the Chinese border.
Until the early 1980s, these ground forces were supported by the new 33rd Mixed Aviation Division, which comprised one fighter, one fighter-bomber, and one reconnaissance aviation regiment.
The 33rd Mixed Aviation Division between 1973 and 1977
In late 1973, a squadron’s worth of experienced pilots arrived from Soviet units stationed in East Germany to orlovka airport. In exchange, a matching number of long-serving local pilots rotated back to the European theater.
Both the pilots and the technical crew highly favored the regiment’s MiG-21SM variant. Until the type’s local retirement in 1978, records indicate the loss of only a single MiG-21SM. In early 1975, two experienced pilots were executing a night sortie when a heavy snowstorm hit the Orlovka airfield. The two aircraft were diverted to the nearby Vozzhayevka airfield, which served as their designated alternate during the flight. While the lead aircraft managed to land safely, the wingman failed his approach as the snowstorm reached that base as well. Consequently, the pilot ejected upon receiving orders.
The ground crew nicknamed the MiG-21SM the 'modernized alcohol carrier' because it required 10 liters of pure alcohol for its cooling systems and 3.5 liters for de-icing. When diluted, this alcohol became a highly prized commodity. Not only was it consumed, but it also served as the primary currency and bartering tool on the base—capable of securing absolutely anything. Consequently, the aircraft type was immensely popular across the Orlovka airfield.
The 404th Regiment also operated two MiG-21SM ‘Fishbed-J’ aircraft with unique paint schemes: one was painted solid red and the other solid blue upper surfaces. These stood out sharply from the regiment's standard bare-metal and silver-finished aircraft.
Rumor had it that these aircraft had previously served as aerobatic aircraft with the Kubinka demonstration regiment. Some even claimed that these aircraft were MiG-21bis variants. However, based on photographic evidence, this is clearly false.
On the other hand, the final production batch (14th and 15th serial) of the MiG-21SM was already equipped with the Tumansky R13F-300 engine, which featured a Special Emergency afterburner mode (Чрезвычайный режим - ChR); this technical upgrade may explain why they were rumored to be 'bis' variants.
Between 1977 and 1978, the 404th Fighter Aviation Regiment replaced its beloved MiG-21SM ‘Fishbed-J’ aircraft with the MiG-23M variant (which no longer used pure alcohol for cooling systems). However, these MiG-21SM planes did not go far; they were transferred to the neighboring 56th Fighter-bomber Aviation Regiment at Vozzhayevka airport, replacing that unit’s aging MiG-17s. By this time, very little calendar service life remained for the MiG-21SM fleet. Consequently, in 1980, they underwent industrial service life extension overhauls at Aircraft Repair Plant No. 322 at Vozdvizhenka airport.
From 1982 onward, they operated out of the Galenki airfield as fighter-bombers to 18th Guards Fighter-bomber Aviation Regiment until 1989, after being relocated to the European theater to serve as trainers. Ultimately, they were denied a second industrial service life extension in the early 1990s; with the end of the Cold War, they were simply no longer needed.
The operational history of the MiG-21SM ‘Fishbed-J’ aircrafts in the Soviet Far East between 1969 and 1989.
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Soviet Far Eastern Military District 1st Special Tactical Air Army between 1970 and 1974
Tags:
Soviet Union, USSR, Soviet Air Forces, VVS, Cold War, Soviet Far Eastern Military District, 1st Tactical Air Army 1968, 1st Special Tactical Air Army 1968, 404th Fighter Air Regiment, Ozernaya Pad, 404th Fighter Aviation Regiment, MiG-21SM Fresco, Mikoyan and Gurevich, Sukhoi, Mil, Yakovlev, Sino-Soviet border conflict, Zhenbao (Damansky) Island,
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Союз Советских Социалистических Республик, СССР, Военно-воздушные силы, Холодная война, ДальВО, Дальневосточный ВО, Дальневосточный военный округ, 1-й ВА ДВО, ОДВА, ВВС ОДВА, 1-я воздушная армия, 1-я ВА, 404-й истребительный авиационный ордена Кутузова III степени Таллинский полк, 404-й ИАП, Озерная Падь, Кремово, МиГ-21СМ, Микоян и Гуревич, Сухой, Мил, Яковлев, Пограничный конфликт на острове Даманском, Советско-китайский раскол