Oldest combat aircraft still in service

[H_K]

How about longest combat record? From combat debut to last combat sortie?

From what I can find it looks like a toss up between the Mig 21 and B-52...

Western aircraft
1. B-52: 1965-today (Vietnam thru Afghanistan)
2. Mirage F1: 1979-today (Angola thru Mali)
3. ???

Soviet aircraft
1. Mig 21: 1965-today (India-Pakistan thru Syria)
2. Su-22: 1973-today (Yom Kippur thru Syria)
3. Mig-23: 1974-today (Syria thru... Syria!)

[MadRat]

Hunters in Lebanon still active?

[Kovy]

How about longest combat record? From combat debut to last combat sortie?

From what I can find it looks like a toss up between the Mig 21 and B-52...

Western aircraft
1. B-52: 1965-today (Vietnam thru Afghanistan)
2. Mirage F1: 1979-today (Angola thru Mali)
3. ???

F4 (germany, greece), F5 (Switzerland, Spain) are older design than F1

[killerbean]

I think Botswana is also operating F-5 but dont know its vintage.

[Vatche]

Hunters in Lebanon still active?

Haven't flown for over a year and half now but they are kept active and will be called back to service in case there is a real need.
The 4 Hunters will be kept in active status as long as there's no other alternative.
Scheduled maintenance and checks are being performed regularly on the aircraft.

[ActionJackson]

Using 2yo information and only fightery types and not taking into account combat:

Mig-15 (1947)
Cuba

Mig-17 (1952)
Cuba, Guinea, Guinea Bissau,
North Korea (J-5)
https://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=AF...rth+Korea&z=19

Su-7 (1955)
North Korea

Hawker Hunter (1950)
Lebanon, Zimbabwe

[Careyvan208]

What about the UH-1 Huey. It has been in combat in many places since about 1962?

[H_K]

F4 (germany, greece), F5 (Switzerland, Spain) are older design than F1

AFAIK, neither the F-4 nor the F-5 have seen combat in decades (unless... Kosovo?)

The reason I'm focusing on actual combat sorties is that's it's one thing to have an old "combat" aircraft still on the books, it's another entirely to be able/willing to use it in real operations.

The B-52, Mirage F-1, and Migs (21/23) on the other hand ARE still in use... which implies that qualitatively they still bring something interesting to the game, in the eyes of their users... Most likely because they are still very cost effective weapons platforms.

[BME330]

But our SF-5B´s are just advanced trainers like the USAF Talons.

[TEEJ]

AFAIK, neither the F-4 nor the F-5 have seen combat in decades (unless... Kosovo?)

Neither the F-4 or F-5 were used during Allied Force (Yugoslavia 1999). Only the crazy world of Venik, and other conspiracy loons, had German F-4 Phantoms in combat over Yugoslavia. Remnants of a page from Venik's website can be found at the following link.

http://www.vojvodina.com/other-pages/natodown.htm

[Levsha]

AFAIK, neither the F-4 nor the F-5 have seen combat in decades (unless... Kosovo?)

Didn't a Turkish F-4 get shot down by the Syrians a few months ago while carrying out a recon mission?

[Levsha]

Using 2yo information and only fightery types and not taking into account combat:

Mig-15 (1947)
Cuba

Mig-17 (1952)
Cuba, Guinea, Guinea Bissau,
North Korea (J-5)
https://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=AF...rth+Korea&z=19

Su-7 (1955)
North Korea

Hawker Hunter (1950)
Lebanon, Zimbabwe

When was the last time anyone actually witnessed all those MiGs and Su flying?

[Sens]

AFAIK, neither the F-4 nor the F-5 have seen combat in decades (unless... Kosovo?)

The reason I'm focusing on actual combat sorties is that's it's one thing to have an old "combat" aircraft still on the books, it's another entirely to be able/willing to use it in real operations.

The B-52, Mirage F-1, and Migs (21/23) on the other hand ARE still in use... which implies that qualitatively they still bring something interesting to the game, in the eyes of their users... Most likely because they are still very cost effective weapons platforms.

See the Iran about your claim about the F-4 and F-5 delivered in the 70s and still in front-line service.

[Poliocretes]

Israeli A-4s entered service in 1967 and were flying leaflet-dropping missions over Gaza last November.

[Tu22m]

AFAIK, neither the F-4 nor the F-5 have seen combat in decades (unless... Kosovo?)

Does getting shoot down 2012 by Syrian SAMs count as combat mission?
http://theaviationist.com/2012/06/22/tuaf-f4-shot-down/

Thats the F4 at least, IIRC it flew some CAP in Unified Protector.

[Stormeagle]

F4s are flown by Greece since 1974 and are meant to fly for sure till 2020 on active BVR A2A and A2G missions. RF4Gs where are retired this year.

THK is also flying F4s on active roles but theirs were delivered later than 1974. However, THK still flies F5s in active Lead in training missions...

[Careyvan208]

Grumman A-6 Intuder/Prowler series has been in service since 1964. Seeing combat from 1965 Vietnam to Libya 2011. While the US Navy is replacing them with EA-18G, the USMC will fly them for a few more years.

[TigerII]

Lot of non sense and incorrect information here;
- Argentina is not flying the Mirage IIICJ any more, the last remaining aircraft in use with CEASO ( a test unit) was withdrawn from use in early 2004.
- There are no MiG-17s flying anymore in Cuba, the last ones were withdrawn from use as "trainers" in late 1980's!

Both Argentina and Pakistan are still flying the last remaining Mirage IIIE's in the world, true classic aircraft.
There are still several Chinese built J-6 flying in the world (Bangladesh. Tanzania and probably few more). Some people mentioned the F-5E's from Switzerland, but they came from late 1970's, so.... not that old

The CF-5's from Botswana on the other hand are surplus Canadians.... some built in late 1969... that's vintage enough. Perhaps there are still some Jastreb/Galebs flying, they are combat capable and also very vintage.
No idea about the Hunters in Lebanon... the last years they have not seen, perhaps still on the official list of operational, but not 100% is they are still flying?

[orko_8]

Didn't a Turkish F-4 get shot down by the Syrians a few months ago while carrying out a recon mission?

Yes. That was a FY77 airframe RF-4E (77-0314)

Until very recently, TurAF had operated some FY66, FY67 F-4E's, all of which were retired last year. More than 45 F-4E 2020's (almost all of them FY73, 77 airframes) plus several RF-4E's (FY77) remain in service.

Some 30 - 35 F-5-2000's are active, FY66, 67, 70, 71 and 72.

KC-135R's of the 101 Filo are FY58, 60 and 62 airframes; which were - AFAIK - selected from AMARG and received PACER CRAG upgrade.

[sycamore]

Ecuador still operates Strikemasters..

[TigerII]

Ecuador still operates Strikemasters..

No way José.... Strikemasters are long gone in Ecuador, sure 3 years ago last few remaining aircraft withdrawn.

Cheers

[ActionJackson]

- There are no MiG-17s flying anymore in Cuba, the last ones were withdrawn from use as "trainers" in late 1980's!

Better tell the IISS to pick up their game then.

EQUIPMENT BY TYPE
AIRCRAFT 45 combat capable (179 stored)
FTR/FGA 31: 2 MiG-29 Fulcrum; 1 MiG-29UB; 16 MiG-
23 ML Flogger; 4 MiG-23MF; 4 MiG-23UM; 4 MiG-21ML;
(in store: 2 MiG-29; 20 MiG-23BN; 4 MiG-23MF; 6 MiG-
23ML; 2 MiG-23UM; 70 MiG-21bis; 28 MiG-21PFM; 30
MiG-21F; 7 MiG-21UM; 4+ MiG-17; 6 MiG-15UTI)

According to them Egypt, Sudan, Tanzania, Bangladesh all flying J-6
Tanzania, North Korea are flying J-5's

as of 2010...

[FAR]

How about these Meteors. Technically still in service and the type flew combat missions in 1945

[TigerII]

Better tell the IISS to pick up their game then.

EQUIPMENT BY TYPE
AIRCRAFT 45 combat capable (179 stored)
FTR/FGA 31: 2 MiG-29 Fulcrum; 1 MiG-29UB; 16 MiG-
23 ML Flogger; 4 MiG-23MF; 4 MiG-23UM; 4 MiG-21ML;
(in store: 2 MiG-29; 20 MiG-23BN; 4 MiG-23MF; 6 MiG-
23ML; 2 MiG-23UM; 70 MiG-21bis; 28 MiG-21PFM; 30
MiG-21F; 7 MiG-21UM; 4+ MiG-17; 6 MiG-15UTI)

According to them Egypt, Sudan, Tanzania, Bangladesh all flying J-6
Tanzania, North Korea are flying J-5's

as of 2010...

Well.... perhaps in storage, but no one is in flying condition or flying actively. If we going to count the aircraft as well which are in storage, then I would say the USAF still has plenty of F-4's.... all stored at AMARG, but still.....

The topic says Oldest Combat aircraft still in service, the MiG-17s are long gone in Cuba. Storage not count...

Cheers

[KERVYN]

I think NOT all F-4's are stored in AMARC...

some (few ) ones are still used as (armed ?) manned drones, is it right ?

friendly yours, Etienne

[35 AoA]

Yes, the USAF 83rd WEG operates various makes of the QF-4 as full scale target drones. They are flown in a manned configuration for systems checkout and maintence check flights (as well as for qualifying the folks that do those flights), but obviously they are unmanned for their final flights down range. There is a removable 2k lb bomb in the spine so the drone can be destroyed if need be, though this warhead is removed for the manned hops. They also use them to support the USAF Herititage Flight Demo. I briefed up to fly a QF-4E (good deal backseat ride), but unfortunately summer thunderstorms prevented us from launching for an entire day.....one of the bigger letdowns of my career. The guy who briefed me up gave me a real good flying qualities primer on the jet.....both of us being MacAir guys (him F-15A/C and me F/A-18C) he did a real detailed job of explaining the differences between what I'm used to and what the Phantom would have been. He had planned to have me wring it out at altitude and see how anemic it was in the 20-30k altitude range below 400 KIAS, and then go down on the deck and max perform it. The -E we were planning to fly had the maneuvering slats, and according to him, it was pretty eye watering down on the deck in thick air with the J79's in max blower, even compared to our respective steeds. One thing that I found to be a little less than confidence inspiring was the ejection seat configuration. There are like 3 different ways to jettison the canopy IIRC, with the primary being automatic seperation after pulling the handle. Unfortunately, if the canopy doesn't fire, neither does the seat due to a safety interconnect. So basically there are two manual ways to try and get the canopy off, and to the best of my knowledge, if either one works, you are by nature going to get hammered just due to the position your body needs to be in when you initiate one of those methods. There was also something about rotating on takeoff.....full aft stick is programmed in at rotation speed, which then blocks the guy in the back seat from reaching the lower primary ejection handle.......so he had briefed me to have my hands up and ready to pull the uppers. Long story short, I wasn't real confident that we would be able to get out alive if something happened right after takeoff, which I think has been anecdotally proven to some extent in historical mishaps in the Phantom.

[KERVYN]

I've found more about that 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group ;

http://www.tyndall.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123331855

(this year, the QF-4's will be replaced by QF-16's !)

friendly yours, Etienne

[35 AoA]

I've found more about that 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group ;

http://www.tyndall.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123331855

(this year, the QF-4's will be replaced by QF-16's !)

friendly yours, Etienne

IIRC they are getting the first batch of QF-16's this year.....it will be several more years before the QF-4's are done flying....think they said something like 2015 or so when I was there.

[KERVYN]

from an article of Feb '2009 ;

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 and its Chinese Shenyang J-5 (Jianjiji-5 - Fighter-5) clone was the East’s answer to the F-86. Of the 10,367 that left the assembly lines an estimated 500 are still held in service around the world. The Air Forces of Russia, Cuba, China, North Korea, Tanzania, Pakistan and Angola are known to still possess somewhat working models although they are not seen anymore as front-line fighters. It first flew in 1950, giving the design a lifespan of currently 59 years in active service and counting.

However the award for the longest life of a jet fighter design (narrowly) goes to the MiG-15. Built from a wholly-Sovet design with German WWII influence and Britain’s famous reverse-engineered Rolls-Royce Nene jet engine MiG-15 took to the sky and shocked the world December 31, 1948. It soon became famous while fighting in China and Korea. It was there that it was on the wrong side of the the first all-jet, air-to-air kill in history over “Mig Alley”. Some 18,000 of the jets were manufactured and they served in almost every Eastern bloc ally air force. Replaced as a front-line fighter by the 1960s it was the East’s primary advanced jet trainer. After the Berlin wall came down the old stubby MiG-15 was retired and hundreds of examples have been seen on four continents rusting away on forgotten grass-covered tarmacs. Albania retired the last combat versions in 2005 while both China and North Korea still own (and fly) a few as trainers. The 2009 Flight International Directory of World Aircraft also lists a handful of combat capable MiG-15's in the airforces of Syria, The Congo, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Bottom line is that about 100 of the 61- year-old MiG-15 design fighters are still flying with no less than a half-dozen airforces.


Read more at Suite101: Oldest Fighter Jets Still in Service | Suite101 http://suite101.com/article/oldest-f...#ixzz2IpYQ6ozH
Follow us: @suite101 on Twitter | Suite101 on Facebook

[KERVYN]

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_th...airforce_today

friendly, Etienne