Area 51's Russian Planes 

Stop leaving yourself vulnerable to data breaches. Go to my sponsor aura.com/falconsfightertales to get a 14-day free trial and see if any of your data has been exposed Everyone's always going off about Aliens at Groom Lake. I just want to see some captured soviet planes! Animarchy's deep dive into Russian aviation: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ny4AYOv-nUk.html&ab_channel=AnimarchyHistory ======================================= Support me via Patreon: www.patreon.com/fightertales Music Used: Karl Casey Music karlcasey.bandcamp.com/ -New Order -The Void is Calling The Chronicler “On The Brink” Fighter Tales Vol. 1 album out now! chroniclermusic.bandcamp.com/album/on-the-brink-fighter-tales-soundtrack-volume-1 ==================================== SOURCES 1 Mueller, Robert (1989). Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 (PDF). Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Center for Air Force History, USAF. ISBN 0-912799-53-6. 2 Helms, Richard (15 May 1967). ""OXCART reconnaissance of North Vietnam", Memo to the Deputy Secretary of Defense from the office of CIA Director Richard Helms, 15 May 1967". FOIA.CIA.gov. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2019. 3 Rogers, Keith (4 June 2002). "Federal judges to hear case involving Area 51". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Archived from the original on 14 February 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2013. 4 "JEDNA OD NAJVEĆIH TAJNI TITOVE JUGOSLAVIJE: Projekat Alfa- slanje sovjetskih mlaznjaka u SAD". 5 nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB443/docs/area51_51.PDF 6: www.10percenttrue.com/post/have-pad-the-cia-s-first-mig-23-flogger 7: www.airwar.ru/enc/fighter/j7.html Cheaper than a BMP 8: www.10percenttrue.com/post/have-pad-the-cia-s-first-mig-23-flogger 9:mikoyanmig29.wixsite.com/mig-23flogger/mig-23ml#:~:text=one%20of%20its%20weak%20points,automatic%20guidance%20from%20the%20ground. 10: medium.com/war-is-boring/its-not-every-day-you-see-an-f-16-and-russian-su-27-dogfight-above-area-51-2074360f31b3

The retired USAF vet in the middle of the Nevada seeing a MIG flyover his house:

Fun fact: The federal government owns 85% of Nevada. This fact helps when you accidentally crash your top secret aircraft. Specifically in July of 1947

Fun fact: I am 99% sure that the Mig-17 Have Drill now lives at the Warhawk Air Museum in Idaho. I visited a bit ago and they have a Mig-17 painted exactly like the one in the footage and any google images of Have Drill. After speaking to a docent he hinted that technically this plane didn't really exist as the US had used it for secret testing, and that the Museum had acquired it through some clever connections. I have no actual proof, but its story lines up with that of Have Drill.

What a treasure this channel is. Actually finding relevant footage and making your own scripts, not using an AI voice, and adding a little human touch to it. What a gem of a channel.

The United States Geologic Survey (USGS) divided the continental U.S. into areas. Groom Lake just happens to be in "Area #51" that the USGS designated.

The MiG-23 is the airplane where I couldn't care less if it's a pile of hot garbage or if it's the most bad ass fighter of all time. It could be either, and I don't care because it looks far too sexy and cool to worry about performance. I want a MiG-23 in Ace Combat XD.

Talking about sneaking into a military base, some years ago 2 people were straped to 2 professional skydivers and when they jumped the high winds pushed them into Kings Bay Ga naval station (they keep nuclear subs there)... all 4 people were held for a month being questioned daily... i found it funny

Falcon, been looking forward to this one :) My buddy’s dad was a B-52 pilot with SAC and shared a story that he was out in Nevada while he was still in uniform, and got to sit in the cockpit of a MiG (I don’t recall him mentioning what kind). To which he was promptly told ‘no you didn’t sit in a MiG, there is no MiG’ LOL. The MiGs and other Russian aircraft at Area 51 (BTW really wish the official name was Groom Lake AFB, just rolls off the tongue) have always fascinated me. It's just such a fascinating bit of Cold War history. With the footage you had in this, there’s something a bit unreal seeing a MiG-21 or 23 with a USA roundel. Just makes your brain do a double-take. I never knew the ‘Have’ designations were for more than just the Stealth prototypes for the F-117. So, it was cool to learn each of the different MiGs got one. I’m curious where the Su-27 shown came from. Was it something acquired from Ukraine? Though I’d imagine they don’t have aircraft to spare, so maybe it was something acquired from Africa? I believe there were some clashes between Flankers and Fulcrums with Ethiopia and Eritrea? Also, as one fun note about Area 51 in fiction. The novelization of Independence Day (which being a nerd I have LOL) actually has a moment in the scene as the President is with General Grey reviewing the troops before the big speech. He notices a pilot sitting in a Russian MiG trying to understand how to get it ready with a translated manual. Always thought that was nice bit of detail thrown in, recognizing the real history of Area 51 and the Red Hat Squadron there. Excellent work Falcon, even if it cost you some freedom. I hear there’s some good lawyer called Saul I think :D Also, fun little cameo by Hellion there lol

Remember about that Chengdu J20 Mock up on some random Airport? I wonder what kind of Video we Will have about Groom Lake in like 30 Years😅

You could never say the guy isn't dedicated, he used his phone call to thank patrons, that's class right there.

"There are UFOs at area 51" The UFO in question (it's just an advanced plane)

Amazing video! Glad I could be a part of it!

I've been pretty darn excited for a vid like this from you for a long time The HAVE and Constant Peg programs have been incredibly fascinating to me, going as far as to influence a lot of my own worldbuilding projects lol

WAKE UP NEW FALCON VID!

I live in northern Nevada about 2ish hours north of Area 51, and my take on the base is that there is probably nothing exciting going on in Area 51 at all, there doesn’t have to be. Everyone who lives around the area is batshit crazy, and that’s why they built the base there.

DUDE!!!!using the music and typing sound from the NES Top Gun game was inspired. Brought be back to being 5 years old playing that game in my parents living room, and the nightmares of never being able to land on the aircraft carrier at the end.

the mig 17 that landed in israel made a stupid navigational mistake. he got maps that were outdated and showed israel as still part of the british mandate.

Dude awesome vid!

A little quirk I found about Groom Lake/Area 51 is that on aeronautical navigation charts, it... doesn't appear in the same way as normal US military bases. Most US bases (Lemoore, for example) still provide general aviation pilots with information for contact. Radio frequencies, elevation information, runway length, that kind of thing. But Groom Lake *only* has a tiny mark that denotes an airport. No radios, no elevations, no name, no contact. It *exists*, but only in the barest sense. Using a virtual platform, you can find information on the airport that is out there and from the charts and specs it gives you, it 100% should be appearing on the map and in a more detailed version. (Airports with runways beyond a certain length will have the runways literally drawn out to help with landing planning, airports like Los Angeles for example. Groom Lake's runways should appear like this, but do not. It even has a runway longer than any of Los Angeles' runways!) Couple that with the fact that there's a big ol' Restricted Airspace marker around the whole area. Most US Air Force bases do not restrict their airspace like this. And you might be thinking, oh, they don't have airport information at Groom Lake because it's in restricted airspace, but *no*. There are other Air Force bases in restricted airspace that are properly listed with frequencies and runway lengths, because a pilot may need to use it in an emergency, but Groom Lake is 100% not intended for this, even though all indications show it would make a great airport for an aircraft in distress (Runways above 11,000 feet) it is absolutely restricted in information. I just found all this curious, and even up here in 2024, Area 51 is *still* a hush-hush facility, hiding a lot of itself from the public.

Just after I watched the ‘Not a pound for air to ground’s video on ‘Have Drill’ and ‘Have Ferry’, perfect timing!

Can you do a video on the A-4 Skyhawk?

Thanks for not making us wait for Animarchy’s pt2, to know that Russian pilots can paint a center-line too 😹

My Unlce was a M.P for the Airforce in the early 80s. He had rotation between Edward's Airforce base and Groom lake. The only thing he could talk about was the jets our C.I.A bought from corrupt soviet Generals that they boxed up and sent to groom lake. He also told me the code word they used for groom lake was "the dome".

FALCON POSTED AGAIN!

Great video like always but the ending was brilliant great job

Yoooo, new Falcon video!

The ending earned the video a like. I always appreciate a good comedy audio skit.

So many years ago i read a article of a su34 aircraft squadron that was supposedly "bought" aka "borrowed" and it was stationed at groom lake, o wanna say it was a old school VICE article

Babe, wake up! Falcons Fighter Tales uploaded!

loved this upload mate! the single most important thing to take away from this bagger of an episode is that Falcon needs a MiG, and by god, Falcon WILL get a MiG. there are around 37 thousand of us Falcon Fans....lets GET THIS DONE!

14:31 Definitely not an "M48" Patton being unloaded there. 🤭😂😂

You should check out the history of the EE Lightning - there's a surprising amount of interview footage from pilots who used it, and it's a fascinating story about government spending, pilot experience, missile-hype, and export markets

Much awaited, much appreciated excellent insights as always from you

So, interestingly, at Airventure Oshkosh this last year (two? weeks ago now?) we had someone talking about the Soviet aircraft in the USAF museum ... one of which was this MiG-23 they got from Egypt. He went into how a good bit they'd learned from it - including just *how* touchy it was, the radar, etc - basically gave a bad impression, because the MiG variants sent to the Arab nations were absolute garbage as opposed to what the Soviets and WarPac countries were *actually* operating. So, basically... yes, *these* -23s were awful, they had to put in AoA limits, they didn't have full equipment (I believe he said they'd even used the MiG-21's radar,) but fully equipped -23s were a good bit better.

11:47 When it comes variable sweep wings pre stealth my idea is this It’s useful for a few kinds of aircraft Interceptors interdictors High speed bombers stuff that is not the most produced It should not be used as the main fighter or at least make a fixed wing model of it for more general use Like if I was in charge of VFX program without any knowledge for the VFAX Project I’m obviously gonna pick the F-14 But but I would ask Grumman to make a fixed wing variant for more general purpose role This would result in 2 aircraft The F-14A(VS) and F-14A(F) The Variable sweep wing would due to maitance expectations being high be limited to 1 squadron per carrier later with F/A-18 I would have three fighter squadron types 1 F-14(VS) go into VFI for interceptor/interdictor The fixed wing model would go in VF and Hornets in VFA Allowing us to fully phase out Attack squadrons by the 80s With 2 out of the 3 squadrons being tomcat based it could pressure the navy and congress to continue development for more advance versions of the airframe and trying to figure out methods to make it less macitence intensive Yes this is crackpot theory of how we could’ve kept the tomcat in service for longer

A very good channel ! This offering overall is the best I have viewed here to date . The music score is very good , it just has “Tha Vibe “! Thank you , very well done Sir .

In the movie FIREFOX...I always wondered where Gandz flew the jet to.. Now I know... Great movie... FIREFOX.. Starring Clint Eastwood..

Great video, I am thinking about paying for your Patreon

I see a new video. I watch new video. :3 glad to see you coming back and hope all is well man!

I currently work at the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum in Ashland, Nebraska. We currently display a former Indonesian MiG-21 Fishbed C that was a part of Operation Constant Peg, and a former East German MiG-23ML Flogger G that was brought to Wright-Patterson after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

I've got an Area 51 sightseers guide from 1998. There was an interview with Bob Lazar, who claimed to have worked there. I'd like to mention, I convinced my parents to drive out to Rachael, Nevada, and on the way got to see two A-10s flying over the mountain ridge.

Imagine being a ret. USAF pilot and settled down in Nevada, In the late 50s, And one day your out in your yard with your wife Maria, And see a MIG-15 flyover your house, 💀

19:01 Secretive Dreamland F-16D with Lockheed Martin Legion Pod

I'm new to the channel. Love the content. You've earned a subscription. Thanks for doing what you do!

That was awesome. Like an old school documentary. Love it!

Not sure if I have this right but I believe many of the shot down MiG-23s were ground attack variants. Many nations did not purchase the more specialized MiG-27 and instead acquired the MiG-23BN and similar variants which weren't armed with any air to air missiles as far as I know. Not that much of an excuse but imagine if the US sold a stripped down version of an F-16 that could only carry unguided bombs and rockets. I'd assume it'd get shot down quite a bit too. But the MiG-23 was still pretty bad until MLD fixed some issues and most nations didn't use the upgraded ones. Maybe I just feel bad for them since my brain decided my favourite plane is the Yak-38 (great video opportunity there)

"dont taze me bro" lol legend meme , poor falcon

Im not surprised if they had MiGs, captured aircraft definitely tell you a lot about your piers air power.

Fun fact: MiG aircraft were always.... questionable. But when your brother is on the politboro, you're going to get the nod no matter what. Meanwhile, the goodish designers are going get the left overs. That's why SU suddenly became the designer of choice in the 70s. After Artem died.

I just wanted to say I love that Deep Strike track @ 13:17

US had been working on Swing Wings since at least the 1950's as a study was done on an aircraft rather similar in design to the Sabre, but has swinging wingtips. It was a hallmark of your typical NASA study

Very informative, i always wondered why we never paraded around enemy jest but that seems obvious now.

If you don't have any homemade Migs, covertly acquired ones work just fine!

Awww hell yeah, new Falcon AND it's about Area 51 ❤

The ending to this video is awesome.

Fellas we need to finance the next ace combat protagonist

I believe you have confused the range of the RP-23 Sapfir radar with that of the RP-21 sapfir radar, which is the one used in the export MS model, and the same one used in the MiG-21. For the RP-23, the detection range should be 45-50km against a fighter-sized target, with later models having up to ~65km range.

At the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft museum, we have both the Have Drill Mig-17 and Have Ferry Mig-15. The Mig-15 is paint in North Korean colors and the Mig-17 is in North Vietnamese colors. We have USAF documentation with regards of the association with the Have Drill and Have Ferry programs.

Well if that last section on the MiG-23 wasn't the most misleading cherrypicking misunderstanding of the Flogger ever...

I got excited for a second because I thought that the thumbnail said, “The MiGs of Area 88…”

First time here. Cool channel dude. You got my sub.

So... Falcon steals a tomcat out of groom lake? (I mean, with Iran still having some in their inventory you'd think we'd have kept at least one flying in the us inventory..)

New Falcon vid before GTA 6

Heh. Peg

Northrop tested flying wings at groom lake. They ultimately became the b2.

This is brilliant

That's a sneaky A-10 you tried slipping in there at the 14:21 minute mark

The National Museum of the United States Air Force have one of Constant Pegs MiG-23MS’s

Area 51 is likely also the headquarters for XCOM, I’ll see myself out.

16:52 I believe that one had engine problems forcing the pilots to eject

"Well, men. I've gathered you all here because you are the best at what you do. It's going to tough, but I know that for the good of our country you will be able to keep up with Constant Peggi-" "Constant Peg... I meant to say, Constant Peg."

I would love to see a part 2 for modern russian jets.

Coming for the birds, staying for the beats.

Hmm. Most the strange UFOs I have seen have been around Fallon Naval Air Station TOP GUN. There are things air force and navy are flying that make the Raptor look like the Wright Brothers' plane. Totally insane. I don't know what they're flying but it sure is interesting.

You need to do your homework at there are Russian Aircraft in El Paso TX,a full fleet.

i Saw a Mig 21 here at the Netherland German border on a scrapyard

Sacrificial comment to the algorithm gods. Good video.

the mig 21 acquired by the mossad, can be seen in the israeli Air force museum, it was returned to israel after it was sent over for evaluation. the 007 tail number was added later, but has nothing to do with james bond. it was just a random tail number put on in israel, instead of the iraqi tail number..

New Falcon video!!! LFG!!!

Hellion spotted! (....moreso heard)

It seems Falcons dream goal is a MiG-21. Mine is similar but I’d love a F4U Corsair yes I know it’s not a turbofan powered aircraft but! Corsairs did take on earlier model MiGs in combat during the Korean War. And the outro, Chefs kiss! Also free our boy Falcon! LOL.

I still want a video on the F106.

I’ve heard someone call the MiG-21 the AK-47 of fighter jets and I don’t think there’s a more fitting term

My grandfather flew a bf 109 in ww2

8:50 The flyers call it:

"Tales of UFO's" (Photos of what's either an SR-71 or F-111) 😂

3:57 in israel bases sometimes the fans are broken u can enter free it even easy to get idf military uniform and pretend ur a solider once ur there

Gotta admit, kinda surprised you didn’t make any Coast to Coast AM jokes.

So…they trained them with Constant Peg? :3

The F-5 vs MiG 21 the F-5 outperformed. So it wasn’t that an American fighter couldn’t perform

i wonder if the soviets also had their own squadron of captured western planes

There is a SU27 or SU33 in Area 51 if I'm not mistaken.

Is "don't taze me bro" refference to fallout new Vegas? To anyone who doesn't know the way the game determines if securitrons at the strip will shoot at someone when trying to get in is if they belong to the "Don't taze me bro" faction Which you can assign NPCs or the player to

It would not surprise me at all if Groom Lake had an SU-57 and a J-20 in their inventory. Neither country would ever admit to losing one of their "superior 5th generation fighters."

USSR/Russia never managed to capture USAF aircraft, except F-5E in Vietnam, that's an interesting topic to make. They never tried it or they failed each time, that's the question...

The name "Area 51" comes from a U.S.G.S (United States Geological Survey) that mapped out the U.S. into different Areas, so Area 51 is just that, it's Area #51 on that U.S.G.S. map.

Area 51 gets it's name because it is literally the 51st Area of the Nevada Test and Training Range.

So what you’re saying is, even America can get a mig-21 in warthunder?

Constant peg and the have program kind of remind me of red cell. Though this seems much more effective