Love to see Stalin land it with all his moral and political training, like fuck,more like good flying and and a wish to live. It should be immoral and political indoctrination and a wish to not get shot or sent to the gulag for incompetence.
Commissar: "The plane is good, but it needs a bigger gun." Engineer: "But comrade Commissar, if we put a bigger gun on the plane, it'll shoot itself down." Commissar: *Places his hand on the engineer's shoulder reassuringly* "Pilots with strong political training will make it work."
You make a mistake like that in the then Soviet military and you certainly didn’t make it to a Gulag. I think an enraged Commissar’s bullet got you first - fired from his service pistol without hesitation and also right in front of your comrades (very handy for motivation).
@@galacticthreat1236 Russian joke: Red Army soldier Ivanov, why doesn't your machine gun erase? Comrade political instructor ran out of cartridges. Red Army soldier Ivanov, you are a member of the Komsomol! And again the machine gun of the Red Army soldier Ivanov shot down ...
@@PibrochPonder Who is "they"? You realize that the early Boshevik government consisted of over 80% people who hated ethnic Russians and Christian? That's when tens of millions died. Late Soviet Union was completely different and focused on nation building.
I never knew your childhood backstory. Growing up in the Cold War with the Soviet Union is an interesting side we don't really hear about. Especially when the parent was in the military let alone flew a MIG. I bet you have a lot of cool stories!
not as rare as you might think. Ex-soviet republics and other asian countries used many Migs. Both my grandfathers and one grandmother worked on and flew on Mig23, mig27 and mig29
My dad is a general in the syrian army I got to see the t90,72 and t55 And my grandfather is a general in AA division all I can say is Shilca is F*** LOUD
@Slovenski Slav did your Uncle fight in 1990s ? As syria is doing poorly israel boomed the port in latacka and my house is right next to the port so I woke up at the middle of the night to that But at least we got rid of the free syria army and ISIS And because my grandfather was general in AA in the 1980s and 70s He served in Lebanon and every time I show him a israel prpganda video about a Israel ACE who shot down 120 syria planes he laughed 🤣 and told me " we F*** there whole air force down " 🤣
It had a GSH-30-6 gun, which sometimes will lower the airspeed and produce a ton of smoke when fired . But this aircraft was also also fairly advanced for the time, it could fire GROM guided anti tank missiles, and can defend itself in an A2A engagement. It's like a villain's aircraft - has a massive gun, it's fast, variable geometry sweep wings. One of the most unique aircraft of the 20th century.
There are many anecdotes about how the Mig 23 was a poor plane, the engine was short lived and none fly now whereas its predecessor the Mig 21 is still in active duty...that being said I agree. The 23/27 was an amazingly advanced plane that I always had a liking for.
Hello Paper Skies! I really enjoy your content and enthusiasm for combat aircraft. I am a former U.S. Air Force F-16 crew chief, so I share your passion of military aviation. I would like to point out one fact concerning integrally mounted M61 Vulcan cannons on American fighters like the F-16. They are driven by a hydraulic motor rather than an electric one. Although this doesn’t really save much weight, it does help with torque loads and to accelerate barrel rotation as it operates under pressure at 3,000 psi. Thanks for the videos!
@@diverr69 Hi there and thank you for the interest in my post! Just to clarify, I was a crew chief rather than a pilot. I troubleshot problems and helped keep the aircraft flying, although I have flown in the back seat of a two-seat F-16 on two occasions. There are a couple of interesting stories (especially when I worked in flight testing) that I probably shouldn’t get into. But perhaps the most impressive thing I’ve encountered happened after I got out of the Air Force. I rarely tell this story because I know few people would believe it (I know I wouldn’t). But a few years back I honestly saw a UAP making right angle turns, instantaneous acceleration/deceleration and other seemingly impossible maneuvers at or near orbital altitudes and velocities. I don’t believe they were little green men; it’s more likely an unmanned technology from an unknown flight test program demonstrating radically different technologies from those we are familiar with. Sadly, I have no idea which country this aerospace vehicle originated from either. Nothing is immune to the laws of physics, however there are “theoretical shortcuts” that would not violate any physical laws (especially the laws of thermodynamics). I’m not entirely sure what I saw early in that summer morning sky, but I’m entirely sure what it was not. It was no aircraft, rocket, satellite, balloon or drone. It was something new and amazing and I’m glad that the United States government finally officially admits that they’ve seen it too. Keep looking up, you may be surprised at what you find!
I sincerely love the comical jabs at the Soviet era military mentality. Makes this so much better, plus the accent just makes it that much better. It's like having a Russian uncle telling us about the stuff they did back in the day. Again congrats on the channel. Bravo. 👏🎩
Ok, now I realize that it's really fun: MiG-27 and A-10 are very similar not only because of huge gun mounted on both planes. MiG was nicknamed Crocodile Gena for his nose and A-10 was nicknamed Cheburashka in USSR for distinct circular engines on both sides. And these 2 were always together, like Tom and Jerry in USSR ;)
Very great video, I appreciated learning about something I have never really come across here in the US. Also, that colored pencil animation used was incredibly striking, I loved it! The sky was just so dynamic! It was fantastic to see!
Fantastic work, as usual! It's cool your dad was a MiG pilot. I remember growing up, near where a squadron of Mig-23s was stationed, i watched them taking off, and landing, whenever i had the opportunity to.
This is great stuff, Paper... very little of this information is available in the US, and as someone who grew up in the 1980s in an aviation family, your videos are an absolute treasure. And what a great way to grow up, with your father as a fighter pilot. I'm sure it was a magical time, and I hope all is well with you and your family. Thanks for all your hard work!
The A-10 was a very different design and built to a different purpose. The rounds per minute may have been slower, but the muzzle velocity was far higher. Being built as it was, the A-10 has a much higher ammo load - ~1100 vs ~200 rounds. Different battle strategy, different philosophy. Far different support & infrastructure. Thank you for presenting this.
Ну скорость не намного а немного больше и то за счёт электропривода пушки в то время как у ГШ-6-30 пушка работает на отводе пороховых газов. Тактика вас СССР одна атака. 200 снарядов достаточно. Тактика А-10 расстрел неприкрытых ПВО войск что позволяет выполнять множество заходов для атаки.
@@АлександрШершнёв-р6с Kartvelli was Georgian not Russian, typical Russian ethnic assimlation, Russian are Russian, dont speak like every slav people are Russian. He was from a noble Georgian family, what does Russia have to do here ? He even chose France and then America as soon as he could to make his career, cuz no slav country could have helped him become what he became. And he didn’t make the A10 alone, really not. But yeah, he knew a lot in how a plane works.
@@som9134 да Картвелли этнический грузин .но он воспитанник русской инженерной школы. Грузия входила в состав Российской империи почти 200 лет. Естественно что самолёт конструируют осень много людей.но он был главным конструктором. К стати в СССР был главным конструктором летающих лодок ещё один грузин по фамилии Бериев. Это к тому кто что и где мог добиться.😂😂😂.
An exclent video, thanks! As a tanker in the US Army during the 80's I am honestly very happy to not have ever had to face such a devastating weapon. I'm glad the cold war never went hot.
Eh, the 30mm cannon as a tank buster has proven to be a bust for both the Soviets and the USA. The overwhelming # tank kills from the A10 are missle kills, and as a close air support weapon, it's garbage, with a friendly fire rate so bad the British and other allies have requested to have the A10 withdrawn from their areas.
@@ivanthemadvandal8435 Allow me to clarify, I was in the 82nd airborne we were using the M551A1 Sheridan light tank. It had an aluminum hull and turret. A beer can on tracks. :P So I'm still glad we didn't get to face that gun, or in my case any gun. Hooray for serving during peacetime.
I love how you strike the perfect line between military technology and a humanfriendly mindset. Even the way you embed the political context in a considerate way without letting it overwhelm the actual storry is unpresedented. Well done for sharing sucha topic in a way a pacifist can watch it with pleasure and without beeing disgusted.
This reminds me of Chico the Gunfighter. Chico was the callsign for F4E Phantoms used in 1972 during the later stages of the Vietnam War, and were armed with the standard 20mm Gatling gun under the nose and an additional 20mm Gatling pod under each wing. The planes could also be configured to carry CBU's or rockets under the wings depending on the mission. The planes were sent on free roaming strike and recce missions and used their guns to strafe ground targets with devastating effect.
I learned from Chuck Yeager's Air Combat (EA, 1991) that the Phantom wasn't designed with a gun in mind at all and didn't get one until a few years into its life. They had so much faith in its speed, climb capability and newly designed IR guided missiles that it wouldn't ever need to dogfight. That was, of course, false for a number of reasons. Bad missile reliability, a need for visual identification of target making confrontations too close for them anyway, etc etc.
I just wanted to say, your content in amazing!! Thank you! Flamu, a WoWS content creator, shared one of your vids on his twitch stream and I was hooked. Amazing work!
I like the way you tell your stories. They are sequential and easy to follow, and very interesting. I had to smile when you showed the instrument panel dislodging from the vibration of the gunfire. I was flying in an EF-10B (the Drut! which is turd spelled backwards) in 1969 at MCAS El Toro, CA, preparing to go overseas to WestPac. This is an old Korean War night fighter that the Marines converted to Electronic Warfare at the beginning of the Vietnam War because our assets were so few. As we rolled down the runway and rotated for takeoff, as the nose lifted, the instrument panel fell off its mounts and back toward the pilot. It hit the stick and we pitched up. He reached up and pushed it off the stick and then we held it up with our feet! I always carried a folding knife that had a locking screwdriver blade so that I could undo and refasten panels during the preflight walkaround. We got the panel reattached and flew the mission.
You dad was a MiG pilot… that explains sooo much. And that’s also sooo freaking cool. I always look forward to learning more about life in the Soviet Union, and generally been throughly entertained and learned with every video you’ve produced. Keep it up!
So, you got into aviation because of your father? Just like how I got into railroading because of my father. When I was a toddler, my father would take me to see restored steam locomotive, which were the biggest and loudest and therefore the most impressive things I'd ever seen. And having had the chance to see many of them, ride behind others, and even drive one of them, was definitely a fun thing.
My favorite aviation channel was Sandbox News with Alex Hollings and it still is my go to source for modern military aircraft but if l just want to be entertained with fascinating and often hilarious stories of Soviet era planes nothing even comes close to Paper Skies. Well written and narrated, lots of great film footage and just funny as he'll. You sir just do a fantastic job at giving us the true and hilarious story of what happened behind the iron curtain. From 1976 until 1982 l was a photo analyst for a government agency so these tales relate to my past
If I had a dollar for every nation that has shot itself down from being faster than its own bullets, I'd have 2 dollars, which isn't much but it's strange that it's happened twice
Another one to add to my list of aircraft that shot themselves down, and perhaps the best example seeing as the problem was never fixed. There is also the MD Phantom that overtook the missile it has just fired and the early Hawker Hunters that ejected spent shell casings into the engine air intake.
Once I stop laughing I will still imagine a Hunter throwing brass into its engine. Did you hear about the Hunter that was landed where there was no Engine Start? Another Hunter landed there but kept his engine running. Then they were lined up nose to tail and he got a blow-start. If this is true, well it might be, but I didn't see it happen.
I'm glad to see this comment here. I know it feels simple and natural, but it's not when you have to do the editing yourself. I enjoy the editing in these videos as well.
This is perhaps one of the best channels I've subscribed to, better than TV documentary quality. You're like a David Attenborough of planes, your accent makes it better somehow.
"It sounds like the recoil from the gun exposed a lot of problems with construction in the rest of the aircraft." Yes, in much the same way that GIs in the Pacific War firing captured Japanese Type 89 grenade launchers with the baseplate braced against their legs (instead of the ground, like it was supposed to be) exposed problems with construction of their thigh bones. :)
Given that the gun was meant to be mounted on a ship the size of a missile corvette (absolute minimum, and caused problems on those despite the shock absorbing mounts) or larger rather than on a fighter jet I doubt we can fault the aircraft too much.
This is an extremely well-done examination of this aircraft as well as the 'get it done' philosophy of Soviet engineers. Well done, Paper Skies. Fires the gun and the dash falls in his lap. There's an inflight emergency for you.
Sir. THAT was about the best produced and presented aviation video I have ever watched ! I am enthralled by all the wonderful footage that you found. As a child in the seventies I was plane mad. I had all the books. But all the Soviet aircraft were just code names and blurry photos. There were good air to air shots of the Bear sneaking around British coasts and keeping the RAF happy. Awesome and beautiful aircraft, and I longed to see more . Now you are showing them off. Thanks for that. It is a testament to good design for battle that the Crocodile got home with critical parts of it shaken or blown off. Great piloting too to stay with the plane and get it home...even if just for spares. That is how wars get won. Hats off to Soviet designers who managed to keep things going in spite of the military helping...
love your story! my father was an Officer for State Security (STASI) in the German Democratic Republic, but never took me to the office (He was just checking Letters, not directly Spying). He actually had a bit to do with Putins regiment, although he never met him.
Sir, greetings from Brazil! Your stories are really cool!! And the quality of the video is outstanding. You have the way to tell stories!!! I can't even noticed how 24 min passed so quick😊
I'm only 3 minutes into the video but I must say, I had no idea that was your background, being able to sit in state of the art cockpits of modern planes, you where a very lucky child.
5:45 I had a 100rd magazine for my AR-15 rifle. It was called a *'C-Mag'* ('C' being the Roman numeral for 100). It was produced right in Atlanta where I worked at that time. It was admirably lightweight, being made from ABS plastic, but when loaded with ammo it became became a bit tubby.
c-mags have an unfortunate tendency to jam at the most inopportune moments, which worked out for the victims of the Aurora theater shooting. some of the malfunctions that happen with that mag system require experience in resolving which the shooter was ignorant of. stick to 30 rnd mag's
See that's why they designed the plane around the gun in the A-10 and not the opposite way around. And even then from what I understand the A-10 needs lots of maintenance or it will start to Shake itself apart over time from firing the main gun. Love your content and channel.
I wish I had kid’s books like that when young! But I was still obsessed with aviation at an early age, still am. Both the Mig 21,23, and 27 were quite beautiful in their own way. Superb video! Subscribed.
Honestly, the MiG-27 seems like it could have been a very powerful and effective aircraft if it had been designed with the larger 30mm cannon in mind from the start, since it could have been made a bit larger and critical points could have been better reinforced to handle the recoil. It could have been a very interesting counterpart to the American A-10, showcasing an opposite approach to ground attack and tank busting: The MiG-27 was about 2.5 times faster than the A-10 and could operate in areas where there were still some active air defenses, but could carry half as many munitions (by weight), while the A-10 was less than half as fast as the MiG-27 and was very vulnerable to air defenses, but could carry twice as many munitions. It seems to sort of reflect that same difference in attitudes between Soviets and Americans when it came to fighting at that time: Americans with the attitude of "We will have air superiority," and Soviets with the attitude of "We don't need air superiority." You can see this reflected in the designs of fighters at the time too; American fighters had very sophisticated electronics, low caliber, fast-firing cannons, and good rearward visibility so they could react if they became defensive, while Soviet fighters had less sophisticated (though still advanced) electronics, high caliber, slow-firing cannons, and very poor rearward visibility because they would avoid becoming defensive. I don't know what all this means; I just know that if there was ever such a threat that it forced American and Soviet pilots to fight together, the combined air force would have been unstoppable.
In 1999 Kargil war, an IAF Mig27 pilot fired his guns at high altitude in the himalayas even though he was advised not to. His engine flamed out and he parachuted in enemy territory. Another Mig27 went looking for him and was shot down with a stinger missile. The bodies of both pilots we returned to India in highly mutilated form. The plane was named "Bahadur" meaning Courageous in IAF. It was retired couple of years back.
Early versions of the Japanese Hayabusa fighters also shot themselves down with depressing regularity when their 20mm rounds exploded before leaving the barrel. Other important parts like, for example, the wings would also sometimes depart the aircraft during high-speed dives. Fortunately for their pilots, and unfortunately for their enemies, these problems were eventually solved and the Hayabusa went on to be come almost as famous and as feared as the Zero.
Years ago, visiting areas outside Watertown, New York, I was lucky enough one day to see A-10 Warthogs doing practice maneuvers over the base area. Even several miles away there was no mistaking the fact that I just heard very loud brrrrrr sounds occasionally. Used to watch them fly around the Syracuse area a lot years ago also, and very low to see them well. Was always a thrill.
I saw the A-10 at an airshow. They did an on-target run (no firing), pulled up and did a complete loop, and ended the loop in a second on-target run. They also made quite an entrance, flying in just above the ground and the plane was nearly on top of you before you even saw it or heard it. Such a cool plane.
That reminds me of the test flights of the grumman f-11 tiger in 1956. They were test firing a new gun, the plane ran into something and the plane crashed just short of the runway having lost power. They thought it was a bird strike until they found rounds of the gun lodged in the plane. That explained a prior test flight where the plane picked up some mysterious scratches. Test flights are a good thing.
Just ran across this video and I found it very interesting! My professor for introduction to aircraft design this semester was on the team at Fairchild Republic who designed the A-10 in the 70's. He had some really interesting stories about the requirements the military had for the aircraft and how they came up with solutions to meet them.
Hayden, Did your 'prof' go on into the A-9's design and point their being short of meet'g the AF's requested areas of specifications thru the fly-offs? Goes to prove again, the old-timers (30-44) should be seated N the back of weekly design reviews, progress charts. Not a good idea to bring old habits to a new shoot-out.
I saw them firing the naval version of the Gsh-6-30 a few times. I never saw the Mig-27, but I've seen first-hand what it's capable of. It's an amazing yet fearful burst heavy-duty anti armor machine-gun. It shreds everything.
Your father was a MIG pilot; that explains why you know so many intimate details of the USSR''s Air Force. I hope you are living safely outside of the Russian Federation; embarrassing your former comrades can be deadly. Your manner of presentation is very entertaining. Thank you.
Paper Skies, I LOVE your videos. Not only are so incredibly knowledgeable on Soviet military history, your wry sense of humor (as evidenced in the Tupelov video, "Of course it would not be the Soviet Union if, after discovering these design defects, it was put into production anyway"). Nobody has a better sense of humor about the shortcomings of communism than those who have lived under it. Now that I know that your father was a fighter pilot and you actually sat in a MiG 23 cockpit as a child, your authority on this subject matter makes sense. What amazing experiences you must have had! When I get a successful RU-vid channel going, one of the things I plan on doing is a video on my favorite RU-vid channels. I definitely want to share your channel with others. You really do fantastic work. Wishing you a blessed holiday season and (if appropriate) Merry Christmas.
@@SephirothRyu Tovarishch, that is not the same as strapping an existing plane to a mighty cannon! It might be the better way to do it, but it is not the same. 😌
I watch a lot of aviation history videos… let me tell you, you are good. This piece is well researched, is humorous, and does neither glorify or bash Soviet engineering. No matter who they work for, engineers are doing amazing work and it’s nice to see their work being appreciated.
Earlier today, I tripped at the top of the stairs, but thanks to my excellent moral and political training, I was able to regain my balance and avoid falling down and likely breaking some bones in the process.
Cool video. Just a note on the disadvantages of a gas operated Gatling, why the US and others didn’t use them. Gas operated designs don’t achieve their rate of fire nearly as quickly as electric or hydraulic cannons. The first few shots have to speed up the rotation of the barrels so for the first 1/2 second or so the ROF is inconsistent. Gas operated designs also require rounds to be left in the hot cannon barrel chambers in order for firing to resume. The Vulcan and other designs avoid this by clearing the gun of all unfired rounds and not loading more until it was ready to shoot again. So basically the Vulcan was the better design, safer and better first hit probability.
I've noticed a pattern with Soviet aircraft development. They develop some perfectly fine aircraft, someone gets the bright idea od modifying it to do something it wasn't designed to do, they do the idea, the aircraft self destructs itself thanks to the modifications, Soviets approve the concept, and it goes into production, proceeds to continue self-destructing, and eventually gets pulled from service when enough tragedies happen.
I agree, the mig-23 is still a good looking aircraft. It was one of the first models I built some 30 years ago. I recently bought the academy version for nostalgia and rekindled my admiration for it.
WOW you must have had a fascinating childhood ! The story of Soviet engineering is always a great example of human ingenuity overcoming the adversity of circumstances, costs and materials... Like my Vostok Amphibia 👍😎
Excellent story. I am from the U.S. and have a very similar childhood experience. My father was an Aeronautical Engineer with Grumman Aircraft. Later number 2 for Grumman on Apollo. Like yourself I understood aircraft and their systems at a young age. By age 5, I knew how to fly, in my mind, of course. By age 10 I got the opportunity to fly a light plane. I leveraged that into becoming a Fighter Pilot flying the F4E Phantom II in the early 1970's. Great and wonderful fun. No doubt, Aerial Combat is exciting.
Wow it must have been pretty amazing having a MIG pilot for a dad. My father flew a commercial Cessena in my younger years, which was impressive as hell to me and my friends as a kid, but lets face it , a fighter plane is way cooler. I hope your dad is doing well! Give the old boy a high five for me!. Also, I think the "design bureau" idea the soviets had was a brilliant idea. It got the competitive impulse western capitalists had as an advantage, and turned it into something compatible with the soviet idea. A *lot* of good ideas came from those things (and a few madcap ideas, but its not like the US didnt have a few nutty ideas too)
WTH his dad was a jet pilot DAMN!!! And also he spent his childhood in an jet cockpit playing wow! My childhood was totally in tanks, guns and bombs! My dad is an engineer in an government ammunition factory (not a worker but a manager and maintenance head) so I can relate too much since I grew up watching tanks and heavy military artillery and playing with tank turrets :) that's a feeling 😌
Man that gun was a beast! Great video, loved all the details! Also thanks for a video about the MIG-27, I always liked the MIG-23 and 27 growing up, cool looking airplanes! :)
"Did my ammo blow up inside the barrel once again or did I just fire the gun, ah whoopsie there go my instrument panel and landing lights" must have been a frequent sentence on freq back then...
I actually flew the mig 23 after World War II because I was deported to the Soviet bloc it was pretty nice over there and I got to say go against the tomcats felt like I was just back in my old biplane! 🥰
It is amazing how well the threat of spending the next 20 years in a Siberian gulag motivated Soviet engineers, we should instigate the same policy for our civil serpents.
