Hobby Master Archive

The Polish Air Force began using MiG-21Rs in 1968. Over the next 4 years they would receive 36 of these recon variants of the MiG-21. The main unit was the 32nd Tactical Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment (32 Pułk Lotnictwa Rozpoznania Taktycznego) located at Sochaczew flew these aircraft from 1972 until they were disbanded in 1997. The aircraft were stripped of any recce equipment and re-armed and served as second-string fighters until late 2000 when they were finally removed from service.

The MiG-21R Fishbed H was third generation aircraft used as a tactical reconnaissance fighter. MiG-21R was equipped with a reconnaissance pod mounted on the fuselage centerline and radar warning receiver electronic countermeasures jamming pods mounted on the wingtips. Wing pylons could carry more recce equipments like Soviet type D and R containers and Polish Saturn photo containers. The four hard-points under the wings could carry also missiles, bombs, rocket launchers and fuel drop tanks. Polish Air Force had total 36 recce MiG-21Rs in service during 1968-2003 and only one was lost in 1987. Poland had total 581 MiG-21s in service. All MiG- 21Rs served with 32. Pulk Lotnictwa Rozpoznania Taktycznego (PLRT). Information can be found at http://www.saunalahti.fi/cabpilot/32plrt.htm A Polish MiG-21R of 32nd Tactical Reconnaissance Regiment (32.PLRT) can be seen at the Crakow Aviation Museum.

MiG-21R specifications Center Pylon 1x PTB-490/PTB-800 800L drop tank 1x PTB-490/PTB-800 800L drop tank Type D daylight PHOTINT pod Type N nighttime PHOTINT pod Type R ELINT pod Type T TV pod SPRD-99 JATO booster JATO is an acronym for Jet Assisted Take Off. The term is used interchangeably with the term RATO, for Rocket-Assisted Take Off. It is a system for helping overloaded aircraft into the air by providing additional thrust in the form of small rockets… JATO booster

Inboard Pylons (per hard-point) 1x R-3S 1x RS-2-US 1x UB-16-57UM 1x S-24 1x FAB-100/250/500/OFAB-100 1x ZB-500 napalm tank 1x Kh-66

Outboard Pylons (per hard-point) 1x PTB-490 1x UB-16-57UM 1x FAB-100/250/OFAB-100 1x S-24

Hobby Master 1/72 Air Power Series HA0145 MiG 21R Polish AF 32nd Tactical Recce Regiment, Sochaczew AFB 1992

True 1/72 scale Professionally painted Great attention to detail All markings are Tampoed (pad applied) Option to display the model on a stand that is provided Model can be shown with the landing gear in the down or up positions Loads of optional armament has been provided Canopy can be displayed open or closed Extremely heavy metal with a minimum of plastic Highly collectable

The Mig-21 was originally built by the Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union with a NATO nickname “Fishbed”. No other jet has had as many planes produced as the Mig-21. Depending on the reference source 8,000 - 13,000 planes of all versions were made in the Soviet Union, under license to allied countries and China without license. At the time of its introduction into the Soviet Air Force service in 1959, it was exactly what they wanted. A small, fast, agile, dependable and most importantly simple making it easy to turn out great numbers of the plane. The skies of Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and Central America seemed to be filled with thousands of the Mig-21. Because of its relatively low cost since it was heavily subsidized by the Soviets, it became the plane of choice for many third world countries. Taking this into account this plane this plane has seen more wars then any other modern day jet. The Mig-21 was used in front line service for over 30 years equaling that of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. There were 5 generations of the plane in many versions and each generation brought with it great improvements over its predecessors.