IAF MiG-21PF's

During the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, India had only just purchased the MiG-21PF from the Soviet Union. It was India's only super-sonic fighter and given how recent the plane was (first introduced in 1959) they were expensive to buy, and in limited supply. On top of that very few pilots had enough training in the aircraft to effectively use it in combat, meaning there were few experienced pilots at the outbreak of the war.

The MiG-21 PF is a missile platform, lacking any kind of forward guns. While the more famous MiG-21F-13 does feature a forward fixed cannon and India purchased both, the PF's main role was as an interceptor; designed to strike at enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and observers, for which guns are not entirely needed And missile were the preferred tactic. Despite their soviet built planes, the Indians were not using Soviet missiles. They were using American and British made Gar-9 Sidewinders (the Original designation for the AIM-9). Since Infra-Red Homing Missiles were still quite new in 1965, when war broke out between India and Pakistan it was seen by NATO as a good chance to further field test some their new technology.

The Mig-21 is considered the best fighter-craft of it's era. It was maneuverable, well armed and reliable. One major design flaw however, was that the cock pit provided the pilot with limited visibility giving only about a 180 degree field of view.

In Check Your 6! Jet Age's Crisis in Kashmir Campaign, I (as India) will get to use these in mission four. We are currently going into mission 3, and it is entirely possible that the game will end in a total victory for India. It seems as if the campaign is not properly balanced, and while yes I know that India won, it is a gamified version.... There should be some balance.

So whether or not I get to use these will be up to how well Elijah handles Pakistan in the next mission. From what I have seen the MiG-21's maneuverability is reflected in the Check You 6! Jet Age and with this honestly being my favourite Jet of all time I can't wait to use it.

These minis come from Raiden Miniatures. While, there a lot of places that you can get 6mm MiG-21's, Raiden has the best balance of price, to quality, to selection of 6mm fighter jets out there. So most of my 6mm jets come from them.

Fingers crossed I can get this guy out on the table top before the campaign is over!

Written by: Andrew Gregory