Kochi: Over six decades after serving India’s air defense system, the country will bid adieu to the iconic fighter plane Mokoyan Gurevich or MiG‑21 by taking its final flight at Chandigarh on Friday, media reports said.
A decommissioning ceremony will be held in Chandigarh where the aircraft was first inducted into the IAF’s combat fleet in the 1960s.
Though backbone of the IAF, a number crashes killing many pilots got it the nickname “flying coffin”.
Between 1966 and 1980, India procured 872 MiG aircraft and between 1971‑72 and April 2012, 482 MiG crashes were recorded, claiming 171 pilots, 39 civilians, eight service personnel and one aircrew, BBC quoting official sources said.
The accidents were “caused by both human error and technical defects”, the reports said.
The Soviets designed MIG 21 could climb with ferocious speed. First inducted in 1963, the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd started making needle-nosed MiG-21 under license.
The IAF will hold decommissioning flypast in Chandigarh on September 26.
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MIG-21 final flight on Friday
