HAVE DOUGHNUT: Mossad, James Bond, Area 51 And The Captured MiG-21 That Inspired Top Gun

Video Description

The MiG-21 proved to be a deadly opponent for US aviators during Rolling Thunder. Although not enough to change the course of the war, through hit and run attacks and US rules of engagement the Fishbed achieved a 1:1 kill ratio against the TAC. If the Soviets were able to replicate this ratio in Central Europe during an all-out war then NATO would be in serious trouble. Learning to combat the Fishbed was therefore essential to US tactical and strategic war planners. Then one morning in August 1966 a disgruntled Iraqi pilot flew his MiG-21F-13 across Jordan an into Israel. In this video I tell the story of his escape, the web of trades and diplomacy that brought that aircraft to the US and the programme that exploited it: HAVE DOUGHNUT. I have wanted to make this video for a long time. As 2023 comes to close I thought I'd finally get it done. HAVE DOUGHNUT is an important programme as it reveals a lot about the doctrinal differences between the TAC and the Navy in the middle 1960s. It also gives hints about the tactical and teaching approach taken in the early years of Top Gun, which I personally found fascinating. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy. Comments always much appreciated. If you're an early viewer, a Happy New Year to you! Regardless, thanks so much for your support thus far and see you in 2024 and beyond. Sources: Blog post and video link for Throw A Nickel On The Grass at the US National Archives: https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2022/10/18/throw-a-nickel-on-the-grass-and-have-a-doughnut%EF%BF%BC/ Scream Of Eagles: The Dramatic Account of the U. S. Navy's Top Gun Fighter Pilots and How They Took Back the Skies Over Vietnam by Robert Wilcox was used for some of the stories about the Navy's experience with DOUGHNUT MiG-21 technical detail was mainly sourced from MiG-21 Fishbed by Yefim Gordon and Bill Gunston Some of the Israeli experiences with the captured MiG-21 came from Mirage III vs MiG-21: Six Day War 1967 by Shlomo Aloni Two of many similar references to the Algerian MiGs that landed at El-Arish and were captured. I didn’t find conclusive evidence, but this explanation of the source for the ‘continuation Doughnut’ makes the most sense: http://vietnam.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/mig21_operators.html https://en.topwar.ru/42040-arabskie-migi-pereletayut-v-izrail.html