Indian Air Force MiG-25s at Air Force Station Adampur in October 1990

[Basilisk]

As I finally manage to create some decent scans from slides, I am in the process of scanning many 1000 slides taken between 1975 and 2005.

 

Maybe these pictures are of some interest as the MiG-25 in Indian Air Force service had been a bit camera shy during their active service.

 

Six MiG-25R reconnaissance aircraft (serial KP351 to 356) together with two MiG-25U conversion trainers (serials DS361 and 362) arrived in India in mid-1981 and formed No.102 "Trisonics" Squadron after they were re-assembled with soviet assistance. As the Squadron name suggests, the arrival of these aircraft propelled the IAF into the trisonic era.

 

Two additional MiG-25R arrived most likely some years later of which KP3106 was one.

They were based at Air Force Station Bareilly until their retirement in May 2006, but became the A flights from No, 35 Squadron "Rapiers" in 2003.

 

Six airframes still exist today and are on display at various locations in India, but most (if not all) are unfortunately no longer in the original paint schemes.

 

 

The IAF flew three MiG-25 to Air Force Station Adampur in October 1990 to participate in some mixed formation flights where I had the opportunity to take these pictures.

 

 

 

 

Note that KP354 is painted in a darker grey.

 

 

This shows nicely how large the aircraft is!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When taking the air to air pictures from a Jaguar IB, we started losing the MiG-25 in the turn and I made the pilot I flew with aware of this - he laughed and said, I know, but we are already on 100% power.

 

And the trainer.

 

This aircraft is now on display at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal

 

 

 

As the maximal permissible speed of the An 32 with the rear ramp open was less than the minimal speed of the MiG-25, we had the side door removed to take these pictures late in the afternoon on a very hazy day.

 

 

More on the operational history of the IAF MiG-25 can be found HERE.
 

Thanks for looking and I hope these pictures are of interest to some.
Cheers, Peter

[Troy Smith]

first, WOW!  Not my 'era' but stunning pics.  And a lot of great detail.  

29 minutes ago, Basilisk said:

and I hope these pictures are of interest to some.

@Linescriber  @tomthounaojam @Jagan  

The Bharat-Rakshak  site perhaps would be interested as well.

 

Good to see you back Peter

cheers

T

[tomthounaojam]

25 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

first, WOW!  Not my 'era' but stunning pics.  And a lot of great detail.  

@Linescriber  @tomthounaojam @Jagan  

The Bharat-Rakshak  site perhaps would be interested as well.

 

Good to see you back Peter

cheers

T

Thank you very much, Troy, these pictures are a national treasure. Thank you and Peter. Cheers

[PranayKumar99]

Thanks for sharing!! 

[Jagan]

I dont need to state this, every aviation nerd in India knows this -  but the photos taken by Peter @Basilisk are legendary.  And has been the staple of IAF publications and publicity material forever..  I mean 1990 was absolutely the perfect time to make that trip - as he captured Ajeets, Hunters, Canberras, An-12s, Otters and many other types that have since disappeared into history.. and then there were the 'modern' stuff - MiG-29s, MiG-25s..  So seeing these gems again, as well as many other unpublished images is a treat. I am glad Peter is archiving these on Flickr - I will certainly create a page that will link to Flickr directly.

 

Air to Air photography in the IAF was very limited, and professional photography for publicity purposes was unheard of. Peter had the distinction of being the first civilian, first foreigner to fly in IAF fighters to capture these..  and they have stood above everything else all these years.  These images speak for themselves.

 

So @Basilisk Thanks for sharing these.....  the words 'some interest' is an understatement, there are millions over in India who would absolutely love these...  Now please start adding other gems - like your Ajeet shoots!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 19, 2024 by Jagan

[Alpha Delta 210]

Stunning set of images of rare (to UK eyes) types. Thanks very much for sharing!

[AV O]

Thank you very much for these pictures.

Just note that the first photo at the top is of a trainer's type.
Check with the roundel and doors position on a two seater. 

 

[exdraken]

Wow  stunning!

Thanks for sharing!

[Darth Vader]

Fantastic photos . What about that flight suit ?

[Smudge]

These are just wonderful. Beautifully shot, and such an absolutely awesome subject. These pictures really capture the brutish nature of the Foxbat. Probably my favourite Soviet Cold War jet.

 

I was given a 1/48 Revell Mig-25RBT as a gift, and have aquired the Begemot decal sheet to do an Indian Foxbat, so these photographs will be a great reference.

 

Thanks so much for posting them. Please keep them coming 

[Troy Smith]

2 hours ago, Darth Vader said:

Fantastic photos . What about that flight suit ?

I think it's a Soviet high altitude/gee suit

I googled that

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VKK_flight_suit

 

Likely a VKK-6 suit

http://www.russianwarrior.com/STMMain.htm?1969_VKK6m.htm&1

 

[Latinbear]

Absolutely fantastic images and all the more so for being of such a rare beast. Thank you for sharing these.

[Tigerausfb]

Amazing photos thanks for sharing, those jet nozzles are huge! I wonder why the pilot had an Octopus on his back...and did he know? I remember having a poster from the Times or Telegraph back in the mid-70s with artists impressions of the then new Foxbat and Backfire aircraft. It was around the time Belenko defected with one.

 

Andrew

[hopkp]

On 8/19/2024 at 1:31 PM, Basilisk said:

Thanks for looking and I hope these pictures are of interest to some.

You're joking, I presume; of course they're of interest.....more, please! Talk about rare birds.....

[Filler]

Fantastic stuff. The photos are absolutely wonderful and thank you for sharing these. It's quite strange (but maybe not really surprising) seeing a Soviet machine in India covered in English stencils.

 

 

[RidgeRunner]

On 8/19/2024 at 1:31 PM, Basilisk said:

Thanks for looking and I hope these pictures are of interest to some.
Cheers, Peter

Fantastic, Peter. I have always loved your photo reportage

 

Martin

[ColinChipmunkfan]

Amazing photos of a rarely seen type and Air Force.  Thank you for posting I am sure it will inspire some unplanned modelling.

Colin

[Basilisk]

Thank you all for your kind words. Good to hear that you like my contribution, and I hope to post more in the future.

 

On 8/19/2024 at 11:08 PM, Troy Smith said:

first, WOW!  Not my 'era' but stunning pics.  And a lot of great detail.  

@Linescriber  @tomthounaojam @Jagan  

The Bharat-Rakshak  site perhaps would be interested as well.

 

Good to see you back Peter

cheers

T

Thanks Troy. I haven't done any scale modelling over the last five years, so still have around 40 builds to finish 😯

 

On 8/20/2024 at 2:19 AM, Jagan said:

I dont need to state this, every aviation nerd in India knows this -  but the photos taken by Peter @Basilisk are legendary.  And has been the staple of IAF publications and publicity material forever..  I mean 1990 was absolutely the perfect time to make that trip - as he captured Ajeets, Hunters, Canberras, An-12s, Otters and many other types that have since disappeared into history.. and then there were the 'modern' stuff - MiG-29s, MiG-25s..  So seeing these gems again, as well as many other unpublished images is a treat. I am glad Peter is archiving these on Flickr - I will certainly create a page that will link to Flickr directly.

 

Air to Air photography in the IAF was very limited, and professional photography for publicity purposes was unheard of. Peter had the distinction of being the first civilian, first foreigner to fly in IAF fighters to capture these..  and they have stood above everything else all these years.  These images speak for themselves.

 

So @Basilisk Thanks for sharing these.....  the words 'some interest' is an understatement, there are millions over in India who would absolutely love these...  Now please start adding other gems - like your Ajeet shoots!

Thanks Jagan. My 1990 IAF visit was one of the rare occasions were the "Swiss cheese effect" happened as all the holes lined up, making it possible. I tried several times to do further visits, but never managed to align all the damn holes again 😔

 

But as you say, it was a great opportunity seeing the older jets together with the new aircraft introduced at the time. And unlike now, with most of the IAF aircraft painted in gray with rarely a squadron marking on them, 35 years ago there was lots of variety in colors and markings!

 

On 8/20/2024 at 3:21 AM, AV O said:

Thank you very much for these pictures.

Just note that the first photo at the top is of a trainer's type.
Check with the roundel and doors position on a two seater. 

Good observation!

 

On 8/20/2024 at 4:25 AM, Darth Vader said:

Fantastic photos . What about that flight suit ?

Troy answered this nicely!

 

On 8/20/2024 at 7:42 AM, Tigerausfb said:

I wonder why the pilot had an Octopus on his back...and did he know? 

 

Andrew

This made me laugh.

 

On 8/20/2024 at 11:43 PM, Filler said:

Fantastic stuff. The photos are absolutely wonderful and thank you for sharing these. It's quite strange (but maybe not really surprising) seeing a Soviet machine in India covered in English stencils.

I guess not many Indian people can read Cyrillic script. But some of these stencils are very wordy - looks like they written the whole maintenance manual onto the aircraft 😄

 

One interesting aspect for modelers is how the green in the roundel faded to a very dark olive green in a relatively short time and it does look nearly black on most pictures. This is the same on many other IAF aircraft.

 

Cheers, Peter

[John B (Sc)]

Impressive pictures, thank you  - and given the unforgiving nature of that machine, that's a brave pilot inside all that clobber !

 

I wonder how much of the stencilling was added during Indian service, rather than just being a translation frrom the cryllic script. Some of it reads so like the distiled comments of a rather tetchy Flight Sergeant ! 

[modelling minion]

What a fantastic set of pictures of a fantastic aircraft, thanks for sharing them and any others from your visit to India in 1990 will be greatly appreciated.

[Jagan]

On 8/22/2024 at 8:32 AM, Basilisk said:

 I guess not many Indian people can read Cyrillic script. But some of these stencils are very wordy - looks like they written the whole maintenance manual onto the aircraft 😄

 

 

Ha! No one can read Cyrillic or understand Russian, other than a very few select set of crews who trained in Russia directly.  So not only the instructions on aircraft, but all maintenance literature, pilot handbooks, manuals etc were translated and written in English.  

 

The practice of stencilling stuff in English continues to the day.    The MiG-25U that was flown to AFA Dunidgal, was all silver but still carried stencilled instructions all over - an example https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/galleries/picture.php/DS362-12/category/380-mig_25u_garuda

 

Or this - A MiG-21Bison from 2003

[HOUSTON]

Peter,

Fantastic photographs  of a rare beast .

Thank you very much for showing g these outstanding  images ..

 

 

I rarely get to see Indian Air Force jets etc so this is a treat.

Much appreciated  from an Indian. 

Thank you. Would love to see more.   

[Jagan]

@Basilisk I  note the single seater air-to-air and the ground photos of the pilot getting ready were taken on the same day 12th October 1990.  Should we assume the aircraft KP354 was being flown by the same pilot ? or was the part about the pilot getting ready just a photo op that is not connected to the air-to-air session?

 

 

[Basilisk]

4 hours ago, Jagan said:

@Basilisk I  note the single seater air-to-air and the ground photos of the pilot getting ready were taken on the same day 12th October 1990.  Should we assume the aircraft KP354 was being flown by the same pilot ? or was the part about the pilot getting ready just a photo op that is not connected to the air-to-air session?

Could have been, but as the IAF flew 3 MiG-25 from Bareilly to Adampur, there were at least three pilots available. The start-up pictures (even though it was a real start-up) was just for taking pictures in the morning and didn't result in a flight. I took the air-to-air pictures in the afternoon, so could have been any of the three pilots. Would be nice to know who actually was that pilot on my pictures - has to be one of 42!

[Jagan]

4 hours ago, Basilisk said:

  Would be nice to know who actually was that pilot on my pictures - has to be one of 42!

 

We have been on it ever since these photos got getting circulated - a friend of mine and another avphotog from India, Angad Singh shared this information

 

The pilot : then Sqn Ldr C K "Chandy" Varma https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/indianairforce/database/13582  (A new name for me to add to the list of 42)

The Tech Officer - M K R Prasad https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/indianairforce/database/18440

The Other airmen  - The Cpl - Cpl Rameshwar Yadav

The Sgt - Sgt V Singh

 

The ids were provided by Hony Flg Offr Raut who was with the Squadron at that time .

 

Thanks for the other details.. much useful!