4477th Test & Evaluation Squadron

[Hman]

4477th Test & Evaluation Squadron  Good article about testing soviet equipment duirng the cold war.

[RussC]

Thanks for posting. It seems that this unit was flying the machines that would be encountered by pilots flying against client states and the Warsaw Pact bloc. The lack of Mig 25, 29 and Su 15, 27 which were the Russian types seems to show that. That accident rate of 1 per 1000 hours is pretty nasty, lifespan of a machine between 6 mos. and a year.

[Logan Hartke]

Well, Su-15 and MiG-25 were largely air defense, so they wouldn't have seen much action in a Cold War gone hot scenario over Germany, for example, and the MiG-29 and Su-27 were just entering service.  The Su-27 was especially rare and was also air defense.  Between 1980 and 1990, the main threat over central Europe would have been MiG-21s, MiG-23s, and MiG-29s and two out of three isn't bad!  The MiG-23 was especially numerous.  During the time the 4477th was active, they were relatively current.

Cheers,

Logan