A rare two-seat MiG-23UB fighter crashed during an air show in Michigan, USA, on Sunday. The Russian aircraft was owned by Dan Filer, a former US Navy pilot.
He and a rear seater occupant managed to eject safely and were referred to a hospital without injury.
Video footage from the MiG-23 shows the aircraft making a wide left turn without any evidence of a malfunction. The pilot then activates the ejection seat, followed by the companion.
The old fighter fell into a residential area near Willow Run Airport, where the “Thunder over Michigan” event was held.
Variable geometry wings
The Mig-23UB is one of the Russian fighters of the Dan Filer collection, which was a pilot of the Grumman A-6 Intruder attack aircraft on board aircraft carrier.
The supersonic jet, capable of flying at Mach 2.35, would be the only privately owned example in flying conditions, according to an interview given by the former Navy officer last year.
Filer, however, has other Migs being restored in his Hangar in Texas. Of the 18 Soviet Age Airplanes he bought, ten were sold after being recovered.
The lost aircraft would have belonged to the Polish Air Force, still in the days of the Iron Curtain.
The MiG-23, known as the “Flogger” in NATO, is a variable-geometry wing fighter and entered service in the Soviet Union in the late 1960s.
The jet was developed as a successor to the famous MiG-21, but it never demonstrated the same versatility. MiG also created a ground attack variant of the aircraft, the MiG-27.
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Both were the last Russian single-engine fighters until the Su-75 Checkmate.
