MiG-21F-13 - Vietnam - 1967
Red 4426

In 1965 at the onset of the Vietnam War, the Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) had only 36 MiG-17s and a similar number of qualified pilots, which increased to 180 MiGs (-17, -19, -21) and 72 pilots by 1968. The first deliveries of MiG-21s started in 1965.

The VPAF MiG-21F-13s, PFs or PFMs were all delivered from the USSR unpainted and in their natural metal finish with stencils on top. The combat experience has shown the necessity of a camouflage painting when flying over the Vietnamese jungle instead of the shiny metallic finish. Also, the lack of airfield shelters during the early years meant that the metallic MiGs were easily spotted by reconainassance missions. Without any norms or standards, paint was spontaneously applied on the airfields with not one aircraft looking like the other. Beige/tan and at least two different shades of green were applied depending on what was available. There were of course some exceptions when due to high atrittion the USSR made some emergency deliveries of MiG-21s from Soviet air units already wearing camouflage.

The MiG-21F-13 "red 4426" depicted as my subject was flown in 1967 during the Vietnam War by the VPAF ace Nguyen Nhat Chieu, credited by VPAF records with 6 kills. At the very beginning of the Vietnam War in 1965, Nguyen Nhat Chieu was assigned to the 921st Regiment flying MiG-17s. On the 20th of September 1965, Nhat Chieu was flying with a group of four MiG-17Fs when four US Navy F-4s were engaged North-East of Hanoi close to the Chinese border. He claimed his first air kill that day using cannon fire, but the US Navy records show no corresponding official combat loss.

He converted to the MiG-21 months later in 1966. During the air engagements of 1966, the VPAF lead 'Fishbed' in each pair was equipped with two infrared-guided R-3S AAMs, while the wingman's aircraft carried two rocket pods containing unguided high-explosive fragmentation S-5M rockets (from an UB-16-57 rocket pod). On the 7th of July 1966 Nguyen Nhat Chieu's wingman, Tran Ngoc Siu shot down a F-105D with two rocket salvos fired from ranges of 500m and 200 m to claim the VPAF's first aerial victory over a US aircraft using unguided rockets. USAF loss records attributed the loss to AAA.

He claimed his second victory (one F-4C) with a R-3S missile on the 20th of May 1967 while flying a MiG-21, although USAF records attributed the loss to 85 mm AAA. His third and fourth air victories were achieved on the 23rd August 1967 while flying in formation with the ace Nguyen Van Coc (of the later famous red "5015" - MiG-21PFM - Vietnam - 1968 | Album by Redicus (1:72)) intercepting a large group of 40 USAF aircraft flying North from over Laos. Chieu downed two F-4Ds using both of the R-3S missiles. The last loss was credited by USAF records to the AAA. He claimed his fifth air victory on the 7th October 1967, when together again with Van Coc he pursued a formation of F-105s and fired an R-3S missile that hit one F-105F "Wild Weasel". The destruction of the jet made Chieu an ace, although USAF records attributed the loss again to 85 mm AAA.

Chieu claimed his sixth and last victory on the 29th October 1967, while flying the MiG-21F-13 "4426". While intercepting a formation of F-4s, he fired an R-3S, which detonated near one of the F-4s, causing it to trail smoke. However, according to USAF records, no F-4s were lost on this date.

Currently, there is only one known photograph of the "red 4426". In this one photograph, the underside seems unpainted and kept in the natural metal with visible stencils. The top side appears to be painted with a beige/tan colour on top of which camouflage stripes were applied. Although a color profile/reproduction from "MiG-21 Aces of the Vietnam War" by Istvan Toperczer suggests that all stripes were of the same green tone, the original black and white photograph suggests that every second camouflage stripe was of a different colour. My intuition assumed brown at first for this second stripe, but I have never seen or heard of any brown camouflage color on any VPAF aircraft so far. The second color can only be light green, since only tan/beige, light green and dark green were commonly used for camouflage painting by the VPAF. My educated guess assumes that both green colors should basically be the same as the ones applied on the famous VPAF MiG-21PFM "5015" (MiG-21PFM - Vietnam - 1968 | Album by Redicus (1:72))

While Nhat Chieu did survive the war and was interviewed by Ivan Toperczer, the subsequent fate of the MiG-21F-13 "red 4426" is not known.