A Restored “Eagle”

Until 1990 the fighter was in service with the Polish Air Force, then it was exhibited in the Lodz-Lubinek Museum for 13 years. The Jet Age Foundation purchased it in 2006 from a senior pilot. In recent years, four to six mechanics worked on its overhaul in a “full time" job, while the rest of the repair team sacrificed their free time to achieve the great goal, which was to make sure that the aircraft can take off again.

Gábor Talabos added that the aircraft was equipped with communication systems and navigation aids as well as new batteries that are considerably lighter than the original ones. In order to modernize the fighter, they had to put 74 kilograms of lead in the nose so that its centre of gravity can be restored to the original arrangement.

There are only three airworthy MiG-15 fighters in the world: one in the USA, one in Poland and the third one now in Hungary. The Foundation wants to take the “Eagle" to air shows and displays, and is going to draw up a detailed program schedule in the near future.

At present the aircraft can seat a crew of two, and five pilots are scheduled to fly it. (Ret.) Col. József Pinkóczi and his trainee, MALÉV pilot Tamás Rohács are flying the Soviet-made fighter to test its performance at the Szolnok Helicopter Base.

Col. Pinkóczi began his career as a fighter pilot by flying this aircraft type, and it so happened that he will end it by flying the same type.

Brig.-Gen. Imre Lamos (see picture), the commander of the HDF 86th Szolnok Helicopter Base was pleased to host the flight test program of the restored fighter. As he said at the opening of the public “engine startup" event on July 13, “we have provided technical and logistic assistance to cherish the airmen’s traditions, because the saying “There is no future without knowing and respecting the past" is even more justified in the case of flying.

The MiG-15 was the first fighter jet to enter service and see combat in large quantities in the countries of the Eastern bloc. The Soviet, Chinese and North Korean MiG-15 pilots scored many kills, for example during the Korean War. After World War II, the first MiG-15s entered service with the Hungarian People’s Army in 1951.

The aircraft type made its public debut at a military parade held on April 4, 1952, when 20 MiG-15s flew over Heroes’ Square in Budapest.

With the next-generation aircraft entering service in the early 1960s, the phasing out of the MiG-15s from the Air Force began. The last “Eagle" with the markings of the Hungarian People’s Army on it flew until 1975.

Update: On Monday, July 18 in an aborted take-off, the restored Hungarian MiG-15 fell back on the runway after climbing to an altitude of some meters at the Szolnok Helicopter Base. No one was injured in the accident.
Erika Bajkó, the spokeswoman of the Transportation Safety Bureau told us that the pilot of the fighter – which is registered as an X-plane – experienced an unusual bank angle, and tried to correct it but failed. The wings of the MiG-15 hit the runway, as a result of which its nose undercarriage broke off and the main landing gears got damaged.

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