Bushcat's MiG-25

Pictures inside the cockpit were taken with a small Nikon 300 on Fujichrome 200.

In the MiG-25U or Foxbat-C, we took off with full burners and climbed to 18km where Ural did an impressive run up to M2.4. The push from the engines was immense. We then we went up to 24km at M2.2: at this height, the sky is dark above, bright on the horizon, and the earth is clearly curved. I'd earlier spotted a Buran tucked away on the airfield and had persuaded them to let me go see it. Ural had flown atmospheric handling tests for it using the MiG-25 as test bed, so after blasting up and down the countryside ("go to Ludicrous Speed") we did a simulated Buran landing with the MiG-25 which was pretty wild: wheels down from 20km to ground level, descending all the way at 19 degrees with tight turns. Buran used this technique to bleed off energy during its descent to the runway after re-entry.

Before landing, we did a fly-by down the runway with the wheels down, raising them near the camera and engaging full afterburner into a spectacularly noisy left turn back up through the clouds in preparation for finals. As we popped above the low clouds at about 3 km, I could see the shadow of the MiG-25 with a completely circular rainbow around its nose. Another 30 minutes gone!

• Standing behind the MiG-25's tailpipes. Much bigger than the MiG-29.
• Rear quarter view.
• The two cockpits open. The front cockpit, where the trainee normally sits, almost looks like an afterthought.
• Some kind of laser reflector on the starboard inboard pylon? It is about 30 cm tall. Update: this appears to be part of a ground-tracking system which allows the aircraft speed to be monitored very accurately from the ground during test runs. The MiG would be expected to fly along a pre-determined track, so the lack of all-round coverage would not be a problem.
• The angle of attack probe on the nose.
• Helmeted hero in cockpit, video capture.
• Top half of the cockpit, powered up, prior to take-off.
• Pilot and co-pilot seen from the nose, video capture.
• Taking off in full afterburner, video capture.
• Leaving the runway in full afterburner, video capture. Very noisy on the outside, nice and quiet inside the helmet!
• Passing through Mach 1 at 6km, climbing rapidly.
• View out of the cockpit: looking forward right at altitude, video capture.
• View out of the cockpit: looking forward at altitude turning left, video capture. Very black sky above, very blue below.
• View out of the cockpit: tighter turn left, descending. Video capture.
• Maximum altitude, 22300 meters/73,000 feet, shown on the altimeter at Mach 2.1.
• View out of the cockpit: beginning to roll right into a tight turn during the Buran descent profile.
• View out of the cockpit: looking down from 22km at a river during a tight right turn.
• MiG-25 in full afterburner during the fly-by, video capture.
• View out of the cockpit: rolling into tight left turn during the fly-by, video capture.
• View out of the cockpit: continuing the turn, entering low cloud, video capture.
• Decelerating on the runway after landing, video capture.
• Taxiing back from the runway to the hard pad after landing.
• Intrepid pilot sitting in the front cockpit after landing.
• Shaking hands with Ural Sultanov after the flight.

Movies in various formats

• AVI, 25fps
• AVI, 5 fps
• RealVideo suitable for ISDN
• RealVideo suitable for 28.8k

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