The following account narrates the downing of a Cuban helicopter with 15 people on board, commanded by pilot Emilio González Rivas, on May 17, 1978, Negage, in a confrontation with the FNLA. Commanding a pair of Mi-8 helicopters, we arrived in the afternoon at the...
In March 1991, Major Orestes Lorenzo defected to the US in a MiG-23BN. A year later, he entered Cuba in a small plane and picked up his wife and two children, evading Cuban air defenses.
Juan Olivares Horta – one of the first group of Cuban pilots to fly MiG-23MLs into combat in August-September 1985. Historical aviation records frequently tie the Olivares Horta family name to a famous international incident in Angola. On August 7, 1988, a...
As of mid-1985, the centrepiece of the Angolan fighter-bomber operations remained the 9th Fighter Aviation Regiment (Regimento Aéreo de Caҫa, RAC). Established on 23 July 1984, and headquartered at Lubango AB, this regiment consisted of one operational conversion unit...
On 30 September 1985 the Angolan and Cuban forces operating in Angola suffered a spate of helicopter losses that effected their ability to support their troops. For a long time they were not able to understand what had happened to their valuable helicopters and...
In Angola during January 1986, Cuban intelligence services received reports from near the city of Huambo that many local village women were using parachute material to wrap their infants onto their backs. Rebel leader Jonas Savimbi and his National Union for the Total...
Lubango, March 1986. Maj Eduardo Gonzalez directing preparations for the MiG-23 ferry flights from Lubango to Huambo, to position for the C-130 interception missions
Capt Raul Rubio strapping into the front seat of a MiG-23UB for a night-training flight during March 1986
In the dramatic power struggle for Angola in 1987, South African Air Force Mirage F1s tackled MiG-23s in the skies above south-western Africa. Lionel Reid recounts the story Angola 1987. The Soviet and Angolan MPLA forces decided on an ambitious plan: a large-scale...
Cuban pilot of MiG-21 killed in Angola, other sources say MIG-23 ML near Lubango
During Angola's long-running civil war, MiG-21s of the Cuban Air Force were frequently deployed to attack ground targets manned by rebel forces or engage South African Air Force Mirage F1s conducting cross-border strikes. Most MiG-21 losses over Angola were attributed...
The early MiG-23 variants had a number of design shortcomings, including airframe strength and reliability, engine performance, maneuverability and radar performance. A considerable redesign of the airframe was conducted, resulting in the MiG-23ML (L - Lyogkiy or...