Updates: 12/4/2021 2:17 PM
Released: 4.12.2021, 14:17

Prague – Shortly after noon, a convoy with a supersonic MiG-23MF fighter set off from Prague’s Malešice to the Aviation Museum in Kunovice. Disassembly and loading of the aircraft in the LOM Prague complex took over two hours, after which the transport set out on the D1 motorway, which will continue to Moravia. The trip to the museum should take him about four and a half hours. The machine will be the first exhibit of the so-called third generation of fighter aircraft in the Kunovice Museum, said Martin Hrabec, the museum’s director.

The transport of the aircraft is part of the agreement on the loan of machines from the state enterprise LOM Prague to the museum in Kunovice. “With this deed, we are once again strengthening our cooperation with the Kunovice Aviation Museum, and I am very happy about that. Not only is this saving another legendary machine of the Czechoslovak Air Force, but it will undoubtedly please many aviation enthusiasts in military aviation history,” said LOM Prague Director Jiří Protiva.

Before loading the plane with the crane, the mechanics removed the wings from the machine. However, the fuselage will carry the transport, which is provided by Universal Transport Prague, as a whole. the transport vehicle with the fighter then set off across the South Junction, Spořilov and 5th May Street on the D1 motorway. He should leave the convoy at exit 210 near Holubice in the Vyškov region. From there, they will head to Kunovice via Slavkov u Brna and Chřiby.

The MiG-23MF with fuselage number 7184 will be the first aircraft in the Kunovice Museum, which belongs to the so-called third generation of fighters. It will also be the first changeable wing geometry. According to Hrabal, the machine was one of the important items in the armament of the former Czechoslovak Air Force. At the same time, it should represent the Zatec air base, where the aircraft was with the 11th Fighter Air Regiment. The fighter was the last MiG-23 version of the MF delivered to Czechoslovakia, arrived from the USSR in December 1979. It was used by the state at the airports in Bechyně, České Budějovice and Žatec in the 1st and 11th Air Regiments, which belonged to the air defense units. After the decommissioning of the aircraft in the summer of 1994, it has been owned by LOM Prague since 1996. The aircraft completed a total of 1375 landings and flew 927.5 hours.

The MiG-23 fighter aircraft was created at the turn of the 60’s and 70’s as a successor to the more famous MiG-21. However, both types were produced simultaneously and in the Czech Air Force, the MiG-21 aircraft were eventually scrapped later. According to LOM Prague, the reason was the demanding maintenance and lower reliability of the MiG-23 machines; the last machines were scrapped in the Czech Republic in 1998.

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