Libyan Mig 23 (I think) crashes in city

[centuryseries]

Slideshow here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12794623

[Corsair 14F]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hYzH3seLnU I think we have rehearsed enough, time to go now Go!! Mirages Go!!

[hae5904]

Yep....that's a Mig 23!!

Here's a close up.
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k204/Hank41/m1gz1d1a4oo0_700.jpg


Cheers.

[W. Bleddyn]

Unfortunately that was an Opposition Mig, not a Loyalist one. Also unfortunate is that you can clearly see in the last shot that the pilot punched out too late for his chute to open. Reports on Al Jazeera are that he died.

[Crusader]

I certainly would not want to be a member of the Libyan Air Force , either in the air or on the ground . :salute: to the French who I believe the news said this morning are starting to fly missions over Libya .

[fsafranek]

Things should heat up this weekend. Too bad the UN dragged it's feet so long that the Opposition was pushed back from their gains but maybe they needed the situation to worsen so the resolution could be pushed through?

Quoting an email from a friend regarding where they can fly from: "The French and Italians can maybe fly from their home soil. The <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> base on <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Sigionella</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Sicily</st1:State></st1:place> is probably one of the main bases. Not to mention the Greek Air bases just a stone throw of the coast of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>. And the Brits have RAF Akrotiri on <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cyprus."</st1:place></st1:country-region>
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"></st1:place></st1:country-region>:ernae:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

[alain95]

At that time U.N. forces are flying above Benghazi, it shouldn't be a "Milk run" because Lybian
forces have some AA potential with quality Russian weapons and detection systems, as the AA rocket SA-6...

Some french Tv news :

http://www.bfmtv.com/video-infos-actualite/detail/quand-sarko-sauve-la-libye-1058883/

From a space-time breech.
:engel016:

[Flyboy208]

I see the Dassault Rafale units are now in action ... Mike

[alain95]

RAFALE : They are far from being the best in the world but I really Enjoy them, there is a Dassault factory few kilometers from my home.

http://www.bfmtv.com/

cheers
:gameon:

[wiltzei]

BBC LIVE: French military jet opens fire in Libya (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12776418)

Reuters: Rebel says own plane downed over Benghazi (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/19/us-libya-benghazi-jet-idUSTRE72I2XM20110319)

[Allen]

US begins assault against Libyan air defenses
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_us_libya_military;_ylt=Ajb5ihNn5kpV4I4DqdDd79Zp aP0E;_ylu=X3oDMTFiMThkOTlsBHBvcwMzBHNlYwN5bl9icmVh a2luZ19uZXdzBHNsawN1c2xhdW5jaGVzbWk


Can we get an big happy/sad Libyan info sticky thread? Every time somthing happen there we have 2 or 3 thread about it. This way we could keep the fourm clean from multiple threads about the samne thing.

[warchild]

Wellll, the thing i question is that, even though this is breaking news, and even though aircraft are used is this really something that needs to be here at all?? I dont feel that war death dieing and politics belong on SOH.. We cant make whats happening in the outside world go away, but we can choose to focus on more relatively pertinent subjects.. Its the governments that are at war, not us, and I'd like to avoid that possibility.
Pam

[deathfromafar]

Besides the Rebel Mig-23 getting downed, there are other reports starting to surface of fratricide in air to ground strikes. No confirmation as of yet but time will bear out if this is true or not. This risk was warned of well before hand that it would be very difficult if not impossible to tell one side from another even with FAC air & ground assets in place and especially so this late in the game.

The biggest problem is that dislodging Gaddafi with airpower alone isn't going to happen. That will take a ground invasion of at least moderate size. Doing so in the midst of a civil war or worse, getting fully drawn into it is another possibility. History has clearly shown that most hasty response operations end badly whether in the near or long term. Caution being the key in all of this.

[Lazerbrainz2k3]

THere's been a bunch of talk on the news about the US possibly sending the F-22 into the region to enforce the no-fly zone. Probably unneccesary, since the Libyans can't muster a serious challenge to the Mirage 2000 much less a Rafale or Typhoon, but... man. If I were one of Qaddafi's fighter pilots with some of the best fighters in the world already after me and the ultimate airborne habringer of death thinking of coming my way too, I might be seriously thinking of finding someone to break my arms & legs about now...

[Z-IanMCD]

With a bit of luck, at least a few allied pilots will be able to rise to ace status!! :jump:

[alain95]

With a bit of luck, at least a few allied pilots will be able to rise to ace status!! :jump:

Funny perspective Ian, I just hope there we will be no friendly fire...

Regards
:engel016:

[Francois]

Wellll, the thing i question is that, even though this is breaking news, and even though aircraft are used is this really something that needs to be here at all?? I dont feel that war death dieing and politics belong on SOH.. We cant make whats happening in the outside world go away, but we can choose to focus on more relatively pertinent subjects.. Its the governments that are at war, not us, and I'd like to avoid that possibility.
Pam

I find this a strange comment on a predominantly military forum, really.

I was just looking through the threads and wondering why there wasn't more activity after 'we' have finally started acting as we should have some 2 weeks ago already...... But maybe you have to have had personal experience with being suppressed by a dictatorship to be able to get worked up over these sort of things.

Am I to understand that we are NOT to discuss these happenings here?
Just curious... I'll continue to stick my opinions unabridged on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/#%21/Francois.Dumas)and Twitter (http://twitter.com/#%21/EuropeRider)of course :salute:

[wombat666]

THere's been a bunch of talk on the news about the US possibly sending the F-22 into the region to enforce the no-fly zone. Probably unneccesary, since the Libyans can't muster a serious challenge to the Mirage 2000 much less a Rafale or Typhoon, but... man. If I were one of Qaddafi's fighter pilots with some of the best fighters in the world already after me and the ultimate airborne habringer of death thinking of coming my way too, I might be seriously thinking of finding someone to break my arms & legs about now...

Libya falls under the NATO umbrella of operations.
And as things stand, I believe the UN have left any decisions too late, as usual.:banghead:

[huub vink]

Just curious... I'll continue to stick my opinions unabridged on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/#%21/Francois.Dumas)and Twitter (http://twitter.com/#%21/EuropeRider)of course :salute:

Francois, a topic like this can easily lead to heated discussion. I have been around long enough to remember what happened with Netwings after September 2001. I think nobody wants to have something similar happening here.

I don't know why but when people discuss a topic like this there is an tendency that an opinion suddenly becomes the truth for some people ;).

Therefore staff will be very present in threads like this and when the temperatures rises to an unhealthy level we will not hesitate to close the discussion.

Cheers,
Huub

[Francois]

No worries, Huub, I was just wondering. So you are considering changing the name of the forum to Newsdoves maybe ? :icon_lol:

[alain95]

I trust in you to keep a good level of water in the pools, and to control the reactor cooling system.
Just a little logo that says : Nuclear power ? no thanks

33572
Unfortunately the news are very hot this week...
:engel016:

[Ickie]

after a lot of talk in the staff forum, it has been decided to lock this thread. Huub has it under control, but all it would take is a few postings when no-one is looking for this to get out of control.
So far it has been neutral and peaceful and we want to keep SOH out of the shores of Tripoli.

sorry
ickie