Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17F, part nine, African users, part three

As we've said many times before, the MiG-17F was the fighter backbone of many African nations, among them the following ones:

• Mozambique: Just like it happened with Angola, People's Liberation Air Force of Mozambique (PLAFM) was created in 1975 after Independence War and the subsequent Civil War. Twelve MiG-17Fs were supplied to the PLAFM most of them to perform ground support missions as they didn't have to keep the skies clear. Many of them were ex-East German which were already modified for fighter-bomber operations and had already underwing pylons for carry either bombs or air-to-ground rocket launchers.
  The fighter-bombers were delivered to the port of Beira in August 1981 with a detachment of East-German pilots and technicians to put the aircraft together and test-flight them. In fact, the first test flight took place in Beira on 9th September 1981 at the hands of an East German pilot. By October it was officially accepted into the PLAFM. There are reports about additional shipping of two 12-plane batches in 1983 and 1984 but they were never confirmed. During the whole duration of the Mozambican Civil War, the MiG-17F were flown by two fighter-bomber squadrons based at Maputo Air Base and it's known that all of them were inoperative by the early 1990s.
• Nigeria: The MiG-17 first and the MiG-17F second, gave the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) combat capability after a Biafran attack on 13th August 1967 that damaged the already weakened NAF. After that attack, the USSR supplied the Nigerian Air Force with deliveries taken from Egyptian ports to Kano IAP. Initially just 8 MiG-17F were delivered. In July 1971 it was estimated that all of them were still active. They were taken out of service in 1975 following the delivery of the MiG-21 which replaced them. 
• Uganda: From 1966 until 1972 around 12 MiG-17Fs were supplied to Uganda, whose Air Force (from now on Ugandan Army Air Force - UAAF) was strongly influenced by the Israeli Air Force back then, hence that atypical camouflage configuration. At least four of them were destroyed in the Entebbe Raid in 1977 and the last ones were flown during the Uganda-Tanzania War in 1978 and 1979. One of them was shot down by Tanzanian SA-7 on 11th October 1978 and the remaining ones (just two or three) captured and destroyed by Tanzanian troops in April 1979. 

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-17

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozambique_Defence_Armed_Forces

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Air_Force

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Uganda_(1971–79)

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda–Tanzania_War

6. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

MIkoyan-Gurevich MiG-17, part three, various African & American users

The regular version of the MiG-17 was used by many African countries and saw action in many wars that took place in that continent. Among those users are:

• Congo-Brazzaville: After achieving independence from France in the 1960s, in the 1970s they switched to the USSR for equipment. They were sold some MiG-17s and some MiG-15UTIs which were in service until the 1990s when they were replaced by MiG-21s.
• Morocco: In 1961 the Royal Moroccan Air Force adquired 12 MiG-17s together with MiG-15UTI trainers and Il-28 bombers. The MiG-17s saw action two years later, in 1963 during the Sand War and later, during Yom-Kippur War, a squadron of Moroccan MiG-17s were deployed in Egypt with the Egyptian 69 Squadron. Every Moroccan MiG-17 was replaced by more modern types.
• Mozambique: The People's Liberation Air Force of Mozambique was supplied with ex-East-German MiG-17s. They saw extensive action during Mozambican Civil War in the 1980s. The depicted one belonged to Adriano Bomba, a pilot who defected to South Africa on 8th July 1981. The South African Air Force tested the aircraft before returning it to its original owners. The MiG-17 was operated by two squadrons of the People's Liberarion Air Force of Mozambique which were based in Maputo. By the early 1990s they were totally inoperative as they lacked fuel and spare parts. When the Civil War ended, they were scrapped and replaced by more modern types.
• Nigeria: The Nigerian Air Force received real aerial combat capability when the USSR supplied MiG-17s during the Nigerian Civil War from Egypt and a Polish merchant ship. They served during the Biafran conflict and were in active until 1975 when they were replaced by the MiG-21.
• Somalia: Just before the outbreak of the Ogaden War (1977-1978) the Somalian Government bought some MiG-17s which most of them were destroyed shortly after the beginning of the war as they were whipped by the Cuban-backed Ethiopian Air Force. Some of them survived and were found derelict in 1992.
• Cuba: The first MiG-17s arrived in Cuba in 1964 and were based in Santa Clara. They were active until the 1980s when they were replaced by the MiG-23. In 1964 two American F-8 Crusaders which were escorting a Lockheed P-3 Orion almost got into combat against two Cuban MiG-17 as the MiG-17s were impending the P-3 to do its job. The F-8's pilots asked for permission to fire, but didn't get it.
  It was also the aircraft on which the Cuban pilot Eduardo Guerra Jiménez defected to Florida. 

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People’s_Republic_of_Congo_Air_Force

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_Air_Force

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Moroccan_Air_Force

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Air_Force

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozambique_Defence_Armed_Forces

6. http://www.urrib2000.narod.ru/EqMiG17.html (translated)

Aero L-29, part five, African users.

The Aero L-29 saw very active service in the African continent, in the next countries, among another oner that we'll post later:

• Angola: There are six L-29s in active service nowadays with the Angolan Air Force. Those were delivered during the 1970s and used during the Angolan Civil War. After that, they were used as their main trainer, role which they keep performing nowadays in the 9th Training Squadron, based at Menongue Air Base, in Menongue, Angola.
• Ghana: Some ex-Nigerian L-29s were sold to Ghana in the late 1980s. They served from 1989 until the mid 2000s when they were replaced by the Aero L-39. 
• Guinea-Conakry: The newly founded Guinean Air Force bought some Aero L-29s from Czechoslovakia to equip their training squadron. They served for an unknown period of time when they were retired.
• Nigeria: The Aero L-29 reached Nigeria in 1967 and served through Nigerian Civil War where it was used extensively as an attack aircraft. After that, they were used as trainers until they were either retired or sold to other countries like Ghana.
• South Africa: The South African 'Tyco Dolphins' acrobatic team operated at least one Aero L-29 during the 1990s.
• Uganda: The Ugandan People's Defence Air Force has six L-29s in inventory nowadays. They were bought directly to Aero during the 1970s and were used during the Ugandan-Tanzanian war in 1978. They are kept in active service nowadays.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_L-29_Delfín

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Air_Force_of_Angola

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana_Air_Force

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea_Air_Force

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Air_Force

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda_People%27s_Defence_Force#Ugandan_People's_Defence_Air_Force

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI, part five, African and American users.

As we've written previously, the MiG-15UTI was widely used across the African continent and that's not counting its Chinese copy, the Shenyang JJ-2/FT-2. On the other hand, the only American user of the UTI was Cuba.
The countries covered in this post are:

• Nigeria: The MiG-15UTIs arrived on to Nigeria in August 1967 from Egypt. They were used in the Nigerian Civil War (AKA Biafran conflict) and later in the 1970s were replaced in the training role by the Czechoslovak Aero L-29.
• Somalia: Back in the 1960s, the Somalian Air Force switched to Soviet material and advisors which were mainly Cuban. Therefore they received four MiG-15UTIs (some sources claiming they were the Shenyang FT-2) in order to train their pilots in the piloting of jet fighters. They took part in the Ogaden War in 1977 and soon after the chaos the country entered in, they left to decay. Some of them were found by US Rangers and Delta forces when they operated in the country in 1992.
• Uganda: The Ugandan People's Defence Air Force employed the MiG-15UTI since its foundation back in 1964. They operated from its capital, as the main trainer aircraft, and were used until they were replaced by the Aero L-29 in the mid-to-late 1970s. 
• Cuba: The MiG-15UTI was the main trainer aircraft of the Cuban Air Force, specially from 1959 onwards when they switched to Soviet equipment. The first aircrafts arrived in Cuba in 1962 making it the main trainer. They had quite a long career sine they kept on serving on that role until 1981 when they were replaced by the Czechoslovak Aero L-39.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-15

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Air_Force

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_Air_Force

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda_People%27s_Defence_Force

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolutionary_Air_and_Air_Defense_Force

6. http://www.urrib2000.narod.ru/EqMiG15.html (translated)