U.S. general died while ‘flying Soviet MiG’

Press, 3 May 1984, Page 10

U.S. general died while ‘flying Soviet MiG’

NZPA-AP Washington A United States Air Force general who died in a plane crash last week had been flying a Soviet MiG23 “Flogger” supersonic fighter used in a secret American programme that studied Soviet weapons systems, said Pentagon (Defence Department) sources. Lieutenant General Robert Bond, who was 54, vice-commander of the Air Force Systems Command, was killed in Nevada on Friday in a flying accident, but the department declined ■ to make public details of the crash. At the time, it was said that General Bond

had been flying “an Air Force specially modified test craft.” The sources, who did not wish to be identified, would not reveal how the Air Force had been able to obtain MiG23 aircraft, but said that such planes had come from a Middle East country other than Israel. Israel has captured several types of East bloc military equipment in wars with Soviet-backed States and reportedly has been a supplier of Soviet weapons for American study. General Bond was a veteran pilot and had flown several thousand hours in

fighters, including Phantom jets in Vietnam, but his duties at the time of his death were mostly administrative and it was not known if he had had any experience flying Soviet planes. The Soviets began producing MiG23s in the late 1960 s and have upgraded the aircraft several times, producing about a half-dozen versions, including one made especially for export. Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, Vietnam, and India are among the countries that have bought MiG23s or received them as gifts from the Soviet Union.