Top 10 fighter Aircraft of 1969

Twenty years prior to 1969 most air forces had been flying piston-engined fighters essentially no different from those of World War II.

In the following twenty years, top speeds almost quadrupled and cannons were complemented with guided missiles capable of destroying an enemy thirty miles away. To survive the carnage of the Middle East and Vietnam air wars, aircraft became ever more potent and by 1969 had become extraordinarily sophisticated killing machines.

The fighters of this time were also far more demanding and dangerous to their own pilots than today’s generation of digital fighters, and these brutish machines were unforgiving of mistakes. Here are the 10 best fighters of 1969. 

10: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 ‘Farmer’

Like most MiG fighters, the 19 was a rough-and-ready ‘hot-rod’. Agile, powerful and capable of gut-wrenching acceleration— it was also ill-equipped, unforgiving and brutal. Armed with three cannon and two K-13 missiles,  a well flown MiG-19 remained an opponent to be respected in 1969, however its lack of a modern radar and modest top speed of Mach 1.22 put it at a distinct disadvantage.

Pakistan Air Force MiG-19 pilot Wing Commander Irfan Masum told us “We did not fear fighting any opposing aircraft. The Intel, at the time, was that we were most likely to face the Hawker Hunter in the war as that was the aircraft which was to cross over the border to do battlefield air-interdiction and airfield strikes.”

 Masum continued, “We pretty much knew what tactics to employ. Firstly, force the Hunter to get into a vertical plane combat where our superior thrust-to-weight ratio would give us a distinct advantage. Secondly, allow the Hunter to exit and then catch him with the MiG-19’s excellent acceleration and let the heat-seeking Sidewinder missile do the rest.”  

The type served in several air wars including Vietnam; Vietnam People’s Air Force (VPAF) received their first MiG-19 at the end of Operation Rolling Thunder in 1968.  The aircraft could easily outturn the Phantom (and out accelerate it up to Mach 1.2) and VPAF MiG-19 downed seven F-4 Phantom IIs. 

9: Folland/HAL Gnat

Though highly specialised as a short-range dogfighter, the tiny and viciously manoeuvrable, Gnat developed a fierce reputation in the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war— earning the nickname ‘Sabre-slayer’ for shooting down seven Pakistani Canadair Sabres. During the Battle of Boyra, the Indian Air Force (IAF) Gnats downed two PAF Canadair Sabres in minutes and badly damaged another.

Another notable dogfight over Srinagar airfield saw a lone Indian pilot hold out against six Sabres scoring hits on two of the Sabres in the process before himself being shot down. The lighter, more modern, Gnat with its higher thrust-to-weight ratio had an advantage against the Sabre in the vertical plane.

Created by British designer W. E. W. Petter, who was also responsible for the Lightning, this subsonic British pugilist punched well about its weight, but in a world of supersonic radar-equipped fighters it is questionable how effectively it would have performed against a well-equipped enemy.

The Gnat was the smallest jet fighter to ever see service and may well have been the tightest turning — it also had a climb rate twice that of the Sabre. The Gnat has knocked the F-86 out of our top ten, but the Sabre was still a respectable fighter in ’69, notably where it was armed with Sidewinders.)

8: Joint place: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

These fighters each had huge advantages and disadvantages and were the hardest to place in the top 10.

Any enemy foolish or ignorant enough opponent to fight the MiG-17 in the 300-330 knot regime was likely to learn a particularly nasty one-off lesson, as many did in Vietnam. Above 450 knots however, it was a pig — and its equipment was primitive; without hydraulic assistance much of the MiG-17’s manoeuvrability depended on the physical strength of its pilot… The MiG-17 was very tough and extremely reliable, but by 1969 was verging on obsolescence.

8: Joint place: Dassault Super Mystère

The French Super Mystère was Europe’s first supersonic fighter, but by 1969 was also showing its age, despite its good performance in the Middle East. It was liked by Israeli pilots and fought in the 1967 Six-Day War and it was said to be a decent counter to the MiG-19. During this conflict, Super Mystères achieved a number of air victories: two IL-14, one MiG-17 and two MiG-21s.

8: Joint place: Lockheed F-104 Starfighter

Many would argue the F-104 Starfighter deserves a higher ranking, but the fact USAF did not use it as a fighter is revealing.  That most operators used the aircraft in the fighter-bomber or maritime attack role point to the type’s limitation as a pure fighter, notably its famously poor agility. Its top speed of Mach 2+ was exceptional, its armament decent and it had a large cockpit with excellent visibility for the pilot.

But its combat record was at best mediocre: on 6 September 1965, a Pakistani F-104 may have shot down an IAF Dassault Mystère IV and damaged another. The PAF achieved two victories, however, one of the F-104 Starfighter’s victims was a portly Breguet Alize of the Indian Navy, hardly the most challenging opponent.

7: Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter

Though relegated to the fighter-bomber role in US hands, the Northrop F-5 was an extremely capable air-to-air fighter, in which role it served with several air forces in 1969 (including Taiwan). In this role it is closely comparable, and in some ways superior, to the Soviet MiG-21.

Later Soviet studies of captured F-5s revealed the type to have superior manoeuvrability to the MiG-21, and more benign low speed and high angle of attack handling characteristics. Later, as a more advanced variant, it would indeed prove its mettle against the MiG-21 in the Ethio-Somali War.

The F-5 was a very compact design that was excellent in many ways. It was easy to maintain, economical to operate and a formidable foe in a dogfight. Its combination of small size and rapid roll and turn rate made it an air-to-air fighter to be respected. Despite being ten years old in 1969 it was far from having its full potential realised, and yet to be given the radar or lead-in computing gunsight it needed to make the most this superb airframe.

The American love of large high-tech fighters meant it missed out on what could well have been matured as a superior analogue to the MiG-21.

6: English Electric Lightning

The fastest climbing and one of the most agile fighters on this list, the Lightning also boasted the best acceleration and highest service ceiling. The Lightning was a total rocketship; everything was sacrificed for performance, notably endurance and the number of missiles.

Though it is the received wisdom that the Lightning F.Mk 2A was the best model, former Lightning pilot Ian Black noted that this is maybe a myth, and though the F.Mk 2A was the best for low level air defence over Germany, the best all-rounder was probably the F.Mk 6.

It was superior to the F-4 Phantom II in dogfight, a British Phantom pilot noted “The Lightning pilot can out-turn you, he can out-climb you, but he ain’t going to be able to do it for very long. You can see him from a long distance, so you can get your shots off without him even seeing you. If that failed, it would be best to remain unseen. You wouldn’t voluntarily get into a turning gunfight with a Lightning, as you’re probably going to lose. Then whoever runs out of fuel first – and it’s probably him- has lost the fight.”

5: Saab 35 Draken

Delta wings, a data-link, a Mach 2 top speed, the ability to operate from short runways and an infra-red search and track sensor are common features for 21st century fighters but the Swedish J-35F(2) was boasting these way back in 1969! It was also rumoured to have the lowest radar cross section of its generation (the MiG-21 is another likely contender for this title).

The Draken was a sneak preview into the future, remarkably it did all this with half the thrust of the Lightning (the Draken had one Avon, the British aircraft two).

However, the Draken was neither combat proven nor very agile, though uncoupling the flight control could allow pilots to perform what would later be known as the ‘Cobra’, a dramatic manoeuvre in which the nose is raised momentarily beyond the vertical position, before dropping back to normal flight. One F-15 pilot we spoke to was not impressed by the Draken, and after ‘fighting’ against it in training described it as an “underpowered MiG-21”.

Whereas the Falcon missile had a (perhaps unfair) bad reputation in US service it is believed that the Swedish version, the Rb 28 with its unique seeker-head, was a superior weapon. The J-35F(2) variant was the most capable Draken in 1969.

4: Mikoyan MiG-21 ‘Fishbed’

The type’s greatest weaknesses were a poor endurance and lack of a medium-range weapon (though to be fair - few fighter types carried these in 1969). When ex-MiG-21 pilot Air Marshal M Matheswaran (retd) spoke to us he noted the type’s fantastic acceleration, electric instantaneous turn rate and tiny radar cross section.

The Soviet Union had produced a small, cheap and rugged type that could take on the best fighters of the West, a remarkable achievement. As well as the cannon, it could carry two K-3 or K-13 ‘heat-seeking’ missiles.

3. Dassault Mirage III

The Mirage III proved itself devastatingly effective in Israeli hands in the 1960s. The French fighter was a dependable jack of all trades, according to Mirage III pilot Gonzalo O’Kelly, “The Snecma Atar 9C was a very reliable engine, very resistant to compressor stalls and almost immune to flame out in flight. It was very easy to fly if you had enough speed, and stable around its envelope.”

“We always flew with two supersonic fuel tanks, but the aircraft behaviour was very docile. It was also very strong. It had a landing gear that would have been strong enough for carrier landings and it wasn’t unusual to see 30 people over the wings and fuselage posing for a photo.”

O’Kelly continued, “We didn’t need any ground support to start the engine, which was very good for detachments. It was very good at accelerating in a dive, no aircraft of that time could follow us. The aerodynamics were excellent but designed for high speed.” Counting against the Mirage were its relative lack of power, and claustrophobic and cluttered cockpit.

According to Israeli sources, during the Six Day War of 1967, a mere twelve Mirage IIIs shot down 48 aircraft. Air-to-air armament came in the form of two extremely powerful 30-mm DEFA cannon, two Matra R.550 Magic short-range infra-red guided missiles and one medium range radar-guided Matra R.530 air-to-air missile.

2: Vought F-8 Crusader

The US Navy adage, “When you’re out of Crusaders, you’re out of fighters” speaks volumes. The Crusader was an agile, responsive hotrod beloved by its pilots. Unencumbered by the weight that the long-range fleet defence origins had imposed on its service rival the F-4, the Crusader was a superior dogfighter.

Vought wrapped the smallest lightest airframe around the most powerful engine, gave the pilot excellent visibility and created a machine that was a delight to fly and devilishly hard to beat in a dogfight.

The Crusader also carried internal guns throughout its career, a dangerous omission on earlier Phantoms, which earned the F-8 the nickname, ‘The Last Gunfighter’. According to its pilots it was ‘simply unbeatable’ in the merge, though the Crusader had an inferior armament and radar to the larger F-4.

Aerodynamically the French F-8E(FN) was superior to other variants, with significantly increased wing lift due to greater slat and flap deflection and the addition of a boundary layer control — and enlarged stabilators.  The US F-8L was probably the best equipped variant at this time. Armament consisted of four 20 mm (0.79 in) Colt Mk 12 cannons and AIM-9 Sidewinders heat-seeking missiles.

1: McDonnell Douglas Phantom II

No surprises for the top spot, the fabulous Phantom was a vast ugly battleship of a fighter, quite unlike anything else flying. The Phantom had twice the air–to-air weapon load of any other aircraft on this list, and as the F-4J, had a radar that was far superior to anything else. The Phantom also had an excellent range, was exceptionally tough and had the benefit of a two-man crew.

It was the most powerful fighter on the list, with almost 36,000Ib of reheated thrust. Choosing the most formidable Phantom variant of the time is trickier — it’s a toss-up between the F-4J with its (at the time) unique ability to ‘look down’ and ‘shoot down’ (its new fangled pulse doppler radar denied opponents the liberty of hiding from radar by flying low) and the internal gun toting F-4E.

Though the  F-4J and F-4E were technically the most formidable Phantoms of ’69, they had yet to score a kill — and both would have to wait to be blooded in air combat (the former scored its first kill in 1970, the latter in ’72). (It should be noted that the (British) Royal Navy’s F-4K was also well-equipped.)