Interception of Backfire near Norway, early 1980s?

I remember seeing photos from the early 1980s (82 or 83) of a Soviet
Backfire-C intercepted by Norwegian F-16s. The Backfire had two
roles--attacking US aircraft carriers and medium range strategic bombing.

This was the first public release of photos of the Backfire-C by the West
and it may have been the first time the Soviets sent one out over
international waters. Presumably this was the naval variant. I remember
that the plane had the very sleek gray and seagull white paint job, and the
sky was a gorgeous blue. It stuck in my mind as a really nice photo, and I
believe that the photo(s) was released through NATO.

Does anybody remember this? Does anybody know where I can look to find the
photos? I wrote an article about US military attempts to track the Backfire
and I'd love to get this photo(s).




D

DDAY wrote:
I remember seeing photos from the early 1980s (82 or 83) of a Soviet
Backfire-C intercepted by Norwegian F-16s. The Backfire had two
roles--attacking US aircraft carriers and medium range strategic bombing.

This was the first public release of photos of the Backfire-C by the West
and it may have been the first time the Soviets sent one out over
international waters. Presumably this was the naval variant. I remember
that the plane had the very sleek gray and seagull white paint job, and the
sky was a gorgeous blue. It stuck in my mind as a really nice photo, and I
believe that the photo(s) was released through NATO.

Does anybody remember this? Does anybody know where I can look to find the
photos? I wrote an article about US military attempts to track the Backfire
and I'd love to get this photo(s).




D

Only one I could find on the web was a TU-22M (BACKFIRE B) being
intercepted by a Norwegian F-16:

http://www.kheichhorn.de/assets/imag...6_Backfire.jpg

TJ

DDAY wrote:

Does anybody remember this? Does anybody know where I can look to find the
photos? I wrote an article about US military attempts to track the Backfire
and I'd love to get this photo(s).


You might try the US Naval Institute Photo Archives. Sounds like the
sort of thing they'd have.



--
Tom Schoene lid
To email me, replace "invalid" with "net"

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In article . com, "TJ"
wrote:

I remember seeing photos from the early 1980s (82 or 83) of a Soviet
Backfire-C intercepted by Norwegian F-16s. The Backfire had two
roles--attacking US aircraft carriers and medium range strategic bombing.

Only one I could find on the web was a TU-22M (BACKFIRE B) being
intercepted by a Norwegian F-16:

http://www.kheichhorn.de/assets/imag...6_Backfire.jpg

Thanks. That could be from the same series. However, it is very poor
quality. The shots I remember (at least one, possibly two photos printed in
a magazine somewhere) were spectacular. The Backfire was obviously newly
painted and the sky and sun were perfect for the shoot.

I have previously published an article on the USAF's Teal Ruby program,
which was intended to spot Backfires from space. The satellite never
launched, and I believe that partly this was due to the split interest in
the mission (Navy and Air Force were both interested, but apparently neither
was willing to pay for it). Another reason was possibly because they found
other means of doing it. And there were delays in the shuttle program that
rendered the technology obsolete. I ran the article with a Backfire photo
that Steven Zaloga loaned me. But I'd love to find a print quality version
of the earlier one.

Thanks for the help.



D

----------
In article t, Thomas
Schoene wrote:

You might try the US Naval Institute Photo Archives. Sounds like the
sort of thing they'd have.

That's a good suggestion. I'll give them a try. Last time I went through
their collection, however, I was surprised that it was not as comprehensive
as I expected. Their photos of Soviet ships were not all that great. And
even their photos of USN ships were not that extensive. I've found better
material at the National Archives.




D

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