(Text: Michael Wegerich)
Conversion to the MiG-21M and MF was complete for us young lieutenants, and the first familiarisation with landing on grass was behind us. We first landed with the MiG-21US / UM and an instructor on the grass runway of the field airfield at Müncheberg before we were allowed to land there on our own with a MiG-21M / MF.
Thanks to the good design of the MiG-21, landing on grass was not particularly difficult but somewhat unusual. Before landing you had to tighten the shoulder straps and switch off the nose wheel brake. Unlike Western aircraft, which brake only with the main landing gear, the MiGs brake with three wheels. But so as not to dig in with the nose wheel when braking on soft ground, it was possible to switch off this brake. The only peculiarity during the approach and flare was that the runway threshold and the grass strip, despite markings, stood out poorly from the surroundings. This made it somewhat harder to determine the flare point and to judge the flare height. Flap setting and approach and touchdown speeds on grass runways were identical to landings on concrete. After touchdown, retracting the flaps immediately was sensible to avoid possible damage from stones or clods of earth flying backwards. In addition, with this lift aid, the smallest bumps in the ground led to unpleasant hops and rocking of the aircraft. Only after retracting the flaps and deploying the brake chute did the aircraft roll steadily. At 200 km/h you could still feel the oscillations and vibrations of the aircraft caused by the uneven ground, but because of the grass and the low ground strength (7 kp/cm²) the aircraft decelerated quickly. Only the jolts, although damped by the landing gear, were transmitted to the whole airframe and could still be heard loudly. Using the brakes was hardly necessary – on the contrary. On soft ground, for example after rain, the point was not to come to a standstill but to taxi briskly so as not to sink into the ground. That is why the revs were already increased at about 60 km/h. The parking areas for the aircraft were usually better reinforced than the runway itself, so the wheels did not sink into the ground after the aircraft had been parked. Take-offs on grass were even less problematic than landings. It was best to take off on the move. Lining up for take-off was no problem either. The aircraft accelerated somewhat more slowly at the start of the roll. Before lifting off, the aircraft jumped like an impatient billy goat until it finally stayed in the air. On dry summer days, the MiGs taking off caused another problem. When a squadron had taken off on grass with afterburner, all you could see was burnt grass or bare earth. It took weeks for these areas to turn green again.
I was not entirely inexperienced with landing on grass runways when I was allowed to take part in an exercise. I had already flown two not entirely textbook interception flights in this exercise. I always flew the same aircraft on these flights. The weather was fine and summery when, slightly exhausted, I returned from the 3rd flight and contentedly taxied back into the dispersal area of the 3rd squadron. As I came closer to the hardened aircraft shelter in which I wanted to park the aircraft, I saw no technical personnel to receive me and push my aircraft back. I was startled. There was already a MiG there – the one in which I had flown the first two flights. I thought, "oh shit". I had been daydreaming and had taxied into the wrong dispersal area. My parking spot was in a completely different dispersal area. For the 3rd flight I had been given a different aircraft and had not thought of it any more. To get to my correct shelter, I would have had to turn around and taxi against the direction of traffic past the start command post into the other dispersal area. On the radio I could already hear the other aircraft landing, which would come taxiing towards me. I imagined the chaos on the taxiway, provoked by me personally, and what would happen to me as a lowly lieutenant. I felt as if I were in a trap and looked for a way out. First I turned the aircraft round and taxied back a bit, and then I could see my shelter and parking spot from behind in the other dispersal area 500 to 700 m away. There was nobody to be seen here in the dispersal area. Next to a small pine copse, a 1 m wide path of concrete slabs led about 100 m towards my shelter to a bunker. I thought, that is my way. I had experience of taxiing on grass, and why should it not work on this grass? But when I wanted to turn left onto the slab path, I saw the problem: a give-way sign. There was little room between the pines and the sign. I had to taxi very carefully and watch the wing tips. Between the sign and the wing on one side and the branches of the pines on the other there were only 10 cm to spare, but it was enough. When I was through the obstacle, I increased the revs and taxied the first 100 m with one wheel on the slab path and the other on the grass. The aircraft rolled smoothly over the grass. I steered between two shelters and came ever closer to my parking spot. My technician, who was already waiting for me, turned round in great surprise when he heard the engine noise coming from a completely different direction than usual. He recognised his aircraft, reacted calmly to the new situation with a raised hand and signalled me to taxi the last few metres. Just before the open doors of the shelter I taxied right onto the concrete slab, turned slightly left and was already in the ideal position to be pushed backwards into the shelter. The technician routinely gave me the signal to shut down the engine. Only now did others come to push the aircraft. After climbing out of the cockpit, I explained my mishap and the reason for my special taxi route to the technician, an old, experienced hand. He just laughed. The aircraft was without defects, there was no dirt or even damage on the landing gear, and so the technician was satisfied. Only now was I relieved, and I thought the problem had gone unnoticed. Above all because during exercises personnel had to stay in protective shelters, except for those with a specific task.
The next day, during flight preparation, there was cockpit training in the dispersal area of our 3rd squadron. On the drive back to the school building I sat next to my flight commander (Lieutenant Colonel Müller). As we drove past the pine copse and he looked left into the terrain, he suddenly said to me: "someone has taxied an aircraft along there!" I was startled – why was he saying this to me of all people? The tyre track could be seen clearly in the 20 to 25 cm high grass. I answered spontaneously: "I can't imagine anyone taxiing a MiG along here". He remarked: "I can't imagine it either". To this day I do not know whether anyone noticed this mishap. But it was never mentioned again. With the experience I had gathered up to then, I had great confidence in the MiG-21M / MF combat aircraft, which was robust and versatile and worked reliably even under difficult operational and combat conditions.