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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