The Red Eagles: How the US Air Force Fought a Secret War at Home

For more than a decade, the United States Air Force operated the world's most secret fighter unit: the 4477th Test & Evaluation Squadron — the Red Eagles. Deep in the Nevada desert, American pilots flew real Soviet MiG-21s and MiG-23s against frontline US crews, letting an entire generation "meet their first MiG" before anyone shot at them for real. This is the story of program CONSTANT PEG: how the MiGs were scavenged from three continents, what it cost the men who flew them — and why a three-star general died in a jet the Air Force refused to name. Declassified by the USAF on November 13, 2006. Built on declassified films and documents (NARA, DIA, National Security Archive, DVIDS). Newspaper front page shown at 0:49–0:57 is a re-creation (real Washington Post headline, April 27, 1984). Music: Have Wraith catalog cues (X-Planes, Area 51, Blackbird, Broken Arrows films). 00:00 The General Who Fell From the Sky 01:52 The Problem: Vietnam's Kill Ratios 04:29 Getting MiGs: Defectors and Lucky Accidents 07:10 CONSTANT PEG: A Squadron Is Born 09:46 The Fleet: A Scavenger Hunt on Three Continents 12:30 How You Fight a MiG in Peacetime 14:40 The Cost: Brown, Postai, and General Bond 17:32 Shutdown: The Last Launch 19:49 Legacy: Forty to One