4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron
November 5th, 2022
The Red Eagles (as the 4477th was know as) primary mission was to teach pilots the abilities of the MiG's and how to beat them in a dogfight. The legend was that the name 4477 is likely from the first commanding officer, who was 44 in 1977, the year that they were made a fight. The Red Eagles were based at Tonopah, in the northern section of Area 51 where the Lockheed Have Blue (later the F-117) was tested.
The first MiG that the Red Eagles had was a MiG 21 originally from the Syrian Air Force whose pilot defected to Israel, After the Israelis finished testing the U.S. Government pressured the Israeli Government to permanently loan the MiG 21 to the U.S. under the code name Have Idea and was shipped in a C-5 Galaxy under the the nickname 007 to be in order after 006 in James Bond
After the Have Idea, two MiG 17s from the Syrian Air Force got lost and landed in Israel. After the Israelis conducted brief testing on them, the U.S. Air Force acquired them under the codenames Have Ferry (USAF serial number 002) and Have Donut (USAF serial number 055). After several years U.S. Navy Lieutenant M. Hugh Brown was killed in the Have Ferry MiG.
Here are a list with pictures of the Red Eagles' patches. When they were made a fight (4477 TEF) then after they were promoted to squadron status, the patch was changed for the new (4477 TES) then later on the enlisted personnel changed theirs to have a black eye on the eagle and a black star.
The Red Eagles also had three crashes with two casualties, leaving two widows and two children. The first one happened with MiG 17 with the USAF serial number 002 killing U.S. Navy Lieutenant M. Hugh Brown after going into an uncontrollable dive, it was actually the Have Ferry MiG. Then after that, the next crash was in the MiG 21 when it 's brakes failed and it crashed into the anti-crash barrier, both the pilot and the plane were flying within a week of the crash. The next crash was in the MiG 23 when it went into an uncontrollable roll and killing Captain Mark Postai.
