Mikoyan-Gurevich
5 types · 0 airframes
Pre-1950 Narrative
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Aircraft Types
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-1
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-1 was a Soviet high-altitude interceptor, the first production aircraft of the Mikoyan and Gurevich bureau. Designed around a large Mikulin inline engine and built largely of steel tube and wood to save light alloys, the I-200 prototype flew on 5 April 1940 and was ordered into production before its dangerous handling faults could be cured. Only one hundred were built in 1940 before the improved MiG-3 took over the line; issued to fighter regiments in 1941, most were destroyed in the opening days of the German invasion.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 was a Soviet single-seat jet fighter, first flown in late 1947, that shocked the West when it appeared over Korea in 1950. Built around a swept wing and engines copied from the British Rolls-Royce Nene, it fought the American F-86 Sabre in the first large-scale jet-versus-jet battles. More than 12,000 were built in four countries, and the type served with air forces around the world for decades.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 Fresco
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 Fresco was a Soviet single-seat jet fighter, first flown in January 1950 as a thorough refinement of the MiG-15. A thinner and more sharply swept wing, a lengthened fuselage and, in the MiG-17F, the first Soviet afterburning engine made it faster and more maneuverable at altitude than its predecessor. It entered service in October 1952, too late for Korea, became the standard Warsaw Pact fighter, and was licence-built in Poland and China. Over Vietnam, North Vietnamese MiG-17s used their agility and cannon armament against faster American jets. Sources disagree on production, giving totals from about 8,000 to 10,824 aircraft.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 Fishbed
The MiG-21 Fishbed is a Soviet supersonic jet fighter designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau in the 1950s. A small, simple, Mach 2 tailed-delta interceptor, it was built in larger numbers than any warplane since the Second World War and exported to dozens of air forces, fighting in the Middle East, South Asia and Vietnam. Licensed production in India and Czechoslovakia, and China's F-7 version, spread it further still, and a few air forces fly it seventy years on.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 was a Soviet high-altitude interceptor developed from the MiG-1 to remedy its faults, taking over the Factory No. 1 production line in December 1940. More than 3,100 were built in little over a year — the published accountings differ on the total — but the Eastern Front air war was fought at low altitude, where the MiG-3 was outclassed and lightly armed, and production was ended in favour of the Ilyushin Il-2. The surviving aircraft finished the war with the Soviet air defence forces.