Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

) (NATO reporting name "Fagot") was a jet fighter developed for the USSR.

History

Front view of a MiG-15

In March of 1946, Soviet leadership sought out a new swept-wing jet fighter from the leading aircraft design houses. The Mikoyan OKB's response was a design with the bureau designation I-310; a project that was influenced by plans for the Focke-Wulf Ta 183, which Soviet forces had captured when they overran Berlin in 1945. The I-310 first flew on the 30th December 1947. Previous Soviet designs like the MiG-9 had been hampered by the poor quality of available engines, but acquisition of the British Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet led to the development of an unauthorized local copy, the Klimov VK-1, which powered the I-310.

MiG-15 underside

The I-310 was a clean, swept-wing fighter with wings and tail swept at a 35° angle. Although it possessed a number of dangerous handling eccentricities (some of which were never really resolved), including pitch-up at transsonic speeds, it had exceptional performance, with a top speed of over 650 mph (1,040 km/h). The I-310's primary competitor was the similar Lavochkin La-168. After evaluations, the MiG design was chosen for production. Designated MiG-15, the first production example flew on 31 December 1948. It received the NATO reporting name "Fagot", entering Soviet air force service in 1949. An improved variant, the MiG-15bis ("bis" being Latin for "twice"), entered service in early 1950, with a number of changes intended to mitigate the aircraft's handling flaws.

The MiG-15 was originally intended to intercept American bombers like the B-29. To that end it featured heavy cannon armament: two 23 mm cannon with 80 rounds per gun and a single massive 37 mm cannon with 40 rounds. These weapons provided tremendous punch, but their limited rate of fire made it more difficult to score hits against fast jet fighters. The 23 mm and 37 mm weapons also had radically different ballistic characteristics, and some United Nations pilots during the Korean War had the unnerving experience of having 23 mm shells pass over them while the 37 mm shells flew under them. An advantage of this armament was that the MiG-15bis and later versions carried the guns in a detachable under-nose pack which would be lowered with a crank and reloaded in as little as 15 minutes, enabling rapid turnaround times.

A variety of MiG-15 variants were built, but the most common was the MiG-15UTI (NATO 'Midget') two-seat trainer. Because Mikoyan-Gurevich never mass-produced the transition training versions of the later MiG-17 or MiG-19, the 'Midget' remained the sole Warsaw Pact advanced jet trainer well into the 1970s, the primary training role being fulfilled (save for Poland, who used their indigenous TS-11 Iskra jets) exclusively by Czechoslovak Aero L-29 Delfin (Maya) and the L-39 Albatros jets. While China produced two-seat trainer versions of the later MiG-17 and MiG-19, the Soviets felt that the MiG-15UTI was sufficient for their needs and did not produce their own trainer versions of those aircraft.

US Air Force MiG-15 delivered by a defecting North Korean pilot

The MiG-15 was widely exported, with the People's Republic of China receiving MiG-15bis models in 1950. Chinese MiG-15s took part in the first jet-versus-jet dogfights after the Communist invasion of South Korea, and proved superior to the UN air forces' F-80 and Gloster Meteors. Even the F-86 Sabre, introduced in December 1950, was inferior to the MiG-15 in many respects, although superior tactics and pilot training often allowed UN pilots to get the upper hand over Chinese and Korean pilots. Desperate to get hold of an intact MiG for testing, the United States offered $100,000 and political asylum to any pilot who would defect with their airplane. Eventually a North Korean pilot, Lieutenant No Kum-Sok, who claimed to be unaware of the proferred reward, landed at Kimpo Air Base in September 1953, allowing the first detailed evaluation of the aircraft. This MiG-15 was test flown by renowned test pilot Chuck Yeager (after replacing the USSR built ejection seat with an American one). Yeager is said to have reported that the MiG-15 was extremely dangerous to fly in a dive and found Soviet pilots in agreement. This aircraft is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton, Ohio.

It was a MiG-15 that in June 1952 shot down a Swedish air force DC-3 over the Baltic Sea at the beginning of the Catalina affair.

The USSR built around 12,000 MiG-15s in all variants. It was also built under license in Czechoslovakia (as the S-102 and S-103) and Poland (Lim-1 and Lim-2).

In the early 1950's, the Soviet Union delivered hundreds of MiG-15's to China, where they received the designation J-2. The Soviets also sent almost a thousand MiG-15 engineers and specialists to China, where they assisted China's Shenyang Airfact Factory in building the MiG-15 UTI trainer (JJ-2). China never produced single-seat fighter version of the J-2/MiG-15, only two-seat trainer JJ-2/MiG-15UTI variant. [1]

There's a dispute over exactly what is the "J-4". Some sources claim that western observers mistakenly labelled China's MiG-15-BIS as J-4, while PLAAF never used the "J-4" designation. Others claim that J-4 is used for MiG-17F, while J-5 is used for MiG-17PF [2]. Another source claim the PLAAF used J-4 for Soviet-built MiG-17-A, which were quickly replaced by license-built MiG-17F / J-5. [3] What is certain is that the service life of J-2 & J-4 in the PLAAF was short, as they were quickly replaced by the more capable J-5 and J-6.

Yuri Gagarin died in a training flight in a MiG-15UTI. Due to poor visibility and miscommunication with ground control, the plane flew into the ground.

While there is little doubt that the Focke-Wulf Ta 183 at least influenced MiG-15 design, some early sources go as far as claiming that the MiG fighter is little more than a re-engined Ta 183. This may have reflected a Cold War attitude that favored the discrediting of Soviet engineers. While the Soviets did seize plans for the Ta 183, most Focke-Wulf engineers were captured by Western armies. Currently, most sources acknowledge that the MiG-15 is an original design and that Western aircraft industries benefitted from German aerodynamic research just as much as Soviets.

The MiG-15 arguably had sufficient power to fly at supersonic speeds but could not do so because it did not feature an "all flying" tail. As a result, the pilot's ability to control the aircraft significantly deteriorated as Mach 1 was approached. Later MiGs would incorporate all flying tails.

Versions

MiG-15UTI.

*I-310 : Prototype.
*MiG-15 : Single-seat jet fighter. The first production version.
*MiG-15P : Single-seat all-weather interceptor version of the Mig-15bis.
*MiG-15SB : Single-seat fighter bomber version.
*MiG-15SP-5 : Two-seat all-weather interceptor version of the MiG-15UTI.
*MiG-15T : Target-towing version.
*MiG-15bis : Improved single-seat fighter version.
*MiG-15bisR : Single-seat reconnaissance version.
*MiG-15bisS : Single-seat escort fighter version.
*MiG-15bisT : Single-seat target-towing version.
*MiG-15UTI : Two-seat dual-control jet trainer.
*J-2 : Chinese designation of the MiG-15 single-seat fighter.
*JJ-2 : Chinese designation of the MiG-15UTI two-seat jet trainer.
*Lim-1 : MiG-15 jet fighters built under licence in Poland.
*Lim-1A : Polish built, reconnaissance version of MiG-15 with AFA-21 camera
*Lim-2 : MiG-15bis built under licence in Poland.
*Lim-2R : Polish-built ground attack-reconaissance version of MiG-15bis with place for camera in the front part of the canopy
*Lim-2A : Polish build biplace ground attack-reconnaissance version
*SB Lim-1 : MiG-15UTI with RD-45 engine jet trainers built under licence in Poland.
*SB Lim-2 : MiG-15UTI with VK-1 jet trainers built under licence in Poland.
*S-102 : MiG-15 jet fighters built under licence in Czechoslovakia.
*S-103 : MiG-15bis jet fighters built under licence in Czechoslovakia.

Operators

Operators of the MiG-15

*Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Egypt, Finland (MiG-15UTI), Guinea, Hungary, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, North Korea, Nigeria, North Yemen, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Somalia, South Yemen, Soviet Union, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam

Specifications (MiG-15bis)

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