Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (NATO reporting name Sierra) was a jet fighter developed for the USSR.
Design began under the bureau designation I-310, which first flew in 1947 the I-310. Previous Soviet efforts like the MiG-9 had been hampered by the poor quality of available engines. The Russians had acquired wartime German jet engines, which had been none too reliable to begin with, and the Russians had made little headway with them. The Soviet fortunes changed dramatically in 1946 when the British (at the behest of Socialist Prime Minister Clement Attlee, who wanted to improve British-Russian relations) arranged for the Russians to acquire a manufacturing license for the Rolls-Royce Nene centrifugal flow turbojet engine. The Russian version was the Klimov RD-45. Initial problems of metallurgy forced the Russian engineers to develop a better copy, which entered production as the Klimov VK-1.
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 kph). Designated MiG-15, the first production example flew on 31 December 1948. It received the NATO reporting name Sierra, entering Soviet air force service in 1949. An improved variant, the MiG-15bis, 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 23mm cannon with 80 rounds per gun and a single massive 37mm 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 23mm and 37mm weapons also had radically different ballistic characteristics, and some American pilots had the unnerving experience of having 23mm shells pass over them while the 37mm 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 trainer versions of the later MiG-17 or MiG-19, the 'Midget' remained the primary Warsaw Pact jet trainer well into the 1970s.
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 Korean, battling the American F-80 or F-86 Sabre. Desperate to get hold of an intact MiG for testing, the United States offered $100,000 and asylum to any pilot who would defect with their aircraft. Eventually a North Korean pilot, 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. Although the MiG-15 was superior to the F-86 in many respects, superior tactics and pilot training allowed the USAF figter to get the upper hand.
It was a MiG-15 that in July 1952 shot down a Swedish DC-3 over the Baltic Sea.
The USSR built around 8,000 MiG-15s in all variants. It was also built under license in Czechoslovakia (as the A-102 and S-102) and Poland (Lim-1 and Lim-2).
China did not produce the type locally, but operated Soviet-built aircraft as the J-2 or JJ-2 (MiG-15UTI).
Yuri Gagarin died in a training flight in a MiG-15.
History
Specifications
MiG-15bis (1950)
| Related content | |
|---|---|
| Related Development | MiG-17 |
| Similar Aircraft | F-86 Sabre - Saab J-29 - Dassault Ouragan |
| Designation Series | MiG-9 - MiG-9 - MiG-13 - MiG-15 - MiG-17 - MiG-19 - MiG-21 |
| Related Lists | List of military aircraft of the Soviet Union and the CIS - List of fighter aircraft |
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