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Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

April 12, 2024

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (Russian: Микоян-Гуревич МиГ-15; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful jet fighters to incorporate swept wings to achieve high transonic speeds. In aerial combat during the Korean War, it outclassed straight-winged jet day fighters, which were largely relegated to ground-attack roles. In response to the MiG-15's appearance and in order to counter it, the United States Air Force rushed the North American F-86 Sabre to Korea.[1]

MiG-15
A Soviet Air Forces MiG-15UTI two-seater trainer over Duxford Air Festival 2017
Role Fighter aircraft
National origin Soviet Union
Manufacturer Mikoyan-Gurevich
First flight 30 December 1947
Introduction 1949
Status In limited service with the Korean People's Army Air Force
Primary users Soviet Air Forces (historical)
Number built 13,130 in the USSR + at least 4,180 under license
Developed into Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

When refined into the more advanced MiG-17, the basic design would again surprise the West when it proved effective against supersonic fighters such as the Republic F-105 Thunderchief and McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II in the Vietnam War of the 1960s.

The MiG-15 is believed to have been one of the most produced jet aircraft with more than 13,000 manufactured.[2] The MiG-15 remains in service with the Korean People's Army Air Force as an advanced trainer.

Design and development edit

 
Front view of a MiG-15
 
MiG-15 UTI Trainer version, Chino Planes of Fame Air Museum

The first turbojet fighter developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB was the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9, which appeared in the years immediately after World War II. It used a pair of reverse-engineered German BMW 003 engines.[3] The MiG-9 was a troublesome design that suffered from weak, unreliable engines and control problems. Categorized as a first-generation jet fighter, it was designed with the straight-style wings common to piston-engined fighters.

In 1946 Soviet engine technology was far behind the West's.[4] The Germans had been unable to develop airworthy turbojets with thrust over 1,130 kilograms-force (11,100 N; 2,500 lbf) capable of running for more than a few hours at the time of the surrender in May 1945, which limited the performance of immediate Soviet postwar jet aircraft designs. The Soviet aviation minister Mikhail Khrunichev and aircraft designer A. S. Yakovlev suggested to Premier Joseph Stalin that the USSR buy the reliable, fully developed, Rolls-Royce Nene (having been alerted to the fact that the U.K. Labour government wanted to improve post-war UK-Russia foreign relations) for the purpose of copying them in a minimum of time. Stalin is said to have replied, "What fool will sell us his secrets?"[5]

However, he gave his consent to the proposal and Mikoyan, engine designer Vladimir Yakovlevich Klimov [ru], and others travelled to the United Kingdom to request the engines. To Stalin's amazement, the British Labour government and its Minister of Trade, Sir Stafford Cripps, were perfectly willing to provide technical information and a license to manufacture the Rolls-Royce Nene. Sample engines were purchased and delivered with blueprints. Following evaluation and adaptation to Russian conditions, the windfall technology was tooled for mass-production as the Klimov RD-45 to be incorporated into the MiG-15.[5][4]

To take advantage of the new engine, the Council of Ministers ordered the Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB to build two prototypes for an advanced high-altitude daytime interceptor to defend against bombers. It was to have a top speed of 1,000 kilometres per hour (620 mph) and a range of 1,200 kilometres (750 mi).[6]

Designers at MiG's OKB-155 started with the earlier MiG-9 jet fighter. The new fighter used Klimov's British-derived engines, swept wings, and a tailpipe going all the way back to a swept tail. The German Me 262 was the first fighter fitted with an 18.5° wing sweep, but it was introduced merely to adjust the center of gravity of its heavy Junkers Jumo 004 pioneering axial-compressor turbojet engines. Further experience and research during World War II later established that swept wings would give better performance at transonic speeds. At the end of World War II, the Soviets seized many of the assets of Germany's aircraft industry. The MiG team studied these plans, prototypes and documents, particularly swept-wing research and designs, even going so far as to produce a flying testbed in 1945 to investigate swept-wing design concepts as the piston-engined "pusher"-layout, MiG-8 Utka (Russian for "duck", from its tail-first canard design). The swept wing later proved to have a decisive performance advantage over straight-winged jet fighters when it was introduced into combat over Korea.

The design that emerged had a mid-mounted 35-degree swept wing with a slight anhedral and a tailplane mounted up on the swept tail. Western analysts noted that it strongly resembled Kurt Tank's Focke-Wulf Ta 183, a later design than the Me 262 that never progressed beyond the design stage.[7] While the majority of Focke-Wulf engineers (in particular, Hans Multhopp, who led the Ta 183 development team) were captured by Western armies, the Soviets did capture plans and wind-tunnel models for the Ta 183.[8][better source needed] The MiG-15 does bear a resemblance in layout, sharing the high tailplane and nose-mounted intake, although the aircraft are different in structure, details, and proportions. The MiG-15's design understandably shared features and some appearance commonalities with the MiG design bureau's own 1945–46 attempt at a Soviet-built version of the Messerschmitt Me 263 rocket fighter in the appearance of its fuselage. The new MiG retained the previous straight-winged MiG-9's wing and tailplane placement while the F-86 employed a more conventional low-winged design. To prevent confusion during the height of combat the US painted their aircraft with bright stripes to distinguish them.[9]

 
Split forward air intake

The resulting prototypes were designated I-310.[10] The I-310 was a swept-wing fighter with 35-degree sweep in wings and tail, with two wing fences fitted to each wing to improve airflow over the wing. The design used a single Rolls-Royce Nene fed by a split-forward air intake. A duct carried intake air around the cockpit area and back together ahead of the engine.[10][11] Its first flight was 30 December 1947,[12] some two months after the American F-86 Sabre had first flown. It demonstrated exceptional performance, reaching 1,042 kilometres per hour (647 mph) at 3,000 metres (9,800 ft).[13]

The Soviet Union's first swept-wing jet fighter had been the underpowered Lavochkin La-160, which was otherwise more similar to the MiG-9. The Lavochkin La-168, which reached production as the Lavochkin La-15, used the same engine as the MiG but used a shoulder-mounted wing and t-tail; it was the main competitive design. Eventually, the MiG design was favoured for mass production. Designated MiG-15, the first production example flew on 31 December 1948. It entered Soviet Air Force service in 1949 and subsequently received the NATO reporting name "Fagot". Early production examples had a tendency to roll to the left or to the right due to manufacturing variances, so aerodynamic trimmers called nozhi (knives) were fitted to correct the problem, the knives being adjusted by ground crews until the aircraft flew correctly.[5]

The MiG-15 was originally intended to intercept American bombers like the B-29. It was even evaluated in mock air-to-air combat trials with a captured U.S. B-29, as well as the later Soviet B-29 copy, the Tupolev Tu-4. To ensure the destruction of such large bombers, the MiG-15 carried autocannons: two 23 mm (0.91 in) with 80 rounds per gun and a single 37 mm (1.46 in) with 40 rounds. These weapons provided tremendous punch in the interceptor role, but their limited rate of fire and relatively low velocity made it more difficult to score hits against small and manoeuvrable enemy jet fighters in air-to-air combat. The 23 mm and 37 mm also had radically different ballistics, and some United Nations (UN) pilots in Korea had the unnerving experience of 23 mm shells passing over them while the 37 mm shells flew under. The cannon were fitted into a simple pack that could be winched out of the bottom of the nose for servicing and reloading, allowing pre-prepared packs to be rapidly swapped out. (Some sources mistakenly claim the pack was added in later models.)[5] Despite the shortcomings of its armament, the MiG-15's simplicity, ruggedness, and particularly the absence of fuel tanks in its wings made it a formidable air-to-air adversary; its airframe has relatively few vulnerable areas, and shooting one down using the relatively fast-firing but less potent M2 Browning machine guns common in American aircraft almost invariably required multiple hits.[14]

An improved variant, the MiG-15bis ("second"), entered service in early 1950 with a Klimov VK-1 engine, another version of the Nene with improved metallurgy over the RD-45, plus minor improvements and upgrades.[15] Visible differences were a headlight in the air intake separator and horizontal upper edge airbrakes. The 23 mm cannon were placed more closely together in their undercarriage. Some "bis" aircraft also adopted under-wing hardpoints for unguided rocket launchers or 50–250 kg (110–550 lb) bombs. Fighter-bomber modifications were dubbed "IB", "SD-21", and "SD-5". About 150 aircraft were upgraded to SD-21 specification during 1953–1954.

The MiG-15 arguably had sufficient power to dive at supersonic speeds, but the lack of an "all-flying" tail greatly diminished the pilot's ability to control the aircraft as it approached Mach 1. As a result, pilots had to take care not to exceed Mach 0.92, where the flight surfaces became ineffective.[16] The instrument panel had a red warning light that would illuminate when this speed was reached, and during post-Korean War flight tests, American test pilots found that the aircraft would buffet heavily above Mach 0.92 and would pitch up at Mach 0.95. During a high-altitude, full-power dive to determine if the MiG-15 could exceed Mach 1, Chuck Yeager reached Mach 0.98, but the MiG would go no faster, and he lost roll control and did not begin to regain it until flying into denser air at 12,000 ft (3,700 m) of altitude; he had descended to 3,000 ft (910 m) by the time he fully regained control and recovered from the dive.[17]

Additionally, the MiG-15 tended to spin after it stalled, and often the pilot could not recover.[16] According to American test pilots, this behavior was exacerbated by the lack of a noticeable stall warning.[18] The MiG's proclivity towards sudden spins was deduced by UN pilots before the US was able to test one; during the Korean War, there were 56 recorded instances of UN pilots witnessing a MiG-15 entering a spin in combat, resulting in at least 25 crashes and ten ejections.[19]

Operational history edit

Chinese Civil War edit

The baptism of fire for the MiG-15 was to occur during the last phases of the Chinese Civil War. During the first months of 1950, aircraft of the Nationalist ROCAF, operating from bases in Taiwan, attacked mainland China, including Shanghai. Mao Zedong requested assistance with air defense from the USSR.

In February 1950, the 50th Fighter Aviation Division (50 IAD) of the Soviet Air Defence Forces, equipped with the MiG-15bis, was deployed to southern China, to support the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) and begin training Chinese pilots in the MiG-15. In April 1950, MiG-15s flown by Soviet pilots began operating over Shanghai, thwarting the Nationalist bombing campaign. On 28 April 1950, a Captain Kalinikov shot down a ROCAF P-38, in the first aerial victory for a MiG-15 pilot. Another followed on 11 May, when Captain Ilya Ivanovich Schinkarenko downed a B-24 Liberator flown by Li Chao Hua, commander of the 8th Air Group, ROCAF.[citation needed]

Soviet MiG-15s in the Korean War edit

 
No Kum-sok's MiG-15 on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Overview and background edit

For many years, the Soviet Union actively denied that its pilots flew in Korea during the Korean War; only China and North Korea took responsibility for Korean War operations. After the end of the Cold War, Soviet pilots who participated in the conflict began to reveal their roles.[20] Books by Chinese, Russian and ex-Soviet authors, such as Zhang Xiaoming, Leonid Krylov, Yuriy Tepsurkaev and Igor Seydov revealed details of the actual pilots and operations. From the beginning, Soviet pilots were ordered to avoid flying over areas in which they might be captured. Soviet aircraft were adorned with North Korean or Chinese markings and pilots wore either North Korean uniforms or civilian clothes to disguise their nationality. For radio communication, they were given cards with common Korean words for various flying terms spelled out phonetically in Cyrillic letters.[20] These subterfuges did not long survive the stresses of air-to-air combat, however. Pilots often inadvertently reverted to their native language. UN forces widely suspected the participation of Soviet aircrews, and intercepted radio traffic appeared to include combat pilots speaking Russian. In addition, USAF pilots claimed to have recognized techniques and tactics used by Soviet pilots, whom they referred to as "honchos" (from a Japanese term meaning "squad leader").[21]

When the Korean War broke out on 25 June 1950, the North Korean People's Air Force (KPAF) was equipped with World War II-vintage Soviet propeller-driven fighters, including 93 Il-10s and 79 Yak-9Ps,[22] and "40–50 assorted transport/liaison/trainer aircraft".[23] Propeller-driven, single-engine fighters were also numerically dominant amongst the air forces that would come under United Nations Command (UNC) – such as the North American P-51 Mustang, Vought F4U Corsair and Hawker Sea Fury. Initially, the numerical and technical superiority of UNC fighter units gave them air supremacy, and laid North Korean targets bare to the destructive power of United States Air Force (USAF) Boeing B-29 heavy bombers.

During 1950, the Kremlin agreed to supply China and North Korea with MiG-15s, as well as train their pilots. The 50th Fighter Aviation Division (50 IAD), equipped with the MiG-15, was already based near Shanghai, as it had taken part in the Chinese Civil War (see previous section). A detachment from the 50 IAD was moved to Antung, next to the border with North Korea in August 1950. They formed the 29th Guards Fighter Regiment (29 GvIAP). When China entered the war in support of North Korea, the Soviets agreed to provide 16 operational air regiments of MiG-15s, including combat pilots. In the meantime, more MiG-15 pilots were recruited; the squadrons earmarked for Korea were drawn from elite units. The pilots had to be younger than 27, and priority was given to World War II veterans. The first large Soviet aviation unit sent to Korea, the 324th IAD, was an air defense interceptor division commanded by Colonel Ivan Kozhedub, who, with 62 victories, was the top Allied (and Soviet) ace of World War II. In November 1950, the 151st and 28th IADs plus the veteran 50th IAD were reorganized into the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps (64 IAK).

 
Map showing the general location of "MiG Alley".

Initially, the Soviet fighters operated close to their bases, limited by the range of their aircraft, and were guided to the air battlefield by good ground control, which directed them to the most advantageous positions. For political, security and logistical reasons, they were not allowed to cross an imaginary line drawn from Wonsan to Pyongyang, and never to fly over the sea. The MiG-15s always operated in pairs, with an attacking leader covered by a wingman. The northwestern portion of North Korea where the Yalu River empties into the Yellow Sea was dubbed "MiG Alley" and became the site of numerous dogfights.

MiG-15 pilots also proved very effective in the specific role for which the type was originally designed: intercepting formations of B-29s. At the tactical level, large formations of MiGs would wait on the Chinese side of the border. When UN aircraft entered MiG Alley, the MiGs would swoop down from high altitude to attack. If they ran into trouble, they would try to escape back over the border into China. Soviet MiG-15 squadrons operated in big groups, but the basic formation was a six-aircraft group, divided into three pairs, each composed of a leader and a wingman:

  • The first pair of MiG-15s attacked the enemy Sabres.
  • The second pair protected the first pair.
  • The third pair remained above, supporting the two other pairs when needed. This pair had more freedom and could also attack targets of opportunity, such as lone Sabres that had lost their wingmen.

After the MiG-15 entered the war, it was shown to be clearly superior to the best straight-wing jets operated by other countries, including the Gloster Meteor, Lockheed F-80, Republic F-84 and Grumman F9F. In most measures of performance, the North American F-86 Sabre – which was also a swept-wing design – was the only close contemporary that could match the MiG-15.

The USAF has claimed that the F-86 had the advantage in combat kills over Korea between 1950 and 1953. It has been acknowledged that many individual Soviet pilots had larger individual tallies than their UN counterparts, due to a number of factors, although the aggregated claims made by Soviet pilots were probably overstated.[21] According to Soviet/Russian sources, 335 Soviet-piloted MiG-15s were lost in Korea to all causes, including accidents, AA fire and ground attacks.[24] Chinese sources claim that 224 Chinese-piloted MiG-15s were lost over Korea.[25] North Korean losses are not known, but according to North Korean defectors, their air force lost around 100 MiG-15s during the war.[26] Thus, around 659 MiG-15s are admitted as being lost.[27] While an overwhelming majority of the losses to UN fighters involved F-86 pilots, several MiG-15s were lost in, or immediately after, combat with each of several other UN fighters: F-80s, F-84s, F9Fs, Gloster Meteors and even propeller-driven F4Us and Sea Furies.

The Soviet 64th Fighter Aviation Corps (64 IAK), which controlled all Soviet-piloted aircraft in the Korean War, claimed 1,106 aircraft shot down by MiG-15s. The records of USAF units confirm 139 US aircraft were shot down by MiGs, with another 68 lost due to unknown causes, 237 aircraft listed as missing due to unknown causes, and 472 aircraft classified as "other losses".[28] Data-matching with Soviet records suggests that US pilots routinely attributed their own combat losses to "landing accidents" and "other losses".[29]

November 1950 to January 1952 edit

On 1 November 1950, the 50th IAD joined the war with its MiG-15s – their noses painted red and in North Korean markings. That day, eight MiG-15s intercepted about 15 USAF F-51D Mustangs, and First Lieutenant Fyodor V. Chizh shot down Aaron Abercombrie, killing the American pilot. The first-ever jet-versus-jet combat occurred that same day when three MiG-15s from the 50th IAD intercepted ten F-80 Shooting Stars. The F-80C piloted by 1st Lt Frank Van Sickle USAF was shot down by 1st Lt Semyon Fyodorovich Khominich, and Van Sickle was killed.[30][31] However, the USAF incorrectly attributed the loss to North Korean AA artillery.[32][30]

However, on 9 November, the Soviet MiG-15 pilots suffered their first loss when Lieutenant Commander William T. Amen off the aircraft carrier USS Philippine Sea shot down and killed Captain Mikhail F. Grachev while flying a Grumman F9F Panther.[33]

To counter the MiG-15, three squadrons of the F-86 Sabre, America's only operational jet with swept wings, were quickly rushed to Korea in December.[1] On 17 December, Lt Col. Bruce H. Hinton forced Maj. Yakov Nikanorovich Yefromeyenko to eject from his burning MiG.[32] Five days later, Capt. Nikolay Yefremovich Vorobyov[34] shot down the F-86A of Captain Lawrence V. Bach in his MiG-15bis.[32] Both sides exaggerated their claims of aerial victories that month. Sabre fliers claimed eight MiGs, and the Soviets 12 F-86s; the actual losses were three MiGs and at least four Sabres.

The British Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir John Slessor, commented: "not only is it faster than anything we are building today, but it is already being produced in very large numbers [...] The Russians, therefore, have achieved a four year lead over British development in respect of the vitally important interceptor fighter".[35]

At the end of 1950, the Soviet Union assigned a new unit to support China, the 324th IAD (made up of two regiments: the 176th GIAP and 196th IAP). At that time, a MiG-15 interceptor regiment had 35 to 40 aircraft, and a division was usually composed of three regiments. When the new unit arrived at air bases along the Yalu River in March 1951, it had undergone preliminary training at Soviet bases in the neighboring Maritime Military Districts and started an intense period of air-to-air training in the MiG-15. The Soviets trained alongside Chinese and Korean pilots. Both regiments of the 324th IAD redeployed to the forward airbase in Antung and entered combat in early April 1951. The 303rd IAD of General Georgiy A. Lobov arrived in Korea in June of that same year and commenced combat operations in August.

 
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 fighters curving in to attack U.S. Air Force Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers over Korea, c. 1951
 
A photo-reconnaissance B-29 that crash-landed at Iruma Air Base, Japan after being severely damaged by MiG-15 fighters over the Yalu River; the B-29's tail gunner shot down one of the attackers (9 November 1950)[36]

Soviet MiG pilots were trained to attack enemy formations in coordinated attacks from different directions, using both height and high speed to their advantage. The first encounters established the main features of the aerial battles of the next two and a half years. The MiG-15 and MiG-15bis had a higher ceiling than all versions of the Sabre – 15,500 m (50,900 ft) versus 14,936 m (49,003 ft) of the F-86F – and accelerated faster than F-86A/E/Fs due to their better thrust-to-weight ratio – 1,005 km/h (624 mph) versus 972 km/h (604 mph) of the F-86F. The MiG-15's 2,800 m (9,200 ft) per minute climbing rate was also greater than the 2,200 m (7,200 ft) per minute of the F-86A and -E (the F-86F matched the MiG-15). A better turn radius above 10,000 m (33,000 ft) further distinguished the MiG-15. The MiG was slower at low altitude – 935 km/h (581 mph) in the MiG-15bis configuration as opposed to the 1,107 km/h (688 mph) of the F-86F. All Sabres could also turn tighter below 8,000 m (26,000 ft).[37] Thus, if the MiG-15 forced the Sabre to fight in the vertical plane or in the horizontal one above 10,000 m (33,000 ft), it gained a significant advantage. Furthermore, a MiG-15 could easily escape from a Sabre by climbing to its ceiling, knowing that the F-86 could not follow. Below 8,000 m (26,247 ft), however, the Sabre had a slight advantage over the MiG in most aspects excluding climb rate, especially if the Soviet pilot made the mistake of fighting in the horizontal. The MiG also had more powerful weaponry – one 37 mm N-37 cannon and two 23 mm NR-23 cannons, versus the six 12.7 mm (.50 in) machine guns of the Sabre. However, the Soviet World War II-era ASP-1N gyroscopic gunsight was less sophisticated than the accurate A-1CM and A4 radar ranging sights of the F-86E and -F.

The main mission of the MiG-15 was not to dogfight the F-86 but to counter the USAF Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers. This mission was assigned to the elite of the Soviet Air Force (VVS), in April 1951 to the 324th IAD of Colonel Ivan Kozhedub, and later to the 303rd IAD of General Georgiy A. Lobov, who arrived in Korea in June of the same year.[32]

On 12 April 1951, 44 MiG-15s took on a USAF formation of 48 B-29 Superfortresses escorted by 18 F-86 Sabres, 54 F-84 Thunderjets and 24 F-80 Shooting Stars heading towards the bridge linking North Korea and Red China over the Yalu River in Uiju. The experienced Soviet fliers shot down or damaged beyond repair 10 B-29As, one F-86A and three F-80Cs for the loss of only one MiG.[32] The Soviet air units claimed to have shot down 29 American aircraft through the rest of the month: 11 F-80s, seven B-29s and nine F-51s.[32] 23 out of these 29 claims match acknowledged losses, but US sources assert that most of them were either operational or due to flak, admitting only four B-29s (a downed B-29, plus two B-29s and an RB-29 that crash-landed or were damaged beyond repair). US historians agree that the MiG-15 gained aerial superiority over northwestern Korea.[32]

US strategic bombers returned in the week of 22–27 October to neutralize the North Korean aerodromes of Namsi, Taechon and Saamchan, taking further losses to the MiG-15. On 23 October 1951, 56 MiG-15bis intercepted nine B-29s escorted by 34 F-86s and 55 F-84Es. In spite of their numerical inferiority, the Soviet airmen shot down or damaged beyond repair eight B-29As and two F-84Es, losing only one MiG in return and leading Americans to call that day "Black Tuesday".[38] The most successful Soviet pilots that day were Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandr P. Smorchkov and 1st Lieutenant Dmitriy A. Samoylov. The former shot down a Superfortress on each of 22, 23 and 24 October.[32] Samoylov added two F-86As to his tally on 24 October 1951,[39][40] and on 27 October shot down two more aircraft: a B-29A and an F-84E.[39][41] These losses among the heavy bombers forced the Far East Air Forces High Command to cancel the precision daylight attacks of the B-29s and only undertake radar-directed night raids.[42] From November 1951 to January 1952, both sides tried to achieve air superiority over the Yalu, or at least tried to deny it to the enemy, and in consequence, the intensity of the aerial combat reached peaks not seen before between MiG-15 and F-86 pilots. During the period from November 1950 to January 1952, no fewer than 40 Soviet MiG-15 pilots were credited as aces, with five or more victories. Soviet combat records show that the first pilot to claim his fifth aerial victory was Captain Stepan Ivanovich Naumenko on 24 December 1950.[33][43] The honor falls to Captain Sergei Kramarenko, when on 29 July 1951, he scored his actual fifth victory.[44] Approximately 16 out of those 40 pilots actually became aces, the most successful being Major Nikolay Sutyagin, credited with 22 victories, 13 of which were confirmed by the US; Colonel Yevgeny Pepelyaev with 19 claims, 15 confirmed; and Major Lev Shchukin with 17 credited, 11 verified.[45]

The MiG leaders, enjoying the advantage from the ground and the tactical advantage of an aircraft with superior altitude performance were able to dictate the tactical situation at least until the battle was started. They could decide to fight or stay out as they wished. The advantage of radar control from the ground also allowed the MiGs, if desired, to pass through the gaps in the F-86 patrol pattern.

January 1952 to July 1952 edit

At the end of January 1952, the 303rd IAD was replaced by the 97th (16th and 148th IAP) and in February the 324th IAD was replaced by the 190th IAD (256th, 494th and 821st IAP). These new units were poorly trained, the bulk of the pilots having only 50–60 hours flying the MiG. Consequently, those units suffered great losses from the now better-prepared American Sabre pilots. At least two Soviet fliers became aces during that period: Majors Arkadiy S. Boytsov and Vladimir N. Zabelin, with six and nine victories respectively.[46]

During the six months of February to July 1952, they lost 81 MiGs, and 34 pilots were killed by F-86s, and in return, they only shot down 68 UN aircraft (including 36 F-86s). The greatest losses came on 4 July 1952, when 11 MiGs were downed by Sabres, with one pilot killed in action. Contributing to all this was the secret "Maple Special" Operation, a plan by Colonel Francis Gabreski to cross the Yalu River into Manchuria (something officially forbidden) and catch the MiGs unaware during their takeoffs or landings, when they were at disadvantage: flying slow, at a low level, and sometimes short of ammunition and fuel.

Even under these circumstances, MiG-15 pilots would score at least two important victories against US aces:

  • 10 February 1952: Major George Andrew Davis, Jr., an ace credited with 14 victories, 10 confirmed by communist sources, was shot down and killed. The victor's identity was disputed between 1st Lieutenant Mikhail Akimovich Averin and Zhang Jihui.[46][47][48][49]
  • 4 July 1952: A few seconds after shooting down 1st Lieutenant M. I. Kosynkin, future ace Captain Clifford D. Jolley was forced to eject out of his crippled F-86E after being caught by surprise by MiG-15bis pilot 1st Lieutenant Vasily Romanovich Krutkikh.[40][46][50][51]

July 1952 to July 1953 edit

In May 1952, new and better trained PVO divisions, the 133rd and 216th IADs, arrived in Korea. They would replace the 97th and 190th by July 1952, and if they could not take aerial superiority away from the now well-prepared Americans, then they certainly neutralized it between September 1952 and July 1953. In September 1952, the 32nd IAD also started combat operations. Again, the figures of victories and losses in the air are still debated by historians of the US and the former Soviet Union, but on at least three occasions, Soviet MiG-15 aces gained the upper hand against Sabre aces:

  • 7 April 1953: The 10-kill ace Captain Harold E. Fischer was shot down over Manchuria shortly after causing damage to a Chinese and a Soviet MiG over Dapu airbase in Manchuria. The attacker's identity was disputed between 1st Lieutenant Grigoriy Nesterovich Berelidze and Han Dechai.[52][53]
  • 12 April 1953: Captain Semyon Alekseyevich Fedorets, a Soviet ace with eight victories, shot down the F-86E of Norman E. Green, but shortly afterward was attacked by the future top American ace of the Korean War, Captain Joseph C. McConnell. In the ensuing dogfight, they shot each other down, ejecting and being rescued safely.[46]
  • 20 July 1953: During a raid deep into Manchuria, and after shooting down two Chinese MiGs, Majors Thomas M. Sellers and Stephen L. Bettinger (the second an ace with five kills) tried to catch by surprise two Soviet MiG-15s that were landing in Dapu. The Soviet fliers skillfully forced the Americans to overshoot, reversed direction and shot both down: Captain Boris N. Siskov forced Bettinger to bail out and his wingman 1st Lieutenant Vladimir I. Klimov killed Major Sellers. This was Siskov's fifth victory, making him the last ace of the Korean War. Those were also the last Sabres downed by Soviet fliers in the war.[40][52][54]
 
MiG-15 from the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in North Korea.

The MiG-15 threat forced the Far East Air Forces to cancel B-29 daylight raids in favor of night radar-guided missions from November 1951 onward. Initially, this presented a threat to Communist defenses, as their only specialized night-fighting unit was equipped with the prop-driven Lavochkin La-11, inadequate for the task of intercepting the B-29. Part of the regiment was re-equipped with the MiG-15bis, and another night-fighting unit joined the fray, causing American heavy bombers to suffer losses again. Between 21:50 and 22:30 on 10 June 1952, four MiG-15bis attacked B-29s over Sonchon and Kwaksan. Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Ivanovich Studilin damaged a B-29A beyond repair, forcing it to make an emergency landing at Kimpo Air Base.[55] A few minutes later, Major Anatoly Karelin added two more Superfortresses to his tally.[32] Studilin and Karelin's wingmen, Major L. A. Boykovets and 1st Lieutenant Zhahmany Ihsangalyev, also damaged one B-29 each. Anatoly Karelin eventually became an ace with six kills (all B-29s at night).[56] In the aftermath of these battles, B-29 night sorties were cancelled for two months. Originally conceived to shoot down rather than escort bombers, both of America's state-of-the-art jet night fighters – the F-94 Starfire and the F3D Skyknight – were committed to protecting the Superfortresses against MiGs.

The MiG-15 was less effective in getting past the Marine Corps ground-based two-seat F3D Skyknight night fighters assigned to escort B-29s after the F-94 Starfires proved ineffective. What the squat aircraft lacked in sheer performance, it made up for with the advantage of a search radar that enabled the Skyknight to see its targets clearly, while the MiG-15's directions to find bomber formations were of little use in seeing escorting fighters. On the night of 2–3 November 1952, a Skyknight with pilot Major William Stratton and radar operator Hans Hoagland damaged the MiG-15 of Captain V. D. Vishnyak. Five days later, Oliver R. Davis and radar operator D.F. "Ding" Fessler downed a MiG-15bis; the pilot, Lieutenant Ivan P. Kovalyov, ejected safely. Skyknights claimed five MiG kills for no losses of their own,[57] and no B-29s escorted by them were lost to enemy fighters.[58] However, the duel was not one-sided: on the night of 16 January 1953, an F3D almost did fall to a MiG, when the Skyknight of Captain George Cross and Master Sergeant J. A. Piekutowski suffered serious damage in an attack by a Soviet MiG-15bis; with difficulty, the Skyknight returned to Kunsan Air Base.[59] Three and a half months later, on the night of 29 May 1953, Chinese MiG-15 pilot Hou Shujun of the PLAAF shot down an F3D-2 over Anju; Sgt. James V. Harrell's remains were found on a beach during the summer of 2001 just miles from the Kunsan base. Captain James B. Brown is still missing in action.[41][60]

In a Royal Navy Sea Fury flying from a light fleet carrier[61] FAA pilot Lieutenant Peter "Hoagy" Carmichael downed a MiG-15 on 8 August 1952, in air-to-air combat. The Sea Fury would be one of the few piston-engined fighter aircraft following World War II's end to shoot down a jet fighter. On 10 September 1952, Captain Jesse G. Folmar shot down a MiG-15 with an F4U Corsair but was himself downed by another MiG.[62]

The figures given by the Soviet sources indicate that the MiG-15s of the 64th IAK (the fighter corps that included all the divisions that rotated through the conflict) made 60,450 daylight combat sorties and 2,779 night ones and engaged the enemy in 1,683 daylight aerial battles and 107 at night, claiming to have shot down 1,097 UN aircraft over Korea, including 647 F-86s, 185 F-84s, 118 F-80s, 28 F-51s, 11 F-94s, 65 B-29s, 26 Gloster Meteors and 17 aircraft of different types.[52] According to U.S., 57 B-29s and reconnaissance variants were lost in combat during the Korean war, almost all by MiG-15s.[63]

Chinese and Korean MiG-15s during the Korean War edit

The Soviet VVS and PVO were the primary users of the MiG-15 during the war, but not the only ones; it was also used by the PLAAF and KPAF (known as the United Air Army). Despite bitter complaints from the Soviet Union, which repeatedly requested the Chinese to accelerate the introduction of MiG-15 new units, the Chinese were relatively slow in this process at the time, and by 1951 there were only two regiments flying MiG-15bis as night fighters. Being not completely trained and equipped, both units were used only for the defence of China, but they became involved in the interception of USAF reconnaissance aircraft, some of which went very deep over China.

By September 1951, with enough MiG-15s in the Yalu area, Soviet and Chinese leaders were confident enough to begin planning the deployment of Chinese and new North Korean MiG-15 regiments outside Chinese sanctuaries. Excluding a brief episode in January 1951, the PLAAF did not see action until 25 September 1951, when 16 MiG-15s engaged Sabres, with pilot Li Yongtai claiming a victory, but losing a MiG and its pilot.[clarification needed][64] The North Korean unit equipped with the MiG-15 got into action a year later, in September 1952. From then until the end of the war, the United Air Army claimed to have shot down 211 F-86s, 72 F-84s and F-80s, and 47 other aircraft of various types, losing 116 Chinese airmen and 231 aircraft: 224 MiG-15s, three La-11s and four Tupolev Tu-2s.[65] Several pilots were credited with five or more enemy aircraft, such as Zhao Baotong with seven victories, Wang Hai with nine kills, and both Kan Yon Duk and Kim Di San with five.

Based on Soviet archival data, 335 Soviet MiG-15s are known to have been admitted as lost over Korea.[66] Chinese claims of their losses amount to 224 MiG-15s over Korea.[25] North Korean losses are not known, but according to North Korean defectors their air force lost around 100 MiG-15s during the war.[67] Thus a total of 659 MiG-15s are admitted as being lost by all causes, while USAF claims of their losses amount to 78 F-86 Sabres in air-to-air combat.[68] Overall UN losses to MiG-15s are credited as 78 F-86 Sabres and 75 aircraft of other types.[68] However, one modern source claims that the USAF has more recently cited 224 losses (circa 100 to air combat) out of 674 F-86s deployed to Korea.[69] Conversely, data-matching with Soviet records shows that US pilots routinely attributed their own combat losses to "landing accidents" and "other causes".[70] According to official US data ("USAF Statistical Digest FY1953"), the USAF lost 250 F-86 fighters in Korea: 184 were lost in combat (78 in air-combat, 19 by Anti-aircraft gun, 26 were "unknown causes" and 61 were "other losses") and 66 in accidents.[63]

More recent research by Dorr, Lake and Thompson has claimed the actual ratio is closer to 2 to 1.[71] The Soviets claimed to have downed over 600 Sabres,[72] together with the Chinese claims.[73] A recent RAND report[74] made reference to "recent scholarship" of F-86 v MiG-15 combat over Korea and concluded that the actual kill:loss ratio for the F-86 was 1.8 to 1 overall, and likely closer to 1.3 to 1 against MiGs flown by Soviet pilots.[66] However, this ratio did not count the number of aircraft of other types (B-29, A-26, F-80, F-82, F-84...) that were shot down by MiG-15s.

 
MiG-15 (left) and F-86 Sabre (right) on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, National Air and Space Museum

Defection edit

 
MiG-15 delivered by the defecting North Korean pilot No Kum-Sok to the US Air Force
 
Photograph of a wrecked Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 fighter that was analyzed by United Nations' forces in the Korean War.

In April 1951, a crashed MiG-15 was spotted near the Chongchon River. On 17 April 1951, a USAF Sikorsky H-19 staging through Baengnyeongdo carried a US/South Korean team to the crash site. They photographed the wreck and removed the turbine blades, combustion chamber, exhaust pipe and horizontal stabilizer. The overloaded helicopter then flew the team and samples back to Paengyong-do, where they were transferred to an SA-16 and flown south and then to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, for evaluation.[75]

In July 1951, the submerged remains of a MiG-15 were spotted by Royal Navy carrier aircraft from HMS Glory. The MiG-15 was broken up, a piece of the engine was visible aft of the center section, and the tail section was located some distance away. The wreck was located in an area of mudbanks with treacherous tides and at the end of a narrow channel that was supposedly mined, c. 160 km behind the front lines. The MiG-15 was retrieved, transported to Incheon and then to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Eager to obtain an intact MiG for combat testing in a controlled environment, the United States launched Operation Moolah, which offered to any pilot who defected with his MiG-15, political asylum and a reward of US$100,000 (equivalent to $910,000 in 2023).[76][77] Franciszek Jarecki, a Polish Air Force pilot, defected from Soviet-controlled Poland in a MiG-15 on the morning of 5 March 1953, allowing Western air experts to examine the aircraft for the first time.[78] Jarecki flew from Słupsk to the field airport at Rønne on the Danish island of Bornholm. The whole trip took him only a few minutes. Specialists from the United States, called to the airfield by the Danish authorities, thoroughly examined the aircraft. According to international regulations, they then returned it by ship to Poland a few weeks later. Jarecki also received a $50,000 reward for being the first to present a MiG-15 to the Americans and became a US citizen.[a]

 
An Operation Moolah propaganda leaflet promising a $100,000 reward to the first North Korean pilot to deliver a jet fighter to UN forces.

Following this example, a total of four Polish MiG-15 pilots defected. No military maps showed foreign Baltic coastlines and so Franciszek Jarecki navigated using a basic school atlas, three of the four pilots managed to find the small island of Bornholm while one arrived at the Swedish Coast approximate 80 km North of Bornholm.

A North Korean pilot, Lieutenant Kenneth H. Rowe (born No Kum-Sok[b]) defected at Kimpo Air Base on 21 September 1953. After landing he claimed to be unaware of the US$100,000 reward.[80] This MiG-15 was minutely inspected and was test flown by several test pilots, including Chuck Yeager.[81] Yeager reported in his autobiography the MiG-15 had dangerous handling faults and claimed that during a visit to the USSR, Soviet pilots were incredulous he had dived in it, this supposedly being very hazardous.[82] No[b] informed the Americans that spins in the aircraft were considered very dangerous, and that the KPAF instructed pilots to eject if unable to recover from a spin within three turns.[18] Remarking on the MiG-15's unforgiving behavior, particularly in the hands of an inexperienced pilot, Yeager characterized it as a "flying booby trap".[17] Lieutenant No's aircraft is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton, Ohio.

The Cold War edit

During the 1950s, the MiG-15s of the USSR and their Warsaw Pact allies on many occasions, intercepted aircraft of the NATO air forces performing reconnaissance near or inside their territory; such incidents sometimes ended with aircraft of one side or the other being shot down. The known incidents where the MiG-15 was involved include:

  • 16 December 1950: A USAF RB-29 was downed over Primore (Sea of Japan) by two MiG-15 pilots, Captain Stepan A. Bajaev and 1st Lieutenant N. Kotov.
  • 19 November 1951: MiG-15bis pilot 1st Lieutenant A. A. Kalugin forced a USAF C-47 that had penetrated Hungarian airspace to land at the airbase at Pápa.
  • 13 June 1952: Two naval MiG-15s, flown by Captain Oleg Piotrovich Fedotov and 1st Lieutenant Ivan Petrovich Proskurin, shot down an RB-29A near Valentin Bay, over the Sea of Japan. All 12 crew members perished (their bodies were not recovered).
  • 13 June 1952, Catalina affair: A Soviet MiG-15 flown by Captain Osinskiy shot down a Douglas DC-3 reconnaissance aircraft of the Swedish Air Force piloted by Alvar Almeberg near Ventspils over the Baltic Sea. All eight crew members perished. One of the two Swedish military Catalina flying boats that conducted subsequent search and rescue for the downed DC-3 was also shot down by a MiG-15, though with no loss of life.
  • 7 August 1952: Two MiG-15 pilots, 1st Lieutenants Zeryakov and Lesnov, shot down a USAF RB-29 over the Kuril Islands. The entire crew of nine died (the remains of one, Captain John R. Durnham, were returned to the United States in 1993).
  • 18 November 1952: Four MiG-15bis engaged four F9F-2 Panthers off the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CV-34) near Vladivostok. One MiG-15 pilot, Captain Dmitriy Belyakov, managed to seriously damage Lieutenant Junior Grade David M. Rowlands's F9F-2, but seconds later he and 1st Lieutenant Vandalov were downed by Elmer Royce Williams and John Davidson Middleton. Neither Soviet pilot was found.
  • 10 March 1953, Air battle over Merklín: Two MiG-15bis of the Czechoslovak Air Force intercepted two F-84Gs in Czechoslovak airspace. Lieutenant Jaroslav Šrámek shot down one of them; the F-84 crashed in Bavarian territory. The US pilot bailed out safely.
  • 12 March 1953: Seven airmen were killed when the Royal Air Force Avro Lincoln they were flying in was shot down by a Soviet Air Force MiG-15 in the Berlin air corridor, near Boizenburg, 51 kilometres (32 mi) northeast of Lüneburg.
  • 29 July 1953: Two MiG-15bis intercepted a RB-50G near Gamov, in the Sea of Japan, and instructed it to land at their home base. The RB-50 gunners opened fire and hit the MiG of 1st Lieutenant Aleksandr D. Rybakov. Rybakov and his wingman 1st Lieutenant Yuriy M. Yablonskiy then shot down the RB-50. One of the crew members (John E. Roche) was rescued alive, and three corpses were recovered. The remaining 13 crew members became missing-in-action.
  • 17 April 1955: MiG-15 pilots Korotkov and Sazhin shot down an RB-47E north of the Kamchatka peninsula. All three crew members perished.
  • 27 June 1955: El Al Flight 402 was shot down by two Bulgarian MiG-15 aircraft after penetrating Bulgarian airspace. All 58 passengers and crew perished in the attack.[83][84][85]

Suez Canal Crisis (1956) edit

Egypt bought two squadrons of MiG-15bis and MiG-17 fighters in 1955 from Czechoslovakia with the sponsorship and support of the USSR, just in time to participate in the Suez Canal Crisis. By the outbreak of the Suez conflict in October 1956, four squadrons of the Egyptian Air Force were equipped with the type, although few pilots were trained to fly them effectively.[citation needed]

They first saw aerial action on the morning of 30 October, intercepting four RAF Canberra bombers on a reconnaissance mission over the Canal Zone, damaging one. Later that day, MiG-15s attacked Israeli forces at Mitla Pass and El Thamed in the Sinai, destroying half a dozen vehicles. As a result, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) instituted a standing combat air patrol over the Canal, and the next attack resulted in two MiGs downed by IAF Mysteres, although the Egyptian aircraft were able to successfully hit the Israeli troops.

The next day, the MiGs evened the score somewhat when they badly damaged two IAF Ouragan fighters, forcing one of them to crash-land in the desert. British and French warplanes then began a systematic bombing campaign of Egyptian air bases, destroying at least eight MiGs and dozens of other Egyptian aircraft on the ground and forcing the others to disperse. The remaining aircraft still managed to fly some attack missions, but the Egyptians had lost air superiority.

During air combat against the IAF, Egyptian MiG-15bis managed to shoot down two Israeli aircraft: a Gloster Meteor F.8 on 30 October 1956, and a Dassault Ouragan on 1 November, which performed a belly landing – this last victory was scored by the Egyptian pilot Faruq el-Gazzavi. A third aircraft, an L-8 Piper Cub, was destroyed on the ground.[86]

 
Egyptian MiG-15bis, Lake Bardawil, 1956

An Egyptian MiG-15 was damaged, but the pilot managed to ditch in Lake Bardawil, and the aircraft was salvaged by Israeli forces.

Taiwan Straits crisis edit

After the Korean War ended, Communist China turned its attention back to Nationalist China on the island of Taiwan. Chinese MiG-15s were in action over the Taiwan Strait against the outnumbered Nationalist Air Force (CNAF) and helped make possible the Communist occupation of two strategic island groups. The US had been lending support to the Nationalists since 1951 and started delivery of F-86s in 1955. Sabres and MiGs clashed three years later in the Quemoy Crisis. Throughout the 1950s, MiG-15s of China's People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) frequently engaged Republic of China (ROC) and U.S. aircraft in combat; in 1958 a ROC F-86 fighter achieved the first air-to-air kill with an AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile against a PLAAF MiG-15.[87]

Vietnam edit

Vietnam operated a number of MiG-15s and MiG-15UTIs for training only. There is no mention of the MiG-15 being involved in any combat against American aircraft in the early stages of the Vietnam War.

Other events edit

The first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, was killed in a crash during a March 1968 training flight in a MiG-15UTI due to poor visibility and miscommunication with ground control.[88]

MiG-17 edit

Main article: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

The more advanced MiG-17 Fresco was very similar in appearance, but addressed many of the limitations of the MiG-15. It introduced a new swept wing with a "compound sweep" configuration: a 45° angle near the fuselage, and a 42° angle for the outboard part of the wings. The first prototype was flown in 1953 before the end of the Korean war. Later versions introduced radar, afterburning engines and missiles.

Production edit

 
SB Lim-2 of the Polish Air Force

The USSR built 1344 MiG-15, 8352 MiG-15bis and 3434 two-seaters. It was also built under license in Czechoslovakia as the S-102 (MiG-15, 821 aircraft), S-103 (MiG-15bis, 620 aircraft) and CS-102 (MiG-15UTI, 2012 aircraft) and Poland as the Lim-1 (MiG-15, 227 aircraft) and Lim-2 (MiG-15bis, 500 aircraft). No two-seaters have been built in Poland as such – the SB Lim-1 and SB Lim-2 variants were remanufactured from hundreds of Polish-, Czech- and Soviet-built single-seaters.

In the early 1950s, the Soviet Union delivered hundreds of MiG-15s to China, where they received the designation J-2.[89] The Soviets also sent 847 MiG-15 engineers and specialists to China, where they assisted China's Shenyang Aircraft Factory to prepare to build jet fighters. It was originally planned to build the MiG-15bis fighter at Shenyang, but China decided to build the more advanced MiG-17 fighter instead, together with the MiG-15UTI trainer (designated JJ-2). China never produced a single-seat fighter version, only the two-seat JJ-2,[90][91] although during the Korean War, Shenyang was used for the repair of battle-damaged MiG-15.[90] The number of JJ-2s built remains unknown and the estimates vary between 120 and 500 aircraft.

The designation "J-4" is unclear; some sources claim Western observers mistakenly labelled China's MiG-15bis a "J-4", while the PLAAF never used the "J-4" designation. Others claim "J-4" is used for MiG-17F, while "J-5" is used for MiG-17PF.[92] Another source claims the PLAAF used "J-4" for Soviet-built MiG-17A, which were quickly replaced by license-built MiG-17Fs (J-5s).[93]

Variants edit

Prototype designations edit

I-310
Designation of S-01, S-02, and S-03 prototypes.[94]
I-312
Designation of Samolet ST prototypes.

Military designations edit

MiG-15
Military designation of Samolet SV, first production version powered by a Klimov RD-45F.[94][95] The aircraft was given the product code Izdeliye 50.[96]
MiG-15PB
Podvyesnije Baki (Belly Tank), production variant capable of carrying two 250 litres (66 US gal) drop tanks on the bomb racks. Once modifications became standard on production aircraft, the "PB" was dropped and the designation reverted to MiG-15.[97]
MiG-15S
Soprovozdenije (Escort), production variant capable of carrying two 300 litres (79 US gal) or 400 litres (110 US gal) drop tanks, or two 600 litres (160 US gal) underwing tanks on the bomb racks. Once modifications became standard on production aircraft, the "S" was dropped and the designation reverted to MiG-15.[97]
MiG-15SV
Soprovozdenije Vysoto (High Altitude Escort), variant with underwing fuel tanks and NR-23 autocannons.[97]
MiG-15U
Ustanovka (Weapon-Swiveling Device), military designation of Samolet SU. One built.[97]
MiG-15bis
Samolet SD, improved single-seat fighter version powered by a Klimov VK-1 and with enlarged air brakes. Changes made during production include the replacement of the NS-23 autocannons with the NR-23 the addition of an OSP-48 instrument landing system, and a revised canopy to improve visibility.[94][95] Aircraft produced at the Gorky factory were given the product code Izdeliye 53, while aircraft produced at the Kuybyshev factory were Izdeliye 55 (same as the MiG-15bisR).[96]
MiG-15bisF
MiG-15bis modified for unarmed reconnaissance with armament removed to make room for AFA-1M and AFP-21KT cameras.[97]
MiG-15bisR
Rasvedtchik (Reconnaissance), military designation of Samolet SR, MiG-15bis modified for armed reconnaissance with the 37 mm and one 23 mm autocannon removed to make room for AFA-1M and AFP-21KT cameras.[95][97] Also known as the MiG-15Rbis.[94] The aircraft was given the product code Izdeliye 55.[96]
MiG-15bisS
Soprovozdenije (Escort), long-range escort fighter based on the Samolet SD-UPB. Also known as the MiG-15Sbis. Once modifications became standard production aircraft, the "S" was dropped and the designation reverted to MiG-15bis.[94][95]
MiG-15bisP
Samolet SP-5, prototype single-seat all-weather interceptor version of the MiG-15bis with an RP-1 Izumrud radar. Also known as the MiG-15P.[94][97]
Burlaki
Proposed parasite fighter based on the MiG-15bis that would be towed behind a Tupolev Tu-4 via a winch. Project canceled after the Tu-4 was replaced by the Tupolev Tu-16[94][95]
MiG-15LL
Samolet SYe, experimental variant with an enlarged vertical tail and stiffened wings with square-tipped ailerons to improve high-speed handling.[94]
 
MiG-15ISh at the Monino Aircraft Museum
MiG-15ISh
Istrebitel Shturmovik (fighter, armored attacker), experimental attack variant with two wing-mounted beam-like pylons each capable of carrying two bombs in tandem or rocket launchers.[95] Reports disagree on the number built, with one claiming only a single aircraft was built and another stating 12 were built.[94]
MiG-15M
Mishen (Target), target UAV, converted from single-seat MiG-15. Also known as the M-15.[96][98][99]
 
A UTI MiG-15 at the Israeli Air Force Museum, Hatzerim, in 1945–58 Egyptian Air Force markings
UTI MiG-15
Samolet ST-2, two-seat trainer armed with a single 12.7 mm A-12.7 machine gun. Also known as the MiG-15UTI.[94][96]
UTI MiG-15P
Samolet ST-7, modified UTI MiG-15 with an RP-1 Izumrud radar and armed with a single 12.7 mm UBK-E. One converted from a MiG-15UTI.[94][95]
UTI MiG-15LL
Samolet ST-10, testbed aircraft for ejection seats. At least five converted from MiG-15UTIs. Also known as the MiG-15UTI-LL.[94][95][97]
UTI MiG-15stk
Unofficial designation of an ejection seat trainer with an open rear cockpit. At least two UTI MiG-15s were modified.[96]

Samolet (Aircraft) designations edit

Samolet S-01 (С-01)
First prototype, powered by a Rolls-Royce Nene-1 engine and armed with a single 37 mm NS-37 and two 23 mm NS-23 autocannons. Also known as S-1.[95][96][97]
Samolet S-02 (С-02)
Second prototype, powered by a Rolls-Royce Nene-2, with revised landing gear doors and canopy, more complete avionics package, and other small changes. Also known as S-2.[95][96][97]
Samolet S-03 (С-03)
Third prototype, powered by a Rolls-Royce Nene-2, with air brakes, altered tail configuration, increased fuel capacity, and provisions for underwing bombs. Also known as S-3.[95][96]
Samolet S (С)
Single pre-production aircraft, as S-03 but with several changes including air brakes skinned with EI-100N steel instead of duralumin and powered by a Klimov RD-45F.[96]
Samolet SV (СВ)
First production version powered by a Klimov RD-45F. Entered service as the MiG-15.[96]
Samolet SA-1 (СА-1)
Experimental variant fitted with an OSP-48 instrument landing system as well as other improvements. One converted from a MiG-15. The OSP-48 became standard on later production MiG-15bis aircraft.[94] The aircraft was originally the second Moscow-built MiG-15, construction number 3810102, which was fitted with a Klimov VK-1 instead of the standard RD-45F engine. This has led to the aircraft often being confused for a MiG-15bis, which was fitted with the VK-1 as standard.[96]
Samolet SA-2 (СА-2)
Experimental variant similar to the SA-1. One aircraft converted but never submitted for acceptance trials.[96]
Samolet SA-3 (СА-3)
Experimental variant fitted with an OSP-48 instrument landing system similar to the SA-1, for which the SA-3 is often mistaken as a predecessor. One converted from a production MiG-15. Sixteen RD-45F-powered production MiG-15s were converted to a similar standard for service trials and are often mistaken for the SA-3.[96]
Samolet SA-4 (СА-4)
Experimental variant fitted with an OSP-48 landing system and many other improvements that later became standard on production aircraft. One converted from a production MiG-15.[94][95]
Samolet SO (СО)
Experimental variant to test improvements to pilot protection, including a thickened windscreen, an armored back and headrest, and a sliding gun sight to reduce the chance of head injury during a crash.[94]
Samolet SSh (СШ)
Experimental variant with the two left guns replaced by a single 23 mm Sh-3 cannon. Two aircraft modified from MiG-15s.[94][96]
Samolet SU (СУ)
Experimental variant with all armament replaced by two 23 mm Sh-3 cannons with variable-angle mounts that could automatically track targets. One converted from a production MiG-15.[94][95]
Samolet SD (СД)
Improved single-seat fighter version powered by a Klimov VK-1 and with enlarged air brakes. Entered service as the MiG-15bis.[94][95]
Samolet SD-P (СД-П)
Parashyutom (Parachute), experimental aircraft to test anti-skid systems and drogue parachutes.[96]
Samolet SD-UPB (СД-УПБ)
Uvieliichennije Podvyesnije Baki (Increased Belly Tank), MiG-15bis tested withvarious external tank configurations. One such configuration of two 600 litres (160 US gal) tanks was made standard on the MiG-15bisS.[94][95]
Samolet SD-ET (СД-ЭТ)
Prototype based on the MiG-15bis with multiple small improvements, including an ART-8 acceleration control unit, a PN-2FAK fuel-flow restrictor, increased wing stiffness, and improved drop tank jettisoning system. Some of the improvements became standard on production aircraft.[94][95]
Samolet SD-5 (СД-5)
Testbed for the ORO-57 rocket launcher on D3-40 pylons.[94][95]
Samolet SD-10 (СД-10)
Testbed for the PROSAB-100 anti-aircraft bomb on D4-50 pylons.[96]
Samolet SD-21 (СД-21)
Testbed for the S-21 rocket on D3-40 pylons[94][95]
Samolet SD-25 (СД-25)
Testbed for the PROSAB-250 cluster bomb on D4-50 pylons.[94][95]
Samolet SD-57 (СД-57)
Testbed for the ORO-57 rocket launcher on D4-50 pylons.[94][95]
Samolet SYa (СЯ)
Experimental aircraft to study remedies for wing drop. Three were converted from MiG-15bis aircraft, with two being modified with stiffened wings and all three being fitted with bendable trim tabs.[96]
Samolet SR (СР)
MiG-15bis modified for armed reconnaissance with the 37 mm and one 23 mm autocannon removed to make room for AFA-1M and AFP-21KT cameras. Also known as the Samolet SR-1. Entered service as the MiG-15bisR.[95][97]
Samolet SP-1 (СП-1)
Prototype equipped with a Toriy-M radar in place of the two 23 mm cannons. Five converted from MiG-15bis aircraft.[94][95]
Samolet SP-2 (СП-2)
Prototype equipped with a Toriy-A radar in place of the two 23 mm cannons.[95]
Samolet SP-5 (СП-5)
Prototype single-seat all-weather interceptor version of the MiG-15bis with an RP-1 Izumrud radar and a reduced armament of two NR-23 cannons. Also designated MiG-15bisP.[94][95]
Samolet SYe (СЕ)
Experimental variant with an enlarged vertical tail and stiffened wings with square-tipped ailerons to improve high-speed handling. Also designated MiG-15LL.[94]
Samolet SL-5 (СЛ-5)
Testbed for the Klimov VK-5 engine. One converted from a MiG-15bis.[94][96]
Samolet SE (СЭ)
Testbed new wingtips and vertical stabilizer to improve controllability.[95]
Samolet ST-1 (СТ-1)
Prototype two-seat trainer based on the MiG-15 (Samolet SV), armed with a single 12.7 mm UBK-E machine gun and one NR-23 cannon.[95]
Samolet ST-2 (СТ-2)
Production two-seat trainer armed with a single 12.7 mm A-12.7 machine gun. Entered service as the UTI MiG-15.[94][95][96]
Samolet ST-7 (СТ-7)
Modified UTI MiG-15 with an RP-1 Izumrud radar and armed with a single 12.7 mm UBK-E. Entered service as the UTI MiG-15P.[94][95]
Samolet ST-8 (СТ-8)
Experimental variant to test the RP-3 Izumrud radar. One converted from a UTI MiG-15.[94][95]
Samolet ST-10 (СТ-10)
Testbed aircraft for ejection seats. At least five converted from MiG-15UTIs. Also designated UTI MiG-15LL.[94][95]
Samolet SDK-5 (СДК-5)
Radio-controlled target drones converted from retired MiG-15 and MiG-15bis aircraft.[94]
Samolet SDK-7 (СДК-7)
Pre-programmed cruise missiles converted from retired MiG-15 and MiG-15bis aircraft.[94]

Chinese variants edit

 
Former Albanian Air Force F-2 at Kuçovë Aerodrome
J-2
(Jianjiji – fighter) Chinese designation of USSR production MiG-15bis single-seat fighter. Plans to produce the J-2 in China were canceled in favor of the Shenyang J-5. Retired J-2s were exported under the designation F-2.[100]
JJ-2
(Jianjiji Jiaolianji – fighter trainer) Chinese production of MiG-15UTI two-seat jet trainers. Retired JJ-2s were exported under the designation FT-2.[100]
BA-5
Unmanned target drone conversions of J-2 fighters.[100]

Polish variants edit

 
Lim-1 at the Polish Aviation Museum
Lim-1
(Licencyjny myśliwiec - licensed fighter aircraft) MiG-15 jet fighters built under license in Poland, powered by Lis-1 (licensed RD-45F). 227 built at WSK-Mielec factory from 1952 to 1954.[101] The aircraft was given the product code Produkt C.[96]
Lim-1.5
Unofficial designation of Lim-1s with avionics upgrades.[96][97]
Lim-2
MiG-15bis built under license in Poland. 500 built from 1954 to 1956, with first 100 powered by Soviet-built VK-1A engines and remaining aircraft powered by Polish-built Lis-2 engines.[102] The aircraft was given the product code Produkt CD.[96]
Lim-2R
Polish-built reconnaissance conversion of Lim-2 with camera replacing the N-37 cannon.[103]
SBLim-1
Polish Lim-1 converted to equivalent of MiG-15UTI jet trainers, with Lis-1 jet engines.[102]
SBLim-1A
(originally SBLim-1Art): Conversion of SBLim-1 into two seat reconnaissance version with observer in rear seat.[103]
SBLim-2
Polish Lim-2 or SBLim-1 converted to jet trainers with Lis-2 (VK-1) jet engines.[102]
SBLim-2A
(originally SBLim-2Art): Conversion of SBLim-1 into two seat reconnaissance version with observer in rear seat.[103]
SBLim-2M
Reconversion of SBLim-2A to trainer, with dual controls reinstated.[103]
SBLim-2R
SBLim-2 converted f0r the reconnaissance role.[94]

Czechslovakian variants edit

S-102
MiG-15 jet fighters built under license in Czechoslovakia, with Motorlet M-05 (licensed RD-45) engines.[94]
S-103
MiG-15bis jet fighters built under license in Czechoslovakia with Motorlet M-06 (licensed VK-1) engines.[94]
CS-102
MiG-15UTI jet trainers built under license in Czechoslovakia.[94]
MiG-15SB
S-102 converted for the fighter bomber role with four additional pylons, for a total of six, for bombs and missiles. Takeoff from unpaved runways was aided by SRP-1 booster rockets, and a drogue parachute was fitted to the tail.[94][95]
MiG-15T
S-102 converted for the target-towing role. All armament was removed.[94][95]
MiG-15V
Towed target drone conversion.[96]
MiG-15bisF
S-103 modified for unarmed reconnaissance with AFA-1M and AFP-21KT cameras similar to the Soviet MiG-15bisF.[95]
MiG-15bisR
S-103 modified for armed reconnaissance similar to the Soviet MiG-15bisR. A AFP-21KT and two other cameras were carried, with the NFT-02 camera being used for night reconnaissance.[94][95]
 
MiG-15bisSB at the Kbely Aviation Museum
MiG-15bisSB
S-103 converted for the fighter bomber role with the four additional pylons of the MiG-15SB, but without the rocket boosters and drogue parachute.[94][95]
MiG-15bisT
S-103 converted for the target-towing role. All armament was removed.[94][95]
UTI MiG-15P
Two-seat dual-control jet trainer, heavily modified by Aero to accommodate RP-1 or RP-5 Izumrud radar, making it almost identical to the Soviet Samolet ST-8 except for radar type. Used for MiG-17PF (Fresco D) a MiG-19P/PM (Farmer B/E) crew training. One converted from a CS-102. Not to be confused with the similar Soviet UTI MiG-17P (Samolet ST-7).[95][104]

Foreign reporting names edit

Fagot
The NATO reporting name for the single-seat MiG-15. After the introduction of the MiG-15bis, the reporting name of the original MiG-15 was changed to Fagot-A to differentiate the two variants.[96][97][105]
Fagot-B
The NATO reporting name for the single-seat MiG-15bis.[97][105]
Midget
The NATO reporting name for the two-seat MiG-15UTI.[106]

Operators edit

Current operators edit

  North Korea

Former operators edit

  Afghanistan
  Albania
  Algeria
  Angola
  Bulgaria
  Cambodia
  China
  Republic of the Congo
  Cuba
  Czechoslovakia
  East Germany
  Egypt
  Finland
  Guinea
  Hungary
  Indonesia
  Iraq
  Khmer Republic
  Mali
  Morocco
  Mongolia
  Mozambique
  Nigeria
  North Vietnam
  North Yemen
  Pakistan
  Poland
  Romania
  Somalia
  South Yemen
  Soviet Union
  Sri Lanka
  Syria
  Uganda
  United States
  • United States Air Force – In the 1980s, the United States purchased a number of Shenyang J-4s along with Shenyang J-5s from China via the Combat Core Certification Professionals Company; these aircraft were employed in a "mobile threat test" program at Kirtland Air Force Base, operated by the USAF's 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron. As of 2015, MiG-15UTIs and MiG-17s are operated by a civilian contractor at both the USAF and US Naval Test Pilot Schools for student training.
  Vietnam

Civilian operators edit

  Argentina
One ex-Polish Air Force CS-102 trainer variant, rebuilt in 1975 as a SB Lim2M and retired in 1987. Privately brought to Argentina in November 1997 and given the experimental registration LV-X216.[118][119]

Surviving aircraft edit

 
MiG-15 in National Air & Space Museum. Taken in April 2004.
 
WSK-Mielec Lim-2 (Polish-built MiG-15bis, c/n 1B01006) at the Auto- und Technikmuseum Sinsheim.
 
CS-102 (Czech-built MiG-15UTI) at Dirgantara Mandala Museum in Indonesia

Many MiG-15s are on display throughout the world. In addition, they are becoming increasingly common as private sport aircraft and warbirds. According to the FAA, there were 43 privately owned MiG-15s in the US in 2011, including Chinese and Polish derivatives, the first of which is owned by aviator and aerobatic flyer, Paul T. Entrekin.[120]

Australia
As of July 2015, six privately owned MiG-15s are airworthy and on the Australian civil aircraft register. At least seven others are on static display in museums, including one in the Australian War Memorial.
Bulgaria
One MiG-15 is on display in Sofia at the National Museum of Military History.
Canada
China
Several MiG-15s (including some in North Korean colours) are preserved at the China Aviation Museum outside Beijing.
Cuba
A MiG-15UTI of the FAR (Fuerza Aérea Revolucionaria) is displayed at the Museo del Aire.
Czech Republic
Finland

Three MiG-15UTIs survive:

The Finnish nickname of the aircraft was Mukelo ("Ungainly"), after the FinnAF aircraft type designation code MU.

France
 
Mig-15bis at ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse, France
One MiG-15bis manufactured in Czechoslovakia is on display on the campus of the ISAE-Supaero school in Toulouse.[123]
Indonesia

Three Aero CS-102 (Czechoslovakian-built MiG-15UTI) are on display in Indonesia:

Norway
MiG-15UTI "RED 18"

This aircraft is a SBLim-2 (Polish-built MiG-15UTI), produced by WSK-Mielec in 1952. The aircraft is operated by the Norwegian Air Force.

Poland
Republic of Korea

MiG-15UTI on display at the War Memorial Museum in Seoul. This aircraft is a Chinese built MiG-15UTI flown by the DPRK.

Romania

A few Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 are on display in Romania:

  • 244, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis, ex-FAR, at the Army Museum in Bucharest.
  • 246, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, ex-FAR, at the Aviation Museum in Bucharest.
  • 727, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, ex-FAR, at the Aviation Museum in Bucharest.
  • 766, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, ex-FAR, is preserved at Ianca
  • 2543, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI, ex-FAR, at the Aviation Museum in Bucharest.
  • 2579, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI, ex-FAR, at the Aviation Museum in Bucharest.
  • 2713, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis, ex-FAR, at the Aviation Museum in Bucharest.
  • Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, in the front yard of Traian Vuia Lyceum in Craiova. Google maps coordinates 44.309248, 23.812195
Sweden
United Kingdom
United States
 
No Kum-sok's MiG-15 at the NMUSAF
 
MiG-15 at the Air Zoo
 
MiG-15UTI at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum

Specifications (MiG-15bis) edit

 
MiG-15 drawing

Data from OKB Mikoyan,[138] MiG: Fifty Years of Secret Aircraft Design[139]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1
  • Length: 10.102 m (33 ft 2 in)
  • Wingspan: 10.085 m (33 ft 1 in)
  • Height: 3.7 m (12 ft 2 in)
  • Wing area: 20.6 m2 (222 sq ft)
  • Airfoil: root: TsAGI S-10; tip: TsAGI SR-3[140]
  • Empty weight: 3,681 kg (8,115 lb)
  • Gross weight: 5,044 kg (11,120 lb)
  • Max takeoff weight: 6,106 kg (13,461 lb) with 2x600 L (160 US gal; 130 imp gal) drop-tanks
  • Fuel capacity: 1,420 L (380 US gal; 310 imp gal) internal
  • Powerplant: 1 × Klimov VK-1 centrifugal-flow turbojet, 26.5 kN (5,950 lbf) thrust

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 1,076 km/h (669 mph, 581 kn) at sea level
1,107 km/h (688 mph; 598 kn) / M0.9 at 3,000 m (9,800 ft)
  • Maximum speed: Mach 0.87 at sea level
  • Cruise speed: 850 km/h (530 mph, 460 kn) Mach 0.69
  • Ferry range: 2,520 km (1,570 mi, 1,360 nmi) at 12,000 m (39,000 ft) with 2x600 L (160 US gal; 130 imp gal) drop-tanks
  • Service ceiling: 15,500 m (50,900 ft)
  • Rate of climb: 51.2 m/s (10,080 ft/min)
  • Wing loading: 296.4 kg/m2 (60.7 lb/sq ft)
  • Thrust/weight: 0.54

Armament

  • Guns:
  • Hardpoints: 2 , with provisions to carry combinations of:
    • Bombs: 100 kg (220 lb) bombs
    • Other: drop tanks, or unguided rockets

See also edit

Related development

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

Related lists

References edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ According to a thesis published by Coleman Armstrong Mehta in 2006, Yugoslavia provided the CIA with a MiG-15 in flying condition as early as November 1951.[79]
  2. ^ a b The name No Kum-Sok follows Korean naming conventions; No is the surname and Kum-Sok is the given name.

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External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15.
  • Noland, David. Fighter Planes: MiG-15. The Air Power of the Evil Empire
  • Warbird Alley: MiG-15 page- Information about privately owned MiG-15s
  • MiG-15 in Korea
  • MiG-15 Fagot at Global Aircraft
  • MiG-15 Fagot at FAS
  • Cuban MiG-15

April 12, 2024
mikoyan, gurevich, russian, Микоян, Гуревич, МиГ, usaf, designation, type, nato, reporting, name, fagot, fighter, aircraft, developed, mikoyan, gurevich, soviet, union, first, successful, fighters, incorporate, swept, wings, achieve, high, transonic, speeds, a. The Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 Russian Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 USAF DoD designation Type 14 NATO reporting name Fagot is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan Gurevich for the Soviet Union The MiG 15 was one of the first successful jet fighters to incorporate swept wings to achieve high transonic speeds In aerial combat during the Korean War it outclassed straight winged jet day fighters which were largely relegated to ground attack roles In response to the MiG 15 s appearance and in order to counter it the United States Air Force rushed the North American F 86 Sabre to Korea 1 MiG 15A Soviet Air Forces MiG 15UTI two seater trainer over Duxford Air Festival 2017Role Fighter aircraftNational origin Soviet UnionManufacturer Mikoyan GurevichFirst flight 30 December 1947Introduction 1949Status In limited service with the Korean People s Army Air ForcePrimary users Soviet Air Forces historical People s Liberation Army Air Force historical Korean People s Army Air ForceNumber built 13 130 in the USSR at least 4 180 under licenseDeveloped into Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 17When refined into the more advanced MiG 17 the basic design would again surprise the West when it proved effective against supersonic fighters such as the Republic F 105 Thunderchief and McDonnell Douglas F 4 Phantom II in the Vietnam War of the 1960s The MiG 15 is believed to have been one of the most produced jet aircraft with more than 13 000 manufactured 2 The MiG 15 remains in service with the Korean People s Army Air Force as an advanced trainer Contents 1 Design and development 2 Operational history 2 1 Chinese Civil War 2 2 Soviet MiG 15s in the Korean War 2 2 1 Overview and background 2 2 2 November 1950 to January 1952 2 2 3 January 1952 to July 1952 2 2 4 July 1952 to July 1953 2 3 Chinese and Korean MiG 15s during the Korean War 2 4 Defection 2 5 The Cold War 2 6 Suez Canal Crisis 1956 2 7 Taiwan Straits crisis 2 8 Vietnam 2 9 Other events 2 10 MiG 17 3 Production 4 Variants 4 1 Prototype designations 4 2 Military designations 4 3 Samolet Aircraft designations 4 4 Chinese variants 4 5 Polish variants 4 6 Czechslovakian variants 4 7 Foreign reporting names 5 Operators 5 1 Current operators 5 2 Former operators 5 3 Civilian operators 6 Surviving aircraft 7 Specifications MiG 15bis 8 See also 9 References 9 1 Notes 9 2 Citations 9 3 Bibliography 10 External linksDesign and development edit nbsp Front view of a MiG 15 nbsp MiG 15 UTI Trainer version Chino Planes of Fame Air MuseumThe first turbojet fighter developed by Mikoyan Gurevich OKB was the Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 9 which appeared in the years immediately after World War II It used a pair of reverse engineered German BMW 003 engines 3 The MiG 9 was a troublesome design that suffered from weak unreliable engines and control problems Categorized as a first generation jet fighter it was designed with the straight style wings common to piston engined fighters In 1946 Soviet engine technology was far behind the West s 4 The Germans had been unable to develop airworthy turbojets with thrust over 1 130 kilograms force 11 100 N 2 500 lbf capable of running for more than a few hours at the time of the surrender in May 1945 which limited the performance of immediate Soviet postwar jet aircraft designs The Soviet aviation minister Mikhail Khrunichev and aircraft designer A S Yakovlev suggested to Premier Joseph Stalin that the USSR buy the reliable fully developed Rolls Royce Nene having been alerted to the fact that the U K Labour government wanted to improve post war UK Russia foreign relations for the purpose of copying them in a minimum of time Stalin is said to have replied What fool will sell us his secrets 5 However he gave his consent to the proposal and Mikoyan engine designer Vladimir Yakovlevich Klimov ru and others travelled to the United Kingdom to request the engines To Stalin s amazement the British Labour government and its Minister of Trade Sir Stafford Cripps were perfectly willing to provide technical information and a license to manufacture the Rolls Royce Nene Sample engines were purchased and delivered with blueprints Following evaluation and adaptation to Russian conditions the windfall technology was tooled for mass production as the Klimov RD 45 to be incorporated into the MiG 15 5 4 To take advantage of the new engine the Council of Ministers ordered the Mikoyan Gurevich OKB to build two prototypes for an advanced high altitude daytime interceptor to defend against bombers It was to have a top speed of 1 000 kilometres per hour 620 mph and a range of 1 200 kilometres 750 mi 6 Designers at MiG s OKB 155 started with the earlier MiG 9 jet fighter The new fighter used Klimov s British derived engines swept wings and a tailpipe going all the way back to a swept tail The German Me 262 was the first fighter fitted with an 18 5 wing sweep but it was introduced merely to adjust the center of gravity of its heavy Junkers Jumo 004 pioneering axial compressor turbojet engines Further experience and research during World War II later established that swept wings would give better performance at transonic speeds At the end of World War II the Soviets seized many of the assets of Germany s aircraft industry The MiG team studied these plans prototypes and documents particularly swept wing research and designs even going so far as to produce a flying testbed in 1945 to investigate swept wing design concepts as the piston engined pusher layout MiG 8 Utka Russian for duck from its tail first canard design The swept wing later proved to have a decisive performance advantage over straight winged jet fighters when it was introduced into combat over Korea The design that emerged had a mid mounted 35 degree swept wing with a slight anhedral and a tailplane mounted up on the swept tail Western analysts noted that it strongly resembled Kurt Tank s Focke Wulf Ta 183 a later design than the Me 262 that never progressed beyond the design stage 7 While the majority of Focke Wulf engineers in particular Hans Multhopp who led the Ta 183 development team were captured by Western armies the Soviets did capture plans and wind tunnel models for the Ta 183 8 better source needed The MiG 15 does bear a resemblance in layout sharing the high tailplane and nose mounted intake although the aircraft are different in structure details and proportions The MiG 15 s design understandably shared features and some appearance commonalities with the MiG design bureau s own 1945 46 attempt at a Soviet built version of the Messerschmitt Me 263 rocket fighter in the appearance of its fuselage The new MiG retained the previous straight winged MiG 9 s wing and tailplane placement while the F 86 employed a more conventional low winged design To prevent confusion during the height of combat the US painted their aircraft with bright stripes to distinguish them 9 nbsp Split forward air intakeThe resulting prototypes were designated I 310 10 The I 310 was a swept wing fighter with 35 degree sweep in wings and tail with two wing fences fitted to each wing to improve airflow over the wing The design used a single Rolls Royce Nene fed by a split forward air intake A duct carried intake air around the cockpit area and back together ahead of the engine 10 11 Its first flight was 30 December 1947 12 some two months after the American F 86 Sabre had first flown It demonstrated exceptional performance reaching 1 042 kilometres per hour 647 mph at 3 000 metres 9 800 ft 13 The Soviet Union s first swept wing jet fighter had been the underpowered Lavochkin La 160 which was otherwise more similar to the MiG 9 The Lavochkin La 168 which reached production as the Lavochkin La 15 used the same engine as the MiG but used a shoulder mounted wing and t tail it was the main competitive design Eventually the MiG design was favoured for mass production Designated MiG 15 the first production example flew on 31 December 1948 It entered Soviet Air Force service in 1949 and subsequently received the NATO reporting name Fagot Early production examples had a tendency to roll to the left or to the right due to manufacturing variances so aerodynamic trimmers called nozhi knives were fitted to correct the problem the knives being adjusted by ground crews until the aircraft flew correctly 5 The MiG 15 was originally intended to intercept American bombers like the B 29 It was even evaluated in mock air to air combat trials with a captured U S B 29 as well as the later Soviet B 29 copy the Tupolev Tu 4 To ensure the destruction of such large bombers the MiG 15 carried autocannons two 23 mm 0 91 in with 80 rounds per gun and a single 37 mm 1 46 in with 40 rounds These weapons provided tremendous punch in the interceptor role but their limited rate of fire and relatively low velocity made it more difficult to score hits against small and manoeuvrable enemy jet fighters in air to air combat The 23 mm and 37 mm also had radically different ballistics and some United Nations UN pilots in Korea had the unnerving experience of 23 mm shells passing over them while the 37 mm shells flew under The cannon were fitted into a simple pack that could be winched out of the bottom of the nose for servicing and reloading allowing pre prepared packs to be rapidly swapped out Some sources mistakenly claim the pack was added in later models 5 Despite the shortcomings of its armament the MiG 15 s simplicity ruggedness and particularly the absence of fuel tanks in its wings made it a formidable air to air adversary its airframe has relatively few vulnerable areas and shooting one down using the relatively fast firing but less potent M2 Browning machine guns common in American aircraft almost invariably required multiple hits 14 An improved variant the MiG 15bis second entered service in early 1950 with a Klimov VK 1 engine another version of the Nene with improved metallurgy over the RD 45 plus minor improvements and upgrades 15 Visible differences were a headlight in the air intake separator and horizontal upper edge airbrakes The 23 mm cannon were placed more closely together in their undercarriage Some bis aircraft also adopted under wing hardpoints for unguided rocket launchers or 50 250 kg 110 550 lb bombs Fighter bomber modifications were dubbed IB SD 21 and SD 5 About 150 aircraft were upgraded to SD 21 specification during 1953 1954 The MiG 15 arguably had sufficient power to dive at supersonic speeds but the lack of an all flying tail greatly diminished the pilot s ability to control the aircraft as it approached Mach 1 As a result pilots had to take care not to exceed Mach 0 92 where the flight surfaces became ineffective 16 The instrument panel had a red warning light that would illuminate when this speed was reached and during post Korean War flight tests American test pilots found that the aircraft would buffet heavily above Mach 0 92 and would pitch up at Mach 0 95 During a high altitude full power dive to determine if the MiG 15 could exceed Mach 1 Chuck Yeager reached Mach 0 98 but the MiG would go no faster and he lost roll control and did not begin to regain it until flying into denser air at 12 000 ft 3 700 m of altitude he had descended to 3 000 ft 910 m by the time he fully regained control and recovered from the dive 17 Additionally the MiG 15 tended to spin after it stalled and often the pilot could not recover 16 According to American test pilots this behavior was exacerbated by the lack of a noticeable stall warning 18 The MiG s proclivity towards sudden spins was deduced by UN pilots before the US was able to test one during the Korean War there were 56 recorded instances of UN pilots witnessing a MiG 15 entering a spin in combat resulting in at least 25 crashes and ten ejections 19 Operational history editChinese Civil War edit The baptism of fire for the MiG 15 was to occur during the last phases of the Chinese Civil War During the first months of 1950 aircraft of the Nationalist ROCAF operating from bases in Taiwan attacked mainland China including Shanghai Mao Zedong requested assistance with air defense from the USSR In February 1950 the 50th Fighter Aviation Division 50 IAD of the Soviet Air Defence Forces equipped with the MiG 15bis was deployed to southern China to support the People s Liberation Army Air Force PLAAF and begin training Chinese pilots in the MiG 15 In April 1950 MiG 15s flown by Soviet pilots began operating over Shanghai thwarting the Nationalist bombing campaign On 28 April 1950 a Captain Kalinikov shot down a ROCAF P 38 in the first aerial victory for a MiG 15 pilot Another followed on 11 May when Captain Ilya Ivanovich Schinkarenko downed a B 24 Liberator flown by Li Chao Hua commander of the 8th Air Group ROCAF citation needed Soviet MiG 15s in the Korean War edit This section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed June 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message nbsp No Kum sok s MiG 15 on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force Overview and background edit For many years the Soviet Union actively denied that its pilots flew in Korea during the Korean War only China and North Korea took responsibility for Korean War operations After the end of the Cold War Soviet pilots who participated in the conflict began to reveal their roles 20 Books by Chinese Russian and ex Soviet authors such as Zhang Xiaoming Leonid Krylov Yuriy Tepsurkaev and Igor Seydov revealed details of the actual pilots and operations From the beginning Soviet pilots were ordered to avoid flying over areas in which they might be captured Soviet aircraft were adorned with North Korean or Chinese markings and pilots wore either North Korean uniforms or civilian clothes to disguise their nationality For radio communication they were given cards with common Korean words for various flying terms spelled out phonetically in Cyrillic letters 20 These subterfuges did not long survive the stresses of air to air combat however Pilots often inadvertently reverted to their native language UN forces widely suspected the participation of Soviet aircrews and intercepted radio traffic appeared to include combat pilots speaking Russian In addition USAF pilots claimed to have recognized techniques and tactics used by Soviet pilots whom they referred to as honchos from a Japanese term meaning squad leader 21 When the Korean War broke out on 25 June 1950 the North Korean People s Air Force KPAF was equipped with World War II vintage Soviet propeller driven fighters including 93 Il 10s and 79 Yak 9Ps 22 and 40 50 assorted transport liaison trainer aircraft 23 Propeller driven single engine fighters were also numerically dominant amongst the air forces that would come under United Nations Command UNC such as the North American P 51 Mustang Vought F4U Corsair and Hawker Sea Fury Initially the numerical and technical superiority of UNC fighter units gave them air supremacy and laid North Korean targets bare to the destructive power of United States Air Force USAF Boeing B 29 heavy bombers During 1950 the Kremlin agreed to supply China and North Korea with MiG 15s as well as train their pilots The 50th Fighter Aviation Division 50 IAD equipped with the MiG 15 was already based near Shanghai as it had taken part in the Chinese Civil War see previous section A detachment from the 50 IAD was moved to Antung next to the border with North Korea in August 1950 They formed the 29th Guards Fighter Regiment 29 GvIAP When China entered the war in support of North Korea the Soviets agreed to provide 16 operational air regiments of MiG 15s including combat pilots In the meantime more MiG 15 pilots were recruited the squadrons earmarked for Korea were drawn from elite units The pilots had to be younger than 27 and priority was given to World War II veterans The first large Soviet aviation unit sent to Korea the 324th IAD was an air defense interceptor division commanded by Colonel Ivan Kozhedub who with 62 victories was the top Allied and Soviet ace of World War II In November 1950 the 151st and 28th IADs plus the veteran 50th IAD were reorganized into the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps 64 IAK nbsp Map showing the general location of MiG Alley Initially the Soviet fighters operated close to their bases limited by the range of their aircraft and were guided to the air battlefield by good ground control which directed them to the most advantageous positions For political security and logistical reasons they were not allowed to cross an imaginary line drawn from Wonsan to Pyongyang and never to fly over the sea The MiG 15s always operated in pairs with an attacking leader covered by a wingman The northwestern portion of North Korea where the Yalu River empties into the Yellow Sea was dubbed MiG Alley and became the site of numerous dogfights MiG 15 pilots also proved very effective in the specific role for which the type was originally designed intercepting formations of B 29s At the tactical level large formations of MiGs would wait on the Chinese side of the border When UN aircraft entered MiG Alley the MiGs would swoop down from high altitude to attack If they ran into trouble they would try to escape back over the border into China Soviet MiG 15 squadrons operated in big groups but the basic formation was a six aircraft group divided into three pairs each composed of a leader and a wingman The first pair of MiG 15s attacked the enemy Sabres The second pair protected the first pair The third pair remained above supporting the two other pairs when needed This pair had more freedom and could also attack targets of opportunity such as lone Sabres that had lost their wingmen After the MiG 15 entered the war it was shown to be clearly superior to the best straight wing jets operated by other countries including the Gloster Meteor Lockheed F 80 Republic F 84 and Grumman F9F In most measures of performance the North American F 86 Sabre which was also a swept wing design was the only close contemporary that could match the MiG 15 The USAF has claimed that the F 86 had the advantage in combat kills over Korea between 1950 and 1953 It has been acknowledged that many individual Soviet pilots had larger individual tallies than their UN counterparts due to a number of factors although the aggregated claims made by Soviet pilots were probably overstated 21 According to Soviet Russian sources 335 Soviet piloted MiG 15s were lost in Korea to all causes including accidents AA fire and ground attacks 24 Chinese sources claim that 224 Chinese piloted MiG 15s were lost over Korea 25 North Korean losses are not known but according to North Korean defectors their air force lost around 100 MiG 15s during the war 26 Thus around 659 MiG 15s are admitted as being lost 27 While an overwhelming majority of the losses to UN fighters involved F 86 pilots several MiG 15s were lost in or immediately after combat with each of several other UN fighters F 80s F 84s F9Fs Gloster Meteors and even propeller driven F4Us and Sea Furies The Soviet 64th Fighter Aviation Corps 64 IAK which controlled all Soviet piloted aircraft in the Korean War claimed 1 106 aircraft shot down by MiG 15s The records of USAF units confirm 139 US aircraft were shot down by MiGs with another 68 lost due to unknown causes 237 aircraft listed as missing due to unknown causes and 472 aircraft classified as other losses 28 Data matching with Soviet records suggests that US pilots routinely attributed their own combat losses to landing accidents and other losses 29 November 1950 to January 1952 edit On 1 November 1950 the 50th IAD joined the war with its MiG 15s their noses painted red and in North Korean markings That day eight MiG 15s intercepted about 15 USAF F 51D Mustangs and First Lieutenant Fyodor V Chizh shot down Aaron Abercombrie killing the American pilot The first ever jet versus jet combat occurred that same day when three MiG 15s from the 50th IAD intercepted ten F 80 Shooting Stars The F 80C piloted by 1st Lt Frank Van Sickle USAF was shot down by 1st Lt Semyon Fyodorovich Khominich and Van Sickle was killed 30 31 However the USAF incorrectly attributed the loss to North Korean AA artillery 32 30 However on 9 November the Soviet MiG 15 pilots suffered their first loss when Lieutenant Commander William T Amen off the aircraft carrier USS Philippine Sea shot down and killed Captain Mikhail F Grachev while flying a Grumman F9F Panther 33 To counter the MiG 15 three squadrons of the F 86 Sabre America s only operational jet with swept wings were quickly rushed to Korea in December 1 On 17 December Lt Col Bruce H Hinton forced Maj Yakov Nikanorovich Yefromeyenko to eject from his burning MiG 32 Five days later Capt Nikolay Yefremovich Vorobyov 34 shot down the F 86A of Captain Lawrence V Bach in his MiG 15bis 32 Both sides exaggerated their claims of aerial victories that month Sabre fliers claimed eight MiGs and the Soviets 12 F 86s the actual losses were three MiGs and at least four Sabres The British Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir John Slessor commented not only is it faster than anything we are building today but it is already being produced in very large numbers The Russians therefore have achieved a four year lead over British development in respect of the vitally important interceptor fighter 35 At the end of 1950 the Soviet Union assigned a new unit to support China the 324th IAD made up of two regiments the 176th GIAP and 196th IAP At that time a MiG 15 interceptor regiment had 35 to 40 aircraft and a division was usually composed of three regiments When the new unit arrived at air bases along the Yalu River in March 1951 it had undergone preliminary training at Soviet bases in the neighboring Maritime Military Districts and started an intense period of air to air training in the MiG 15 The Soviets trained alongside Chinese and Korean pilots Both regiments of the 324th IAD redeployed to the forward airbase in Antung and entered combat in early April 1951 The 303rd IAD of General Georgiy A Lobov arrived in Korea in June of that same year and commenced combat operations in August nbsp Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 fighters curving in to attack U S Air Force Boeing B 29 Superfortress bombers over Korea c 1951 nbsp A photo reconnaissance B 29 that crash landed at Iruma Air Base Japan after being severely damaged by MiG 15 fighters over the Yalu River the B 29 s tail gunner shot down one of the attackers 9 November 1950 36 Soviet MiG pilots were trained to attack enemy formations in coordinated attacks from different directions using both height and high speed to their advantage The first encounters established the main features of the aerial battles of the next two and a half years The MiG 15 and MiG 15bis had a higher ceiling than all versions of the Sabre 15 500 m 50 900 ft versus 14 936 m 49 003 ft of the F 86F and accelerated faster than F 86A E Fs due to their better thrust to weight ratio 1 005 km h 624 mph versus 972 km h 604 mph of the F 86F The MiG 15 s 2 800 m 9 200 ft per minute climbing rate was also greater than the 2 200 m 7 200 ft per minute of the F 86A and E the F 86F matched the MiG 15 A better turn radius above 10 000 m 33 000 ft further distinguished the MiG 15 The MiG was slower at low altitude 935 km h 581 mph in the MiG 15bis configuration as opposed to the 1 107 km h 688 mph of the F 86F All Sabres could also turn tighter below 8 000 m 26 000 ft 37 Thus if the MiG 15 forced the Sabre to fight in the vertical plane or in the horizontal one above 10 000 m 33 000 ft it gained a significant advantage Furthermore a MiG 15 could easily escape from a Sabre by climbing to its ceiling knowing that the F 86 could not follow Below 8 000 m 26 247 ft however the Sabre had a slight advantage over the MiG in most aspects excluding climb rate especially if the Soviet pilot made the mistake of fighting in the horizontal The MiG also had more powerful weaponry one 37 mm N 37 cannon and two 23 mm NR 23 cannons versus the six 12 7 mm 50 in machine guns of the Sabre However the Soviet World War II era ASP 1N gyroscopic gunsight was less sophisticated than the accurate A 1CM and A4 radar ranging sights of the F 86E and F The main mission of the MiG 15 was not to dogfight the F 86 but to counter the USAF Boeing B 29 Superfortress bombers This mission was assigned to the elite of the Soviet Air Force VVS in April 1951 to the 324th IAD of Colonel Ivan Kozhedub and later to the 303rd IAD of General Georgiy A Lobov who arrived in Korea in June of the same year 32 On 12 April 1951 44 MiG 15s took on a USAF formation of 48 B 29 Superfortresses escorted by 18 F 86 Sabres 54 F 84 Thunderjets and 24 F 80 Shooting Stars heading towards the bridge linking North Korea and Red China over the Yalu River in Uiju The experienced Soviet fliers shot down or damaged beyond repair 10 B 29As one F 86A and three F 80Cs for the loss of only one MiG 32 The Soviet air units claimed to have shot down 29 American aircraft through the rest of the month 11 F 80s seven B 29s and nine F 51s 32 23 out of these 29 claims match acknowledged losses but US sources assert that most of them were either operational or due to flak admitting only four B 29s a downed B 29 plus two B 29s and an RB 29 that crash landed or were damaged beyond repair US historians agree that the MiG 15 gained aerial superiority over northwestern Korea 32 US strategic bombers returned in the week of 22 27 October to neutralize the North Korean aerodromes of Namsi Taechon and Saamchan taking further losses to the MiG 15 On 23 October 1951 56 MiG 15bis intercepted nine B 29s escorted by 34 F 86s and 55 F 84Es In spite of their numerical inferiority the Soviet airmen shot down or damaged beyond repair eight B 29As and two F 84Es losing only one MiG in return and leading Americans to call that day Black Tuesday 38 The most successful Soviet pilots that day were Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandr P Smorchkov and 1st Lieutenant Dmitriy A Samoylov The former shot down a Superfortress on each of 22 23 and 24 October 32 Samoylov added two F 86As to his tally on 24 October 1951 39 40 and on 27 October shot down two more aircraft a B 29A and an F 84E 39 41 These losses among the heavy bombers forced the Far East Air Forces High Command to cancel the precision daylight attacks of the B 29s and only undertake radar directed night raids 42 From November 1951 to January 1952 both sides tried to achieve air superiority over the Yalu or at least tried to deny it to the enemy and in consequence the intensity of the aerial combat reached peaks not seen before between MiG 15 and F 86 pilots During the period from November 1950 to January 1952 no fewer than 40 Soviet MiG 15 pilots were credited as aces with five or more victories Soviet combat records show that the first pilot to claim his fifth aerial victory was Captain Stepan Ivanovich Naumenko on 24 December 1950 33 43 The honor falls to Captain Sergei Kramarenko when on 29 July 1951 he scored his actual fifth victory 44 Approximately 16 out of those 40 pilots actually became aces the most successful being Major Nikolay Sutyagin credited with 22 victories 13 of which were confirmed by the US Colonel Yevgeny Pepelyaev with 19 claims 15 confirmed and Major Lev Shchukin with 17 credited 11 verified 45 The MiG leaders enjoying the advantage from the ground and the tactical advantage of an aircraft with superior altitude performance were able to dictate the tactical situation at least until the battle was started They could decide to fight or stay out as they wished The advantage of radar control from the ground also allowed the MiGs if desired to pass through the gaps in the F 86 patrol pattern January 1952 to July 1952 edit At the end of January 1952 the 303rd IAD was replaced by the 97th 16th and 148th IAP and in February the 324th IAD was replaced by the 190th IAD 256th 494th and 821st IAP These new units were poorly trained the bulk of the pilots having only 50 60 hours flying the MiG Consequently those units suffered great losses from the now better prepared American Sabre pilots At least two Soviet fliers became aces during that period Majors Arkadiy S Boytsov and Vladimir N Zabelin with six and nine victories respectively 46 During the six months of February to July 1952 they lost 81 MiGs and 34 pilots were killed by F 86s and in return they only shot down 68 UN aircraft including 36 F 86s The greatest losses came on 4 July 1952 when 11 MiGs were downed by Sabres with one pilot killed in action Contributing to all this was the secret Maple Special Operation a plan by Colonel Francis Gabreski to cross the Yalu River into Manchuria something officially forbidden and catch the MiGs unaware during their takeoffs or landings when they were at disadvantage flying slow at a low level and sometimes short of ammunition and fuel Even under these circumstances MiG 15 pilots would score at least two important victories against US aces 10 February 1952 Major George Andrew Davis Jr an ace credited with 14 victories 10 confirmed by communist sources was shot down and killed The victor s identity was disputed between 1st Lieutenant Mikhail Akimovich Averin and Zhang Jihui 46 47 48 49 4 July 1952 A few seconds after shooting down 1st Lieutenant M I Kosynkin future ace Captain Clifford D Jolley was forced to eject out of his crippled F 86E after being caught by surprise by MiG 15bis pilot 1st Lieutenant Vasily Romanovich Krutkikh 40 46 50 51 July 1952 to July 1953 edit In May 1952 new and better trained PVO divisions the 133rd and 216th IADs arrived in Korea They would replace the 97th and 190th by July 1952 and if they could not take aerial superiority away from the now well prepared Americans then they certainly neutralized it between September 1952 and July 1953 In September 1952 the 32nd IAD also started combat operations Again the figures of victories and losses in the air are still debated by historians of the US and the former Soviet Union but on at least three occasions Soviet MiG 15 aces gained the upper hand against Sabre aces 7 April 1953 The 10 kill ace Captain Harold E Fischer was shot down over Manchuria shortly after causing damage to a Chinese and a Soviet MiG over Dapu airbase in Manchuria The attacker s identity was disputed between 1st Lieutenant Grigoriy Nesterovich Berelidze and Han Dechai 52 53 12 April 1953 Captain Semyon Alekseyevich Fedorets a Soviet ace with eight victories shot down the F 86E of Norman E Green but shortly afterward was attacked by the future top American ace of the Korean War Captain Joseph C McConnell In the ensuing dogfight they shot each other down ejecting and being rescued safely 46 20 July 1953 During a raid deep into Manchuria and after shooting down two Chinese MiGs Majors Thomas M Sellers and Stephen L Bettinger the second an ace with five kills tried to catch by surprise two Soviet MiG 15s that were landing in Dapu The Soviet fliers skillfully forced the Americans to overshoot reversed direction and shot both down Captain Boris N Siskov forced Bettinger to bail out and his wingman 1st Lieutenant Vladimir I Klimov killed Major Sellers This was Siskov s fifth victory making him the last ace of the Korean War Those were also the last Sabres downed by Soviet fliers in the war 40 52 54 nbsp MiG 15 from the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in North Korea The MiG 15 threat forced the Far East Air Forces to cancel B 29 daylight raids in favor of night radar guided missions from November 1951 onward Initially this presented a threat to Communist defenses as their only specialized night fighting unit was equipped with the prop driven Lavochkin La 11 inadequate for the task of intercepting the B 29 Part of the regiment was re equipped with the MiG 15bis and another night fighting unit joined the fray causing American heavy bombers to suffer losses again Between 21 50 and 22 30 on 10 June 1952 four MiG 15bis attacked B 29s over Sonchon and Kwaksan Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Ivanovich Studilin damaged a B 29A beyond repair forcing it to make an emergency landing at Kimpo Air Base 55 A few minutes later Major Anatoly Karelin added two more Superfortresses to his tally 32 Studilin and Karelin s wingmen Major L A Boykovets and 1st Lieutenant Zhahmany Ihsangalyev also damaged one B 29 each Anatoly Karelin eventually became an ace with six kills all B 29s at night 56 In the aftermath of these battles B 29 night sorties were cancelled for two months Originally conceived to shoot down rather than escort bombers both of America s state of the art jet night fighters the F 94 Starfire and the F3D Skyknight were committed to protecting the Superfortresses against MiGs The MiG 15 was less effective in getting past the Marine Corps ground based two seat F3D Skyknight night fighters assigned to escort B 29s after the F 94 Starfires proved ineffective What the squat aircraft lacked in sheer performance it made up for with the advantage of a search radar that enabled the Skyknight to see its targets clearly while the MiG 15 s directions to find bomber formations were of little use in seeing escorting fighters On the night of 2 3 November 1952 a Skyknight with pilot Major William Stratton and radar operator Hans Hoagland damaged the MiG 15 of Captain V D Vishnyak Five days later Oliver R Davis and radar operator D F Ding Fessler downed a MiG 15bis the pilot Lieutenant Ivan P Kovalyov ejected safely Skyknights claimed five MiG kills for no losses of their own 57 and no B 29s escorted by them were lost to enemy fighters 58 However the duel was not one sided on the night of 16 January 1953 an F3D almost did fall to a MiG when the Skyknight of Captain George Cross and Master Sergeant J A Piekutowski suffered serious damage in an attack by a Soviet MiG 15bis with difficulty the Skyknight returned to Kunsan Air Base 59 Three and a half months later on the night of 29 May 1953 Chinese MiG 15 pilot Hou Shujun of the PLAAF shot down an F3D 2 over Anju Sgt James V Harrell s remains were found on a beach during the summer of 2001 just miles from the Kunsan base Captain James B Brown is still missing in action 41 60 In a Royal Navy Sea Fury flying from a light fleet carrier 61 FAA pilot Lieutenant Peter Hoagy Carmichael downed a MiG 15 on 8 August 1952 in air to air combat The Sea Fury would be one of the few piston engined fighter aircraft following World War II s end to shoot down a jet fighter On 10 September 1952 Captain Jesse G Folmar shot down a MiG 15 with an F4U Corsair but was himself downed by another MiG 62 The figures given by the Soviet sources indicate that the MiG 15s of the 64th IAK the fighter corps that included all the divisions that rotated through the conflict made 60 450 daylight combat sorties and 2 779 night ones and engaged the enemy in 1 683 daylight aerial battles and 107 at night claiming to have shot down 1 097 UN aircraft over Korea including 647 F 86s 185 F 84s 118 F 80s 28 F 51s 11 F 94s 65 B 29s 26 Gloster Meteors and 17 aircraft of different types 52 According to U S 57 B 29s and reconnaissance variants were lost in combat during the Korean war almost all by MiG 15s 63 Chinese and Korean MiG 15s during the Korean War edit The Soviet VVS and PVO were the primary users of the MiG 15 during the war but not the only ones it was also used by the PLAAF and KPAF known as the United Air Army Despite bitter complaints from the Soviet Union which repeatedly requested the Chinese to accelerate the introduction of MiG 15 new units the Chinese were relatively slow in this process at the time and by 1951 there were only two regiments flying MiG 15bis as night fighters Being not completely trained and equipped both units were used only for the defence of China but they became involved in the interception of USAF reconnaissance aircraft some of which went very deep over China By September 1951 with enough MiG 15s in the Yalu area Soviet and Chinese leaders were confident enough to begin planning the deployment of Chinese and new North Korean MiG 15 regiments outside Chinese sanctuaries Excluding a brief episode in January 1951 the PLAAF did not see action until 25 September 1951 when 16 MiG 15s engaged Sabres with pilot Li Yongtai claiming a victory but losing a MiG and its pilot clarification needed 64 The North Korean unit equipped with the MiG 15 got into action a year later in September 1952 From then until the end of the war the United Air Army claimed to have shot down 211 F 86s 72 F 84s and F 80s and 47 other aircraft of various types losing 116 Chinese airmen and 231 aircraft 224 MiG 15s three La 11s and four Tupolev Tu 2s 65 Several pilots were credited with five or more enemy aircraft such as Zhao Baotong with seven victories Wang Hai with nine kills and both Kan Yon Duk and Kim Di San with five Based on Soviet archival data 335 Soviet MiG 15s are known to have been admitted as lost over Korea 66 Chinese claims of their losses amount to 224 MiG 15s over Korea 25 North Korean losses are not known but according to North Korean defectors their air force lost around 100 MiG 15s during the war 67 Thus a total of 659 MiG 15s are admitted as being lost by all causes while USAF claims of their losses amount to 78 F 86 Sabres in air to air combat 68 Overall UN losses to MiG 15s are credited as 78 F 86 Sabres and 75 aircraft of other types 68 However one modern source claims that the USAF has more recently cited 224 losses circa 100 to air combat out of 674 F 86s deployed to Korea 69 Conversely data matching with Soviet records shows that US pilots routinely attributed their own combat losses to landing accidents and other causes 70 According to official US data USAF Statistical Digest FY1953 the USAF lost 250 F 86 fighters in Korea 184 were lost in combat 78 in air combat 19 by Anti aircraft gun 26 were unknown causes and 61 were other losses and 66 in accidents 63 More recent research by Dorr Lake and Thompson has claimed the actual ratio is closer to 2 to 1 71 The Soviets claimed to have downed over 600 Sabres 72 together with the Chinese claims 73 A recent RAND report 74 made reference to recent scholarship of F 86 v MiG 15 combat over Korea and concluded that the actual kill loss ratio for the F 86 was 1 8 to 1 overall and likely closer to 1 3 to 1 against MiGs flown by Soviet pilots 66 However this ratio did not count the number of aircraft of other types B 29 A 26 F 80 F 82 F 84 that were shot down by MiG 15s nbsp MiG 15 left and F 86 Sabre right on display at the Steven F Udvar Hazy Center National Air and Space Museum Defection edit nbsp MiG 15 delivered by the defecting North Korean pilot No Kum Sok to the US Air Force nbsp Photograph of a wrecked Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 fighter that was analyzed by United Nations forces in the Korean War In April 1951 a crashed MiG 15 was spotted near the Chongchon River On 17 April 1951 a USAF Sikorsky H 19 staging through Baengnyeongdo carried a US South Korean team to the crash site They photographed the wreck and removed the turbine blades combustion chamber exhaust pipe and horizontal stabilizer The overloaded helicopter then flew the team and samples back to Paengyong do where they were transferred to an SA 16 and flown south and then to Wright Patterson Air Force Base Ohio for evaluation 75 In July 1951 the submerged remains of a MiG 15 were spotted by Royal Navy carrier aircraft from HMS Glory The MiG 15 was broken up a piece of the engine was visible aft of the center section and the tail section was located some distance away The wreck was located in an area of mudbanks with treacherous tides and at the end of a narrow channel that was supposedly mined c 160 km behind the front lines The MiG 15 was retrieved transported to Incheon and then to Wright Patterson Air Force Base Eager to obtain an intact MiG for combat testing in a controlled environment the United States launched Operation Moolah which offered to any pilot who defected with his MiG 15 political asylum and a reward of US 100 000 equivalent to 910 000 in 2023 76 77 Franciszek Jarecki a Polish Air Force pilot defected from Soviet controlled Poland in a MiG 15 on the morning of 5 March 1953 allowing Western air experts to examine the aircraft for the first time 78 Jarecki flew from Slupsk to the field airport at Ronne on the Danish island of Bornholm The whole trip took him only a few minutes Specialists from the United States called to the airfield by the Danish authorities thoroughly examined the aircraft According to international regulations they then returned it by ship to Poland a few weeks later Jarecki also received a 50 000 reward for being the first to present a MiG 15 to the Americans and became a US citizen a nbsp An Operation Moolah propaganda leaflet promising a 100 000 reward to the first North Korean pilot to deliver a jet fighter to UN forces Following this example a total of four Polish MiG 15 pilots defected No military maps showed foreign Baltic coastlines and so Franciszek Jarecki navigated using a basic school atlas three of the four pilots managed to find the small island of Bornholm while one arrived at the Swedish Coast approximate 80 km North of Bornholm A North Korean pilot Lieutenant Kenneth H Rowe born No Kum Sok b defected at Kimpo Air Base on 21 September 1953 After landing he claimed to be unaware of the US 100 000 reward 80 This MiG 15 was minutely inspected and was test flown by several test pilots including Chuck Yeager 81 Yeager reported in his autobiography the MiG 15 had dangerous handling faults and claimed that during a visit to the USSR Soviet pilots were incredulous he had dived in it this supposedly being very hazardous 82 No b informed the Americans that spins in the aircraft were considered very dangerous and that the KPAF instructed pilots to eject if unable to recover from a spin within three turns 18 Remarking on the MiG 15 s unforgiving behavior particularly in the hands of an inexperienced pilot Yeager characterized it as a flying booby trap 17 Lieutenant No s aircraft is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton Ohio The Cold War edit During the 1950s the MiG 15s of the USSR and their Warsaw Pact allies on many occasions intercepted aircraft of the NATO air forces performing reconnaissance near or inside their territory such incidents sometimes ended with aircraft of one side or the other being shot down The known incidents where the MiG 15 was involved include 16 December 1950 A USAF RB 29 was downed over Primore Sea of Japan by two MiG 15 pilots Captain Stepan A Bajaev and 1st Lieutenant N Kotov 19 November 1951 MiG 15bis pilot 1st Lieutenant A A Kalugin forced a USAF C 47 that had penetrated Hungarian airspace to land at the airbase at Papa 13 June 1952 Two naval MiG 15s flown by Captain Oleg Piotrovich Fedotov and 1st Lieutenant Ivan Petrovich Proskurin shot down an RB 29A near Valentin Bay over the Sea of Japan All 12 crew members perished their bodies were not recovered 13 June 1952 Catalina affair A Soviet MiG 15 flown by Captain Osinskiy shot down a Douglas DC 3 reconnaissance aircraft of the Swedish Air Force piloted by Alvar Almeberg near Ventspils over the Baltic Sea All eight crew members perished One of the two Swedish military Catalina flying boats that conducted subsequent search and rescue for the downed DC 3 was also shot down by a MiG 15 though with no loss of life 7 August 1952 Two MiG 15 pilots 1st Lieutenants Zeryakov and Lesnov shot down a USAF RB 29 over the Kuril Islands The entire crew of nine died the remains of one Captain John R Durnham were returned to the United States in 1993 18 November 1952 Four MiG 15bis engaged four F9F 2 Panthers off the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany CV 34 near Vladivostok One MiG 15 pilot Captain Dmitriy Belyakov managed to seriously damage Lieutenant Junior Grade David M Rowlands s F9F 2 but seconds later he and 1st Lieutenant Vandalov were downed by Elmer Royce Williams and John Davidson Middleton Neither Soviet pilot was found 10 March 1953 Air battle over Merklin Two MiG 15bis of the Czechoslovak Air Force intercepted two F 84Gs in Czechoslovak airspace Lieutenant Jaroslav Sramek shot down one of them the F 84 crashed in Bavarian territory The US pilot bailed out safely 12 March 1953 Seven airmen were killed when the Royal Air Force Avro Lincoln they were flying in was shot down by a Soviet Air Force MiG 15 in the Berlin air corridor near Boizenburg 51 kilometres 32 mi northeast of Luneburg 29 July 1953 Two MiG 15bis intercepted a RB 50G near Gamov in the Sea of Japan and instructed it to land at their home base The RB 50 gunners opened fire and hit the MiG of 1st Lieutenant Aleksandr D Rybakov Rybakov and his wingman 1st Lieutenant Yuriy M Yablonskiy then shot down the RB 50 One of the crew members John E Roche was rescued alive and three corpses were recovered The remaining 13 crew members became missing in action 17 April 1955 MiG 15 pilots Korotkov and Sazhin shot down an RB 47E north of the Kamchatka peninsula All three crew members perished 27 June 1955 El Al Flight 402 was shot down by two Bulgarian MiG 15 aircraft after penetrating Bulgarian airspace All 58 passengers and crew perished in the attack 83 84 85 Suez Canal Crisis 1956 edit Egypt bought two squadrons of MiG 15bis and MiG 17 fighters in 1955 from Czechoslovakia with the sponsorship and support of the USSR just in time to participate in the Suez Canal Crisis By the outbreak of the Suez conflict in October 1956 four squadrons of the Egyptian Air Force were equipped with the type although few pilots were trained to fly them effectively citation needed They first saw aerial action on the morning of 30 October intercepting four RAF Canberra bombers on a reconnaissance mission over the Canal Zone damaging one Later that day MiG 15s attacked Israeli forces at Mitla Pass and El Thamed in the Sinai destroying half a dozen vehicles As a result the Israeli Air Force IAF instituted a standing combat air patrol over the Canal and the next attack resulted in two MiGs downed by IAF Mysteres although the Egyptian aircraft were able to successfully hit the Israeli troops The next day the MiGs evened the score somewhat when they badly damaged two IAF Ouragan fighters forcing one of them to crash land in the desert British and French warplanes then began a systematic bombing campaign of Egyptian air bases destroying at least eight MiGs and dozens of other Egyptian aircraft on the ground and forcing the others to disperse The remaining aircraft still managed to fly some attack missions but the Egyptians had lost air superiority During air combat against the IAF Egyptian MiG 15bis managed to shoot down two Israeli aircraft a Gloster Meteor F 8 on 30 October 1956 and a Dassault Ouragan on 1 November which performed a belly landing this last victory was scored by the Egyptian pilot Faruq el Gazzavi A third aircraft an L 8 Piper Cub was destroyed on the ground 86 nbsp Egyptian MiG 15bis Lake Bardawil 1956An Egyptian MiG 15 was damaged but the pilot managed to ditch in Lake Bardawil and the aircraft was salvaged by Israeli forces Taiwan Straits crisis edit After the Korean War ended Communist China turned its attention back to Nationalist China on the island of Taiwan Chinese MiG 15s were in action over the Taiwan Strait against the outnumbered Nationalist Air Force CNAF and helped make possible the Communist occupation of two strategic island groups The US had been lending support to the Nationalists since 1951 and started delivery of F 86s in 1955 Sabres and MiGs clashed three years later in the Quemoy Crisis Throughout the 1950s MiG 15s of China s People s Liberation Army Air Force PLAAF frequently engaged Republic of China ROC and U S aircraft in combat in 1958 a ROC F 86 fighter achieved the first air to air kill with an AIM 9 Sidewinder air to air missile against a PLAAF MiG 15 87 Vietnam edit Vietnam operated a number of MiG 15s and MiG 15UTIs for training only There is no mention of the MiG 15 being involved in any combat against American aircraft in the early stages of the Vietnam War Other events edit The first man in space Yuri Gagarin was killed in a crash during a March 1968 training flight in a MiG 15UTI due to poor visibility and miscommunication with ground control 88 MiG 17 edit Main article Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 17 The more advanced MiG 17 Fresco was very similar in appearance but addressed many of the limitations of the MiG 15 It introduced a new swept wing with a compound sweep configuration a 45 angle near the fuselage and a 42 angle for the outboard part of the wings The first prototype was flown in 1953 before the end of the Korean war Later versions introduced radar afterburning engines and missiles Production edit nbsp SB Lim 2 of the Polish Air ForceThe USSR built 1344 MiG 15 8352 MiG 15bis and 3434 two seaters It was also built under license in Czechoslovakia as the S 102 MiG 15 821 aircraft S 103 MiG 15bis 620 aircraft and CS 102 MiG 15UTI 2012 aircraft and Poland as the Lim 1 MiG 15 227 aircraft and Lim 2 MiG 15bis 500 aircraft No two seaters have been built in Poland as such the SB Lim 1 and SB Lim 2 variants were remanufactured from hundreds of Polish Czech and Soviet built single seaters In the early 1950s the Soviet Union delivered hundreds of MiG 15s to China where they received the designation J 2 89 The Soviets also sent 847 MiG 15 engineers and specialists to China where they assisted China s Shenyang Aircraft Factory to prepare to build jet fighters It was originally planned to build the MiG 15bis fighter at Shenyang but China decided to build the more advanced MiG 17 fighter instead together with the MiG 15UTI trainer designated JJ 2 China never produced a single seat fighter version only the two seat JJ 2 90 91 although during the Korean War Shenyang was used for the repair of battle damaged MiG 15 90 The number of JJ 2s built remains unknown and the estimates vary between 120 and 500 aircraft The designation J 4 is unclear some sources claim Western observers mistakenly labelled China s MiG 15bis a J 4 while the PLAAF never used the J 4 designation Others claim J 4 is used for MiG 17F while J 5 is used for MiG 17PF 92 Another source claims the PLAAF used J 4 for Soviet built MiG 17A which were quickly replaced by license built MiG 17Fs J 5s 93 Variants editPrototype designations edit I 310 Designation of S 01 S 02 and S 03 prototypes 94 I 312 Designation of Samolet ST prototypes Military designations edit MiG 15 Military designation of Samolet SV first production version powered by a Klimov RD 45F 94 95 The aircraft was given the product code Izdeliye 50 96 MiG 15PB Podvyesnije Baki Belly Tank production variant capable of carrying two 250 litres 66 US gal drop tanks on the bomb racks Once modifications became standard on production aircraft the PB was dropped and the designation reverted to MiG 15 97 MiG 15S Soprovozdenije Escort production variant capable of carrying two 300 litres 79 US gal or 400 litres 110 US gal drop tanks or two 600 litres 160 US gal underwing tanks on the bomb racks Once modifications became standard on production aircraft the S was dropped and the designation reverted to MiG 15 97 MiG 15SV Soprovozdenije Vysoto High Altitude Escort variant with underwing fuel tanks and NR 23 autocannons 97 MiG 15U Ustanovka Weapon Swiveling Device military designation of Samolet SU One built 97 MiG 15bis Samolet SD improved single seat fighter version powered by a Klimov VK 1 and with enlarged air brakes Changes made during production include the replacement of the NS 23 autocannons with the NR 23 the addition of an OSP 48 instrument landing system and a revised canopy to improve visibility 94 95 Aircraft produced at the Gorky factory were given the product code Izdeliye 53 while aircraft produced at the Kuybyshev factory were Izdeliye 55 same as the MiG 15bisR 96 MiG 15bisF MiG 15bis modified for unarmed reconnaissance with armament removed to make room for AFA 1M and AFP 21KT cameras 97 MiG 15bisR Rasvedtchik Reconnaissance military designation of Samolet SR MiG 15bis modified for armed reconnaissance with the 37 mm and one 23 mm autocannon removed to make room for AFA 1M and AFP 21KT cameras 95 97 Also known as the MiG 15Rbis 94 The aircraft was given the product code Izdeliye 55 96 MiG 15bisS Soprovozdenije Escort long range escort fighter based on the Samolet SD UPB Also known as the MiG 15Sbis Once modifications became standard production aircraft the S was dropped and the designation reverted to MiG 15bis 94 95 MiG 15bisP Samolet SP 5 prototype single seat all weather interceptor version of the MiG 15bis with an RP 1 Izumrud radar Also known as the MiG 15P 94 97 Burlaki Proposed parasite fighter based on the MiG 15bis that would be towed behind a Tupolev Tu 4 via a winch Project canceled after the Tu 4 was replaced by the Tupolev Tu 16 94 95 MiG 15LL Samolet SYe experimental variant with an enlarged vertical tail and stiffened wings with square tipped ailerons to improve high speed handling 94 nbsp MiG 15ISh at the Monino Aircraft MuseumMiG 15ISh Istrebitel Shturmovik fighter armored attacker experimental attack variant with two wing mounted beam like pylons each capable of carrying two bombs in tandem or rocket launchers 95 Reports disagree on the number built with one claiming only a single aircraft was built and another stating 12 were built 94 MiG 15M Mishen Target target UAV converted from single seat MiG 15 Also known as the M 15 96 98 99 nbsp A UTI MiG 15 at the Israeli Air Force Museum Hatzerim in 1945 58 Egyptian Air Force markingsUTI MiG 15 Samolet ST 2 two seat trainer armed with a single 12 7 mm A 12 7 machine gun Also known as the MiG 15UTI 94 96 UTI MiG 15P Samolet ST 7 modified UTI MiG 15 with an RP 1 Izumrud radar and armed with a single 12 7 mm UBK E One converted from a MiG 15UTI 94 95 UTI MiG 15LL Samolet ST 10 testbed aircraft for ejection seats At least five converted from MiG 15UTIs Also known as the MiG 15UTI LL 94 95 97 UTI MiG 15stk Unofficial designation of an ejection seat trainer with an open rear cockpit At least two UTI MiG 15s were modified 96 Samolet Aircraft designations edit Samolet S 01 S 01 First prototype powered by a Rolls Royce Nene 1 engine and armed with a single 37 mm NS 37 and two 23 mm NS 23 autocannons Also known as S 1 95 96 97 Samolet S 02 S 02 Second prototype powered by a Rolls Royce Nene 2 with revised landing gear doors and canopy more complete avionics package and other small changes Also known as S 2 95 96 97 Samolet S 03 S 03 Third prototype powered by a Rolls Royce Nene 2 with air brakes altered tail configuration increased fuel capacity and provisions for underwing bombs Also known as S 3 95 96 Samolet S S Single pre production aircraft as S 03 but with several changes including air brakes skinned with EI 100N steel instead of duralumin and powered by a Klimov RD 45F 96 Samolet SV SV First production version powered by a Klimov RD 45F Entered service as the MiG 15 96 Samolet SA 1 SA 1 Experimental variant fitted with an OSP 48 instrument landing system as well as other improvements One converted from a MiG 15 The OSP 48 became standard on later production MiG 15bis aircraft 94 The aircraft was originally the second Moscow built MiG 15 construction number 3810102 which was fitted with a Klimov VK 1 instead of the standard RD 45F engine This has led to the aircraft often being confused for a MiG 15bis which was fitted with the VK 1 as standard 96 Samolet SA 2 SA 2 Experimental variant similar to the SA 1 One aircraft converted but never submitted for acceptance trials 96 Samolet SA 3 SA 3 Experimental variant fitted with an OSP 48 instrument landing system similar to the SA 1 for which the SA 3 is often mistaken as a predecessor One converted from a production MiG 15 Sixteen RD 45F powered production MiG 15s were converted to a similar standard for service trials and are often mistaken for the SA 3 96 Samolet SA 4 SA 4 Experimental variant fitted with an OSP 48 landing system and many other improvements that later became standard on production aircraft One converted from a production MiG 15 94 95 Samolet SO SO Experimental variant to test improvements to pilot protection including a thickened windscreen an armored back and headrest and a sliding gun sight to reduce the chance of head injury during a crash 94 Samolet SSh SSh Experimental variant with the two left guns replaced by a single 23 mm Sh 3 cannon Two aircraft modified from MiG 15s 94 96 Samolet SU SU Experimental variant with all armament replaced by two 23 mm Sh 3 cannons with variable angle mounts that could automatically track targets One converted from a production MiG 15 94 95 Samolet SD SD Improved single seat fighter version powered by a Klimov VK 1 and with enlarged air brakes Entered service as the MiG 15bis 94 95 Samolet SD P SD P Parashyutom Parachute experimental aircraft to test anti skid systems and drogue parachutes 96 Samolet SD UPB SD UPB Uvieliichennije Podvyesnije Baki Increased Belly Tank MiG 15bis tested withvarious external tank configurations One such configuration of two 600 litres 160 US gal tanks was made standard on the MiG 15bisS 94 95 Samolet SD ET SD ET Prototype based on the MiG 15bis with multiple small improvements including an ART 8 acceleration control unit a PN 2FAK fuel flow restrictor increased wing stiffness and improved drop tank jettisoning system Some of the improvements became standard on production aircraft 94 95 Samolet SD 5 SD 5 Testbed for the ORO 57 rocket launcher on D3 40 pylons 94 95 Samolet SD 10 SD 10 Testbed for the PROSAB 100 anti aircraft bomb on D4 50 pylons 96 Samolet SD 21 SD 21 Testbed for the S 21 rocket on D3 40 pylons 94 95 Samolet SD 25 SD 25 Testbed for the PROSAB 250 cluster bomb on D4 50 pylons 94 95 Samolet SD 57 SD 57 Testbed for the ORO 57 rocket launcher on D4 50 pylons 94 95 Samolet SYa SYa Experimental aircraft to study remedies for wing drop Three were converted from MiG 15bis aircraft with two being modified with stiffened wings and all three being fitted with bendable trim tabs 96 Samolet SR SR MiG 15bis modified for armed reconnaissance with the 37 mm and one 23 mm autocannon removed to make room for AFA 1M and AFP 21KT cameras Also known as the Samolet SR 1 Entered service as the MiG 15bisR 95 97 Samolet SP 1 SP 1 Prototype equipped with a Toriy M radar in place of the two 23 mm cannons Five converted from MiG 15bis aircraft 94 95 Samolet SP 2 SP 2 Prototype equipped with a Toriy A radar in place of the two 23 mm cannons 95 Samolet SP 5 SP 5 Prototype single seat all weather interceptor version of the MiG 15bis with an RP 1 Izumrud radar and a reduced armament of two NR 23 cannons Also designated MiG 15bisP 94 95 Samolet SYe SE Experimental variant with an enlarged vertical tail and stiffened wings with square tipped ailerons to improve high speed handling Also designated MiG 15LL 94 Samolet SL 5 SL 5 Testbed for the Klimov VK 5 engine One converted from a MiG 15bis 94 96 Samolet SE SE Testbed new wingtips and vertical stabilizer to improve controllability 95 Samolet ST 1 ST 1 Prototype two seat trainer based on the MiG 15 Samolet SV armed with a single 12 7 mm UBK E machine gun and one NR 23 cannon 95 Samolet ST 2 ST 2 Production two seat trainer armed with a single 12 7 mm A 12 7 machine gun Entered service as the UTI MiG 15 94 95 96 Samolet ST 7 ST 7 Modified UTI MiG 15 with an RP 1 Izumrud radar and armed with a single 12 7 mm UBK E Entered service as the UTI MiG 15P 94 95 Samolet ST 8 ST 8 Experimental variant to test the RP 3 Izumrud radar One converted from a UTI MiG 15 94 95 Samolet ST 10 ST 10 Testbed aircraft for ejection seats At least five converted from MiG 15UTIs Also designated UTI MiG 15LL 94 95 Samolet SDK 5 SDK 5 Radio controlled target drones converted from retired MiG 15 and MiG 15bis aircraft 94 Samolet SDK 7 SDK 7 Pre programmed cruise missiles converted from retired MiG 15 and MiG 15bis aircraft 94 Chinese variants edit nbsp Former Albanian Air Force F 2 at Kucove AerodromeJ 2 Jianjiji fighter Chinese designation of USSR production MiG 15bis single seat fighter Plans to produce the J 2 in China were canceled in favor of the Shenyang J 5 Retired J 2s were exported under the designation F 2 100 JJ 2 Jianjiji Jiaolianji fighter trainer Chinese production of MiG 15UTI two seat jet trainers Retired JJ 2s were exported under the designation FT 2 100 BA 5 Unmanned target drone conversions of J 2 fighters 100 Polish variants edit nbsp Lim 1 at the Polish Aviation MuseumLim 1 Licencyjny mysliwiec licensed fighter aircraft MiG 15 jet fighters built under license in Poland powered by Lis 1 licensed RD 45F 227 built at WSK Mielec factory from 1952 to 1954 101 The aircraft was given the product code Produkt C 96 Lim 1 5 Unofficial designation of Lim 1s with avionics upgrades 96 97 Lim 2 MiG 15bis built under license in Poland 500 built from 1954 to 1956 with first 100 powered by Soviet built VK 1A engines and remaining aircraft powered by Polish built Lis 2 engines 102 The aircraft was given the product code Produkt CD 96 Lim 2R Polish built reconnaissance conversion of Lim 2 with camera replacing the N 37 cannon 103 SBLim 1 Polish Lim 1 converted to equivalent of MiG 15UTI jet trainers with Lis 1 jet engines 102 SBLim 1A originally SBLim 1Art Conversion of SBLim 1 into two seat reconnaissance version with observer in rear seat 103 SBLim 2 Polish Lim 2 or SBLim 1 converted to jet trainers with Lis 2 VK 1 jet engines 102 SBLim 2A originally SBLim 2Art Conversion of SBLim 1 into two seat reconnaissance version with observer in rear seat 103 SBLim 2M Reconversion of SBLim 2A to trainer with dual controls reinstated 103 SBLim 2R SBLim 2 converted f0r the reconnaissance role 94 Czechslovakian variants edit S 102 MiG 15 jet fighters built under license in Czechoslovakia with Motorlet M 05 licensed RD 45 engines 94 S 103 MiG 15bis jet fighters built under license in Czechoslovakia with Motorlet M 06 licensed VK 1 engines 94 CS 102 MiG 15UTI jet trainers built under license in Czechoslovakia 94 MiG 15SB S 102 converted for the fighter bomber role with four additional pylons for a total of six for bombs and missiles Takeoff from unpaved runways was aided by SRP 1 booster rockets and a drogue parachute was fitted to the tail 94 95 MiG 15T S 102 converted for the target towing role All armament was removed 94 95 MiG 15V Towed target drone conversion 96 MiG 15bisF S 103 modified for unarmed reconnaissance with AFA 1M and AFP 21KT cameras similar to the Soviet MiG 15bisF 95 MiG 15bisR S 103 modified for armed reconnaissance similar to the Soviet MiG 15bisR A AFP 21KT and two other cameras were carried with the NFT 02 camera being used for night reconnaissance 94 95 nbsp MiG 15bisSB at the Kbely Aviation MuseumMiG 15bisSB S 103 converted for the fighter bomber role with the four additional pylons of the MiG 15SB but without the rocket boosters and drogue parachute 94 95 MiG 15bisT S 103 converted for the target towing role All armament was removed 94 95 UTI MiG 15P Two seat dual control jet trainer heavily modified by Aero to accommodate RP 1 or RP 5 Izumrud radar making it almost identical to the Soviet Samolet ST 8 except for radar type Used for MiG 17PF Fresco D a MiG 19P PM Farmer B E crew training One converted from a CS 102 Not to be confused with the similar Soviet UTI MiG 17P Samolet ST 7 95 104 Foreign reporting names edit Fagot The NATO reporting name for the single seat MiG 15 After the introduction of the MiG 15bis the reporting name of the original MiG 15 was changed to Fagot A to differentiate the two variants 96 97 105 Fagot B The NATO reporting name for the single seat MiG 15bis 97 105 Midget The NATO reporting name for the two seat MiG 15UTI 106 Operators editCurrent operators edit nbsp North Korea Korean People s Army Air Force 107 Former operators edit nbsp AfghanistanAfghan Air Force nbsp AlbaniaAlbanian Air Force nbsp AlgeriaAlgerian Air Force 108 nbsp AngolaPeople s Air and Air Defence Force of Angola nbsp BulgariaBulgarian Air Force nbsp CambodiaRoyal Cambodian Air Force nbsp ChinaPeople s Liberation Army Air Force People s Liberation Army Naval Air Force nbsp Republic of the CongoCongolese Air Force nbsp CubaCuban Revolutionary Air and Air Defense Force nbsp CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovak Air Force nbsp East GermanyAir Forces of the National People s Army nbsp EgyptEgyptian Air Force nbsp FinlandFinnish Air Force nbsp GuineaGuinea Air Force nbsp HungaryHungarian Air Force nbsp IndonesiaIndonesian Air Force nbsp IraqIraqi Air Force 109 nbsp Khmer RepublicKhmer Air Force nbsp MaliMalian Air Force 110 nbsp MoroccoRoyal Moroccan Air Force 111 nbsp MongoliaMongolian People s Army Air Force nbsp MozambiqueMozambique Air Force 112 nbsp NigeriaNigerian Air Force 113 nbsp North VietnamVietnam People s Air Force nbsp North YemenNorth Yemen Air Force 114 nbsp PakistanPakistan Air Force nbsp PolandPolish Air Force Polish Navy nbsp RomaniaRomanian Air Force nbsp SomaliaSomali Aeronautical Corps 115 nbsp South YemenSouth Yemen Air Force 116 nbsp Soviet UnionSoviet Air Forces Soviet Air Defence Forces nbsp Sri LankaSri Lanka Air Force nbsp SyriaSyrian Air Force nbsp UgandaUgandan People s Defence Force Air Force 117 nbsp United StatesUnited States Air Force In the 1980s the United States purchased a number of Shenyang J 4s along with Shenyang J 5s from China via the Combat Core Certification Professionals Company these aircraft were employed in a mobile threat test program at Kirtland Air Force Base operated by the USAF s 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron As of 2015 MiG 15UTIs and MiG 17s are operated by a civilian contractor at both the USAF and US Naval Test Pilot Schools for student training nbsp VietnamVietnam People s Air ForceCivilian operators edit nbsp Argentina One ex Polish Air Force CS 102 trainer variant rebuilt in 1975 as a SB Lim2M and retired in 1987 Privately brought to Argentina in November 1997 and given the experimental registration LV X216 118 119 Surviving aircraft editThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2023 Learn how and when to remove this template message nbsp MiG 15 in National Air amp Space Museum Taken in April 2004 nbsp WSK Mielec Lim 2 Polish built MiG 15bis c n 1B01006 at the Auto und Technikmuseum Sinsheim nbsp CS 102 Czech built MiG 15UTI at Dirgantara Mandala Museum in IndonesiaMany MiG 15s are on display throughout the world In addition they are becoming increasingly common as private sport aircraft and warbirds According to the FAA there were 43 privately owned MiG 15s in the US in 2011 including Chinese and Polish derivatives the first of which is owned by aviator and aerobatic flyer Paul T Entrekin 120 Australia As of July 2015 six privately owned MiG 15s are airworthy and on the Australian civil aircraft register At least seven others are on static display in museums including one in the Australian War Memorial Bulgaria One MiG 15 is on display in Sofia at the National Museum of Military History CanadaA flying MiG 15UTI is operated at Region of Waterloo International Airport by Waterloo Warbirds One WSK Mielec Lim 2 Polish built MiG 15bis c n 1B00316 is on display at Canada Aviation and Space Museum An Aero S 103 Czechoslovakian built MiG 15bis in fighter bomber SB variant c n 713133 is on display at Edenvale Airport near Edenvale Ontario Canada 121 China Several MiG 15s including some in North Korean colours are preserved at the China Aviation Museum outside Beijing Cuba A MiG 15UTI of the FAR Fuerza Aerea Revolucionaria is displayed at the Museo del Aire Czech RepublicIn 2014 one two seat version of MiG 15 was restored into airworthy condition in Hradec Kralove One Aero S 102 Czechoslovakian built MiG 15 c n 231720 built 1953 is on display in Kbely Aviation Museum in Prague 122 FinlandThree MiG 15UTIs survive Paijanne Tavastia Aviation Museum in Lahti Hallinportti Aviation Museum at Kuorevesi Central Finland Aviation Museum in Jyvaskyla The Finnish nickname of the aircraft was Mukelo Ungainly after the FinnAF aircraft type designation code MU France nbsp Mig 15bis at ISAE SUPAERO in Toulouse FranceOne MiG 15bis manufactured in Czechoslovakia is on display on the campus of the ISAE Supaero school in Toulouse 123 IndonesiaThree Aero CS 102 Czechoslovakian built MiG 15UTI are on display in Indonesia J 754 Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base East Jakarta Jakarta 124 J 759 Gedung Juang 45 Nganjuk Nganjuk Regency East Java 125 J 767 Dirgantara Mandala Museum Sleman Regency Special Region of Yogyakarta 126 Norway MiG 15UTI RED 18 This aircraft is a SBLim 2 Polish built MiG 15UTI produced by WSK Mielec in 1952 The aircraft is operated by the Norwegian Air Force PolandFlyFighterJet com offers a SBLim 2 MiG 15UTI for adventure flights in Poland 127 A MiG 15 is parked adjacent to the terminal building at what is now Zielona Gora Airport near Babimost Poland reflecting the former airport s military origins 128 MiG 15 and SBLim 2 are on display at the Museum of Polish Military TechnologyRepublic of KoreaMiG 15UTI on display at the War Memorial Museum in Seoul This aircraft is a Chinese built MiG 15UTI flown by the DPRK RomaniaA few Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 are on display in Romania 244 Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15bis ex FAR at the Army Museum in Bucharest 246 Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 ex FAR at the Aviation Museum in Bucharest 727 Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 ex FAR at the Aviation Museum in Bucharest 766 Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 ex FAR is preserved at Ianca 2543 Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15UTI ex FAR at the Aviation Museum in Bucharest 2579 Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15UTI ex FAR at the Aviation Museum in Bucharest 2713 Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15bis ex FAR at the Aviation Museum in Bucharest Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 in the front yard of Traian Vuia Lyceum in Craiova Google maps coordinates 44 309248 23 812195SwedenWSK Mielec Lim 2 Polish built MiG 15bis c n 1B00215 is displayed at Swedish Air Force Museum Malmslatt Linkoping United KingdomA WSK Mielec Lim 2 Polish built MiG 15bis c n 1B01420 is displayed in North Korean colours at the Fleet Air Arm Museum A WSK Mielec Lim 2 Polish built MiG 15bis c n 1B01120 in Polish colours with red 1120 number is on display at Royal Air Force Museum Cosford An Aero S 103 Czechoslovakian built MiG 15bis in fighter bomber SB variant c n 613677 in Czechoslovakian colours is displayed at the National Museum of Flight East Fortune Edinburgh United States nbsp No Kum sok s MiG 15 at the NMUSAF nbsp MiG 15 at the Air Zoo nbsp MiG 15UTI at the Cavanaugh Flight MuseumA North Korean MiG 15 c n 2015357 is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton Ohio This is the aircraft flown to Kimpo Air Base in South Korea on 21 September 1953 by a defecting North Korean pilot who was given a reward of 100 000 see above The aircraft was flight tested on Okinawa and then brought to the U S to be returned to its rightful owners believed to be the Soviet Union which denied participating in the Korean War 76 When this offer was ignored it was transferred to the NMUSAF in November 1957 129 It is on display in the museum s Korean War Gallery 130 A MiG 15 is on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum NAS Pensacola Florida 131 A MiG 15 operated by the People s Liberation Army Air Force is on display at The Museum of Flight in Seattle WA A MiG 15bis is on display at the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum located at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego California A MiG 15bis number 83227 undergoing a restoration at the New England Air Museum Bradley International Airport Windsor Locks CT 132 A WSK Mielec Lim 2 Polish built MiG 15bis c n 1B01016 FAA Reg Number N15YY is on display at the Combat Air Museum in Topeka KS Two license built MiG 15UTI are operated by Red Star Aviation a WSK Mielec SBLim 2 Polish built c n 1A03508 ex Polish Air Force 358 on behalf of the US Naval Test Pilot School located at Patuxent River Naval Air Station and an Avia CS 102 Czechoslovakian built ex Romanian AF on behalf of the US Air Force Test Pilot School located at Edwards Air Force Base These aircraft are used to train test pilots from the US and other nations sending students to the two schools A MiG 15 is located at the Southern Museum of Flight Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport Birmingham Alabama A Chinese version of the MiG 15bis is on display at the Steven F Udvar Hazy Center Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum at Washington Dulles International Airport Virginia 133 A WSK Mielec SBLim 2 Polish built MiG 15UTI c n 1A06027 ex Polish Air Force 627 is on display at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum Titusville Florida 134 A WSK Mielec SBLim 2 Polish built MiG 15UTI c n 1A03506 ex Polish Air Force 306 is on display at the Minnesota Air National Guard Museum Minneapolis St Paul International Airport Minnesota 135 A MiG 15 is on static display at the Commemorative Air Force Museum in Mesa Arizona 136 North Korean MiG 15 079 under restoration at Palm Springs Air Museum Palm Springs California A MiG 15 is on display at the Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum at Cape May airport in Cape May New Jersey Soviet built MiG 15bis serial 2292 built in 1954 and supplied to China as a J 2 is on indoor display at the Oakland Aviation Museum Oakland California 2 MiG 15s in flyable condition at Western Sky Aviation Warbird Museum in St George Utah A MiG 15 is on display at the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum 137 Specifications MiG 15bis edit nbsp MiG 15 drawingData from OKB Mikoyan 138 MiG Fifty Years of Secret Aircraft Design 139 General characteristicsCrew 1 Length 10 102 m 33 ft 2 in Wingspan 10 085 m 33 ft 1 in Height 3 7 m 12 ft 2 in Wing area 20 6 m2 222 sq ft Airfoil root TsAGI S 10 tip TsAGI SR 3 140 Empty weight 3 681 kg 8 115 lb Gross weight 5 044 kg 11 120 lb Max takeoff weight 6 106 kg 13 461 lb with 2x600 L 160 US gal 130 imp gal drop tanks Fuel capacity 1 420 L 380 US gal 310 imp gal internal Powerplant 1 Klimov VK 1 centrifugal flow turbojet 26 5 kN 5 950 lbf thrustPerformance Maximum speed 1 076 km h 669 mph 581 kn at sea level1 107 km h 688 mph 598 kn M0 9 at 3 000 m 9 800 ft dd dd dd Maximum speed Mach 0 87 at sea level Cruise speed 850 km h 530 mph 460 kn Mach 0 69 Ferry range 2 520 km 1 570 mi 1 360 nmi at 12 000 m 39 000 ft with 2x600 L 160 US gal 130 imp gal drop tanks Service ceiling 15 500 m 50 900 ft Rate of climb 51 2 m s 10 080 ft min Wing loading 296 4 kg m2 60 7 lb sq ft Thrust weight 0 54Armament Guns 2 23 mm Nudelman Rikhter NR 23 autocannon in the lower left fuselage 80 rounds per gun 160 rounds total 1 37 mm Nudelman N 37 autocannon in the lower right fuselage 40 rounds total Hardpoints 2 with provisions to carry combinations of Bombs 100 kg 220 lb bombs Other drop tanks or unguided rocketsSee also editBoeing B 29 Superfortress Clement Attlee Stafford Cripps Artem MikoyanRelated development Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 17 Raduga KS 1 KometAircraft of comparable role configuration and era Arsenal VG 70 Canadair Sabre Dassault Ouragan FMA IAe 33 Pulqui II Grumman F9F Panther Hawker P 1052 Lavochkin La 15 McDonnell F2H Banshee North American F 86 Sabre Saab 29 Tunnan Supermarine Attacker Yakovlev Yak 30 1948 Related lists List of military aircraft of the Soviet Union and the CIS List of fighter aircraftReferences editThis article cites its sources but does not provide page references You can help providing page numbers for existing citations February 2011 Learn how and when to remove this template message Notes edit According to a thesis published by Coleman Armstrong Mehta in 2006 Yugoslavia provided the CIA with a MiG 15 in flying condition as early as November 1951 79 a b The name No Kum Sok follows Korean naming conventions No is the surname and Kum Sok is the given name Citations edit a b Thompson Warren Sabre The F 86 in Korea Flight Journal December 2002 Retrieved 30 June 2011 Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 Ji 2 Fagot B Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum archived from the original on 20 December 2015 Belyakov amp Marmain 1994 pp 81 88 a b Taylor Steven 22 July 2023 Why Attlee s decision to send Rolls Royce jet engines to Stalin caused outrage in Washington The Telegraph ISSN 0307 1235 Archived from the original on 25 November 2023 Retrieved 25 November 2023 a b c d Gordon Yefim Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 Leicester UK Midland Publishing 2001 ISBN 1 85780 105 9 page needed MiG 15 Archived 16 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine Military Factory Retrieved 11 July 2012 tiempososcuros com permanent dead link The Mikoyan 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Publishing ISBN 978 0 9825539 8 5 Davis Larry 4th Fighter Wing in the Korean War Atglen Pennsylvania Schiffer Publishing 2001 ISBN 978 0 7643 1315 8 Davis Larry MiG Alley Air to Air Combat over Korea Warren Michigan Squadron Signal Publications Inc 1978 ISBN 0 89747 081 8 Doran Jamie and Piers Bizony Starman The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin London Bloomsbury Publishing plc 1998 ISBN 0 7475 3688 0 Dorr Robert F Jon Lake and Warren Thompson Korean War Aces Aircraft of the Aces London Osprey Publishing 1995 ISBN 978 1 85532 501 2 Fitzsimons Bernard ed MiGs Modern Fighting Aircraft Fallbrook California Arco Publishing 1985 ISBN 0 668 06070 0 Gordon Yefim Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 The Soviet Union s Long Lived Korean War Fighter Hinkley UK Midland Publishing 2001 ISBN 1 85780 105 9 Gordon Yefim and Peter Davison Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 Fagot WarbirdTech Volume 40 North Branch Minnesota Speciality Press 2005 ISBN 1 58007 081 7 Gordon Yefim and Vladimir Rigmant Warbird History MiG 15 Design Development and Korean War Combat History St Paul Minnesota Motorbooks 1993 ISBN 978 0 87938 793 8 Gordon Yefim et al MiG 15 Fagot all variants bilingual Czech English Prague 10 Strasnice MARK I Ltd 1997 ISBN 80 900708 6 8 Gordon Yefim and Dmitry Komissarov Chinese Aircraft Manchester UK Hikoki Publications 2008 ISBN 978 1 902109 04 6 Gunston Bill The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875 1995 London Osprey Aerospace 1996 ISBN 1 85532 405 9 Higham Robin John T Greenwood and Von Hardesty Russian Aviation and Air Power in the Twentieth Century London Frank Cass 1998 ISBN 978 0 7146 4380 9 Karnas Dariusz Mikojan Gurievitch MiG 15 Sandomierz Poland Redbourn UK Mushroom Model Publications 2004 ISBN 978 83 89450 05 0 Krylov Leonid and Yuriy Tepsurkaev Combat Episodes of the Korean War Mir Aviatsiya Translation to English language by Stephen L Sewell 1 97 pp 38 44 Retrieved 29 March 2009 Krylov Leonid and Yuriy Tepsurkaev Soviet MiG 15 Aces of the Korean War Botley Oxford UK Osprey Publications 2008 ISBN 1 84603 299 7 Kum Suk No and Roger J Osterholm A MiG 15 to Freedom Jefferson North Carolina McFarland amp Co Publishers 1996 ISBN 0 7864 0210 5 Mesko Jim Air War over Korea Carrollton Texas Squadron Signal Publications Inc 2000 ISBN 0 89747 415 5 Nicolle David Phoenix over the Nile A History of Egyptian Air Power 1932 1994 Smithsonian History of Aviation amp Spaceflight Washington D C Smithsonian 1996 ISBN 1 56098 626 3 Pentagon Over the Islands The Thirty Year History of Indonesian Military Aviation Air Enthusiast Quarterly 2 154 162 n d ISSN 0143 5450 Seydov Igor and Askold German Krasnye Dyaboly na 38 oy Parallel EKSMO Russia 1998 Stapfer Hans Heiri MiG 15 Fagot Walk Around Walk Around 40 Carrollton Texas Squadron Signal Publications Inc 2006 ISBN 0 89747 495 3 Stapfer Hans Heiri MiG 15 in action Aircraft number 116 Carrollton Texas Squadron Signal Publications Inc 1991 ISBN 0 89747 264 0 Sweetman Bill and Bill Gunston Soviet Air Power An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Warsaw Pact Air Forces Today London Salamander Books 1978 ISBN 0 517 24948 0 Thompson Warren E and David R McLaren MiG Alley Sabres vs MiGs over Korea North Branch Minnesota Specialty Press 2002 ISBN 978 1 58007 058 4 United States Air Force Museum Guidebook Wright Patterson AFB Ohio Air Force Museum Foundation 1975 Werrell Kenneth Sabres Over MiG Alley The F 86 and the Battle for Air Superiority in Korea Annapolis Maryland U S Naval Institute Press 2005 ISBN 978 1 59114 933 0 Wilson Stewart Legends of the Air 1 F 86 Sabre MiG 15 and Hawker Hunter London Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd 2003 ISBN 1 875671 12 9 Yeager Chuck and Leo Janos Yeager An Autobiography New York Bantam Books 1986 ISBN 0 553 25674 2 Zaloga Steven J The Russians in MiG Alley Their part in the Korean War Air Force Magazine Volume 74 Issue 2 February 1991 Zhang Xiaoming Red Wings over the Yalu China the Soviet Union and the Air War in Korea Texas A amp M University Military History Series College Station Texas Texas A amp M University 2002 ISBN 978 1 58544 201 0 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 Noland David Fighter Planes MiG 15 The Air Power of the Evil Empire The Mikoyan MiG 15 at Greg Goebel s AIR VECTORS Warbird Alley MiG 15 page Information about privately owned MiG 15s MiG 15 in Korea MiG 15 Fagot at Global Aircraft MiG 15 Fagot at FAS Cuban MiG 15 MiG Alley USA Aviation Classics Ltd Reno Nevada Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 amp oldid 1216872084, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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