Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (Fishbed)

History

The MiG-21 was arguably the most successful fighter of the Cold War in terms of range, in service with more than 50 air forces around the world, with well over 10,000 produced. The aircraft was developed using lessons learned from the Korean War based on post-war reports and valuable pilot input.

The Mikoyan-Gurevich company's final product is the culmination of the development of the MiG fighter jet, which began in 1938 during World War II and took over a decade of research, testing and development to produce the extraordinary MiG-21. Despite its limited range (like many early thirsty jets), the MiG-21 was so simple to operate, easy to maintain, and inexpensive that many countries continue to use the type - some even to this day.

Background

Mikoyan-Gurevich was established by the Soviet government at the beginning of World War II. The company's original production products turned into the successful MiG-1 and MiG-3 piston-engine fighter jets, which helped repel Germany's advance into Russia. While not an overly spectacular aircraft - it used a simple traditional light airframe and a very powerful engine - it gave Mikoyan-Gurevich a measure of success, setting the stage for future development Base.

By the end of World War II, the company produced the first mass-produced jet, the MiG-9 Fargo. While unobtrusive on its own and prone to accidents, Fargo still produced nearly 600 prototypes and, along with the smaller MiG-15 "Fag," set the stage for the company's next success.

The swept-wing, jet-powered MiG-15 surprised UN pilots in their straight-wing Lockheed F-80 Meteor and Republic F-84 Thunder jets. It's not uncommon to see piston-powered United Nations planes competing against these silver, nimble machines. The MiG-15 proved to be more than a minority to its opponents - especially when controlled by Soviet pilots - so much so that an antidote - the North American F-86 Sabre - was deployed to build politics and military "partners". Forced conflict, more or less a "restless peace".

Ultimately, more than 12,000 MiG-15s were produced, with thousands more licensed outside the Soviet Union.

The MiG-15 was improved during the development of the MiG-17, which had entered service during the Korean War and entered service with the Soviet stockpile in 1952. Although not used in the Korean conflict, she saw notable action in the Vietnam War and elsewhere.

While the MiG-17 was an improvement over the MiG-15 in many ways, it was still a subsonic performerthat is, it ran below the Mach 1 limit. Production still exceeds 10,000.

That all changed with the arrival of the improved MiG-19 "Famer" introduced in 1955. The aircraft was a second-generation twin-engine jet fighter with similar swept wings that gave Soviet pilots the first experience of sustained Mach 1 flight.

More than 2,000 of these samples are produced under license in China. Like the MiG-17 before it, the MiG-19 later fought over Vietnam.

Calls

In the fall of 1953, the Soviet government requested light, Mach 2-capable interceptors for its front-line aviation units. Interceptors require the use of radar sights to improve artillery accuracy and the ability to upgrade missile weapons once the technology is available, while maintaining an impressive rate of climb (this is supposed to be an interceptor after all).

Mikoyan-Gurevich took up the challenge with certain advantages, since by then the company had experimented with different wing shapes, fuselage and available engines.

Prototype

Complex systems like the MiG-21 are born out of numerous prototypes and development flight models. This started with the Ye-1, a design study to match the Mikulin (Tumansky) AM-11 turbojet. This produced another "one-off" model in the Ye-50, essentially the Ye-1 fitted with AM-9Ye turbojets and liquid rocket boosters to provide additional thrust.

The Ye-2 became another design awaiting the availability of the AM-11 engine, so the AM-9B from the MiG-19 "Farmer" was installed. The Ye-2 also introduced large ventral struts at the rear of the fuselage. Another Ye-2 design received the now-available AM-11 turbojet and became the Ye-2A. The two delta wing designs became the Ye-4 (with the AM-9B turbojet) and the Ye-5 (with the AM-11 turbojet).

All five of these prototypes (Ye-1, Ye-50, Ye-2a, Ye-4, and Ye-5) are already in service, and their nose air intakes will feature recognizable conical components, a vertical Rear wing and an integrated ejection seat system, tricycle landing gear and similar internal components.

The Ye-2 was ahead of the group in development and made its first flight on 14 February 1955 with good results, albeit at a slower pace than expected. A similar Ye-4 appeared on June 16, 1955, although the prototype had a nearly triangular, small-area, pointed pair of delta wings and traditional horizontal stabilizers along the tail surface. These thin wings forced the design to employ "bubbles" above and below the wing roots to match the upright main landing gear wheels. The performance of the Ye-4 was only a slight improvement over its predecessor, the Ye-2.

Both Ye-5 and Ye-50-1 first flew on January 9, 1956. Mikoyan-Gurevich was convinced that production of both models would take place soon, so two company names were reserved for the two models - "MiG-21" for the tail-delta version, and "MiG-23" for the In the swept wing version (do not confuse this MIG-23 with the later developed MiG-23 "Flogger").

It should be noted here that true delta wing forms typically do not use fins as their large surface area main wing system replaces the need for fins. The delta wing provides excellent lift but poor maneuverability. Other inherent advantages over conventional swept-wing aircraft may include in-wing fuel storage and multiple underwing attachment points.

Of particular note here is that, so far, MiGs have had little experience dealing with delta wing products - hence their interesting approach to prototyping the Ye-4. While the Ye-4 used the delta wing approach, these units were small components, and the design still used tail fins - those all-moving surfaces, by the way.

Versions of each aircraft (swept-wing and delta-wing prototypes) later surfaced over Moscow's Tushino Airport during the annual Aviation Day celebration on June 24, 1956 - the wing The version was code-named "Faceplate," while the Tailed-Delta design was code-named "Fishbed."

Mikoyan-Gurevich continues development. Additional prototypes were built using redesigned parts as required for testing. In 1957, three Ye-6 prototypes appeared, featuring the Ye-5's rear delta wing, but with truncated wingtips and a redesigned nose cone (which had other changes throughout).

Flight testing of the Ye-6 began on May 20, 1958. The program was delayed after the prototype Ye-6/1 was lost due to engine failure, which resulted in the death of the test pilot injured in the crash. The pilot made a valiant attempt to restart the engine, but to no avail.

Ye-6/2 omitted wing boundary layer fences on early prototypes (and those previously found on MiG-15, -17 and -19). Instead, smaller wing grilles were installed in their place to improve stability. In addition, the cannon armament is now officially installed on the Ye-6/2.

The Ye-6/3 was the first prototype to feature a centerline fuel tank for extended design life - a product limitation. The prototype reached Mach 2, officially exceeding the required Mach 2 top speed target. 05.

Production form soon emerged, and the finished aircraft was unveiled in 1961, welcoming many in the West who had long believed that the swept-wing MiG-23 'Faceplate' was destined to be the Soviet Union's next front-line fighter.

MiG-21 deliveries to the Soviet Air Force began in late 1957 and continued until 1958. This model was officially introduced in 1959 as the MiG-21F. A viable air superiority replacement was eventually found in the MiG-29 Fulcrum, leading to the obsolete MiG-21 in the 1990s.

The production of trainers and fighter jets took place from 1959 to 1985 in three large factories, located in Gorky, Moscow and Tbilisi. Gorky produced no less than 5,278 systems, while Moscow produced 3,203. About 1,660 aircraft were delivered to Tbilisi.

The official total number of aircraft is more than 10,158, while the total number is as high as 11,496.

Rocket Solutions

Missile solution for the MiG 21 was resolved when an American AIM-9 Sidewinder was handed over to the Soviet Union via China to fight Taiwan. The missile was dissected (reverse engineered) and eventually became the Soviet "bootleg" K-13 (NATO codename AA-2 "Atoll"), a short-range infrared homing missile.

The missile quickly entered service with the Soviet Armed Forces in 1960 and became standard on the MiG-21 and later the swing-wing MiG-23 "Lashers", as well as on the Su-17, -20 and -22 Sukhoi fighters.

Tour

The MiG-21 produced a fish bed that was not much different from the previous prototype design. The wing is a tail triangular structure with two pairs swept back and installed in the middle of the fuselage. The main wings are thin, almost triangular, with truncated tips.

As technology continues to solidify, it is expected that later aircraft forms will be able to accommodate missiles, and with the arrival of the AA-2 "Atoll" this is finally possible. For this reason, the fishbed had a number of pylons mounted on its wings, eventually arranging the plane to be able to fire up to four of these missiles. While all other early MiG fighters (MiG-15, -17 and -19) used heavy boundary layer fencing on the back of the wings, the MiG-21 abandoned these large pieces of equipment in favor of two smaller Fence ailerons - one on each wing.

The fuselage is nearly circular, with a front cone mounted on the nose air intake. Pipes run down the sides of the cockpit to feed the single engine. Like other MiGs before it, the fuselage was designed to be removable at the bottom of the tail for easy maintenance and repair.

Cockpits in early fish beds provided relatively good visibility due to their lower backbone. Later models had a raised ridge from the rear of the headliner to the bottom of the vertical tail, obscuring the rear view but adding durability.

Also on the original fish bed, the one-piece top hinged to open forward, while later models featured a new two-piece system that hinged on the right side. The canopy is designed to be ejected with the ejection seat and pilot, protecting the pilot in the air for a period of time (the canopy is glued directly to the top of the seat) and eventually completely detached from the pilot and seat.

There is a frame on the windshield , reminiscent of previous MiG fighter designs.

The landing gear is a tricycle with the traditional arrangement of two main landing gear and a nose wheel system. All systems are single-wheeled, with the front wheels significantly smaller than the main wheels. The main landing gear operates differently when the nose gear is retracted forward and up into the fuselage. The struts are folded and pitched forward, while the wheels remain upright throughout.

Due to the thin wings, the main landing gear had to be retracted under the fuselage. Consequently, pronounced air bubbles above and below the wing roots have become a standard design feature of fish beds.

Standard armament consisted mainly of guns mounted in stern pods aft of the forward hull but amidships. While early fish beds were used this way, others have either completely extinguished one of the guns, or the entire armament depot.

Wing pylons were added to later production models, extending the role of the fish bed to air superiority and ground attack, making it a true multi-role performer.

The empennage is primarily a large vertical fin, which is integrated into the base by a tubular fairing (or raised spine on later models) that extends from the rear of the cockpit to return to the start of the fin surface. Vertical wings have a relatively large surface area and hold the rudder. The horizontal stabilizers are fully articulated, located above and aft of the main wing, and heavily swept by the light lower back (some models have anti-flutter on the tip).

Large ventral stripes are clearly visible in all later-developing fish beds and final production systems. Large single-engine exhausts complete the detailing at the rear of the fuselage.