Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI 'Midget' - Pima ASM, Tucson, AZ - Static Aircraft Displays on Waymarking.com

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 was a jet fighter developed for the USSR by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful swept-wing jet fighters, and it achieved fame in the skies over Korea, where early in the war, it outclassed all straight-winged enemy fighters in daylight. The MiG-15 also served as the starting point for development of the more advanced MiG-17 which was still an effective threat to supersonic American fighters over North Vietnam in the 1960's. The MiG-15 is believed to have been the most widely produced jet aircraft ever made, with over 12,000 built. Licensed foreign production perhaps raised the total to over 18,000. The MiG-15 is often mentioned along with the North American F-86 Sabre in lists of the best fighter aircraft of the Korean War and in comparison with fighters of other eras.

NATO and USAF reporting names were as follows:
- MiG-15: NATO reporting name "Fagot", USAF/DoD reporting name "Type 14".
- MiG-15P: NATO reporting name "Fagot", USAF/DoD reporting name "Type 19".
- MiG-15UTI: NATO reporting name "Midget", USAF/DoD reporting name "Type 29".

Most early jets were designed like piston-engined fighters with straight wings, limiting their high speed performance. German research during World War II had shown swept wings would perform better at transonic speeds, and Soviet aircraft designers were quick to take advantage of this information. There are claims of Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich (lead designers of the "MiG" bureau) being heavily influenced by the Focke-Wulf Ta-183. The abortive late-war German jet had swept wings and bore a resemblance to the later MiG-15, but the two aircraft are different in structure and general design. The Soviets did seize plans and prototypes for the Ta-183, but the majority of Focke-Wulf engineers (in particular, Hans Multhopp, who led the Ta-183 development team) were captured by Western armies; therefore, it could be argued that the MiG-15 design team drew some limited inspiration from the Ta-183, but there is insufficient evidence to prove it was heavily influenced. Currently, many sources claim that the MiG-15 is an original design benefiting from German research, but conceived, designed, engineered, and produced by the Soviets.

The unusual MiG-8 Utka experimental canard aircraft, built right at the conclusion of World War II by the MiG design bureau, is said to have also been a major influence in the use of swept wings on later Mikoyan designs.

In 1946 Soviet aviation minister Mikhail Khrunichev and aircraft designer AS Yakovlev suggested to Premier Joseph Stalin the USSR buy advanced jet engines from the British. Stalin is said to have replied, "What fool will sell us his secrets?"

However, he gave his consent to the proposal and Mikoyan, engine designer Vladimir Klimov, and others travelled to the United Kingdom to request the engines. To Stalin's amazement, the British Labour government and its pro-Soviet Minister of Trade, Sir Stafford Cripps, were perfectly willing to provide technical information and a license to manufacture the Rolls-Royce Nene. This engine was reverse-engineered and produced as the Klimov RD-45, subsequently incorporated into the MiG-15. Rolls-Royce later attempted to claim £207 million in license fees, without success.

In the interim, on 15 April 1947, the Council of Ministers issued decree #493–192, which ordered the Mikoyan OKB to build two prototypes for a new jet fighter. As the decree called for a first flight as soon as December, designers at OKB-155 fell back on an earlier troublesome design, the MiG-9. The MiG-9 suffered from an unreliable engine and control problems; the first would be solved by the excellent new Klimov engine, and to solve the second, the designers began experimenting with swept wings and redesigning the tail. The resulting prototypes were designated as I-310.

The I-310 was a clean, swept-wing fighter with 35° sweep in wings and tail, and exceptional performance, with a top speed of over 1,040kph/650mph. Its primary competitor was the similar Lavochkin La-168. After evaluation, the MiG design was chosen for production. Designated MiG-15, the first production example flew on 31 December 1948. It entered Soviet Air Force service in 1949, and would subsequently receive 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.

An improved variant, the MiG-15bis ("second"), entered service in early 1950 with a Klimov VK-1 engine, an improved version of the RD-45/Nene, plus minor improvements and upgrades. Visible differences were a headlight in the air intake separator and horizontal upper edge airbrakes. The 23mm cannons were placed more closely together in their undercarriage. Some "bis" aircraft also adopted under-wing hardpoints for unguided rocket launchers or 50–250kg/110–551lb bombs. Fighter-bomber modifications were dubbed "IB", "SD-21", and "SD-5". About 150 aircraft were upgraded to SD-21 specification during 1953–1954. An unknown number of aircraft were modified to "IB" specification in the late 1950's.

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

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 US B-29, as well as the later Soviet B-29 copy, the Tu-4 "Bull". To ensure the destruction of such large bombers, the MiG-15 carried cannons: two 23mm with 80 rounds per gun and a single 37mm 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 maneuverable enemy jet fighters in air-to-air combat. The 23mm and 37mm also had radically different ballistics, and some United Nations pilots in Korea had the unnerving experience of 23mm shells passing over them while the 37mm shells flew under. The cannons were fitted into a neat pack that could be winched down out of the bottom of the nose for servicing and reloading, in principle allowing a pre-prepared pack to be switched for rapid turnaround.

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

The MiG-15 was widely exported, with the People's Republic of China receiving MiG-15bis models in 1950. Chinese MiG-15's took part in the first jet-versus-jet dogfights during the Korean War. The swept-wing MiG-15 quickly proved superior to the first-generation, straight-wing jets of western air forces such as the F-80 and British Gloster Meteor, as well as piston-engined North American P-51 Mustangs and Vought F4U Corsairs. First Lieutenant Semyon Fiodorovich Jominich flying a MiG-15 scored the first jet-vs-jet victory in history when he bagged the F-80C of Frank Van Sickle, who died in the encounter; however, the USAF credits the loss to the action of the North Korean flak. Only the F-86 Sabre, with its highly trained pilots, was a match for the MiG.

Its baptism of fire occurred during the last phases of the Chinese Civil War (1946–49). During the first months of 1950, the aviation of Nationalist China attacked from Taiwan the communist position in continental China, especially Shanghai. Mao Zedong requested the military assistance of the USSR, and the 50th IAD (Fighter Aviation Division) equipped with the MiG-15bis was deployed south of the People's Republic of China. On 28 April 1950, Capt Kalinikov shot down a P-38 of the Kuomintang, scoring the first aerial victory of the MiG-15. Another followed on 11 May, when Capt Ilya Ivanovich Schinkarenko downed the B-24 Liberator of Li Chao Hua, commander of the 8th Air Group of the nationalist Air Force.

When the ongoing Korean War escalated with the North Korean offensive of 25 June 1950, the Northern Air Force was equipped with World War II-vintage Soviet prop-driven fighters, including 93 Il-10's, 79 Yak-9P's and 40–50 assorted transport/liaison/trainer aircraft. The vast numerical and technical superiority of the USAF, led by advanced jets such as the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star and Republic F-84 Thunderjet fighters, quickly brought air superiority, thus laying North Korea's cities bare to the destructive power of USAF B-29 bombers which, together with Navy and Marine aircraft, roamed the skies largely unopposed for a time.

The decision to introduce the MiG-15 not only closed the jet fighter gap, its performance leapfrogged all of the opposing straight-winged jets. The MiG-15 proved very effective in its designed role against formations of B-29 heavy bombers, shooting down numerous bombers. In a match-up with the F-86, the results were not as clear-cut though Americans claimed that the F-86 had the advantage in combat kills. The Soviet 64th IAK (Fighter Aviation Corps) claimed 1,106 UN aircraft destroyed in the Korean War, compared to Allied records that 142 Allied aircraft were downed by the Soviet MiG-15 pilots. Western experts do acknowledge many Soviet pilots earned bigger individual scores than their American counterparts due to a number of factors, though overall figures of NATO were probably overstated.

In July 1951, the submerged remains of a Mig-15 were spotted by Royal Navy carrier aircraft from HMS Glory(R62). 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 350m away. The wreck was located an area of mudbanks with treacherous tides and at the end of a narrow channel which was supposedly mined, 160km behind the front lines. The MiG-15 was retrieved, transported to Inchon and then to Wright-Patterson AFB, OH.

Eager to obtain an intact MiG for combat testing in a controlled environment, the United States created Operation Moolah which offered a reward of US$100,000 and political asylum to any pilot who would defect with his MiG-15. Franciszek Jarecki, a pilot of the Polish Air Force, 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.

Jarecki flew from Slupsk to the field airport at Rønne on the Danish island of Bornholm. The whole trip took him only a few minutes. There, specialists from the USA, called by Danish authorities, thoroughly checked the plane. According to international regulations, they 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 couple of months later, on 21 May 1953, another Polish pilot, Zdzislaw Jazwinski escaped with a MiG-15 to Bornholm.

Others eventually followed these examples, such as the North Korean pilot Lt No Kum-Sok, who claimed to be unaware of the reward, received US$100,000 when he landed at Kimpo Air Base on 21 September 1953. This MiG-15 was minutely inspected and was test flown by several test pilots including Chuck Yeager. 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. When this story got back to the Soviet pilots Yeager claimed to have talked to, they angrily denounced it. In fact, although the MiG-15 did have some handling quirks and could, in principle, exceed flight limits in a dive, its airbrakes opened automatically at the red line limit, preventing it from going out of control. Lt No's aircraft is now on display at the National Museum of the USAF near Dayton, OH.

Israel captured an Egyptian Mig-15 in damaged condition on 31 October 1956 after being shot down. It is currently displayed at Hatzor AB.

During the 1950's the MiG-15's 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 ending with aircraft of one side or the other being shot down.

Egypt bought a handful 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.

During the air combat against the Israeli Air Force the Egyptian MiG-15bis managed to shoot down only three Israeli aircraft: a Piper Cub and a Meteor F.8 on 30 October 1956, and a Dassault Ouragan on 1 November which then performed a belly landing — this last victory was scored by the Egyptian pilot Faruq el-Gazzavi.

After the Korean War ended, Communist China turned its attention back to Nationalist China on the island of Taiwan. Chinese MiG-15's 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-86's in 1955. The Sabres and MiG's clashed three years later in the Quemoy Crisis.

Vietnam operated a number of MiG-15's and MiG-15UTI's, the fighter seeing combat against American aircraft in the early stages of the Vietnam War.

Source: Wikipedia

Type of Aircraft: (make/model): Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI 'Midget' Tail Number: (S/N): s/n 038 Construction:: original aircraft Location (park, airport, museum, etc.): Located in hangar 1N at Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, AZ inside / outside: inside Other Information:: Pima Air & Space Museum 6000 E Valencia Rd Tucson, Arizona 85756 Phone 520-574-0462 Open 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Daily Last admittance at 4:00 PM $15.50-Adults $12.50-Pima Co Residents $12.75-Seniors $ 9.00-Children FREE---Children 6 & under $ 7.00-AMARG $13.50-Group Rate Access restrictions: None

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