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Over its fifty-year history, the MiG-15 aircraft has become widely known throughout the world and does not need any special introduction. It became the first mass-produced jet fighter, which was in service with both the USSR Air Force and many other countries of the world. Much has been written about the MiG-15, but, unfortunately, mainly about its service outside the Soviet Union. We think there is no need to bother the reader with a retelling of foreign publications about the work on the production, improvement and operation of the aircraft in Poland, Czechoslovakia and other countries; there is already plenty of material on this. Therefore, we will focus on the little-known pages of the biography of the “fifteenth” in the USSR, as well as its combat work in the skies of the Korean Peninsula in 1950-53.

The main and most striking event in the combat career of the MiG-15 was the Korean War. The MiGs began combat operations in early November 1950. The first fighters to appear in the skies over North Korea were the 151 GvIAP, which included the 28 and 72 GvIAP, and the 28 IAD, which included the 139 GvIAP and 67 IAP. The regiments of these divisions, armed with the MiG-15 with the RD-45F engine (hereinafter simply MiG-15), were based at the airfields of Northeast China Mukden, Anshan and Liaoyang. On November 1, MiGs of the 151 GvIAD and 28 IAD carried out several group flights to the Sinuiju area and conducted two air battles with F-51 and F-80 fighters; the pilots of the 72 GvIAP, lieutenants Chizhu and Khominich, were credited with two victories, the first for Soviet pilots in the Korean War: one over the Mustang and one over the Shooting Star.

The very first battles with UN aviation showed that the MiG is significantly superior to its “opponents” F-51, F-80 and F9F in almost all respects, with the exception of horizontal maneuverability. The MiG-15 also turned out to be a deadly enemy for the B-29, the main strike force of the US Far Eastern Air Force. The US Air Force and Navy, which formed the backbone of the United Nations air force, lost the unchallenged air supremacy they had enjoyed almost from the very beginning of the Korean War. For them, the appearance of a new Soviet fighter over Korea, which has excellent flight and tactical characteristics, turned out to be an unpleasant surprise, which is why the Americans called the MiG-15 a “Korean surprise.”

At the end of November 1950, from the 151 Guards, 28 and 50 IAD, the 64 IAK was formed, specifically designed for combat operations over North Korea. However, after the formation of Corps 28, the IAD did not participate in battles; in December it was relocated to the Qingdao area, where it began training Chinese Air Force pilots to fly jet technology. 151 GvIAD also took up “pedagogy”, temporarily switching off from hostilities. The entire burden of the air war fell on the shoulders of the pilots of the 29th GvIAP and 177th IAP of the 50th division.

50 IAD was the first to enter the Korean War with the MiG-15bis. The Encores carried out their first combat missions on November 30 from Anshan airfield to intercept bombers in the Sinuiju area, but had no encounters with the enemy. The next day, the flight of the 29th GvIAP group to the same area and with the same task ended in an air battle, the first for the MiG-15bis in the Korean War. On the evening of December 3, the 29th GvIAP relocated to the Andong forward airfield, the 177th IAP began operating from Andong on December 15 with one AE, and from December 25 with the entire composition.

The very first battles with American fighters revealed a serious design and manufacturing defect - a weak design of the elevator in the area of ​​the weight balancer and the external attachment point to the stabilizer. High speeds and overloads, common in air combat, repeatedly led to deformation of the elevator. In two cases, deformation of the rudders, and possibly their destruction, led to the loss of two aircraft and the death of two pilots.

After the arrival of the called team of modifications from the serial plant, the engineering and technical staff of the 50th IAD and factory specialists jointly cured all the MiG-15bis of the division from the ill-fated defect - reinforcing linings were riveted onto the stabilizers and elevators in the area of ​​​​the external bracket for fastening the steering wheel and the weight balancer. In total, 5 stabilizers and 15 weight balancers were repaired, and the elevators on 35 MiGs were completely replaced. And although several cases of deformation of the rudders later occurred in the 50th Division, there were no more accidents due to the weak design of the horizontal tail either in the 50th IAD or in other units and formations of the 64th Corps that fought in Korea later.

In the December battles, the pilots of the 50th IAD encountered another “bouquet” of very unpleasant phenomena that occurred at high speeds and Mach numbers. Division documents report that: “... at a speed of 1050-1100 km/h, the MiG-15 is poorly controlled and unstable, which makes it difficult to aim and fire at enemy aircraft.” What exactly is meant by this, the archival document does not explain, but we are unlikely to be mistaken in asserting that the pilots of the 50th IAD, and possibly the entire 64th Corps, first encountered “fallen wood”, and with a decrease in the efficiency of the rudders, and with reverse roll reaction when the steering wheel is deflected, and with heavier control at transonic speeds, which were described above.

In December 1950, the Americans, concerned about the situation in the skies over North Korea, brought the F-84 Thunderjet and F-86 Saber fighters into battle. The F-84, superior to the Shooting Star, but nevertheless being an enemy of the same class for the MiG as the F-80, could not seriously influence the course of air battles, but the Saber, which met the MiG-15bis for the first time December 17, 1950, significantly changed the picture of the air war. In the month and a half preceding the appearance of the F-86, Soviet regiments lost 3 vehicles from enemy fighter fire and lost the same number from December 17 to 31, in less than a dozen battles with Sabers. The first meeting between the “fifteenth” and “eighty-sixth” ended in victory for the American pilot: Major Efromeenko’s MiG-15bis was shot down in an air battle. Our pilot, for the first time in combat conditions, successfully ejected. On December 21, the first victory over the F-86 was scored, it was won by Captain Yurkevich from the 29th GvIAP, however, according to American data, the first Saber was lost only the next day, it was shot down by Captain Vorobyov from the 177th IAP.

Our pilots rated the new enemy very highly. In their opinion, recorded in documents 50 IAD, the MiG-15bis and F-86 turned out to be approximately equivalent, and the main advantage of the MiG was its more powerful weapon - three guns against six 12.7 mm machine guns, while the Saber had superiority in horizontal maneuver . And what’s surprising is that the documents of the 50th IAD say that the F-86 and MiG-15bis “have equal qualities in the verticals”! But now it is common knowledge that until the end of the war, not a single UN aircraft, including the new Saber modifications that subsequently appeared, surpassed the MiG-15bis in vertical maneuver! In our opinion, the secret here is simple - the same documents report that our fighters searched for the enemy at a speed of 750-800 km/h, thus excluding getting into the speed range starting from 950 km/h, where problems with stability and controllability of the MiG. Saber pilots, on the contrary, during patrols kept their speed close to the maximum speed, and their excess when meeting MiGs could easily be “exchanged” for altitude. In addition, our pilots were probably afraid to maneuver with high overloads at high speeds - the disaster due to the destruction of the elevator mount was too fresh in their memory. And an air battle without energetic maneuvers is nonsense. Only when the fighters of the divisions that fought in Korea after the 50th increased their search speed to 900-950 km/h did everything fall into place - on the vertical, the MiG-15bis easily caught up with the Saber and just as easily escaped it.

The battles also revealed the shortcomings of the ASP-ZN sight and the S-13 photo-machine gun. At target speeds of more than 600 km/h and an angle of more than 2/4, the sight did not develop the correct lead angle, and at target speeds of over 800 km/h it could provide accurate shooting only at angles of no more than 1/4. If the target’s speed exceeded 600 km/h, then the photo-machine gun did not record it even at a 2/4 angle.

At the beginning of February 1951, the 151st GvIAD replaced the 50th Division at Andun, which returned to the Union. By this time, the 28th and 72nd GvIAP had transferred their MiG-15s to the 3rd IAD of the PLA Air Force and accepted the MiG-15bis from the regiments of the 50th IAD. On February 8, the 28th GvIAP began combat operations from Andong, on March 2 it was joined by the 72nd GvIAP squadron, another AE of this regiment appeared on March 14. Two more months of active combat with the F-80, F-86 and B-29 allowed the pilots of the 64th IAK to formulate requirements for improving the MiG-15bis, which first appeared in Corps documents. Mainly, the pilots demanded from the creators of the aircraft:

Increase the efficiency of brake flaps;

Increase flight duration;

Improve visibility of the rear hemisphere;

Give the opportunity to fly at M>0.92 (limitation of the Chief Designer);

Eliminate dead wood;

Increase ammunition;

Equip 64 IAK aircraft with the SRO-1 “Barium-M” aircraft radio transponder (identification “friend or foe”);

Improve handling at high speeds and altitudes;

Install an automatic minimum fuel pressure on the engine to prevent the engine from stopping when the throttle is operated suddenly at high altitudes (according to modern terminology, automatic throttle response and release);

Equip the aircraft with an anti-g suit;

Improve booking;

To reduce the visibility of aircraft in the air, replace the “white” shiny paint of the aircraft with a colorless varnish with a matte one.

At the beginning of April 1951, the 151st GvIAD ended hostilities and relocated to Anshan - to the second echelon of the 64th IAK. At Andun it was replaced by 176 GvIAP and 196 IAP 324 IAD. The flight echelon of the 176th Regiment flew to the forward airfield on April 1, and the next day the aircraft of the 196th Regiment arrived in Andong. The division was armed with 62 MiG-15s. In these vehicles, the pilots of the 324th IAD fought intense battles from April 3 until the end of the month. On the MiG-15 they carried out one of the most famous and successful battles of the 64th IAK, repelling a raid by 48 B-29s (under the cover of a large number of fighters) on bridges across the river. Yalujiang near Andong on April 12. However, it was difficult to fight the Sabers on the MiG-15, and as a result of persistent demands from the flight personnel and command of the 324th IAD, at the end of April the division exchanged materiel with the 151st GvIAD, receiving 47 encores. From that moment on, regiments and divisions of the 64th IAK fought only with the MiG-15bis. At the end of May, 324 IAD received 16 new “encores” of the 13th series of plant No. 153.

On May 8, the 18th GvIAP 303rd IAP began combat operations from the Andong airfield, with the commissioning of the new advanced Miaogou airfield at the end of May - early June, two other regiments of the 303rd division - 17 and 523 IAP, were relocated to it in late May - early June. entered the battle. At the beginning of the next month, the 18th Guards Regiment was also relocated to Miaogou. The 303rd Division was armed with the MiG-15bis. The losses of the 303rd and 324th IAD were replenished with aircraft received from MAP factories and transferred from other units.

The 11 months of participation of the 303rd and 324th IAD in the Korean War were the period of greatest success for the 64th Corps. Having become comfortable in the skies over the Korean Peninsula, well-trained pilots of these divisions fought successful battles with Sabers and repelled attacks by UN strike aircraft, fulfilling the main and only task of the 64th IAC - protecting bridges, crossings and airfields in the area of ​​the city from air strikes. Andong, Suphung hydroelectric power station, industrial enterprises, administrative centers, logistics facilities of the KPA and CPV troops and transport communications of Northeast China and North Korea north of the Pyongyang-Wonsan border. Since the beginning of the autumn of 1951, American fighter-bombers did not risk appearing in the “MiG Alley” - the area limited to the north and west by the river. Yalujiang and the West Korean Gulf, and from the south and east along the border - Anju-Hichon-Ji'an - without powerful cover of the Sabers. The US Far Eastern Air Forces Bomber Command completely abandoned the use of B-29s north of Pyongyang during daylight hours, transferring them to night operations. The reason for this was the large losses of bomber groups suffered in battles with MiGs of the 303rd IAD from October 22 to 27, 1951. Of these battles, the most famous was the air battle on October 23, nicknamed in the West “Black Tuesday”, when as a result of the meeting of MiGs with With “Superfortresses” 307 BAG, under powerful cover of fighters striking the Namsi airfield, the Americans lost 10 bombers. All the damage to the fighters of the 303rd division inflicted by the B-29 gunners in the October battles amounted to only a few holes - the counting devices of the Superfortress sighting systems were not designed for the speed with which the MiGs broke through fighter cover to the bombers.

Many first-class pilots fought in the 303rd and 324th IAD. Unfortunately, due to lack of space, we cannot not only talk about them all, but even simply list their names. Let us name only those who were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for successful combat work in the Korean skies. Of the 22 “Korean” Heroes, 18 fought in the 303rd and 324th IAD. Here they are (after the last name the number of official victories in Korea is given in parentheses): E.G. Pepelyaev (19), N.V. Sutyagin (22), D.P. Oskin (15), L.K. Shchukin (15), SM. Kramarenko (13), A.P. Smorchkov (12), M.S. Ponomarev (12), S.A. Bakhaev (11), G.U. Ohai (11), D.A. Samoilov (10), SP. Subbotin (9), N.G. Dokashenko (9), G.I. Ges (8), G.I. Pulov (8), F.A. Shebanov (6), G.A. Lobov (4), B.A. Obraztsov (4), E.M. Stelmakh (2). Nominated for the title of Hero were B.S. Abakumov (5), V.N. Alfeev (7), B.V. Bokach (6), I.M. Zaplavnev (7), L.N. Ivanov (7), A.I. Mitusov (7).

The rich combat experience of the pilots of the 303rd and 324th IAD, gained in intense battles with almost all types of enemy aircraft in service with the US Far East Air Force, made it possible to most fully and accurately assess all the main advantages and disadvantages of the MiG-15bis and develop recommendations for its further improvement. Naturally, first of all, the MiG-15bis was compared with the Saber, an aircraft with the same purpose as the MiG, created almost simultaneously.

The main advantages of the MiG-15bis in combat with the F-86 were its significantly higher service ceiling, decisive superiority in maximum climb rate and vertical maneuver at all altitudes, especially at high ones. D. A. Samoilov, who fought in Korea as part of the 523 IAP, tells how these advantages of the MiG manifested themselves in battle:

“On September 9, 1951, I made my first flight as the lead pair and on the same flight I shot down one F-86. It turned out as follows. We flew as a group of six in the Anju area, where basically all the air battles broke out - there were crossings there, and the Americans often stormed them. And now they tell us from the ground observation point: “Who is going in six? You are being attacked by 24 Sabers!” We looked, and they were already close. What to do? The six were led by Ojai. He immediately went into a loop, I was on the left and went with a left combat turn, and the right couple went with a right combat turn. So, like a fan, they seemed to disperse. Eight Sabers immediately followed me. They attacked us from above, they had an advantage in speed, and at the first stage they even seemed to be getting closer. They had already started shooting from a distance of 1000 m. I shouted to Mishka Zykov, my wingman: “Hold on!” - he was on the turn inside me. And I didn’t turn anything else, but began a left-handed upward spiral. The Sabers attacked us at an altitude of about 6-6.5 thousand meters and drove us probably up to 11 thousand. But already at about 10.5 I saw that one of the four Sabers fell off and went down. And my speed was also almost at the limit, I could barely walk. But, I see, after those four, another couple fell off, and somewhere around 11 thousand and a little over the last pair couldn’t stand it - they fell off and went down. I looked around - the sky was clear, there was no one, I made a half-turn - and behind her. They may not have expected me to pursue them. In short, I caught up with this couple and shot down one plane.”

In battles it turned out that the MiG-15bis, compared to the F-86 at all altitudes, has a slightly higher maximum horizontal flight speed and better acceleration characteristics. However, the pilots of the 64th IAK expressed a desire to increase the maximum speed of horizontal flight by 100-150 km/h, since the superiority of the MiG-15bis was small. An increase in speed data would be facilitated by an increase in engine thrust, possibly with the help of afterburner. Such an event “killed” several “birds with one stone”: an increase in thrust would provide a significant improvement in speed response, and success in battle often depended on how quickly the aircraft would gain maximum speed when it was lost during aerobatics, and quickly accelerate when catching up with the enemy or avoiding him. In addition, increasing thrust would improve vertical maneuver. The advantage of the MiG in verticals, which ensured success in the battle with the Saber, was well known to the enemy and it was expected that the Americans would try to eliminate it by improving the vertical maneuver of the F-86. Another “hare”: rapid acceleration to maximum speed after dropping the PTB would allow the flight to the battle area at the most advantageous engine operating mode, thereby increasing the range.

At first glance, claims about the range and flight duration of the MiG-15bis may seem strange, because it cannot be said that in these parameters the MiG was radically inferior to the Saber, especially since the American fighters were based much further from the main combat zone of the Anju region (MiGs - 120 km, F-86 - 260-295 km), however, real combat The situation turned everything upside down. MiGs flew out to intercept in large groups and the flight duration was determined by the aircraft that took off first, averaging 40-50 minutes. For quick interception, the flight to the battle area was carried out at increased speeds, and the speed differed from the maximum only by a reserve to keep the wingmen in formation. Accordingly, the engines operated in combat mode for most of the flight, sometimes up to 80% of the flight time, which significantly increased fuel consumption. The flight profile was based not on the conditions of maximum range and duration, but on the basis of maximum safety from enemy attacks. Climbing along the route was not used; groups were assembled in battle formations and the occupation of combat heights was carried out over airfields. Exiting the battle and returning to base was carried out at maximum speeds, and the landing was carried out over the airfield. In addition, to attack American fighter-bombers, MiGs had to descend to low altitudes, which also significantly increased fuel consumption. The drop tanks were of little help, since they were usually dropped when there was still 30-40% of fuel left in them, and sometimes even completely full. The Sabers were in a much better position. Taking advantage of the limitations of the MiG operating area (the coast of the West Korean Gulf and the Pyongyang-Wonsan line), caused by purely political reasons, the F-86 flew to the combat area, patrolled in it and returned to its bases according to the most advantageous profile and the most advantageous engine operating mode, completely using fuel from the PTB. As a result, in the Anju area, eight Sabers could remain for up to 30-40 minutes, and a MiG squadron - 15bis - for a maximum of 20.

The main advantages of the Saber were the high maximum permissible dive speed and better horizontal maneuver.

The chief designer for the MiG-15bis set a limit of M = 0.92. Strict adherence to this limitation would make it difficult to conduct a successful engagement with the F-86. The battles with the Sabers took place at speeds often exceeding M = 0.92, because both the enemy and our fighters pressed closely against the sound barrier. In combat engine operating mode, the maximum speed of the MiG-15bis along the horizon at altitudes of 5000-12000 m corresponded to M = 0.89-0.92 and there was no reserve speed for descent with the engine running. By sharply descending with the engine running at maximum speed, the Saber moved away from the MiG even if the latter’s pilot exceeded the Mach number allowed by the Chief Designer. Combat experience has shown that the successes of the MiG-15bis in confrontation with the F-86 were explained primarily by the fact that the flight crew of the 64th IAK perfectly mastered piloting at M>0.92. Typically, battles were fought at Mach numbers up to 0.95-0.96, but high Mach numbers were also common - often during a dive behind the Saber at high altitude, the Mach meter needle reached the stop corresponding to M = 0.98. Therefore, in battle, if it was possible to monitor the instruments, the pilots looked not at the speed meter, but at the true speed indicator. For the MiG-15bis Uist.max = 1050-1070 km/h (for altitudes 5000-10000 m M = 0.91-0.99) and was approximately the same for all altitudes and all aircraft. Many pilots reached Uist = 1100 km/h, incl. and at an altitude of 9000-10000 m (M-1.0). The main obstacle to achieving high speeds was the deterioration of the MiG's stability and controllability, which manifested itself in such phenomena as “dead wood”, reverse roll reaction and excessive efforts on the control stick.

“Valezhka” was the main factor limiting the maximum speed of the MiG-15bis, and, subject to the Chief Designer’s restrictions, M = 0.92, it manifested itself only at low altitudes. It started at approximately the same true speed for all altitudes, different for different aircraft, but on average 1050 km/h, which for altitudes of 5000-10000 m corresponded to M = 0.91-0.97. Above 3000 m, the “fallen trees” were countered by ailerons and rudder up to Uist = 1070-1100 km/h. Below 3000 m, the ailerons were ineffective, and rudder actions were dangerous due to roll feedback. Therefore, when a deadfall occurred at low altitude, the pilots immediately released the air brakes and slowed down. All modifications to the MiG-15bis undertaken to eliminate dead wood were aimed at the type of it that occurred at low altitudes due to wing deformation. No measures were taken to combat the high-altitude “fallen air” associated with the peculiarities of the flow around the MiG-15 wing at M>0.92.

The reverse roll reaction occurred at M = 0.86-0.87, some pilots noted its cessation at M>0.95. The pilots had mastered this phenomenon and got used to it. All maneuvers at high speeds were performed with one stick or with the rudder deflected in the direction opposite to the generally accepted one. In this case, it was necessary to operate the pedals with very small, “metered” movements, checking the reaction of the aircraft “by touch”. Roll backlash was not one of the most serious defects, but the pilots noted that it distracted from the combat mission.

MiG-15bis pilots demanded an increase in the maximum permissible speed during a dive and asked for the Mach limit to be replaced with a Uist limit. It was noted that increasing the maximum permissible speed will require reducing the effort on the control stick, because when approaching M = 1, control became difficult in the literal sense - the efforts that had to be applied to the control gear to increase the overload by one unit increased sharply and reached 25 kg. Conducting a battle was likened to weightlifting - during a maneuver with, for example, a three-fold overload, the pilot had to pull the handle with a force of half a centner. According to the pilots of the 64th IAK, a power steering elevator was needed.

The MiGs, having an advantage in the verticals, tried to fight using this type of maneuver, so there was no sufficiently complete data to compare the horizontal maneuverability of the MiG-15bis and F-86. However, combat experience has clearly shown that the initial, unsteady part of the turn, which begins at high speed, is better for the F-86 due to the greater efficiency of the air brakes, which makes it possible to quickly lose speed, reduce the radius of the turn and “cut” the MiG-15bis, higher aileron efficiency than the MiG, which makes turning into a turn more energetic, less effort on the control stick per unit of overload, and better load-bearing properties of the wing. The MiG, at speeds close to maximum, could not create the overload necessary to perform a sufficiently energetic maneuver. The characteristics of the steady turn of both aircraft, according to the estimates of the flight crew of the 64th IAK, were close, and the outcome of the battle was determined by the level of enemy piloting technology. The Corps pilots concluded that it was necessary to study in detail the maneuverability of the MiG-15bis, primarily at high speeds, including at M>0.92, because in combat, exiting at the speed of the most advantageous turn was not practiced.

Pilots asked for more effective air brakes. This would increase the capabilities of the MiG-15bis both in combat on turns and when diving behind the Saber. Having brake flaps of a large area, the F-86 performed a coup at any altitude and speed, including maximum, and in the steep dive section it could perform additional turns. On the MiG-15bis, which has air brakes with an area half as large as that of the Saber, this was impossible.

Our pilots considered the cannon armament of the MiG-15bis to be excellent; in their opinion, the guns were one of the main “trump cards” of the MiG, but the ASP-ZN sight and the S-13 photo-machine gun caused a lot of criticism. In addition to the shortcomings mentioned above, pilots noted that during vigorous maneuvers, the moving reticle of the sight “leaves” the pilot’s field of view or is blurred, making aiming impossible. This drawback was aggravated by the fact that the pilot saw either a fixed or moving reticle on the reflector, and if the sight switch was set to “gyro”, and in maneuverable combat the moving reticle “went” behind the hood of the aircraft or became blurred, then it was necessary to switch the sight to “not under” .”, as a result, time was lost, and sometimes even the opportunity to open fire. Pilots expressed a desire to have both grids on the reflector at the same time. In addition, the pilots justifiably demanded that the optical rangefinder be replaced with a radar one, because They could not control the range to the target using the ASP-ZN range drum in battle due to the fact that for this it was necessary to shift their gaze from the target to the drum. A radio rangefinder would also improve the quality of shooting, freeing the pilot from framing the target with a rangefinder ring. The main disadvantages of the S-13 were the low “rate of fire”, which needed to be increased at least twice, and the absence of a time delay after releasing the gun combat buttons, as a result of which the photo-machine gun stopped working when there were another 20-30 shells between the gunner and the target.

In addition to the above, the Corps pilots demanded (note that some of these demands were put forward during state tests of the experimental S-2 and S-3 and military tests of the first production MiG-15):

Install the tail protection device. The main reason for our losses was sudden enemy attacks from the rear hemisphere. The view back on the MiG-15bis was hampered by the thick canopy covers, the armored headrest and the pilot’s deep seating position in the cockpit. The visibility needed to be improved;

Install an aircraft-to-aircraft identification system, because at ranges exceeding 2 km, it was impossible to distinguish a MiG from a Saber;

Install a multi-channel VHF radio station;

Install an artificial horizon that allows aerobatics. The AGK-47B available on the MiG-15bis gave incorrect readings at a roll of more than 30°;

Equip the MiG-15bis with autonomous engine starting;

Provide the pilot with an anti-g suit;

Significantly improve the pilot's armor protection;

Duplicate the elevator control wiring;

Install the second ejection and canopy release control kit on the right side of the ejection seat. If the pilot was wounded in the left hand lying on the throttle and not covered by armor, it was very difficult to leave the plane;

Equip the ejection seat and parachute with automatic seat belt and parachute opening systems. The absence of these devices has repeatedly led to the fact that a wounded pilot, who lost consciousness during ejection, died by falling to the ground along with his seat.

Some of the wishes previously expressed by the pilots of the corps have already been satisfied. Instead of the ART-1K automatic fuel control system on the MiG 64 IAK engines, the ART-8V appeared, the same “minimum fuel pressure automatic machine” that the pilots of the 151st GvIAD had also asked for. The Corps began to receive aircraft equipped with “Barium-M” - the transponder of the state identification system. On January 3, 1952, the Ministry of Aviation Industry issued order No. 10 “On the MiG-15bis aircraft,” which ordered the 64 IAK fighters to be painted with matte paint, the MiG-15bis to be equipped with brake flaps of increased area, the installation of backup catapult control, and obligated plant No. 153 to February 15 1952 equip 60 encores with three-channel VHF radio stations RSIU-ZM "Klen" and send them to the 64th Corps.

The first to begin was to solve the simplest problem - the problem of painting. To do this, a team of painters from plant No. 21 and a representative of GIPI-4 were sent to Northeast China. However, the color options proposed by GIPI-4 did not satisfy the Corps pilots. Therefore, the 64th IAK developed several of its own camouflage options that reduced the visibility of the MiG in the air and, having tested them and selected the most suitable one, in February 1952 they began repainting the entire fleet of fighters.

In January and February 1952, the 324th and 303rd IAD completed combat work in the Korean skies and, having transferred their aircraft and technical personnel to the 97th and 190th IAD that replaced them, departed for the Soviet Union. 16 IAP and 148 GvIAP of the 97th Division received all MiGs - 15bis of the 324th IAD and 6 "bis" of the 303rd Division. 256, 494 and 821 IAP 190 IAD received from plant No. 153 new “encores” of the 20th series and the remaining vehicles of the regiments of the 303rd IAD. In March 1952, the 97th Division handed over its aircraft to the 190 IAD and the night 351 IAP, receiving in return new MiG-15bis from factory No. 153, equipped with RSIU-ZM radio stations. Later, the 97 IAD was replenished with aircraft of the 27th and 28th series of the Novosibirsk plant, and the 190 IAD - with the 26th.

The regiments of the 97th and 190th divisions operated from the airfields of Andong, Miaogou, Anshan, Mukden-West and Dapu (put into operation at the end of June 1952). The start of the combat work of these formations cannot be called successful. In terms of the level of training, their pilots were noticeably inferior to their predecessors, the introduction into battle was short-lived and the pilots of the 303rd and 324th IAD did not have time to fully convey their experience. At the same time, at the end of 1951 - beginning of 1952, there was a sharp qualitative and quantitative improvement in the UN aviation group, especially its fighter component - from December 1951, the second Saber air wing, armed with the new F-86E, entered combat, by February 52- who managed to gain the necessary combat experience. Since February, the intensity of combat operations in the air has continuously increased and what should have happened happened - 64 IAK lost the initiative, UN aviation gained freedom of action over almost the entire territory of North Korea. But the pilots of the 97th and 190th IAD managed the seemingly impossible - after going through the most difficult unsuccessful battles in March-April, in May they began to return the initiative to their own hands. Of course, this did not happen without a trace. By July 1952, the flight personnel of the 97th and 190th IAD were exhausted to the limit. Further participation of divisions in the war could lead to very high and unjustified losses.

In September 1951, the 351st IAP, a night regiment of the 64th Corps, armed with piston La-11s, began combat operations with flights from Anshan. On these machines, night fighters quite successfully fought with the B-26, but the Lavochkin could not resist the B-29, which from November 51 switched to operations in the “MiG Alley” at night. It was decided to involve the MiG-15bis in night operations. Of all the serial Soviet fighters of that time, it most fully met the requirements for an interceptor of aircraft like the B-29, which was clearly demonstrated in daytime battles with “fortresses.” In addition, the MiG-15bis, which had blind landing equipment OSP-48, was better suited than the La-11 for flights at night and in difficult weather conditions (SMC). Having an encore SRO on board was also very valuable. Its mark on the all-round indicator of a ground-based radar made it much easier for the guidance officer to control his fighters and point them at the target. Thanks to the installation of its own on-board transponder code on each of the MiGs in the air, the guidance officer could not only distinguish his aircraft from enemy aircraft, but also distinguish our fighters from each other.

Top: Major Kultyshev on a stepladder, middle: Captain Karelin on a stepladder, bottom: in the cabin of Art. Lieutenant Ikhsangaliev.

The MiG's weapons were also more powerful, but the biggest advantage of the MiG-15's weapons was its layout. The MiG's cannons were located under the nose of the fuselage, hiding their muzzles from the pilot's eyes. Unlike the “fifteenth”, the La-11’s weapon was located in the upper part of the fuselage under the engine hood - directly in front of the pilot’s cockpit. As a result, after the first burst, the muzzle flame of the guns, especially bright in the darkness of the night, blinded the Lavochkin pilot for some time and he, as a rule, lost his target. Therefore, a repeated night attack on La-11 was possible only against a well-lit target. The MiG-15 was free of this drawback.

The first “night-lights” on MiGs were pilots of the 324th IAD, one link of which began night interceptions in December 1951. After the departure of the 324th IAP, the night air force of the 97th division took over the baton; in addition, one squadron of the 351st IAP, which received 12 aircraft from the 16th and 148th regiments, began retraining on the MiG-15bis. Retraining was completed by mid-May and on the 16th, having relocated to Andong, the MiGs of 351 IAP entered into battle. At the same time, the 133rd IAD squadron, which arrived at the KTVD in early April, began combat operations from the Miaogou airfield in the dark. On June 10, night MiGs achieved their first success, destroying 2 B-29s in one battle and heavily damaging another, the last one crashed during an emergency landing in South Korea. In the West, this fight is put on a par with “Black Tuesday”. During the combat operations, a fundamental drawback of the MiG-15bis as a night interceptor was revealed - the absence of a surveillance radar on it. The Corps pilots demanded that the MiG be equipped with an on-board locator.

In the summer of 1952, another change of divisions of the 64th IAK took place. In the first half of July, the 147 GvIAP, 415 and 726 IAP, 133 IAD were relocated to the forward airfields of Andong and Dapu; in August, the 32 and 216 IAD replaced the 97th and 190th divisions. The 518th, 676th and 878th regiments of the 216th IAP began combat sorties from Miaogou and Dapu, the 224th, 535th and 913th IAP of the 32nd division in 1952 operated from the airfields of the 2nd line Mukden-Zapadny and Anshan, behind with the exception of the night AE 535 IAP, which has been operating from Andong since the end of November. In September, the 578 IAP of the 5th Navy Air Force (as the Pacific Fleet was called at that time) began combat operations. The regiment arrived at the KTVD without aircraft or technical personnel and was operationally subordinate to the 133rd division, replacing the pilots of the 726th IAP at Andong.

In the second half of January 1953, the regiments of the 133rd IAD were relocated to the airfields of the 2nd line; on Andong and Dapu they were replaced by the regiments of the 32nd IAD, which operated from these airfields until the end of the Korean War. In March-April, one squadron of the 913 IAP was based at the new Kuandian airfield.

In February, 351 and 578 IAP left for the Soviet Union, they were replaced by 298 IAP and 781 IAP of the 5th Navy Air Force. The 298th regiment conducted combat operations at night from Andong and Miaogou airfields, and the 781st, which did not have its own aircraft, was operationally subordinate to the 216th IAD, replacing its pilots at Dapu and Miaogou airfields. This composition - 32, 216 IAD, 298 and 352 IAP at the forward airfields of Andong, Miaogou, Dapu and regiments of the 133 IAD at the 2nd echelon airfields of Mukden-West and Anshan - remained until the end of the Korean War.

From the second half of 1952, the tension of combat operations in the air during daylight hours continued to increase. Battles, in which more than a hundred aircraft took part on each side, became commonplace. Such air battles, consisting of many battles between flights and squadrons, covered almost the entire territory of North Korea. Particularly fierce fighting took place in MiG Alley and over the adjacent areas of Northeast China. The fighting continued even as the weather worsened. Interception missions to SMU became common, especially since the spring of 1953. Sometimes battles were fought in the rain, with cloudiness of 10 points, when horizontal visibility barely exceeded a kilometer, and sometimes in such conditions the pilots of the 64th IAK had to chase fighter-bombers at low altitude , between the hills.

The intensity of combat operations at night also continuously increased, reaching its apogee at the end of 1952 - beginning of 1953. In the air battles of December-January, the US Far Eastern Air Force Bomber Command lost 8 B-29s, which was comparable to the losses in October 1951. As a result, the Americans refused and from the night use of B-29s north of Pyongyang under simple weather conditions, since February, “Superfortresses” have invaded “MiG Alley” only in bad, and more often very bad, weather at the darkest time of day. However, the use of B-29s in SMU had little effect on their effectiveness, because The Americans carried out the bombing using the Shoran radio system, which was independent of the weather. At the same time, the effectiveness of the MiGs' actions decreased to almost zero - in the absence of an on-board locator, successful interception of the Superfortress at night in the clouds was an impossible task.

In 1952-53 The qualitative improvement of the aviation group of UN forces continued. Since the summer of 1952, fighter wings began to receive the F-86F, the most advanced of the Saber modifications that fought in Korea. Its main difference from the F-86E was an engine with a 20% increase in thrust, which significantly improved the high-altitude characteristics, rate of climb and vertical maneuver of the new Saber; it became much more difficult to fight with it. In the spring of 1953, two fighter-bomber wings and one fighter-bomber squadron began combat operations with the F-86F-25 and F-86F-30, re-equipping from the F-51 and F-80 to the strike version of the Saber. At the end of 1952, night fighters F3D and F-94, equipped with on-board search and targeting radars, began combat operations, and jet fighter-bombers operated in MiG Alley at night.

In 1952-53 the pilots of the 64 IAK did not have such great successes as in 1951. This is explained by the fact that the fighters of the 97, 190, 133, 216 and 32 IAD had to fight in more difficult conditions, in addition, the average level of training of the pilots of these divisions was noticeably lower than their colleagues from 303 and 324 IAD. However, these divisions also had many excellent air fighters. The fact that their combat accounts look more modest than those of their predecessors does not in the least detract from their merits - the air situation was different, in addition, at the beginning of 1952, the system for confirming downed enemy aircraft was once again tightened. Unfortunately, as in the case of the pilots of the 303 and 324 IAD, we cannot mention them all. Let's name just a few (the number of official victories in Korea is given in parentheses after the last name): V.M. Zabelin (9), M.I. Mikhin (9, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union), S.A. Fedorets (7), A.S. Boytsov (6, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union), N.M. Zameskin (6), A.T. Bashman (5), G.N. Berelidze (5), G.F. Dmitryuk (5), A.A. Olenitsa (5), B.N. Siskov (5), V.I. Belousov (4), V.A. Zhuravel (4), V.P. Lepikov (4), B.C. Mikheev (4), V.A. Utkin (4), M.F. Yudin (4), A.A. Alekseenko (4), A.M. Balabaikin (4), A.I. Krylov (4), G.A. Nikiforov (4), F.G. Afanasyev (3), I.P. Vakhrushev (3), K.N. Degtyarev (3), A.N. Zakharov (3), N.I. Ivanov (3), A.T. Kostenko (3), P.V. Minervin (3), A.R. Prudnikov (3), P.F. Shevelev (3), N.I. Shkodin (3). Of the night fighters, the most popular among Corps pilots were the A.M. Karelin (6 B-29, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union) and Yu.N. Dobrovichan (3 B-29).

In 1952-53 A large number of modifications were carried out on the MiG-15bis 64 IAK, during which the wishes of the Corps pilots expressed in 1951 were fulfilled.

At the beginning of 1952, all MiG-15bis that did not have a Barium-M transponder were equipped with it, and in February the state identification system was put into operation. In addition to using the SRO for its intended purpose, it was used in a non-standard way in night combat operations - a different code was installed on the on-board transponders of each MiG in the air.

In March 1952, 16-mm armored backrests, more powerful armored headrests, and pyrocylinders were armored on the ejection seats of MiGs. Due to the increased weight of the seat, the squibs were replaced with more powerful ones. That same spring, the ejection seats were equipped with AD-3 automatic seat belt opening devices, and the parachutes were equipped with KAP-3 automatic seat belt opening systems. Now, after ejection, regardless of the condition of the pilot, the seat was separated from him and the parachute opened at a certain altitude. In the second half of summer, a second catapult bracket for the right arm appeared on the seats.

At the end of August, the installation of enlarged brake flaps on the MiG-15bis 64 IAK began, while their area increased from 0.5 to 0.8 2 m. In August, the first 37 aircraft were thus modified; in subsequent months, enlarged brake flaps were also received other Corps encores. This improvement significantly improved the MiG's maneuverability.

Speaking at a flight-tactical conference in the fall of 1952, M.I. Mikhin, who fought in the 518th IAP, described one of his battles, conducted on an aircraft not yet equipped with enlarged brake flaps:

“08/19/52 in the area southwest of Sakushu (now Sakchu - author) 25-30 km, I discovered two F-86s following on oppositely intersecting courses at a distance of 2.5-3 km at an altitude of 9300 m with a heading of 220 in the extended right "bearing". Our group of 6 MiG-15s followed the right bearing of the pairs at an interval of 500-600 m and a distance of 800-1000 m from the pair. Having received an order from the commander of the AE, Captain Molchanov: “Attack the enemy!”, I was paired with Art. Lt. Yakovlev performed a right combat turn and ended up on the left behind, above the enemy at a distance of 600-700 m. The enemy began to perform a right turn, I moved to the left side and, approaching a distance of 500 m, opened fire, but the line passed behind me. Having clarified my aiming, I opened fire a second time from a distance of 250-300 m, as a result of which the F-86 was covered by the track, caught fire and began to fall randomly. The exit from the attack is made to the right upward.

This battle showed that the F-86 can be shot down on a turn, but only in the first part of it, since the F-86, after releasing the brake flaps, turns with a smaller radius than the MiG-15.”

How the maneuvering characteristics of the MiG-15bis, which received more effective air brakes, have changed is well illustrated by the materials of the flight-tactical conference of the 32nd IAD, held in August 1953. They still did not recommend chasing Sabers in a dive and escaping from them with a sharp descent , including due to the continued superiority of the F-86 in the effectiveness of air brakes. It was also not recommended to get involved in battles with Sabers on a horizontal maneuver. At the same time, it was noted that if the F-86 came into the tail of the MiG at a distance of actual fire, then it was impossible to leave in a straight line or with a climb, it was necessary to take the fight on a turn. In this case, a MiG pilot who has mastered his vehicle well has every chance of success even in a battle with a numerically superior enemy. An experienced pilot could successfully pursue the Saber in a dive. Speaking at the conference, division pilot inspector for piloting techniques and flight theory, Major A.T. Kostenko proved these points with examples from his own combat experience:

“On 2/19/53, in the patrol area of ​​the Suphun hydroelectric power station, I met a pair of F-86s that were turning towards me. I went on the attack and approached at a distance of 100-200 m at an angle of 2/4, at this time the leader of the second pair of art. Lieutenant Aleksandrov opened barrage fire on a collision course. The leader of the F-86 pair makes a sharp turn to the right while climbing, and the follower makes a left turn. I also made a left turn and began to pursue the Saber in a dive. When the Saber began withdrawing, I opened fire and shot it down...

On 5/17/53 I flew in a group with the regiment commander (913 IAP - author) - the leader of the 2nd pair. In the patrol area above the Suphung hydroelectric station, while making a left turn, we were attacked by a pair of F-86s from the left rear at a 3/4 angle. I gave the command: “We are under attack, turn to the left,” and turned towards the enemy, the leading pair and my wingman climbed in a straight line, and I was left alone and began to fight with a pair of Sabers. The altitude was 13,000 m.

The battle began on a descending bend. At the beginning of the turn, the F-86 began to tail me, I released the air brakes and began to pull hard. When the speed decreases, the MiG-15 turns better and sharply reduces the radius of the turn. On the second turn, I went to the tail of the F-86 and began firing at the wingman from a 2/4 angle, getting closer to the enemy. The Sabers make a left turn under me, I also make a turn and pursue them. The enemy performs a left combat turn. During a dive, my speed reached 1050 km/h, it is very difficult to bring the plane into a combat turn right away, I reduced the speed to 900 km/h, after which I made a combat turn to the left and found myself above the F-86, where I again began the battle on a turn with guidance fire on the wingman. The enemy made another coup with a dive turn to the right and stopped fighting and went towards the bay. I gave another turn in the dive and went to the landing airfield, because... fuel was running out.

The air battle ended in a draw at an altitude of 3000 m, because... My lead correction turned out to be less than expected when shooting from a 2/4 angle.”

Installation of the TS-27 periscope on the sliding part of the canopy.

In terms of steady-state turn characteristics, the MiG-15bis was still somewhat superior to the Saber, which was well illustrated by the following example. On July 16, 1953, a MiG-15bis flight from the 913th IAP, under the command of Captain Pushchin, covered its airfield during the landing of MiGs that had come from a combat mission. The link was above the 3rd turn. At this time, a pair of F-86s jumped out from behind the clouds and attacked the MiGs from the left rear. The command was given from the command post: “Turn left.” The flight began a left turn, completed 3 turns, during which time the enemy was unable to reach the tail of our fighters and get within range of actual fire. Only on the 4th turn did the pilot st. Lieutenant Pavlov reduced the roll, the Sabers took advantage of this, opened fire and shot him down.

The MiG-15bis retained its superiority over the F-86F in climb rate; the MiG's vertical maneuver also remained better due to significantly lower weight with approximately the same engine thrust, which manifested itself in less time for performing maneuvers and a slower loss of speed during aerobatics. However, the improved vertical maneuver of the F-86F significantly narrowed the gap between the MiG and the Saber, which required greater attention in combat with it, precise piloting and full use of the capabilities of the MiG-15bis. From the speech of the flight commander of the 224th IAP, Captain G.N. Berelidze:

“Having discovered an enemy in your tail, you must immediately perform a sharp maneuver in order to prevent targeted fire from being directed at you... the maneuver is performed with a climb. To make the initial trajectory steeper, at the first moment it is necessary to release the brake flaps, and then go into a spiral with a climb...

In most cases, the enemy strives to maintain the ability to fire with anticipation, creating an energetic turn, and loses the speed advantage he initially had, gradually falling behind. This lag is aggravated by the fact that with almost the same thrust of the MiG-15 and F-86 engines, the weight of the enemy aircraft is much greater. If the F-86 pilot does not notice in time the detrimental nature of his position and does not give up pursuit, then you and the enemy will find yourself at opposite ends of the circle described by the aircraft with an advantage in altitude, which at the right moment can easily be converted into speed. By choosing a convenient moment, when the enemy weakens the energy of the turn or goes straight, you can easily launch an attack on the F-86...

I will give two typical examples from personal experience:

On 03/27/53, I, together with my wingman, attacked 6 enemy aircraft. Our fire disrupted the enemy's battle formations, but one pair managed to get behind me. My wingman could not provide me with direct support, since he himself was involved in combat with the F-86. I performed an upward spiral in the manner described above, and after a while I myself found myself in the tail of the enemy plane. However, in this case, he could not complete the attack due to lack of fuel.

On 06/06/53, the group in which I was flying with my wingman was suddenly attacked from above from behind by six F-86s. While fighting off enemy attacks, I found myself without a wingman and was attacked by the last pair of Sabers. I switched to an energetic upward spiral and already on the second turn I found myself significantly higher than the enemy. Taking advantage of the large gap in distance between the leading and trailing F-86, he launched an attack on the leading Saber and shot it down.”

In September 1952, on the MiG-15bis 64 IAK, the replacement of single-channel shortwave radio stations RSI-6K with three-channel VHF stations RSIU-ZM began. This significantly improved the quality of radio communications, made it easier to command large forces of fighters, and eliminated the problem of interaction between aircraft equipped with different radio stations.

The following month, the 64th IAK received 18 sets of the Siren radar warning system (SPO) for testing in combat conditions. 15 sets were installed on aircraft 133 and 216 IAD. Having tried the Siren in combat, the pilots spoke of it with delight and demanded that all the Corps’ MiGs be equipped with it.

In November 1952, the replacement of ASP-ZN sights with its more advanced modification ASP-ZNM began. The main difference of the new sight was the presence of an electromagnetic damper, thanks to which, during sharp and energetic evolutions of the aircraft, the deflection of the gyroscope was limited within a small lead angle, for which the sight was designed, i.e. about 8. Limiting the deflection of the gyroscope eliminated blurring of the sight reticle and reduced the time for aiming and developing the lead angle.

At the end of December, factory crews and technical staff of the 64th IAK began equipping the MiG-15bis with autonomous engine starting.

In April-May 1953, all MiG-15bis of the 64th Corps were equipped with SPO; in June, new ejection seats with improved armor protection began to be installed on them. In the last month of the Korean War, MiGs began to be modified to use PPK-1 anti-g suits. Also, by the end of the war, TS-27 periscopes appeared on the sliding parts of the canopies of the hull aircraft, improving visibility of the rear hemisphere.

Thus, during the Korean War, many of the requirements of the pilots of the 64th IAK were met, mainly those that related to equipment and did not require significant modifications to the aircraft. Of this block of requirements, only those related to the sight and photo-machine gun remained unsatisfied. By the end of the Korean War, sights with a radio rangefinder had not yet been mass-produced; equipping the MiG with an on-board radar also practically did not leave the experimental stage. Why the photo-cinema machine gun was not improved is unclear, especially since the technical staff of the 64th IAK offered options for improving the mass-produced S-13. It may not have been considered a high priority. Fulfillment of another block of requirements related to improving the stability and controllability of the MiG-15bis, increasing its flight characteristics, installing a forced engine, etc. would have entailed a radical redesign of the airframe, which was impractical - in 1952, serial production of the Encores ended, and they were replaced by the MiG-17 in the assembly shops of aircraft factories. Therefore, the requirements put forward by the Korean War were taken into account to the fullest extent already in the modifications of the “seventeenth”.

The Korean War ended on July 27, 1953. During the fighting, fighters of the 64 IAK, mainly on the MiG-15 and MiG-15bis, carried out 63,229 combat sorties, conducted 1,683 group air battles during the day and 107 single battles at night, in which they shot down 1,097 enemy aircraft , including 647 F-86, 186 F-84, 117 F-80, 28 F-51, 26 Meteor F.8, 69 B-29. Losses amounted to 120 pilots and 335 aircraft, including combat losses - 110 pilots and 319 aircraft. There is little accurate and reliable information about the actions of Chinese and Korean pilots. It is known that the first non-Soviet unit on the MiG-15, the 7th IAP of the Chinese Air Force, began operating in Korea on December 28, 1950. In the summer of 1951, the United Air Army was formed, which included units and formations of the PLA Air Force and the KPA, including two Chinese divisions armed with MiG-15s. A year later, OVA units began receiving MiG-15bis. By the end of the war, the OVA included 7 fighter divisions armed with 892 aircraft, including 635 MiG-15 and MiG-15bis. Our archival documents give the following results of the combat operations of the United Air Army: 22,300 combat sorties were carried out, 366 air battles were carried out, in which 271 enemy aircraft were shot down, including 181 F-86, 27 F-84, 30 F-80, 12 F-51, 7 Meteor F.8, their losses amounted to 231 aircraft and 126 pilots. Official American data gives the following figures for the losses of UN Forces aviation (Air Force, US Navy and Marine Corps aviation, squadrons of the South African and Australian Air Force): 2837 aircraft, including 78 F-86, 18 F-84, 15 shot down in air battles F-80 and RF-80, 12 F-51, 5 Meteor F.8, 17 B-29. It is difficult to say what the enemy's real losses are. Apparently, as in most such cases, the true losses lie between our and American figures.

During the Korean War, the MiG-15bis established itself as a reliable, unpretentious machine. As the technicians later recalled, there was no such aircraft either before or after the “fifteenth”. Many vehicles exceeded their 200-hour factory warranty and continued to fight. Some aircraft have exceeded the 400 hour mark. It should be taken into account that the lion's share of these hours was combat flight time - operation in extreme conditions, often beyond the established limits. The vast majority of MiG-15bis of the 64th Corps left combat formation only in one case - death in battle. The same aircraft that escaped a similar fate, passed on by inheritance from one regiment to another, fought until the end of the war. Some encores who entered the battle in December 1950 survived until July 1953. The survivability of the MiG was legendary. Some vehicles that returned from an air battle looked more like a sieve than an airplane. Just a few examples.

In May 1952, MiG-15bis No. 0615388 Art. was shot down in an air battle. Lieutenant Veshkin from 821 IAP. The pilot, wounded by shrapnel from the canopy, flew 110 km on the damaged plane; when approaching the airfield, the engine stopped and the pilot landed on the fuselage 5 km from the airfield. During inspection, 154 entry holes were counted on the plane, 39 large-caliber bullets hit the engine, damaging all the turbine blades and nozzle apparatus. The plane was restored in 8 days.

On September 16, 1952, MiG-15bis No. 2915328 of Major Karataev from the 535th IAP was damaged in an air battle. The plane received 119 entry holes, 24 hits were in the engine. Two combustion chambers were punctured, 16 turbine blades were knocked off, all the blades of the nozzle apparatus were burned, fuel tank No. 2 exploded, the left brake flap burned off, tank No. 1 received 8 holes, the hydraulic tank was broken and the hydraulic system failed. Nevertheless, the pilot managed to get out of the battle, reach the Dagushan airfield and make a normal landing. The plane was restored within 16 days.

To the above, it should be added that the largest number of holes recorded in the documents is 204.

The survivability of the MiG-15bis, as well as the skill of the pilot, is clearly illustrated by the following example: on June 20, 1951, Captain Ges from the 176th GvIAP attacked an F-51 from a distance of less than 100 meters. The shell explosions destroyed the Mustang; the flying left plane hit the MiG's tail, severely damaging the stabilizer and elevator and jamming the longitudinal control. At this moment, the pair of Captain Ges was attacked by 4 F-86s, knocking out the MiG of the wingman, Senior Lieutenant Nikolaev, and wounding him. On an almost uncontrollable plane, Captain Ges dodged the attack and began to cover his comrade. Having allowed his wounded wingman to land, Ges began to experiment and, using the engine, flaps and air brakes, selected a mode in which the damaged fighter descended with a slight slope, making it possible to land. And Captain Ges did not miss this opportunity, safely landing the wounded car.

The Korean conflict had been going on for nearly six months on the morning of November 30, 1950, when a U.S. Air Force B-29 Superfortress bomber raiding an air base in North Korea was slightly damaged by a fighter that was moving too fast, and so it could not be identified, and the bomber’s gunner did not have time to detect it at all using the guidance system of his machine gun. Lockheed F-80 square-wing fighter jets escorting the bomber made a token pursuit, but as the unidentified fighter accelerated, it quickly became a dot and then disappeared altogether.

The bomber crew's report caused an organized panic in the American chain of command. Although the pilots' description of the intruding aircraft did not match any aircraft used in that theater of war, American intelligence officials quickly made an educated guess. They said it was a MiG-15 fighter, most likely taking off from an air base in Manchuria. Before this incident, analysts believed that Stalin had only authorized the use of MiGs to protect Shanghai from Chinese Nationalist bomber raids. This MiG was a grim omen: Chinese involvement in Korea was increasing and Soviet technology was spreading.

For the crews in the cockpits of the hulking “Superfortresses,” this aircraft, rapidly cutting through their formations, became a source of suffocating fear. "In my opinion, everyone was scared," says former B-29 pilot Earl McGill, describing the noticeable lack of radio communication while flying his four-engine Boeing plane - the aircraft that ended World War II - shortly before the attack on Namsi Air Base, located near the border between North Korea and China. “During preparation for the first mission, we were provided with information about the interception that took place. I was as scared that day as I've ever been in my life, even when I was flying combat missions in B-52s (in Vietnam)." There used to be a lot of dark humor in conversations in the airmen's duty room. “The guy who gave the route briefing looked like a funeral home employee,” adds McGill. He conducted this briefing wearing a special top hat, which is also worn by undertakers.

On one catastrophic day in October 1951 - nicknamed "Black Tuesday" - MiGs shot down six of the ten Superfortresses. McGill's first encounter with these aircraft was typically short. “One of the shooters saw him. Only a small silhouette was visible,” McGill recalls. “That’s when I saw him... - the shooters opened fire on him.” The centralized firing system on the bomber provided some protection against fighters, McGill emphasizes.

The pilot of the MiG-15 aircraft, Porfiry Ovsyannikov, was then the target at which the shooters of the B-29 bomber fired. “When they started shooting at us, smoke was coming out, and just think, was the bomber set on fire, or was there smoke from the machine guns?” he recalled in 2007, when historians Oleg Korytov and Konstantin Chirkin interviewed him to create an oral history stories of combat pilots who took part in World War II, as well as in the Korean War (These interviews are posted on the website lend-lease.airforce.ru/english). Russian historians asked Ovsyannikov to evaluate the small arms of the B-29 aircraft. His answer: “Very good.” However, MiG pilots could open fire from a distance of about 700 meters, and from this distance, as McGill emphasizes, they were able to attack a group of B-29 bombers.

“The MiG-15 aircraft came as a very big surprise to us,” says Robert van der Linden, curator of the National Air and Space Museum. Compared to the North American A-86 Saber, which was rushed into service after the advent of the MiG-15, we can say that “the MiGs were faster, they had a better rate of climb and more firepower,” he notes. And the pilots who flew the Saber fighters knew this.

"You're absolutely right, it was humiliating," says retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Charles "Chick" Cleveland, recalling his first encounter with a MiG-15 fighter. He flew Sabers in Korea in 1952 with the 334th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. A few weeks earlier, the squadron commander, famed World War II ace George Andrew Davis, was killed in combat with a Soviet fighter. (Davis was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor). At that moment, Cleveland, having made a sharp turn to get away from the MiG, exceeded the Sabers' stall parameters and briefly went into a tailspin - in his words, all this happened “in the midst of an air battle.” Cleveland, despite the mistake he made, was able to stay alive and then became an ace of the Korean War, having 5 confirmed downed MiGs, as well as two unconfirmed ones. Today he is president of the American Fighter Aces Association, and he still has respect for the enemy he fought 60 years ago. “Oh, it was a beautiful airplane,” he says on the phone from his home in Alabama. “You have to remember that in Korea this little MiG-15 was able to successfully do what all those Focke-Wulfs and "Messerschmitts" during the Second World War - he squeezed the bomber aircraft of the United States of America out of the airspace. Beginning in November 1951, B-29s remained on the ground during daylight hours and flew combat missions only at night.

Inevitably, the history of the MiG-15 returns to duels with Sabers, and this rivalry determined the outcome of the air war in Korea. However, the connection between MiGs and Sabers began during the previous war. Both drew inspiration from concepts that emerged from the desperate search for weapons designs at the end of World War II, when the Allied air forces gained numerical superiority over the German air force. In a desperate situation, the Luftwaffe High Command held a competition. The winner of the “Extraordinary Fighter Competition” was the aircraft presented by the head of the design bureau of the Focke-Fulf company, Kurt Tank, and received the designation TA-183; it was a model jet fighter with a single engine and a high T-tail. In 1945, British troops entered the Focke-Wulf plant at Bad Eilsen and confiscated blueprints, models, and wind tunnel data, which they promptly shared with the Americans. And when Berlin fell, Soviet troops began to analyze the material in the German Ministry of Aviation and found there a complete set of drawings for the TA-183 aircraft, as well as invaluable data regarding wing tests. Less than two years later and just weeks apart, the United States and the Soviet Union introduced a single-engine jet with 35-degree wings, a short fuselage and a T-tail. These two planes were so similar to each other in Korea that American pilots, eager to take credit for some MiG, mistakenly shot down several Saber planes.

None of these fighters were a copy of the Tank model. Primitive aeronautical research, as well as the limited availability of engines and materials used at the time, inevitably led to similarities in the designs being developed. The first jet aircraft developed by the Moscow-based Mikoyan and Gurevich (MiG) design bureau was the MiG-9. The MiG-9's primitive engine—a twin BWM engine captured in Germany—proved insufficient for the MiG-15's intended performance, but Moscow had virtually no experience building superior examples. Instead, the MiG-15 was originally equipped with the Nene engine from Rolls-Royce - magnificent in its innovation and thoughtlessly supplied to the USSR by the British.

Wanting to bring a thaw to Anglo-Soviet relations, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee invited Soviet scientists and engineers to the Rolls-Royce plant to study how the excellent British engines were made. In addition, Atlee offered licensed production to the USSR, and this was in response to a solemn promise to use these engines only for non-military purposes. This proposal shocked the Americans, who made loud protests. What about the Soviets? Ukrainian-born Soviet aviation historian Ilya Grinberg believes that “Stalin himself could not believe it. He said: “Who in their right mind would sell us such things?” Greenberg, a professor of technology at the State University of New York at Buffalo, emphasizes that the presence of Artem Mikoyan himself in the delegation - the “Mi” from the name “MiG” “- should have served as a warning regarding the consequences of the proposed deal: Rolls-Royce engines delivered to the USSR in 1946 were urgently installed on MiG-15 aircraft and successfully passed flight tests. By the time this fighter was ready for mass production, all the engineering problems associated with Rolls-Royce Nene engine technologies had been solved, and as a result a copy of it appeared under the designation Klimov RD-45. The British, according to Greenberg, complained about a violation of the licensing agreement, but "the Russians simply told them: look, we made some changes, and now this can be considered our own development."

But, as in the case of the post-war Soviets copying cars from Western Europe, the engines produced in the USSR were inferior in quality to the originals. The period from the start of using Klimov engines to their failure was measured in hours. “Based on the state of the Soviet aircraft industry at that time, one could assume that quality control at MiG enterprises was inferior to the level that existed in the West,” notes Greenberg. Materials for parts subjected to high pressure did not meet standards. Tolerances were insufficient. In fact, some problems on MiG aircraft were associated with wings that did not fully meet the requirements. Greenberg describes an archival photograph of the production line for installing engines on the first generation of MiG-15 fighters. “What can I say here? - he remarks hesitantly. “These are not at all people in white overalls in high-tech production.”

However, by this time, another Soviet design bureau, headed by Andrei Tupolev, had copied down to the last rivet two Boeing B-29 aircraft that made an emergency landing on Soviet territory during World War II. Greenberg claims that the production precision achieved under the Tupolev project was transferred to work on the MiG program. In fact, “the project to copy the B-29 pulled forward not only the Soviet aviation industry,” he emphasizes. Although MiGs continued to be inexpensive to manufacture and unreasonably spartan, the final version of the aircraft, flown in 1947, proved to be rugged and reliable.

The first wave of F-86 fighter pilots from the 4th Airlift Wing included World War II veterans. Obviously, they had to confront inexperienced Chinese pilots at the controls of the MiG-15, trained by Russian specialists. However, it soon became clear that the North Korean MiGs were not flown by recent graduates of flight schools. Saber fighter pilots called the mysterious MiG-15 pilots “honchos,” which means “bosses” in Japanese. Today we know that the cockpits of most North Korean MiGs were manned by battle-hardened Soviet Air Force pilots.

Chick Cleveland describes meeting MiG pilots whose skills involved more than just classroom training. Cleveland was approaching the Amnokkan River at an altitude of approximately 12,000 meters when a MiG flying at high speed appeared ahead of it. Both aircraft were approaching Mach speed as they flew next to each other. “I said to myself: This is no longer a drill, now everything is for real.” Taking advantage of the Sabers' superiority in speed and turning radius, he used acceleration and ended up on the tail of the MiG. “I got very close to him and it was like he was sitting next to me in the living room.”

Remembering at that moment the stories of World War II pilots who, in the midst of dogfights, forgot to press the trigger, Cleveland looked down for a moment to check the position of the toggle switches on his Saber. “When I looked up again, this MiG was no longer in front of me.” Cleveland looked forward, backward “and around him throughout the entire horizon” - nothing. There was only one chilling possibility left. “I turned my F-86 slightly and, sure enough, it was right underneath me.” It was a clever attempt to change roles by the MiG pilot, who sharply limited the fuel supply and, having slowed down, found himself below and then behind the enemy who was graying on his tail. “I gradually became a fox, and he turned into a dog,” Cleveland says, laughing. However, after several maneuvers, the Saber regained its position and again found itself on the tail of the Russian pilot, who was forced to resort to “classic MiG tactics” - he began to sharply gain altitude. Cleveland fired several bursts at the engine and fuselage of the MiG, after which it slowly moved to the left, dived down and went towards the ground. Given the characteristics of the MiG, a high-speed dive indicated a crash rather than an escape strategy.

With the MiGs challenging United States air superiority, the Americans tried their best to get their hands on Soviet technology, but they only managed to obtain a flyable MiG-15 in September 1953, when North Korean defector pilot Noh Geum-seok (No Kum-Sok) landed his fighter at Kimpo Air Base in South Korea. Flights on the Korean MiG were supposed to clearly demonstrate what kind of machines American pilots were forced to deal with. To evaluate the Soviet fighter, the best pilots of the United States Air Force - Captain Harold "Tom" Collins, from the test division of Field Wright Air Force Base and Major Charles Yeagger (Charles "Chuck" Yeagger) were sent to Kadena Air Force Base. in Japan. On September 29, 1953, the first Western pilot took off in the mysterious MiG. This flight confirmed the expected excellent qualities, but also revealed less pleasant characteristics of the MiG-15 aircraft. “A defector pilot told me that the MiG-15 tends to stall when accelerating at even one G, and also goes into a tailspin from which it often cannot recover,” Collins noted in a 1991 interview for a collection of memoirs. "Test flights at Old Wright Field." “A white stripe was painted on the front panel, which was used to center the steering handle when attempting to recover from a spin. He said that he saw his instructor go into a tailspin and then die.”

Test flights showed that the speed of the MiG-15 did not exceed Mach 0.92. In addition, the aircraft's control system was ineffective when diving and performing sharp maneuvers. During air combat in Korea, American pilots watched as MiG-15 fighters approached the limits of their capabilities, after which they suddenly fell into a tailspin at high speed and were destroyed, often losing wings or tails.

Soviet pilots were as familiar with the characteristics of the Sabers as American pilots were with the capabilities of the MiGs. “You won’t force me to attack them at maximum turn speed,” emphasized Soviet MiG-15 pilot Vladimir Zabelin in one of his oral presentations, translated in 2007. “In that case, he could easily be on my tail. When I myself got behind them, they knew that they could get away from me only as a result of horizontal maneuvers... Usually I attacked them, being behind and a little lower... When he began the maneuver, I tried to intercept him. If I didn't knock him down during the first third of the turn, I was forced to stop attacking and move away."

The Finnish Air Force acquired MiG-21 aircraft from the Soviet Union in 1962, and also received four MiG-15 trainer aircraft to enable its pilots to become familiar with the exotic characteristics of the MiG cockpit. Retired test pilot Colonel Jyrki Laukkanen concluded that the MiG-15 was a well-handled and maneuverable aircraft “as long as you knew its limitations and stayed within the limits of safe piloting.” Basically, you had to keep your speed no higher than Mach 0.9 and no lower than 126 knots (186 kilometers per hour); otherwise, controllability began to be lost.” Landing could be difficult due to the hand-pumped air brakes, which quickly lost their effectiveness. "If they warmed up, then you had no other steering or braking options other than turning off the engine and seeing where you ended up - it usually ended up on the grass."

Laukkanen believes that there were certain oddities in the MiG-15 cockpit. “The artificial horizon of the MiG-15 was unusual.” The upper part of this device, representing the sky, was brown, while the lower part, usually representing the earth, was blue. This device was made in such a way that when ascending, the airplane symbol went down. “It worked as if it had been assembled upside down,” Laukkanen marvels. “But that wasn’t the case.” The fuel indicator on the MiG-15 was also, in his opinion, “particularly unreliable,” so Finnish pilots learned to determine fuel quantities using watches. As chief test pilot, Laukkanen logged more than 1,200 flight hours in the delta-wing MiG-21. (He was also the only Finn to fly solo in a P-51 Mustang fighter). “In my opinion, the MiG-15 did not have any special mystique,” ​​he says. - My favorite plane, which I, unfortunately, did not have the opportunity to fly, was the F-86 Saber.

A more objective indicator of the relative strength of MiG and Saber fighters is the number of enemy aircraft shot down, but this kind of data on the ratio of losses is difficult to obtain. For example, at the end of the Korean War, Chick Cleveland had four MiGs shot down, two presumably shot down and four damaged MiGs. “When was the last time he saw a MiG in a deadly high-speed dive downwards? My wingman and I pursued him as he descended and attempted to disappear into the clouds at an altitude of about 700 meters. I was sure that he would not be able to do this. But we did not see the aircraft eject or impact the ground, and therefore it was counted as suspected.” After careful investigation by another Saber pilot half a century later, his "probable" MiG was eventually replaced by a confirmed downer by the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records. In 2008, he belatedly began to be called an ace.

The Soviet method of confirming the results, according to Porfiry Ovsyannikov, was not particularly accurate. “We would make attacks, come home, land, and I would make a report,” he said. - We took part in an air battle! I attacked the B-29. And it's all. In addition, the enemy spoke openly about this and reported data on the radio: “In such and such a place, our bombers were attacked by MiG fighters. As a result, one of our planes fell into the sea. The second was damaged and crashed upon landing in Okinawa.” Then the film from the camera mounted on the gun was developed, and we studied it. It showed that I opened fire at close range. As for the other pilots, some did it and some didn't. They believed me, that’s all.”

Immediately after the end of the war, data on the superiority of the Sabers were greatly exaggerated. It was reported that 792 MiGs were shot down, while the US Air Force admitted the loss of only 58 Sabers. The Soviets, for their part, acknowledged the loss of about 350 MiGs, but they claimed that they shot down an incredibly large number of F-86 aircraft - 640, which made up the majority of the fighter type deployed in Korea. “All I can say is that the Russians are terrible liars,” says Saber pilot Cleveland. “At least in this case.”

In 1970, the United States Air Force conducted a study codenamed "Sabre Measures Charlie" and the number of losses in air combat involving MiGs was increased to 92 - resulting in a seven-to-one loss ratio for the F-86. After the collapse of the USSR, the archives of the Soviet air force became available to scientists, and as a result, the loss of Soviet MiG fighters in Korea was established at 315 aircraft.

If you limit the statistics to a certain period, you can draw important conclusions. Author and retired Air Force Colonel Doug Dildy notes that when the MiG-15 was flown by Chinese, Korean and newly arrived Soviet pilots, the statistics actually showed a nine-to-one loss ratio in favor of the Sabers. But if we take the statistics of the battles of 1951, when the Americans were opposed by Soviet pilots who fought against the Luftwaffe during the Great Patriotic War, then the loss ratio is almost completely equalized - 1.4 to 1, that is, only slightly in favor of the Sabers.

Evidence from the Korean air war provides support for this interpretation. When the honchos returned to the Soviet Union, the less experienced Soviet pilots who replaced them could no longer compete on equal terms with the F-86 pilots. The Chinese lost a quarter of the first generation of MiGs in dogfights with the upgraded version of the Sabres, which forced Mao Zedong to suspend MiG flights for a month. The Chinese received modernized MiG-15bis fighters in the summer of 1953, but at that time they were already planning to sign a ceasefire agreement. The MiG-15 aircraft were soon replaced by MiG-17s, which received the necessary improvements - mainly by cloning technology from two captured F-86 Saber fighters.

By the spring of 1953, the Soviet pilots remaining in Korea began to avoid collisions with American aircraft. Stalin died at that time, the truce in Panmunjom seemed inevitable, and no one wanted to be the last victim of the war. Ilya Grinberg summarizes the opinions of people who were in the cockpit of this solid fighter: “Soviet pilots at the controls of the Mig-15 viewed air battles in Korea simply as a job that had to be done. Ultimately, they did not defend their homeland there. They considered the Americans adversaries, but not enemies.”

While the outstanding aircraft of the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau was making a name for itself in the West, Soviet citizens had almost no idea what the name meant. The F-86 Saber became a symbol of American air superiority in 1950s pop culture—it was included in movie scripts, on magazine covers, and on stencils on metal school lunch boxes. However, in those years the MiG-15 fighter remained a mystery to the Soviet public. “We didn’t even understand what the name meant, and we didn’t find out much later than you think,” notes Greenberg. “In any Russian aviation magazine you can see a picture of a MiG-15, but the caption will always be this: a modern jet fighter.”

In the mid-1960s, in an inexplicable and typical Soviet bureaucratic change of policy, the fighter, stripped of its secrecy, ended up in public parks. “I remember very well when the MiG-15 was displayed in our district park,” says Greenberg. The plane was not placed on a pedestal and was not part of some kind of monument, as is often done now, but it was simply driven into the park and brake pads were placed under the wheels. “I remember very well how excited I was when I saw this MiG for the first time. We children climbed on it and admired its cabin and all its instruments.”

And ten years earlier, information about the successes of the MiG-15 in Korea gradually began to spread among pilots of the air forces of the Warsaw Pact countries, as well as some states in Africa and the Middle East. The fighter was eventually used by the air forces of 35 countries.

The truly legendary MiG-15 fighter (NATO code Fagot) was the first Soviet production aircraft of its type in the new jet era. Thanks to its powerful and effective cannon armament and excellent maneuverability, the vehicle showed excellent performance in air battles in the skies of the Korean Peninsula and became the basis for the further development of fighter aircraft of the USSR and Russia.

History of creation

The development of a jet fighter of a fundamentally new design began at the Mikoyan Design Bureau as part of the aircraft construction plan for the new year 1947. At the same time, the document provided for the complete curtailment of work on piston engines, as having no prospects for development.

The terms of reference provided for the following parameters of the machine, which received the designation I-310:

• Use of a Rolls-Royce Nin turbojet engine or its domestic equivalent;
• The speed of the fighter at the surface of the earth is at least 1000 km/h;
• The maximum speed at an altitude of 5000 m is not lower than 1020 km/h;
• The time to reach an altitude of 5000 m is no more than 3.2 minutes;
• The length of the runway is no more than 800 m;
• Maximum flight altitude – not less than 13000 m;
• Flight range - about 1200 km at altitudes not lower than 10,000 m;
• The fighter was supposed to be armed with one 45 mm air cannon and two faster-firing 23 mm ones. External points were provided for hanging small aerial bombs with a total weight of up to 200 kg or an additional tank for kerosene.

The development of drawings for the new MiG design bureau and their implementation in metal took a little over a year. A prototype of the vehicle was assembled by early December 1947. The first flight took place on New Year's Eve - December 30.

The car was piloted by pilot V.N. Yuganov.

A few months later, the second prototype of the fighter flew, flown by S.N. Anokhin. Test tests of the vehicle were carried out at an accelerated pace and, according to good tradition, even before their completion, the vehicle was accepted into service by the USSR Air Force under the designation MiG-15. This happened in mid-March 1948, and the tests themselves continued until the end of May of the same year.

State tests of the future legendary MiG-15 aircraft took place in the summer, and the characteristics of the aircraft, albeit slightly, exceeded the requirements described in the technical specifications.

The maximum speed of the MiG-15 aircraft, based on the results of several runs, ranged from 1028 to 1042 km/h at altitudes of 5 and 2.62 km, respectively. At the same time, test pilots noted the simple and predictable control of the aircraft, accessible to average pilots.

But shortcomings were also noted, which were supposed to be improved on a control copy intended for additional testing.

The third prototype MiG-15 received brake flaps on the sides of the fuselage, an automatic fire extinguishing system in the engine compartment, the introduction of weight compensators on the rudder for height changes and the wing geometry was slightly changed.

It was this model that became the standard for serial production of the MiG-15 fighter with the RD-25F turbojet engine, which began to be delivered to military units in the spring of 1949.

At this time, a more powerful and advanced engine of the VK-1 model, which was based on RD-25F units and had almost identical weight and dimensions, passed acceptance tests. But by optimizing fuel combustion processes, engine thrust increased by 20% over a wide range of altitudes.

The first prototype of the MiG-15 fighter with this engine was ready by the fall of 1949. The main changes affected the rear part of the fuselage, since the VK-1 had a larger length and diameter of the nozzle extension pipe. To reduce the load on the controls, a hydraulic booster was introduced and the profiles of the elevators and rudder were changed.

The large dimensions of the engine required changing the shape of one of the fuselage tanks, due to which the fuel supply was reduced by 60 liters. New hatches for servicing units appeared on the outer part of the fighter fuselage.

If the MiG-15 with RD-25F had an artillery system consisting of NS-37 and NS-23 guns, then the modernized version was equipped with more advanced N-37D and NR-23KM guns. At the same time, the new guns were located closer to the axis of the aircraft, which increased the accuracy of fire.

Fighter design

Structurally, the MiG-15 aircraft was a mid-wing monoplane with a large sweep angle. The horizontal planes of the tail had almost the same angle of inclination and were located closer to the top of the vertical stabilizer.

This decision was dictated by the desire to remove the elevators from the flow disturbed by the wings. Because of this design feature, the MiG-15 aircraft had a rudder divided into two sections. The steering parts were controlled synchronously.

The planes of ailerons (with additional trimmers) and flaps were installed on the trailing edge of the fighter's wings.

The flaps had fixed positions in their design, which were used in takeoff and landing modes.

At the front of the MiG-15 fuselage there was an air intake, divided into two symmetrical channels by a sealed cockpit and a main rubber fuel tank located behind the cockpit.

In addition to the main tank, which held 1250 liters, there was an additional tank of 160 liters, located closer to the tail of the aircraft. A separate electrically driven pump was used to pump this volume into the main tank.

To control the fuel supply on the MiG-15 there was a sensor installed in the main tank. The emergency balance was a fuel supply of less than 300 liters. To maintain the weight distribution of the MiG-15 aircraft, fuel was produced from the tanks according to a special scheme.

Behind the transverse partition, a turbojet engine of the RD-25F model was installed, which on the MiG-15 bis was replaced by the VK-1, which had greater thrust parameters.

For maintenance and replacement of the engine, there was a connector through which the tail section could be separated from the main part of the fuselage.

The engine had an emergency fire extinguishing system with manual activation using a button on the instrument panel. When a fire occurs, foam is supplied from two cylinders directly into the combustion chamber and onto the outer part of the turbojet engine.

Under the lower part of the fuselage of a semi-monocoque fighter, a little further than the entrances to the air intake, a quick-release carriage frame with a 37 mm cannon and a pair of 23 mm was installed. On the ground, the carriage extended from the fuselage, and changing the ammunition took no more than 20 minutes.

To control the firing results, there was an S-13 photo-machine gun mounted on the first frame of the MiG-15 fuselage power frame.

The wing of the MiG-15 aircraft was built using a single-spar design. To strengthen the structure, there is one transverse beam, which plays the role of the wall of the main landing gear niche. The wings could be removed along the parting line with the fuselage, while load-bearing elements passed through it, with which the spar and plane beam were connected on each side.

The MiG-15 pilot's cabin with a large glass area and thin frame elements was equipped with a forced supply of fresh air and an ejection seat. To prevent fogging, the glazing was made of two layers of plexiglass with a thickness of 4 to 8 mm.

In the air gap there were silica gel granules, which were periodically replaced with fresh ones. In the frontal part of the fighter's cockpit there was armored glass with a thickness of 64 mm, fixed in an aluminum frame.

When closing the canopy, the joint was sealed with a special rubber seal with pumping from a pneumatic system.

The instrument panel also contained instruments for controlling the aircraft during flight, as well as navigation aids and a control panel for the aircraft landing system. The radio system of the MiG-15 fighter included a short-wave radio station and an automatic friend-or-foe identification device.

The 36-volt electrical system was powered by an on-board generator and battery. Additionally, on the side of the fuselage there was a connector for supplying power from a ground source.

To protect the pilot from bullets, an armor plate 10 mm thick was mounted on the front of the cockpit. This plate was fixed on the fourth frame, which served as the basis for the nose landing gear.

A hydraulic system was used to control all landing gear and additional brake flaps of the MiG-15 fighter, installed on the sides of the fuselage in the rear section. In this case, a pneumatic drive was used to brake the aircraft wheels.

The hydraulic drive was carried out from a pump installed on the drive box of the turbojet engine mechanisms. The working pressure of the liquid based on a mixture of glycerin and alcohol was at least 13.5 atmospheres.

The pneumatic drives of the MiG-15 were powered by several compressed air cylinders. The tanks were filled at the airfield; there was no on-board compressor for pumping.

Various designs and configurations

In the documentation for early aircraft, there is a version of the MiG-15S fighter, which is a machine with a turbojet engine of the RD-45F model, two NR-23 cannons and a number of changes in the cockpit equipment and airframe. Such machines were not mass-produced.

For the version with drop tanks, the designation MiG-15PB was reserved, but since all production aircraft had suspension points, it was abandoned.

Based on the first MiG-15 aircraft, several prototypes were built, on which various weapons and equipment options were tested.

The third production aircraft, designated "SV", was used to test the modernized cannon armament, which included the NR-23 and N-37D cannons.

In addition to this, changes also affected the design of the vehicle - a trimmer appeared on the plane of the left aileron, anti-flutter weights on the wings, and improved electrical equipment and a sight. During the tests, numerous problems were revealed with the installation of new 23 mm caliber aircraft cannons, which were solved only on the MiG-15 bis fighter.

Some of the experimental solutions tested on the SF were subsequently implemented on modernized fighters.

Around this time, the “SO” version with an experimental retractable sight was tested. The design did not show any advantages and was not developed in the series. In the summer of 1950, several MiG-15 “SS” and “SU” fighters with 23 mm guns of the Sh-3-23 model were tested. They were not accepted as the main armament of Mikoyan's fighters.

Increasing production volumes of the new MiG-15 fighter entailed the need to train a large number of pilots. For this purpose, the MiG-15UTI training aircraft (NATO designation Midget) was created on the basis of a production machine.

The car had a two-seater cabin and developed lower speeds than a serial fighter. To practice air combat skills, the aircraft had one 12.7 mm UBK-E model machine gun with 150 rounds of ammunition and an NR-23 cannon with 80 rounds. On the lower part of the planes there were two suspension points for bombs of 50 and 100 kg caliber.

The MiG-15P UTI, equipped with a radar model RP-1, was produced in a small series.

The instructor's cabin was located at the rear and was obtained by reducing the size of the fuel tank. Both seats could be separated from the MiG-15 UTI aircraft using catapults. The glazed lantern was fired with a special squib.

Based on the modernized MiG-15 bis fighter, there was a reconnaissance version of the SR, armed with only one NR-23 cannon. Instead of the rest, photography equipment was installed.

The increase in flight range was achieved by an additional fuel supply of 1200 liters, located in two outboard tanks. The SD-UPB escort fighter, which was produced in 1951 in a single batch of 49 vehicles, could be equipped with the same tanks.

Decommissioned aircraft were often converted into radio-controlled targets, and were designated MiG-15M according to documents.

In addition to serial modifications, there were many experimental vehicles on which various versions of cannon and missile weapons, as well as radar stations, were tested.

On the basis of the MiG-15 bis aircraft, the experimental MiG-17 “SI” was created, which became the founder of a new family of fighters.

Specifications

The 37 and 23 mm caliber guns used on the fighters had the same ammunition load, consisting of 40 large-caliber shells and 160 small-caliber shells (80 per barrel).

Flight characteristics

Parameter	MiG-15	MiG-15 bis	Mig-15 UTI
Ground speed, km/h	1042	1076	1010
Speed ​​at altitude limit 5000 m, km/h	1021	1045	1004
Speed ​​at the altitude limit of 10000 m, km/h	974	987	-
Take-off speed, km/h	230	227	-
Approach speed, km/h	174	170	-
Ceiling, m	15100	15500	14150

In addition to the USSR, the MiG-15 fighter was produced under license at aircraft factories in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and China. Polish cars were equipped with licensed engines and were designated Lim-1 or Lim-2 (similar to the Soviet 15 and 15 bis).

At their base, training vehicles and photo reconnaissance aircraft were produced. The total production of vehicles did not exceed 1000 copies, which entered service only with the national air force.

Czechoslovak fighters S-102 and S-103 were produced in large volumes and were actively exported. The main Czech-made machine was the training version CS-102, which was produced in more than 2000 copies. It was also actively exported to many countries.

Interestingly, later vehicles produced in Czechoslovakia had the Soviet designation MiG-15.

The main manufacturer of the aircraft is the USSR, which produced at least 11 thousand copies of the aircraft. According to other reporting data, the number of produced MiG-15 fighters of all types is more than 13.1 thousand aircraft. The aircraft was actively supplied to the armed forces of various states, including capitalist ones.

Combat use of the aircraft

The MiG-15 serial fighter appeared at the peak of the tense situation in Southeast Asia, which resulted in a war between North and South Korea. During active hostilities, many samples of new Soviet and American weapons were tested in combat.

The American F-80s with a straight wing, used at the beginning of the war, had no chance in battles with MiGs.

Later, the main rival of the Soviet aircraft became the F-86 Saber fighter, which had a very similar layout.

At the same time, the aerobatic and speed characteristics of the vehicles were approximately the same. The difference was the Saber's better maneuverability at low altitudes, but the MiG-15 had a noticeably better climb rate and higher flight speed at medium and high altitudes.

The main difference between the vehicles was the armament, which consisted of three cannons on the Soviet vehicle and six heavy machine guns on the American. Only the latest Saber models, which appeared towards the end of the Korean War, received more powerful weapons of four 20-mm cannons.

A big plus was the presence of a radio range finder on the F-86, which made it possible to start fire from long distances.

A similar device appeared on the MiG-15 fighter only in 1952.

Since air combat tactics have not changed since World War II, the MiG-15 fighter was more suitable for active operations. Due to the high weight of the salvo and the damaging effect of the shells, the Soviet vehicle had a much higher chance of winning.

During the battle, American pilots sought to take the MiG-15 to low altitudes in order to compensate for weak firepower with high maneuverability.

After the end of the Korean War, MiG-15 vehicles took part in many armed conflicts, but were unable to prove themselves anywhere else. Among the conflicts involving these aircraft, it is worth noting the confrontation between China and Taiwan, the Sinai War and the Arab-Israeli wars of the 60s.

By the time the Vietnam War began, the MiG-15 was considered completely obsolete and was not used in combat. However, the machine was widely used to train pilots in piloting skills of new Soviet fighters.

MiG-15 fighters turned out to be the most effective aircraft in the Air Forces of the People's Republic of China and Korea. During its use in the Korean War, at least 1,377 victories were achieved with the loss of 566 aircraft.

Among the enemy aircraft shot down are at least 78 (the number of losses recognized by the United States) F-86 Saber fighters, which at that time was the most modern aircraft in the US Air Force. The most famous ace of the Korean War, Yevgeny Pepelyaev, flew various versions of the MiG-15 aircraft and scored 23 confirmed aerial victories.

The high flight performance of the MiG-15 fighter was the reason for the persistent desire of the Americans to get a flying copy of the fighter.

A reward of 100 thousand US dollars was announced for moving the car, which was a very significant amount in the 50s. But the first copy of the MiG-15 reached the Americans after the end of hostilities in Korea. After a series of tests, the vehicle ended up in the National Air Force Museum, where it remains today.

During the Korean War, MiG-15 fighters actively resisted American air raids using B-29 Superfortress strategic bombers.

In one of the air battles in the fall of 1950, MiG-15 fighters shot down at least 12 “superfortresses” and several escort vehicles. This battle, which went down in the history of the American Air Force as “Black Tuesday,” dramatically changed the tactics of using strategic bombers, which began to be used only at night.

An equally famous pilot of the MiG-15 aircraft was the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who served for two years in a combat aviation regiment in the Northern Fleet, armed with such machines. Yu. Gagarin died during another training flight on the MiG-15 UTI training aircraft.

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In the mid-forties of the last century, the design bureau of Mikoyan and Gurevich developed a new fighter called the MiG-15. In the entire history of aviation, it was the most popular jet combat aircraft. It preserved the ideas that were put into the first model aircraft of this brand. The pilots had no doubt that they were fighting on the best fighter in the world.

Since the start of mass production in 1948, more than 15 thousand of these machines have been produced. They were in service with the armies of 40 countries. The MiG-15 fighter fully met its purpose. His combat debut took place in Korea and was successful. Excellent vertical maneuver together with powerful weapons made it possible to effectively counter enemy aircraft. It became the best fighter during the North Korean War and was actively used in Arab-Israeli and other military conflicts in different countries. The last MiG-15 was withdrawn from service with the Albanian army in 2006.

Design of the MiG-15 fighter

It was designed as an all-metal mid-wing fighter with a round fuselage and swept wings. The tail section had an internal flange for mounting and servicing the engine. Air intake was carried out on both sides of the nose, covering the cockpit. There was a single-spar wing with a transverse oblique beam. As a result, a triangular niche was formed into which the landing gear was retracted. The wing was equipped with ailerons equipped with aerodynamic compensation, as well as flaps that opened during takeoff and landing.

The tail is cruciform; the stabilizer and fin have two spars. The rudder had two parts, located below and above the stabilizer. The chassis has three wheels, a nose strut and wishbone suspension, and is equipped with air brakes. Retraction and release of the landing gear was carried out by a hydraulic system. The control of the aircraft was rigid, carried out by rods and rockers. The drawings of the latest MiG-15 models included the use of hydraulic boosters.

The power plant was based on the use of a turbojet engine RD-45, which had a centrifugal compressor. The MiG-15 bis model featured a higher-power VK-1 engine. The armament mounted on the aircraft included two 23 mm NS-23 cannons and one 37 mm NS-37 cannon. They were located at the bottom of the fuselage in the nose. To ensure convenient reloading, they were installed on a removable carriage. It was moved down by a special winch. Under the wing it was possible to hang two bombs of fifty or one hundred kilograms, in another version - two spare fuel tanks with a capacity of 520 liters.

Specifications

• The length of the aircraft is 10.1 m.
• Its height is 3.7 m.
• Wing span – 10.08 m.
• Crew – 1 person.
• The chassis at the base is 3.17 m.
• The chassis track width is 3.81 m.
• The empty weight of the aircraft is 3247 kg.
• Curb weight – 3254 kg.
• The volume of fuel in the tanks is 1456 l.

Flight characteristics

Maximum achievable speed:

• Near the surface of the earth - 1042 km/h.
• When reaching an altitude of 5000m – 1021 km/h.
• When reaching an altitude of 10,000 m – 974 km/h.
• Take-off speed during takeoff is 230 km/h.
• Landing speed – 174 km/h.
• Flight range – 1335 km/h.
• Ceiling – 15100 m.

Climb time:

• 5000 m – 2.4 min.
• 10000m – 6.8 min.
• Takeoff length – 605 m.

Improvement of the base model of the MiG-15 continued continuously and was embodied in new modifications:

• MiG-15 SV. The guns were replaced, a new sight was installed, and the vibration that occurs during shooting was eliminated. The strength of the aircraft structure has been increased and the engine starting system has been improved.
• MiG-15 SO. A retractable sight is used in two positions - combat and traveling. The cabin and armored back armor has been strengthened.
• MiG-15 SSh. The gun carriage was reconstructed and more powerful guns were installed.
• MiG-15 SU. Combat enhancements have been improved in the form of new guns and an improved retractable sight.

Serial modifications of the fighter

• MiG-15S. It is a fighter variant using a more powerful RD-45F engine, NR-23 cannons and an improved ASP-3N sight. The designers also included many other small changes in the drawings.
• MiG-15PB. It became possible to hang two fuel tanks of 260 liters each. In the future, all MiG-15 aircraft were converted to additional fuel tanks.
• MiG-15 bis SD. This version was distinguished by the installation of the English VK-1 engine, improved in the USSR, and numerous changes in the aircraft design. It was released during the fifties.
• MiG-15R "bis" SR. This is a reconnaissance aircraft on which a camera was installed instead of one N-23 and N-37 cannon. It had two suspended fuel tanks with a capacity of 600 liters. During 1951-1952, 364 cars were produced.
• MiG-15S "bis" - SD-UPB. Is an escort fighter. It could be equipped with two 600 liter external fuel tanks. In 1951, 49 aircraft of this brand were produced.
• MiG-15 – UTI. It was developed as a two-seat fighter trainer. Used to train flight personnel until 1970.
• MiG-15P – UTI. The same applies to training aircraft. It was equipped with a radar station. A small series was released.
• MiG-15M– was a radio-controlled target. MiG-15 fighters that were removed from service were usually converted to it.