Mig-3 Mikoyan-Gourevitch

The Mikoyan-Gourevitch Mig-1 and Mig-3 Mikoyan-Gourevitch constitute the first two planes designed by the research department of the Engineer S Artem Mikoyan and Mikhaïl Gourevitch. It is for the design and the setting in production of this family of Soviet hunters that the future OKB MiG was formed. Their first test was successful because the plane knew an important production. However, although it profited from great qualities, like a raised top speed, its design as an interceptor of high-altitude limited its employment in the context of the face of the East where the aerial combats generally took place in lower part of five thousand meters. The stop of the production of its engine Mikouline AM-35 with the profit of the Mikouline Am-38 equipping then the Iliushine It-2 caused the stop of its own production.

Genesis

With the end of the year 1939, the aeronautical factory n°1 Aviakhim , close to Moscow, produces then planes Polikarpov I-15bis and Polikarpov I-153. These biplanes of hunting are exceeded by the last productions, in particular German like the Messerschmitt Bf 109, considerably faster. The difficulties of production of the Yakovlev BB-22 place the executive team of the factory in a delicate situation, because it does not have for the moment not a modern plane which can be put in series production quickly. Two solutions are planned to rectify this situation: production of the I-26 , the future Yakovlev Yak-1, but also the project I-200 of Polikarpov Bureau which, equipped with an engine Mikouline AM-37, should show still higher characteristics, maximum speed being estimated at 670 kilometers per hour. Moreover, it appeared that the plane would be more adapted to the production in the factory than the model of Yakolev and would require less installations of the installations, which should allow a setting in earlier mass production.

Remained nevertheless to finish the study of the model. However the office of Polikarpov was occupied at bottom on the development of I-180. The factory was thus only to be occupied some and thus to create its own research department. The plant manager P.A. Voronine, with the agreement of the police chief of the people to aircraft industry M.M. Kaganovitch, gave the order to create on December 8th 1939 an independent department of study (OKO) within the factory. The direction was entrusted by it to Artem Mikoyan assisted by Mikhaïl Gourevitch and V.A. Romadine. The office gathering 70 specialists was hastily organized in two days. Work was also undertaken of face with the engineers and technicians of the factory in charge of the setting in future production, so as to advance this one as much as possible by taking account of the possibilities of the factory. The result was spectacular, the drawing approved on December 25th, the work of design finished on February 10th 1940 and the first prototype left the factory on March 31st, to accomplish its first flight on April 5th, less than one hundred days after the beginning of the study. The tests of factory started at once. But without same expecting from them the conclusions and even less those of the official tests, on May 25th 1940, I-200 is launched in series production to replace Yakovlev BB-22 with for objective producing 125 before the end of the year of them.

During the development, the engineers had to give up using Mikouline AM-37 which was not yet at the point and installing in its place a AM-35A, less powerful with 1350 horses. However, the prototypes were going to show that the performances had suffered little from it. May 24th, the first, controlled by A.N. Ekatov, reached 648,5 kilometers per hour with 6900 meters of altitude and the second will reach 650 to 7000 meters on August 5th, controlled by M.N. Yakouchine. August 18th, the first prototype appears for the first time in public at the time of a parade with Tushino and, the 29, the second and third are given to the research institute of the air force to undergo there the official tests which finish on September 12th positively. The production starts and increases quickly. It will reach 25 planes per day during the year 1941. In reward of its work of study and industrialist, on December 31st 1940, the factory receives the Ordre of Lénine.

I-200 or Mig-1

The originality of this plane lay especially in the composite way in which its cell was built. The fuselage nose section was consisted a mesh wire made of tubes and forms covered by five riveted panels forming the skin. The back, was to him of monocoque Construction, but of wood, a mixture of plywood and wood of pine stuck and impregnated Bakélite. One found this mixture of materials on the level of the aerofoil whose interior panels, bolted on the fuselage, were of steel construction with three Longeron S, whereas those external, were built around a single member out of bread wooden covered with five layers of impregnated bakelite plywood. The empennage was of type cantilever, the plan of depth was of construction steel in two parts and was anchored on the fuselage in four points, its angle of incidence was adjustable on the ground. The drift was integrated in the construction of the back fuselage.

The gear landing was of tricyclic type retractable. The two principal legs, equipped with oil and air shock absorbers of Junkers type, had their articulations on the end of the central part of aerofoil and eclipsed towards the fuselage thanks to compressed-air jacks. The wheels were equipped with tires and brakes. The caster of tail, equipped with a moulded rubber tire, was it also equipped with an oil and air shock absorber.

The propulsion was thus ensured by an engine AM-35A, a v-12 able to provide 1350 horses to takeoff and 1200 between 3000 and 6000 meters of altitude. Two oil radiators were installed in conduits on the left and on the right engine cowling, as well as a single radiator for the liquid of cooling in lower part of the cockpit. The food while carburizing was made by a reserve of fuselage of 110 liters and two others located in the central part of the wing of 151 liters each one. The air supply of the compressing was done by two air intakes located at the roots of each wing. The engine actuated a large three-bladed propeller VISH-22E three meters in diameter whose variable-pitch blades were controlled by a R-2 regulator to obtain a constant speed.

The armament consisted of three Mitrailleuse S synchronized on propeller, two ShKAS of 7,62 millimetres fed with 750 blows and a BS of 12,7 millimetres to 300 blows. Both ShKAS were assembled on the lines of cylinders of the engine. As for the BS, it was bolted with the lattice of the frame. They were all three started by a pneumatic system with two orders: for the BS, the other for ShKAS. In help there existed also a mechanical system to open fire. Two bomb throwers, able each one to carry two projectiles, were moreover assembled under the panels external of the aerofoil, allowing a total carrying of 220 kilograms. Four rails for rockets RS-82 could be also added with each wing. The pilot was protected by a thick armor-plate from 8 mm in his back, it had of a sight PBP-1 and a radio RSI supplied with a generator and a battery. It used device KPA-3bis an oxygen for the flights with high-altitude.

The Migone

The test official in September 1940 nevertheless had revealed some defects of the plane, in particular a lack of longitudinal stability. The team of Mikoyan cured it very quickly. The fourth revised prototype flew as of on October 29th. Stability was increased by increasing the dihedral aerofoil of 5° with 6°. The problems of cooling were corrected by the replacement of radiator OP-229 by a OP-310 which was, moreover, slightly advanced to allow the installation of an additional reserve of 250 liters which regulated autonomy considered to be insufficient. To preserve balancing, one then had to lengthen the driving cradle and to advance the AM-35A and, because of increase in mass on takeoff, the tires of the principal train were increased, passing from 600X180 with 650X200. After hundred Mig-1 products, on December 20th, left factory the first Migone which replaced it. Twenty others were going to follow before the end of the year. Finally, it is not this prototype which passed the official tests, between January 27th and on February 26th 1941, but two specimens of series, the n°2107 and 2115, one two reaching on the occasion the speed of 640 kilometers per hour at an altitude of 7800 meters. An accident endeuilla finally the development of the plane, on March 13rd, when A.N.Ekatov on board n°2147, struck after with a breakdown the compressor, was crushed and killed.

The production beat full sound, but, in parallel, of many improvements of detail were applied directly to the series following the tests in the T-101 blower of the TSAGI. Starting from May 10th, the capacity of the new tank was reduced to 140 liters to avoid a reduction in stability. July 10th appeared automatic nozzles of leading edge. During the last six-month period of 1941 were also introduced an alternative of the AM-35A involving either a VISH-22E, but a AV-5L-123 and whose report/ratio of reduction had been brought back from 0,902 to 0,732, but also of the external additional tanks, a new engine cowling and an extinguishing system of fire per inert gas.

Another field of intense experimentation, which was going to give place to several alternatives of the plane. The first which appears on February 20th 1941 adds two machine-guns BK with 145 blows assembled in gondoles under the wings. A total of 821 planes will be equipped with this armament. September 20th leaves a version armed with two supplied machine-guns BS to 350 blows each one. Launchers ROB-82 with three rails for rockets RS-82 are also introduced. Certain planes are equipped with a camera AFA-I to achieve reconnaissance missions photographic. In October 1941, the factory n°1 had to be evacuated on Kuibychev. The production was to begin again there as soon as possible, but the VVS had three types of hunters, and the need for plane of attack, supported by a telegram of Stalin in person. To increase the production of engine AM-38 of It-2, that of the AM-35 had to be stopped, which caused by consequence the stop of that of the MiG hunter. During this period, the last twenty-two planes were manufactured, all equipped with two guns SVAK of 20 millimetres. They were joined in April 1942 by thirty planes produced starting from remaining parts and which will have also this powerful armament. On the whole, 100 Mig-1 and 3172 Mig-3 left the chains from the factories n°1 and 155, between 1940 and 1942.

Meanwhile, the plane had known the combat as of the release of the Opération Barbarossa, locating a pair of planes of Reconnaissance German Junkers Ju 86 before even the beginning of the hostilities. It is then the modern hunter more running within the VVS, 1200 planes having been delivered, almost twice as much as of Yak-1 and LaGG-3. However, as the deliveries were very recent, the plane was still little known of its pilots. Conceived like a hunter of high-altitude, it disappointed in lower part of five thousand meters, its speed and its maneuverability being lower. It thus ends up being withdrawn of the units of F, the aviation of the face, in spring 1942. On the other hand, it will appear a remarkable hunter for the PVOS, the aviation of air defense, which used it until the end of the war, keeping it in service by cannibalisant certain specimens to find the parts intended to maintain in flight the others.

Last developments

The production having stopped following the abandonment of engine AM-35, several attempts will be made to find a substitute with this one. The use of AM-37, is him also quickly drawn aside, because the engine is not at the point and cannot be produced fault of factory available. Only the second prototype of I-200, and Mig-3, which thus Mig-7, were been driven by this engine, the declaration of war, then the evacuation of industry, put an end to any continuation in this way.

Another test, the assembly of the AM-38 of It-2, which made it possible to improve the performances at low altitude with the detriment of that of high-altitude and solved the problem of provisioning, the engine being manufactured in a massive way. A plane, the n°3595, was transformed in July 1941 and stole the 31. It was tested 1st at August 12th and one noted that the radiators of origin did not ensure a sufficient cooling of the plane. During the official tests in September, the plane undergoes a deformation of its fuel tanks, which required a reference with the factory after twenty-two flights. Repaired, it took again the flights on October 4th, but the 5, during a test, the N.P.Bauline pilot was crushed and committed suicide, consequently seems it of an attack of a German hunter, destroying any work on behalf of the factory. Nevertheless, thereafter, the mechanics of certain units of combat, with course of engines AM-35A, carried out impromptu conversions. Two were carried out in the workshops of the air regiment 402 and were employed thereafter in combat: the n°4184, controlled by the major K.A.Grousdev, the other by the B.G.Borodaï captain. On board its transformed plane, Grousdev on the occasion to tackle a formation of German bombers and succeeds in cutting down two of them.

One twice tried to mount a radial engine Shvetsov M-82. The first project indicated I-210 began during the summer 1941, using an engine M-82A. As of five prototypes motorized by a M-82A and armed with three machine-guns BS, the first on July 23rd 1941, the second, on August 25th stole, but it showed disappointing performances. Three other planes were produced armed in addition to two ShKAS additional. They were versed within the 34e regiment of air defense, in 1942. In September 1942, the plane being revealed lower than La-5, one stopped the development. But in June 1943, the first three prototypes were versed within the 260e air division where it were useful until in 1944. The second project began at the end of 1942, MiG Bureau designed a version improved of I-210, motorized by a M-82F and with an entirely re-examined cell, which allowed a lightening of 280 kilograms. Ten were produced at the beginning of 1943, the first stealing on February 12th. Armed with two SVAk guns, they were able to fly at 670 kilometers per hour and to climb with five thousand meters in four minutes. But at the end of the tests of factory, during the first quarter 1944, the project was abandoned.

February 26th 1943, MiG Bureau accepted the order to produce six improved hunters, entirely built out of wood, except the central member of the aerofoil. They appeared lighter of 150 kilograms than their predecessors, in spite of their heavier engine AM-35 of 40 kg, because built on a basis of AM-38. They were armed with two supplied guns SVAK with 150 blows. The first stole in May 1943 and five of them were versed within the 12th regiment of air defense. In September 1943, the drawing of I-230 was modified to embark very new engine AM-39 of 1800 horses. Loan on October 16th, it accomplished its first flight 19, but was damaged on November 5th after with an emergency landing. Repaired, it was again broken on March 5th 1944 during the official tests, then broke its engine during a static test, on May 19th. One then decided to stop the program, in spite of a speed of 707 kilometers per hour reached during the tests.

Alternatives

Mig-1 or I-200 - principal version of production, hundred built
Mig-1 with engine AM-37 - the second prototype of Mig-1 was re-equipped at the end of 1940, with engine AM-37. It made its first flight with the new engine, on January 6th 1941, and one noted problems of vibrations during the operation of the order gas. The apparatus was transferred to the factory n°24 to cure it, but it was crushed on May 7th and was not repaired.
IP-201 - project of a hunter armed with two let us cane MP-3 then MP-6 of 23 mm under the wings, the third prototype of Mig-1 was modified, at the end of November 1940, and stole on December 1st. But in consequence of a gasoline breakdown the plane was damaged and, time that one repairs, in February 1941, the two originators of gun MP-6, YA.G.Taubine and M.N. Babourine, were put in charge and any work on this armament ceased. The only result practices which rose from the project was the assembly of machine-guns BK under the wings of Mig-3 of series.
Mig-7 - project of Mig-3 remotorized with the AM-37, the cancellation of the production of the engine, after the beginning of the war, stopped any development.
Mig-3 with engine AM-38 - the Mig-3 n°3595, was re-equipped with a AM-38 and showed much better performances in lower part of four thousand meters. But of the problems of cooling and deformation of tanks were posed. Whereas one worked to cure it, on October 4th the plane was crushed killing its pilot. Thereafter, certain units of combat transformed on the ground of other Mig-3, for example the 402e regiment of hunting modified two of them, in November 1941. On board the one of them major K.A.Grousdev, chief of the regiment, allocated two unfavourable bombers during a trial flight.
Mig-3 reduced - In 1943 NII VVS, reduced certain Mig-3 to increase their operational ceiling with a profit of 187 kilograms. It was then possible to operate with 11750 meters.
I-210 or MIG-9 - five prototypes with engine M-82A.
I-211 or Mig-9th - ten prototypes with engine M-82F.
I-230 or Mig-3U - six prototypes with lighter structure entirely out of wood, driving AM-35.
I-231 - a prototype derived from I-230, but with engine AM-39.

See too

List of the military aircrafts

External bond

http://wp.scn.ru/mig_okb/13_mig_1

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