Mikoyan’s Piston-Engined Fighters

Description

This title describes in detail the first aircraft – a series of piston-engined fighters – produced by the famous Mikoyan Design Bureau during and immediately after World War II. The first of these, the I-200 of 1940, entered limited production the following year as the MiG-1. This aircraft was quickly developed by 1941 into the MiG-3, a high-altitude interceptor. This book discusses these aircrafts operational history and describes both the standard production type and the various experimental variants including the radial-engined MiG-9, the first aircraft to bear the designation, and the refined I-230 series which never entered production. A separate chapter addresses the I-200 (DIS or MiG-5) long-range heavy escort fighter, the first twin-engined MiG aircraft developed in 1941 to protect heavy bomber formations against German fighters, which did not enter production because no factories were available to build it. Also covered here is the I-220, which in 1944 was the progenitor of the I-220/I-225 series of high-altitude fast interceptors developed to combat German bombers and reconnaissance aircraft overflying Moscow. Apart from developmental problems, these aircraft were prevented from entering production by the changing military situation, which saw the end of the Luftwaffe raids against Moscow. This book also covers the unusual I-250 (N) mixed-power fighter which had a Kholschchevnikov pseudo-turbojet booster in the tail. When engaged, it gave the diminutive fighter a top speed of 513 mph – impressive in its day. Though only a handful were built, the I-250 was the final step toward the MiG-9 of 1945, the Soviet Unions first true jet fighter.