The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 was a jet fighter developed for the USSR by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful swept-wing jet fighters, and it achieved fame in the skies over Korea, where early in the war, it outclassed all straight-winged enemy fighters in most applications. The MiG-15 also served as the starting point for development of the more advanced MiG-17 which was still an effective threat to American fighters during the Vietnam War. The MiG-15 is believed to have been the most widely produced jet aircraft ever made, with over 12,000 built. Licensed foreign production perhaps raised the total to over 18,000. The MiG-15 is often mentioned along with the North American F-86 Sabre in lists of the best fighter aircraft of the Korean War and in comparison with fighters of other eras.
The first Soviet turbojet fighter developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich was the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 NATO reporting name: Fargo which appeared in the years immediately after World War II. It used a pair reverse-engineered German BMW 003 engines, which had been experimentally used on the Messerschmitt Me 262A-1b test aircraft, only a few of which were ever built. The MiG-9 was a troublesome design which suffered from weak, unreliable engines and control problems. Categorized as a first generation jet fighter, it was designed with straight wings like previous piston-engined fighters which were encountering performance problems as their performance approached the speed of sound.
The resulting prototypes were designated as I-310. The I-310 was a clean, swept-wing fighter with 35° sweep in wings and tail, and exceptional performance, with a top speed of over 1,040 km/h (650 mph). The design used a single engine fed by a split-forward air intake. A duct carried intake air around the cockpit area and back together ahead of the engine. First fight was 30 December 1947 (The similar American F-86 Sabre had first flown only months earlier in October 1947).
Russia's first swept-wing jet fighter was actually the underpowered Lavochkin La-160 which was otherwise more similar to the MiG-9. The Lavochkin La-168 which reached production as the Lavochkin La-15 used the same engine as the MiG but with shoulder mounted wing and t-tail was the main competitive design. Eventually, the MiG design was favored for mass production. Designated MiG-15, the first production example flew on 31 December 1948. It entered Soviet Air Force service in 1949, and subsequently received the NATO reporting name "Fagot." Early production examples had a tendency to roll to the left or to the right due to manufacturing variances, so aerodynamic trimmers called "nozhi" (knives) were fitted to correct the problem, the knives being adjusted by ground crews until the aircraft flew correctly.
Product Features:
Mig15 jet. Detailed mesh (approx 245k polygons), with detailed interior and high res textures (4096*4096 resolution).
Color texture (North Korean markings) at 4096*4096
Bump map at 4096*4096
Specularity map at 4096*4096
Cockpit interior texture at 1024*1024
Canopy color texture at 1024*1024
Canopy transparency texture at 1024*1024
Pilot not included
Brokered and uploaded for sale with permission from Anders Lejczak.
