Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3
Type:	Fighter plane
Design country:	Soviet Union
Manufacturer:	Plant No. 1 Moscow-Khodinka Plant No. 22 Kazan-Powozhye Kuibyshev plant
First flight:	Summer 1940
Commissioning:	1940/41
Production time:	September 1940 to January 1942
Number of pieces:	3,322

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 ( Russian Микоян-Гуревич МиГ-3 ) was a in the Soviet Union developed piston engine - fighter aircraft of World War II . It appeared as the successor to the MiG-1 and was supposed to overcome their problems with control and flight stability.

Development and use

The MiG-1 was an aircraft that could only be mastered by experienced pilots. It had unfavorable take-off characteristics and too high a landing speed. The stability around the longitudinal axis was unsatisfactory, so that the pilot had to constantly counter-steer, which meant unnecessary effort. At low altitudes the machine spun slightly . In order to eliminate these shortcomings, the designers Artyom Ivanovich Mikoyan and Mikhail Iossifowitsch Gurewitsch made some changes to the model. In order to improve the stability, the engine and thus the center of gravity has been moved forward by 9.5 centimeters. The wings received automatic slats and the V-position was increased by 1 °. There was now an additional 250 liter tank under the cab. The design work and the first flight of the prototype took place in the summer of 1940.

Series production under the name MiG-3 started in autumn of the same year. By the end of the year, 200 MiG-3s had already been manufactured in Chodinka (Plant No. 1) and Powosche (Plant No. 22). To increase the firepower, some series machines received two additional 12.7 mm UBS machine guns in the wings and / or launch rails for six RS-82 rockets (" Katyusha ").

After the beginning of the war, production was relocated to Kuibyshev in October 1941 . During the first dogfights it became apparent that the MiG-3 was inferior to the German Bf 109 E in terms of firepower due to its relatively weak armament . At altitudes over 5,000 meters it was faster and more agile than the Messerschmitt, but since most of the aerial battles took place below this limit, it could not play this advantage. After it turned out in the field that the sliding hood often jammed at high speeds, many pilots flew without a canopy. Despite all efforts to improve controllability, the MiG-3 remained an aircraft difficult to fly for beginners. It was therefore quickly withdrawn from the front line units and integrated into the Moscow air defense in 1941/42, where it did better against the high-flying reconnaissance and bomber units than at low and medium altitudes. The three-time Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Pokryschkin scored the first of his 59 confirmed kills, a Bf 109 E, in a MiG-3.

At the beginning of January 1942, production ran out after 3,322 units had been built. The main reason for this was the discontinuation of production of the AM-35A engine used in the MiG in favor of the AM-38 used in the attack aircraft Il-2 . Mikoyan-Gurevich therefore tried in the following years to create a successor model for the MiG-3 by installing other engines. However, none of these projects reached series production.

Versions

Three-sided view of the MiG-3

• MiG-3 : Main series version developed from the MiG-1, the version from 1940 differed slightly from the 1941 version
• MiG-3-AM-37 : 1941 high altitude fighter with a Mikulin AM-37 engine, not built in series, also referred to as MiG-5 (proposed official name)
• MiG-3-M-82 (I-210) : Front fighter from 1941 with radial engine M-82 , first flight on January 2, 1942 by I. G. Lasarew, renamed MiG-9-M-82 in 1942 , five prototypes tested and then sent to the Kalininer Front surrendered, due to poor flight performance and strong vibrations, no series production took place
• I-211 : successor to I-210; built in small series
• MiG-3D (I-230) : prototype of a high altitude fighter
• MiG-3DD (I-231) : also the prototype of a high altitude fighter version
• MiG-3U : improved series version from 1943 in all-metal construction, cannon armament and modified cabin and fuel system, also not built in series

Military users

•  Soviet Union : Air Forces and Air Defense

Technical specifications

Parameter	1st series 1940	2nd series 1941	I-210 (MiG-9M-82)
crew	1 pilot
length	8.26 m		8.07 m
span	10.20 m
height	3.50 m		k. A.
Wing area	17.44 m²
Wing extension	5.97
V-position wing	7 °		k. A.
Wing loading	213.19 kg / m²	192.09 kg / m²	193 kg / m²
Empty mass	2,700 kg	2,595 kg	k. A.
Takeoff mass	3,718 kg	3,350 kg	3,382 kg
drive	a water-cooled 12-cylinder V-engine M-35A starting power 990 kW (1,346 hp), continuous power 880 kW (1,200 hp)		an air-cooled 14-cylinder radial engine M-82 starting power 1,250 kW (1,700 PS)
Top speed	495 km / h near the ground, 640 km / h at an altitude of 7,800 m	505 km / h near the ground 640 km / h at an altitude of 7,000 m	475 km / h near the ground 565 km / h at an altitude of 6,000 m
Landing speed	150 km / h	144 km / h	k. A.
Ascent time to 5,000 m	5.3 min	5.7 min	6.7 min
Service ceiling	12,000 m		8,700 m
Range	1,250 km	1,195 km	k. A.
Armament	one 12.7 mm MG UBS and two 7.62 mm MG SchKAS above the engine, optionally two 12.7 mm MG UBS in the wings, optionally six 82 mm RS-82 missiles each on a triple rail below each wing optionally has two 100 kg or four 25 kg bombs under the wings		three 12.7 mm MG UBS

literature

• Karl-Heinz Eyermann : MiG aircraft . Transpress, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-344-00193-0 .
• Olaf Groehler : History of the Air War 1910 to 1980 . Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic , Berlin 1981.
• Wilfried Copenhagen : Soviet fighters . Transpress, Berlin 1985 (VLN: 162-925 / 145/85).

Web links

Commons : Mikojan-Gurewitsch MiG-3  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• MiG-3 versions (rus)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alexander Ivanovich Pokryschkin: Heaven of War . Berlin 1974, GDR military publisher . P. 45.
2. ^ Rudolf Höfling: MiG . Airplanes since 1939. Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03335-1 , p. 16/17 .
3. ↑ Manfred Jurleit: MiG-9 / M-82 (USSR) . In: Fliegerrevue . No. 7/1979 (317) , pp. 304 .