Mikoyan-Gurevich I-211

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I-211
Type Fighter
Manufacturer Mikoyan-Gurevich
Maiden flight 1942
Primary user Soviet Air Force

The Mikoyan-Gurevich I-211 was a Soviet fighter aircraft of the 1940s.

Contents

[edit] History

The I-211 was a direct descendent of the MiG-3. Late in 1941, a decision was made to phase out the use of the Mikulin AM-35A engine in the MiG-1 and MiG-3. The MiG design team created the replacement, using much the same airframe technology as in its predecessor. The major difference between the two aircraft was that the new aircraft had a Shvetsov ASh-82 radial engine instead of the inline liquid-cooled engine of the MiG-3. In order to accommodate the larger circumference of the radial engine, certain changes and modifications were required in the forward section of the MiG-3's fuselage. The first prototype, the MiG I-210, flew in early 1942, but from the start its performance was not as good as the MiG-3. A follow-on prototype, the MiG I-211, with aerodynamic refinements of the engine cowling, cockpit, and tail had improved performance. However, a competing Soviet fighter, the Lavochkin La-5, was chosen for quantity production over the new MiG. Only a small number of MiG I-211s were built before their production was terminated in favor of the La-5.

In some references published shortly after WWII, the MiG I-211 is called the MiG-5. It now established that the MiG-5 designation was reserved for the production version of the MiG DIS, a twin-engine prototype aircraft that did not enter production. The acronym DIS comes from Dalnij Istrebitel Soprovozhdenya or long-range escort fighter. The conclusion that the MiG-5 designation was reserved for the potential production version of the twin-engine MiG DIS is supported by R. A. Belyakov in his book, MiG – Fifty Years of Secret Aircraft Design. Belyakov was a member of the MiG Design Bureau in the early 1940s and was the General Designer of the MiG Design Bureau for over two decades following the retirement of Mikoyan in 1970.

[edit] Operators

Flag of the Soviet Union Soviet Union

[edit] Specifications (I-211)

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1
  • Length: 7.95 m (26 ft 1 in)
  • Wingspan: 10.20 m (33 ft 5 in)
  • Height: 3.63 m (11 ft 10 in)
  • Empty weight: 2,528 kg (5,573 lb)
  • Loaded weight: 3,100 kg (6,834 lb)
  • Powerplant: 1× Shvetsov M-82F air-cooled radial piston engine, 1,380 kW (1,850 hp)

Performance

Armament

  • 2× forward-firing ShVAK 20 mm (0.787 inch) cannon mounted on the bottom of the engine cowling

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

[edit] Bibliography

  • Gordon, Yefim. Mikoyan's Piston-Engined Fighters (Red Star Volume 13). Earl Shilton, Leicester, UK: Midland Publishing Ltd., 20038. ISBN 1-85780-160-1.
  • Gordon, yefim and Khazanov, Dmitri. Soviet Combat Aircraft of the Second World War, Volume One: Single-Engined Fighters. Earl Shilton, Leicester, UK: Midland Publishing Ltd., 1998. ISBN 1-85780-083-4.
  • Green, William. War Planes of the Second World War, Volume Three: Fighters. London: Macdonald & Co.(Publishers) Ltd., 1961. ISBN 0-356-01447-9.
  • Green, William and Swanborough, Gordon. WW2 Aircraft Fact Files: Soviet Air Force Fighters, Part 1. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd., 1977. ISBN 0-354-01026-3.
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