MiG-15

Mikoyan-Gurevich · Soviet Union · first flew 1947 · fighter

The MiG-15 was one of the first successful swept-wing jet fighters and a defining Soviet design of the early Cold War.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Mid-mounted, swept
E — Engines	1 × turbojet, fuselage-mounted
F — Fuselage	10.1 m fuselage
T — Tail	Conventional

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Bulbous nose intake
Swept wings and tail
Tall single fin

Look for the deep nose air intake split by the cannon bay, the sharply swept mid-mounted wings and the tall swept fin. The stubby fuselage and high tailplane give it a compact, purposeful look.

Specifications

The MiG-15 has a length of 10.1 m (33 ft).
It has a wingspan of 10.08 m (33 ft).
Its maximum speed is 1075 km/h (668 mph).
Typical crew: 1.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

Developed in the late 1940s and first flown in December 1947, the MiG-15 drew on captured German swept-wing research and a British-supplied Rolls-Royce Nene engine, which the Soviets copied as the RD-45, later improved into the Klimov VK-1. It entered service in 1949 and was built in enormous numbers across the Eastern Bloc and China.

Variants

The improved MiG-15bis brought a more powerful engine and refinements, while the two-seat MiG-15UTI trainer became one of the most widely used jet trainers in history. Licensed copies were produced in Poland, Czechoslovakia and China.

Where you'll see it

The type shocked Western pilots over Korea, where it duelled with the F-86 Sabre. A MiG-15 is preserved at the Imperial War Museum Duxford and other UK collections, and warbird examples occasionally appear at British airshows.

Related aircraft

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