Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19
Mikoyan-Gurevich · Soviet Union · first flew 1954 · fighter
The first Soviet production fighter able to exceed the speed of sound in level flight, a twin-engine day interceptor of the mid-1950s.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | Mid-mounted, swept |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 2 × turbojet, fuselage-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | Nose air intake feeding two engines stacked in the fuselage |
| T — Tail | Conventional |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- Highly swept wings with a prominent boundary-layer fence on each
- Nose air intake feeding two engines stacked in the fuselage
- All-moving swept tailplane low on the rear fuselage
Look for the strongly swept wings with wing fences, the round nose intake, and the compact twin-engine fuselage with a low swept tail.
Specifications
- The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 has a length of 13.1 m (43 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 9 m (30 ft).
- Its maximum speed is 1450 km/h (901 mph).
- Typical crew: 1.
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
First flown in 1953, the MiG-19 introduced sharply swept wings and twin afterburning engines that gave Soviet pilots true supersonic performance for the first time. It served as a front-line fighter across the Warsaw Pact and was widely exported and copied.
Variants
Versions included the day-fighter MiG-19S, the radar-equipped MiG-19P and missile-armed PM interceptors; China built it in quantity as the Shenyang J-6.
Where you'll see it
A Soviet and Warsaw Pact fighter never operated by Britain and not seen in UK service, so British enthusiasts encounter it only in museums or occasionally as a privately owned warbird.
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