The abbreviation "MiG", which is familiar today to almost every resident of Russia, is directly associated with the success of domestic fighters, becoming a kind of visiting card of Soviet / Russian military aviation. The MiG aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan and Gurevich design bureau, glorified the name of their creators in Korea, Vietnam, the wars in the Middle East, as well as flying in aerobatic teams. However, glory has not always surrounded these aircraft. The Soviet high-altitude fighter MiG-3, with which the USSR entered the Great Patriotic War, was a very controversial and controversial machine, even despite a number of outstanding technical parameters for its time.
The design group, headed by A. I. Mikoyan and M. I. In the spring of 1940, a prototype of the new machines was ready and the pilot Yekatov took the plane into the air for the first time. The tests of the fighter were considered successful. The new combat aircraft, designated MiG-1 (Mikoyan and Gurevich, the first) was approved for further serial production. At the same time, the disadvantage of the fighter was recognized as an unsatisfactory static longitudinal stability due to the rear alignment. The aircraft easily fell into a spin and got out of it with difficulty, the pilot's fatigue was greater than on other aircraft.
The MiG-1 was a mixed low-wing aircraft. Its fuselage in the front part was a truss, welded from steel chrome-steel pipes with duralumin sheathing, and the tail of the aircraft was a wooden monocoque, the center section was duralumin. The cockpit canopy was made of plexiglass, there was no bulletproof glass, the canopy cover was movable on rollers. In total, 100 of these aircraft were assembled in 1940 (production was completed on this), at the beginning of 1941 they began to enter the troops.
Rebuilt MiG-3
Almost immediately after the creation of the MiG-1, the Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau (OKB-155) began work on its modernized version, which received the designation MiG-3. The aircraft was a single-engine, single-seat, high-altitude interceptor fighter. The AM-35A engine installed on the aircraft with a takeoff power of 1350 hp. provided a fighter with a significant take-off weight (3350 kg) outstanding speed characteristics for its time. At the ground, it accelerated slightly over 500 km / h, but at an altitude of 7 thousand meters, its speed grew to 640 km / h. At that time, it was the highest flight speed among all production aircraft. In terms of maneuverability at an altitude of over 6,000 meters, the MiG-3 also surpassed other fighters of its time.
On the eve of the war, it was a promising aircraft, with which special hopes were pinned. Addressing the pilots, Stalin said: "I ask you, love this plane." Indeed, there was a reason to fall in love with the MigG-3, at that time it was the fastest Soviet fighter. Along with the fighters of Yakovlev and Lavochkin, he was supposed to replace the "oldies" in the Air Force of the Red Army in the person of the I-16 and I-153 aircraft. However, six months after the start of the war, in December 1941, the production of MiG-3 fighters was stopped.
In the MiG-3 fighter, the shortcomings of the MiG-1 predecessor were largely eliminated, but it was not possible to get rid of some of its negative properties. For example, the landing speed of the fighter was high - not less than 144 km / h. Maneuverability at low altitudes was clearly insufficient, and the turning radius was large. The disadvantages of the aircraft included the low engine life of the engine (only 20-30 flight hours), as well as its fire hazard. It was noted that at high flight speeds, the pilot very often could not open the canopy of his fighter's cockpit, which often did not allow him to leave the downed plane. It was also noted that, due to the rear alignment, the fighter was very difficult to fly. An experienced pilot became an average pilot on a MiG-3, and an average pilot became an inexperienced pilot, while a newcomer, in the overwhelming majority of cases, could not fly this machine at all.
Transfer of three MiG-3 fighters to the pilots of the 172nd Fighter Aviation Regiment, photo: waralbum.ru
With the beginning of the war, it became obvious that the bulk of air battles took place at low or medium altitudes, at which the maneuverability of the MiG-3 fighter significantly deteriorated. In battles at altitudes of 1000 - 4000 meters, which were the main combat altitudes for pilots of the Great Patriotic War, conceived as a fighter for high-altitude battles, the MiG-3 was inferior to Yaks and LaGGs. As a result, in the air battles of the summer and autumn of 1941, units that were armed with aircraft of this model suffered very heavy losses. The remaining MiG-3 fighters were transferred to air defense units, where the aircraft found much more successful use as high-altitude interceptors and night fighters.
According to the aviation engineer and military aviation historian Nikolai Vasilyevich Yakubovich, Stalin's personal decision, enshrined in the October 1940 decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR on increasing the high-speed flight range to 1000 km at an unsuitable engine operating mode, could have influenced the fate of the aircraft. As a result, the fighter became "heavy", and the MiG-3 pilots could not fight on equal terms with the main at that time Luftwaffe Bf 109E fighter. The rejection of the high-speed flight range at the end of May 1941 made it possible to practically reduce the fuel supply on board by 1.5 times, which made it possible to lighten the aircraft.
This led to a noticeable improvement in maneuverability and the ability to fight enemy fighters at medium altitudes. So, the turn time at an altitude of 1000 meters was reduced to 22 seconds. It was better than the Bf. 109E3 - 26.5 seconds, but worse than the E4 version - 20.5 seconds or later versions of the F-series Messerschmitts Friedrich - up to 20 seconds. At the same time, the MiG-3 was much heavier than the Messers, therefore, due to the greater load on the engine, the climb rate of the Soviet fighter left much to be desired. Tests carried out in August 1941 showed that the MiG-3 climbed to an altitude of 5000 meters in 7.1 minutes, and the Messerschmitt climbed to the same height in 6.3 minutes. At the same time, the decrease in the technical characteristics of the MiG-3 fighters was also influenced by the deterioration in the quality of assembly and external finishing of aircraft in the tense conditions of wartime. At the same time, in horizontal flight speed, the MiG-3 surpassed the Messerschmitts of the E series Emil in the entire range of altitudes.
Maintenance of the Messerschmitt BF.109E aircraft from JG-54, photo: waralbum.ru
By the time the Great Patriotic War began, there were significantly more MiG-3s in combat units than the Yak-1 and LaGG-3, and many pilots had been retrained for it. In the air force and air defense units of the country there were more than 1000 aircraft of this type, excluding the MiG-1 fighters. All of them were mainly aircraft with increased fuel reserves and lower maneuverability. At the same time, the aircraft was still insufficiently mastered by combat pilots, the retraining of most of them was not completed, so many of them did not fully use the capabilities of their aircraft. At the same time, of the 1,026 single-seat "Messerschmitts" concentrated by June 21, 1941 near the Soviet borders, 579 (56.4%) were the latest versions of the F-1 and F-2 at that time, which were put into mass production at the beginning 1941, another 264 "Messerschmitts" accounted for the earlier series E-4, E-7 and E-8. Another 183 aircraft were outdated models E-1 and E-3, which were part of the so-called combat training groups, which were considered part of the second line and, as a rule, did not take part in combat operations.
Armament
Comparing these fighters, it is necessary to focus on their arsenal. In the USSR, in 1940, the Germans sold several Bf 109E aircraft with two weapon options. The first of them had three 7.92 mm machine guns, including two synchronous ones, the second had two 20 mm cannons under the wing and two synchronous 7.92 mm machine guns. The MiG-3 fighters were mainly equipped with a large-caliber 12.7 mm Berezin machine gun and two synchronous ShKAS 7.62 mm machine guns. At the same time, there were other options for weapons, including the "five-point" MiG-3 with additional wing 12, 7-mm machine guns BK, as well as with two synchronous 12, 7-mm BS and one ShKAS. There was also an option with two BS machine guns and two rocket-gun batteries for firing unguided rockets RS-82.
The purely machine-gun version of "Emil", which did not take part in the battles of June 1941, made it possible to fire at the enemy about 500 grams of lead per second, while the MiG-3, which was armed with a large-caliber machine gun, was twice as large. However, the cannon version of the Bf 109E provided a serious advantage in the weight of the salvo, so it was better for the MiG not to cross its routes.
Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4 in flight
At the same time, the armor-piercing bullet of the ShKAS machine guns did not even penetrate the 6-mm armor protection, and the incendiary bullet ignited the tanks of German aircraft on rare occasions. For this, the 7, 62-mm machine gun ShKAS received a humorous nickname "humane weapon" in combat units. The armor-piercing bullet of the 12, 7-mm machine gun "Berezina", which penetrated 16 mm of armor from a distance of 100 meters, was much more effective. And the armor-piercing incendiary ammunition of the same caliber ignited the gas tanks of enemy aircraft, the explosive bullet unfolded the protector of the gas tanks and the casing. This machine gun made it possible to more effectively fight enemy fighters and bombers.
Protection
Speaking about the effectiveness of Soviet and German fighters in air combat, it is important to consider their armor protection as well. In Soviet cars, it was noticeably weaker than in German, although it appeared back in 1939. So, the armored back of the MiG-3 fighter had a thickness of 9 mm, it could only withstand the hit of armor-piercing rifle caliber bullets. The Messerschmitt armored back plate began to appear regularly, starting with the E-7 version. But after the battles in France and in the design of the E-3 aircraft, they began to add an armored back plate with a thickness of 8 mm, and later an armored headrest. On all versions of the Bf 109F fighter, the armor protection was initially significantly enhanced by including a 10 mm thick steel plate, which protected the pilot's head and back of the head and was fixed on the folding part of the cockpit canopy. In addition, there was also a steel sheet located between the pilot's seat and the fighter's gas tanks.
Combat use
Against the background of the generally established negative attitude of pilots to the MiG-3 fighter, the opinion of the 126th IAP pilot, at that time Lieutenant Pyotr Belyasnik, who would later become a Hero of the Soviet Union, an honored test pilot and rise to the rank of colonel, seems interesting and contrasting. “The MiG-3 fighter, for which our regiment was retraining,” said Pyotr Nikiforovich, “demanded from us a lot of new skills, as well as additional training efforts. I liked the fighter immediately. The MiG-3 could be compared to a stern horse in the hands of a rider. He rushes with an arrow, but, having lost power over him, you find yourself under his "hooves". The aircraft's excellent fighting qualities were, as it were, hidden behind some of its shortcomings. The advantages of a fighter were available only to those pilots who knew how to use them."
MiG-3 fighters from the 15th mixed aviation division in flight west of Kiev, photo: waralbum.ru
As an example of a generally successful use, we can cite the results of the combat work of the pilots of the 28th Fighter Aviation Regiment (IAP). At the beginning of World War II, this regiment was part of the 15th mixed aviation division of the Southwestern Front (Kiev Special Military District), the regiment was equipped with MiG-3 and I-16 fighters. Since the fall of the 28th IAP, it became part of the 6th Fighter Air Corps of the Moscow Air Defense Zone and at one time the place of its deployment was the Moscow Region Klin. During this time, the regiment pilots shot down 119 enemy aircraft in the MiG-3, of which 35 aircraft (30%) fell on the Bf 109E fighters and only five on the Bf 109F, two more Messerschmitts went to the I-16 pilots. According to other data, 83 victories were won, and 15 pilots were lost during the same time. Individual pilots achieved excellent results flying the MiG-3. For example, from July 20 to December 2, 1941, P. N. Dargis personally shot down 6 and 9 more aircraft in the group, including one Bf 109E and Bf 109F fighters and 8 Ju 88 bombers at once.
It was on the MiG-3 fighter that Mark Gallay, the pilot of the 2nd separate fighter squadron of the Moscow Air Defense Forces, shot down a German plane in the very first air battle over Moscow on July 22, 1941. At the very beginning of the war, the famous Soviet ace A. I. Pokryshkin flew on the same plane at the very beginning of the war. It was on the MiG-3 that he won his first victory by shooting down a Bf-109E fighter. Yet for most pilots, the plane remained challenging, especially for the hastily trained pilots. In addition, it was significantly inferior to the Bf 109F fighters, whose share at the front was continuously increasing, while the Emily was rapidly disappearing from the scene.
A year after the start of the war, the specialists of the Air Force Research Institute, having summarized all the information received that reached them from the fronts, came to the conclusion that it was necessary to strengthen the armament of the MiG-3 fighter. The opinion of the flight personnel of the 519th IAP, including its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ryazanov, was taken into account: “The MiG-3 - with small arms, consisting of two 12, 7-mm UB machine guns in terms of fire is superior to the MiG-3 of the early series, with one BS and two machine guns ShKAS. In terms of small arms (without RS), it is inferior to the German Me-109 fighters (two 20-mm MG-FF cannons and two MG-17 machine guns) … In this regard, it was proposed to add the VYa aircraft cannon to the two UB machine guns. However, by that time the aircraft had been removed from serial production, and the installation of such a powerful 23-mm cannon, even on aircraft already in service, was problematic for the reason that an increase in their firepower would lead to an increase in the weight of the aircraft and a deterioration in their speed and maneuverability., so this idea was abandoned.
In general, it can be noted that in the USSR they were guided by the principle: our shortcomings are the continuation of our merits. This principle applied well not only to people, but also to combat aircraft. In the opinion of Soviet pilots, in battles at low altitudes, the MiG was an "iron iron", maintaining good fighting qualities only at a serious altitude. That is why the surviving machines, after the termination of their production in December 1941, were used mainly in air defense, where, first of all, it was necessary to catch up with German bombers and reconnaissance aircraft at high altitude. Here the MiG-3 was in its place. And in total, from 1940 to 1941, the Soviet industry produced more than 3, 3 thousand fighters of this model of all types.
The last MiG-3 fighters could be found at the front until the summer of 1944, but these were not the same aircraft that were in mid-1941. By that time, each of the fighters had undergone several repairs, mainly in front-line, semi-handicraft conditions. These were machines with heavily worn out engines, which by that time no longer posed a serious danger to the latest modifications of bombers and fighters of the Luftwaffe.
