Shortly before the war, some air regiments of the Red Army Air Force received new MiG-3 fighters. The next aircraft of Mikoyan and Gurevich, which entered the army, was the MiG-9 in 1946. And what did this design bureau do throughout the war?
The story about the atom will have to start from afar! With the MiG-1, which was called the I-200 before it was put into production. This machine began to be created in the bowels of the N. N. Polikarpov.
On the I-200, it was decided to install an AM-35A liquid-cooled engine with a capacity of 1400 hp, which would provide a speed of 640 km / h and a ceiling of up to 13 thousand meters, the armament consisted of a 12.7 mm machine gun on the engine and two 7, 62 -mm in the wings. Until October 1940, engineer P. I. Andrianov.
At that time, the Moscow Aviation Plant named after AVIAKHIM was preparing for the production of the I-200. For this, Polikarpov organized a special group headed by a graduate of the Air Force Academy A. I. Mikoyan. The talented aviation engineer M. I. Gurevich, April 5, 1940 test pilot A. N. Ekatov lifted the I-200 into the air, and soon reached 648 km / h and an altitude of 12 thousand meters, but a catastrophe occurred in the last flight. Nevertheless, in December, the fighter was renamed in honor of Mikoyan and Gurevich in the MiG-1 and in January 1941 they began to build a series of machines, but the customers wanted to strengthen the armament and increase the flight range from 730 to 1250 km. The weight of the modified aircraft, called the MiG-3, increased from 2968 to 3350 kg, which worsened the characteristics of the aircraft, which was already considered "strict". And with the outbreak of the war, it turned out that at altitudes up to 5 thousand meters, where mainly air battles took place, the MiG-3 was inferior to enemy aircraft. They were going to equip it with AM-38 engines of 1600 hp, but they were required for Il-2 attack aircraft, and in December 1941 the production of "MIGs" was stopped, transferring 3322 fighters to the troops.
But Mikoyan and Gurevich were sure that it was too early to write off their plane and at the end of the same year they built five I-210 fighters. It was created under an M-82A air-cooled engine with a capacity of 1600 hp, armed with three synchronized U BS machine guns with a caliber of 12.7 mm. On trials in 1942. reached a speed of only 565 km / h and an altitude of about 9 thousand meters, affected the wide "forehead" of the engine. They did not remake the plane and took up the I-211 (E).
It was equipped with an ASh-82F 14-cylinder air-cooled engine with a capacity of 1700 hp, two ShVAK guns synchronized with the rotation of the propeller were installed in the center section. In 1944, two I-211s successfully passed factory tests. They developed a speed of up to 670 km / h, climbed 11, 3 thousand meters and covered 1140 km. But the air regiments already had La-5s with the same power plant and similar weapons, moreover, made from non-scarce materials.
Mikoyan and Gurevich stopped experimenting with air-cooled engines and in 1942 they released the I-220 (L, MiG-11) 9.5 m long, with a wing span of 20.3 m2. The armament has become more powerful - four ShVAK.
The first I-220 since January 1944 flew with the AM-38F engine, which was later replaced by the AM-39, the speed was 633 km / h, the flight altitude was 9.5 thousand m, and its range was 730 km. The second copy from AM-39 in the summer of that year accelerated to 697 km / h. But the 220th did not go further than state tests.
The next was the I-221 (2A, MiG-7) with a take-off weight of 3883 kg with a wingspan of 13 m. It was used with the used AM-38A, equipped with two TK-2B turbochargers, with which the aircraft developed 689 km / h. However, in December 1943 the plane crashed and did not recover.
In 1944, the I-222 (ZA, MiG-7) high-altitude fighter-interceptor was produced with a sealed, ventilated cockpit for high-altitude flights. She was equipped with bulletproof glasses and an armored back. The AM-39B-1 engine with a TK-ZOOB turbocharger, which developed 1860 hp, rotated a 4-blade propeller, water and oil coolers were in the wing, and two 20 mm ShVAK cannons were intended to defeat the enemy.
Mikoyan and Gurevich stubbornly continued to improve the car. So, in the same 1944, the I-224 (4A, MiG-11) was manufactured with the same, but forced power plant and similar weapons, designed for a flight range of 1400 km. This fighter was only factory tested …
It was followed by a lightweight I-225 (5A) fighter up to 3012 kg with an AM-42B engine and a TK-ZOOB turbocharger, developing 1750-2000 hp, an Imi wing span of 20.3 m2, four ShVAK. The estimated flight range was supposed to be 1300 km, and the altitude was 12.6 thousand meters. On July 21, the fighter took off from the runway. However, an accident occurred in August. After her, the tests did not continue.
In 1943-1944. the first serial jet fighters appeared on the fronts of the Second World War, the British "Vampire" and "Meteor", the German Me-163, Me-262, He-162, in the USA they prepared the P-59 "Aircomet".
Our aircraft designers and engine engineers were late, so we had to start with combined units. In 1944 A. S. Yakovlev equipped the Yak-3 fighter with a liquid-reactive RD-1 located in the rear fuselage, and the speed of the Yak-ZRD increased from 740 to 780 km / h.
In February 1945 A. I. Mikoyan and M. I. Gurevich, only they designed an experienced all-metal fighter I-25O (aircraft K), equipping it with piston and air-jet engines with a total capacity of 2200 hp and armed with three G-20 cannons with a caliber of 20 mm. This machine made its first flight on March 3, 1945. Later, it managed to reach a speed of 820 km / h, reach an altitude of 12 thousand meters and fly 1380 km. This satisfied the military, and the fighter was adopted by the aviation of the Baltic and Northern fleets.
After him, in 1946, a purely jet I-300 (F) was rolled out to the test airfield, after being put into service, it changed its name to MiG-9 …
