Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 (Russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-19) (NATO reporting name: "Farmer") is a Soviet second-generation, single-seat, twin jet-engined fighter aircraft. It was the first Soviet production aircraft capable of supersonic speeds in level flight. A comparable U.S. "Century Series" fighter was the North American F-100 Super Sabre, although the MiG-19 would primarily oppose the more modern McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and Republic F-105 Thunderchief over North Vietnam.

Design and development

On 20 April 1951, OKB-155 was given the order to develop the MiG-17 into a new fighter called "I-340", which was to be powered by two Mikulin AM-5 non-after-burning jet engines (a scaled-down version of the Mikulin AM-3) delivering 19.6 kN (4,400 lbf) of thrust. The I-340 was supposed to attain 1,160 km/h (630 kn; 720 mph) (Mach 1) at 2,000 m (6,600 ft), 1,090 km/h (590 kn; 680 mph) (Mach 0.97) at 10,000 m (33,000 ft), climb to 10,000 m (33,000 ft) in 2.9 minutes, and have a service ceiling of no less than 17,500 m (57,400 ft). The new fighter, internally designated "SM-1", was designed around the "SI-02" airframe (a MiG-17 prototype) modified to accept two engines in a side-by-side arrangement and was completed in March 1952.