Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17
| Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Restored MiG-17 in the markings of the Polish Air Force | |
| Role | Fighter aircraft |
| National origin | Soviet Union |
| Manufacturer | Mikoyan-Gurevich |
| First flight | 14 January 1950 |
| Introduction | October 1952 |
| Status | Limited service |
| Primary users |
Soviet Air Force PLA Air Force Polish Air Force Vietnam People's Air Force |
| Number built | 11,060 |
| Developed from | Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 |
| Variants |
PZL-Mielec Lim-6 Shenyang J-5 |
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (Russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-17) (NATO reporting name: Fresco) (China:Shenyang J-5) (Poland: PZL-Mielec Lim-5) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the USSR from 1952 and operated by numerous air forces in many variants. It is an advanced development of the very similar appearing MiG-15 of the Korean War.
The MiG-17 first saw combat in 1958 over the Straits of Taiwan and was used as an effective threat against supersonic fighters of the United States in the Vietnam War. It was also briefly known as the Type 38, by U.S. Air Force designation prior to the development of NATO codes.
While the MiG-15bis introduced swept wings to air combat over Korea, the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau had already begun work on its replacement in 1949 (originally the MiG-15bis45) in order to fix any problems found with the MiG-15 in combat. The result was one of the most successful transonic fighters introduced before the advent of true supersonic types such as the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 and North American F-100 Super Sabre. The design would ultimately still prove effective into the 1960s when pressed into subsonic dogfights over Vietnam against much faster planes which were not optimized for maneuvering in such slower speed, short-range engagements.
While the MiG-15 used a Mach sensor to deploy airbrakes because it could not safely exceed Mach 0.92, the MiG-17 was designed to be controllable at higher Mach numbers. Early versions which retained the original Soviet copy of the Rolls-Royce Nene VK-1 engine were heavier with equal thrust. Later MiG-17s would be the first Soviet fighter application of an afterburner which offered increased thrust on demand by dumping fuel in the exhaust of the basic engine.
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Wikipedia