(Mikoyan & Gurevich)
MiG-3
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MiG-3 was an outcome of constant improvements made to the MiG-1 variant. Even as Mig-1 hastily hit the production lines in 1940 it was still undergoing changes to its design. By the time 100th MiG-1 left the factory these new improvements were incorporated into the production lines and from 101st MiG onwards the variant became known as MiG-3. The MiG-3 variant proceeded to be built by the Soviets until the end of 1941, with 3422 MiG-3s built in total. It was therefore the first successful, mass produced fighter of the legendary ‘Mikoyan and Gurevich’ bureau.
MiG-3 was a high-altitude fighter-interceptor, built with speed as one of its primary “weapons” - intended to chase and destroy the high flying enemy aircraft. At high altitudes (above 5000 meters) MiG-3 was the fastest fighter of all its contemporaries and was well maneuverable. In fact it was arguably one of the best fighter planes when it came to fighting above 5000 meters. It began to prove itself around the time of the invasion of USSR in 1941 when it downed a few German high- flying reconnaissance airplanes, surprising and worrying the German commanders who did not realise that the Soviets possessed modern aircraft capable of intercepting their planes at altitudes as high as 10,000 meters. For the Soviets therefore, MiG-3 was promising to be a deadly force in the high skies above the Soviet borders.
Unfortunately for MiG-3, the high altitude air war on the Eastern Front did not come. Germans generally opted against using the long range strategic bombings on the Eastern Front (In the beginning anyway) which would have required the high flying aircraft which could be challenged by MiG-3s. They didn’t really have the planes suited for the very long distance strategic bombings they’d require for USSR, nor did they find strategic bombings very effective as the Battle of Britain has demonstrated. Instead, Luftwafe’s main goal in the East was to provide full support to its ground forces which spearheaded Weirmacht’s advance into USSR. This meant that most of the air battles, especially during the opening stages of Operation Barbarossa, took place much closer to the ground than the Soviets anticipated, and the unrelenting advance of the German forces required USSR to throw all of its available resources to try and stop them, Including MiG-3s. This resulted in MiG-3s being pressed into service performing roles for which they were not designed, such as dogfighting the enemy at low altitudes or acting as ground-attack aircraft. In these roles MiG-3s were essentially “out of their element”. They were slower in level flight at low altitudes than the enemy’s latest fighters (though still faster than the earlier BF-109s), had an inferior climb rate due to their weight and were less maneuverable with their wide-arched turns. These roles kept MiG-3s strengths hidden and weaknesses exposed.
Among MiG-3’s deficiencies at low altitudes, one of the most frustrating was its ‘difficulty in handling’ . In the hands of a skilled pilot it could be a lethal weapon to be sure (when its guns didn’t jam), but for many beginners it was an unforgiving machine. Three times Hero of the Soviet Union, and the second (or third, depending on the source) highest scoring Allied fighter Ace of WW2 - Alexander (Sasha) Pokryshkin, who scored about 14 of his 59 officially confirmed personal victories while flying a MiG-3, once said this about his MiG-3s:
“I liked her from the start. She could be compared to a strict but fiery stallion: In the hands of a strong-willed rider it rushed like an arrow, but one who lost dominion over it could quickly end up under its hooves.” [1]
Despite MiG-3’s deficiencies, some gifted Soviet pilots such as Alexander Pokryshkin were able to discover and harness the advantages of this machine even at lower altitudes and went on to accomplish heroic things flying this airplane against a powerful enemy. Pilots such as V.V. Rybalko even loved these machines, with Rybalko saying that MiG-3 was his favourite fighter and that it was a ‘gallant’ fighter at high altitudes, though admitting that at low altitudes it was like an ‘iron’. Using MiG-3s helped pilots like Pokryshkin to develop their own successful tactics and maxims such as his ‘Altitude, Speed, Maneuver, Fire!’, which were embraced by many other future Soviet pilots, regardless of the fighter planes they flew. Pokryshkin’s tactic included gaining altitude and searching for the enemy from high above, then swooping down on top of them, gaining great speed during the dive, maneuvering to get into the right position and then opening fire! And when done, using the high speed of a MiG-3 gained during the dive to climb back up to higher altitudes and repeating the process over again. A tactic which was essentially the ‘boom & zoom’ tactic which was also successfully deployed by pilots of other nations.
But skilled pilots such as Pokryshkin were not plentiful and most other Soviet pilots did not have as much success with a MiG-3 which was unlucky for the MiGs. Another fact that contributed to MiG-3s bad luck was the fact that it used the AM-35A engine which was very similar to Il-2’s (Shturmovik) AM-38 engine. More Il-2s were needed at the front at the end of 1941, and therefore the production of AM-35A was switched to AM-38s and all of these new engines were required to go towards building more Shturmoviks. Thus, at the end of 1941, only about a year after the start of its production, the production of MiG-3s was terminated.
The existing, or rather - the ‘remaining’ MiG-3s continued to be in use until the end of WW2, mostly in (defensive) PVO (ProtivoVozdushnaya Oborona) positions, away from the main frontlines and combat units, where their deficiencies at low altitudes didn’t matter as much and where they could perform a role that was closer to what they were originally designed for - defence of Soviet assets from strategic bombings.
[1] Taken from a book called ‘Sky of War’ by Aleksandr Ivanovich Pokryshkin https://www.litmir.me/br/?b=22121&p=4
Specifications [1]
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 8.25 m (27 ft 1 in)
Wingspan: 10.2 m (33 ft 6 in)
Height: 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 17.44 m2 (187.7 sq ft)
Empty weight: 2,699 kg (5,950 lb)
Gross weight: 3,355 kg (7,397 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Mikulin AM-35A V-12 liquid-cooled piston engine, 993 kW (1,332 hp)
Propellers: 3-bladed variable-pitch propeller
Performance
Maximum speed: 505 km/h (314 mph, 273 kn) at sea level
640 km/h (400 mph; 350 kn) at 7,800 m (25,591 ft)
Combat range: 820 km (510 mi, 440 nmi)
Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,000 ft)
Time to altitude: 8,000 m (26,247 ft) in 10 minutes 17 seconds
Wing loading: 155 kg/m2 (32 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 0.30 kW/kg (0.18 hp/lb)
Armament
Guns:
2 × 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns in the cowl
(later models would feature additional 2 x UBK machine guns underwing, one per wing)
[1] All Specifications above are taken from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-3
Wikipedia’s data is taken from ‘MiG: Fifty Years of Secret Aircraft Design[33]’ by R.A. Belyakov and J. Marmain p.31