(Yellow?)-18
MIKOYAN & GUREVICH, MIG-3
631 IAP PVO of 141 IAD PVO. circa Kuybyshev (modern day Samara), Russia, June, 1943.
This plane featured in Mosfilm's 1944 movie 'Sky of Moscow' (Небо Москвы in Russian)
In the movie it's flown by the Lieutenant Colonel Poloshov (A fictional character).
IN REAL LIFE
(Yellow?)-18 is one of a number of airplanes of the 631st IAP which we know about only through the footage in the 1944 movie called “Sky of Moscow”. The movie was filmed in Kuybyshev in June 1943 [1]. At that time the closest fighter regiment in that area was the 631st IAP PVO of 141 IAD PVO, which might have operated from the Sizran airfield (As was determined in a forum on scalemodels.ru). It is highly likely that the footage featuring the movie’s MiG-3 airplanes was filmed on the airfield of 631st IAP PVO and most of the planes in the film, including (Yellow?)-18 are real, operational airplanes of this PVO unit.
Throughout 1943, 141st Division was tasked with defending the government agencies which were evacuated from Moscow (Kuybyshev was to be Russia's alternative capital should Moscow be captured by the Germans). It was also tasked with defending the industrial centres in the cities of Kuybyshev, Penza, Ulianovsk and Chapaevsk, as well as some of the railway bridges across the Volga and Samarka rivers[2].
Based on the available information about 631 IAP it is known that this regiment received its MiGs in October1942 [3]. It is also known that the only air victory that is recorded by the 631 IAP occurred in June 1944 (a year after the the start of the filming of ‘Sky of Moscow’) when junior lieutenant G.P. Lebedev heroically rammed a German Junkers Ju-88 bomber during an air battle in the Gorodishe region[4]. Based on this information one can only presume that the MiGs of 631 IAP PVO, including (Yellow?)-18, didn't see a lot of battle action in the summer of 1943 while guarding the city of Kuybyshev, which might explain why they were able to be used in the filming of the movie 'Sky of Moscow' while in service with the PVO.
IN THE MOVIE
In the fictional movie 'Sky of Moscow' this plane is flown by the commander of the regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Poloshov himself. It is flown by him during the movie's final battle where almost every plane of the regiment was scrambled into the air to defend Moscow from a specially heavy German night-bombing raid.
Noteworthy Visual Characteristics
1. On Patreon
2. Equipped with an inert gas pipe
3. It appears that the lower section of the nose is slightly darker than the rest o the nose. It's possible that this section has fresher black paint on it, or maybe it's from a different plane. You can find reference for this by clicking on the timestamp below . 'Yellow-18' is the plane in the background
https://youtu.be/MeJ8heAU4TI?t=3598
4. On Patreon
5. Note that the leading edge of the vertical stabiliser looks like it has some sort of a patch on it, probably applied after some repairs to this area. To confirm this please have a look at the link below:
https://youtu.be/MeJ8heAU4TI?t=3598
6. 'Yellow-18' most likely had a non-retractible tailwheel, based on the absence of wheel doors and the fact that most MiGs in the movie seem to have a fixed tailwheel too.
7. Note the gap in the corner of the canopy. You can see it best in this timestamp https://youtu.be/MeJ8heAU4TI?t=3976
8. On Patreon
9. On Patreon
Here are a few closeup images to help illustrate the points above. Full set of closeup images is On Patreon
FOOTNOTES
[1] This information is based on this video which talks about the movie ‘Sky of Moscow’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5c3C1qvaE8
[3] This information is taken from here: http://ava.org.ru/iap/631.htm . Also, do scroll down when you go to this link to see a bunch of photo reference for the MiGs of 631 IAP PVO.
[4] This information is taken from the Russian Wikipedia entry https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/631-%D0%B9_%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B1%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BA_%D0%9F%D0%92%D0%9E
Links To the reference images and videos
Great reference for this plane's left side can be seen at 13:03 - 13:05
https://youtu.be/MeJ8heAU4TI?t=783
59:58 - 1:00:03
https://youtu.be/MeJ8heAU4TI?t=3598
1:03:50 - 1:04:24
https://youtu.be/MeJ8heAU4TI?t=3830
1:06:15 - 1:06:43
https://youtu.be/MeJ8heAU4TI?t=3975
For the plane's left side there is very poor reference. We can seen in the background in these parts of the movie (as mentioned previously):
https://youtu.be/MeJ8heAU4TI?t=783
and
https://youtu.be/MeJ8heAU4TI?t=482
Some links to static shots here:
https://i.postimg.cc/CL6TnhZ2/PDVD-008.jpg
All the work presented on this is page is subject to updates and revisions in the light of new information which might present itself. If you have any new information relevant to this page or disagree with anything that's presented here, then please feel free to contact me through the Planes in Profile Facebook page. Thanks:)
