(YELLOW?)-60
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 REAL LIFE
(Yellow?)-60 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?)-60 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?)-60, 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', 'Yellow-60' is one of the 7 hero planes defending the Russian capital from waves of German night bombing raids. It is not known who flew it in real life or in the movie.
Noteworthy visual characteristics
1. On Patreon
2. On Patreon
3. Equipped with an inert gas pipe
4. The tactical number and the spinner appear to be too dark to be white, but too light to be red, they were probably yellow.
5. On Patreon
6. 'Yellow-60' Most likely had a non-retractible tailwheel. This can't be confirmed based on the reference I had, but it seems like all the MiGs in the movie have a fixed tailwheel, probably including the 'Yellow-60'.
7. Note the paintbrush dabbing marks on some of the borders between the two colours on the port side of the plane. It's not known if they were also present on the starboard side of the plane. In this profile they have been included on the starboard side , for consistency -but this is hypothetical.
8. 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
Yellow-60 appears quite prominently in some shots and in the background of others. Very good reference for this plane can be seen at around 21:58-22:10 of the movie https://youtu.be/MeJ8heAU4TI?t=1317
It also appears here: https://youtu.be/MeJ8heAU4TI?t=3966
The reference for the right side of the plane is not great. The plane appears a few times in the background of some shots, the best of which are at 25:39 - 25:41 where the plane is behind the pilots. https://youtu.be/MeJ8heAU4TI?t=1539
and at 1:16:29 - 1:16:45 where it's the plane in the background, behind 'Yellow-49' https://youtu.be/MeJ8heAU4TI?t=4589
Some stills here: https://i.postimg.cc/mDwDBJB7/PDVD-024.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:)
