MIKOYAN MIG-15 MODEL

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (NATO reporting name Fagot) was a jet fighter developed for the USSR by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful swept-wing jet fighters, and it achieved fame in the skies over Korea, where it outclassed all enemy fighters except the F-86 Sabre.

The MiGs combat success and its dependability made the plane very popular with Eastern Bloc and Communist nations around the world. Since 1950 roughly 7,500 MiG-15s have been built in Russia, Czechoslovakia, Poland and China.

The MiG-15 arguably had sufficient power to dive at supersonic speeds, but could not do so because it did not feature an ""all-flying"" tail. As a result, the pilots ability to control the aircraft deteriorated significantly as Mach 1 was approached. Later MiGs would incorporate all-flying tails. A variety of MiG-15 variants were built, but the most common was the MiG-15UTI (NATO reporting name Midget) two-seat trainer.

The MiG-15 was widely exported, with the Peoples Republic of China receiving MiG-15bis models in 1950 and is also believed to have been the most numerous jet aircraft ever made, with over 12,000 built. In the late 1980s, the first MiG-15 appeared on the civilian register in the USA, and in the last decade, at least 20 have been licensed as warbirds around the world.