On the morning of November 30, 1950, a US B-29 heavy bomber was bombing the Korean battlefield when suddenly a fighter flying past attacked it, causing it to be slightly damaged. The fighter flew so fast that the gunners on the B-29 had no time to aim, and the escorting F-80 jets quickly lost track of it, according to Airspacemag.com.

The B-29 crew’s report left American generals worried. American intelligence quickly determined that the attack aircraft was a new Soviet-made Mig-15 fighter, most likely flying from a base in Manchuria.

The Mig-15 fighter is about 10 m long, has a wingspan of 10 m, is 3.65 m high, is equipped with a Klimov VK-1 jet engine with a range of 1,198 km and a maximum speed of 298.6 m/s. It is equipped with two NR-23 23 mm cannons, one N-37 37 mm cannon and two 100 kg bombs or unguided missiles on the wing pylons.

After World War II, the Soviet Union began researching and producing jet fighters, with the first result being the Mig-9 aircraft born in 1946. However, the Mig-9 proved to be much weaker than its predecessor. rival to the American P-80 Shooting Star, because its jet engine is not powerful enough.

A stroke of luck came to the Soviet Union when British Prime Minister Clement Attlee invited Soviet scientists and engineers to visit the Rolls-Royce jet engine factory in an effort to thaw relations between the two countries. water. To the surprise of Soviet supreme leader Joseph Stalin, Britain even  agreed to license the production of this engine in the Soviet Union with a commitment to only use it for non-military purposes.

When these engines were imported to the Soviet Union, engine designer Vladimir Klimov immediately began research and created the Klimov RD-45 engine, creating the premise for the production of the Mig-15. The Mig-15 fighter was officially assigned to the Soviet Air Force in 1949 to specialize in intercepting American bombers such as the B-29. 

After that, the Soviet Union exported Mig-15 widely abroad, including China. The Korean War broke out, Mig-15s piloted by Chinese and North Korean pilots  began to appear on the battlefield.

A Mig-15 takes off after being restored in Hungary in 2011

National Interest military analyst Michael Peck said the appearance of Mig-15 fighters on the Korean peninsula is a real shock to American pilots who are accustomed to dominating the sky.

The Soviet Mig-15 jet fighters were so dangerous that the B-29, despite being heavily escorted by F-80 Shooting Star and F-84 Thunderjet fighters, had to switch its operations to nighttime, and air superiority temporarily belonged to the Chinese pilots.

For B-29 pilots on the Korean battlefield, the image of Mig-15s passing through their formation became an obsession. “I have to say everyone was scared at that time,” Earl McGill, a former B-29 pilot, recalled.

The climax was on a disastrous day in October 1951, known as Black Tuesday, when Mig-15 fighters eliminated 6 out of 9 US B-29s in Korea from combat.

Porfiriy Ovsyannikov, a former Mig-15 pilot, assessed that the defensive weapons on the B-29 were very good, but the Mig-15 could fire from a distance of more than 600 meters to shoot down the B-29 and use its extremely high speed to escape from the helplessness of the American escort planes.

Face a worthy opponent

The Mig-15’s superiority forced the US Air Force to quickly dispatch the newly developed F-86 Sabre fighter to North Korea to regain balance in air combat.

The F-86 fighter was considered a worthy opponent, because it had better diving ability than the Mig-15 but was weaker in climbing and acceleration. The F-86 had a more stable gun barrel, but less firepower than the Mig-15, and its sturdy airframe also made the Mig-15 difficult to shoot down.

The most famous dogfights between the Mig-15 and F-86 took place in the “Mig Alley” area of ​​northern Korea. Here, these fighters often compete hand-to-hand in one-on-one battles, marking the birth of the first form of air combat between jet aircraft in the world.

American historians calculate that a total of 224 F-86 Sabre fighters and 566 Mig-15 fighters were destroyed in the fierce air battles over the Korean battlefield, meaning that one F-86 could shoot down 5.6 Mig-15s (a ratio of 1:5.6). However, former Soviet pilots believe that this ratio was only 1:1.4.

Impressed with the Mig-15 and eager to explore this fighter, the US promised to pay $100,000 to any North Korean pilot who defected with the plane. Finally, the US was satisfied when North Korean pilot lieutenant No Kum-sok controlled a Mig-15 to land at Kimpo airport in South Korea on October 21, 1953.

After the Korean War, the Mig-15s gradually became obsolete and were replaced by the Mig-17 fighter. In total, more than 18,000 Mig-15 fighters were built and served in the air forces of more than 40 countries around the world.