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In 1965 American forces were prohibited from attacking North Vietnam’s fighter airfields, allowing its pilots to train, rest and launch at times of their choosing. Equally important, as American radar coverage did not reach those airfields, the fighters’ takeoffs went undetected. Those technological and tactical challenges to the United States would be overcome in the intervening years, but in the meantime the North Vietnamese came to understand and exploit both U.S. operating patterns and rules of engagement.
The Vietnam People’s Air Force (VPAF) was introduced to the MiG-17 (which carried the NATO designation Fresco) in October 1960, when 57 of its pilots were dispatched to China’s Son Dong Air Base for conversion training. Another handful of pilots went to Russia to train. Essentially an evolutionary improvement on the Korean War’s MiG-15, the MiG-17 was a subsonic, swept-wing fighter aircraft that entered Soviet service in 1953. The MiG-17F production variant constituted the bulk of those provided North Vietnam. Its Klimov VK-1 afterburning jet engine provided a maximum thrust of 5,900 pounds, giving the plane a thrust-to-weight ratio of .45 to 1 and a top speed of Mach .97 at 15,000 feet in a clean configuration (no drop tanks or bombs).
Easy to maintain, small and nimble, the MiG-17 proved very capable against its high-performance American adversaries.
It was basically our fault that the early MIGs were so good. The Russians couldn't build a good jet engine in the late 40's so we sold them some which were contracted to be used in civilian planes only and the Russians agreed.
Later when the US got hold of a downed MIG they took it apart to see why the performance was so good (better than the US planes) and basically found a Rolls Royce engine inside. They had just ignored the deal and reverse engineered the engines.
Took them ages to forgive us, assuming they ever have.
SB
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MiG-17 Afterburner Glow in the Twilight on 16:03 - Feb 16 with 521 views
MiG-17 Afterburner Glow in the Twilight on 15:56 - Feb 16 by StokieBlue
It was basically our fault that the early MIGs were so good. The Russians couldn't build a good jet engine in the late 40's so we sold them some which were contracted to be used in civilian planes only and the Russians agreed.
Later when the US got hold of a downed MIG they took it apart to see why the performance was so good (better than the US planes) and basically found a Rolls Royce engine inside. They had just ignored the deal and reverse engineered the engines.
Took them ages to forgive us, assuming they ever have.
SB
They talk about some of that in the 'Cold War, Hot Jets' documentary. Worth a watch if you haven't seen it before. Some good footage too.
MiG-17 Afterburner Glow in the Twilight on 15:56 - Feb 16 by StokieBlue
It was basically our fault that the early MIGs were so good. The Russians couldn't build a good jet engine in the late 40's so we sold them some which were contracted to be used in civilian planes only and the Russians agreed.
Later when the US got hold of a downed MIG they took it apart to see why the performance was so good (better than the US planes) and basically found a Rolls Royce engine inside. They had just ignored the deal and reverse engineered the engines.
Took them ages to forgive us, assuming they ever have.
SB
More that the Soviets were trying to copy the Geman wartime designs, which had greater technical potential, but were at that stage fantastically unreliable (Whittle had deliberately opted for a more basic, but tried-and-tested form of compressor in the British engines, plus we had better metallurgy).
The Mig-15's higher performance - at certain altitudes and speeds - was also down to weight and superior aerodynamics (again copied from German wartime work).