MiG-21 «Fishbed»
About the plane
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, NATO-Code Fishbed, was built in many variants and was or is in service in more than 50 countries. To this day, modified variants of the MiG-21 under the name of J-7 and F-8 are built under license in China. In the Soviet Union, the last MiG-21 were completed in the middle of the 1970s. The product version of the MiG-21 was one of the most powerful multipurpose fighters of the world in its day. More than 12000 units have been built and in 2004, 3000 of them were still in service, some even being modernized until today, in about 40 armies all around the globe. As recently as 2002, 31 MiG-21 from Kazakhstan found their way via China to North Korea. It therefore remains the world’s most often built fighter jet in post WWII time.
Distinctive is the nose air intake. The MiG-21 reaches speeds of more than 2200 km/h and is therefore almost as fast as the MiG-29 Fulcrum.
At the COPE-India 2004, the modernized Indian MiG-21 could stand their ground against American McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, which however didn’t have AWACS-support. The MiG-21 was modified to remain state-of-the-art several times and different companies offered modernization programs. There are even variants which were capable of firing NATO-weapons such as the Sidewinder or the AMRAAM. Even in the US Air Force, there exist MiG-21, called YF-110. The MiG-21 was designed for air combat of short and medium distance, but is able to attack ground- and sea-targets, as well.
Flight program of the MiG-21
The following maneuvers will be flown:
- Rolls
- Immelmans
- Loopings
- Split-S
- Climbing
- Diving and vertical diving
- Tail-Slide
Passengers will have the opportunity to fly the MiG-21 themselves during parts of the flight!
As US-regulations don’t allow private persons to break the sonic barrier since September 11th 2001, the MiG-21 only flies at subsonic speeds.
Technical specifications MiG-21 Fishbed
- One Tumansky R-11F with 56.4 kN of thrust
- Maximum speed: Mach 2
- Service ceiling: 19000 m
- Empty weight: 5643 kg | Max takeoff weight: 8630 kg
- Wingspan: 7.15 m | Length: 13.46 m |
