Just posted a comment: In case you were wondering where the MIG came from
In Case you were wondering where the MIG came from:
Artem
Mikoyan (
M), born August 05 (OS
old style i.e. another calendar*- 23 July) 1905 in
Sanahin,
Elisabethpol Governorate, Russian Empire. Today known as Armenia.
After serving in the military, as a conscript, he went on to study at the Zhukovsky Air Force Acedemy.
In 1939 he became head of the aircraft design in Moscow. Where he joined forces with Mikhail
Gurevich (
G).
Mikhail Iosifovich Gurevich was born 12 January 1893 [O.S.31 December 1892] near Kersk, Russai. A gymnast, was later expelled from his University in the Ukraine where he was studying Mathematics. He then enrolled in a university in Montpellier, France, before moving on to The
École Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (
SUPAERO) Toulouse, France, translated as Frances, National Higher Institute of Aeronautics and Space Acedemy. He was in fact in the same class(year) as the famous French aviation engineer Marcel Dassault who went on to create the Dassault Aviation (Alpha jet, Mirage 2000).
Fast forward to 1947.
New Soviet airframe designs from their design bureaus, and near-sonic wing designs were threatening to outstrip development of the jet engines needed to power them. It was suggested to Joseph Stalin that the USSR buy advanced jet engines from the British. Stalin is said to have replied: "What fool will sell us his secrets?" He did however agree.
Officials traveled to the United Kingdom to request the engines. To Stalin's amazement, the British Labour government and its pro-Soviet Minister of Trade, Sir Stafford Cripps were willing to provide technical information and a licence to manufacture the Rolls Royce Nene jet engine.
(Amazing is probably not the right word) – and there is no cheap dig at the labour government intended on my part-.
And so the MIG could take off (lol) the
i from what I can gather is Russian for “and”.
* O.S. The Gregorian calendar was implemented in Russia on
14 February 1918 by dropping the Julian dates of 1–
13 February 1918 pursuant to a Sovnarkom decree signed
24 January 1918 (Julian) by Vladimir Lenin. Which when looking at history you will see dates by N.S. means New Style.
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I'm waiting to see if he can find an F14 Tomcat, now there is a plane with a history! It was sold to the Iranians and saw combat against Iraq
WTF sold to the Iranians?
I kid you not.
I doubt if he will ever find one unless he goes to Iran. Even in Davis Monthan AMARC scrapyard (or boneyard) you will not come across one as they were retired -under Dick Cheney- and all sensitive materiel was stripped from them and then they were put though the shredder -now that is what I call going overboard.
Here is a photo of
part of the scrapyard.
Needless to say that there was some illegal smuggling going on between unscrupulous Americans and Iranians. If anyone is interested google - I bet you have already guessed it, anything to do with government skulduggery ends with '
gate'
Irangate.