russian soviet fighter aircraft world war development remedy problems found development operations replaced production line factory december built large numbers factory converted build june beginning operation service soviet air_force soviet territorial air defense organization difficult fly peacetime combat designed high altitude combat combat eastern generally lower altitudes inferior german modern soviet fighters pressed service fighter bomber autumn equally time survivors concentrated withdrawn service end war development large number defects noted flight testing forced number modifications design testing size aircraft wind tunnel belonging central evaluate problems proposed solutions aircraft changes applied fourth prototype flew october approved production passing state acceptance trials improved aircraft named december completed december delivered end year changes included engine moved forward improve longitudinal stability new water fitted modifications allowed additional litres gal fuel tank fitted underneath pilot seat outer wing panel increased degree increase lateral stability additional oil tank mounted engine fitted use cooled exhaust fuel tanks reduce chance fire pilot seat armored plate increased later models streamlined main landing gear strengthened size main wheels increased canopy extended aft improve view rear allowed installation shelf pilot radio later upgraded instrument panel layout improved replaced original ammunition guns increased rounds gun additional added carry bombs spray containers rockets state acceptance testing production aircraft conducted january february found heavier reduced field performance time decreased minute service ceiling proved faster sea level altitude ranges reached aircraft farther older aircraft required protested range results calculations showed reach based specific fuel consumption mile state acceptance trials mile operational trials conducted earlier showed mile blamed failure use altitude correction engines properly adjusted went far arranging flights moscow prove fly production aircraft flown ranges flying maximum speed altitude report air force scientific test institute despite problems aircraft designers awarded contribution soviet aviation number reports received poor quality aircraft received regiments pointed directly responsible monitoring quality aircraft delivered decreed number senior managers demoted head institute major general executed number found unacceptable performance high altitudes despite designed high altitude oxygen supply insufficient stall spin characteristics dangerous especially inexperienced pilots demonstrated april pilots 31st fighter regiment attempted intercept german high altitude reconnaissance aircraft lithuania flying aircraft entered spins pilots forced bail killed sent engineer investigate found pilots flown hours high altitude sortie problems included insufficient fuel oil pressure altitude problems pumps comparison fighters speed mph metres faster mph german service beginning mph lower altitudes speed advantage disappeared maximum speed sea level mph mph unfortunately pilots aerial combat eastern generally took place low medium altitudes speed advantage loaded weight greater horizontal plane higher wing loading lack exacerbated poor climb performance instability high speeds aerial gunnery difficult point aim wandering requiring constant pilot input remain target armament standard armament machine gun machine guns mounted engine synchronized fire propeller arc contrast versions german encountered cannon machine guns meaning armed little better remedy problem aircraft built machine gun pod wing lowered speed mph altitudes unpopular pilots removed pods aircraft equipped pair machine guns lieu weapons aircraft machine guns fitted carry rockets total aircraft mounted pair cannon wide variety armaments experimented units requests pilots shortages production announced production plan december required build total begin construction complete aircraft end year start plan construction upgraded version program canceled shortly delivered january pace exceed delivered july august september october german advance moscow forced factory evacuate production resumed unsuitable conditions shortly sent telegram directors plants building demanding production resulting production terminated favor final thirty aircraft built additional factor cancellation engine closely related allowing production quickly switched production planned reduced order august required factory produce fighters september declining december production december aircraft repair plant transferred redesignated begin production german advance disrupted plans produced single operational history delivered line fighter regiments beginning spring handful pilots accustomed lower performance remained tricky demanding fly extensive improvements fighter regiments kept pace training pilots handle rapid pace deliveries resulted units having trained pilots german invasion june strength trained pilots contrast pilots 31st fighter regiment 4th fighter regiment able claim german high altitude reconnaissance aircraft shot war broke june high altitude combat sort prove uncommon eastern air air engagements altitudes metres altitudes respects new soviet fighters like furthermore shortage ground attack aircraft forced role totally pilot recalled perfect altitudes lower altitudes cow weakness second armament weapons failure aircraft weakness inaccurate closed fired point blank june border military districts soviet_union total hand non operational additional assigned air_force air_force 4th 55th fighter regiments assigned experiences day war taken typical 4th experienced unit shot romanian reconnaissance bomber confirmed post war research lost aircraft crashed obstacle 55th experienced claimed aircraft shot recent research confirms german damaged suffered pilots killed aircraft lost unusual case pair dispatched 55th reconnaissance mission failed properly fuel consumption forced land ran fuel assigned interior military districts transferred lack performance low altitudes important july assigned bulk belonging 6th moscow remained total despite deliveries aircraft october eve german offensive moscow operation typhoon assigned units navy total decrease fighters july despite deliveries thousand aircraft intervening period december start soviet counter offensive drove germans gates moscow navy hand total increase aircraft october winter soviets transferred remaining navy left strength naval aviation strength hand june navy transferred aircraft reported strength gone january undoubtedly remained training units like assigned combat units limitations leading soviet allied ace war official air victories plus shared recorded number victories flying beginning war later recalled designers rarely succeeded matching fighter flight characteristics firepower operational advantage obscured certain defects advantages undoubtedly exploited pilot able discover variants attempts engine aircraft engine originally designed designated converted evaluate engine proved poor longitudinal stability powerplant number problems german invasion following month caused cancellation development resources required engines production improve low level performance aircraft tested engine july proved mph faster normal sea level recommended production passing state acceptance trials september provided cure engine tendency ambient temperatures found sole prototype shot october flight tests decided proceed idea production allocated ironically later war rearmed cannon ordered convert use radial engine entering production resulting aircraft variety names including design failure promising continue program variety tests projects conducted leading edge evaluated fitted production aircraft bladed propeller fitted aircraft increase thrust high altitude enable fighter catch high flying aircraft moscow new propeller hub mounted standard blades known project aircraft converted carry cameras evaluation fifth converted evaluate improvements learned approved use trials improve service ceiling aircraft weight details known reached height metres proposal use combination mother ship engined bomber carry fast dive bomber fighters modified carry bomb wing close target release conduct attack fly nearest friendly preliminary work germans invaded abandoned pressure work combination estimated maximum speed mph range survivors russian company rebuilt use engines rebuilt shot flew start remain russia operators soviet_union naval aviation specifications data years secret aircraft design general characteristics crew length wingspan height wing area weight loaded weight powerplant liquid cooled performance maximum speed mph knots maximum speed sea level mph knots combat range service ceiling wing loading power mass climb min armament machine gun machine guns bombs spray containers chemicals gas rockets
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3