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Mikoyan, Artem Ivanovich1905-1970 |
Gurevich, Mikhail Iosifovich1892-1976 |
Portraits found at Roy Cochrun's
Page - a place to visit monthly !
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A .M.Mikoyan graduated form the Engineering Department of the
VVA in 1937. His career started on the
aircraft assembly plant (as a military representative). In 1939 he became a
deputy of N.N.Polikarpov responsible for the series production of the
I-153.
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M .I.Gurevich was working on production of the licensed Douglas DC-3. In early
1939 he joined N.N.Polikarpov
design bureau, where he was working on several experimental aircraft, including high altitude interceptor 'Kh'.
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On December 8, 1939 parts of the
N.N.Polikarpov's team and SKO of the
Assembly Plant-1 'Aviakhim' were put together to became a MiG
OKB. Among other designers who joined new team were V.A.Romadin, N.Z.Matjuk,
N.I.Adrianov, Ya.I.Seletsky, A.G.Brunov,D.N.Kourguzov and others. Project 'Kh' was transferred to this new team when
N.N.Polikarpov was on business trip to Germany.
Later, when the 'Kh' entered production under designation MiG-1,
N.N.Polikarpov was credited for his contribution... and assigned to a different
factory.
Since then - OKB MiG became (mostly) fighter/interceptor design team.
The I-200/MiG-1/MiG-3
became the best high altitude interceptor of 1940. Unfortunately, aircraft
with this role was not that useful at the Eastern Front when the war broke out.
Armored attacker of the Mikoyan-Gurevich team was ready for assembly in
1940, but cancelled in favour of the
Il-2.
During the WWII they worked on improvements in MiG-3 design.
Armament was increased, more and more powerful turbocharged engines fitted... But those aircraft (often with
record high performance) did not enter production (mostly) due to relying on experimental engines.
In 1941-42 twin-engined long
range fighter DIS rolled out. It did not became
a series model because Pe-2 with its variants already was in production.
Success came right during last months of the war. The 'N'/I-250/MiG-13 with
mixed powerplant became the fastest Soviet fighter and entered production, staying in service until
1950. This was one of the last fighter with piston engine in Soviet service.
Since 22 October 1946
('F'/I-300/MiG-9 rolled out) comes the Era of MiG jets... Those aircraft are well known
all over the world, and I'll leave this chapter for future development.
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