Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9, part one

Back in February 1945 the Soviet Council of People's Commissars ordered Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau to develop a single-seat jet fighter that was powered by the German BMW 003 engines.As it was intended to destroy strategical bombers, it was going to be heavily armed; its expected armament was a single 57mm (2.2in) or 37mm (1.5in) fast-firing guns plus two 23mm (0.9in) guns. According to the directive, it also had to have a maximum speed of 900km/h (559mph) at sea level and it had to achieve a speed of 910km/h (565mph) at 5000m high (16400ft). It had to climb to that altittude in four minutes or less and had to have a range of 820km (510mi). Three prototypes were ordered with a deadline on 15th March 1946.
The prototype, called I-300 by Mikoyan-Gurevich, had a 'pod-and-boom' configuration as it offered many advantages in landing performance and had better visibility from the cockpit when landing, but it had also some setbacks like the unusual tricycle arrangement landing gear which protected the rear fuselage from the jet exhaust, and where to place the aircraft's armament.
It was an all-metal with unswept mid-mounted wings with two prominents air intakes in the nose. Both spar-wings were equipped with slotted flaps and Frise ailerons. It was powered by two RD-20 turbojets (which were a Soviet copy of the German BMW 003) integrated into the fuselage, with a power of 7.8kN (1754lbf) each of them. A steel laminate heatshield was installed on the bottom of the rear fuselage in order to protect it from the exhaust gasses and the fuselage held four bag-type fuel tanks plus other three in each wing, providing a total internal fuel capacity of 1625L (429US gal) and the cockpit wasn't pressurized.
The construction of the three prototypes began in late 1945 and the first prototype was ready to be tested on 30th December. However it wasn't until 24th April 1946 that it flew for the first time, after luck favoured MiG bureau in the rivalry with Yakovlev to see which one would be the first official Soviet jet aircraft to flight. MiG won the contest and they were awarded with a production contract with production starting in 1946 at the No.1 factory in Kazan.
A total of 598 exemplars were manufactured and they served with the Soviet Air Force from 1946 until 1948 (when they replaced by the better MiG-15) and they served with the Fighter Regiments of the 1st, 7th, 14th, 15th and 16th Air Armies with the 15th and 16th based in Kaliningrad and East Germany respectively. Additionaly, the 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment, of the 303rd Aviation Division, based in Yaroslavl, in the USSR, flew the aircraft in 1949 as an interim fighter before receiving the MiG-15.
The USSR sent six Air Divisions, each of them with two Fighter Regiments, to China in November/December 1950 to defend the air space and train Chinese pilots after the outbreak of the Korean War.
The 17th Guards Fighter Aviation Division was based in Shenyang area, the 20th Fighter Aviation Division was based in Tangshan and the 65th Fighter Aviation Division was based in Guangzhou. Shortly later the 144th Fighter Aviation Division arrived in Shanghai, the 309th Fighter Aviation Division was sent to Gongzhuling and the 328th Fighter Aviation Division was assigned to protect Peking. After the training was completed they handed over the MiG-9s to the 6th, 7th, 12th, 14th, 16th and 17th Fighter Divisions of the, back then, newly created, People's Liberation Army Air Force. They considered to send the MiG-9s to Korea, as the Soviets pressured them, however, after some after battle reports about the performance of the F-86 Sabre and other UN fighters, they considered that it was better to retrain their pilots on the MiG-15 as it was a better adversary for the F-86 Sabre.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-9
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters