Wednesday, 6 March 2019

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis, other users

Preliminary note: This is a special post as we realized that we had forgot to post one set of MiG-15bis drawings.
The MiG-15bis was the main fighter of many countries during the early 1950s and in some cases even way beyond. The countries covered in this post are:

  • Cambodia: Apparently the Royal Khmer Air Force, established in 1954 bought initally a small amount of MiG-15bis. They served until the MiG-17 arrived in 1963. However, as we couldn't find graphical evidence, (and most probably the MiG-17s of the Royal Khmer Air Force were mistaken with the MiG-15)  the drawing should be considered as purely speculative.
  • Guinea-Bissau: One source claims that Guinea-Bissau had one MiG-15bis intended to be used as an advanced trainer. It was supplied in as late as 1974 (when the country got the independence from Portugal) but it was most probably mistaken with a MiG-17. We decided to drawn it nonetheless but with graphical evidences lacking, it should be taken as speculative.
  • Mongolia: Being an Eastern Bloc country, it comes no surprise that the MiG-15bis composed the main fighter force of the Mongolian People's Army Air Force. Forty-eight of them were supplied by the USSR in the early 1950s and were kept in active service until most of them were replaced by the MiG-17 in the late 1950s.
  • USSR: Being the home country of the MiG-15bis, it formed the bulk of the fighter force of the Soviet Air Forces (VVS). It served from 1950 until the mid 1950s when it was gradually replaced by the MiG-17 and was deployed everywhere were the VVS was. From East-Germany to the Far East, almost every VVS fighter regiment saw the MiG-15bis serving among their ranks. It was also used in acrobatical squadrons which increased even more its popularity among the Soviet citizens.
  • North Vietnam: One source claims that the MiG-15bis served with the North Vietnamese Air Force from its foundation in 1954 and was replaced in 1963 by the MiG-17. However, that data is wrong as the NVAF was founded in 1963 with the MiG-17 being the first jet fighter to serve there. Most probably as the MiG-17 and the MiG-15 can be easily mistaken, everything comes from a misunderstanding. Anyway, we couldn't let the chance pass and we drawn a speculative MiG-15bis in North Vietnamese colours.









Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea-Bissau_Air_Force
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_People%27s_Air_Force
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_People%27s_Army_Air_Force
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Air_Forces
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Air_Force

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