Saturday 28 December 2019

Shenyang J-5, various prototypes

The Shenyang J-5 is a Chinese-built single-seat jet interceptor and fighter aircraft, which is a license-built Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17. It was exported as the F-5 and its original denomination was Dongfeng-101 (East wind-101) and also Type 56, before being officially designated as J-5 in 1964.
As the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) obtained a number of Soviet-built MiG-17 fighters, designated internally by the PLAAF as J-4, in the early-1950s. In order to introduce modern production methods in the Chinese industry, the PLAAF obtained plans for the MiG-17F in 1955, together with two completed pattern aircraft, 15 knockdown kits and parts for ten aircraft. The first Chinese-built MiG-17F (with the serial Zhong 0101) produced by the Shenyang factory, flew for the first time on 19th July 1956 piloted by test pilot Wu Keming.
There were some experimental variants, like the torpedo bomber one, which was made to meet a requirement made by the People's Liberation Army Navy Air Force (PLANAF) for a torpedo-bomber version of the J-5. The heavy torpedo was carried under the fuselage, so one of the cannons had to be removed and the fuel load was reduced in order to not exceed the MTOW. Trials showed that performance numbers (except the ones for field performance) fell sharply when compared to the standard J-5 due to the high drag generated by the torpedo and the reduced fuel capacity. Therefore, the torpedo bomber didn't go beyond the prototype stage and the work on this prototype was used for the Nanchang Q-5B ground attack aircraft. As we couldn't find any photo or graphical evidence on this variant, the drawings should be considered as speculative.
The Shenyang J-5 was also used as a radar testbed. At least one J-5 with the serial 2424 was converted into an avionics testbed for an unidentified Chinese radar. The radar antenna was housed in a bulbous radome on the intake's upper lip, making the aircraft very similar to the Mikoyan-Gurevich SP-2 (which was an experimental variant of the MiG-15 fitted with a Korshun radar, the radar that was the forerunner of the MiG-17P/PF. As it's perfect for some alternate advanced version, we drawn a missile-armed variant because, why not?.









Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenyang_J-5
2. Hikoki Publications - Chinese Aircraft - China's Aviation History since 1951

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