Saturday, 11 January 2020

Shenyang J-5A

The Shenyang J-5/F-5 for exports is the Chinese copy of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17PF. This variant was equipped with a version of the RP-5 Izumrud radar located at the nose. It was powered by an WP-5 engine, which was itself a Chinese copy of the Klimov VK-1 and could deliver up to 5730 lb of thrust power, 7450 lb with afterburner. It was armed with three 23 mm Type-23-I cannon, which was also another copy of the Soviet NR-23. The first aircraft was manufactured on 11th November 1964 and, since then around 300 aircraft were manufactured by Chengdu Emei Machinery Factory in Chengdu, China until 1969 when production ceased. That's why in some sources, the J-5 is named as "Chengdu J-5A".
The J-5A served with the People's Liberation Army Air Force for a long period of time, in fact when its successor, the Shenyang J-6 (a Chinese licensed copy of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19) was phased out, the J-5A was still in active status. The type was also exported to Albania where most likely it served for a long period of time from the 1960s until the 1990s when they were put into storage and sold at an auction in 2016.










Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenyang_J-5
2. https://www.valka.cz/topic/view/80748
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_Air_Force
4. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

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