One of those Warsaw Pact users was the Polish Air Force, which operated three different versions of the MiG-19, the S, P and PM.
It was the first fighter capable of truly supersonic performance throughout the altitude envelope. It was the aircraft that Porucznik (Lieutenant) Roman Operacz was piloting when he broke the sound barrier on 22nd July 1959, becoming that way the first Polish pilot to achieve it.
The first MiG-19P entered service with the 28. Pulk Lotnictwa Mysliwskiego (PLM - 28th Fighter Regiment) 'Koszalin' at Redzikowo Air Base, close to Slupsk, in the Gdansk Voivodeship, during summer 1958. Later the type also equipped the 39. PLM at Mierzecice, in Katowice Voivodeship.
The numbers aren't clear as some reports say that it was 12 or 13 MiG-19 which were delivered, while others claim it were twice as many, 24.
The type was shown to the public on 22nd July 1959 when a MiG-19 piloted by Lt. Roman Operacz took part in the great military parade held in Warsaw due to the 15th anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland. The aircraft pulled into an spectacular climb in front of the spectators' tribunes making to an altitude of several milles. Exactly one year later, Polish Air Forces' MiG-19s took also part in another parade commemorating the 550th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald.
Despite the record breaking, the MiG-19's career in Poland was rather brief as it was considered an interim type until more capable and modern fighters (IE, the MiG-21) became available. Therefore most aircraft were sold to Bulgaria in 1966-1967.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-19#Variants
2. Midland Publishing - Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19. The Soviet Union's First Production Supersonic Fighter
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
No comments:
Post a Comment