Shenyang J-6, Chinese users, part three

 

The Shenyang J-6 is the Chinese copy of the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19. With more than 4.500 units completed, it comes no surprise that this machine was completed in many variants, which are the subject of this post.

• Shenyang J-6: AKA Dongfeng-102 and Type 59. The original production version of the MiG-19S with some changes which make it slightly different. Flew for the first time on 30th September 1959, but due to the poor economical conditions caused by the Great Leap Forward, its development was interrupted in 1960, but resumed four years later, in 1964, with Soviet assistance. Several hundreds built.
• Shenyang J-6A: AKA Dongfeng-103 and Type 59A. This variant is equivalent to the MiG-19P with some changes which made it worse than the original as it had a limited scope when flying in bad weather conditions or a RP-1 radar limited to 2 km only. It was armed with two 30 mm cannons placed at the root of the wings. It flew for the first time on 17th December 1958 with Wang Shuhuai at the controls. Only 90 machines were manufactured, 83 of them at Shenyang and just 7 at Nanchang where they were equipped and tested in the 1970s with air-to-air missiles. Given the poor quality of the machine, it never passed People's Liberation Army Air Force's tests and was rejected in favour of the J-6B.
• Shenyang J-6B: AKA Dongfeng-105 and Type 59B. This is the Chinese equivalent of the MiG-19PM. It flew for the first time in 1963 and several dozens of them were manufactured at Nanchang until 1967 when it ceased. Production was, however, resumed again in 1976 to manufactured some few dozens, albeit some sources claim that only 19 of them were built. Like the MiG-19PM, it was armed with a total of four PL-2 air-to-air missiles and, unlike its Soviet counterpart, it's armed with additional two cannons placed at the root of the wings.
• Shenyang J-6C: AKA Jianjiji-6 Bing, Product-55 and F-6C for the export sub-variants. This is a modernised version of the J-6 with a new Wopen WP-6A engine which delivers 6.614 lb of thrust power (for comparison, the WP-6 that powered the previous variant had 5.730 lb of thrust power). It's armed with three 30 mm cannons, two at the root of the wings, one under the nose and it's equipped with a braking parachute located in a pod at the base of the rudder. It flew for the first time on 6th August 1969 and has been, by far, the most produced variant with around 3.677 machines having been manufactured by Shenyang, including some regular J-6 converted to J-6C standard. Production ceased in 1984.
• Shenyang JZ-6: A sub-variant for the J-6 dedicated for tactical-reconnaissance role and equipped with five cameras in the bow. Flew for the first time in 1967 and a total of 50 machines were manufactured.
• Shenyang J-6 I: A day-fighter prototype with a redesigned frontal air intake, equipped with a shock cone. It was intended to serve as a lightweight fighter. Only one machine built and flown on 2nd August 1966.
• Shenyang J-6 II: A modification of the original J-6 I with an adjustable shock cone in four positions on a raked back intake splitter plate. It was also better armed as it was intended to be a tactical fighter. It flew for the first time on 25th March 1969 and only one prototype was built plus the modified J-6 I.
• Shenyang J-6 III: A J-6 II modified with a radome on the splitter plate instead of centred shock cone to fit a Chinese-made LCF-6 radar. A total of 303 machines were made with the initial flight taking place on 5th August 1969. The production was terminated prematurely as they aircraft suffered from poor quality and many of them had to be rebuilt and repaired several times.
  It saw two sub-variants, the J-6 IIIC, which featured a modified bow, hydraulic wheels and was made in 1971 and the J-6 IIIG which was another re-conversion with a different bow, some minor changes made to the wing-tips to equip two PL-5 air-to-air missiles. Only 5 prototypes were made and the initial flight took place on 1st August 1974.
• Guizhou J-6 IV: Another conversion of the J-6 III, this time made by Guizhou, to make the J-6 III into an all-weather supersonic fighter with two 30 mm cannons at the root of the wings and a radar. Only 7 machines built by Guizhou with the first prototype flying on 24th September 1976.
• Shenyang JJ-6: AKA Product 48 or FT-6 for the export version. The two-seater training variant stretched 84 cm (33.1 in) to accomodate a second seat and armed with just one 30 mm cannon placed under the nose. Flew for the first time on 6th November 1970 and a total of 886 machines have been built by Shenyang and Tianjing between 1970 and 1986 when production ceased. One of them, made by Tiajing, was used to test an H-5 ejection seatbelt.
• Xian BW-1: Experimental aircraft made on 5th November 1988 equipped with fly-by-wire technology converted from the JJ-6. The rear seat was replaced with measuring and testing equipment and tests took place between 1988 and 1989. The aircraft was controlled by two different systems, a mechanical one and an electronic one which were revealed to be the control system used in the Xian JH-7 fighter-bomber.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenyang_J-6

2. https://www.valka.cz/Sen-jang-J-6-kod-NATO-Farmer-t42341 (translated)

3. Midland Publishing - Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 - The Soviet Union's First Production Supersonic Fighter