June 16 marked the 70th anniversary of the MiG-21, the most widely used fighter jet

June 16 marked the 70th anniversary of the most mass-produced supersonic aircraft in history – the MiG-21 fighter jet, created by Design Bureau 155, headed by Artem Mikoyan. On that day in 1955, its prototype – the E-4 experimental aircraft with a triangular wing – took flight.

In the first half of the 1950s, DKB-155 conducted research and design work with the aim of creating a light fighter that could accelerate to speeds of over 2,000 km/h. There was still a lack of experience and scientific knowledge, and two directions were developed in parallel: an aircraft with a triangular wing and one with a swept wing. The experimental E-2 aircraft with a swept wing took off first on February 14, 1954. However, tests proved that the fighter with a triangular wing had better prospects, and it was this model that went into serial production.

The MiG-21 was produced in the USSR until 1985 at three factories, with 10,696 units built. Among them were 1,169 MiG-21PFM fighter-interceptors, 225 of which were exported. In addition, another 3,850 aircraft in various versions were produced in Czechoslovakia, India, and China. Moreover, in China, the development of distant descendants of the MiG-21 continues to this day.

There are at least fifty known variants of the “twenty-first.” The MiG-21PFM was equipped with a single R11F2C-300 engine with a thrust of 6,175 kgf. It had a length of 15.76 m, a wingspan of 7.15 m, a maximum take-off weight of 9,120 kg, a maximum speed of 2,175 km/h, and a flight range of up to 1,670 km. Its armament included four R-3S, K-13, or RS-2US air-to-air guided missiles and a pod with a 23 mm GSh-23L cannon. It was intended to use ground attack weapons, including aerial bombs and Kh-66 guided missiles.

In total, the MiG-21 was operated in 68 countries, including Angola, Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Egypt, India, China, Cuba, Mozambique, Poland, Croatia, and Finland. Aircraft of this family were used in numerous regional conflicts, including wars in the Middle East, Vietnam, and Afghanistan. The “Twenty-First” earned a reputation as an unpretentious, reliable combat aircraft with decent maneuverability. Such fighters continue to serve in at least 10 countries, including India.

Ukraine inherited more than 200 MiG-21s. Almost all of them belonged to the Kharkiv and Chernihiv flight schools, were quickly removed from the training process, and decommissioned. In addition, the Lviv Aircraft Repair Plant and the Odessa Aviation Plant were involved in the repair and conversion of MiG-21s in Ukraine.

The collection of the O.K. Antonov State Aviation Museum includes three aircraft from this family, which arrived from the Lviv Aircraft Repair Plant in 2002-2003. The MiG-21PFM (factory No. 940AЧ17) was built at the aircraft factory in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) in 1964, the MiG-21UM combat trainer (factory No. 516919021) was produced in 1974 at the aircraft factory in Tbilisi, and the M-21M target drone (factory No. 940AK14) which was converted from a MiG-21PFM in Lviv in 1991.