Air Power Series>1:72 die-cast display model>MIG-21>HA0151

General Background

The Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig-21 is the world most widely used supersonic fighter which has been used by over 30 countries and 56 air forces. It is the most produced aircraft since World War II with an estimation of over 10,000 in the Soviet Union alone.

The Mig-21 has a top speed of Mach 2 and has proven to be an effective and easy to maintain aircraft in many conflicts. It first achieved renown in the Vietnam War where it posed itself a challenging adversary for more technological advanced aircrafts like the F-105 and F-4 Phantom. The Mig-21 is certainly one of the most famous aircrafts in the world for all times.

The Aircraft

During the 1980s and 90s Jagdfliegerschwader 3 (JG-3) was based at Preschen, East Germany. JG-3 was equipped with MiG-21UM and MiG-21UBs for training as well as MiG-29 and MiG-21MFs. One of their MiG-21MFs was Red "687" and is now on display at the Deutches Museum Flugwerft in Oberschleissheim. Over time and by the 1990 reunification of East and West Germany JG-3 had received 251 MiG-21s in 7 variants. JG-3 flew the MiG-21MF from 1972 until 1990 when at that time they had 68 MiG-21MFs.

Specifications :

Power Plant:	One 41.55kN (9,340lb st) or 64.73kN (14,550lb st) with afterburner Tumansky R-13-300 turbojet
Wingspan:	7.15m (23ft 5 1/2in)
Length:	15.76m (51ft 8 1/2in) - incl pitot boom
Max T-O weight:	9,400kg (20,725lb)
Max speed:	Mach 2.1 (2,230km/h - 1,385mph) above 11,000m (36,000ft)
	Mach 1.06 (1,300km/h - 807mph) at low level
Range:	1,100km (683 miles) - internal fuel only
	1,800km (1,118 miles) - with three external drop tanks, one under fuselage, one under each wing
Armament:	One 23mm twin-barrel GSh-23 cannon with 200 rounds in belly pack
	Various air-to-air and air-to-ground stores carried on four under wing pylons including:
	K-13A "Atoll" or "Advanced Atoll" a-a missiles,
	UV-16-57 rocket packs,
	S-24 a-s rockets,
	250kg and 500kg bombs
	Eventually Sidewinder missiles