Eastern Front 1941 Pt.10: MiG-3T (complete)

[comrade harps]

Just got the Hobby Boss MiG-3 and plan to arm it with a 20mm firing through the propeller hub (minus the 12.7mm MG) and in an alt.truth camo and markings of my Trotskyist Moscow Pact, autumn 1941.

There's other options in the stash if I find the time, like an Il-2 and a Hurricane armed with 23mn canon. Maybe others.

[Tophe]

The MiG-3 is so beautiful an aircraft, this is my favorite option...

[Librarian]

The MiG-3 is so beautiful an aircraft, this is my favorite option...

I agree.

A wild stallion. Superb machine if you were experienced but lethal to a novice...which unfortunately was the status of most Soviet pilots who were told to fly it.

[comrade harps]

Day 1 WIP. And yes, it is a rather a snazzy looker...

[zenrat]

Day 1?  Strewth, you work fast.

Lovely camo.

[Old Wombat]

In that camo scheme the "Eastern Front" could be the Great Dividing Range.

[comrade harps]

Day 1?  Strewth, you work fast.

It's the Hobby Boss 1:72nd scale, so it doesn't take much to assemble.

In that camo scheme the "Eastern Front" could be the Great Dividing Range.

Well, yes. Flinders Rangers, maybe, or more into the interior (have you flown over the Northern territory and looked down?). But it does remind me of the Australian Army camo:



This plane will be on the Southern Front, south of Volograd, on the Eurasia steppe during summer '41, against the Stalinist advance out of the TransCaucasus.

[Old Wombat]

(have you flown over the Northern territory and looked down?).

Just off the top of my head;

Melbourne-Sydney
Adelaide-Melbourne
Adelaide-Alice-Darwin
Adelaide-Darwin
Canberra-Darwin
Adelaide-Perth
Perth-Port Hedland
Perth-Sydney-Adelaide
Port Hedland-Christmas Island
Christmas Island- Cocos (Keeling) Islands

I always look down, I love the look of this country from the air & on the ground.

The last two are just water, water & more water but the beginning & end are something awesome!

[comrade harps]

(have you flown over the Northern territory and looked down?).

Just off the top of my head;

Melbourne-Sydney
Adelaide-Melbourne
Adelaide-Alice-Darwin
Adelaide-Darwin
Canberra-Darwin
Adelaide-Perth
Perth-Port Hedland
Perth-Sydney-Adelaide
Port Hedland-Christmas Island
Christmas Island- Cocos (Keeling) Islands

I always look down, I love the look of this country from the air & on the ground.

The last two are just water, water & more water but the beginning & end are something awesome!

To and from Darwin and Alice Springs.

[Librarian]

Love to go on a dig in the Flinders...some superb pre-Cambrian fossils found there (Ediacara Hills).

[Old Wombat]

Love to go on a dig in the Flinders...some superb pre-Cambrian fossils found there (Ediacara Hills).

That's where my dream home'd be, the Flinders Ranges.

[perttime]

I agree.

A wild stallion. Superb machine if you were experienced but lethal to a novice...which unfortunately was the status of most Soviet pilots who were told to fly it.

Designed for high altitudes - but not that great at low and medium altitudes, where the action was at the Eastern Front.

Beautiful machine.

[comrade harps]

I agree.

A wild stallion. Superb machine if you were experienced but lethal to a novice...which unfortunately was the status of most Soviet pilots who were told to fly it.

Designed for high altitudes - but not that great at low and medium altitudes, where the action was at the Eastern Front.

Yes, but, this is WhifWorld, so we can change that. 

[comrade harps]

Socialist Unity Aviation Collective (SUAC) MiG-3T
White 5, personal mount of Flight Leader Pavel Sadyrin
134 Escadrille, 131 Guards Regiment, Socialist Union Red Army Air Force,
Kotelnikovo, South Front, October, 1941



Although the MiG-3 was designed to a high-altitude interceptor specification, the design team lead by Mikoyan and Gurevich realised that the basic design could be adapted to fulfil a broader range of roles. Several options were examined, including alternative armament and engines, but production considerations saw a limited evolution approved, resulting in the MiG-3T (Takticheskiy = Tactical).





This took the basic MiG-3 airframe, added additional armour and adapted it to carry up to 220 kg of rockets or bombs. The internal armament was also changed, the 12.7mm UBS machine gun being omitted for a 20mm ShVAK cannon that fired through the propeller hub. To improve low altitude performance the MiG-3's AM-35  engine was replaced with the more powerful AM-38, which was geared to produce maximum power at lower altitudes. The result was a useful fighter-bomber that remained in production until late 1942.




White 5 was flown by Flight Leader Pavel Sadyrin during September-October, 1941. Operating from Kotelnikovo, but often forward based to be nearer to the front, F/L Sadyrin achieved 3 air-to-air kills flying this plane: 1xBf-109E and 1xBf-110 (both of the Luftwaffe) and 1xTASA Product 17 of the Soviet TransCaucasian Army Air Force. He would go on to achieve 7 kills before his death in April, 1943.



White 5 is seen here in the Summer Steppe camouflage scheme, which was seen on many MiG-3Ts and other types on the Southern Front during the warmer seasons.

[Dizzyfugu]

Nice colors and paint scheme - and not too far away from Soviet bombers/attack aircraft of that time. Melikes.