wow great detail & action    

I love it.

Yeah that does look great man     

Nice! 

That does look good 

Quote from: Old Wombat on April 28, 2023, 09:01:51 PMThe pilot figure is excellent!

It is indeed 

        I love it!!  

In the early 60s, due to the prolonged conceptual phase of the "Hornet" project, which was supposed to be the backbone of Naval Aviation in Poland, and the downtime in the construction of the ORP Eugeniusz Pławski aircraft carrier, it was decided to test some of the mechanical solutions on an already existing aircraft. President Kennedy and the US Congress did not agree for  sale of the F-8 Crusader or FJ-4 Fury, so the Institute of Aviation Technology together with PZL Mielec had to deal with it differently. Therefore, one Mig-17PFU aircraft was purchased in Bulgaria, along with a gun carriage from the Mig 17PF and documentation, with the intention of complete modification and marriage of both aircraft. A wing folding system for the "Hornet" aircraft has already been developed, which was decided to be tested on MiG. In addition, a Turbo-Union RB199 engine was purchased in Great Britain, which, after slightly shortening the Mig airframe, fit in the fuselage. This is how the Mig-17MM aircraft (from Maritime/Modified) was created. The armament was mounted in the fuselage, leaving the radar for guiding the AA-1 missiles. The RB199 engine with afterburner was able to power a much heavier aircraft without any problems. A hook for landing on an aircraft carrier and a hook for a catapult have also been added. Of course, the legs of the chassis were strengthened and the cylinders and shock absorbers were replaced. After successful ground tests, the aircraft was painted in a non-standard blue-gray camouflage and was sent into flight tests. Initially, the wings were to be locked in the unfolded position. The Kołobrzeg Bagicz air base was chosen as the test site. Despite the damaged parking surface, the runway was in good condition. The position of a test pilot was offered to Colonel Leonid Jeziorkowski, who was familiarized with carrier aircraft during an internship at the Pearl Harbor base. In 1967, on April 1 at 13:13, a dark blue Mig piloted by Colonel Jeziorkowski took off for the first time from the surface of the airport in Kołobrzeg. With the triumphant roar of the afterburner, it passed over the buildings of Kołobrzeg to turn back over Trzęsacz and return to Bagicz over the sea. The first flight lasted 30 minutes and was smooth. The aircraft behaved correctly, but the pilot noticed vibrations when tilting the aircraft on the wing. After the review, errors in the construction of the wing folding mechanism lock were found and the problem was eliminated. On April 15, the plane exceeded the speed of sound, reaching 1,548 km/h. On April 16, the aircraft was approved for trial patrols over the Baltic Sea with a full armament of four AA-1 missiles. On April 20, the wing folding system was unlocked and after a two-day trial run with the unlocked mechanism, the day came when Colonel Jeziorkowski unfolded wings and flew to the airbase in Babie Doły with a fully loaded plane. There the wings were folded, the plane refueled, the pilot drank coffee and ate a croissant, unfolded wings and returned to Bagicz. The test proved the correctness of the assumptions, but it was still not possible to test on an aircraft carrier. The construction of ORP Pławski was stationary, there was no ship in the fleet on which the launch deck, catapult, draft deflector and braking ropes could be attached, even as a test. This problem kept the employees of PZL and ITL awake at night, the bosses were furious, but there was no way to conduct further tests. Mig flew but still from the base in Bagicz. The solution was at hand, but it took until July 14, 1968 for someone to come up with it. It was then that an intern in the topography department of the Navy was looking at aerial photos of Szczecin and the surrounding area and comparing them with a map. His attention was drawn to the hull of the ship near Inoujście on Lake Dąbie. He didn't recognize the unit, so he started looking for information about it. When he found out what he was looking at, he was a bit surprised. He went to the supervisor of the internship, which was Captain Jan Stużyński. The captain was working over technical data on merchant ships, pondering the still unresolved problem of MiG on-deck testing. The intern asked one question, not realizing what it triggered:
-Captain, I don't want to disturb you, but could you explain to me what a German concrete carrier is doing on Dąbie Lake?
At this point he stopped because Stużyński was staring at him with eyes like saucers. You could literally see the gears in his head grinding at top speed. Stużyński flew like a whirlwind from behind the desk, snatched the lexicon from the intern's hands and began to read the concrete carrier's data. After scanning the perfunctory text, he looked at the intern with burning eyes, handed him back the lexicon, only tossing:
-Genius! Concrete carrier! Genius!
He ran out of the office grabbing his briefcase. The intern shrugged.
-Crazy...and who will sign my internship now? Then he went back to reading.
The trainee did not realize that he had solved the problem of the Mig's boarding tests. Captain Stużyński passed the idea on. The bosses approved the solution and things moved on quickly.
The concrete carrier in question was Ulrich Finstenwalder, one of two twin reinforced concrete tankers built in Darłówko. The ship was 90 meters long, 15 meters wide and was intended for the transport of synthetic gasoline from the refinery in Police. It was bombed on March 20, 1945 by the Soviet air force in the port of Szczecin. After the end of the war, the wreck was towed to Inoujscie and sunk.
In 1970, the adaptation of the concrete carrier for the MiG on-board test station began. The hull was towed to the vicinity of the port in Police. After drying and connecting to the electricity network, work began. A steam engine was installed inside the hull. The starting deck with braking ropes and a deflector was modeled on American solutions.
In 1971, on May 5, the Mig was positioned on the deck of the "pocket concrete carrier" and attached to the catapult. Col. Jeziorkowski gave full thrust. The catapult operator released the pressure valve and the Mig was launched into the air. There was a loud cry of joy. For the first time in history, a launch from a catapult in Poland has become a fact. After a while there was consternation because the pilot reported that he also wanted to land. Deflector was folded and the catapult was moved to the final position at the end of deck. Braking ropes have been checked once again. Altitude alert lights has also been activated. After confirming that everything was ready, the pilot started the normal descent. Mig behaved flawlessly until hooking on the second rope. The hook was simply ripped out of its mount. The pilot gave full thrust with afterburning and the Mig ascended to a safe altitude to land in Goleniów airport. Later tests showed micro-cracks in the hook attachment. The entire mechanism was replaced with a more durable one with a upgraded design. Further tests proceeded without interruption. After completing a full range of tests, the world's only carrier-capable Mig-17MM began normal patrol duties. It also had younger brothers in the form of MiGs 21MP and MiGs 23MP and saw the finale of the "pocket concrete carrier" service. Unfortunately, he wasn't there when ORP Eugeniusz Pławski was finished or the implementation of the "Hornet" project, but that's a topic for another story.

FYI - concrete tankers were real German ships, "Hornet" project also existed as a multirole fighter proposition for Polish Air Force

      Very very nice!!          

Fantastic build 

Very noice.   

I've bee trying to find words to describe just how awesome the build is (Especially the pilot!) & how much fun the story is ... But I can't, so I'll leave it there.          


PS: The US also had concrete ships & barges during WW2, mentioned (in some depth) in this video from Drachinifel:

Really impressive build and presentation. 

Quote from: Old Wombat on May 07, 2023, 05:03:46 AMI've bee trying to find words to describe just how awesome the build is (Especially the pilot!) & how much fun the story is ... But I can't, so I'll leave it there.           <--------- What Guy said         

Thanks a lot guys Your positive feedback forced me to build another whiff carrier-capable fighter - Mig-23

Quote from: wacek85 on May 08, 2023, 02:06:06 AMThanks a lot guys Your positive feedback forced me to build another whiff carrier-capable fighter - Mig-23