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110-741: The MiG-17 was an advanced modification of the MiG-15 aircraft produced by the Soviet Union during the Korean War . Production of the MiG-17 was too late for use in that conflict and was first used in the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1958. While the MiG-17 was designed to shoot down slower American bombers, it showed surprising success when used by North Vietnamese pilots to combat American fighters and fighter-bombers during

220-592: A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress or 10 five-inch (127 mm) High Velocity Aircraft Rockets . The first pilots to fly the Thunderbolt from England were Americans who had been flying Spitfires in the RAF before the U.S. joined the war. They were not impressed initially; the Thunderbolt lost out to the more nimble Spitfire so consistently in mock dogfights that these encounters were eventually banned. But by November 25, 1943 Thunderbolts had found their true niche, attacking

330-598: A fighter-bomber , but its bombload was considered light relative to other aircraft of the time, and it usually carried additional fuel tanks instead of bombs. Although a canopy that provided clear vision to the rear—necessary for dogfighting, like the F-86—was designed, production MiG-17Fs got a cheaper rear-view periscope, which would still appear on Soviet fighters as late as the MiG-23 . By 1953, pilots got safer ejection seats with protective face curtains and leg restraints like

440-544: A Luftwaffe airfield at Saint-Omer near Calais, France. On October 13, 1944, a Thunderbolt from 9th Air Force damaged the German Torpedoboot Ausland 38 (formerly the Italian 750 ton torpedo boat Spada) so badly near Trieste with gunfire alone that the ship was scuttled. The Vought F4U Corsair was built around the same Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine as the Thunderbolt, but for

550-616: A Red Cross flag painted on at least one funnel. The previous day the Captain of the Cap Arcona refused to take any more inmates on board. On return to shore in longboats they were gunned down by Hitler Jugend , SS Guards and German Marines . Of an estimated 14,500 victims in the area two days earlier only 1,450 survived. The Hawker Tempest was a development of the Typhoon using the thin wing with an aerofoil developed by NACA and

660-685: A Soviet boycott of the United Nations , a vote was carried without Soviet veto, to intervene in support of the South. Most readily available were U.S. and British Commonwealth forces occupying Japan and the Pacific fleets. The first arrivals were fighter-bombers, which helped to repulse the Northern attack on the vital port of Pusan , the last small territory held by the South. Some strategists felt that air and battleship strikes alone could halt

770-595: A crew of three, and its payload was just 1,200 lb (540 kg) of bombs. The Blenheim suffered disastrous losses over France in 1939 when it encountered Messerschmitt Bf 109s , and light bombers were quickly withdrawn. In contrast, the Vought F4U Corsair fighter —which entered service in December 1942—had in common with its eventual U.S. Navy stablemate, the Grumman F6F Hellcat and

880-633: A dive bomber almost as fast as the Mustang itself. By April 1943 USAAF Apaches were in Morocco supporting Operation Torch , and they continued bombing trains and gun emplacements northwards through Italy. When Soviet-backed North Korea attacked South Korea on June 25, 1950, their forces quickly routed the South Korean army which lacked tanks, anti-tank and heavy artillery. Its Air Force had 22 planes, none of which were fighters, or jets. During

990-618: A fighter bomber, where one tried skip-bombing a 1,000 lb (450 kg) bomb through the door of Field Marshal Günther von Kluge 's OB West HQ. A Lightning squadron also killed Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto over Bougainville in the Pacific acting on an Ultra intercept. The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was a larger, evolutionary development of the P-43/P-44 fighter undertaken after the United States Army Air Forces observed Messerschmitt Bf 109s performing in

1100-580: A fighter that has been adapted into other roles, whereas bombers and attack aircraft are developed specifically for bombing and attack roles. Although still used, the term fighter-bomber has less significance since the introduction of rockets and guided missiles into aerial warfare . Modern aircraft with similar duties are now typically called multirole combat aircraft or strike fighters . Prior to World War II , general limitations in available engine and aeronautical technology required that each proposed military aircraft have its design tailored to

1210-805: A flag stuck into a shingle beach. Both WW1 fighter bombers were used with novice and experienced pilots. The best results were achieved with a vertical dive into the wind using the Aldis Sight to align the aircraft. But they were not considered good enough to justify the expected casualty rate. When war broke out in Europe, Western Allied Air Forces employed light twin-engined bombers in the tactical role for low-level attacks. These were found to be extremely vulnerable both to ground fire and to single-engine fighters. The German and Japanese Air Forces had chosen dive bombers which were similarly vulnerable. The Ilyushin Il-2

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1320-470: A larger airframe than the nimble Hurricane. At the prototype stage, there were problems with the new engines and stability of the aircraft itself, which led the Minister of Aircraft Production , Lord Beaverbrook to decree that production must focus on Spitfires and Hurricanes. The Typhoon disappointed as a fighter, especially at altitude but found its true niche as a fighter bomber from September 1942. It

1430-793: A last-ditch attempt to destroy Allied planes on the ground in support of the Battle of the Bulge . Allied fighter aircraft and fighter-bomber losses were downplayed, at the time. Seventeen airfields were targeted, of which seven lost many aircraft. The surprise was complete as the few Ultra intercepts had not been understood. At the worst hit, the Canadian base at Eindhoven , 26 Typhoons and 6 Spitfires were destroyed and another 30 Typhoons damaged. In total, 305 aircraft, mostly fighters, and fighter-bombers were destroyed and another 190 damaged. The Luftwaffe lost 143 pilots killed, 71 captured and 20 wounded, making

1540-485: A later version could carry eight rockets or 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) of bombs. The massive, powerful 18-cylinder Double Wasp engine weighed almost a ton—half as much again as the V12 Rolls-Royce Merlin and twice as much as the 9-cylinder Bristol Mercury that powered some heavy fighters . Increased engine power meant that many existing fighter designs could carry useful bomb loads, and adapt to

1650-613: A major part of the Arab air strength during the Six-Day War in June 1967. The war started with a massive airstrike by Israel against Egyptian, Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi airbases, with more than 150 Egyptian aircraft destroyed or damaged. Egypt's surviving MiG-17s were heavily deployed in ground attacks against Israeli forces in the Sinai. The Soviet Union again replaced Egypt's losses after

1760-537: A more powerful version of the Napier Sabre engine, giving a top speed of 432 miles per hour (695 km/h). At a low level, it was faster than any other Allied or German aircraft, but slower than the Spitfire above 22,000 ft (6,700 m). Fitted with four 20mm cannon it was a formidable fighter, respected even by Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter pilots as their most dangerous opponent. At its debut over

1870-463: A probable kill. Tran Hanh's wingman Pham Giay went down and was killed. No other U.S. airmen reported any confirmed aerial kills during the air battle; Tran Hanh stated that three of his accompanying MiG-17s had been shot down by the opposing USAF fighters. Three F-100s from the MiGCAP, piloted by LtCol Emmett L. Hays, Capt Keith B. Connolly, and Capt Donald W. Kilgus, all from the 416th TFS, had engaged

1980-603: A program at Groom Lake to evaluate the MiG-17 to help fight the Vietnam War, as the kill ratio against North Vietnamese MiG-17s and MiG-21s was only 2:1. The program was code-named HAVE DRILL (see also Have Doughnut ), involving trials of two ex- Syrian MiG-17F Frescos, acquired and provided by Israel, over the skies of Groom Lake. These aircraft were given USAF designations and fake serial numbers so that they may be identified in DOD standard flight logs. In addition to tracking

2090-488: A specific prescribed role. Engine power grew dramatically during the early period of the war, roughly doubling between 1939 and 1943. The Bristol Blenheim , a typical light bomber of the opening stages of the war, was originally designed in 1934 as a fast civil transport to meet a challenge by Lord Rothermere , owner of the Daily Mail . It had two Bristol Mercury XV radial engines of 920 hp (690 kW) each,

2200-562: A spy aircraft in the 1958 C-130 shootdown incident over Armenia, with 17 casualties. In 1960, the first group of approximately 50 North Vietnamese airmen were transferred to the PRC to begin transitional training onto the MiG-17. By this time the first detachment of Chinese trained MiG-15 pilots had returned to North Vietnam, and a group of 31 airmen were deployed to the Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) base at Son Dong for conversion to

2310-523: A stable aircraft like the Typhoon. But soft targets were simpler. When the 51st Highland Division moved to block German panzers reaching Antwerp in the Battle of the Bulge Tommy Macpherson saw a half-track full of SS soldiers. All were uninjured, powerful men over 6 ft (180 cm) tall. All were dead, killed by the air blast from a Typhoon rocket. The Bristol Beaufighter was a long-range twin-engine heavy fighter derived from

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2420-547: A target tug role, where it could match the speed of the German bombers whilst towing a drone. In 1934, the British Air Ministry called for a carrier aircraft that could combine the roles of the dive bomber and fighter, to save limited space on small carriers. The Blackburn Skua was not expected to encounter land-based fighters but was to intercept long-range bombers attacking the fleet and also to sink ships. As

2530-644: A two-seater, it could not fight the Messerschmitt Bf 109 on equal terms. But the second seat carried a radio operator with a homing device that could find the carrier even when it had moved, in foul North Sea weather. It achieved one of the first kills of the war, when three from HMS Ark Royal downed a German Dornier Do 18 flying boat over the North Sea. On April 10, 1940, 16 Skuas operating from RNAS Hatston in Orkney under Commander William Lucy sank

2640-421: A very fast radial engine fighter over France. First thought to be captured French Curtiss 75 Mohawks , they turned out to be Focke-Wulf Fw 190s , slightly faster and more heavily armed than the current Spitfire V. Kurt Tank had designed the aircraft when the Spitfire and Bf 109 were the fastest fighters flying; he called them racehorses, fast but fragile. As a former World War I cavalryman, Tank chose to design

2750-443: A warhorse. With a BMW 801 radial engine , wide-set undercarriage, and two 20mm cannons as well as machine guns it became a better fighter-bomber than either of the pure fighters. By mid-1942, the first of these "Jagdbombers" (literally "fighter" or "hunter" bomber, known for short as "Jabos") was operating over Kent . On October 31, 60 Fw 190s bombed Canterbury with only one aircraft lost, killing 32 civilians and injuring 116, in

2860-529: Is a heavily armoured two-seat single-engine ground-attack aircraft. It first flew a month later although few had reached the Soviet Air Force in time for Operation Barbarossa . Naval forces chose both torpedo and dive bombers. None of these could be considered as fighter bombers as they could not combat fighters. During the Battle of Britain , the Luftwaffe conducted fighter-bomber attacks on

2970-533: Is not corroborated by USN loss listings. On 4 April 1965, the USAF made another attempt on the Thanh Hóa Bridge with 48 Republic F-105 Thunderchiefs of the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) loaded with 384 x 750 lb (340 kg) bombs. The Thunderchiefs were escorted by a MIGCAP flight of F-100 Super Sabres from the 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron (416th TFS). Coming from above, four MiG-17s from

3080-414: The Battle of Britain . It was a massive aircraft built around the powerful Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine and weighed up to eight tons with ordnance. The P-47 was twice as heavy and had four times the fuselage size of a Spitfire. Armed with eight .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns it could outshoot any enemy fighter, and as a fighter-bomber, it could carry half the bomb load of

3190-664: The Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber but with the 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) Bristol Hercules radial engine to give it a top speed 50 mph (80 km/h) faster. By late 1942 the Beaufighter was also capable of carrying torpedoes or rockets. The main user was RAF Coastal Command although it was also used in the Royal Australian Air Force with some aircraft assembled in Australia and by

3300-805: The Convair B-58 Hustler and General Dynamics FB-111 rendered the MiG-17 obsolete in front-line PVO service, and they were supplanted by supersonic interceptors such as the MiG-21 and MiG-23. MiG-17s were not available for the Korean War, but saw combat for the first time over the Straits of Taiwan when the Communist PRC MiG-17s clashed with the Republic of China (ROC, Nationalist China) F-86 Sabres in 1958. MiG-17s downed

3410-564: The F-86 introduced the "all-flying" tailplane , which made the aircraft more controllable near the speed of sound, this feature would not be adopted on MiG aircraft until the fully supersonic MiG-19. The wing sweep was 45° (like the U.S. F-100 Super Sabre) near the fuselage and 42° for the outboard part of the wing. The stiffer wing resisted the tendency to bend its wingtips and lose aerodynamic symmetry unexpectedly at high speeds and wing loads. Other easily visible differences to its predecessor were

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3520-755: The First Sudanese Civil War . The MiG-17 continued in use in the Yom Kippur War . MiG-17s were used during the Ofira Air Battle by Egypt. Egyptian and Syrian Mig-17s retired shortly after these wars. At least 24 of them served with the Nigerian Air Force and were flown by a mixed group of Nigerian and mercenary pilots from East Germany, Soviet Union, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Australia during

3630-638: The German cruiser Königsberg which was tied to a mole in Bergen harbour. The Germans recorded five hits or near misses and as the ship started to sink, electric power failed, dooming the ship. The German cruiser Köln had departed during the night. With the failing of the Hawker Henley and the gradual fading of the Hawker Hurricane 's performance compared to the latest German fighters, it

3740-615: The Gestapo HQ in Oslo was attacked by four de Havilland Mosquitoes , which had flown over the North Sea below 100 ft (30 m) by dead reckoning navigation from RAF Leuchars , Scotland, carrying four 500 lb (230 kg) bombs each. The next day the RAF unveiled its new fast bomber. On December 31, 1944, the same aircraft was used against the same target, this time from RAF Peterhead in Scotland, flying high and diving onto

3850-760: The Martin-Baker seats in the West. The MiG-15 had suffered for its lack of a radar gunsight , but in 1951, Soviet engineers obtained a captured F-86 Sabre from Korea, and copied the optical gunsight and SRD-3 gun ranging radar to produce the ASP-4N gunsight and SRC-3 radar. The combination would prove deadly over the skies of Vietnam against aircraft such as the F-4 Phantom, whose pilots lamented that guns and radar gunsights had been omitted as obsolescent. The second prototype variant, "SP-2" (dubbed "Fresco A" by NATO),

3960-631: The Normandy Beaches on D-Day +2, Tempests shot down three German fighters, without loss. Tempests supported the ambitious attempt to capture the bridge at Arnhem in Operation Market Garden in mid-September 1944. David C. Fairbanks , an American who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force was the top Tempest ace with 12 victories including an Arado Ar 234 jet bomber. General Henry H. Arnold , Chief of

4070-696: The North American F-86 Sabre was rushed to Korea to combat the MiG-15s. There is much debate as to which was the better fighter. Recent research suggests a 13-10 advantage to the Sabre against Russian pilots, but the US pilots were mostly WWII veterans whilst the Russians were often “volunteers” with only a few hours aloft. The Australians converted from Mustangs to Gloster Meteor fighter-bombers,

4180-607: The Rolls-Royce Nene engine, the Klimov VK-1 , were heavier with equal thrust. Later MiG-17s would be the first Soviet fighter application of an afterburner , which burned extra fuel in the exhaust of the basic engine to give extra thrust at a high efficiency cost. Though the MiG-17 looks very similar to the MiG-15, it had a new thinner and more highly swept wing and tailplane for speeds approaching Mach 1. While

4290-590: The Royal Australian Air Force soon also flew across from Japan. Vought F4U Corsairs and Hawker Sea Furys from U.S., British and Australian carriers in the Yellow Sea and later from Korean airfields, also attacked the Pusan perimeter. The Sea Fury, a development of the Hawker Tempest had a Bristol Centaurus engine of 2,480 hp (1,850 kW) giving a 485 mph (781 km/h) top speed, one of

4400-629: The Suez Crisis . When Britain and France launched air attacks against Egyptian air bases on 1 November 1956, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered the Egyptian Air Force not to oppose the Anglo-French air strikes, and where possible to evacuate its aircraft to Syria or Saudi Arabia, so while Egypt lost large numbers of aircraft, including MiG-17s, losses of pilots were relatively low. The losses were quickly replaced after

4510-427: The U.S. Navy . Difficulties with carrier landings meant that the first aircraft were used by the United States Marine Corps from Henderson Field, Guadalcanal from February 12, 1943. In its first combat action, the following day over Kahili airfield two Corsairs and eight other aircraft were lost when attacked by 50 Mitsubishi A6M Zeros . This became known as the St Valentine's Day massacre. Despite this initiation

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4620-444: The USAAF . Over 30 Beaufighters flying from RAF Dallachy in Scotland from Australian, British, Canadian, and New Zealand squadrons attacked the German destroyer Z33 sheltering in Førde Fjord Norway. They were escorted by only 10 to 12 North American P-51 Mustangs . German destroyers escorted convoys of Swedish iron ore, which in winter were forced to creep along the Atlantic Coast by night, hiding deep inside fjords by day. Z33

4730-403: The United States Army Air Forces , urged the adoption of the Mosquito by the U.S. but was overruled by those who felt that the as yet untried Lockheed P-38 Lightning also twin-engined, could fulfill the same role. Although Lightning got its name from the RAF, the British eventually rejected it. Too slow and cumbersome to match Bf 109s as an escort fighter over Germany, it did fly over Normandy as

4840-399: The VK-5F engine). 5,467 MiG-17, 1,685 MiG-17F, 225 MiG-17P and 668 MiG-17PF were built in the USSR by 1958. Over 2,600 were built under licence in Poland and China. In 1955, Poland received a license for MiG-17 production. The MiG-17F was produced by the WSK-Mielec factory under the designation Lim-5 (an abbreviation of licencyjny myśliwiec – license-built fighter). The first Lim-5

4950-402: The Vietnam War , nearly a decade after its initial design. This was due to the MiG-17 being more agile and maneuverable than the American F-4 Phantom and F-105 Thunderchief , which were focused on speed and long range combat, as well as the fact that MiG-17 was armed with guns, which initial models of the F-4 Phantom lacked. While the MiG-15bis introduced swept wings to air combat over Korea,

5060-449: The 1950s and 1960s, as new jet engines dramatically improved the power of even the smallest fighter designs. Many aircraft initially designed as fighters or interceptors found themselves in the fighter-bomber role at some point in their career. Notable among these is the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter , first designed as a high-performance day fighter and then adapted to the nuclear strike role for European use. Other U.S. examples include

5170-406: The 1960s when pressed into subsonic dogfights over Vietnam against much faster planes that were not optimized for maneuvering in such slower speed, short-range engagements. While the MiG-15 used a Mach sensor to deploy airbrakes because it could not safely exceed Mach 0.92, the MiG-17 was designed to be controllable at higher Mach numbers. Early versions that retained the original Soviet copy of

5280-454: The 1967–70 Nigerian Civil War . Four were hurriedly supplied by the USSR to Sri Lanka during the 1971 insurgency and were used for bombing and ground attack in the brief insurgency. In 1958, a US Air Force Lockheed C-130 was shot down by four MiG-17 fighters when it flew into Soviet airspace near Yerevan, Armenia while on a Sun Valley Signal intelligence mission, with all 17 crew killed. A number of U.S. federal agencies undertook

5390-416: The 1970s into attack Lim-6Ms whereas other Lim-5, Lim-6bis and Lim-5P aircraft were modified for reconnaissance role as the Lim-6R, Lim-6bis R and Lim-6MR. In the People's Republic of China (PRC), an initial MiG-17F was assembled from parts in 1956, with license production following in 1957 at Shenyang . The Chinese-built version is known as the Shenyang J-5 (for local use) or F-5 (for export). Similarly

5500-448: The 921st Fighter Regiment bypassed the escorts and dove onto the Thunderchiefs, shooting two of them down; the leader Tran Hanh downed F-105D BuNo. 59-1754 of Major F. E. Benett, and his element leader Le Minh Huan downed F-105D BuNo. 59-1764 of Captain J. A. Magnusson. The Super Sabres engaged; one AIM-9 Sidewinder was fired and missed (or malfunctioned), and another F-100D flown by Captain Donald Kilgus fired 20 mm cannons, scoring

5610-418: The Corsair soon proved to be an effective fighter bomber, mostly flown by the Marine Corps, but also by the United States Navy , Fleet Air Arm and Royal New Zealand Air Force in the Pacific theater. When the British Purchasing Commission invited James H. Kindelberger , President of North American Aviation , to assemble the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk in an underutilized plant, he promised a better fighter on

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5720-492: The French and Belgian coasts, targeting mostly oil and gas works. Losses were heavy, often more than the numbers of enemy fighters destroyed. By May 1942 Hurricane IICs with 40-imperial-gallon (180 L) drop tanks were intruding at night over France. On the night of May 4–5, Czech pilot Karel Kuttelwascher flying from RAF Tangmere with No 1 Squadron shot down three Dornier Do 17s as they slowed to land at Saint-André-de-Bohon after raiding England. On September 25, 1942,

5830-463: The Germans, only 10 were found to be due to rocket-firing Typhoons. At Mortain, where the German counter-offensive Operation Lüttich came within 2 miles (3.2 km) of cutting through US forces to Avranches , Typhoons destroyed 9 of 46 tanks lost but were more effective against unarmoured vehicles and troops and cause the armoured vehicles to seek cover. General Dwight D. Eisenhower , the Supreme Allied Commander, said "The chief credit in smashing

5940-401: The MIG-17F had issues during prolonged normal afterburner usage, due to the insufficient heat resistance of the alloys used for the external nozzle body and stator vanes. Because of this, early 1953-1955 production planes had a special afterburner unit that used a separate tank filled with 90% ethanol for consumption in the afterburner due to its lower combustion temperature. This engine variant

6050-437: The MiG-17. By 1962 the first North Vietnamese pilots had finished their MiG-17 courses in the Soviet Union and the PRC, and returned to their units; to mark the occasion, the Soviets sent as a "gift" 36 MiG-17 fighters and MiG-15UTI trainers to Hanoi in February 1964. These airmen would create North Vietnam's first jet fighter regiment, the 921st. By 1965, another group of MiG pilots had returned from training in Krasnodar , in

6160-528: The MiG-17. The next mass-produced variant, MiG-17PF ("Fresco D") incorporated a more powerful Izumrud RP-2 radar, though they were still dependent on Ground Control Interception to find and be directed to targets. In 1956 a small series (47 aircraft) was converted to the MiG-17PM standard (also known as PFU ) with four first-generation Kaliningrad K-5 ( NATO reporting name AA-1 'Alkali') air-to-air missiles . A small series of MiG-17R reconnaissance aircraft were built with VK-1F engine (after first being tested with

6270-402: The MiG-17PF was manufactured there as the J-5A (F-5A for export). Altogether 767 of these single-seater variants were built. MiG-17s were designed to intercept straight-and-level-flying enemy bombers, not for air-to-air combat ( dogfighting ) with other fighters. This subsonic (Mach .93) fighter was effective against slower (Mach .6-.8), heavily loaded U.S. fighter-bombers, as well as

6380-408: The MiG-17s. The four attacking MiGs from the 921st FR were flown by Flight Leader Tran Hanh, Wingman Pham Giay, Le Minh Huan and Tran Nguyen Nam. Flight Leader Tran Hanh was the only Vietnamese survivor from the air battle and believed that the others in his flight were "... shot down by the F-105s." Based upon the report, the USAF F-100s could have been mistaken for F-105s, and the loss of three MiG-17s

6490-443: The MiGs to ambush American formations. The MIGs made fast attacks against US formations from several directions (usually the MiG-17s performed head-on attacks and the MiG-21s attacked from the rear). After shooting down a few American planes and forcing some of the F-105s to drop their bombs prematurely, the MiGs did not wait for retaliation, but disengaged rapidly. This " guerrilla warfare in the air" proved very successful The MiG-17

6600-423: The Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau had already begun work on its replacement in 1949 (originally the MiG-15bis45) in order to fix any problems found with the MiG-15 in combat. The result was one of the most successful transonic fighters introduced before the advent of true supersonic types such as the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 and North American F-100 Super Sabre . The design would ultimately still prove effective into

6710-400: The Mosquito I am yellow and green with envy. (The British) have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops.” Initially used for high-level photo-reconnaissance, the Mosquito was adapted to precision bombing, night fighter, and fighter bomber roles. It was built in Canada and Australia as well as the UK. Fitted with a British Army Ordnance QF 6 pounder (57 mm) gun it could sink U-boats found on

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6820-409: The NVAF had only 36 MiG-17s and a similar number of qualified pilots, which increased to 180 MiGs and 72 pilots by 1968. The Americans had at least 200 USAF F-4s and 140 USAF F-105s, plus at least 100 U.S. Navy aircraft (F-8s, A-4s and F-4s) which operated from the aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin, plus scores of other support aircraft. The Americans had a multiple numerical advantage. The MiG-17

6930-406: The U.S. had many experienced pilots from the Korean War and World War II , such as World War II veteran Robin Olds . Untried MiGs and pilots of the VPAF would be pitted against some of the most combat experienced airmen of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and U.S. Navy . On 3 April 1965 six MiGs took off from Noi Bai Air Base in two groups of two and four respectively, with the first acting as bait and

7040-519: The US. Several MiG-17s have been seized due to questions over the legality of their import into the country. Some withdrawn aircraft were converted to remotely controlled targets. Data from Combat Aircraft since 1945, MiG: Fifty Years of Secret Aircraft Design General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 Too Many Requests If you report this error to

7150-487: The USSR, as well as from the PRC. This group would form North Vietnam's second fighter unit, the 923rd Fighter Regiment. While the newly created 923rd FR operated only MiG-17s, and initially these were the only types available to oppose modern American supersonic jets before MiG-21s and MiG-19s were introduced into North Vietnamese service (the 925 FR regiment was formed in 1969, flying MiG-19s). American fighter-bombers had been in theatre flying combat sorties since 1961, and

7260-403: The USSR. The MiG-17 still flies today in the air forces of Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Mali, Madagascar, Sudan, and Tanzania, and by extension through the Shenyang J-5, North Korea. JJ-5s trainers are still in limited use in China as well. The Egyptian Air Force received its first MiG-17s in 1956, deploying them against the Israeli invasion of the Sinai during the early stages of

7370-416: The United Kingdom from September to December 1940. A larger fighter-bomber campaign was conducted against the UK from March 1942 until June 1943. These operations were successful in tying down Allied resources at a relatively low cost to the Luftwaffe, but the British Government regarded the campaign as a nuisance given the small scale of the individual raids. In August 1941, RAF pilots reported encountering

7480-434: The VPAF shot-down 143 enemy aircraft and helicopters, while VPAF lost 75 MiG-17s through all causes and 49 pilots were killed The American fighter community was shocked in 1965 when elderly, subsonic MiG-17s downed sophisticated Mach-2 -class F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bombers over North Vietnam. As a result of these experiences the U.S. Air Force initiated project "Feather Duster" aimed at developing tactics that would enable

7590-465: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.150 via cp1114 cp1114, Varnish XID 905988610 Upstream caches: cp1114 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:38:00 GMT Fighter-bomber A fighter-bomber is a fighter aircraft that has been modified, or used primarily, as a light bomber or attack aircraft . It differs from bomber and attack aircraft primarily in its origins, as

7700-407: The addition of a third wing fence on each wing, the addition of a ventral fin and a longer and less tapered rear fuselage that added about one meter in length. The MiG-17 shared the same Klimov VK-1 engine, and much of the rest of its construction such as the forward fuselage, landing gear and gun installation was carried over. The first prototype, designated I-330 " SI " by the construction bureau,

7810-441: The aircraft was accepted for production, and formally given its own MiG-17 designation after so many changes from the original MiG-15. It was estimated that with the same engine as the MiG-15's, the MiG-17's maximum speed is higher by 40–50 km/h, and the fighter has greater maneuverability at high altitude. Serial production started in August 1951, but large quantity production was delayed in favor of producing more MiG-15s so it

7920-529: The building. In February 1941 the Mosquito with two Rolls-Royce Merlin engines and a streamlined wooden fuselage achieved 392 mph (631 km/h), 30 mph (48 km/h) faster than the current Spitfire. It was used on all kinds of missions, including silencing Hermann Göring 's Berlin Nazi anniversary broadcast on January 20, 1943, leading him to tell Erhard Milch, Air Inspector General that “when I see

8030-586: The disadvantages of the F-105, F-100 and other heavy American fighters while minimising the advantages of slower but more manoeuvrable fighters such as the F-86 and the MiG-17. Twenty countries flew MiG-17s. The MiG-17 became a standard fighter in all Warsaw Pact countries in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They were also bought by many other countries, mainly in Africa and Asia, that were neutrally aligned or allied with

8140-596: The dog fights staged between the various MiG models against virtually every fighter in U.S. service, and against SAC's B-52 Stratofortresses and B-58 Hustlers to test the ability of the bombers’ countermeasures systems, they also performed radar cross-section and propulsion tests that contributed greatly to improvements in U.S. aerial performance in Vietnam. According to the Federal Aviation Administration , there are 17 privately owned MiG-17s in

8250-589: The end of the war, and by June 1957 Egypt had about 100 MiG-17s. Syria also operated the MiG-17, receiving 60 MiG-17Fs in 1957. The two air forces gradually switched the MiG-17 to ground-attack duties in the early 1960s, as the MiG-21 supplanted it in the interceptor role. From 1962, Egyptian forces became involved in the North Yemen Civil War , supporting the republican government, with Egyptian MiG-17s flying ground attack operations. The MiG-17 formed

8360-488: The enemy's spearhead, however, must go to the rocket-firing Typhoon aircraft of the Second Tactical Air Force . The result of the strafing was that the enemy attack was effectively brought to a halt, and a threat was turned into a great victory". The disparity between claims and actual destruction at about 25-1 owed much to the difficulty of hitting a fast-moving tank with an unguided rocket, even from

8470-489: The fastest piston-engined aircraft ever built. Initially, United Nations air forces using piston-engined fighter-bombers and straight wing jet fighters easily drove the North Koreans out of the sky and so disrupted logistics and hence the attack on Pusan. All changed when the Soviet Air Force intervened with swept-wing Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s flown by Russian pilots on November 1. The planes had Korean markings and

8580-577: The fighter-bomber role, especially where longer ranges were needed for naval strikes. Examples include the Lockheed P-38 Lightning , the Bristol Beaufighter (developed from a torpedo bomber ), and de Havilland Mosquito (developed from an unarmed fast bomber). The Beaufighter MkV had a Boulton-Paul turret with four 0.303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns mounted aft of the cockpit but only two were built. Bristol's Blenheim

8690-580: The fighter-bomber role. Notable examples include the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 , Hawker Typhoon and Republic P-47 Thunderbolt . Various bombing tactics and techniques could also be used: some designs were intended for high-level bombing , others for the low-level semi-horizontal bombing, or even for low-level steep dive bombing as exemplified by the Blackburn Skua and North American A-36 Apache . Larger twin-engined aircraft were also used in

8800-457: The first Allied jet fighter of WWII but no match for a MiG-15. It was pressed into combat but after four were lost when the squadron was bounced by 40 Mig-15s, reverted to ground attack, carrying 16 60 lb (27 kg) rockets. Although Meteors shot down 6 MiG-15s, 30 were lost, but mainly to ground fire. Both Corsairs and Sea Furies also shot down MiG-15s, but were vulnerable to the faster jet. Fighter-bombers became increasingly important in

8910-587: The heavier American fighters to deal with smaller and more agile opponents like the MiG-17. To simulate the MiG-17 the U.S. Air Force chose the F-86H Sabre. One pilot who participated in the project remarked that "In any envelope except nose down and full throttle", either the F-100 or F-105 was inferior to the F-86H in a dogfight. The project was generally successful in that the resulting tactics effectively minimized

9020-640: The invasion. USAF North American F-82 Twin Mustangs had the range to reach the front line from Japanese bases. The last piston-engined aircraft, produced in the U.S., it looked like two Mustangs, with two pilots in separate fuselages, bolted together. Initially intended to escort bombers over Japan from remote Pacific island bases, hence its long-range, it missed WWII and first saw action in Korea. Plain North American P-51 Mustangs of

9130-753: The jets of its main British and US opponents, which used the older Rolls-Royce Derwent design. Only the Navy Grumman F9F Panther used a version of the Nene and could match the MiG-15, accounting for seven during November. Daylight heavy bomber raids over North Korea ceased and the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star and its all-weather variant the Lockheed F-94 Starfire were focused on bombing missions whilst

9240-736: The largest raid since the Blitz . Flying at sea level, under the radar, these raids were hard to intercept. The Jabos reached the Eastern Front in time to bomb Russian positions in Stalingrad . By July 1943 Fw 190s were replacing the vulnerable Stukas over the Battle of Kursk : although winning the air war, they were unable to prevent subsequent Red Army advances. On New Year's Day 1945 in Operation Bodenplatte , over 1,000 aircraft (including more than 600 Fw 190s) launched

9350-583: The mainstay American strategic bombers during the MiG-17's development cycle (such as the Boeing B-50 Superfortress or Convair B-36 Peacemaker , which were both still powered by piston engines). It was not however able to intercept the new generation of British jet bombers such as the Avro Vulcan and Handley Page Victor , which could both fly higher. The USAF's introduction of strategic bombers capable of supersonic dash speeds such as

9460-633: The massive, seven-ton USAAF Republic P-47 Thunderbolt —a single Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engine of 2,000 hp (1,500 kW) in a much smaller, simpler and less expensive single-seat aircraft, and was the first aircraft design to ever fly with the Double Wasp engine in May 1940. With less airframe and crew to lift, the Corsair's ordnance load was either four High Velocity Aircraft Rockets or 2,000 lb (910 kg) of bombs;

9570-605: The most successful Allied aircraft of the First World War with 1,294 enemy aircraft downed, was losing its edge by 1918, especially over 12,000 ft (3,700 m). During the final German offensive in March 1918, it dropped 25 lb (11 kg) Cooper bombs on advancing columns: whilst puny by later standards, the four fragmentation bombs carried by a Camel could cause serious injuries to exposed troops. Pilot casualties were also high. The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 .

9680-553: The pilots had been taught a few Korean words, in a thin sham that the USSR was not fighting. The MiG-15 used captured German swept wing technology and tools and British jet engines, 25 of which had been a gift from Stafford Cripps the president of the Board of Trade and were quickly copied. Josef Stalin remarked “What fool will sell us his secrets?” The MiG's Rolls-Royce Nene had 5,000 lbf (2,300 kgf) thrust, twice as much as

9790-610: The same timing. The resulting North American P-51 Mustang powered by a Packard-built Rolls-Royce Merlin engine became the outstanding long-range fighter of the war. When Lend-lease funding for the RAF Mustangs was exhausted, Kindleberger tried to interest the USAAC but no funds were available for a fighter; instead, the Mustang was fitted with dive brakes and emerged as the North American A-36 Apache ,

9900-514: The second being the shooters. Their target were U.S. Navy aircraft supporting an USAF 80-aircraft strike package trying to knock out the Thanh Hóa Bridge . The MiG-17 leader, Lt. Pham Ngoc Lan, attacked a group of Vought F-8 Crusaders of VF-211 from USS  Hancock and damaged an F-8E flown by Lt. Cdr. Spence Thomas, who managed to land the aircraft at Da Nang Air Base . A second F-8 was claimed by his wingman Phan Van Tuc, but this

10010-473: The surface. On April 9, 1945, three were sunk en route to Norway, and in the following month, Mosquitos sank two more. The Hawker Typhoon was being designed as a replacement for the Hurricane in March 1937 before production had even started. The reason was to take advantage of the new 2,000 hp (1,500 kW) engines then being planned, either the Napier Sabre or Rolls-Royce Vulture which required

10120-528: The turret earlier due to a malfunction with the gun system. From 1965 to 1972, MiG-17s from the VPAF 921st and 923rd FRs would claim 71 aerial victories against U.S. aircraft: 11 Crusaders, 16 F-105 Thunderchiefs, 32 F-4 Phantom IIs, two A-4 Skyhawks, seven A-1 Skyraiders, one C-47 cargo/transport aircraft, one Sikorsky CH-3 C helicopter and one Ryan Firebee UAV., while VPAF lost 63 MiG-17s in air combat According to Russian sources, from 1965 to 1972, MiG-17s from

10230-422: The two jets were ready. On 19 April 1972, two pilots from the 923rd FR took their bomb laden MiG-17s and attacked the U.S. Navy destroyer USS  Higbee and light cruiser USS  Oklahoma City . Each MiG was armed with two 250 kg (550 lb) bombs. Pilot Le Xuan Di managed to hit the destroyer's aft 5" (127 mm) gun mount, destroying it, but inflicting no fatalities, as the crewmen had vacated

10340-587: The war, and Egypt was soon involved in the War of Attrition , a sustained series of armed clashes on and over Sinai, with Egypt's MiG-17s continuing to be used in the ground attack role. While the MiG-17 was slower and shorter-ranged than the Sukhoi Su-7 that was the other main component of Egypt's ground-attack forces, the MiG-17 was more manoeuvrable and sustained lower losses. From 1970, Egypt deployed detachments of MiG-17s to Sudan to support government forces during

10450-518: The worst one-day loss in its history; it never recovered. The Bristol Blenheim and Douglas A-20 Havoc (which the RAF called Boston) were used as night fighters during the Blitz , as they could carry the heavy early airborne radars. The Hawker Henley , a two-seat version of the Battle of Britain -winning Hawker Hurricane , was designed as a dive bomber. It might have proved to be a capable fighter-bomber but overheating of its Rolls-Royce Merlin engine in this installation led to its relegation to

10560-635: Was an interceptor equipped with a radar . Soon a number of MiG-17P ("Fresco B") all-weather fighters were produced with the RP-1 Izumrud radar and front air intake modifications. In early 1953 the MiG-17F day fighter entered production. The "F" indicated it was fitted with the VK-1F engine with an afterburner by modifying the rear fuselage with a new convergent-divergent nozzle and fuel system. Early VK-1F engines that were specifically modified to equip

10670-500: Was attributed to Super Sabres, the first aerial victories of any American aircraft in the war. The F-100s themselves would never again encounter MiGs, being relegated to close air support . They were replaced in the MiGCAP role by faster and longer range but less manoeuvrable McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms . USAF Chief of Staff General John P. McConnell was "hopping mad" to hear that two Mach-2-class F-105s had been shot down by Korean War-era subsonic North Vietnamese MiG-17s. In 1965,

10780-783: Was built on 28 November 1956 and 477 were built by 1960. Apart from Poland, a number were exported to Bulgaria, designated as MiG-17F. An unknown number were built as the Lim-5R reconnaissance variant, fitted with the AFA-39 camera. In 1959–1960, 129 MiG-17PF interceptors were produced as the Lim-5P. WSK-Mielec also developed several Polish strike variants based on the MiG-17: the Lim-5M , produced from 1960; Lim-6bis , produced from 1963 (totaling 170 aircraft). Additionally some Lim-5Ps were converted in

10890-653: Was damaged and February 9, 1945, became known as Black Friday . Typhoons were involved in one of the worst tragedies at the end of the war when four squadrons attacked the luxury liners SS Deutschland and the SS Cap Arcona and two smaller ships SS Athen and SS Thielbek moored off Neustadt in Lübeck Bay The Cap Arcona had 4,500 concentration camp inmates and the Thielbek another 2,800 as well as SS Guards. The Deutschland had

11000-487: Was even pushed into service as a fighter during the Battle of Britain but it was not fast enough. Equipped with an early Airborne Interception (AI) radar set, however, it proved to be an effective night fighter. The first single-seat fighters to drop bombs were on the Western Front , when fighter patrols were issued with bombs and ordered to drop them at random if they met no German fighters. The Sopwith Camel ,

11110-547: Was fitted with racks to carry two 500 lb (230 kg) and then two 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs. By September 1943 it was fitted with eight RP-3 rockets each with a 60 lb (27 kg) warhead, equivalent to the power of a naval destroyer's broadside. Claims of German tanks destroyed by rocket-armed Typhoons in Normandy after D-Day were exaggerated. In Operation Goodwood , the attempt by British and Canadian forces to surround Caen of 75 tanks recorded as lost by

11220-499: Was flown on the 14 January 1950, piloted by Ivan Ivashchenko. In the midst of testing, pilot Ivan Ivashchenko was killed when his aircraft developed flutter, which tore off his horizontal tail, causing a spin and crash on 17 March 1950. Lack of wing stiffness also resulted in aileron reversal which was discovered and fixed. Construction and tests of additional prototypes " SI-2 " and experimental series aircraft " SI-02 " and " SI-01 " in 1951, were generally successful. On 1 September 1951,

11330-566: Was intended to have two machine guns jutting through the cockpit floor so as to spray trenches with bullets as it passed low overhead. But this did not work and it was fitted with four Cooper bombs, instead. It was ordered in very large numbers, but most were canceled after the Armistice . In February and April 1918 the Royal Flying Corps conducted bombing tests at Orfordness , Suffolk dropping dummy bombs at various dive angles at

11440-402: Was labeled VK-1F(A). Later production jets used a normal system with on-board fuel. The afterburner doubled the rate of climb and greatly improved vertical maneuvers. But while the plane was not designed to be supersonic, skilled pilots could just dash to supersonic speed in a shallow dive, although the aircraft would often pitch up just short of Mach 1. This became the most popular variant of

11550-516: Was modified to carry four 20mm cannon and two 500 lb (230 kg) bombs; once bombs were jettisoned the aircraft could put up a reasonable fight. Inevitably the type became known in the RAF as the “Hurribomber”, reaching squadrons in June 1941. It was soon found that it was hardly possible to hit fast-moving Panzers in the Western Desert , with bombs and cannon fire-making little impact on their armour. Daylight bombing raids were made on

11660-415: Was moored close to the vertical cliffside of the fjords so Beaufighters had to attack singly with rockets without the normal tactic of having simultaneous attacks by other Beaufighters firing cannon at the numerous flak gunners. Twelve Focke-Wulf Fw 190s surprised the Mustangs and Norway's biggest ever air battle was soon raging. Nine Beaufighters and one Mustang were lost as were five Fw 190s. The destroyer

11770-463: Was never introduced in the Korean War. It did not enter service until October 1952, when the MiG-19 was almost ready to be flight tested. During production, the aircraft was improved and modified several times. The basic MiG-17 was a general-purpose day fighter, armed with three cannons , one Nudelman N-37 37 mm cannon and two 23 mm with 80 rounds per gun, 160 rounds total. It could also act as

11880-421: Was not originally designed to function as a fighter-bomber, but in 1971 Hanoi directed that United States Navy warships were to be attacked by elements of the VPAF. This would require the MiG-17 to be fitted with bomb mountings and release mechanisms. Chief Engineer of the VPAF ground crews, Truong Khanh Chau, was tasked with the mission of modifying two MiG-17s for the ground attack role; after three months of work,

11990-779: Was the primary interceptor of the fledgling VPAF in 1965, responsible for their first aerial victories and seeing extensive service during the Vietnam War. Some North Vietnamese pilots preferred the MiG-17 over the MiG-21 because it was more agile, though not as fast; three of the 16 VPAF Aces of the war (credited with shooting down five or more opposing aircraft) were from MiG-17s. Those were: Nguyen Van Bay (seven victories), Luu Huy Chao and Le Hai (both with six). The rest gained ace status in MiG-21s. This table lists VPAF and Chinese air-to-air kills. Sources include Hobson p. 271 and Toperczer (#25) pp. 88–90. VPAF flew their interceptors with guidance from ground controllers, who directed

12100-474: Was used in the same role. The Royal Flying Corps received the first purpose-built fighter-bomber just as the war was ending. It was not called a fighter bomber at the time, but a Trench Fighter as that was what it was designed to attack. The Sopwith Salamander was based on the Sopwith Snipe fighter but had armour plating in the nose to protect the pilot and fuel system from ground fire. Originally it

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