Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-1 / I-200

The first design to achieve production status of an OKB (Experimental Construction Bureau) headed by Artem I Mikoyan and Mikhail Y Gurevich, the MiG-1 was conceived as a high-altitude interceptor under the OKB's Izdeliye (Product) designation Kh.

Also assigned the initial military designation I-200, the first of three prototypes was flown on 5 April 1940, attaining 648.5km/h at 6900m on the following 24 May. Second and third prototypes flew on 9 May and 6 June 1940 respectively, factory and state testing being performed in parallel, with the factory testing completed on 25 August and the state testing on 12 September 1940.

The MiG-1 was powered by a 1350hp Mikulin AM-35A and carried an armament of one 12.7mm UBS and two 7.62mm ShKAS guns. Manoeuvrability and handling were considered inadequate, longitudinal stability and control responses were poor, and a programme of peripheral redesign paralleled manufacture of an initial batch of 100 aircraft, the last of which was completed in December 1940. The first eight MiG-1s had non-jettisonable side-hinged cockpit canopies, the remainder having jettisonable aft-sliding canopies.

The first MiG-1 was delivered to a VVS regiment in April 1941, by which time this fighter had been supplanted in production by the MiG-3.

MiG-1
Engine: 1350hp Mikulin AM-35A
Max take-off weight: 3099 kg / 6832 lb
Empty weight: 2602 kg / 5736 lb
Wingspan: 10.20 m / 33 ft 6 in
Length: 8.16 m / 26 ft 9 in
Height: 2.62 m / 8 ft 7 in
Wing area: 17.44 sq.m / 187.72 sq ft
Max. speed: 628 km/h / 390 mph
Range: 580 km / 360 miles

Mikoyan/Gurevich MiG-1