# MiG Madness!



## FLYBOYJ (Apr 12, 2013)

A little project I worked on last weekend, enjoy!


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## FLYBOYJ (Apr 12, 2013)

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## meatloaf109 (Apr 12, 2013)

Didn't know the Ruskies used GoodYear tyres. Is it true that they had the same sized wheels as an F-86?


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## FLYBOYJ (Apr 12, 2013)

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## michaelmaltby (Apr 12, 2013)

Great stuff .... very interesting.

MM


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## FLYBOYJ (Apr 12, 2013)

meatloaf109 said:


> Didn't know the Ruskies used GoodYear tyres. Is it true that they had the same sized wheels as an F-86?


I'm not sure but the mains are from a Citation and the nose is from an Aero Commander I think.


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## FLYBOYJ (Apr 12, 2013)

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## Matt308 (Apr 12, 2013)

Love the gun tray. That alone makes the MiG-15 a fantastic fighter design!! How simple, yet completely ingenious.


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## Crimea_River (Apr 12, 2013)

Cool!


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## Gnomey (Apr 12, 2013)

Great shots Joe!


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## FLYBOYJ (Apr 12, 2013)

Matt308 said:


> Love the gun tray. That alone makes the MiG-15 a fantastic fighter design!! How simple, yet completely ingenious.


Perfect place for the batteries!


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## vikingBerserker (Apr 12, 2013)

AWESOME!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Apr 13, 2013)

Great stuff. I need to move out to Colorado and work with you. Then maybe I can get lucky, travel around and work on some cool stuff too.


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## Wayne Little (Apr 13, 2013)

simple awesome stuff Joe!


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## FLYBOYJ (Apr 13, 2013)

Engine Run! Hopefully you guys could open it!


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## nuuumannn (Apr 15, 2013)

Very cool Joe, Is that a Polish built one?



> Perfect place for the batteries!



Smart! Thought there was something odd about a battery connector in the gun bay.


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## FLYBOYJ (Apr 15, 2013)

Yes, Polish built, converted from a single seat.


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## nuuumannn (Apr 15, 2013)

> Yes, Polish built, converted from a single seat.



That's novel considering there are so many UTIs out there. Did they switch forward fuselages or dig a hole aft of the cockpit of the single-seater?


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## razor1uk (Apr 15, 2013)

Removed some paneling, restructured some longerons, cut about the forward fuel tank (just behind the cockpit) and relocated and/or removed some equipment before fitting dualed controls, instruments etc, although I belive converted ones didn't have an Instructors ejection seat. 
Also this work would also have given some Soviet Poles and engineering concerns a job for a time too.


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## tyrodtom (Apr 16, 2013)

I'll bet no ejection seat for the instructor resulted in some very careful flight training.


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## FLYBOYJ (Apr 16, 2013)

The rear cockpit lacked an ejection seat because if the instructor punched out he'd lose his legs from the knees down, unless he was 4' tall!


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## nuuumannn (Apr 16, 2013)

> Removed some paneling, restructured some longerons, cut about the forward fuel tank (just behind the cockpit) and relocated and/or removed some equipment before fitting dualed controls, instruments etc, although I belive converted ones didn't have an Instructors ejection seat.
> Also this work would also have given some Soviet Poles and engineering concerns a job for a time too.



I think you misunderstand my question, Razor, I'm aware that there were two-seat MiG-15 variants; these were designated MiG-15UTI, hence the UTI reference. Poland built two-seaters under licence as the WSK SBLim-2 and these are frequently available for sale to warbird operators, with examples currently operating in Australia, the UK, the USA and other countries, so I was surprised when Joe said that the aircraft was a single-seater that had been modified.


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## nuuumannn (Apr 16, 2013)

> The rear cockpit lacked an ejection seat because if the instructor punched out he'd lose his legs from the knees down, unless he was 4' tall!



Ouch! This also happened with training variants of the de Havilland Vampire; the RAF training syllabus was affected by the fact that Vampire pilots had to be under a certain height when flying the T.11 trainer - which was fitted with ejection seats, so the RAF introduced the Meteor T.7 trainer, which had more clearance for larger pilots.


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## Maximowitz (Apr 17, 2013)

Very interesting. Thank's for sharing the photos.


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## Gnomey (Apr 17, 2013)

Good stuff Joe! You going to get a flight in her at all??


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## FLYBOYJ (Apr 17, 2013)

nuuumannn said:


> so I was surprised when Joe said that the aircraft was a single-seater that had been modified.



I think this mod is indistinguishable structural wise when compared with a UTI built from the get-go or at least so I was told. This is the second one I've worked on, the first one had some pretty rough rivets driven through the rear canopy frame and was completed years earlier.


Maximowitz said:


> Very interesting. Thank's for sharing the photos.


My pleasure, wish I could have taken more.




Gnomey said:


> Good stuff Joe! You going to get a flight in her at all??



No unfortunately, there was some finishing work that had to be done by the owner, so no flying this time.


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## nuuumannn (Apr 17, 2013)

Thanks Joe, at one place I used to work there was a cockpit section from an SBLim-2 and the workmanship was pretty shoddy.


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## Gnomey (Apr 18, 2013)

FLYBOYJ said:


> No unfortunately, there was some finishing work that had to be done by the owner, so no flying this time.



Shame really. Hopefully sometime in the future though


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