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In the 1930s, Soviets have gotten a knack to over-produce stuff. Like the 10300 (yes, more than 10K) I-16 fighters, 6600+ SB bombers, 12000 (!!) of T-26 and the siblings - mind-boggling indeed. Yes, some of these were made in 1940-42, but still.So, the logistics.
The Soviets did very well in certain fields as they equipped the armor corps with many tractors. And failed in other fields, for example, building the world's largest (pre WW2) fleet of submarines without the supportive infrastructure, auxiliary fleet, repair/maintenance and training facilities.
The MiG-3 with some type of emergency canopy release (pyrotechnical, like the Fw 190?) and a pair of 20mm cannons (like it was the case for the small series made in 1942) wouldn't be a bad fighter, IMO.IMO one of the most important things for Soviet fighter aircraft is keeping Polikarpov in the design business. The MiG that was formed in his absence made disappointment after disappointment, and when they finally got their act together with the I-220 series, they had no need for the aircraft anyways.
The MiG-3 was a fundamentally flawed aircraft from the beginning, being a development of the absolutely atrocious MiG-1. The teething problems, torrid reliability, poor quality, complete lack of armament standardization and mediocre performance point against the MiG-3 being anything other than a bad fighter.The MiG-3 with some type of emergency canopy release (pyrotechnical, like the Fw 190?) and a pair of 20mm cannons (like it was the case for the small series made in 1942) wouldn't be a bad fighter, IMO.
Reliability and quality - perhaps we should blame a factory (Factory No1 or whatever)that was producing them, rather than to the design bureau (MiG)?The MiG-3 was a fundamentally flawed aircraft from the beginning, being a development of the absolutely atrocious MiG-1. The teething problems, torrid reliability, poor quality, complete lack of armament standardization and mediocre performance point against the MiG-3 being anything other than a bad fighter.
But to be entirely fair, it was designed to be a high-altitude interceptor first and foremost. Of course it also wasn't very good at high-altitudes anyways due to the stalling and spin characteristics along with several other defects.
I think that one of the fundamental issues in everything engine-related was that the production culture was too low to implement the designer's good ideas. And that led to another missed opportunity: more direct imports of foreign engines. The desire of the Soviet leaders to be self-reliant was reasonable, especially in their ideological dogma, but they overestimated the ability of their subordinates to learn and adapt. Since the end of the 1920s, they tightened restrictions on the exchange of information with the outer world, depriving the industrial sector of vital information. More imports of everything, especially engines, would be a wiser policy.My suggestions wrt. combat aircraft:
- Mikulin's big V12s should be the best bet wrt. total engine power and power at altitude, by the virtue of being, well, big and heavy (but not too heavy). So I'd focus on the development, debugging and production of these, even if the price to pay is less of Klimov's V12s.
- Once the M-82 is to be had, it will not take a genius to figure out that it is a much better engine than the M-88. So focus on the M-82s. Historically, Soviets wasted the best part of 1942 to figure out how to use the M-82, that finally gave good service on the La-5/-7 and Tu-2 - this time around, they need to be faster on the ball.
- The M-71 engine warrants the look.
- By the time 1000+ HP engines are around, minimum armament for the fighters should've been two 20m cannons. 1500 HP -> at least three 20mm cannons.
- The fast bomber with a good bomb bay might've been a good asset - Pe-2 high wing lookalike (to use up these M-105s), and also the pre-Tu-2 with the big V12s.
- A big-ish fighter (for the Soviets, that would've been something size of Spitfire or Mustang) that can do well when bombed-up?
Soviets were eager recipients of the foreign technical knowledge come 1930s. Shetsov bureau dealt with Wright engines, Tumanskiy was with G&R, Mikulin with BMW, and Klimov with Hispano Suiza. All of them either improved, or much improved the foreign designs, and were making even better engines come late 1930s/early 40s.I think that one of the fundamental issues in everything engine-related was that the production culture was too low to implement the designer's good ideas. And that led to another missed opportunity: more direct imports of foreign engines. The desire of the Soviet leaders to be self-reliant was reasonable, especially in their ideological dogma, but they overestimated the ability of their subordinates to learn and adapt. Since the end of the 1920s, they tightened restrictions on the exchange of information with the outer world, depriving the industrial sector of vital information. More imports of everything, especially engines, would be a wiser policy.
I agree on not arresting people on a whim, as well as to make the Ar-2.Agree on the early Tu-2. The prototype was flown in January 1941. Do not arrest Tupolev (and many others) and the prototype would probably be ready earlier. Can we equip the Tu-2 with US radial engines and improve it?
Also, accept Ar-2 as a stopgap and mass produce them before Tu-2 appears in numbers.
I was referring to the big-ish fighter to be size of the Spitfire or Mustang. Soviet fighters were much smaller than these two.Big-ish fighter was contrary to the whole school of thought, probably. If not of the designers, then of the leadership and Stalin himself. "P-47 a good aircraft but not a fighter", etc.
Alright, how about the things we can blame MiG for; namely the absolutely abhorrent manoeuvrability, unnecessarily high weight, poor high-speed stability and previously mentioned underpowered armament. 3 out of the 4 of which come from the basic design of the aircraft.Reliability and quality - perhaps we should blame a factory (Factory No1 or whatever)that was producing them, rather than to the design bureau (MiG)?
The canopy could be fixed yes, but the high altitude performance would still be poor due to the insufficient oxygen supply along with the faulty oil and fuel pumps which often failed at high altitudes. Things that are not easy to solve for early-war Russia.I've also addressed the issue with the cockpit canopy not being well suited for emergency opening/release. Historically, pilots preferred to fly with the open canopy because of the fear that they might've get trapped in an aircraft that has no chances to land well. Flying with open canopy added heaps of drag and thus robbed the speed, and it also messed with airflow going towards tail. Also, flying with open canopy at 6-7 km at high speed will be very taxing for the pilots.
Considering the one of the early high-altitude sorties (9,000 m I think?) the MiG-3 participated in resulted in all 3 pilots being caught in an irrecoverable spin and having to bail out - one of which died - I'd say the spin characteristics are definitely worse than those 4. As for stall characteristics, I'm not sure. However I find it unlikely that it would be superior to the I-185 or P-39 in stalls.Stalling and spin characteristics - flying with closed canopy, how do these compare with I-16 or P-39? Or with I-180 and I-185?
As far as hole-punching, the F-34 and Zis-3 were good in 1941 and still useful in 1942. Thing was that Germans were not good sports here, and they upped the game come early 1942 with the powerful and long-barreled 75mm guns, both towed and in the AFVs/tanks. Result were lopsided exchange ratios in the best part of 1942 and whole 1943.When looking at improving Soviet programs, starting with the wildly successful F-34 / zis-3 / etc. sounds strange. And same for the follow up 85 mm zis-s-53 that was used on the t-34/85. They're not winning any MV competitions, but so what? The 76.2x385 was a good compromise between barrel life, compactness, useful HE load and good enough armor penetration until heavier tanks like the Panther starts showing up in numbers.
I think we've had several threads on how to fix the t-34, and it seems the biggest opportunities were a 3 man turret with radio from the start. And better vision and ergonomics. The guns by themselves were fine enough. Perhaps one could blame them for not introducing the t-34/85 earlier.
Seems like the only engine worth speakaing of that, was with direct injection, was the ASh-82FN radial (N - neposredny - direct). Not great shakes power-wise vs. the ASh-82F just because the fuel metering system was changed - the valve overlap probably remained unchanged.As for aero engines, did the Soviets ever introduce fuel injection (single point good enough..?) or the pressure carburetor during WWII? Seems they persisted with trying to make float carburetors work for quite a long time. Of course, not a uniquely Soviet failing..
MiG-3..........................188..........................................7390
...
Yes, I rounded off a little bit. Soviet weights tend to be rather variable.
Now for the I-185 fans.
I-185............................167.......................................7710-8230 (depends on version and source)
Basically the M-71 engine was a crude long stroke (and extra 14.5mm?) Wright R-3350 ( a R-3640 if you will). One can imagine the handling problems in a small fighter, 2 feet less wingspan and 30 sqft less area than a FW 190. Or compare to a LA-5.