Originally posted by Ripsnort
Ah yes, the MiG-15, the design lacked one essential component...a reliable engine. This problem was resolved when the British government authorized the Rolls-Royce company to export their Nene turbojet engine to Russia. As soon as the Russian Klimov design bureau received the engines, they immediately developed their own copy of the Nene, called the Klimov RD-45. At least the airframe was somewhat "Soviet original" and not copied like most of their inventory.
RD-45 = copy of a Nene. VK-1 = further development used on MiG-15bis.
Rip, it's well-known that Boeing used German data on swept wings designing B-47, so what?...
Korean war showed that MiG-15, using an outdated licensed engine and assembled in Soviet factories that gave up to 15cm difference in geometry between left and right wings, could literally wipe out B-29/B-50 formations out of the sky. RB-47s were routinely intercepted as well. Even piloted by Soviet volunteers who lived in inhuman conditions, having to stay on "alert number one" for days, losing consciousness in cockpits, being signed off duty for physicall and nervous exaustion, opposing the whole "united nations" airforce with 3 regiments sometimes having less then 120 interceptors ready for combat - 64th IAK's MiGs were an effective weapon.
I sound like "Pravda" or "Red Star", don't I?
