MiG-17 at the Central Texas Airshow, USA, May 2003.

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (NATO reporting name Fresco) is a Russian jet fighter aircraft armed with 3 cannons, considered to be most effective in action against enemy aircraft. Its bombload was considered light relative to other aircraft of the time since it had been designed primarily as an interceptor.

The MiG-17 first flew in January 1950 and was in production in 1951. They were not available for the Korean War but saw considerable service as the main aircraft of the North Vietnamese Air Force during the Vietnam War, when it frequently worked in conjunction with MiG-21s ordinarily flown by Soviet or Chinese pilots. They also flew against Israel in the various Arab-Israeli conflicts

Twenty countries flew MiG-17's. The Chinese-built version of the MiG-17 is known as the Shenyang J-5 (for local use) or F-5 (for export - not to be confused with the F-5 Freedom Fighter). Earlier, Soviet-built Chinese MiG-17s were designated J-4 or JJ-4. The Polish-built version of the MiG-17 is known as LiM-5. In 1963 Polish aircraft company PZL started to produce development of MiG-17 called Lim-6bis which was an attack plane.

Specifications

General Characteristics

• Wing Span : 9.633 m (31 ft 7.25 in)
• Length : 11.259 m (36 ft 11.25 in)
• Height : 3.80 m (12 ft 5.5 in)
• Weight : Empty 3930 kg (8,664 lb)
• Maximum Takeoff Weight : 6075 kg (13,393 lb)
• Engine : One 33.1 kN (7,452 lbf) thrust Klimov VK-1F turbojet

Performance

• Maximum Speed : 1144 km/h at 3 km (711 mph at 10,000 ft)
• Service Ceiling : 16.60 km (54,500 ft)
• Range : 1980 km (1,230 statute miles)

Armament

• One 37-mm Nudelman N-37 cannon
• Two or three 23-mm NR-23 cannon
• 1,100 external stores