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Updated on 2 June 2023
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The aircraft type was officially named MiG-1 in December 1940; this name was
already unofficially used in the factory to design the aircraft, that was still
officially named I-200.
It is not clear if all the production planes were at this point equipped with
the rearward-sliding canopy, or if some of them had still a hinged canopy as
for the prototypes. Some sources claim that first 8 MiG-1 had a canopy as that
of I-200 prototypes, but the hurrily built MiGs were usually updated by factory
brigades, and it looks likely that the old style canopies were replaced before
the war's outbreak.
By the end of 1940, all 100 MiG-1s were built, and the first 20 of them were
delivered to the VVS within the year, with the rest delivered in early 1941.
The first operative units to receive the new aircraft were 31st IAP at Kaunas
Air Base, in Lithuania, and 41th IAP at Belostok Air Base, in Soviet-occupied
Poland.
It was necessary to conduct tests of series I-200 under operative conditions.
During the period from December 1940 to February 1941, pilots and ground crew
of 41th IAP conducted operative tests at the Kachinskeye Military School for
Pilots. The supervision was by the test pilot Suprun.
Before these tests, the retraining of crew was taken in charge by NII VVS, that
started with the pilots of 146th IAP.
Pre-war photos of series MiG-1 are exceedingly rare. Sadly, nearly all the
few photos available of this type are of German origin, and represent wrecked
or captured ones. Besides, photos of captured ones usually show airframes that
had been vandalized by souvenir-hunting Germans.
These photos of operational MiG-1s captured by Germans show clearly the
shorter radiator and the different undercarriage covers from the MiG-3.
Click on the profile below to see a page with more photos and color drawings of MiG-1 in June 1941. |