Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19

what is it?

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 (Russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-19; NATO reporting name: Farmer) is a Soviet second generation, single-seat, twinjet fighter aircraft. It was the first Soviet production aircraft capable of supersonic speeds in level flight. A comparable U.S. "Century Series" fighter was the North American F-100 Super Sabre, although the MiG-19 primarily fought against the more modern McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and Republic F-105 Thunderchief over North Vietnam.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · 9 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 1,452 km/htop speed
• range 1,390 kmwithout refuelling
• size 8,832 kgmax take-off weight
• built 6,500made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 73 years ago, in 1953.
• 🏎️Top speed is 11.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 💥Faster than sound: up to Mach 1.2 (sea-level speed of sound ≈ 1,235 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 9 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🌍Range of 1,390 km: 8× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 2.0× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1953-09-18

introduced

1955

status

retired

number built

6,500

role

fighter aircraft

origin

🇷🇺 Soviet Union

makers

People's Republic of China, Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG, AERO Vodochody Aerospace, Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association, Sokol

engines

2× Tumansky RD-9B / RD-9B

crew

1

length

12.5 m

wingspan

9 m

height

3.9 m

max take-off weight

8,832 kg

top speed

1,452 km/h

range

1,390 km

ceiling

17,500 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family