WSK Lim-2 (Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis)

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  • Period: Postwar (1945-1959)
  • Uses: Fighter
  • First Flight: December 30, 1948 (MiG-15)
  • Display Status: On the Museum Floor.

The MiG-15 is one of the great fighter aircraft in history. Its appearance over Korea in late 1950 shattered the complacency of Western air forces that, until then, had dismissed Soviet fighters as second rate. Designed to meet a 1946 specification for a daytime bomber interceptor, the MiG-15 was the Soviet Union’s first operational swept wing aircraft. Its engine was based on the Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet.

Deliveries began in the winter of 1949 but early aircraft soon revealed various minor deficiencies that were corrected in the more powerful and robust MiG-15bis. By the time production ended, some 16 000 MiG-15s of all types had been built in the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland and China. They served in almost forty countries.

Museum Example

  • Registration #: 316
  • Manufacturer: WSK Mielec, Poland
  • Manufacture Date: 1954
  • Construction #: 1 B 003-16
  • Aquisition Date: 1998
  • Provenance: Exchange from Polish private collector

The Canada Aviation and Space Museum’s MiG-15bis is a Polish-built version known as the Lim-2. Built in late 1954 by WSK in Mielec, the aircraft served with various units of the Polish air force before it was acquired from a Polish private collector. Two Canadian Forces Lockheed CC-130 Hercules delivered it to Canada in mid 1998.

Specifications

Wing Span:
10 m (33 ft 1 in)
Length:
10 m (33 ft 1 3/4 in)
Height:
3.7 m (12 ft 1 2/3 in)
Weight, Empty:
3,680 kg (8,114 lb)
Weight, Gross:
5,508 kg (12,145 lb)
Cruising Speed:
Unknown
Max Speed:
1,107 km/h (688 mph)
Rate of Climb:
10,000 m (32,810 ft) / 4.9 min
Service Ceiling:
15,500 m (50,850 ft)
Range:
1,130 km (700 mi )
Power Plant:
One Klimov VK- 1 jet engine, 2,700 kg (5,955 lb) static thrust