CFS Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG17 Fresco in North Vietnam's Air Force Livery.
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic performance jet fighter aircraft produced in the USSR from 1952 and operated by numerous air forces in many variants. It is an advanced development of the very similar appearing MiG-15 of the Korean War, and was used as an effective threat against supersonic fighters of the United States in the Vietnam War.
The MiG-17 was the primary interceptor of the fledgling Vietnam People's Air Force in 1965, scoring its first aerial victories and seeing extensive combat during the Vietnam War, the aircraft frequently worked in conjunction with MiG-21s and MiG-19s. Many historians believe that some North Vietnamese pilots, in fact, preferred the MiG-17 over the MiG-21 because it was more agile, though not as fast; however, of the 16 NVAF Aces of the war, 13 of them attained that status while flying the MiG-21. Only 3 North Vietnamese Airmen gained Ace status while flying the MiG-17.
In 1960, the first group of approximately 50 North Vietnamese airmen were transferred to Communist China to begin transitonal training onto the MiG-17. By this time the first detachment of Chinese trained MiG-15 pilots had returned to North Vietnam, and a group of 31 airmen were deployed to Communist China's base at Son Dong for conversion to the MiG-17. By 1962 the first North Vietnamese pilots had finished their MiG-17 courses in the Soviet Union and Red China, and returned to their units; to mark the occasion, the Soviets sent as a "gift" 36 MiG-17 fighters and MiG-15UTI trainers to Hanoi in February 1964. These airmen would create North Vietnam's first jet fighter regiment, the 921st. By 1965, another group of MiG pilots had returned from training in Krasnodar, in the USSR, as well as from Red China. This group would form North Vietnam's second fighter unit, the 923rd Fighter Regiment. While the newly created 923rd FR operated strictly MiG-17s, the 921st FR would operate both MiG-17s and MiG-21s (in 1969 the 925th FR MiG-19 unit would be formed).
Although US jet fighter-bombers (the F-100 Super Sabre and F-101 Voodoo) had been engaged in combat since 1961, the North Vietnamese Air Force MiGs had not. On 4 April 1965, the USAF conducted a "re-strike" on the Hàm R?ng/Thanh Hoa bridge with 48 F-105 Thunderchiefs loaded with 384 x 750 lb bombs. The Thunderchiefs were escorted by a MiGCAP flight of F-100 Super Sabres from the 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS). Coming from above, four MiG-17s from the 921st Fighter Regiment (FR) tore through the escorts and dove onto the Thunderchiefs, shooting two of them down. The Super Sabres engaged with one firing a "Sidewinder" air-to-air missile which apparently missed (or malfunctioned), and another F-100 fired 20mm cannons, which also apparently missed. The North Vietnamese MiG-17s had scored their first confirmed aerial victories in jet-to-jet combat (North Vietnamese MiG-17s and US jets had fought their first jet air battle on 3 April 1965 which involved US Navy F-8 Crusaders, with only probable kills).
The USAF confirmed the two F-105 losses during that engagement, and an F-100 piloted by CPT Donald W. Kilgus reported a probable aerial victory over one of the MiG-17s, but no other US airmen reported any confirmed aerial kills during the air battle. However, MiG-17 pilot Tran Hanh, who was credited with one confirmed F-105 victory during that engagement, stated that three of his accompanying MiG-17s had been shot down by the opposing USAF fighters.
During the 4 April 1965 engagement, four MiG-17s from the 921st FR had tangled with over 50 US jet fighter-bombers, consisting of F-105s and F-100s. Three F-100s from the MiGCAP, piloted by LTC Emmett L. Hays, CPT Keith B. Connolly, and CPT Donald W. Kilgus, all from the 416th TFS, engaged the MiG-17s. One Super Sabre fired an air-to-air missile and Connolly and Kilgus engaged with 20mm cannon, with only Kilgus claiming a probable kill. The four attacking MiGs from the 921st FR were flown by Flight Leader Tran Hanh, Wingman Pham Giay, Le Minh Huan and Tran Nguyen Nam. Flight Leader Tran Hanh was the only survivor from the air battle and reportedly stated that his three MiG-17s were "... shot down by the F-105s." Based upon the report, the USAF F-100s very well could have been mistaken for F-105s, and the reported loss of three MiG-17s to those mistaken jet fighters would indicate that the USAF F-100 Super Sabres had obtained the first US aerial combat victories during the Vietnam War.
The MiG-17 was not originally designed to function as a fighter-bomber, but in 1971 Hanoi directed that US Navy warships were to be attacked by elements of the North Vietnamese Air Force. This would require the MiG-17 to be fitted with bomb mountings and release mechanisms. Chief Engineer of the NVAF ground crews, Truong Khanh Chau, was tasked with the mission of modifying two MiG-17s for the ground attack role; after three months of work, the two jets were ready. On 19 April 1972, two pilots from the 923rd FR took their bomb laden MiG-17s and attacked the US Navy destroyer USS Higbee (DD-806) and light cruiser USS Oklahoma City (CLG-5). Each MiG was armed with two 500 lb bombs. Pilot Le Xuan Di managed to hit the destroyer's aft 5" gun mount, destroying it, but inflicting no fatalities, as the crewmen had vacated the turret earlier due to a malfunction with the gun system. The other attacker from the two-plane sortie was flown by Nguyen Van Bay, an airman who would later end the war with seven confirmed air victories, all accomplished from his MiG-17. On this day however, his fighter either managed to slightly damage the USS Oklahoma City, or miss it entirely, depending upon the source. Each pilot had completed their drop of two bombs each and returned to base. After the war, Truong Khanh Chau became the director of the Vietnam Institute for Science and Technology in 1977.
General characteristics
Crew: One
Length: 11.36 m (37 ft 3 in)
Wingspan: 9.63 m (31 ft 7 in)
Height: 3.80 m (12 ft 6 in)
Empty weight: 3,930 kg (8,646 lb)
Loaded weight: 5,354 kg (11,803 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 6,286 kg (13,858 lb)
Powerplant: 1× Klimov VK-1F afterburning turbojet, 33.1 kN with afterburner (7,440 lbf)
Performance
Maximum speed: 1,144 km/h at 3,000 m (711 mph at 10,000 ft (3,000 m))
Range: 1,080 km, 1,670 km with drop tanks (670 mi / 1,035 mi)
Service ceiling: 16,600 m (54,500 ft)
Rate of climb: 65 m/s (12,795 ft/min)
Thrust/weight: 0.63
Armament
1x 37 mm Nudelman N-37 cannon (40 rounds total)
2x Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 cannons (80 rounds per gun, 160 rounds total)
Up to 500 kg (1,100 lb) of external stores on two pylons, including 100 kg (220 lb) and 250 kg (550 lb) bombs or fuel tanks.
FS98 Aircraft Designer: Chris Lampard.
Egyptian's textures and DP: Edmundo Abad Dec. 2009
Also special thanks to Juan Concha & Roberto Ibarra, former FACH officers, by the great provided information for the development of this virtual model.
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I have included a damage profile for use with CFS1, with armament of 2x 23 mm, 1x 37 mm. cannons, rockets and bombs and repainted in three textures:
-MiG17 Fresco Vietnam People's Air Force # 2533, all silver.
-MiG17 Fresco Vietnam People's Air Force # 5020, tan/green spots camouflaged.
-MiG17 Fresco Vietnam People's Air Force # 1905, green/olive/tan camouflaged.
To add drop tanks, turn on instrumental panel lights.
To activate air-brakes, set full spoilers.
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Installation FS98/CFS
1. Unzip to Temporaly directory "mig17.zip".
2. Copy "mig17" folder to X:\CFS\aircraft directory.
3. Copy "gauges" folder to X:\CFS\gauges directory.
