CFS Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG19 Farmer in North Vietnam's Air Force Livery.

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 (NATO reporting name: "Farmer") is a Soviet second-generation, single-seat, twin jet-engined 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 F-100 Super Sabre, although it would primarily oppose the more modern F-4 Phantom II and F-105 Thunderchief over North Vietnam skies.

In early 1969, Hanoi made the decision to strengthen their air defenses by creating a third jet fighter unit; the 925th Fighter Regiment. This unit would consist of late model MiG-17s and the newly acquired MiG-19s (nearly all of which were J-6s from Communist China). The regiment was established at Yen Bai, and by April 1969, nine combat-rated MiG-19 pilots were posted for combat duty. While some of North Vietnam's MiG-17s and nearly all of their MiG-21s were supplied by the Soviet Union, the bulk of their MiG-19s (J-6 models) were supplied by Communist China, which seldom exceeded 54 MiG-19s in number.

The first use and loss of a U.S. fighter to a MiG-19 (J-6) was in 1965 when a USAF F-104 Starfighter piloted by LTC Philip E. Smith was "bounced" by a Communist Chinese aircraft near Hainan Island. His Starfighter took cannon fire which damaged a portion of his wing and missile mount. LTC Smith gave chase and did receive missile tone on the MiG, and within a millisecond of pressing his missile firing button, his Starfighter lost all power, and he had to eject. LTC Smith was held prisoner until his release in 1972, coincidentally during U.S. President Richard Nixon's visit to China in 1972.

North Vietnam's Air Force used the MiG-19 much later in the air war than the MiG-17 and the MiG-21. MiG-19s, despite their limited numbers, were involved in extensive combat during Operations Linebacker 1 and Linebacker 2 (aka the Christmas Bombing). The NVAF claimed only seven victories using the MiG-19 over US aircraft, all of which were F-4 Phantom IIs.
Primarily because of the aircraft's twin engines, which created a maintenance nightmare, the MiG-19 wasn't favored by North Vietnamese pilots. While the MiG-17 had maneuverability and the MiG-21 had speed, the MiG-19 had a combination of both, but not to the same degree as the others. North Vietnam used the MiG-19 from 1969 until the 1980s when it was replaced by newer aircraft.

Compared to the F-4 Phantom II however, although lacking mounts for air-to-air missiles, it had the one advantage that the early model Phantoms did not have: it was armed with cannons. Confirmed aerial victories by MiG-19s while assigned to the 925th FR, which match US records occurred on: 10 May 1972 in which two F-4 Phantoms were shot down by MiG-19s flown by Pham Hung Son and Nguyen Manh Tung. Both NVAF victories over the F-4s were accomplished by cannon fire, pilot Nguyen Tung's downed USAF F-4 Phantom was manned by Major Robert Lodge and his WSO 1st Lt Roger Locher. Combat results of the 925th FR using MiG-19s, according to the North Vietnamese Air Force were: two F-4s on 8 May 1972 (MiG-19 pilots: Nguyen Ngoc Tiep and Nguyen Hong Son); two F-4s on 10 May 1972 (MiG-19 pilots (both previously mentioned): Pham Hung Son and Nguyen Manh Tung); one F-4 on 18 May 1972; and two F-4s shot down on 23 May 1972 (MiG-19 pilots: Nguyen Hung Son and Pham Hung Son); these losses were in exchange for 10 MiG-19s lost in aerial combat with US jets. The MiG-19 did make history in one manner however; on 2 June 1972 over the skies of North Vietnam, the MiG-19 has the inauspicious honor of being the only recorded jet fighter to be shot down in aerial combat by cannon fire at supersonic speeds, by a USAF F-4 Phantom piloted by MAJ Phil Handley.

General characteristics

Crew: One
Length: 12.5 m (41 ft)
Wingspan: 9.2 m (30 ft 2 in)
Height: 3.9 m (12 ft 10 in)
Empty weight: 5,447 kg (11,983 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 7,560 kg (16,632 lb)
Powerplant: 2× Tumansky RD-9B or RD-9BF-811 afterburning turbojets, 31.9 kN or 37 kN (7,178 lbf or 8,300 lbf) each
Fuel capacity: 1,800 kg (3,960 lb)

Performance

Maximum speed: 1,455 km/h (909 mph)
Range: 685 km (430 mi); 2,200 km combat (1,375 mi)
Service ceiling: 17,500 m (57,400 ft)
Rate of climb: 180 m/s (35,425 ft/min)
Thrust/weight: 0.86

Armament

3x 30 mm NR-30 cannons (75 rounds per gun for wing guns, 55 rounds for the fuselage gun)
Up to 250 kg (550 lb) of bombs or unguided rockets on 4 underwing pylons or 4 Vympel K-13 AAMs

FS98 Aircraft Designers: Alpha Simulations.
North Vietnam'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 3x 30 mm NR-30 cannons , rockets and bombs, and repainted in two textures:
-MiG19 Farmer Vietnam People's Air Force # 6058, all silver.
-MiG19 Farmer Vietnam People's Air Force # 6066, silver/green camouflaged.
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Installation FS98/CFS

1. Unzip to Temporaly directory "mig19.zip".

2. Copy "mig19" folder to X:\CFS\aircraft directory.

3. Copy "gauges" folder to X:\CFS\gauges directory.

Edmundo Abad, 12/2009
Santiago- Chile
eabad5@live.cl