Mikoyan, Artem Ivanovich

SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace

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b. 5 August 1905 Sanain, Armenia

d. 9 December 1970 Moscow, Russia

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Armenian aircraft designer.

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Mikoyan graduated from the Zhukovsky Military Aircraft Academy in 1936. His first major design project was in response to an official requirement, issued in December 1940, for a single-engined fighter with performance equating to those then in service with the British, French and German air forces. In conjunction with M.L. Gurevich, a mathematician, and in a bare four months, he produced a flying prototype, with a top speed of 401 mph (645 km/h), that entered service as the MiG-1 in 1941. The Mikoyan and Gurevich MiG-3 and MiG-5 followed, and they then designed the MiG-7 high-altitude fighter; however, the latter never came into service on account of the decline of the German air force.

The Second World War MiG fighters were characterized by high speed, good protection and armament, but they had poor manoeuvrability. In 1945, however, Mikoyan began to study Western developments in jet-powered aircraft. The result was a series of jet fighters, beginning with the MiG-9A, through the MiG-11, to the MiG-15 that gave the Allied air forces such a shock when it first appeared during the Korean War. The last in the series in which Mikoyan himself was involved was the MiG-23, which entered service in 1967. The MiG series lived on after both his and Gurevich's (1976) deaths, with one of the latest models being the MiG-31.

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Principal Honours and Distinctions

Deputy to the Supreme Soviet 1950, 1954, 1958. Corresponding Member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences 1953. Member of the Council of Nationalities 1962. Three Stalin Prizes and other decorations.

CM