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Aircraft record

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21

MiG-21 · Mikoyan-Gurevich · Soviet Union

Roles
Fighter (Primary)
Era
Cold War
MiG-21F-13 aircraft. MiG-21F-13 (c/n 741004, 619) at Flugplatzmuseum Neuhardenberg; variant-specific image, not the representative MiG-21PF.
MiG-21F-13 (c/n 741004, 619) at Flugplatzmuseum Neuhardenberg; variant-specific image, not the representative MiG-21PF. Source · André Gerwing. CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized and converted from JPEG to WebP without cropping; adapted image remains under CC BY-SA 4.0. CC BY-SA 4.0

Reference data

Quick facts

Manufacturer
Mikoyan-Gurevich
Country
Soviet Union

Reference data

Historical Content

Development and Global Service

Aircraft family

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 was a Soviet-designed jet fighter that first flew in 1955. Known to Western forces by the reporting name Fishbed, the MiG-21 became one of the most widely used jet fighters of its generation. [1]

Aircraft family

More than 50 countries operated versions of the MiG-21, and some remained in service well into the 21st century. The Soviet Union produced more than 10,000 MiG-21 aircraft before ending production in 1985. [1]

Aircraft family

The 1955 first-flight date refers to the MiG-21 development lineage, not specifically to the MiG-21PF variant. [1]

Operational History

Aircraft family

The MiG-21 became a prominent combat aircraft during the Vietnam War. North Vietnamese MiG-21s engaged American fighters, particularly the F-4 Phantom, and presented a significant air-combat threat. [1]

Aircraft family

Its combination of speed and agility made the aircraft an important opponent in the air war over Southeast Asia. [1]

MiG-21PF Variant

Variant: MiG-21PF

The MiG-21PF represented a missile-armed interceptor configuration within the wider MiG-21 family. The aircraft displayed at the National Museum of the United States Air Force carried air-to-air missiles but did not have gun armament. [1]

Individual aircraft: National Museum of the United States Air Force MiG-21PF · The 921st Fighter Regiment marking describes the museum aircraft's paint scheme.

The museum's aircraft is painted to represent an aircraft from North Vietnam's 921st Fighter Regiment. [1]

Reference data

Specifications

Representative Variant Specifications

Representative variant

MiG-21PF

These specifications apply to the MiG-21PF variant and should not be read as values for every MiG-21 version.

Performance

MeasurementValue
Maximum speed2,092 km/hMaximum speed: 1,300 mph
Range1,400 kmRange: 870 miles
Ceiling18,897.6 mCeiling: 62,000 ft

Powerplant

turbojet · MiG-21PF

Tumansky R-11F2-300

Quantity: 1

Thrust58 kNEngine: Tumansky R-11F2-300 with more than 13,000 lb thrustmore than; source gives a lower bound, not an exact thrust rating

Reference data

Variants

Recorded variants of this aircraft family. Variant entries here do not create separate public pages.

MiG-21PF
MiG-21PF
Representative variant

Reference data

Sources

  1. Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21PF Fishbed-DNational Museum of the United States Air ForceMiG-21PF representative variant specifications · Development and Global Service · Aircraft family · Operational History · Aircraft family · MiG-21PF Variant · Variant: MiG-21PF · MiG-21PF Variant · Individual aircraft: National Museum of the United States Air Force MiG-21PF · The 921st Fighter Regiment marking describes the museum aircraft's paint scheme.