Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis
The main production MiG-15 — the VK-1 engine, better airbrakes and the version that dominated MiG Alley · In production 1950–1953 · In service 1950
The MiG-15bis replaced the RD-45F with the Klimov VK-1 of 26.5 kN and added enlarged airbrakes, a revised canopy, a landing light in the intake splitter, the OSP-48 instrument landing system and an ASP-1N gyroscopic gunsight; the NS-23 cannon gave way to the NR-23 during production. It entered service in 1950, and the USSR built 8,352 — by far the most numerous version.
Sub-variants included the MiG-15bis R reconnaissance aircraft with cameras in place of two cannon, the long-range MiG-15bis S escort fighter, and fighter-bomber conversions; about 150 aircraft were upgraded to SD-21 standard in 1953–1954. The bis was licence-built as the Lim-2 in Poland and the S-103 in Czechoslovakia, and was known in China as the J-2.
Soviet, Chinese and North Korean pilots flew the bis against UN forces in Korea. On 21 September 1953 North Korean pilot No Kum-sok defected with his MiG-15bis to Kimpo; it was test-flown by USAF pilots on Okinawa and is now in the National Museum of the US Air Force. Egypt used the bis in the 1956 Suez Crisis, and Finnish pilots nicknamed the type 'Mukelo'.
