Tamiya's 1/48 scale
MiG-15bis

by Roland Sachsenhofer

MiG-15bis

Tamiya's 1/48 scale MiG-15bis is available online from Squadron.com

Five years after the end of World War Two the old alliances had shattered and the frontiers of the new Cold War had been drawn. Wether the USA nor the CCCP would accept any further expansion of the rivals sphere of influence.

In unhappy Korea, just liberated from the Japanese occupants, the first „hot war“ in this new global conflict broke out, as the Soviet-supported North attacked the South. It soon revealed that both the USA as the Soviet Union would be willing to send the very best of their military engineering in support of their particular favorite…

A few weeks after the conflict had startet, Mig-15 would be deployed over North Korea for the first time. Mostly flown by experienced Russian pilots or by Chinese „volunteers“, these hard hitting fighters alarmed the UNO forces. Even units equipped with the new F-86 Sabre initially had hard times combating the Mig-15. It should need improved versions of the Sabre and adapted tactics to get the menace under control.

The Mig-15 was initially developed as a bomber killer, the heavy armament of a 37mm canon paired with two 23mm weapons bears witness of that. The Soviets could take advantage of Germanys swept-wing technology, which was skillful incorporated in the new design. The Klimow WK-1, a license build Rolls Royce „Nene“ jet, made the Mig-15 a formidable powered fighter; all in all the Mig-15 had to counted to the best combat planes of it´s time.

I had found the markings for my model on the Cutting Edge sheet "Mig-15bis Fagots, Sheet 3"
It depicts the mount of Major I.P. Golshevskij, an experienced combat pilot of the Soviet 251th „Aviapolk“, a nightfighter unit based in Chinese airbase Antung. The black underside makes their main task apparent: they had to deal with nightly intruders as the B-29s. After all, that was the task the Mig-15 was originally developed for.

If you are interested in the building process, please have a look on the workbench at the JAM Forum:
http://www.razyboard.com/system/morethread-mig-15bis-tamiya-148-raidenjack-2086023-6291805-0.html

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As ever, remarks will be appreciated: ro.sachsenhofer@gmx.at

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2014 by Roland Sachsenhofer
Page Created 25 June, 2014
Last Updated 25 June, 2014

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