picture 171092

The earliest ‘U-2 Hunter’ was the MiG-19S: the first of 2nd generation designs by the Mikoyan i Gurevich Design Bureau. As the first supersonic interceptorto enter service with the V-PVO, it was rushed into mass production and thus suffered from poor mechanical reliability. Lacking guided air-to-air missiles, its primary armament consisted of ORO-57K pods for unguided rockets and three internal 30mm cannons. It proved unable to climb to the altitudes at which the RB-57s and U-2s were operating, but was the best available in the 1955-1960 period, and thus saw plenty of action in intercept operations over the USSR. This example served with the 431st IAP based at Afrikanda AB on the Kola Peninsula in the early 1960s. (Artwork by Tom Cooper)