picture 183671

General appearance of MiG-17Fs from the first batch delivered to Egypt in October 1956 was very similar to that of MiG-15bis: they were painted in colour locally known as ‘silver grey’, but often described as ‘bare metal overall’ abroad. This actually consisted of a mix of 5% aluminium powder with clear lacquer, applied in two layers atop the varnish layer. Serials known to have been applied during the Suez War include 2004 and 2651 (the latter survived that conflict). There is a report about one aircraft supposedly serialled as 1107. Notable is that four-digit construction numbers - applied on all moving surfaces of the aircraft, but also drop tanks and pylons - were applied in red on Czechoslovak-made MiG-15s and MiG-17s, contrary to those applied on Soviet-made jets, which were always in blue. As of 1956, none of Egyptian MiG-17Fs received any launch rails for Sakr rockets: these became one of their prominent features only from mid-1960s.