This Day in Aviation History

February 14th, 1956
First flight of the MiG-21 “Fishbed”.

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (Russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. It was popularly nicknamed “Balalaika”, from the aircraft’s planform-view resemblance to the Russian stringed musical instrument or ołówek (English: pencil) by Polish pilots due to the shape of its fuselage.

Early versions are considered second-generation jet fighters, while later versions are considered to be third-generation jet fighters. Approximately 60 countries over four continents have flown the MiG-21, and it still serves many nations a half-century after its maiden flight. The fighter made aviation records. At least by name, it is the most-produced supersonic jet aircraft in aviation history and the most-produced combat aircraft since the Korean War, and it had the longest production run of a combat aircraft (1959 to 1985 over all variants).

Source:
Wikipedia, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-21

YouTube, Wings of the Red Star Phantom’s Foe! MiG 21 Fishbed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WedlI91iZG8

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