Mystery MiG

[LowObservable]

Many years ago I was handed a bunch of photos and some scrambled Russglish captions and invited to make sense of same. However, there was one anomaly that never did get sorted out: a photo of the Tu-98 Backfin over the legendary Tushino display in June 1956. On the right is what should be either the Ye-4 or Ye-5. On the left is a very similar aircraft with what looks like a twin-engine back end.

Nobody knows what it is, and by the way, I did ask someone who totally should have known.

 

[flateric]

Ye-5 and Ye-4

 

[Bazinga]

To my records both Ye-4 and 5 are single engine. The nearest thing i have as a twin engine version is the the Ye-152A

 

[otxentero]

Good point, but unfortunately Ye-152 did its maiden flight in 1961, and this parade was in 1956. I also thought about this model.

 

[Jemiba]

According to Gunston/Gordon "MiG Aircraft since 1937", Putnam the Ye-4 and -5 looked
like this and had been flown in 1955, so the time frame seems plausible.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Its the Ye-4, the reason it looks twin engined is the presence of twin ventral fins combined with the blurriness of the picture.

 

[flateric]

check the wing edge on left a/c
various sources say that they were either both Ye-4s, or Ye-5 and Ye-4 (in last case at least during preparation flights)
protruding wing fences were distinctive trademark of Ye-5, but at some mutation stages Ye-4 did carry 'em too

 

[Jemiba]

Its the Ye-4, the reason it looks twin engined is the presence of twin ventral fins combined with the blurriness of the picture.

... and compared to the E-152A the aft part of the fuselage looks too narrow, I think.

 

[Bazinga]

Agree also the cone is notably 'missing' in the picture for it to be a Ye-152A. According to Yefim Gordon and Vladimir Rigmant in http://www.amazon.com/OKB-Tupolev-History-Design-Aircraft/dp/1857802144 the first flight of Tu-98 took place on 7th September 1956 and testing lasted till 1959. The project was already officially killed in Feb 1958.

Might it be 1957 then instead of 1956 that this picture was taken?

 

[LowObservable]

I'm having trouble seeing how the twin ventrals would make it look like that.

Of course, deliberate Photoshopski can't be entirely ruled out.

 

[Jemiba]

I think, the ventral fins could be like on this sketch and, as Paul already wrote, appear enlarged due to the
blurred original photo and digitalisation. More problematic for me are the elevators. Could they be moved
differentially ?

 

[hesham]

It is MiG-21,not a mystery at all,


many sites said that,for example;
http://www.mycity-military.com/Avioni/MIG-21-Fishbed_33.html

 

[Stargazer]

many sites said that

hesham, it's time you understood that many sites saying the same thing doesn't necessarily make it true (the same is true for books, but to a lesser extent).

The web is full of mistakes, and it is one of our forum's foremost goals to question the obvious and to track down errors.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

There are other shots of the flyby in Yefim Gordon's Famous Russian Aircraft: MiG-21 which make it clear its the Ye-4 and Ye-5, which are well known prototypes leading to the MiG-21.


Look at the size and shape of the ventrals in this shot:

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Here's the reverse shot. Note the Ye-4 on the right has the 45 degree angled ventral fins which make the rear fuselage appear to flare out, while they have been deleted from the Ye-5 by this stage.

 

[Gridlock]

1961 in the file name on that last photo vs 1956 in the OP?


(now updated)

 

[Bazinga]

For the type I'd say myth busted. For the year I'm not so sure. Why would you do a flypast of a Tu-98 in 1961 while it was cancelled in 1958 and terminated in 1959, The successor the Su-24 Fencer was already in the planning by then.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

That was my mistake - the photo is from 1956 - corrected name.

 

[Bazinga]

This would mean that the Russians took a gamble and we are probably looking at the first flight here. I'd not be surprised. At that time they were flying Tu-95LaL nuclear powered Bear without protection just to show off to the world. Most pilots didn't make it much after that flight.