Mikoyan MiG-1

The MiG-1 was the first fighter to carry the Mikoyan and Gurevich name, a Soviet single-seat design answering a January 1939 call for a high-altitude fighter with an inline engine. To save scarce aluminium the airframe was built mostly of steel tubing and wood, and a V-12 Mikulin AM-35A engine had to stand in for the more powerful AM-37 that was not yet ready. The prototype flew on 5 April 1940, and although flight testing exposed handling faults it was ordered into production before they were cured. One hundred were built before the design was reworked into the MiG-3. Issued to fighter regiments in 1941, most were lost in the first days of the German invasion of June 1941.