Aerofax: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 : The Soviet Union's Jet Fighter of the Fifties

This is the second of the Aerofax volumes devoted to the three widely used fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau, whose service career spanned the period from the Korean War to the Vietnam conflict, the MiG-15, 17 and 19.

During the 1950s, the Soviet Union produced and used around 9,000 MiG-17s.

First flown in January 1950, it was an extensively upgraded version of the MiG-15 with a re-designed scimitar wing and lengthened fuselage.

The type was known to NATO as Fresco. The aircraft was built under various designations in other Warsaw Pact countries including the Polish Lim-5P and Lim-6bis and the Czech S-105.

The MiG-17 served not only with the Soviet armed forces but with the military in other eastern European nations.

Further afield, it was sold to and many other countries including Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Morocco, North Korea, North Vietnam and Syria.

The Chinese produced a version of the MiG-17 designated the Shenyang F-4.

The type was used in combat in the Middle East, in the Vietnam war and in Nigeria during the Biafran conflict. As the later MiG-19 (which will be covered in a forthcoming Aerofax volume) was introduced, the MiG-17 was relegated mostly to a ground-attack role, replacing the older MiG-15 in that capacity.

This Aerofax will have the highly illustrated content familiar to those who know the series.

Most of the photos come from Russian sources, the majority of these will be new to most readers outside of Russia A further title in the range of successful Aerofax volumes on Soviet aviation.

Much of the material in the book is drawn from Russian sources and has not been seen before in the West.

The MiG-17, one of the most numerous and successful warplanes of its era, will be of great interest to many aviation enthusiasts The well respected Aerofax series appeals to both modellers and historians.

The promotion of the book will be aimed at both these interest groups.