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

During the 1950s, the Soviet Union produced and used around 9,000 MiG-17s. First flown in January 1950, it is an extensively upgraded MiG-15 with a redesigned scimitar wing and lengthened fuselage, and known to NATO as "Fresco". The type was built under various designations including the Polish Lim-5P and Lim-6bis and the Czech S-105, and served not only with the Soviet armed forces but with the military in other Warsaw Pact nations, and further afield including Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Morocco, North Korea, North Vietnam, and Syria. The Chinese built the MiG-17 as the Shenyang F-4. The type saw combat in the Middle East against Israel, in North Vietnam, and in Nigeria during the Biafran War. As the later MiG-19 (which will be covered in a forthcoming Aerofax volume) was introduced, the MiG-17 was relegated mostly to the ground-attack role, replacing the MiG-15.