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A Russian Surprise.
This is the only episode of the series that evoke several snickers of amusement. Sometimes it's positively funny.
The MIG got its name from a combination of the names of its two designers, Mikoyan and Gurevich, both affable men. The first version, the MIG-9, was copied from the German's Me-262. The ungainly thing flew but it needed a more powerful jet engine. The accommodating British invited the design team to visit their Rolls Royce plant, which was producing those more powerful engines.
In the factory, one of the Russian team wore shoes with spongy soles in order to pick up the metal shavings on the floor around the machinery that assembled the blades. The shavings were later analyzed to make sure the alloy was pure. (I'm not making this up.) It may or may not have been necessary because a senior British official invited Mikoyan to his home for dinner and a game of pool. Both were skilled players, and the score was close until the last play, when Mikoyan proposed that, if he should win, the Brits would turn over the design of their engine. He won, and the Brits turned over the design. Or so Mikoyan claimed.
The episode is more informative than most documentaries because it deals with unfamiliar material and because the point of view is mostly -- not entirely -- that of our adversaries, who loved their airplane. Anyone familiar with gun camera footage has probably seen the horrifying clip of a B-17 being systematically shot to pieces, but far fewer have seen a B-29 getting it from behind over Korea.
There's neither space nor reason for a description of the MIG-15s strengths and weaknesses, let alone a history of the Korean War, but I need to mention one comic incident. The USA was begging for a defector to land a MIG-15 in South Korea so it could be examined. A reward of several million dollars in today's money was offered. Finally, a North Korean pilot who knew nothing of the reward, one of the talking heads, describes his narrow escape during his defection -- "narrow" because both the Russian and American pilots would have been happy to shoot him down. He landed his airplane on the first Allied runway he came to. Both radar and anti-aircraft had evidently missed his approach. Just before touching down he saw a Sabre landing at the other end of the runway, flying towards him. The two airplanes passed each other, zipping along the runway, the American pilot gawking at the Russian aircraft.
I mentioned that the Russians copied German technology after World War II. So did we. It gave rise in the early 60s to a popular joke. An American and a Russian satellite meet in orbit. "Good morning," says the American. "Spasibo," replies the Russian. The American satellite looks around and then whispers, "Wir sind allein. Wir konnen Deutsch sprechen."
The MIG got its name from a combination of the names of its two designers, Mikoyan and Gurevich, both affable men. The first version, the MIG-9, was copied from the German's Me-262. The ungainly thing flew but it needed a more powerful jet engine. The accommodating British invited the design team to visit their Rolls Royce plant, which was producing those more powerful engines.
In the factory, one of the Russian team wore shoes with spongy soles in order to pick up the metal shavings on the floor around the machinery that assembled the blades. The shavings were later analyzed to make sure the alloy was pure. (I'm not making this up.) It may or may not have been necessary because a senior British official invited Mikoyan to his home for dinner and a game of pool. Both were skilled players, and the score was close until the last play, when Mikoyan proposed that, if he should win, the Brits would turn over the design of their engine. He won, and the Brits turned over the design. Or so Mikoyan claimed.
The episode is more informative than most documentaries because it deals with unfamiliar material and because the point of view is mostly -- not entirely -- that of our adversaries, who loved their airplane. Anyone familiar with gun camera footage has probably seen the horrifying clip of a B-17 being systematically shot to pieces, but far fewer have seen a B-29 getting it from behind over Korea.
There's neither space nor reason for a description of the MIG-15s strengths and weaknesses, let alone a history of the Korean War, but I need to mention one comic incident. The USA was begging for a defector to land a MIG-15 in South Korea so it could be examined. A reward of several million dollars in today's money was offered. Finally, a North Korean pilot who knew nothing of the reward, one of the talking heads, describes his narrow escape during his defection -- "narrow" because both the Russian and American pilots would have been happy to shoot him down. He landed his airplane on the first Allied runway he came to. Both radar and anti-aircraft had evidently missed his approach. Just before touching down he saw a Sabre landing at the other end of the runway, flying towards him. The two airplanes passed each other, zipping along the runway, the American pilot gawking at the Russian aircraft.
I mentioned that the Russians copied German technology after World War II. So did we. It gave rise in the early 60s to a popular joke. An American and a Russian satellite meet in orbit. "Good morning," says the American. "Spasibo," replies the Russian. The American satellite looks around and then whispers, "Wir sind allein. Wir konnen Deutsch sprechen."
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- rmax304823
- Aug 20, 2013
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