When did leading edge slats on the MiG-3 become standard?

[JtD]

I see the series 24 aircraft we have in game already has them, which surprises me a little, I always considered them a late production modification, and series 24 isn't really late.

 

Does anyone know with what series they were first tested, when they were installed in series production and to what extent they were refitted into older series in the field?

[9./JG27MAD-MM]

That's all I can currently found´:

 

2nd Major Operational Series (Five gun version) 821 total series produced, June 1941:

     *Most of the serious defects were resolved.

     *Wing leading edge slats became a standard feature.

     *RSI-4 radio was installed.

     *Two underwing berezin 12.7mm machine guns in gondolas were installed.

     *Maneuverability was reduced to an unacceptable degree.

     *Maximum speed was reduced by 12.4 to 18.6 mph from the 1st Series.

     *Typical Specifications:

          *Combat Weight: 7,385 lbs.

          *Maximum Speed: 279  mph./S.L.,  364  mph./23,600 ft.

          *Climb: 2,900 fpm./S.L.,  16,400 ft./7.5 minutes.

          *Service Ceiling: 35,000 ft.

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

See here: http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/mig3/latemig-3.html
 

On July 10, 1941, automatic slats were introduced, noticeably improving the flight characteristics with regards to spinning. 
The introduction of slats led to moving the pitot probe from the right wing edge to the lower right wing surface.

(...)

On some examples, a system to fill tanks with inert gas was installed; this is recognizable from a small pipe taking exhaust gases from the 2nd and 3rd left exhaust stacks.
The purpose of this system was to exclude air in the tanks, reducing oxigen on them with obvious safety benefits.
This system, although required by early test pilots since 1940, was frequently installed on examples built in summer 1941 and later.

(...)

The engine cowling with dzus locks was considered unsatisfactory and too complex by first line units; according to this, a new cowling inspired to that of Bf-109 was tested at first on the aircraft n.2554, and then introduced into series production from the 16th series (each series was usually composed of 100 aircrafts, so the new cowling should be installed from the aircraft n.3600).

 

Considering this variant has slats, the inert gas system plus the reworked engine cowling, all of which were introduced in the summer of 1941, and that these were introduced with the 16th series, it is clear the MiG-3 we have is in fact a late production series.

 

Don't forget that the vast majority of MiG-3s produced were built after these changes had arrived, there were relatively few early MiG-3s (and MiG-1s for that matter) and a good part of them was wrecked during the opening of Operation Barbarossa.

 

EDIT: Also, each series consists of 100 aircraft and the MiG-3 saw around 3200 units built, aircraft built in the 24th series sit on the last quarter of its life-span.

 

And some more information:

 

After 100 MiG-1 built up to mid December, 1940, Zavod 1 Moscow-Vnukovo produced 20 MiG-3s in late december 1940, and 150 MiG-3s in January 1941.
During February the production increased, and in March it 1941 it reached a  rate of 70 per week; by  March 28, 473 MiG-3s were built, of which 270 were already sent to operative units.

 

While this doesn't specify the number built between March and June/July 1941 when all the improvements were introduced, we can guesstimate that there were 473 MiG-3s built up to March plus about 910 at 70/week until the end of July amounting to 1383, leaving upwards of 1800 later-series MiGs.

Edited December 23, 2015 by Lucas_From_Hell

[Finkeren]

You can tell, that it's a late production variant simply by looking at the redesigned cowling, which was introduced after all the other major additions had taken place. This is the variant commonly called "MiG-3ud" or "long nosed" variant (even though the nose isn't longer at all)

 

MiG-3uds always had slats (except when repaired in the field with spare wing parts from early production aircraft) reduced ventral fuel tank and usually, but not always, had inert gas system and tailwheel locked down (a feature absent from our MiG) early MiG-3uds generally had UBK gun pods in the wings (which were sometimes removed in the field) while the late production (the last MiGs to be produced) were the up-gunned variants with UBS or ShVAK guns in the cowling. These seldom had UBK pods, so a 4xHMG MiG would be a rarity. During Autumn/Winter 1941/42 it seems to have also been fairly common to remove the sliding part of the canopy from MiGs in service.

 

The MiG we have is a good representation of what MiGs were like from Autumn 1941 onwards (during the BoM timeframe) except for one thing: The tail wheel really should be locked down, as this was by far the mist common configuration in late production MiGs.

[JtD]

Thanks for the responses, it looks a little bit like qualified opinion and not really known fact to me, but since I don't know any better, lets stick with July 10th, 1941.

 

What I found is that it looks like I was wrong assuming that series 24 means aircraft 24xx, as they would be 44xx (Why can't these guys ever be consistent in their numbering?). That shifts production from around March to around July.

Edited December 23, 2015 by JtD

[Finkeren]

In any case: For the battle of Moscow, this is definately the right version to have. Overturn of fighters in the VVS at this time was so great, that it would have been by far the most common variant by October 1941, which can also be confirmed by looking at pictures of MiGs from around that time.