The MiG-9 was through the luck of a coin toss, the first Soviet jet to fly.

The story goes that on 24 Apr 1946, prototypes from both Mikoyan-Gurevich and Yakovlev were ready and a coin was tossed by representatives to determine which would fly first. MiG won, and the rest is history.

The MiG-9 utilized reverse engineered German BMW-003 engines. It also introduced the new fangled tricycle undercarriage that had previously been used on Lend-Lease types.

It suffered from numerous faults that resulted in many crashes. In particular, the engines were unreliable and could flame out when the guns were fired.

Despite the aircraft’s problems, 610 were built.

The fighter entered service with the Soviet Air Forces in 1948. During 1950, 372 aircraft were transferred to the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Air Force to defend Chinese cities against air raids from Nationalist Forces.

In Soviet service, the MiG 9 was replaced by the more capable MiG-15 from 1949.

Amodel 1/72 kit completed by Steve Pulbrook in 2010.