MiG-3-34

This page is about the Soviet fighter MiG-3-34. For other versions, see MiG-3 (Family).

MiG-3-34

MiG-3-15 (BK)

I-16 type 27

MiG-3-34

MiG-3-15 (BK)

I-16 type 27

USSR

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.7	2.7	2.3

Class:

Fighter

Interceptor

Research:4 600

Purchase:16 000

Description

The MiG-3-34 was an experimental variant of the MiG-3 series, that tried to address the relatively weak firepower that previous models had. The MiG-3-34 was meant to be a high-altitude fighter, and was one of the few Soviet fighters capable of doing so, but still not at the level of American or German fighters like the P-51 and Bf 109. The MiG-3 suffered from a lot of problems in its development, from negligent quality control in the assembly line to deficient armament and poor oxygen supply. The MiG-3 was caught in a tough spot during Operation Barbarossa: instead of intercepting bombers, it clashed against much more agile Bf 109s. The aircraft was deemed much inferior and quickly phased out in favour of more capable low altitude Yak and LaGG fighters.

Introduced in Update 1.41, the MiG-3-34 is a fairly competitive aircraft for its BR. It should be played similarly to aircraft like the I-185 and I-225, using its good top speed and acceleration. Since it lacks the agility and armament to go toe-to-toe against aircraft like the Spitfire and Bf 109, the MiG-3-34 should climb to high altitudes, especially to intercept enemy bombers. At altitudes above 4,000 m, the MiG-3-34's engine starts to perform at its maximum capacity, and its lack of agility is compensated at higher altitudes when speed and acceleration starts to become more important.

General info

Flight performance

Max speed

at 7 800 m612 km/h

Turn time22 s

Max altitude11 000 m

EngineMikulin AM-35A

TypeInline

Cooling systemWater

Take-off weight4 t

The MiG-3-34 is not a turnfighter, it's a Boom & Zoom aircraft. It is a bit sluggish when turning, although the flaps can be used to turn better. This aircraft has a good climb rate for its BR. Once upgraded, the plane is enjoyable, though it may be a bit challenging to master.

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 7,800 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	585	567	11000	23.2	24.2	12.6	12.6	450
Upgraded	641	612		20.8	22.0	20.2	16.0

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
700	320	457	428	280	~12	~5

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 350	< 280	< 350	> 370

Survivability and armour

Crew1 person

Speed of destruction

Structural700 km/h

Gear320 km/h

• 8.5 mm Steel - Under pilot's seat
• 8 mm Steel - Pilot's seat back
• Self-sealing fuel tanks

The plane's protection is average overall. The placement of critical components is good, with fuel tanks being self-sealing with neutral gas pressurization, and close to the cockpit. The pilot has 8 mm armour in the back of the seat, and 8.5 mm armour under the seat which protect against stray bullets and direct hits from small calibre guns, but do not protect against large calibre machine guns & autocannons. The lack of armoured glass and side protection for the cockpit makes it easy to take out the pilot in head on enagements, high deflection shots, or if it's tailing a bomber.

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB502 → 630

RB1 000 → 1 256

SB1 342 → 1 685

Total cost of modifications8 410

9 470

Talisman cost640

Crew training4 500

Experts16 000

Aces180

Research Aces190 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

30 / 80 / 150 %

118 / 118 / 118 %

Modifications

Flight performance	Survivability	Weaponry
Fuselage repair Research: 840 Cost: 950 105 Radiator Research: 840 Cost: 950 105 Compressor Research: 950 Cost: 1 100 120 Wings repair Research: 700 Cost: 790 90 Engine Research: 700 Cost: 790 90 Engine injection Research: 910 Cost: 1 000 115	Airframe Research: 950 Cost: 1 100 120 Cover Research: 910 Cost: 1 000 115	shvak_belt_pack Research: 700 Cost: 790 90 shvak_new_gun Research: 910 Cost: 1 000 115

Armaments

Offensive armament

Weapon 12 x 20 mm ShVAK cannon

Ammunition400 rounds

Fire rate720 shots/min

The MiG-3-34 is armed with:

• 2 x 20 mm ShVAK cannons, nose-mounted (200 rpg = 400 total)

Usage in battles

The MiG-3-34 is an interceptor which are mainly used to intercept bombers and strike aircraft, and take them out quickly with its 2 x 20 mm ShVAK cannons which can deal large amounts of damage in close range. Be mindful of bombers with large fuselages that are designed to take large amounts of damage; these can drain your ammo quickly and force you to be exposed to their defensive turrets for longer. All interceptors get an air spawn behind the base, use this to your advantage and find a good climb ratio that lets you gain both altitude and speed, and keep in mind that MiG series interceptors work best at high altitudes.

Use the high-powered 20 mm cannons wisely because they have only 200 rounds per gun, which depletes faster than you'd expect. Try to aim for critical components such as engines, control surfaces, and crew members. Avoid getting in direct line of sight of a bomber or strike aircraft's gunners, as you can easily get the pilot taken out by their defensive turrets. Try to intercept from the side and aim for the tail, wings, or cockpit. Consider avoiding the tracer belt if you're focusing on bombers and strike aircraft, as the lack of a dedicated penetration round that can travel through the fuselage and armor may cause problems with taking out crew members and vital components in sturdy & heavily armored, or spacious airframes.

For engaging other fighters, Boom & Zoom tactics work favorably well in the MiG-3-34 due to the typically less-aware players at this BR and the MiG's great stability at high speed. Climbing at 20 degrees at the start of the match should get you to an altitude that puts you above most of the enemy fighters and roughly within equal altitude of the bombers (ideally climb to 18,000 ft / 5486 m, which is easily achievable by maintaining the 20 degree climb upon spawning). Only the best climbers of this BR range that you can face like the Spitfire Mk.I / II and Bf 109 E / F are more likely to be at equal or greater altitude than you if they're flown by more experienced players that understand the importance of altitude advantage.

Keep in mind that your maximum dive speed is lower than the Spitfire, Bf 109, and most notably the Ki-44-I due to the MiG-3's wooden construction of its wings, making it extremely hard or nigh impossible to outrun them if they choose to dive on you. The Bf 109 E & F in particular can dive just shy of 100 km/h faster than you before they start disintegrating, and the Ki-44 a blistering 150 km/h faster, but the 109s suffer badly from pitch compression at those speeds, which may open up an opportunity to force an overshoot, and the Ki-44 has very poor energy retention, so even though they can dive much faster than you can and turn much quicker, they can't hold onto that speed if they're forced to make even a few turns. To avoid surpassing the structural limit of the wings, cut the engine throttle to 0%, and dive at a shallower angle or do some horizontal turns to bleed speed when nearing the structural limit if your target is quite a distance away from you. Cutting the engine to idle also makes for a stealthier attack due to there not being the warning sound of a roaring engine rapidly approaching.

With the good vertical energy retention the MiG-3 has after coming out of a dive, you can energy trap enemy aircraft fairly effectively with maneuvers such as the wingover, especially against those with particularly poor vertical retention like the Spitfire & Hurricane, I-16 (in the rare instance that Soviet-built aircraft are on both teams in an RB match), A6M2 Zero, and Ki-44, but be more cautious when using such manoeuvres against aircraft that also have good vertical retention like the Bf 109 E & F, P-38 Lightning, F6F Hellcat, and F4U Corsair, as whether or not you can successfully energy trap them is much more dependent on your own airspeed vs theirs. The Hellcat in particular is extremely dangerous as it was specifically designed to have excellent boom and zoom performance to counter the A6M Zero.

The MiG-3 can to a lesser extent be used as a ground attacker, but it is ill advised due to the sub-optimal armour protection for the pilot and complete lack for the vital components, low ammo count and low quantity of guns, mediocre penetration of the AP-I round, and the fact that it can't carry any bombs or rockets. It's better suited for being used in anti-CAS against strike aircraft and medium bombers that other planes and weaker-armed SPAAGs may have trouble taking down.

Using the MiG-3 as a dogfighter is sub-optimal, as it simply can't turn tightly enough to be competitive with most of the other single engine fighters at this BR, especially the British and Japanese. Even against some twin-engines you may be outperformed, such as the P-38 and Beaufighter Mk. VIc. Resort to this as a last stand if no other options are available, and hope your allies will arrive in time to assist or that the enemy makes a grave mistake.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Separate	Not controllable 1 gear	Not controllable

Pros and cons

Pros:

• 2 x 20 mm ShVAK cannons are powerful at close range, fairly accurate, have decent velocity, and come with excellent belt options
• Durable construction which can handle up to 700 km/h dives, and good stability at high speed to make aiming easier
• Good acceleration at low speed thanks to its powerful engine
• It takes a while to overheat the engine with WEP / impossible to overheat at high altitude, and quickly cools down when throttled back to 100%
• Great climb rate
• Strong flaps which can be used to decrease turn time
• Roll rate is good at high altitudes
• Good vertical energy retention allows effective usage of energy trap manoeuvres
• Self-sealing fuel tanks with NGP makes it very unlikely to catch fire, or remain on fire long enough to cause severe damage

Cons:

• Limited ammunition of 200 rounds per gun
• Not very manoeuvrable in turns
• Pilot, engine, and coolant systems are vulnerable due to sub-optimal armour and lack of bulletproof glass
• No additional armament other than 20 mm cannons, will likely need time to adjust from earlier MiG-3 armaments
• Maximum dive speed is unfavorable compared to the majority of American, some British & German, and specific Japanese fighters

History

Though riddled with shortcomings, the I-200/MiG-1 fighter/interceptor aircraft proved to be both a popular and capable aircraft with pilots that had experience flying them. To address the oft-cited shortcomings, aircraft designers Mikoyan and Gurevich set out to rectify these issues, not only to make the aircraft more pilot-friendly but to make it a more effective fighter/interceptor.

By utilizing a full-sized model of the aircraft in a wind tunnel, designers quickly set about documenting necessary changes in the aircraft's configuration. The increase of the outer wing dihedral improved the wing's overall stability and lengthening the fuselage by just four inches improved the horizontal stability of the aircraft. By happenstance, the minute change in length created enough space for an additional 66 gallon (250 litres) fuel tank installation behind the pilot seat. Inert exhaust gases were routed to the fuel tanks to help improve the survivability of the aircraft and pilot by reducing the likelihood of fuel fires if enemy gunfire punctured the fuel tanks. Other improvements included strengthening the landing gear, larger main wheels, extending the canopy glazing aft for better visibility, improved gunsight, updated configuration of the instrument panel and an overall increase to 750 rounds of ammunition per machine gun.

After making the recommended updates and changes, the heavily modified I-200/MiG-1 (fourth revision) made its maiden flight on 29 October 1940. The Soviet state accepted this version of the aircraft during December 1940 State acceptance trials and due to the significant changes made to the plane was renamed to MiG-3. Though the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau rectified many of the MiG-1's deficiencies, unfortunately, the resulting aircraft ended up being 550 lbs (250 kg) heavier and reduced service ceiling by 1,500 ft (457 m). They also took approximately a minute longer to reach 16,000 ft (4,900 m) than the original MiG-1s. Two other positive outcomes for the MiG-3 was an overall increase in the aircraft's speed at altitude and sea-level along with an increase in its service range.

Many of the initial MiG-3 airframes pushed out to the VVS regiments which were considered poor quality and unusable. After an inquiry completed, a panel found that the Soviet Air Force Research Institute was negligent in their duty to monitor the quality of the aircraft coming off the assembly line. After several demotions of senior managers and the execution of the institute head, new management set to address the problems with the MiG-3.

Though designed as a high-altitude bomber-interceptor, the MiG-3's pilot's oxygen supply was woefully inadequate, both fuel and oil pumps failed to keep necessary pressure at altitude and pilot inexperience with high altitude flying all played against the aircraft's abilities. Once again, the MiG Design Bureau set out to fix these deficiencies and when complete, the MiG-3 design teams optimized it for high altitude operations above 20,000 ft (6,000 m). Here the MiG-3 boasted almost a 20 mph (26 km/h) speed advantage over the German Bf 109E, though at sea-level, this advantage disappeared and the MiG-3 had roughly the same top speed as the Bf 109.

The weapons of the MiG-3 always seemed lacking compared to other aircraft such as the Bf 109 which typically sported a 20 mm canon along with machine guns. MiG-3s of all iterations only had machine guns in the 12.7 mm and 7.62 mm varieties. Though experiments with wing-mounted gun pods and rockets took place, reduction of airspeed due to them often resulted in the pilots having them removed, one of the few times where fighter pilots prefered streamlined aircraft over firepower. Ultimately the new gun sight was not fit for the task, so pilots often relied on getting as close to the enemy aircraft as possible before opening fire, sometimes within point-blank range to ensure a hit.

Leading up to the German invasion titled Operation Barbarossa, MiG-3s found homes at front-line regiments. Here, they could ideally intercept any hostile bomber or reconnaissance aircraft that flew over such as the German Ju-86P. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the German invasion, the MiG-3, though one of the best fighters available to Soviet pilots, proved to be unsuited for the task at hand. Instead of intercepting bombers and reconnaissance aircraft, they instead fought more agile Bf 109s and such in a fashion which negated all of the MiG-3's advantages, and it struggled. With the Bf 109 being more agile and had better weapons, the MiG-3 fought for a foothold but often lost. It was around this time that other Soviet fighters such as the Yak and LaGG series aircraft were debuting and showing their effectiveness at lower altitude combat with more agility and better weapon options. Forcing the aircraft to work as a bomber and ground attack aircraft proved to be an, even more, less effective than as a low-altitude fighter.

Some Soviet pilots did find success while flying the MiG-3. Aleksander Pokryshkin was one such pilot, as his initial foray into air combat was at the controls of a MiG-3. It was while flying the MiG-3 that Pokryshkin scored several victories against the German Bf 109. However, it was also during this time he realized that Soviet air combat doctrine was outdated, and he took detailed notes of his and other's accounts at air combat to determine a better way to fight. Pokryshkin's experience in the MiG-3 helped shape future Soviet air combat tactics for pilots flying more capable aircraft such as the Yak-1B, P-39K and Lavochkin fighters. Pokryshkin was quoted as saying, "The operational advantage of the MiG-3 seemed to be obscured by its certain defects. However, these advantages could undoubtedly be exploited by a pilot able to discover them."

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the MiG-3-34 from live.warthunder.com.

"Sanya V. Litvyak" collaboration camouflage

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Curtiss P-40
• Dewoitine D.520
• Kawasaki Ki-61
• Messerschmitt Bf 109
• Yakovlev Yak-1

External links

• Official data sheet - more details about the performance (Russian Forum)