MiG for Zadorozhny collection

The MiG over the frozen Siberian landscape, on its first air-to-air photographic session. Photo: Boris Osetinsky

On December 17, 2009, at Novosibirsk, Siberia, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 c/n 3872 completed its test schedule, and will be delivered to Moscow-based collector Vadim Zadorozhny when the winter weather subsides.

Recovered from a crash site near Zubstov, 120 miles north-west of Moscow, five years ago, the fighter has been restored by Boris Osetinsky's Aviarestoration Ltd, and made its first post-restoration flight in early November with test pilot Vladimir Barsuk at the controls. The machine has had its original Mikulin AM-35 engine replaced with an Allison V-1710.

Vadim Zadorozhny's impressive collection of airworthy Russian aircraft includes a 1930s Shavrov Sh-2 amphibian and several machines from the Polikarpov stable, including two I-15s, an I-16 Rata, Po-2, and an I-153 Chaika, which is due to arrive in Russia from the Alpine Fighter Collection in Wanaka, New Zealand, soon.

This is just a taster — see March's Aeroplane magazine for the full story and more pictures.