Mig-19

Historical Video of MIG-19 Soviet third-generation, single-seat, jet-engined fighter aircraft. It was the first Soviet production aircraft capable of supersonic speeds in level flight. A comparable U.S. "Century Series" fighter was the F-100 Super Sabre, although it would oppose the more modern F-4 Phantom and F-105 Thunderchief over Vietnam.

During their service with PVO Strany and in East Germany, MiG-19s were involved in multiple intercepts of Western reconnaissance aircraft. The first documented encounter with a Lockheed U-2 took place in the autumn of 1957. The MiG-19 pilot reported seeing the aircraft, but could not make up the 7,000 foot difference in altitude. When Francis Gary Powers's U-2 was shot down in the May 1 1960 incident, one pursuing MiG-19P was also hit by the salvo of S-75 Dvina (NATO: SA-2 'Guideline') missiles, killing the pilot Sergei Safronov. In a highly controversial incident, on July 1 1960, a MiG-19 shot down an RB-47H (S/N 53-4281) reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace over the Arctic Circle with four of the crew killed and two captured by the Soviets (they were released in 1961). In another tragic incident, on January 28 1964, a MiG-19 shot down a T-39 Sabreliner which had strayed into East German airspace while on a training mission; all three crewmembers were killed.