MIG-21BISZ multirole fighter aircraft
This MiG-21BISZ multirole fighter aircraft connects Lake Balaton to one of Cold War aviation’s most consequential designs. The MiG-21—NATO’s reporting name “Fishbed”—was built by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union, and its nicknames reflected its distinctive silhouette: “Balalaika” for its planform, “Ołówek” (“pencil”) for the fuselage shape, and “Én Bạc” (“silver swallow”) in Vietnamese. Development moved quickly in the mid-1950s: after work began with the Ye-1 prototype in 1954 and was reworked into the Ye-2, the first delta-wing prototype, the Ye-4, made its maiden flight on 16 June 1955 and appeared publicly at the Soviet Aviation Day display at Moscow’s Tushino airfield in July 1956. The aircraft displayed here was built in 1959, in an era when the MiG-21 would go on to serve around 60 countries. …
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