Captain Simulations MiG 21UM

By Andrew Herd (21 February 2002)

o one knows for sure how many MiG 21s were built; some say 10,000, some 13,000 hulls, but whatever the final number might have been, ultimate test of the design was that it flew in more wars than any aircraft built before or since. Although it deserves to be remembered for having the largest production run of any jet fighter in history, it was also a pilot's aeroplane and its rugged nature, combined with exceptional manoeuverability earned the loyalty of all who flew it.

The first prototype flew on 14th February 1955 and barely a year later, the aircraft was in pre-production, powered by the exotic (and dangerous) combination of a conventional AM-9Ye jet engine and a Dutchkin S-155 liquid fueled rocket engine, which allowed one example to reach an altitude of 83990 feet and a indicated airspeed of 907.2 mph. But great though the promise of the airframe was, it rapidly became clear that the MiG-15 like swept wing of the prototypes wouldn't allow the Mach 2 operational performance target to be achieved and successive prototypes appeared with delta wings; and bigger flaps, ventral fins and horizontal tails. Much to the relief of the test pilots the rocket engine was dropped, but despite this, by the time the first batch of MiG-21s was built in 1959, a speed of M2.05 had been reached at 40000 feet. This first production version of the plane, the MiG-21F-13, became known to NATO as the Fishbed-C - little did the designers know that their creation would still be in service forty years later, although later versions had little in common with the original beyond the basic airframe.

Given the tense diplomatic relations of the Cold War, it was probably fortunate for us all that the MiG-21 was never fitted with sophisticated avionics, but the first encounters F4 pilots had with this plane when it appeared in the skies over Vietnam dented Western confidence badly. The MiG was incredibly nimble and easily outclassed the heavier US fighter, an advantage which was only overcome by a rapid change in the rules of engagement and (eventually) by superior training of the US pilots. The reliability of the new Soviet fighter, coupled with its undemanding maintenance schedule, excellent rough field capabilities and safe flight characteristics made it the airborne equivalent of the Kalashnikov and accounted for its enormous popularity - an attraction that still hasn't faded.

There were numerous variants of the MiG-21, but production of MiG-21U trainers commenced in 1962 - although initial production was insufficient and several airforces had to train using single seaters. If you want to compare the plane to a US fighter, the F-104 would be the one, an aircraft with a similarly high wing loading and optimised for relatively short-range visual missions. Neither plane is really very happy at low speed and both drink fuel as if it is going out of fashion, with the result that the pilot is effectively dealing with an emergency the moment the wheels leave the ground.

My contacts who have flown the real thing tell me that MiG takeoffs are slightly different to the Cessnas I know and love. After lining up with the nose wheel unlocked, full military power is applied, then the main brakes are released and as soon as the plane begins to roll, the afterburner is lit by flicking up the latch and pushing the throttle onto maximum thrust. Rotation occurs at 230 km/h (124 kias), about 5-7 degrees nose up, and the aircraft will unstick at 330 km/h (178 kias). Gear and flaps are retracted and then climb continues at 400 km/h (216 kias), until the plane reaches 0.9 M - at which speed which you stay at until you reach patrol altitude, find a bandit, rejoin, or run out of fuel.

The MiG has a high rate of roll, though it was normally limited to 90 degrees a second; but unusually, because of the delta wing, this is coupled with good low speed handling and the single seaters can be flown right down to around 280-290 km/h (151-157 kias) before they begin to mush; the stall being very docile in real life, with no break. Interestingly enough, pilots in some Eastern European air forces were prohibited from stalling it, on the basis that someone who flew badly enough to do such a thing probably wouldn't be able to recover either.

Longitudinal and pitch control are excellent and initially it can really be hauled around in the turn, although the delta brings high induced drag which really bleeds off airspeed later on. As you might imagine, turns at slow speed are among the best in its class and with the result that pilots could forget about the plane and dogfight instinctively, but at higher speeds yaw instability means that a bootful of rudder rolls the plane without too much help from the ailerons. The downside of the 21 is the restricted view downward, forward and aft and its general lack of damping didn't make it a good platform for tracking, although this was partially solved in later versions with the fitting of an updated autopilot.

As far as the numbers go, approach is flown at 400 km/h (216 kias) with flaps 25, outer marker at 370 km/h (200 kias) flaps 45, threshold 300 km/h (162 kias) and touchdown at 290 km/h (157 kias) - there is a small arrestor chute to assist industrial strength brakes, but all the same, you need 1500 m (1640 yards) to get the beast down. The manual warns that slowing up to less than 300 km/h on approach is not a good idea and it isn't - the wing loading is very high and like all jet fighters the 21 needs to be "flown on," bearing in mind that the engine takes over ten seconds to spool up once you have shut it down. Those of you used to doing power-off glide approaches please take note!

So, having reviewed the real aircraft, lets take a look at what Captain Simulations have done with their simulation. There are two packages, available by download or on CD. The first costs $24.95 and comprises three different loadouts in ten different liveries - two are for different eras of the USSR AF, the others being USAF (Norma Jeane), RAF, Finnish AF, GDR AF, Czechoslovakian AF, Polish AF, Indian AF and the Luftwaffe. Needless to say, some of these are fantasy paints, but authentic or no, Norma Jeane's all chrome finish is a real stunner. Incidentally, don't do what I did to begin with and assume that you only have a few liveries when you first install this version; they are listed under three different variants of the plane.

For ten dollars less there is a package with only three liveries, the USSR paints and Norma Jeane. A free CFS2 enhancement will become available to purchasers of both packages in March and the $24.95 one includes an interactive flight training course, due at around the same time.

Download sizes are 28.9 Mb for the ten livery package and 12.9 Mb for the smaller one. Installation is automatic - if you have the download version you must follow instructions and enter the key you are emailed or the aircraft will power down after one minute. Captain Simulations recommend an 800 MHz PC with at least 256 Mb of RAM and they are not kidding either. You can run the MiG 21 on a lesser system but it will struggle and you will have to start pulling sliders right back to get any sensible kind of performance - once you have taken a look at the screen shots you will begin to understand why. This is a no holds barred thrash the silicon sim and optimising it for slower machines would have led to too many compromises, not least the loss of Norma Jeane, I guess.

The 2D panel has the crisp bitmap that we have come to expect from Captain Simulations. The first things you will notice about it are that (a) none of the instruments are familiar; (b) they are all metric and (c) guess what? they are all in Russian. The attitude indicator is a good case in point - what you get is an accurate representation of the standard "tape" style Soviet instrument, with an aircraft datum that seems to have St. Vitus' dance. The only advice I can give is to read the manual and learn to fly with a steady hand; but having said that, since the aircraft is basically VFR, you can do a test flight as soon as you have located (and understood) the airspeed indicator and the artificial horizon.

The cockpit graphics are of an extremely high standard, among the best of their class in FS, and the auxiliary panels for the radio and switchgear have been fitted in very ingeniously, although I would have liked to see hotspots to switch them in and out. Likewise, the gauges are exceptional, and a couple of other developers I can think of would do well to take a look at this panel and resolve to set their sights at the same quality level. One of the neatest bits of programming is the HUD, which can be switched three ways, into weapon mode, navigation mode or landing mode - you will need all the help the latter can give you.

The virtual cockpit works well and is a competent piece of programming, but it does not excite me. The graphics exhibit the blurriness common to most FS2002 VCs and serve largely to underline the fact that the Flight Simulator engine has been extended well past its limits by Microsoft. This is one area of the sim that could be improved with some benefit.

The startup procedure is described in the manual and can be run through in all its gory detail beginning from a dark cockpit. All the switchgear works and if you already have the L-39 from this developer you will be delighted to hear that the starting sequence isn't as totally reliant on split-second timing as trainer's.

Documentation is presented in the form of a pdf hidden away in the \FS2002\aircraft\Mig21um\Manual\ folder and there is also a very clever interactive guide to the cockpit. Track this down and study it carefully. If you don't, you won't have the slightest clue what is going on, because this is a very specialised aircraft with an avionics setup which will be completely beyond the experience of anyone used to western aircraft. This documentation is critical to the enjoyment of this aircraft, so please do check out the shortcut to the manual that appears on the desktop.

The cockpit guide (shown above) couldn't be simpler to use, but until you learn your way around the panel, juggling the guide, the pilot notes and FS2002 around on screen at the same time is quite an art. There were moments when I longed for tool tips just to tell me what everything did, but I got the hang of it in the end. Sure, the real thing doesn't have little pop up signs when your finger hesitates over different places on the panel, but all the same...

The gMax visual models are absolutely beyond reproach and deserve an award. Once you have gotten over admiring the weathering on the camouflaged model, the glass effect on the canopy is exceptionally well done, and there is a host of minor detail, right down to the interiors of the gear bays; wheel bolts; handling and ordinance markings; and even pilot names, which are worth a read if you want to see what the developers are called. The animation is up to much the same standard; with all the stuff you would expect like moving control surfaces. The cockpit opens and the wheels roll, but the best bit is the braking chute, which should be assigned to a joystick key for maximum enjoyment on landings. Being a gMax model, you get full night lighting, right down to the cockpit interior and landing lights which shine on the pavement. Connoisseurs will appreciate the instructors cockpit periscope, moving engine nozzle, landing gear shock struts and blow-in doors.

The sound set is very, er, jet-like. I confess that Captain Simulations could have fitted this plane up with a recording from an F-4 and I wouldn't be able to gainsay it, given that all jet engines sound much the same to my ears, but the noise is loud and I love the afterburner to death. The startup and shutdown sounds are excellent, the former reflecting perfectly the agonisingly long fan wind up on the MiG, so be patient if nothing seems to happen at first on startup; just keep watching the gauges, the engine will light in the end. I can't imagine that the switches on a real MiG 21 are quite as loud as Captain Simulations would have us believe, but on the other hand, the have recorded one of the great clicks of all time.

The limitations of FS2002 mean that it is impossible to capture the flight characteristics of an aircraft absolutely completely and the best that can be hoped for is that critical speeds are close to the published numbers and that the handling captures the spirit of the type. Mentally, I give extra points to flight models that go any further than this, but there are some glaring faults in the game which are extremely difficult to fix; ground handling being one of them, asymmetric power another, and even the most sophisticated force feedback devices fail to capture the differential control forces of real flight. That being said, there are some surprisingly sharp .air files out there and Captain Simulations' MiG-21UM flies as well as I hoped it might after trying their truly excellent L-39.

True to life, this is not a sim for someone fresh to FS2002, although takeoffs and level flight should prevent few problems. If this is your first military sim, the acceleration is the first thing you will notice, closely followed by the time to 5000m - once you pick up enough speed you can just pull the stick back into your stomach and go direct. The secondary control effect of the rudder is well captured, although the plane has a strange tendency to yaw briefly towards the opposite pedal before it flips into a roll, after which it goes round at a frighteningly realistic rate.

One criticism of the flight model is that airspeed doesn't bleed off as fast as it should in high-speed turns, but it surely does at approach speeds. In general, landing the 21 isn't for beginners and I would advise getting it set up for a straight-in approach at least 8 nm from the threshold the first time you try to get it down, because otherwise you may land ever so slightly short like I did the first time.

I didn't come across any bugs, which is quite remarkable considering how little experience of gMax modelling there is out there. This is an extremely complex plane (anyone who doubts it can open the canopy and take a close look at the interior,) yet it is relatively kind to frame rates and brings a convincing feel of what flying a jet fighter of this period must have been like.

Overall? Another must have, I reckon. I don't really like military sims when all is said and done, but when they are done this well, they are kind of hard to ignore. The 21 is serious fun and I keep loading it up just to see what it might be like do stuff like beating the hell out of the village of Middleton St. George (runway 23 at EGNV, light the afterburner, bank half right at 500 feet, then wait for the letter of complaint... as if I would even think of such a thing.) If Captain Simulations keep putting out stuff coded to this kind of standard they deserve to clean up. Let's see some more from them.

Airfield scenery is the Konotop Air Force Base, Ukraine, also available from Captain Simulations and the black and white shots are taken from their excellent "History of the Soviet Air Force in Pictures" Album 1, on CD.