The MiG-1/3 family of fighters was built to satisfy a Soviet Air Force requirement for an advanced, fast, high-altitude fighter. Entering service in the spring of 1941, the problematic MiG-1 had its handling issues rectified with the hasty production of the MiG-3. Many of these were destroyed on the ground when the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa. Nevertheless, enough examples survived to allow pilots such as Stepan Suprun and Aleksandr Pokryshkin to claim a number of victories in the type. This book tells the complete story of the men who made ace in the first examples of the famous MiG fighter.

Chapter 1 Equipping Soviet fighter aviation units with new types of aircraft. Commencing MiG-1/3 production at Factory No 1, and fielding them with manoeuvre units pre-war. Initial problems in service. Famous pilots and their opinion of the MiG-3. Drawbacks in fighter combat tactics inherent in the Red Army Air Force. Deployment of air regiments equipped with MiG fighters as of 22 June 1941. Chapter 2 Employment of MiG-3s during the early stages of the Great Patriotic War. The first month of hostilities and results of combat operations waged by units equipped with MiGs (8th and 9th IADs and 15th SAD). Victories and losses, and most successful MiG pilots of this period. Chapter 3 MiG fighter units defending Odessa, Kiev and Sevastopol, as well as the aircraft's employment on the Southern Front - MiG fighters mounted their most successive operations in this area during this period. Ace Pokryshkin's early combat career. Chapter 4 MiG fighters in the Leningrad Air Defence System. Combat operations against the Germans and the Finns. The 7th Fighter Air Corps, MiG victories and losses in this region. Chapter 5 MiG fighters in the Moscow Air Defence System, and their employment in defensive operations and the counteroffensive of winter 1941-42. Chapter 6 MiG fighters in service with the Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet air forces.