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The methods used to design and develop new aircraft vary in different countries. Russia, for example, uses a centralized government system, and one of its better-known fighter airplane series uses "MiG" as a prefix. Those letters translate into English as "M&G" and represent aircraft design partners Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. Their MiG-1 first flew in 1940.
Mikoyan was born in 1905 in a small Armenian village near the eastern border of Turkey. His father was a carpenter and Mikoyan attended high school in Tbilisi, Georgia, about 75 miles from his home. Following graduation, he worked as a mechanic at various companies before being drafted for military service.
Mikoyan showed leadership and technical skills, and entered the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in 1931. He received outstanding grades and went to work in 1937 as an inspector at an aircraft factory in Moscow. Nikolai Polikarpov (1892-1944) was in charge of the factory and responsible for developing a new high-speed fighter airplane. Within two...