About "Sokol" aviation plant - the Russian Manufacturer of MiG Fighters

Sokol Aircraft plant was established in 1932, in Nizhny Novgorod (formerly Gorky). During the last 40 years, it became one of the leading companies of the aero-space industry in Russia. It produced more than 43,000 aircraft.

The first plane fighter was the I-5, which took off from plant airfield in the August of 1932. It was a mixed structure biplane, designed by N. Polykarpov's team. Mass-production of the I-5 fighter continued until 1934. A new model of the high-speed fighter, the I-16, was developed in 1934. The first flight of the I-16 was piloted by Valery Chkalov, the chief-pilot of the Sokol plant between 1934 and 1938.

The Sokol aircraft plant (Sokol Airbase) became famous in the world as the MiG fighter manufacturer from 1949, when Mykoyan Design Bureau and the plant joined forces. A. Mykoyan and M. Gurevich jointly designed MiG-15 jet aircraft.

The first supersonic aircraft, the MiG-19, started production in 1955.

MiG-21 was the most prolific supersonic fighter in the world of aviation history and started production in 1959.

From 1969 to 1985, the plant was mass-producing the fighter-interceptor MiG-25 - the first fully-welded aircraft, with 80% of its airframe made of high-strength steel and titanium.

The plant has manufactured about 13,500 combat aircraft over last 45 years, the most famous of them were the MiG-21 and MiG-29UB and were exported to more than 30 countries.

In 1996, the Sokol aircraft plant together with the Yakovlev Design Bureau started to develop a challenging aircraft called the YAK-130. In April 2004, manufacture of the first combat-trainer, YAK-130, was completed in Sokol and the aircraft made its first flight from the airbase, in its production configuration.

Beside the production of military and civil aircraft, the Sokol aircraft plant organizes flights in MiG-29 fighter-jet for tourists, both from home and abroad. These flights are carried out with the permission of the Russian Government.

The Sokol plant is a member of the United Aircraft Corporation of the Russian Federation. In 2008, the UAC Board made a decision to have the manufacturing of the main range of MiG fighters done at the Sokol base in Nizhny Novgorod.