# Mystery MIG near Dallas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 3, 2015, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mig-near-dallas/729802 "2015-09-03T09:43:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mig-near-dallas/729802/1 "2015-09-03T09:43:11Z")
I used to drive to and from Dallas fairly often. Off US 80, between I-635 and I-20 at Terrill, on the north side, there’s a parking lot and in a grassy part near the chain link fence, there’s a MIG with Soviet markings. Does anyone know if it’s a MIG-15 or a MIG-17? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mig-near-dallas/729802/2 "2015-09-03T10:59:05Z")
Is [this the guy?](http://us.geoview.info/mig15_at_us_80_hwy_dallas_tx,57721604p) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mig-near-dallas/729802/3 "2015-09-03T12:02:04Z")
Very hard to tell the difference between a MiG-15 and -17. I am pretty sure it’s a 15, though. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mig-near-dallas/729802/4 "2015-09-03T16:35:03Z")
If that’s the plane, and if [this guy](http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/modern/mig-differences-19681.html) is right, it looks more like a 17. > [@](#): > > Double sweep angle on wing, three wing fences (vs two for -15) , ventral fin, same engine - better airplane . It’s also a bit longer, to make room for the afterburner (the MiG-15 was dry), but it’s not easy to tell casually. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mig-near-dallas/729802/5 "2015-09-03T19:02:14Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Is [this the guy?](http://us.geoview.info/mig15_at_us_80_hwy_dallas_tx,57721604p) Yep, that’s the one. One thing that I thought might be a giveaway was that the rudder is split to avoid contact with the elevators, but I couldn’t find any images a tail view of a 17 to let me see if they had that also. So, I guess it’s a 15. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mig-near-dallas/729802/6 "2015-09-03T19:14:16Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Yep, that’s the one. One thing that I thought might be a giveaway was that the rudder is split to avoid contact with the elevators, but I couldn’t find any images a tail view of a 17 to let me see if they had that also. So, I guess it’s a 15. I’m pretty sure it’s a -17. The triple fences on the wing is the dead giveaway. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mig-near-dallas/729802/7 "2015-09-03T21:53:03Z")
MIG-17. Three wing fences. That’s the most obvious external difference. Also the leading edge isn’t straight; it has a slight kink between the two outboard fences. If you see a -15 & -17 side by side the -17 is a distinctly less chubby and the fuselage aft of the wing is a bunch longer. A -15 looks like Kim Jong Un; corpulent and overfed. But if you haven’t seen a lot of these aircraft those differences are pretty subtle. No doubt that’s a -17 and the info on that geoview.info page is wrong. Close, but wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mig-near-dallas/729802/8 "2015-09-03T23:34:25Z")
Okay. I never had long to look at it as I was going by at 60 mph and working on keeping a Freightliner in its lane. ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mig-near-dallas/729802/9 "2015-09-06T05:30:58Z")
It’s a -17, owned by [De Ridder Antiques](http://www.deridderantiques.com/). The town is Forney. You should stop in sometime, the place is a trip – half antiques store, half prop warehouse, has a bunch of creepy old amusement park statues and other nonstandard antiques store fare.