Transport aircraft of the 30s. Airliners of the thirties and forties

Aircraft of the 30s

In order to train qualified specialists for developing aviation, higher aviation educational institutions were organized in 1930 - Moscow (MAI) and Kharkov (KhAI) aviation institutes.
By the mid-1930s, both large design centers of the country, led by A.N. Tupolev and N.N. Polikarpov. Along with them, there were smaller design bureaus. During these years, brilliant models of combat aircraft were created:
- fighters I-3 and I-5 (Fig. 19.8), reconnaissance biplane R-5 (Fig. 19.9) and training aircraft U-2 (Po-2) (Fig. 19.10), designed by N.N. Polikarpova;
- heavy twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft R-6 (ANT-7) and heavy four-engine bomber TB-3 (ANT-6) (Fig. 19.11).

The serial production of these aircraft made it possible to strengthen the power of the Soviet Air Force.
In the pre-war decade, Soviet bomber aviation was armed with 216 TB-1 and 818 TB-3 aircraft.
In the mid-30s, based on the achievements of aerodynamics, structural mechanics, the development of accurate methods for calculating strength, the introduction of new high-strength materials and on the basis of the progress of engine building, new stage in development aircraft industry. This stage was characterized by:
- gradual transition to the "monoplane" scheme with a cantilever wing for aircraft of all types;
- an increase in the specific load on the wing to 1400-1700 Pa versus 700-1000 Pa for aircraft of the early 30s;
- a decrease in the relative thickness of the wing and the use of biconvex profiles, which made it possible to reduce aerodynamic drag;
- transition to streamlined fuselages with a round, elliptical or oval cross section;
- wide use of "fairings" between the fuselage and the wing;
- the use of a smooth rigid working wing skin;
- retracting the landing gear in flight and thereby reducing the resistance of the aircraft by 20-25%;
- closing engines and radiators with hoods;
- installation of metal propellers with variable pitch blades;
- creation of new engines with power up to 1500 kW.
All these achievements in the field of aeronautical science and technology have opened up great opportunities for increasing the speed, ceiling, and increasing the flight range of our aircraft.
In 1933-1934, under the leadership of N.N. Polikarpov created a maneuverable biplane fighter I-15 with a maximum speed of 360 km / h and a monoplane fighter I-16 (Fig. 19.12) with retractable landing gear, with a speed of 454 km / h.
The first domestic serial front-line bomber was created under the leadership of A.N. Tupolev in 1933-1934, the SB (ANT-40) aircraft (Fig. 19.13) is all-metal with a smooth skin. With a range of 1000 km with a bomb load of 500 kg, this aircraft had a speed of 420 km/h with two M-100 engines and 520 km/h with M-105 engines. A total of 6,656 SB aircraft were built.

Following the SB in 1935, he entered the airfield DB-3 - a high-speed long-range bomber designed by S.V. Ilyushin. DB-3 became the main Soviet long-range bomber and successfully operated during the entire Great Patriotic War under the Il-4 brand. The Il-4 aircraft (Fig. 19.14) with two M-885 engines with a power of 810 kW each had a speed of 445 km / h and a range of 4000 km with 1000 kg of bombs. 6784 DB-3 and Il-4 aircraft were built.

In 1932, in the design bureau of A.N. Tupolev is appointed P.O. Sukhoi as the head of the team for the design and construction of the ANT-25 (RD) aircraft (Fig. 19.15) - an all-metal monoplane with a large span wing and one M-34 engine. In the summer of 1937, on this plane, the crew under the command of V.P. Chkalova made a non-stop flight Moscow - the United States with a length of more than 9000 km, and on another copy of this aircraft, the crew of M.M. Gromov made a flight of more than 11,000 km along almost the same route. These flights brought world fame to both the aircraft and the Soviet aircraft industry.
In the period from 1930 to 1938, a number of heavy multi-engine aircraft were designed and built - ANT-14, ANT-16, ANT-20, which, however, did not go into series. The most striking embodiment of this direction in the domestic aircraft industry was the eight-engine giant aircraft ANT-20 "Maxim Gorky", which took on board 80 passengers, had a maximum speed of 280 km / h and a flight range of 2000 km. It was then the largest land aircraft in the world.

In the 1930s, seaplanes were built and tested along with land planes in the Soviet Union. In 1932, the Sh-2 light amphibious aircraft (Fig. 19.16) V.B. was launched into the series. Shavrov, a larger aircraft was mass-produced - the MBR-2 flying boat (Fig. 19.17) and ship reconnaissance KOR-1 and KOR-2 G.M. Beriev. In the design bureau of A.N. Tupolev designed large military seaplanes - flying boats MDR-2 (ANT-8) (Fig. 19.18), a two-boat catamaran MK-1 (ANT-22) (Fig. 19.19) and a marine heavy bomber MTB-2. Under the leadership of I.V. Chetverikov, the ARK-3 and MDR-6 (Che-2) seaplanes were built. For the development of the Northern Sea Route, a group of Leningrad designers in the system of the Civil Air Fleet (GVF) designed the ASK seaplane (amphibian of the northern region), a group of designers at the Research Institute of the Civil Air Fleet under the leadership of R.L. Bartini - seaplane DAR (long-range Arctic reconnaissance).

In the 1930s, civil aviation also received significant development. The network of air lines of allied importance by the beginning of 1933 already amounted to 36,255 km (against 10,700 in 1928), which was a significant achievement at that time.
To service these lines in the design bureau K.A. Kalinin, the K-5 aircraft was created at the Kharkov Aviation Plant, which took on board 6-8 passengers

or 500-540 kg of cargo (more than 200 aircraft were built). Design Bureau A.N. Tupolev, a nine-seat passenger aircraft ANT-9 was created (Fig. 19.20), which was also built in series.

The team headed by A.I. Putilov, passenger aircraft were designed and built: the six-seater "Stal-2" and the eight-seater "Stal-3". Enerzh-6 stainless steel served as the main structural material for these aircraft.
In October 1932, the KhAI-1 aircraft (Fig. 19.21), created at the KhAI design bureau under the leadership of I.G., took off. Neman. This seven-seater low-wing aircraft was the first in the Soviet Union to have a retractable landing gear and was one of the fastest passenger aircraft in the world. 43 cars were built.
In August 1936, flight tests began on the ANT-35 passenger aircraft (Fig. 19.22), created on the basis of the SB bomber (ANT-40). With a payload of 840 kg (ten passengers and their luggage), the aircraft developed a cruising speed of about 350 km/h. The aircraft was built serially.
The share of domestic aircraft in the civil aviation fleet in 1929 was 39%, in 1933 it rose to 87.5%. Since 1935, only domestic aircraft began to fly on the air lines of the country. The aviation industry for the first time in the history of Russia freed our aviation from foreign dependence.
Light-engine and sports aviation in the 30s was represented by the wonderful aircraft of A.S. Yakovlev - a three-seat limousine AIR-6 (Fig. 19.23) and training aircraft UT-1 and UT-2 (Fig. 19.24) (7243 copies were built).

In the prewar years, a large number of experimental aircraft were built. These are BIC-3, BIC-7A (Fig. 19.25), BIC-14, BIC-20 and 21 aircraft designed by B.I. Cheranovsky - tailless aircraft, or "flying wings", having the shape of a "parabola" in plan. This is the aircraft "Stal-6" designed by R.L. Bartini, which had a one-wheeled chassis and steam (evaporative) cooling of the engine instead of a conventional radiator. Thanks to this, the aircraft (already in 1933!) developed a speed of up to 420 km / h.

Experimental aircraft include tailless aircraft BOK-5 (Fig. 19.26) (designer V.A. Chizhevsky), K-12 (designer K.A. Kalinin), KhAI-

Aviavnito - 3 (designer A.A. Lazarev), aircraft "Stal-MAI", tandem aircraft "Tandem-MAI" (Fig. 19.27) designed by P.D. Grushin, "EMAI-1" - the world's first aircraft made of magnesium alloy "electron".
Aircraft "Stal-MAI", "Tandem-MAI" and "EMAI-1" were developed and built at the Moscow Aviation Institute.

19.3. Aircraft of the prewar years and during the Great Patriotic War
wars of the Soviet Union

In the pre-war decade, more than twenty design bureaus for aircraft construction worked in the country, aircraft factories ensured the mass production of aircraft, engines, and instruments. One after another, records were set for carrying capacity, range, flight altitude. However, already in 1937, the world speed record belonged to the German Messerschmitt-109E.
For the first time in a real combat situation, our aircraft met with the Germans in 1936 in the sky of Spain. It turned out that our fighters were already somewhat inferior to the latest German fighters, which were very promising in tactical terms. Then - the experience of aviation combat operations against Japanese troops in 1938 on Lake Khasan and in 1939 in the Khalkhin Gol region (Mongolia, China). At this time, the lag of our aviation equipment in speed (horizontal and vertical) and armament was already quite clearly manifested.
In 1939, urgent measures were outlined at the government level to eliminate this backlog. The construction of new and reconstruction of old aircraft factories began, new design bureaus and research institutes were created.
The scientific and technical knowledge accumulated by that time at the Research Institute of the Aviation Industry, the experience gained earlier at the Design Bureau in the creation of combat and experimental aircraft, the experience of aviation combat operations determined next step in development Soviet aircraft industry.
This stage is characterized by a sharp jump in flight speed, in increasing the ceiling and range, in strengthening weapons, increasing combat survivability and improving the maintainability of combat aircraft.

In 1939-1940, new high-speed fighters Yak-1 (Fig. 19.28) and Yak-7 designed by A.S. Yakovlev and LaGG-3 designs by S.A. Lavochkina, V.P. Gorbunova and M.I. Gudkov, armed with 20-mm cannons and machine guns. High-altitude fighters MiG-1 and MiG-3 (Fig. 19.29) designed by A.I. Mikoyan and M.I. Gurevich. Aircraft developed speeds up to 640 km / h.
Design Bureau S.V. Ilyushin, the Il-2 armored attack aircraft was created (Fig. 19.30). It had a low speed for that time - 420 km / h, but there were legends about its combat effectiveness during the Great Patriotic War. Enemies called it "black death". During the war years, more than 36 thousand machines of this type were built.

In 1940, the V.M. dive bomber began to be mass-produced. Petlyakov Pe-2 (Fig. 19.31). In terms of speed (540 km / h), it was almost as good as the German Messerschmitt-109E fighters. Pe-2 could carry 600 kg of bombs at a distance of 1200 km, and in the reloading version - 1500 kg. The Pe-2 became our main short-range bomber and reconnaissance aircraft of the Patriotic War. The factories produced about 11.5 thousand Pe-2 aircraft and its variants.
In the prewar years, a team headed by V.G. Ermolaev, was developed on the basis of the passenger aircraft "Stal-7" designed by R.L. Bartini and the Yer-2 (DB-240) bomber was serially built with ACh-30B diesel engines. This aircraft with 1000 kg of bomb load had a range of 5000 km. Design Bureau P.O. Sukhoi, the Su-2 reconnaissance bomber was created (Fig. 19.32). These new aircraft were used already in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War, but there were too few of them.

Nazi Germany, which started World War II by invading Poland on September 1, 1939, attacked our Motherland on June 22, 1941 - the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union began. On the very first day of the war, the Soviet Air Force (VVS) suffered huge losses. German aircraft attacked 66 airfields in our border districts. By noon on June 22, 1941, we had lost 300 aircraft in air combat and 900 on airfields. However, even after such heavy losses, fighting on obsolete aircraft, Soviet pilots inflicted serious damage on the enemy. Only in the period from June 22 to July 19, enemy aircraft lost about 1,300 aircraft in air battles.
Our industry was not able to quickly compensate for the losses suffered in the first days of the war. In addition, due to the advance of the fascist troops, one after another, aircraft factories located in the European part of the USSR, west of the Volga River, were stopped, dismantled and evacuated to the east.
Despite all the difficulties, in January-February 1942, the evacuation was basically completed. At the evacuated enterprises, mass production of engines and aircraft was quickly established. Already by March 1942, the production of aircraft had increased, and their supply to the front had increased.
During the Battle of Stalingrad (17.7.1942-2.2.1943), a turn in favor of our aviation was determined. The production of fighters steadily increased during 1942, and already in the spring of 1943 our pilots began to gain air supremacy. In 1943, the aviation industry produced about 35 thousand aircraft, almost 40% more than in 1942.
The aviation industry has not only increased the production of cars. The year 1943 passed under the sign of the struggle to improve the quality and improve the tactical flight data of aircraft. The Air Force began to receive La-5 fighters (Fig. 19.33) designed by S.A. Lavochkin at a speed of 650 km / h and with powerful weapons. The Yak-9 and Yak-3 aircraft appeared at the front - the lightest and most maneuverable fighter of the Second World War.
On the basis of the Il-2 aircraft, a new all-metal two-seat attack aircraft Il-10 was created with enhanced armor and a flight speed of 550 km/h.

In the autumn of 1943, serial production of the Tu-2 front-line bomber (Fig. 19.34) designed by A.N. Tupolev. He developed a speed of 547 km / h and could carry 1000 kg of bombs, and in the reloading version up to 3000 kg of bombs. The equipment installed on the Tu-2 made it possible to carry out targeted bombing both from level flight and from a dive. The aircraft had two 20 mm cannons and three 12.7 mm defensive machine guns. The crew of the Tu-2 consisted of four people.
Every day our combat aircraft became more powerful than enemy aircraft both in quantity and quality. In the final battle for Berlin, Nazi aviation was almost completely destroyed.

"Spitfires", "Heinkels", "IL-2", "donkeys", "mustangs" - these are the names of numerous combat aircraft that are associated with the concept of "aviation history of the 30-40s". The Second World War, the Spanish Civil War, the Khalkhin Gol Conflict, the 30s-40s were filled with numerous bloody wars, during which the largest countries of the world cut and redraw the borders of the countries of the world. It is clear that military aviation played the most direct, and in some places even the leading role in these events. But the 30s were also the years of another scientific and technological revolution, when residents of various countries, far from all of which were industrialized, got access to numerous achievements in science and technology, one of which was passenger aviation. If we do not take into account the American summer attraction of 1912 with one passenger riding from Miami to Fort Lauderdale for money, then the birth of world passenger aviation can be considered 1918, when Anatra organized the Odessa-Ekaterinoslav mail-passenger airline, and the German army began to use the five-engine giant Zeppelin-Staaken on the first ever international line Berlin-Kyiv. In the West, the first international airline was the London-Paris line, which operated converted D.H.9a fighter-bombers, in which the interior of the fuselage was converted to accommodate 2 passengers and several tens of kilograms of mail. The reason for organizing a passenger airline was the work of the Paris Peace Conference. At the same time, Curtiss created the first aircraft originally designed for passenger or air ambulance use. In subsequent years, passenger aviation developed quite rapidly, the volume of cargo transportation and the range of airlines grew rapidly, but, nevertheless, for the first fifteen years, passenger aviation was a deadly attraction, associated with a lot of inconvenience for passengers.

Airco DH.16
The first British purpose-built airliner. Based on the DH9A, the best combat aircraft of the First World War. The passenger cabin accommodated 4 people. It took off in early 1919. Became the first KLM airliner.

Surprisingly, sometimes one gets the feeling that until some point, the owners of airlines and aircraft manufacturers of the 20s were generally of little interest in the safety of aircraft operation. The bottom line is that those technical solutions on the basis of which 2nd generation passenger airliners were developed in the mid-30s were not only known since the First World War, but were also practically used in individual models of passenger and military aircraft. For America, the impetus for the creation of a new generation of passenger airliners was the death of the latest airliner developed by Anthony Fokker Fokker F.10 on March 31, 1931 with the most popular American football coach of the time Newt Rockney on board, after which new safety regulations were introduced and both sides of the process - airlines and aircraft manufacturers took up the urgent development of much more reliable airliners. Do you know what happened to the Fokker? He has attention. The wing was CLEARED. In just two years, a caterpillar tractor will drive onto the wing of the DC-2 and nothing will happen to the wing.

Junkers Ju.13
The first serial all-metal airliner. It took off on June 25, 1919. Carried 4 passengers. Produced until the early 30s. A total of 322 copies were issued. The most massive passenger airliner of the 20s.

What happened next is well known to those aviation history buffs who are interested not only in military aviation, but also in passenger aviation - single-engine, Condor, DC-Three, Constellation and so on. Actually, I devoted a couple of years ago to the history of American passenger aviation in the 30s - the first half of the 40s, the main value of which, in my humble opinion, was the chronology of the first flights of American airliners in the 30s-40s. At the same time, I was going to immediately write a sequel dedicated to the European response to America, but somehow my hands did not reach. But last week I sat, thought, rummaged, and what a no, but consistent picture I drew. As for the first part, it will have to be rewritten over time.

I decided to start with French aviation, to which we have unfairly little attention both military and civilian. As Daniil Projector and Alexander Yakovlev wrote 40 years ago that France was not just in the ass before the war, but was itself an ass, and 150 years before them, Davydov said that all Frenchmen were rotten, and it was customary to believe that the Franks were nothing worth they cannot do. Everywhere. Including in aviation. Let's try to prove that this is not entirely true.

But first, a very short digression into the history of the development of European aviation in the 20s-30s in general. The development of American aviation combined both revolutionary features (the death of Rockney, the ban on night flights of single-engine airliners at 35m, the initiative of young Douglas designers to create a high-speed twin-engine all-metal airliner or the first multi-engine passenger airliner in 1929, the Fokker F.32), and evolutionary features (Boeing 247 as a development of the DB-9, which in turn was a development of the Monomail or GA-43, as the last passenger Fokker). But in European aviation, the actual revolution took place in 1919-20, when the first all-metal passenger airliner Junkers Ju-13 and the first FOUR-ENGINE all-metal airliner Zeppelin-Staaken Е-4/20, designed by Rohrbach (let's not forget, of course, and about the Soviet giant ANT-4, but he took to the air all the same later). Yes, and with the engine building at that time in Europe, things were no worse than in America.

Zeppelin-Staaken E-4/20
The world's first four-engine all-metal aircraft. It took on board up to 18 passengers and carried them at speeds up to 230 km / h for a distance of up to 1200 km. The Entente was very lucky that the Germans lifted it into the air a year after the end of the war. Invulnerable to rifle-caliber bullets, carrying 2 tons of bombs on board and able to break away from any fighter, a strategic bomber would become a real nightmare for the inhabitants of London.

By the beginning of the 1930s, single-engine and three-engine airliners plowed the skies of Europe, either the same Fokkers as the American ones, or outwardly indistinguishable. What was the reason for the popularity of the three-engine layout? Everything is simple. The market did not have enough powerful, but at the same time light engines that would allow the creation of twin-engine passenger aircraft. Due to the fabric or corrugated lining, all kinds of braces and, most importantly, the non-retractable landing gear, air resistance was high, and the motors were heavy and quickly overheated, as a result, flying on one motor became impossible, not to mention takeoff. Whereas the three-engine aircraft had no such problems.

American civil aviation got rid of "trimotors" quickly and decisively. First, Boeing stopped producing its three-engine Model 80 biplanes and focused on promising developments that eventually led to the creation of the revolutionary Boeing 247, then the Fokker-10 crashed (1931) and, finally, in view of the sharp drop in sales during the Great The depression ended (actually, temporarily) the production of Ford aircraft. Thus, the three largest manufacturers of passenger aircraft within a short period of time stopped producing trimotors. There was a small Stinson company that eventually produced the only American production retractable trimotor, but that's another story.

That notorious Ford Tri-Motor.
A total of 199 aircraft were produced. America's most massive passenger airliner before the advent of the DC-3.

But in Europe, such dramatic events with the rejection of a whole type of structure did not occur, and the development of the local passenger aviation, as already mentioned above, took place along an evolutionary path. The three-engine scheme in many cases fit perfectly into the realities of the 30s and 40s, and the airliners produced according to this scheme by some countries were quite competitive even with the DC-3.

And if a lot of intermediate passenger airliners from the first to the second generation flew in Europe (take our same KhAI-9: the outlines of the latest single-engine Lockheed, and the skin is inoperative linen), then in the USA I can immediately name only two - Curtiss T-32 Condor II (twin-engine biplane with retractable landing gear) and Stinson Model A (trimotor monoplane with braces, but with retractable landing gear and smooth working skin).

Well, the introduction is sort of finished. But before moving on to the actual history of pre-war European civil aviation (which will be discussed in the next post, I still don’t want to make sooooo long posts) I’ll lay out the chronology of the first flights of serial second-generation American passenger aircraft with more than one engine, the development of which began before US ENTRY into World War II, so that later it would be easier to compare the level of development of American and European passenger aviation.

Curtiss T-32 Condor II(the first American twin-engine airliner with retractable landing gear. The last long-haul passenger biplane. 45 copies built. Perhaps the first passenger airliner on which it was not scary to fly. During the entire period of operation, only one aircraft was lost, and then not in the USA) - January 30, 1933 of the year

Boeing 247(the first airliner of the second generation) - February 8, 1933

1934 Boeing 247 takes off from Vancouver Airport, British Columbia.

Lockheed Electra 10(the first Lockheed twin-engine passenger airliner, the second Lockheed aircraft designed by Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. Issue - 149 units) - February 25, 1934

Douglas DC-2(198 pieces were built. On its basis, B-18 and B-23 medium bombers with a total number of 388 were created, which were the main bombers of the US Army Air Corps in the pre-war years) - May 11, 1934

Stinson Model A(the last American serial trimotor. It had a smooth skin and a retractable landing gear. Serial production - 31 units. Operated mainly in Australia) - April 27, 1934.

Douglas DST(DC-3. A total of 16,079 pieces were produced, including 407 pre-war civil DC-3 airliners, 10,048 military transport C-47 and C-53 - the latter was used in airborne units, 4,937 Li-2 - airliners and military transport aircraft produced in the USSR and 487 L2D Type 0 - licensed military transport aircraft produced in Japan. It should also be noted that several DC-3s were assembled in the Netherlands in the "screwdriver assembly" mode) - December 17, 1935

Lockheed Electra Junior 12(light passenger airliner. Competitor Beechcraft 18 and Barkley-Grow. Built 130 copies.) - June 27, 1936

Beechcraft Model 18(a light passenger airliner. The first in its class in the USA. The longest of the second-generation passenger airliners was in serial production - until 1970. A total of 9,722 pieces were produced.) - January 15, 1937

Barkley-Grow T8P-1(twin-engine light passenger aircraft with fixed landing gear. 11 built, operated mainly in Canada in the hydroplane version) - April 1937

Lockheed Super Electra 14(the first serial airliner flying faster than 250 miles / 400 kilometers per hour. A total of 354 pieces were built, of which 240 were licensed by the Japanese companies Tachikawa and Kawasaki. On this plane, Howard Hughes made a round-the-world flight on July 10-14, 1938) - July 29, 1937

Douglas DC-4E(the second American multi-engine passenger aircraft after the Fokker F.32 and the first American airliner with a pressurized fuselage. Did not go into production. 1 built.) - June 7, 1938

Boeing 307 Stratoliner(the first multi-engine airliner of the second generation, the first serial passenger aircraft with a pressurized fuselage, 10 built) - December 31, 1938

Douglas DC-5("changer" DC-2, 12 built) - February 20, 1939

By the way, the layout of the DC-5 subsequently became the standard for regional airliners.

Lockheed Lodestar 18(had a fuselage from an unbuilt four-engine airliner Lockheed 044 Escalibur. The fastest pre-war airliner in the United States. It appeared when the US market was occupied by the DC-3, so only 31 of the 625 aircraft built were sold to American airlines, the rest went to the navy, the armed forces and foreign operators) - October 21, 1939

Curtis CW-20(The second largest airliner in the world at the time of construction - 62 passengers. It was second only to the Soviet six-engine ANT-20bis (64 passengers), the largest twin-engine aircraft in the world. As a passenger aircraft, it was little used, but under the C-46 Commando brand it became one of the most massive military transport aircraft of the Second World War. A total of 3160 pieces were built) - March 26, 1940

Douglas DC-4(The most massive multi-engine airliner in history. A simplified version of the DC-4E. 80 civilian DC-4s and 1163 military transport C-54 Skymasters were produced - the most massive multi-engine military transport aircraft of the Second World War) - February 14, 1942

Lockheed 049 Consellation(at the time of construction, the largest production aircraft in the world. A total of 88 civil and military (C-69) copies of the aircraft were built, gave rise to the development of a whole family of passenger airliners (649, 749, 1049, 1649), produced until 1957) - January 9, 1943

I already posted this text on the blog about a year ago, but now I decided to add illustrations and text.

General assessment of the development of aircraft in the 20s and early 30s

The rate of development of aircraft flight characteristics in the 1920s was lower than in other periods of aviation history. So, over the 10 post-war years, the speed of a fighter aircraft increased by about 80 km / h, a reconnaissance aircraft - by 60 km / h, a bomber - by 50 km / h, while in the period from 1909 to 1918. speeds in aviation have increased, on average, by more than 100 km/h. The maximum speed of passenger aircraft and general purpose aircraft by the beginning of the 30s, as a rule, did not exceed 200 km / h, that is, it almost did not differ from the speed of the best aircraft of the final stage of the First World War. Little has changed and the coefficient of aerodynamic drag of aircraft. This is explained by the fact that the aircraft industry of the 1920s was dominated by the same scheme as during the First World War - a biplane with struts and braces between the wings. The development of flight properties occurred mainly due to an increase in power and a decrease in the specific weight of aircraft engines.

At the beginning of the chapter, it was said about the unfavorable situation for the development of aviation that developed in the first post-war years. The main efforts were aimed at selling stocks of aviation equipment accumulated during the war, and not at creating new designs. This situation also did not contribute to the development of aircraft in countries that did not previously have their own aircraft industry, the leadership of these countries preferred to purchase British, French and Italian aircraft and engines of the 1917-1918 model at bargain prices, rather than create an independent aircraft industry. The few new states that joined the ranks of active manufacturers of new aircraft in the early 1920s include Holland and Czechoslovakia. In Holland, the famous aircraft designer A. Fokker, who moved there from Germany, was the main creator of aircraft. Czechoslovakia developed its aircraft industry on the basis of the aircraft factories of the former Austria-Hungary.

By the mid-1920s, the post-war crisis in the development of aviation was basically over. The number of new types of aircraft has increased, and the growth rate of flight performance has slightly increased. Outstanding air travel, especially C. Lindbergh's non-stop flight from the USA to Europe in 1927, revived the former interest in aviation. Passenger aviation developed rapidly, and the idea of a light-engine "mass" aircraft attracted much attention. However, this successful stage in the development of aircraft was short-lived. In 1929, the world economic crisis broke out. The economic depression adversely affected the pace of development of aviation, primarily non-military. Many design bureaus in the US and Europe went bankrupt, while others were forced to drastically cut production.

The main technical innovation in aviation in the 1920s was the creation of metal aircraft. Having originated in Germany during the First World War, by the end of the 1920s, metal aircraft construction had become widespread throughout the world. According to P. M. Crayson, out of 195 new types of aircraft released in 1929 in the world, 40 had an all-metal structure, and on 98 types, metal was a noticeable part of the structure. Metal aircraft construction developed most intensively in Germany (Junkers, Rohrbach, Dornier) and in the USSR (Tupolev). In these countries, metal was first used in the creation of aircraft with a cantilever wing - a scheme that later became the main one in aircraft construction. After the end of the World War, the development of aviation in these countries began almost from scratch, and it was easier to introduce fundamentally new approaches to aircraft construction than in states with a powerful aircraft industry focused on the production of samples of the First World War era.

The metal was also used in the manufacture of propellers. Wooden propellers, characteristic of the period of the First World War, withstood loads of several hundred horsepower. however, when the power began to approach a thousand horsepower and the speed of aircraft engines increased, the strength of the wood became insufficient, and cases of propeller failure became more frequent. In the first half of the 1920s, the American firms Curtiss-Reed and Hamilton mastered the production of metal propellers; a little later, the Fairy firm in England, Levasseur and Ratier in France began to make propellers with metal blades. In the USSR, metal propellers on aircraft appeared in the 30s.

Another achievement of the period under review was the creation of passenger aviation. In 1929, the total flight time of passenger aircraft amounted to about 100 million kilometers. Aircraft with wheeled and float landing gear transported people and cargo on all continents of the Earth. True, non-stop transoceanic flights, due to the limited range of aircraft, were still “out of the reach” of civil aviation. Air transportation over long distances was carried out using airships. The most famous were the German airships built in the shipyards in Friedrichshafen, which the Germans managed to maintain despite the severe restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles. LZ-127 with a volume of 10500 m? began regular transatlantic flights in 1932. In 5 years, it made 136 flights to South America and 7 flights to the USA. 13110 passengers were transported.

Aviation science, like aviation technology, in the 1920s developed mainly along the path of refining and gradually introducing into practice the scientific achievements of the period of the First World War, such as the theory of inductive resistance, the theory of the boundary layer, the development of strength standards, etc.

The theory of inductive drag (or the theory of a finite span wing) was developed by the German aerodynamicist L. Prandtl in 1915–1917. During the war, it could not be widely used. After the achievements of German scientists became the property of world science, it had a profound impact on aircraft design. The well-known Soviet aerodynamicist B.N. Yuryev, who was the first in the USSR to start studying and popularizing the theory of inductive drag, spoke of its significance in the following way: “At present, it has turned into the most important section of applied aerodynamics. Its success is due to many reasons. Firstly, this theory gave clear answers to a number of fundamental questions of interest to the aircraft designer: what is the most advantageous wing shape, how do biplane wings influence each other, what is the influence of wings on the tail of an aircraft, how accurate are experiments in wind tunnels, how do the walls of a tube affect experimental results, etc. Secondly, this theory attracts engineers with its simplicity and clarity.

The spread of the theory of inductive drag had a great influence on the development of aircraft design. In particular, the awareness by designers of the relationship between wing aspect ratio and lift led to the complete rejection of aircraft with three or more wings in the mid-20s, and contributed to the spread of the monoplane scheme in heavy aviation.

In the 1920s, the theory of the boundary layer, the foundations of which L. Prandtl created even before the First World War, was experimentally verified and further developed. Numerous experiments have shown that two types of flow around a body are possible - turbulent and laminar. In the first case, the flow is a system of vortices, in the second case, the streamlines are parallel to the surface washed by the flow, and the flow velocity decreases as it approaches the surface; the friction coefficients in the case of laminar or turbulent flow are significantly different. The theory, confirmed by a subtle experiment, managed to explain the nature of the flow stall: it was found that this phenomenon occurs when the critical thickness of the boundary layer is exceeded, when, due to a large pressure gradient, the air layer is separated from the wing surface. The connection between theory and practice was primarily manifested in the improvement of the forms of slats and cowls. Later, in the 1930s, work began on the creation of means for controlling the boundary layer, and the so-called laminar profiles appeared. This will be discussed in more detail in the fourth chapter.

The world experience in the design of aircraft airfoils, accumulated during the First World War and in the first post-war years, was embodied in the form of airfoil atlases, on the basis of which aircraft designers could pre-select the type of wing airfoil that was optimal for their purposes. In the USSR, the first such reference book appeared in 1932.

By the beginning of the 1920s, typical profiles were curved, and there was a fascination with Zhukovsky-type profiles for inversion of the parabola. However, by the middle of this decade, the shortcomings of large curvature profiles - a significant movement of the center of pressure depending on the angle of attack, a large C% prof - were recognized as quite serious, and the use of more "quiet" plano-convex profiles such as Göttingen-436 and Clark-Y began to be used. Even profiles appeared in which the position of the center of pressure practically did not change with a change in the angle of attack. They are called momentless profiles.

The study of the characteristics of wing profiles was carried out in wind tunnels. During the First World War, the wind tunnel of the Göttingen Institute (Germany) was the best. It had a circular section with a working part diameter of 2.26 m, the maximum flow velocity was 58 m/s. After the war, more advanced pipes appeared. The pipe built at TsAGI in 1926 had a maximum cross section of the working part of 6 m and a flow velocity of 30 m/s; when the cross section was reduced to 3 m, the velocity reached 75 m/s. At the time, it was the largest wind tunnel in the world. In 1927 in the laboratory. Langley NACA (NACA - US Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, an analogue of our TsAGI) erected a pipe with a diameter of 6.1 m with a flow velocity of 47 m / s. It was intended mainly for testing full-scale propellers and studying their effect on the resistance of the engine nacelle, wing and fuselage.

A fundamental innovation in the development of aviation experimental equipment was the creation of a variable density wind tunnel. Thanks to the use of compressed air, it was possible to change the Reynolds number and thus achieve greater reliability of the results. The idea of creating such a pipe belongs to the German scientist M. Munch, who moved to the USA after the First World War. The first variable density tube was built in 1923 at NACA.

The study of the characteristics of the wings and the development of profiles with more stable moment characteristics contributed to the improvement of the stability of the aircraft. The theory of inductive drag made it possible to numerically evaluate the influence of the wing on the work of the tail, as a result, the choice of parameters for the last alley case is no longer empirical, but on a scientific basis. By the end of the 20s, one of the indispensable conditions for stability - front centering - became well known in aircraft construction, the concept of stability margin appeared. Previously, this was often not observed. For example, the first Soviet monoplane fighter IL-400, which crashed during testing in 1923, had an alignment of 52% of the average aerodynamic chord.

The study of the aircraft spin phenomenon, begun during the war years, acquired great relevance in the 1920s. With the increase in the load on the wing, characteristic of the development of aviation, a spontaneous spin happened more and more often. Experimental and theoretical studies made it possible to identify a number of factors that influenced the aircraft's tendency to spin - the position of the center of gravity, the wing profile, the location and area of the rudders and plumage, etc. Aviation costs in 1930 were: in England - 8202 thousand pounds sterling (about 200 million rubles at the exchange rate of that time), in France - 750 million francs (100 million rubles), in the USA - 38549 thousand. dollars (190 million rubles).

If at first the development of aviation was based on the achievements of other types of technology (engine building, shipbuilding, etc.), then in the 1920s aviation technology itself began to influence the overall scientific and technological progress. The successful promotion of aviation required the development of new special industries, the creation of new materials. Subsequently, these innovations found application in many fields of technology. So, for example, in the 20s - 30s aviation materials - duralumin, high-strength alloyed steels - were used in transport engineering (hulls of ships, cars, wagons) and in machine tool building. The results of aviation aerodynamic studies began to be used in the creation of high-speed ground transport, in the design of large buildings and engineering structures. Strength calculation methods, which made it possible to create strong and lightweight structures, began to be used in many areas of general engineering. These are just some examples.

If we compare the post-war fifteen years with other stages in the history of aviation, it can be characterized, in general, as a stage of extensive development. And yet, as follows from this chapter, it was a significant step in the evolution of aviation technology.

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In carrying out the program worked out by V. I. Lenin for transforming economically backward Russia into an advanced mighty socialist power, the Soviet people, under the leadership of the Communist Party, created first-class heavy socialist industry and large-scale collective machine agriculture, which constitute the unshakable foundation of the socialist economy.

The socialist transformation of our country took place in a complex international situation. The world economic crisis that began at the end of 1929 further aggravated the contradictions in the capitalist camp. The bourgeoisie of all countries, seeking to escape from the clutches of the developing crisis, sought a way out in a war primarily against the Soviet Union. To this end, regroupings of forces took place in the camp of imperialism, new military-political alliances were created, and intensified preparations were made for a new war.

The threat of a military attack on the USSR increased even more with the coming to power of the Nazis in Germany and Japan. Two hotbeds of war were formed: in the West and in the East.

Under these difficult conditions, the Communist Party and the Soviet government took every measure to ensure the accelerated pace of industrial development and strengthen the defense capability of our state in every possible way.

The period under review (1930 - 1934) was a period of fundamental changes in the Soviet Army and Navy. The enormous successes of socialist construction have made it possible to re-equip our army and equip it with new, modern equipment, as a result of which the combat effectiveness of our Armed Forces has increased significantly.

Soviet engineers and designers who worked in the field of aviation successfully completed the task of the Communist Party and the Soviet government to create new models of aviation equipment, built military and civil aircraft, and aircraft engines.

In 1930, under the leadership of D.P. Grigorovich and N.N. Polikarpov, the I-5 fighter was designed and built. According to its flight performance, it was the best aircraft in the world. With a very low weight, he had a good rate of climb, high speed (300 km / h), unsurpassed maneuverability. The armament of the aircraft was also strong. Its high maneuverability was further developed in the creation of new fighters.

At the same time, airplanes for civil aviation were being built in our country, new types of seaplanes were being created.

The Communist Party and the Soviet government directed scientific and technical thought to further improve the flight qualities of aircraft and engines.

Great assistance in this was provided by such a research center as the Central Institute of Aviation Motors (CIAM), created in 1930 at the direction of the Communist Party and the Soviet government. At the same time, new design bureaus were created to design and build new aircraft.

The results of this purposeful activity of Soviet designers and engineers were not slow to affect the improvement of the power of aircraft engines, aircraft structures and their aerodynamic properties.

So, for example, from the first years of CIAM's existence, the M-34 aircraft engine began to be built, which is widely introduced into mass production. It was a high power water-cooled aircraft engine. Its creation was an outstanding event in the development of Soviet aviation technology, which confirmed our country's leading position in the world in the creation of high-power aircraft engines. But the design team did not rest on their laurels. He continued to improve his engine. Soon there were new versions of it. On planes with these engines, which later received the AM-34 brand, Soviet pilots made heroic flights to the Arctic, a flight over the North Pole and flights over the vast expanses of our Motherland.

At the same time, air-cooled engines of various capacities were also built. Engineer A. A. Bessonov in 1930 built a star-shaped 9-cylinder engine with an M-15 supercharger. This engine developed 450 hp. with. and was one of the world's first high-altitude air-cooled engines. The following year, a modification of this engine under the M-26 brand began to be mass-produced. At the same time, design teams led by V. Ya. Klimov, A. D. Shvetsov and other well-known engineers in the country carried out a lot of work on the creation of new engines.

Practical work on the creation of jet engines in our country also belongs to this time. These works were a logical continuation of the works of K. E. Tsiolkovsky, the founder of modern rocket dynamics. To this end, the engineers of a number of cities were united in the so-called groups for the study of jet propulsion (GIRD), which launched research work.

Soviet engineers and scientists, with the full support of the Communist Party and the Soviet government, sought new ways to develop aviation. In 1929 - 1931. Soviet engineer P. I. Shatilov builds a combustion chamber for a jet engine, and engineer F. A. Zander builds his first OR-1 jet engine.

Aircraft "Maxim Gorky" (ANT-20)

At the same time, experimental work was begun on the creation of a special attack aircraft. As you know, before that, the R-5 light bomber was usually used for assault operations. The successful fulfillment of the tasks of the industrialization of the country made it possible not only to develop technical conditions, but also to directly proceed to the creation of a special type of aircraft intended for assault operations. In 1930, the design team headed by A. N. Tupolev began designing the ANT-17 aircraft, also called TSHB (heavy armored attack aircraft). It was a twin-engine biplane with fixed landing gear. Of the total weight of the armor (1000 kilograms), which covered the pilot's seat, two gunners, scorer, engines and gasoline tanks, about a third of the armor was included in the power structure of the structure. The experimental design of this aircraft already then allowed the Central Design Bureau to create the first Soviet attack aircraft TSh-1 and TSh-2.

Simultaneously with the development of designs for new types of aircraft, work was carried out to introduce new building materials into aircraft construction. The aircraft "Stal 2" and "Stal 3" were built from stainless steel, while the aircraft "Sergo Ordzhonikidze" was built entirely from electron.

The accelerated pace of development of heavy industry contributed to the fact that already in the first year of the first five-year plan many new designs of aircraft and aircraft engines were created, of which the best, meeting modern requirements, were put into service, introduced into mass production and operated on overhead lines. In 1931, two months ahead of schedule, a large 5-engine transport aircraft ANT-14 ("Pravda") was designed and built. In the same year, the design team, headed by A. N. Tupolev, built an all-metal twin-engine flying boat MDR-2 (ANT-8). The following year, the designer G. M. Beriev built with the M-17 engine. The seaplane had a good view, a long range and a sufficient bomb load. All this made it for a long time an indispensable military weapon for protecting sea lines from the air. This military seaplane was built in the passenger version under the MP-1 brand. In subsequent years, the Soviet pilots P. Osipenko, V. Lomako also made a non-stop flight from Sevastopol to the Arkhangelsk region on it, setting an international flight distance record for aircraft of this class.

But a fundamental change in the equipping of aviation units with equipment, in aircraft and engine building, as well as in the general cause of increasing the defense capability of our state, was made by the successful implementation of the first five-year plan. As a result of its implementation, the Soviet Union has become a powerful country capable of mass-producing all modern weapons of defense, a country ready to repel an armed attack by the imperialists.

A powerful industrial and technical base was created in the Soviet Union, new branches of industry appeared, including aviation. The creation of the aviation industry was one of the biggest victories of the Soviet people.

The powerful aviation industry provided the armament of our Air Force with all types of modern machines. The Soviet Army already had not only fighter and reconnaissance, but also bomber and attack aircraft.

The Soviet people achieved these successes through their selfless and heroic labor. Soviet designers constantly improved the design of aircraft, increased their aerodynamic properties, and created the best aircraft engines.

In 1933, the design team (TsKB), led by N. N. Polikarpov, created a one and a half plan with an M-22 aircraft engine. In 1935, this aircraft was demonstrated at an aviation exhibition in Milan (Italy) and was recognized as the best fighter in the world. The path of development of this aircraft clearly shows the creative abilities of the Soviet people. To increase the horizontal speed of the aircraft, the designer developed a retractable landing gear; to increase the altitude, turbochargers were installed on the engine, and to increase the firepower, large-caliber synchronous machine guns were installed on the aircraft. Major innovations were also made to the design of the aircraft, which made it possible to organize its mass production. So, for example, its fuselage was made of welded chromium-molybdenum pipes; The sheet electron was also widely used in construction. Simultaneously with the I-15 aircraft was built. Both of these aircraft were tested by V.P. Chkalov, who was the first to praise their maneuverability and speed qualities. At the same time, the design team of P. O. Sukhoi built the TsAGI-25 (RD) single-engine record-breaking long-range aircraft.

The excellent performance of the RD aircraft (TsAGI-25) is evidenced by such facts as a 75-hour circular non-stop flight on it by the Soviet pilot M. M. Gromov, carried out in 1934, as well as subsequent long-distance flights.

An outstanding achievement of Soviet scientific and technical thought and Soviet aircraft construction was the creation of such aircraft as the giant transport aircraft ANT-20 ("Maxim Gorky"), the heavy bomber ANT-16, etc. The world did not yet know such land ships that would have such a huge carrying capacity, range and flight speed.

It is impossible not to recall those joyfully exciting days when the Soviet press announced the start of construction of the 8-engine giant aircraft Maxim Gorky. This message in the country was met with great enthusiasm. The grandiose dimensions of the aircraft (fuselage length of 33 meters, wingspan of about 65 meters, parking height of 10.6 meters, carrying capacity of 42 tons in the normal and 54 tons in the reloading version) and perfect equipment evoked a sense of pride in every Soviet person. The announcement of the construction of a giant Soviet aircraft caused an angry howl abroad.

During the year (an unprecedentedly short period in the practice of world aircraft construction), while the design and construction of an aircraft of such large dimensions was underway, statements by various "scientific authorities" were published in the bourgeois press, who stubbornly insisted on the unreality of the project, the impossibility of taking off and landing on the ground of a heavy land aircraft

But Soviet engineers and designers refuted the claims of foreign experts. Based on the experience of building such heavy aircraft as the ANT-14, ANT-16, etc., Soviet engineers and designers created the Maxim Gorky aircraft.

Great successes have also been achieved in our country in the field of hydroplane construction. In 1934, A. N. Tupolev, together with his team of designers, built a heavy 6-engine seaplane ANT-22. It was armed with two cannons and six machine guns. Its creation once again convincingly showed that our country is at the head of technological progress in the field of hydroplane construction.

Significant were the successes and engine builders. A whole galaxy of talented engineers, carefully nurtured by the Communist Party, created excellent domestic engines of various capacities during these years.

It should also be noted that at the end of the first five-year plan in our country a new jet engine OR-2 was built and then tested in the spring of 1933, which laid the foundation for an engineering solution to the problem of jet propulsion.

Simultaneously with the development of aviation, with an increase in the range, speed and altitude of flights, the quality of weapons and equipment of aircraft increased. All these issues were resolved in the community of designers who worked on the creation of aircraft, engines, weapons and equipment. Many designers, working together with aircraft armament engineers, created aircraft whose armament was and remains the best in the world. So, for example, the designer N. N. Polikarpov, working for a long time with such weapons engineers as B. G. Shpitalny and I. A. Komaritsky, built aircraft with the best small arms and cannon weapons in the world. As you know, in 1933, a rapid-fire aircraft machine gun of their design was adopted by the Soviet aviation. It had a rate of fire of 1,800 rounds per minute and was a powerful weapon against unarmored targets. For its time it was the best machine gun in the world.

At the same time, weapons were also designed to destroy armored targets. Soviet designers coped with this task as well. They created large-caliber aviation machine guns and cannons, which showed their excellent qualities in battles against the Japanese militarists in 1938, against the White Finnish invaders and during the Great Patriotic War.

The bomb armament was also improved. Soviet designers have developed new types of aerial bombs and fuses for them. Improvements were also made to the bomb suspension system, command and control devices, bomb dropping and bombing sights.

The same can be said about the air navigation equipment of aircraft. Soviet designers, engineers and pilots not only improved old instruments, but also created new ones that made it easier to pilot aircraft and improved aircraft navigation methods. This is how remote magnetic compasses, designs of autonavigators and autopilots, a gyromagnetic compass and a solar heading indicator appeared in Soviet aviation.

It is worth noting that modern researchers are searching not only in the archives - finds in places of trials and battles are no less exciting. And this is not a banal search for treasures or coins - serious searchers are interested in more significant finds with a metal detector - crashed planes and other equipment, often covered with a multi-meter layer of earth or water. Such finds are possible only after many months of preparation and hard work, but the result is worth it.

Starting from 1930, the country's air lines were provided with zonal and bearing beacons.

In 1932, a group of designers from the Aviapribor plant developed an airspeed indicator that mechanically takes into account the methodological correction for air density. The first example of a membrane indicator of true airspeed was also proposed, which is now widely used in automatic navigation devices. Improved aircraft instrumentation, allowing blind flights.

The advent of aircraft with large payloads and high speeds required new maintenance methods. There was a problem with airfield services. If the previously existing methods of storing fuel in small containers, small cellars to some extent “satisfied the needs of a small number of aircraft, then in the conditions when up to a hundred aircraft began to be based on only one airfield, the methods of storing and providing fuel could not satisfy the needs of aviation. It was necessary to have large-capacity fuel storage facilities with fuses, with simultaneous centralized supply of gasoline, and also to be able to build airfields suitable for the operation of all types of aircraft. Aviation engineers also coped with all these tasks successfully. Questions such as the method of determining the volume of earthworks at airfields, questions about the coverage of airfields, the most favorable slopes of airstrips, the choice of the most advantageous direction of runways, the layout of the airfield, and many others were resolved from 1930 to 1934, in about 15 - 20 years before they began to deal with foreign experts. The successful solution of all problems is due primarily to the attention and care that the Communist Party and the Soviet government have constantly shown and are showing to the growth of the air fleet.

The rapid growth of aviation technology required highly qualified aviation specialists - pilots, engineers and technicians. The further re-equipment of aviation units, the combat readiness of Soviet aviation depended on their ability to handle equipment and use it at full capacity. To accomplish these tasks, the Communist Party, along with the deployment of mass technical training in aviation units, the creation of a new network of educational institutions, aviation courses. schools and academies pays great attention to the political education of the personnel of the Air Force.

The Communist Party sent the best communists to the aviation units, who played a decisive role in strengthening military discipline, organization, and raising the combat readiness of military units. For the entire personnel, these envoys of the party served as an example of how to master new aviation technology and fulfill their official duties.

The Komsomol provided great assistance to the Party in educating the personnel of the Air Force in the spirit of Soviet patriotism and the impeccable performance of their military duty in these years. As you know, on January 25, 1931, the IX Congress of the Komsomol took patronage over the Air Force of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army. Taking patronage, the IX Congress appealed to all Soviet youth with an appeal to tirelessly strengthen the combat might of our state. A battle cry resounded throughout the country: "Komsomolets - on the plane!" The Soviet youth responded to this call of a combat assistant of the Communist Party by mass entry into flying clubs, aviation schools, combat units of the Air Force and the aviation industry. To these cadres who are boundlessly devoted to the cause of communism, ready at any moment to defend our Motherland with their breasts, the Soviet people handed over first-class aviation equipment, which our aviation industry produced in ever-increasing quantities from year to year.

Mastering aviation technology means not only an impeccable knowledge of the material part of the aircraft, the engine and its equipment, but also piloting skills, as well as the ability to effectively use this equipment in combat. Soviet pilots solved all these issues very successfully.

Suffice it to recall at least such facts. At the end of 1930, a flight of serial Soviet R-5 aircraft took part in a competition in Tehran. Soviet pilots, who took part in an international competition for the first time, won. They showed the high skill of piloting and demonstrated the complete superiority of Soviet aviation technology over foreign ones. Soviet pilots were the only ones among the participants in the competition who flew serial aircraft with full combat equipment and fulfilled all the competition conditions by a large margin.

A special place in the activities of Soviet pilots is occupied by the further development of the foundations of higher and complex aerobatics. In the early 1930s, fighter pilot A.F. Anisimov gained great fame among the flight personnel of Soviet aviation. He earned universal prestige and was known for his creative search for new aircraft evolutions necessary in air combat, as well as for his unsurpassed master of aerobatics.

The experience of advanced Soviet pilots was quickly introduced into the combat training of the entire flight crew of aviation.

The work of the communist pilot V. A. Stepanchonok, who first performed an inverted spin, substantiating the pattern of aircraft behavior when performing this figure, also gained great fame at that time. Being an unsurpassed master of non-motorized flight, he not only developed a methodology for teaching glider flights, but also substantiated the possibility of towing several gliders by aircraft, organizing glider trains necessary for transporting military equipment and landing troops.

One of the most popular and beloved pilots in the country was V.P. Chkalov. His name is inextricably linked with the development of Soviet aviation, with the growth of the skill of its flight personnel.

V.P. Chkalov mastered the piloting technique with exceptional virtuosity. The basis of the aerobatics performed by him was an accurate knowledge of aerodynamics and a detailed study of the properties of the aircraft. substantiated and practically proved the possibility of performing a number of new aerobatics. These primarily include: inverted flight (i.e., the flight of the pilot upside down), quadruple roll (i.e., four rolls in a continuous sequence), dive exit and climb in inverted flight, upward spin and other figures.

Improvements in piloting technique achieved by V. P. Chkalov played an extremely important role in the further development of aviation, in the successful mastering of new technology and in its skillful application in air combat. He significantly expanded the possibilities of combat use of fighter aircraft.

Along with the improvement of air combat methods, Soviet pilots achieved group flight, the ability to fly at high altitudes. In this regard, the high-altitude flights of Soviet pilots, which they carried out in those years, are characteristic.

One of these flights at an altitude of over 5000 meters as part of a large group of aircraft was carried out in 1932 on the route Moscow - Kharkov and back. The flight showed that Soviet pilots can successfully solve combat missions at high altitudes. At the same time, Soviet pilots were looking for new ways to combat the use of other types of aviation.

On April 28, 1933, in commemoration of the successes achieved in the development of aviation and in connection with the fifteenth anniversary of the organization of the Red Air Fleet, the Soviet government established an annual holiday: the Day of the Air Fleet of the USSR.

Already on the first celebration of the Day of the Air Fleet of the USSR, Soviet pilots showed their mastery of aviation technology. They demonstrated the ability to fly in large groups, to carry out paratroop landings.

Soviet military science, the art of war, and the theory and practice of the combat use of aviation were developed on the new technical basis.

Soviet military thought, correctly perceiving the experience of past wars, for the first time in the world pointed out the ways of developing the armed forces, including aviation, in the conditions of the machine period, the war of engines.

The growth and qualitative improvement of Soviet aviation determined the further development of interaction with all branches of the armed forces as the main issue in the theory of the combat use of aviation. The solution of this problem depended primarily on a correct understanding of the tasks that could be entrusted to aviation in a future war.

Soviet scientists made a great contribution to the further development of the aviation sciences. They subordinated all their scientific research to the interests of building powerful Soviet aviation.

The aerodynamic qualities of aircraft have been systematically improved. First, the struts and stretch marks were removed, then the fuselage was rounded, aircraft with retractable landing gear appeared, with a covered engine and smooth wing skin, and much more, which significantly improved the flight performance of the machines. All this was prepared by the scientific research of Soviet scientists.

At the same time, Soviet scientists also developed new problems on which the further development of aviation depended. In 1933, S. A. Chaplygin, in his work “On the General Theory of the Monoplane Wing”, generalizing his many years of experience in the field of wing theory, studied in detail the stability of the wing. In this work, he discovered the so-called parabola of metacenters, introduced the concept of wing focus, which underlies modern methods for calculating the longitudinal stability of an aircraft.

Of great importance for the development of jet aviation are the works of the famous scientist, the founder of rocket dynamics, K. E. Tsiolkovsky. In 1930, he wrote the work "Jet Airplane". Two years later, his article “Semi-jet Stratoplane” appeared, and finally in 1933/34 - “Fuel for a Rocket”, “Cycle Gas Turbine Engine”, etc. All these works of the scientist have not lost their relevance today. They point to the superiority of Soviet scientific and technical thought, which is boldly blazing new trails in solving the practical problems of modern aviation.

In 1931, the Soviet scientist V. G. Fedorov, in his fundamental work "Foundations for the design of automatic weapons," for the first time gave his scientific classification, and academician A. A. Blagonravov, in his work "Foundations for the Design of Automatic Small Arms," outlined the tactical and technical requirements for to modern automatic weapons, developed a methodology for its design.

The increase in speed, range and altitude made flying more difficult. But this was not a surprise for Soviet scientists and navigation specialists. They developed a number of original navigation measurement techniques that improve the accuracy of compass navigation, especially on long-haul flights. The work of N. F. Kudryavtsev and S. A. Nozdrovsky “Issues of air navigation practice” was devoted to this issue. The theory of navigation instruments was also developed in detail in the book by V. G. Nemchinov "Aeronautical Instruments".

Much attention during this period was paid to the development of the problem of compass navigation, which received fairly complete coverage in the work of B.V. Sterligov "Guide to Air Navigation". All this indicated that in the rearmament of Soviet aviation with new aviation technology, in strengthening the power

The Soviet air fleet also took the most active and direct part in science, for the development of which the Soviet system created all the conditions.

In 1930 - 1934 . The Air Force of our state has changed beyond recognition. He has visibly grown and matured. The re-equipment with new aircraft equipment that began in these years significantly increased its combat readiness. All this was an integral part of the strengthening of the defense capability of our state, which was carried out in a difficult international situation, which was characterized by an ever-growing threat of war against the Soviet Union.

Our country needed the growth and strengthening of the army, navy and aviation not to seize foreign territories or threaten anyone, but to protect the peaceful labor of the Soviet people.

Source: Candidate of Military Sciences Colonel A. SCHULZ. Soviet aviation in 1930-1934 - Bulletin of the Air Fleet, No. 11, 1952

In service: USSR, Finland (5 copies, captured). The flying boat was adopted by the Air Force of the Navy in the first half of the 30s. In the Soviet-German war, the aircraft was used for naval reconnaissance, convoy escort and patrol in the Arctic and Black Sea regions. In the Sevastopol area, it was used to attack enemy positions and bombard airfields and artillery batteries.

Major modifications

MBR-2- a version of the sea close reconnaissance flying boat; solid wood construction; engine (successively replaced) BMW VI; M-176 (weapon: 2xDA each in the nose and top turrets, bombs up to 500 kg) and M(AM)-34N (aerodynamics improved; DA machine guns were replaced by ShKAS; the cockpit was closed with a lantern; the design of the vertical tail was changed); crew - 3 people.

MP-1(T)- passenger and transport (withdrawn from service) versions; modification of the MBR-2 with the M-176 engine; not armed; crew - 2 people. and 6 passengers; in the transport version - up to 500 kg of cargo.
MP-1bis— passenger and transport versions; modification of the MBR-2 with the M(AM)-34B (NB) engine; not armed; crew - 2 people. and 6 passengers.

Total production (at plant No. 31) 1365 copy.

LTD modification MBR-2

Engine (power): 1xM(AM)-34NB (830 hp)
Wing, m: 19.00
Length, m: 13.50
Wing area, m2: 55.00
Weight, kg:

Empty: 2475
Takeoff: 4754

Maximum ground speed, km/h: 238
Maximum speed at an altitude of 5000 m, km / h: 275
Range, km: 1520
Time to climb 3000 m, min: 14.00
Ceiling, m: 7900
Armament:

Rifle and cannon: 2x7.62-mm ShKAS (on a turret)
Bomb, kg: 500

Crew, people: 3

DB-3 bomber (1935)

In service with the USSR, Germany (more than 10 copies, captured), Finland (11 copies of DB-Zb and 4 copies of DB-Zf). The main Soviet long-range bomber of World War II. He took part in the wars of 1939-1940 and 1941-1944. Actively used against German troops and fortified areas behind enemy lines throughout the war. These planes were the first to bomb Berlin in August 1941. The aircraft was widely used by torpedo bomber regiments in the Baltic and Black Seas, as well as in the Northern Fleet. They were often used to deliver weapons and food for partisans, tow gliders, long-range reconnaissance and airborne assault.

Major modifications

TsKB-26- experimental; M-85 engines (800 hp); mixed construction (fuselage and fin - wooden, wing and horizontal tail - metal); semi-open cabin; retractable landing gear; bomb load - up to 1000 kg on an external sling.
TsKB-30- experienced; modified fuselage design; wing, plumage, landing gear and propeller group - as in TsKB-26.
DB-Zb- serial; long-range bomber version; M-85 engines; later, engines M-86, M-87A with VISH-3 and M-88 were installed; as TsKB-30; armament: ZhShKAS (sometimes ShVAK in the nose), later ShKAS in a "dagger" mount; bomb load - up to 2500 kg; crew - 3 people.
TsKB-30 "Moscow"- modification of DB-Zb; designed for long distance flights;
the canopy of the navigator's cabin has been improved; weapons removed; increased stock of fuel and lubricants; upgraded equipment installed.
DB-ZT- serial; torpedo bomber version; DB-Zb modification; equipment for suspension of torpedoes 45-36 AN and 45-36 AB was installed; improved on-board equipment.
DB-ZTP- experienced; version of the float bomber-torpedo bomber; modification of DB-ZT; M-86 engine; floats from TB-1P are installed; reinforced wing; installed special marine equipment.
DB-ZM- serial; as DB-Zb; improved airframe design; the engines changed in succession: M-85, M-86, M-87B and M-88; fixed pitch propellers (FPS) of M-87A engines were replaced by VISH-3.
DB-Zf(from March 1942 - IL-4) - serial; DB-ZM modification; M-88B engines (1100 hp); later installed M-82 engines; on small series, the M-81 and M-82 engines were installed; the shape of the navigator's cabin has been changed and the glazing area has been increased; improved airframe design; on some series, the forward fuselage and wing panels were made of wood; a pneumatic landing gear cleaning system was installed; enhanced booking; armament: ZxShKAS, later 2xShKAS and 1xBS (or UBT) turret, normal bomb load on internal sling - 1000 kg, maximum - 2700 kg, torpedo 45-36 AN (AV) was suspended in the torpedo bomber version.

Total production (at plants No. 18, 23, 39, 126) 6883 copy.

LTD modification DB-Zb

Engine: 2xM-85 (800 hp)
Wing, m: 21.44
Length, m: 14.22
Height, m: 4.19
Wing area, m2: 65.60
Weight, kg:

Empty: 4500
Takeoff: 6648

Maximum speed at altitude, km/h: 415 (4800 m)
Range, km: 4200
Climb time 5000 m, min: 12.8
Ceiling, m: 9060
Armament:

Shooting and cannon: Zx7.62-mm ShKAS
Bomb, kg: up to 2500

Crew, people: 3

Double fighter DI-6 (1935)

In service with the USSR. The world's first biplane fighter with retractable landing gear. He took part in the battles in July 1939 and in the winter of 1939-1940. Limited use in the initial period of the war with Germany.

Major modifications

TsKB-11- experienced; single-column half-plane; retractable landing gear; RCF-3 engine (630 hp).
DI-6 - serial; version of the two-seat fighter; M-25 engine
(700 hp); later M-25V; NASA hood; armament: 2xShKAS and 1xIIIKAC; bombs.
DI-6Sh— attack aircraft version; as DI-6; M-25 engine; armament: 4xPV-1 and 1xIIIKAC; bombs; armored cabin (60 copies).
DI-6bis— version of the training aircraft; non-retractable landing gear.
DI-6UTI- version of the training aircraft with dual control; without 1xIIIKAC.

Total produced (at plants No. 1, 39 and 81) 222 copy.

LTD modification DI-6

Engine (power): M-25 (710 hp)
Wing, m: 10.00
Length, m: 7.00
Height, m: 3.00
Wing area, m2: 25.15
Weight, kg:

Empty: 1360
Takeoff: 1955

Maximum ground speed, km/h: 324
Maximum speed at an altitude of 3000 m, km / h: 369
Range, km: 500
Climb time 3000 m, min: 5.7
Ceiling, m: 7700
Armament:

Small arms: 2x7.62 mm ShKAS (in the wing); 1x7.62 mm ShKAS (defensive)
Bomb, kg: 40

Crew, people: 2

Reconnaissance bomber R-10 (1936) 029

Armed with: USSR. It was created as a multi-purpose aircraft. It was a cantilever monoplane of wooden construction. One of the first Soviet reconnaissance and light bombers (after KhAI-1VV, of which it was a development) with a retractable landing gear. Took limited part in the battles against the Japanese on Khalkhin Gol. At the beginning of the war with Germany, he suffered heavy losses and was transferred to parts of the second line.

Major modifications

R-10 (KhAI-5)- experienced and serial; version of the two-seat reconnaissance, light bomber and unarmored attack aircraft; engine (experimental) RCF-3, in the series - M-25V and (later) M-62s VISH-6; solid wood construction; retractable landing gear; armament: 2xShKAS and 1xIIIKAC (defensive); bomb load on the internal suspension - up to 300 kg.
PS-5- conversion of R-10 into a mail plane; The fuselage has three passenger seats.

Total production (at plants No. 43,135, 292) 528 copy.

LTD modification R-10

Engine (power): 1xM-25V (775 hp)
Wing, m: 12.20
Length, m: 9.40
Wing area, m2: 26.80
Weight, kg:

Empty: 2135
Flight: 3200

Maximum ground speed, km/h: 340
Maximum speed at an altitude of 2900 m, km / h: 370
Range, km: 1300
Time to climb 1000 m, min: 2.4
Ceiling, m: 7000
Armament:

Shooting and cannon: 2xShKAS; 1xShKAS (defensive)
Bomb, kg: up to 300

Crew, people: 2

Pe-8 heavy bomber (1936)

Armed with: USSR. The Pe-8 was a cantilever mid-plane of all-metal construction, had a landing gear with a tail wheel, the main landing gear of which was removed. The only heavy (strategic) long-range bomber of the USSR, which was created in the mid-30s. for delivering bombing strikes on the deep rear of the enemy. Bombed Berlin in the first months of the war. On this plane, for the first time in the world, five-ton bombs were raised, which were dropped on Koenigsberg and German troops on. After the war, they were transferred to civil aviation and used to transport goods in the Arctic.

Major modifications

ANT-42- experienced; heavy bomber version; development of TB-3; engines AM-34FRN (930 hp) and 1xM-100 (850 hp) as a central boost unit (ATsN); retractable landing gear; tandem arrangement of pilots.
ANT-42— understudy and small series; like ANT-42; engines AM-34FRNV and M-100A; improved airframe design; increased capacity of fuel tanks.
TB-7- serial; as an understudy; engines AM-35 (1120 hp) and, later, AM-35A (1200 hp); removed ACN; armament: 2xShKAS (n.b. - bow tower), 2xBT (in rifle installations behind engine nacelles), 2xShVAK (kh.t. - tail turret), bomb load - up to 4000 kg.
Pe-8- serial; like TB-7; alternative engines AM-35A or AM-37, 2xAM-37 and 2xM-82 (M-30, M-82F, M-82FNV, ASh-82FN, M-105); a small number of aircraft were equipped with M-40 and M-30 diesel engines; increased the number of fuel tanks.

Total production (at plants No. 22 and 124) 79 copy. (according to other sources - 91 copies).

LTD modification TB-7

Engine (power): 4xM-35A (1200 hp)
Wing, m: 39.01
Length, m: 23.59
Wing area, m2: 188.68
Weight, kg:

Empty: 18420
Flight: 32000

Maximum ground speed, km/h: 335
Maximum speed at an altitude of 6000 m, km / h: 410
Range, km: 4700
Climb time 6000 m, min: 28.00
Ceiling, m: 8400
Armament:

Shooting and cannon: 2xShKAS (in the bow turret); 2xUBT (in the rifle installation behind the engine nacelles); 2xSHVAK (tail turret)
Bomb, kg: 4000

Crew, people: 11

Training aircraft U-2 (Po-2) (1927)

In service: USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Finland (4 copies, captured), Germany (more than 30 copies, captured), Romania (more than 1 copy, captured). The most massive light-engine aircraft of the USSR. Has been in operation for over 35 years. It was used for initial training, for communications, as an ambulance, etc. During the war, it was widely used in the version of a light night bomber.

Major modifications

U-2- prototype; single-column biplane; M-11 engine; a wing with a thick profile was installed.
U-2- serial; version of the initial training aircraft; solid wood construction; engine M-11.
U-2 (AP, AO)- serial; agricultural version; front cab moved forward; a tank is installed in the rear cabin; the gas tank was moved to the center section; altered fairing; sometimes paired wheels were installed.
U-2 (MU-2, U-2M)- seaplane version; a single-float chassis was installed (1 copy).
U-2 (SP)- serial; passenger aircraft version; AP modification; two single cabins are installed; 2 copies; The JVs were converted into a passenger aircraft with a larger single-seat cabin.
U-2UT- serial; version of the training aircraft; like U-2; M-11D engine (115 hp); installed individual engine cylinder fairings; the rear seat was covered with a cap.
S-1 (SS)- serial; ambulance version; modification of the joint venture; to accommodate the patient increased fairing; the doctor was placed in the rear cabin (100 copies).
SPL (SP)- version of the passenger aircraft; like AP; a triple closed cabin is installed; wheel fairings and NASA ring (1 copy).
C-2- serial; as C-1; M-11D engine (115 hp); improved aerodynamics.
С-3 (SKF)- serial; as C-2; a plywood cabin was installed for two wounded.
U-2 (TsAGI-10 floats)- serial; float modification SP and S-2.
U-2 (Po-2) PP- version of the float limousine (1 copy).
U-2 (Shavrov floats)- serial; modification of the aircraft with floats like the AIR-6.
U-2 (Scherbakov's floats)- version of the float plane.
U-2 (sanitary cassettes Bakshaev)- serial; as C-2; two cassettes are installed on the lower wing - 1 wounded in a lying position.
U-2 (sanitary cassettes Shcherbakov)- serial; like P-2 and P-3; under the lower wing there are two hanging cassettes - 2 wounded in each in a sitting position.
U-2s- serial; ambulance version; modification of the joint venture; M-11G engine (100 hp).
U-2VS(LNB) - light night bomber version; bomb racks are installed under the fuselage and lower wing; 1xIIIKAC or YES is installed in the rear cockpit.
U-2NAK- serial; night art corrector version; as U-2LNB; without bomb racks; 1xIIIKAC; an exhaust manifold with a silencer, a generator, a walkie-talkie and a night sight are installed.
U-2GN- version of the propaganda aircraft; a radio installation with a loudspeaker and a generator were installed; muffler on the exhaust manifold (2 copies).
V0M-1- version of the "air"; M-11D engine; “fire bags” were installed to drop “fire charges”; fixed machine guns (1 copy) are installed on the left lower wing.
U-2SHS- version of the headquarters aircraft; a four-seater cabin is installed; M-11F engine; wooden screw with spinner; a transceiver radio was installed (2 copies).
U-2L- limousine version; enlarged fuselage; a four-seater cabin is installed; M-11D engine; lengthened forward fuselage (1 copy).
Po-2 training (U), Po-2T, Po-2S, Po-2A, Po-2L, CSS-13- serial; post-war options.

Total produced approx. 40000 copy.

LTD modificationU-2SP

Engine (power): 1xM-11 (100 hp)
Wingspan, m: 11.40
Length, m: 8.10
Wing area, m2: 33.10
Weight, kg:

Empty: 710
Takeoff: 1050

Maximum ground speed, km/h: 140
Range, km: 500
Time to climb 1000 m, min: 11.00
Ceiling, m: 3200
Armament:

Shooting and cannon: -
Bomb, kg: —

Crew, people: 2

Fighter I-5 (1930)

Armed with: USSR. Designed by N.N. Polikarpov together with D.P. Grigorovich. He was in service until 1938. Subsequently, he was transferred to educational units and schools. It was used to a limited extent in combat operations in the initial period of the war.

Major modifications

Prototypes- BT-11 had a Jupiter VII engine; "Klim Voroshilov" - "Jupiter VI" (M-22); "Gift to the 16th Party Congress" - M-15 and the Townend ring (3 copies).
I-5- serial; fighter version; M-22 engine; installed Townend ring and wheel fairings; later, a metal screw and wheel fairings were installed.
I-5LSh— attack aircraft version; armament: 4x7.62 mm PV-1 machine guns.
I-5 UTI-1- version of the training aircraft; an additional cabin with control is installed; conversion 20 I-5.

Total produced (at plants No. 1 and 21) 803 zkz.

LTD modification I-5

Engine (power): 1xM-22 (480 hp)
Wing, m: 10.20
Length, m: 6.78
Wing area, m2: 21.25
Weight, kg:

Empty: 943
Takeoff: 1355

Maximum ground speed, km/h: 278
Maximum speed at an altitude of 3000 m, km / h: 268
Range, km: 600
Climb time 3000 m, min: 5.6
Ceiling, m: 7300
Armament:

Shooting and cannon: 2xPV-1 (synchronous)
bomb, kg: 40

Crew, people: 1

Scout R-5 (1928)

In service: USSR, Spain, Iran, China. It was a biplane of mixed design with wings of different spans, the fuselage had thin contours. It was used in parts of the Air Force in 1931-1937. as a reconnaissance, light bomber and attack aircraft. In 1930 he was recognized as the best at the international competition of reconnaissance bombers in Tehran. As an attack aircraft, it was used in military operations in and in the Far East. Airplane P-Z he showed himself well in air battles with the Japanese in the Far East in 1939 and during the civil war on the side of the Republicans.

62 P-Z aircraft were delivered to Spain. Aircraft of this type flew at low altitude in tight formation, and the defensive fire of ShKAS machine guns was effective against enemy interceptors. At the end of hostilities, 36 P-Z aircraft fell into the hands of the Nationalists. In the war with Germany, the P-5 and P-Z were used as light night bombers and messengers until 1945. The P-Z became the last serial Soviet reconnaissance biplane. P-5 and P-Z were used in Aeroflot as transport, mail aircraft, etc.

Major modifications

R-5- experienced; BMW VI engine (680 hp).
R-5- serial; scout version; M-176 engine (licensed BMW VI); armament: 1xsynchronous PV-1 and 2xcoupled YES (or Lyois) in the turret; bomb load - 300 kg; photo and radio equipment installed.
R-5Sh- serial; attack aircraft version; modification R-5; armament was strengthened: 4xPV-1 under the wing, 1xsynchronous PV-1, 2xcoupled YES in the turret, bomb load - 240-500 kg.
R-5SSS(high-speed, quick-climbing, quick-firing) - serial; reconnaissance, light bomber and attack aircraft versions; modification R-5; improved aerodynamics; M-17f engine; wheel fairings installed; armament was strengthened - PV-1 and DA machine guns were replaced by ShKAS (620 copies).
ARK-5 (PL-5)— version of the Arctic scout; modification R-5; quadruple; closed heated cabin; increased vertical plumage (2 copies).
R-5T- serial; torpedo bomber version; modification R-5; single; changed the design of the chassis and crutch; increased vertical plumage (50 copies).
R-5a (MR-5)- version of the sea reconnaissance; modification R-5; floats installed; vertical plumage, as in the R-5T (111 copies).
P-5 "limousine"- serial; a double passenger cabin and a common lantern (about 100 copies) were installed.
R-5 "postal"- like R-5; without weapons; cargo cassettes (1 copy) are installed on the lower wing.
PR-5- serial; passenger aircraft version; modification R-5; enlarged fuselage midsection; a four-seater passenger cabin is installed.
PR-5bis- as PR-5; the upper wing is shifted back by 100 mm.
P-5 and P-5a (float)- decommissioned R-5; without weapons; installed cargo compartments.
P-Z- serial; development of R-5; engine AM-34N; reduced airframe size; cabin closed; shielded turret installed; various weapons options (1031 copies).
P-Z- decommissioned P-Z; M-34NB engine; modification for the transport of goods and passengers.

Total produced (at plant No. 1) about 6826 copy. all modifications.

LTD modifications P-Z

Engine (power): 1xM-34RN (750 hp)
Wing, m: 15.5
Length, m: 9.72
Height, m: —
Wing area, m2: 42.52
Weight, kg:

Empty: 2180
Takeoff: 3150

Maximum ground speed, km/h: 276
Maximum speed at an altitude of 3000 m, km / h: 316
Range, km: 1000
Time to climb 3000 m, min: 6.6
Ceiling, m: 8700
Armament:

Shooting and cannon: 1xPV-1; 1xDA (upper turret)
bomb, kg: 500

Crew, people: 2

Fighter I-15 (1933)

In service: USSR, Spain, China, Finland (5 copies, captured). It was distinguished by an upper wing mounted in the fuselage, I-shaped interwing struts and cantilever main landing gear, on which wheel fairings could be mounted. The first combat test took place in the fall of 1936 in Spain. 155 vehicles fought on the side of the Republicans in 1937 in Spain, where they were armed with two ShKAS machine guns and were called "Chato" (snub-nosed). The Spanish government built 287 I-15 aircraft under license.

In 1937 he took part in the fighting against the Japanese in China. It was actively used in repulsing Japanese aggression in the area of the Khalkhin Gol River. A small number of aircraft were used in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. Limited use in the initial period of the war with Germany as an attack aircraft.

Major modifications

TsKB-3- prototype; fighter version; single-column half-plane; Wright Cyclone SCR 1820 F-3 (RTsF-Z) engine (710 hp) with Townend ring hood; the upper wing is of the "gull" type; fixed landing gear; 2 machine guns PV-1.
TsKB-Zbis- experienced; Wright Cyclone SCR 1820 F-3 engine with two-bladed Hamilton propeller; one of the aircraft set a record altitude - 14575 m.
I-15 "Seagull"- serial; in the first series, the RCF-Z engine was installed, later the M-22 (480 hp) and M-25 with the AV-1 propeller; armament: 4xPV-1 (384 copies).
I-15bis (I-152)- serial; fighter version; modification of I-15; M-25V engine (750 hp); a straight upper wing is installed; reinforced structure; changed hood; increased weight; armament: 4xPV-1 (or UBS), later - ShKAS (2408 copies).
DIT- serial; version of the two-seat training fighter; modification of I-152; armament: 2xShKAS and 100 kg of bombs.

Total produced (at plants No. 1 and 39) 2793 copy.

LTD modifications I-15bis

Engine (power): 1xM-25V (750 hp)
Wingspan, m: 10.18
Length, m: 6.27
Height, m: 2.19
Wing area, m2: 22.53
Weight, kg:

Empty: 1310
Takeoff: 1730

Maximum ground speed, km/h: 327
Maximum speed at an altitude of 3500 m, km / h: 379
Range, km: 520
Climb time 5000 m, min: 6.6
Ceiling, m: 9300
Armament:

Bomb, kg: 200

Crew, people: 1

Fighter I-16 (1933)

In service: USSR, Spain, China, Finland (7 copies, captured), Romania (3 copies, captured), Japan (1 copy, captured). It was a low-wing cantilever with a radial engine, a wooden monocoque fuselage and a metal wing with large span split ailerons that served as landing flaps. The main landing gear manually retracted into the wing. One of the best fighters of the mid-30s. The world's first serial fighter with retractable landing gear. Participated in hostilities in Spain, at Khalkhin Gol, in China, in the Soviet-Finnish wars. Actively used on all fronts in the first half of the war.

Major modifications

TsKB-12- experienced; M-22 engine; a metal propeller without coca and a forward-sliding lantern are installed; 2xShKAS; had non-retractable skis and then a retractable wheeled landing gear.
TsKB-12bis (I-16 backup)- RCF-2 engine (712 hp); had a smaller diameter hood; non-retractable skis were installed, and then a retractable wheeled landing gear.
I-16 type 4- serial; fighter version; engine M-22 and (later) M-25; extended hood; installed armored back; without sliding lantern; installed aileron hovering mechanism.
UTI-2- version of the combat training aircraft; double modification type 4.
I-16 type 5- serial; type 4 modification; fighter version; engine M-25 (700 hp) (former RTSF-Z); changed the design of the hood; installed propeller AB-1, spinner and ratchet for launch; at first it had a closed, and later an open cabin; lengthened visor; armament: 2xShKAS; bomb racks installed.
UTI-4- version of the combat training aircraft; double modification type 5 or 10; M-25A engine (730 hp); dual control; without weapons (1640 copies).
TsKB-18 (I-16 attack aircraft)- experienced; M-22 engine; cockpit booking installed; weapons: 4xShKAS (or PV-1), bomb load - 100 kg (1 copy); 2 copies type 5 were armed with 6xShKAS.
TsKB-29 (SPB)- experienced; high-speed dive bomber version; used in conjunction with TB-3; RCF-Z engine; installed pneumatic gear cleaning mechanism; armament: 2xShKAS and 200 kg of bombs.
I-16P (cannon)- experienced; type 5 modification; RCF-Z engine; armament: 2xShKAS (synchronous), 2xShVAK (in the center section) and bomb racks (1 copy).
I-16 type 6- serial; like type 5; M-25A engine (730 hp); had an open cockpit; reinforced glider.
I-16 type 10- serial; like type 5; M-25V engine (750 hp); armament: 4xShKAS; reinforced structure; increased weight; landing shields and retractable skis are installed.
I-16 type 12- serial; type 10 modification; armament: 2xShKAS and 2xShVAK.
I-16 type 17- serial; type 10 modification; weapons: 2xShKAS and 2xShBAK (sometimes 1xBS was added); bomb load - 200 kg; changed chassis design; the crutch was replaced by a wheel.
I-16 TK- experienced; type 10 modification; installed 2 turbochargers and VISH.
I-16 type 18- serial; type 10 modification; M-62 engine with supercharger; installed VISH-6A and (later) AV-1; armament: 4xShKAS.
I-16 type 24- serial; modification of type 18; M-63 engine with VISH VV-1; reinforced structure; modified wing design; had 2 hanging tanks; weapons: 2xShKAS and 2xShVAK (sometimes 4xShKAS and 1xBS); later installed guides for 6hRS-82; bomb load - 500 kg.
I-16 type 29- serial; modification of type 24; the position of the oil cooler has been changed; shortened chassis installed; armament: 1xUBS and 2xShVAK, 6xRS-82.

Total production (at plants No. 21, 39 and 153) 9450 copy.

LTD modification I-16 type 24

Engine (power): M-63 (900 hp)
Wing, m: 9.00
Length, m: 6.13
Wing area, m2: 14.54
Weight, kg:

Empty: 1490
Takeoff: 1882

Maximum ground speed, km/h: 415
Maximum speed, km / h at an altitude of 4800 m: 470
Range, km: 440
Time to climb 5000 m, min: 5.8
Ceiling, m: 9900
Armament:

Rifle and cannon: 2x7.62 mm ShKAS (synchronous); 2x20 mm ShVAK; jet 6xRS-82
Bomb, kg: 500

Crew, people: 1

Long-range reconnaissance R-6 (ANT-7) (1929)

Armed with: USSR. Land and float combat versions of the aircraft were intensively used in the pre-war period. The first Soviet aircraft to fly over the North Pole. By the beginning of World War II, the aircraft was obsolete and was operated in parts of the second line. Throughout the war, the remaining aircraft were used to supply Air Force units with ammunition, spare parts and fuel, to transport the wounded and to communicate.

Major modifications

ANT-7- experienced; created on the basis of TB-1; BMW VI engines (730 hp).
R-6- serial; long-range reconnaissance aircraft version; M-17 engines; retractable tower installed.
R-6 (limousine)- passenger version of the R-6; a closed cabin for nine passengers and a luggage compartment (1 copy) were installed.
MP-6- version of the sea reconnaissance; floats installed.
Kr-6A "Cruiser"- as MP-6; landing shields installed; retractable tower removed; small changes in the design of the wing and fuselage; increased fuel supply; no bomb load.
MP-6- transferred to the Glavsevmorput MR-6.
PS-7- transferred to Aeroflot R-6.

Total production (at plants No. 22,31 and 126) 406 copy.

LTD modification R-6

Engine (power): 2xM-17 (730 hp)
Wing, m: 23.20
Length, m: 14.75
Wing area, m2: 80.00
Weight, kg:

Empty: 3856
Takeoff: 6480

Maximum ground speed, km/h: 240
Maximum speed at an altitude of 3000 m, km / h: 216
Range, km: 1680
Climb time 3000 m, min: 12.3
Ceiling, m: 6050
Armament:

Shooting and cannon: 2xDA-2 each (lower turret), (upper turret); 1xDA (lower retractable tower)

Crew, people: 4

Heavy bomber TB-3 (1930)

Armed with: USSR. The best heavy all-metal bomber of the early and mid-30s. TB-3 aircraft formed the basis of heavy bomber units of the Soviet Air Force. It was used in the Soviet-Japanese conflicts near Lake Khasan, at Khalkhin Gol and in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. On the Soviet-German front, it was used as a bomber in the initial period of the war, and then transferred to the second line, where it was used for transport. "Link - SPB" was successfully used in 1943 to destroy the bridge over the Danube.

Major modifications

Experienced- Curtiss Conqueror engines (600 hp); without weapons; later, BMW VIz engines (500/730 hp) were installed and radiators were enlarged.
Head- M-17 engines; weapons and bomb racks were installed; tandem wheels; lightweight construction.
TB-3- serial; bomber version; M-17f engines; modified fuselage design; open cockpit; on later series, the wing span is increased; wheel and ski chassis.
TB-3 ("battened down")- experimental version; improved aerodynamics.
TB-3-4M-34- serial; M-34 engines; changed the design of radiators; had a bombing operator's gondola under the bow.
TB-3-4M-34R- M-34R engines with a gearbox; tail gun point installed; changed vertical tail; installed oil-air chassis shock absorbers; improved aerodynamics.
TB-3-4AM-34RN- high-altitude version of the bomber; engines AM-34-RN; four-blade wooden propellers are installed on the middle engines, and two-blade propellers on the extreme ones; installed aft turret and tail wheel; later the tandem bogie chassis was replaced by large wheels.
TB-3-AM-34FRN (RNV)- engines AM-34FRN or AM-34RNV; additional gas tanks and a flatner on the rudder were installed; front turret shielded; reduced radiator; improved wing aerodynamics.
TB-ZD- experienced; AN-1 diesel engines were installed.
"Link - SPB"- version of the composite dive bomber; two I-16s with two FAB 250 bombs each are suspended under the carrier planes.
ANT-6 (TB-3)-4AM-34RD— version for demonstration flights; engines AM-34RD; modified fuselage; weapons removed; some aircraft had large landing gear wheels and three-bladed metal propellers.
ANT-6 "Aviaarktika"- civilian version of TB-3 for flights in the Arctic; M-34RN engines; the forward section of the fuselage and the cockpit have been redesigned; large landing gear wheels, an anti-icing system, three-bladed metal propellers and a brake parachute were installed.
G-2- version of a civil transport aircraft; conversion of serial TB-3; M-17f or M-34RN engines; weapons removed; modified fuselage for cargo transportation.

Total produced (at plants No. 22, 18 and 31) 819 copy.

LTD modification TB-3-4AM-34RN

Engine (power): 4xM-34 RN (970 hp)
Wing, m: 41.85
Length, m: 25.18
Height, m: 8.45
Wing area, m2: 234.50
Weight, kg:

Empty: 12585
Takeoff: 21000

Maximum ground speed, km/h: 245
Maximum speed at an altitude of 4200 m, km / h: 288
Range, km: 2470
Climb time 3000 m, min: 4.2
Ceiling, m: 7740
Armament:

Shooting and cannon: 1x7.62 mm ShKAS (lower turret), (tail turret), (upper firing point), (lower firing point), (hatch installation)
Bomb, kg: 4000

Crew, people: 4-6

SB bomber ("fast bomber") (1934)

In service: USSR, Spain (Republican Air Force), China, Germany (former Czechoslovak), Finland (captured and former Czechoslovak), Czechoslovakia (53 copies of SB M-100A and licensed). One of the best medium bombers of the mid-30s. The combat debut took place in Spain (since the autumn of 1936), where in the initial period of the war the SB was used without fighter escort, as it had superiority in speed over all enemy fighters. In 1937, it was used in China to repel Japanese aggression. It was used in conflicts on Lake Khasan and near the Khalkhin-Gol River. Participated in the Soviet-Finnish wars of 1939-1940 and 1941-1944. Actively used by the Soviet Air Force in the war with Germany until 1943, but suffered heavy losses and was transferred to the second line.

Major modifications

ANT-40- 1st experienced; medium bomber version; different engines were installed Wright Cyclone (730 hp), M-87 and Hispano-Suiza 12Ybrs (780 hp); all-metal construction; retractable landing gear (wheeled); installed radio station and oxygen equipment.
ANT-40 (SB)- 2nd experienced; Hispano-Suiza engines moved forward by 100 mm; increased wing sweep along the leading edge; increased area and changed the design of plumage; increased fuel supply; armament; 4xShKAS, bombs - 2x250 kg or 6x100 kg in the bomb bay.
DI-8 (ANT-46)- experienced; long-range fighter version; SB modification; engines Gnome-Rhone Mistral Major K14 (800 hp); 2x76-mm recoilless guns APK-4, 2x111 KAS, 1xShVAK were installed.
SB-2 IS-M-100- serial; medium bomber version; Hispano-Suiza and (later) M-100 engines (750 hp); minor changes were made to the design; increased wing area.
SB-2 M-100A- serial; M-100A engines (860 hp); three-bladed metal propellers VFSh or VISh-2 are installed; the composition of weapons was changed and improved (turrets MB-2 and MV-3, six rocket launchers RO-132); some aircraft were made in the trainer version with cockpits, like the SB-3.
SB-2 M-100A "Cruiser"- as SB-2 M-100A; conversion 2 copies. into a heavy fighter; 4xShVAK are installed in the bow from below; were used as night fighters near Moscow.
PS-40 M-100A- serial; civil transport aircraft version; conversion SB-2; the fuselage is equipped with three cargo compartments with a total volume of 2.58 m3.
SB-2bis (bis-2, 3) M-103- serial; engines M-103 (A) (960 hp); changed engine hoods and radiator design (bis-3); increased fuel supply; weapons: 5xShKAS, bombs - 5 × 100 kg; improved aerodynamics; installed three-blade VISH-2, retractable ski landing gear and outboard tanks; on one copy. spotlight installed.
PS-41 M-103U- serial; civil transport aircraft version; conversion SB-2bis; increased weight.
PS-41 bis M-103U - as PS-41; hanging tanks installed.
SB-2 M-104- small series; M-104 engines; modernized equipment.
SB-UK (USB)- serial; version of the training aircraft; as SB-2bis; dual control installed; elongated nose; sometimes used to tow A-7 gliders.
SB-2M-105- small series, M-105 engines; weapons changed.
MMH M-105- experienced; SB modification; M-105 engines (1050 hp); reduced area of the wing and plumage; weapons: ZhShKAS; engine hoods, like the Ar-2.
Ar-2 (SB-RK)- serial; M-105R engines with VISH-22E (1100 hp); later installed air brakes, and the aircraft began to be used as a dive bomber; improved shape of engine nacelles; increased vertical and horizontal plumage; weapons: 4xShKAS, bombs - 6 × 100 kg or 2 × 250 kg, or 1 × 500 kg.
Plane "B"- experienced; like Ar-2; M-105R engines with TK-2; the dimensions of the aircraft are reduced; modified wing design.
B.71- licensed; produced in Czechoslovakia; as SB-2 M-100A (about 110 copies).

Total produced (at plants No. 125 and 22) 6831 copy.

LTD modification SB-2

Engine (power): 2xM-100 (750 hp)
Wing, m: 20.33
Length, m: 12.57
Height, m: 4.7
Wing area, m2: 56.70
Weight, kg:

Empty: 4060
Takeoff: 5628

Maximum ground speed, km/h: 326
Maximum speed, km / h: at an altitude of 5200 m: 393
Range, km: 2150
Time to climb 1000 m, min: 2.8
Ceiling, m: 9000
Armament:

Rifle and cannon: 4x7.62 mm ShKAS
Bomb, kg: 600

Crew, people: 3

Amphibious flying boat Sh-2 (1929)

In service: USSR, Finland (several aircraft were captured).
A popular pre-war and post-war amphibious boat. One of the most durable aircraft in the world. It was a polutoraplan with a parasol-type upper wing, a single-row hull and stabilizing floats built into the lower short wing. The main landing gear wheels were removed manually. Until the mid-60s, they were intensively used in the Civil Air Fleet and the Navy on all the seas and oceans surrounding the USSR for reconnaissance, patrolling, training and transporting the sick and wounded.

Major modifications

Sh-1- prototype; amphibious flying boat version; initiative development; Walter engine (85 hp); floats are installed on the lower wing; 2 crew members and 1 passenger; dual control; wheel or ski chassis.
Sh-2- version of the flying amphibious boat; modification Sh-1; M-11 engine (100 hp); increased wing area and flight weight; a wing folding mechanism was installed (about 700 copies).
Sh-2S- version of the amphibious ambulance boat; modification Sh-2 (16 copies).

LTD modification Sh-2

Engine: 1 M-11 (100 HP)
Wing, m: 13.00
Length, m: 8.2
Wing area, m2: 24.70
Weight, kg:

Empty: 620
Takeoff: 897

Maximum ground speed, km/h: 145
Range, km: 500
Time to climb 1000 m, min: 8.18
Ceiling, m: 3850

Crew / passengers, people: 2/1-2

Training aircraft UT-1 (1936)

Armed with: USSR. It was widely used in aviation schools as a training aircraft for the transition to the I-16. At the beginning of the war, weapons were sometimes installed on the aircraft in front-line workshops, after which it was used to attack enemy positions.

Major modifications

AIR-14- experienced; single-seat training aircraft version; M-11 engine (100 hp).
UT-1- serial; as AIR-14; engine M-11 G (110 hp); later, the M-11E engine (150 hp) was installed and the motor mount was lengthened; floats were installed on one aircraft; a small series of aircraft was made with the M-12 engine and machine gun.

Total produced 1241 copy.

LTD modification UT-1

Engine (power): 1xM-11E (150 hp)
Wingspan, m: 7.30
Length, m: 5.78
Wing area, m2: 8.30
Weight, kg:

Empty: 430
Flight: 598

Maximum ground speed, km/h: 257
Climb time 3000 m, min: 8.7
Ceiling, m: 7120

Crew, people: 1

From the book by V. Schwabedissen "Stalin's Falcons". Analysis of the actions of Soviet aviation in 1941-1945, Minsk, Harvest, 2001, p. 437-507.

Portal for the student. Self-training

Aircraft of the 30s

DB-3 bomber (1935)

Double fighter DI-6 (1935)

Reconnaissance bomber R-10 (1936) 029

Pe-8 heavy bomber (1936)

Training aircraft U-2 (Po-2) (1927)

Fighter I-5 (1930)

Scout R-5 (1928)

Fighter I-15 (1933)

Fighter I-16 (1933)

Long-range reconnaissance R-6 (ANT-7) (1929)

Heavy bomber TB-3 (1930)

SB bomber ("fast bomber") (1934)

Amphibious flying boat Sh-2 (1929)

Training aircraft UT-1 (1936)

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