The first Soviet jet engine. jet planes

Passenger aircraft, as a rule, cannot boast of high-speed characteristics. Compared to fighters, they are real snails. And although usually the speed passenger liners ranges from 800 to 1100 km / h, some unique airliners can be supersonic. At that speed, they can get people from New York to London in about three hours. In this review, a story about the fastest in the world passenger aircraft X.

1. Hawker-Siddeley Trident HS.121 2

maximum speed 973 km/h
The British aircraft Hawker-Siddeley Trident or simply "Trident" made a real revolution in air traffic. It was operated from the 1960s to the 1990s.

2 Gulfstream G650

maximum speed 981 km/h
The twin-engine business jet is an upgraded version of the popular Gulfstream G550. It can reach a top speed of Mach 0.925 and the G650 has a range of 13,900 km.

3 Boeing 7478

maximum speed 988 km/h
Boeing 747 8 is the longest passenger aircraft in the world. Its length is 76.25 m, and its wingspan is 68.45 m. At a speed of 988 km/h, it can fly 14,100 km.

4. Convair 880

maximum speed 989 km/h
The Convair 880 jet airliner developed by General Dynamics was produced for only 3 years (65 units were produced in 1959-1962). Due to its low popularity, it was discontinued despite being considered the fastest airliner of its day.

5 Boeing 777

maximum speed 1036 km/h
Boeing 777 is considered one of the best airliners in the world today. These aircraft are equipped with the most powerful engines for passenger liners.

6 Boeing 787

maximum speed 1049 km/h
Boeing announced the development of the 787 Dreamliner in 2003. Designed as a wide-body long-range airliner, the 787 can reach speeds of up to 1,049 km/h.

7. Dassault Falcon 900 EX

maximum speed 1065 km/h
The French Dassault Falcon 900 EX is a corporate jet capable of transcontinental flights. Its design is notable for the fact that the Falcon 900 EX has three rear-mounted jet engines.

8 Bombardier Global 6000

maximum speed 1097 km/h
The Bombardier Global 6000 is an ultra-long range executive aircraft. It allows any entrepreneur to quickly travel the world and easily get to right place with a speed reaching 1097 km / h.

9. Dassault Falcon 7X

maximum speed 1110 km/h
This business jet was developed from the Falcon 900 and is designed to travel around the world in style and comfort. It is 2 such Canadian-made aircraft that are used in Russia to transport high-ranking state officials.

10 Airbus A380

maximum speed 1087 km/h
Designed in Europe, the Airbus A380 is a high-performance, double-deck, long-range airliner. It is considered the world's largest passenger aircraft.

11 Cessna Citation X

maximum speed 1126 km/h
Another favorite business jet is the Cessna Citation X. It is a turbofan, twin-engine, long-haul mid-range business jet. Citation X is operated by both individuals and companies.

12 Cessna Citation X+

maximum speed 1153 km/h
This is an improved model of the previous aircraft. The Citation X+ has received significant improvements, as well as a much more powerful engine. Today this aircraft is the fastest civil and business aircraft.

13. Concorde

maximum speed 2179 km/h
The Concorde was a supersonic marvel of its time as it traveled twice the speed of sound. The Concorde was primarily used by wealthy people for fast air travel in an atmosphere of luxury. However, despite the aircraft having been in service for decades, the Concorde was discontinued in 2003.

14. Boom Supersonic

maximum speed 2335 km/h
Boom Supersonic is currently under development. It is a supersonic commercial airliner capable of Mach 2.2 or 2,335 km/h. However, unlike the Concorde, the Boom Supersonic will be a low-cost airliner for all passengers, not just the wealthy.

15. Tupolev TU 144

maximum speed 2430 km/h
The Tupolev TU 144 was the first supersonic aircraft in the world developed by the USSR Soviets, and immediately after it came the Concorde. Although this aircraft was removed from commercial use, the Russian space program used it for training purposes until 1999.

Today, airplanes are gradually turning into individual transport. Recently appeared.

In June 1955, an experimental aircraft "104" developed by Tupolev Design Bureau took off from the airfield near Moscow in Zhukovsky. Factory tests of the machine began, which by the autumn of the same year will turn into a Tu-104 jet airliner - the third in the world, the second put into operation and the first in the USSR.

The very theme of the "104th" moved off the ground only after the death of Stalin, although proposals to create a jet passenger fleet repeatedly put forward under him. But the leader, with his inherent frugality and penchant for repeated reinsurance, inexorably "cut down" such ideas. The country had just overcome the post-war devastation and could not afford significant "non-core" spending, and reactive passenger aviation in the early 50s, however, was not a problem of prime necessity for the Soviet national economy.

There is a common joke among railway students: "Soviet cars are not designed to carry passengers, they are adapted for it." When creating the first Soviet jet liner, the Tupolev Design Bureau used a similar principle, but seriously and competently. The successful Tu-16 bomber was taken as a basis (the 104 aircraft even at one time bore the Tu-16P index - “passenger”) in order to gain resources and time on the general development of the design.

Thus, the task of training flight personnel was also facilitated, savings were also made on ground maintenance and repair equipment.

As one of the arguments in favor of creating such an aircraft, A.N. Tupolev cited the possibility of flying at high altitude, “above the weather” - propeller-driven passenger aircraft, which had a small ceiling, suffered mercilessly from chatter. But it was there that the first jet liner was guarded by a new, as yet unknown danger.

When it comes to a passenger aircraft, the first thing that seriously starts to worry potential passengers is reliability. Who in the USSR has not heard the black song: "Tu-104 is the fastest plane: it will take you to the grave in two minutes"? For all its offensiveness, it somewhat reflected the harsh reality. The plane was made in a hurry. The accident rate of the new car exceeded reasonable - by today's standards - indicators. Over the entire history of operation, 37 cars suffered serious accidents - 18% of the total number of vehicles produced. At the same time, it should be noted that the 104th behaved much more decently in flight than its English competitor, De Havilland's Comet (23% of lost cars), which had an unhealthy habit of falling apart in the air due to fatigue loads in a carelessly designed fuselage.

The first Tu-104 aircraft flew in early November 1955. Thus, the development took quite a bit of time. During this flight, there were some problems: during the flight, the plane unexpectedly tossed up, after which the control of the machine was lost for a while. The pilots called this condition "pickup". The reason for this phenomenon could not be determined. Despite this, the operation of the aircraft was continued, and the tests did not stop.

Khrushchev liked the Tu-104 so much that he even decided to fly it to Great Britain in 1956. Since the problems with the aircraft could not be resolved, he was persuaded to abandon such a flight. But it was necessary to demonstrate to the world the successes of the Soviet aircraft industry. Therefore, on the orders of Khrushchev, the Tu-104 was driven to British capital.

The arrival of the Soviet airliner, according to the British press, had an effect comparable to the landing of a UFO. The next day, a second copy of the Tu-104 flew to London, with a different number. A report appeared in the British newspapers that it was the same aircraft, and the "Russian priests" were "repainting the numbers on their experimental aircraft." "Russian priests" are Russian pilots dressed in all black. Chief designer A.N. Tupolev was offended and, firstly, ordered the pilots to allocate funds to dress in something fashionable and not black, and the next day - March 25, 1956 - to send three Tu-104s to London at once, which was done.

It was a triumph Soviet Union- after all, at that time no other country in the world had operating jet passenger airliners did not have.

The Tu-104 made its first regular flight on September 15, 1956. And in 1958, a black streak began.

As the further development of events showed, the problems with the "pickup" were not resolved. In August 1958, the Tu-104 crashed out of control, killing 64 people. The designer Tupolev denied in every possible way that there were any problems, and the catastrophe, according to him, was the fault of the crew. There is a version that the plane simply did not have enough fuel. But after a while, the second Tu-104 also crashed, going into a tailspin and crashing into the ground.

And two months later, exactly the same situation developed near Kanash.

On October 7, 1958, the new Tu-104A with tail number CCCP-42362, operated by the crew of the most experienced pilot Harold Kuznetsov, was flying Beijing - Omsk - Moscow. The flight altitude was 12 kilometers. In the cabin were mostly foreign citizens - a delegation of Chinese and North Korean Komsomol activists.

The weather in Moscow was bad, at the Gorky alternate airfield, too, and after flying over Kazan, the controller ordered to turn around and proceed to Sverdlovsk, suitable for landing. During a turn at an altitude of 10,000 meters, the aircraft most likely got into a zone of strong turbulence and a "pickup" occurred - a spontaneous increase in the pitch angle uncontrolled by the crew. Suddenly, the plane was thrown up sharply, and with such force that such a huge colossus flew up two kilometers, left the echelon up, lost speed, fell on the wing and went into a tailspin.

In the situation that arose, the crew did everything possible to save the aircraft. But the lack of elevator travel did not allow the car to be taken out of lethal mode. Harold Kuznetsov, knowing that the Birobidzhan story might be repeating itself, ordered the radio operator to broadcast his words to the ground.

Crew commander Harold Kuznetsov and co-pilot Anton Artemiev tried to level the plane, taking the helm to the stop. But it did not help. Then the plane went down sharply, not obeying the controls. Thus, the aircraft went into a steep uncontrolled dive. At supersonic speed, almost vertically, the plane rushed to the ground.

Here the crew accomplished the almost impossible: the commander Harold Kuznetsov, in two minutes of falling from a height of 13 kilometers, managed to transmit over the radio the features of the behavior of the car. Communication worked almost until the very moment of impact with the ground. The last words of the commander were: “Goodbye. We're dying."

The plane crashed in the Vurnarsky district of Chuvashia, a few tens of meters from the canvas railway Moscow - Kazan - Sverdlovsk, near the village of Bulatovo. 65 passengers and 9 crew members died.

According to the results of the work of the state commission, the accident lasted no more than two minutes.

The information transmitted by Kuznetsov was of great value, since all previous incidents remained unsolved. None of the investigations conducted by specialists from the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet, the Air Force, the State Research Institute, as well as the Tupolev Design Bureau itself, could shed light on what really happened. Many suggestions have been put forward: technical failure, defects in design, poor weather, crew errors.

All the bumps, of course, fell on the heads of the pilots, because in technical specifications planes no one doubted. But the information transmitted by Kuznetsov dotted the "i". From the information received, the commission concluded that the liner fell into a huge ascending air stream. None of the designers could even imagine that this was possible at an altitude of more than 9 kilometers, since simple piston machines could climb to a much lower height. Therefore, such a phenomenon as turbulence was considered a trifle. Until tragedy struck.

Kuznetsov's crew hit the very center of the vertical air flow. Later, in the process of reproducing the flight, the designers managed to determine its parameters: the width of the air flow was about 2 kilometers, the length was about 13, and the thickness was about 6 kilometers. At the same time, its speed was approaching 300 kilometers per hour.

It was urgent to find a way to deal with such a dangerous natural phenomenon. As a result, the maximum flight altitude was reduced, the structure itself was modernized, new methods of machine alignment were developed, but still the problem was not completely solved. The high accident rate remained at the same level, but what was the cause - whether design errors, or unpreparedness of the pilots - was difficult to determine.

The transferred information was enough to find and fix the problem. The rules for centering the aircraft were changed, the angle of installation of the stabilizer was changed and the elevator was finalized. The maximum flight altitude has also been reduced. The tendency of the aircraft to "pick up" has been greatly reduced.

After that, the Tu-104 carried passengers for another three decades, and although there were some catastrophes (after all, about 200 aircraft were built and flew), their reasons were already different. The Tu-104 became for a long time the main passenger aircraft of Aeroflot: for example, in 1960, a third of passenger air transportation in the USSR was carried out on the Tu-104. Over 23 years of operation, the Tu-104 aircraft fleet has carried about 100 million passengers, spent 2,000,000 flight hours in the air and completed more than 600,000 flights.

Much credit for this belongs to Harold Kuznetsov and his crew. Here are their names:

Kuznetsov Harold Dmitrievich - FAC instructor
Artemov Anton Filimonovich - FAC
Rogozin Igor Alexandrovich - co-pilot
Mumrienko Evgeny Andreevich - navigator
Veselov Ivan Vladimirovich - flight engineer
Fedorov Alexander Sergeevich - radio operator
Smolenskaya Maya Filippovna - flight attendant-translator
Goryushina Tatyana Borisovna - flight attendant
Maklakova Albina - flight attendant

It is not surprising that the aircraft acquired a bad reputation. In 1960, the Tu-104 liner was discontinued, and the Il-18 turboprop liners took its place for a while. And since the Tu-104 needed a long runway to accelerate, it was rarely used on domestic flights.

There was a need to create new passenger aircraft. Tupolev decided not to retreat from the intended path. As a result, the first modification of the Tu-104, the Tu-124, was created, which also had a high accident rate. Therefore, another version was created - the Tu-134. This aircraft was more successful, therefore, since the start of operation in 1967, it still makes flights on domestic airlines. And only in 1972 the first Tu-154 jet liner appeared, which was not converted from a military vehicle, but was originally designed as a passenger one. This is one of the favorite aircraft of domestic experienced pilots.

Aeroflot removed the last Tu-104s from regular airlines only in 1979. But the plane by that time had firmly taken root in military aviation- it was used for training pilots of naval missile carriers, as a flying laboratory, for meteorological research and as a staff aircraft. The flights of the 104s were finally stopped only at the beginning of 1981, after an overloaded car belonging to the USSR Navy crashed at a military airfield near Leningrad. It almost completely killed the command staff of the Pacific Fleet - 52 people, including 17 admirals and generals, including the commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral Emil Spiridonov, who had the ill-fated car at his disposal.

Such a bitter experience forced domestic designers to think of new aerodynamic forms that could withstand air currents.

Officially, the last flight of the Tu-104 took place in November 1986. But some people claim that at the very end of the 80s they saw "104s" on the platforms of regional airports and even in flight. The son of a warrior and the grandfather of Soviet jet airliners did not want to retire, remaining a sort of kind ghost in an impoverished, but comfortably inhabited castle of Russian civil aviation.

Near Moscow, on the Kiev highway, at the turn to Vnukovo airport, a Tu-104B was met, standing on a high pedestal. As it turned out, this aircraft was installed in 2006, before it there was another Tu-104B in Vnukovo, which, on someone's stupid order, was cut down in 2005. Board number the car is not real, the number USSR-L5412 was worn by the first Tu-104, which performed the first flight with passengers.

In the minds of a large number of people connected in one way or another with general aviation, the concept of a "personal aircraft" for some time was inextricably linked with light single- or twin-engine propeller-driven aircraft that were equipped with turboprop or piston engines. Until very recently, jet aircraft were considered too expensive and uneconomical for customers who could afford such a mode of transport. There is nothing strange in this, since even cheap jet-powered aircraft cost several million dollars, and their powerful engines consumed a large amount of fuel compared to their piston counterparts. Therefore, attempts to create a small jet aircraft for private use for many years ended in nothing.

However, today there is every reason to believe that significant changes will take place in business aviation in the near future: the era of single-engine and twin-engine jets is coming. At the same time, we are talking not only about business class jets, which are designed to carry 4-8 passengers, but about cars that are similar to sports cars. That is, ordinary 2-4 seater jet aircraft, which are no longer inferior to their counterparts with piston engines.

At the same time, business-class civil jets, such as the ECLIPSE 500, CITATION MUSTANG, ADAM 700 and Embraer PHENOM 100, have more prospects in the market, as they allow you to comfortably move a small company anywhere. According to experts, in the next 10 years, about 4300-5400 "pocket" jets will be sold in the world, and this is quite an impressive figure. At the same time, there is a demand not only for standard business jets, but also for completely new cars, super-light business jets or even peculiar air taxis.

Such aircraft even had a special designation VLG - Very Light Jet. jet planes entry-level or personal jet aircraft, previously such aircraft were often called microjets. The maximum passenger capacity of such cars does not exceed 4-8 people, and the maximum weight does not exceed 4,540 kg. These aircraft are lighter than what are commonly referred to as business jets and are designed to be flown by one pilot. Examples of such machines are the models already mentioned above.

The ultralight jet is a completely new concept, and all large quantity experts around the world come to the conclusion that the appearance of such aircraft can make a real revolution in the business aviation segment. Honeywell and Rolls-Royce took this factor into account in time when compiling their fairly serious annual forecasts for assessing the market situation. The market situation is already changing. The widespread use of composite materials in the creation of aircraft, the miniaturization of jet engines, the emergence of new aviation electronic systems, all this, since the late 1990s, has been moving the market for such aircraft forward.

At present, owners of aircraft equipped with piston engines, some of which were designed and built in the post-war period, are beginning to think about buying modern jet aircraft. The huge interest of the audience led to the emergence of a large number of a wide variety of projects and developments. Unfortunately, most of them will forever remain concepts and projects that have not even reached the prototype stage.

Embraer PHENOM 100

Currently, the prospect of buying your own jet aircraft on the market for a nominal $500,000 leaves a large number of aviation professionals indifferent, but those people who love and have dreamed of flying all their lives - namely, they are the main buyers of such unusual vehicles - simply could not believe in your luck. And although the real cost of the Brazilian first-born has overcome $ 1 million (sales started at $ 1.3 million), it remains not only competitive, but simply a unique offer with an incredibly low price. It was simply unrealistic to buy such an aircraft with such flight characteristics in the recent past. At the same time, all airlines operating in this segment are trying to do everything possible so that the prices for their products do not exceed the psychologically important mark of $1 million.

The Very Light Jet passion has even led to some rather bold projects, such as the transformation of a combat training aircraft into a civilian ultra-light jet. It is not difficult to imagine if the most modern Russian training aircraft Yak-130 suddenly became available to civilian customers. There would definitely be a demand for it. There would be their own home-grown "Abramovichi" (and not their own), who would want to buy something remotely, but reminiscent of a combat vehicle. Such an opportunity was almost realized by the Aviation Technology Group (ATG).

A huge number of different scenarios of possible air battles were "sewn into" its on-board electronics, as well as imitation of the operation of self-defense systems and airborne weapons, the possibility of analyzing the actions of the pilot and planning sorties. According to representatives of the ATG company, the implementation of all this in practice made it possible to successfully use the ATG Javelin not only for basic and initial training of pilots, but also for advanced training of military pilots, who after that could switch to control such machines as the Eurofighter, Su-30 or Rafale.

In terms of design, the ATG Javelin trainer was similar to a fighter aircraft with a light and durable airframe, which was produced with extensive use of composite materials. The crew members were in the cockpit in tandem under a special two-section cockpit canopy. The machine was distinguished by a low location of a cantilever wing with a swept leading edge. Swept horizontal tail, 2 keels, 2 ventral ridges were tilted outward by 20 °. The landing gear of the aircraft was tricycle, the nose gear was equipped with a hydraulic drive. The engines were mounted behind the cockpit, the air came to them through the side air intakes. Flat exhaust nozzles were located between the keels.

Also, the creators of the car hoped to be certified according to the FAR-23 standards. The first flight, the only ATG Javelin built, was completed on September 30, 2005. Despite the fact that the company received 150 firm orders for its offspring, ATG was never able to find a strategic partner that would allow the new product to be put into mass production. In 2008, the company declared itself bankrupt, and the development and testing of the ATG Javelin was stopped. So lovers of light aviation lost the opportunity to get their hands on an almost combat training aircraft with an enviable, almost supersonic speed. The maximum speed of the ATG Javelin was 975 km/h.

Sources of information:
-http://luxury-info.ru/avia/airplanes/articles/karmannie-samoleti.html
-http://pkk-avia.livejournal.com/41955.html
-http://www.dogswar.ru/oryjeinaia-ekzotika/aviaciia/6194-ychebno-boevoi-samol.html

It's always hard to be first, but it's interesting

On the morning of March 27, 1943, the first Soviet jet fighter "BI-1" took off from the airfield of the Koltsovo Air Force Research Institute in Sverdlovsk region. Passed the seventh test flight to achieve maximum speed. Having reached a two-kilometer altitude and gaining a speed of about 800 km / h, the aircraft unexpectedly went into a dive at the 78th second after running out of fuel and collided with the ground. An experienced test pilot G. Ya. Bakhchivandzhi, who was sitting at the helm, died. This catastrophe became an important stage in the development of aircraft with liquid rocket engines in the USSR, but although work on them continued until the end of the 1940s, this direction in the development of aviation turned out to be a dead end. Nevertheless, these first, although not very successful steps had a serious impact on the entire subsequent history of the post-war development of the Soviet aircraft and rocket industry.

“The era of propeller-driven airplanes should be followed by the era of jet airplanes…” – these words of the founder of jet technology K.E. By this time, it became clear that a further significant increase in aircraft flight speed due to an increase in the power of piston engines and a more perfect aerodynamic shape was practically impossible. Airplanes had to be equipped with engines whose power could not be increased without an excessive increase in engine mass. So, in order to increase the speed of a fighter flight from 650 to 1000 km / h, it was necessary to increase the power of the piston engine by 6 (!) Times.

It was obvious that the piston engine was to be replaced by a jet engine, which, having smaller transverse dimensions, would allow reaching high speeds, giving more thrust per unit weight.

Jet engines are divided into two main classes: air-jet engines, which use the energy of oxidation of fuel with oxygen from the air taken from the atmosphere, and rocket engines, containing all the components of the working fluid on board and capable of operating in any environment, including airless. The first type includes turbojet (TRD), pulsed air-jet (PUVRD) and ramjet (ramjet), and the second - liquid-propellant rocket (LRE) and solid-propellant rocket (TTRD) engines.

The first samples of jet technology appeared in countries where the traditions in the development of science and technology and the level of the aviation industry were extremely high. This is, first of all, Germany, the USA, as well as England, Italy. In 1930, the project of the first turbojet engine was patented by the Englishman Frank Whittle, then the first working model of the engine was assembled in 1935 in Germany by Hans von Ohain, and in 1937 the Frenchman Rene Leduc received a government order to create a ramjet engine.

In the USSR, however, practical work on "reactive" topics was carried out mainly in the direction of liquid rocket engines. V. P. Glushko was the founder of rocket engine building in the USSR. In 1930, then an employee of the Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) in Leningrad, which at that time was the only design bureau in the world for the development of solid-propellant rockets, he created the first domestic LRE ORM-1. And in Moscow in 1931-1933. scientist and designer of the Jet Propulsion Study Group (GIRD) F. L. Zander developed the OR-1 and OR-2 rocket engines.

A new powerful impetus to the development of jet technology in the USSR was given by the appointment of M. N. Tukhachevsky in 1931 to the post of Deputy People's Commissar of Defense and Chief of Armaments of the Red Army. It was he who insisted on the adoption in 1932 of the decision of the Council of People's Commissars "On the development of steam turbine and jet engines, as well as jet-powered aircraft ...". The work that began after that at the Kharkov Aviation Institute made it possible only by 1941 to create a working model of the first Soviet turbojet engine designed by A. M. Lyulka and contributed to the launch on August 17, 1933 of the first liquid rocket in the USSR GIRD-09, which reached a height of 400 m.

But the lack of more tangible results prompted Tukhachevsky in September 1933 to merge the GDL and GIRD into a single Jet Research Institute (RNII), headed by a Leningrader, military engineer 1st rank I. T. Kleimenov. The future chief designer of the space program, Muscovite S.P. Korolev, was appointed his deputy, who two years later in 1935 was appointed head of the department of rocket aircraft. And although the RNII was subordinate to the ammunition department of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry and its main topic was the development of rocket shells (the future Katyusha), Korolev managed, together with Glushko, to calculate the most advantageous design schemes of devices, types of engines and control systems, types of fuel and materials. As a result, by 1938, his department had developed an experimental system of guided missile weapons, including projects of long-range liquid cruise missiles "212" and ballistic "204" with gyroscopic control, aircraft missiles for firing at air and ground targets, anti-aircraft solid-propellant missiles with guidance by light and radio beam.

In an effort to get the support of the military leadership in the development of the high-altitude rocket plane "218", Korolev substantiated the concept of a missile fighter-interceptor capable of reaching high altitude and attack aircraft that have broken through to the protected object.

But on June 30, 1939, the German pilot Erich Warzitz took off the world's first jet aircraft with a rocket engine designed by Helmut Walter "Heinkel" He-176, reaching a speed of 700 km / h, and two months later the world's first jet aircraft with a turbojet engine "Heinkel" He-178, equipped with a Hans von Ohain engine, "HeS-3 B" with a thrust of 510 kg and a speed of 750 km / h.

In May 1941, the British Gloucester Pioneer E.28 / 29 made its first flight with the Whittle W-1 turbojet engine designed by Frank Whittle.

Thus, Nazi Germany became the leader in the jet race, which, in addition to aviation programs, began to implement a rocket program under the leadership of Wernher von Braun at the secret training ground in Peenemünde.

In 1938, the RNII was renamed NII-3, now the "royal" rocket plane "218-1" began to be designated "RP-318-1". New leading designers engineers A. Shcherbakov, A. Pallo replaced the LRE ORM-65 V. P. Glushko with a nitrogen-acid-kerosene engine "RDA-1-150" designed by L. S. Dushkin.

And now, after almost a year of testing, in February 1940, the first flight of the RP-318-1 took place in tow behind the R 5 aircraft. Test pilot? P. Fedorov at an altitude of 2800 m unhooked the tow rope and started the rocket engine. A small cloud from an incendiary squib appeared behind the rocket plane, then brown smoke, then a fiery stream about a meter long. "RP-318-1", having developed a maximum speed of only 165 km / h, switched to flight with a climb.

This modest achievement nevertheless allowed the USSR to join the pre-war "jet club" of the leading aviation powers.

The successes of the German designers did not go unnoticed by the Soviet leadership. In July 1940, the Defense Committee under the Council of People's Commissars adopted a resolution that determined the creation of the first domestic aircraft with jet engines. The resolution, in particular, provided for the resolution of issues "on the use of high-power jet engines for high-speed stratospheric flights."

Massive Luftwaffe raids on British cities and the lack of sufficient numbers in the Soviet Union radar stations revealed the need to create a fighter-interceptor to cover especially important objects, on the project of which, in the spring of 1941, young engineers A. Ya. The concept of their Dushkin-powered missile interceptor or "close-range fighter" was based on Korolev's proposal put forward as early as 1938.

When an enemy aircraft appeared, the “close fighter” had to take off quickly and, having a high rate of climb and speed, catch up and destroy the enemy in the first attack, then after running out of fuel, using the altitude and speed reserve, plan for landing.

The project was distinguished by its extraordinary simplicity and low cost - the entire structure had to be made of solid wood from plywood. The engine frame, pilot protection and landing gear were made of metal, which were removed under the influence of compressed air.

With the outbreak of war, Bolkhovitinov involved all the design bureaus to work on the aircraft. In July 1941, a draft design with an explanatory note was sent to Stalin, and in August the State Defense Committee decided to urgently build an interceptor, which was needed by the Moscow air defense units. According to the order of the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry, 35 days were allotted for the manufacture of the machine.

The aircraft, which received the name "BI" (near fighter or, as the journalists later interpreted, "Bereznyak - Isaev"), was built almost without detailed working drawings, drawing its full-size parts on plywood. The fuselage skin was glued on a blank of veneer, then attached to the frame. The keel was made integral with the fuselage, like the thin wooden wing of the coffered structure, and covered with fabric. There was even a wooden carriage for two 20-mm ShVAK cannons with 90 rounds of ammunition. LRE D-1 A-1100 was installed in the rear fuselage. The engine consumed 6 kg of kerosene and acid per second. The total fuel supply on board the aircraft, equal to 705 kg, ensured the operation of the engine for almost 2 minutes. The estimated takeoff weight of the aircraft "BI" was 1650 kg with an empty weight of 805 kg.

In order to reduce the time of creating an interceptor at the request of the Deputy People's Commissar of the aviation industry for pilot aircraft construction A. S. Yakovlev, the airframe of the BI aircraft was studied in a full-scale wind tunnel of TsAGI, and at the airfield, test pilot B. N. Kudrin began jogging and approaching in tow . The development of the power plant had to be pretty tricky, since nitric acid corroded tanks and wiring and had a harmful effect on humans.

However, all work was interrupted due to the evacuation of the design bureau to the Urals in the village of Belimbay in October 1941. There, in order to debug the operation of the LRE systems, a ground stand was mounted - the BI fuselage with a combustion chamber, tanks and pipelines. By the spring of 1942, the ground test program was completed.

Flight tests of the unique fighter were entrusted to Captain Bakhchivandzhi, who made 65 sorties at the front and shot down 5 German aircraft. He previously mastered the management of systems at the stand.

The morning of May 15, 1942 entered the history of Russian cosmonautics and aviation forever, with the takeoff from the ground of the first Soviet aircraft with a liquid-propellant jet engine. The flight, which lasted 3 minutes 9 seconds at a speed of 400 km/h and a rate of climb of 23 m/s, made a strong impression on all those present. Here is how Bolkhovitinov recalled it in 1962: “For us, standing on the ground, this takeoff was unusual. Unusually quickly picking up speed, the plane took off from the ground in 10 seconds and disappeared from sight in 30 seconds. Only the flames of the engine told where he was. Several minutes passed like that. I will not hide, my hamstrings were shaking.

Members of the state commission noted in an official act that "the takeoff and flight of the BI-1 aircraft with a rocket engine, first used as the main engine of the aircraft, proved the possibility of practical flight on a new principle, which opens up a new direction in the development of aviation." The test pilot noted that the flight on the BI aircraft, in comparison with conventional types of aircraft, was exceptionally pleasant, and the aircraft was superior to other fighters in terms of ease of control.

A day after the tests, a solemn meeting and rally was arranged in Bilimbay. A poster hung over the presidium table: "Greetings to Captain Bakhchivandzhi, the pilot who flew into the new!"

The decision of the State Defense Committee to build a series of 20 BIVS aircraft soon followed, where, in addition to two cannons, a bomb cassette was installed in front of the cockpit, which housed ten small anti-aircraft bombs weighing 2.5 kg each.

In total, 7 test flights were made on the BI fighter, each of which recorded the best flight performance of the aircraft. The flights took place without flight accidents, only minor damage to the landing gear occurred during landings.

But on March 27, 1943, when accelerating to a speed of 800 km / h at an altitude of 2000 m, the third prototype spontaneously went into a dive and crashed into the ground near the airfield. The commission investigating the circumstances of the crash and the death of test pilot Bakhchivandzhi was unable to establish the reasons for the aircraft's nose-dive, noting that the phenomena that occur at flight speeds of the order of 800-1000 km / h have not yet been studied.

The disaster hit the reputation of the Bolkhovitinov Design Bureau painfully - all the unfinished BI-VS interceptors were destroyed. And although later in 1943-1944. a modification of the BI-7 was designed with ramjet engines at the ends of the wing, and in January 1945 pilot B.N. Kudrin completed the last two flights on the BI-1, all work on the aircraft was stopped.

The concept of a rocket fighter was most successfully implemented in Germany, where since January 1939 in the special “Department L” of the Messerschmitt company, where Professor A. Lippisch and his employees moved from the German Glider Institute, work was underway on the “X project” - “ object" interceptor "Me-163" "Komet" with a rocket engine operating on a mixture of hydrazine, methanol and water. It was an unconventional “tailless” aircraft, which, for the sake of maximum weight reduction, took off from a special trolley and landed on a ski that was pulled out of the fuselage. The test pilot Ditmar performed the first flight at maximum thrust in August 1941, and already in October, for the first time in history, the mark of 1000 km / h was overcome. It took more than two years of testing and refinement before the "Me-163" was put into production. It became the first LRE aircraft to take part in combat since May 1944. Although more than 300 interceptors were produced by February 1945, no more than 80 combat-ready aircraft were in service.

The combat use of the Me-163 fighters showed the inconsistency of the missile interceptor concept. Due to the high speed of approach, the German pilots did not have time to aim accurately, and the limited fuel supply (only for 8 minutes of flight) did not make it possible for a second attack. After running out of fuel on planning, the interceptors became easy prey for American fighters - Mustangs and Thunderbolts. Before the end of hostilities in Europe, the Me-163 shot down 9 enemy aircraft, while losing 14 vehicles. However, losses from accidents and catastrophes were three times higher than combat losses. The unreliability and short range of the Me-163 contributed to the fact that the leadership of the Luftwaffe launched other Me-262 and Non-162 jet fighters into mass production.

Messerschmitt Me.262 (German Messerschmitt Me.262 "Schwalbe" - "swallow")

The leadership of the Soviet aircraft industry in 1941-1943. was focused on the gross output of the maximum number of combat aircraft and the improvement of serial samples and was not interested in the development of promising work on jet technology. Thus, the BI-1 disaster put an end to other projects of Soviet missile interceptors: Andrey Kostikov's 302, Roberto Bartini's R-114 and Korolev's RP.

But information from Germany and the Allied countries became the reason that in February 1944 the State Defense Committee, in its resolution, pointed out the intolerable situation with the development of jet technology in the country. At the same time, all developments in this regard were now concentrated in the newly organized Research Institute of Jet Aviation, of which Bolkhovitinov was appointed deputy head. At this institute, groups of jet engine designers previously working at various enterprises were assembled, headed by M. M. Bondaryuk, V. P. Glushko, L. S. Dushkin, A. M. Isaev, A. M. Lyulka.

In May 1944, the State Defense Committee adopted another resolution that outlined a broad program for the construction of jet aircraft. This document provided for the creation of modifications of the Yak-3, La-7 and Su-6 with an accelerating rocket engine, the construction of "purely rocket" aircraft in the Yakovlev and Polikarpov Design Bureau, an experimental Lavochkin aircraft with a turbojet engine, as well as fighters with air-jet motor-compressor engines in the Mikoyan Design Bureau and Sukhoi. For this purpose, the Su-7 fighter was created at the Sukhoi design bureau, in which, together with a piston engine, the liquid-jet RD-1 developed by Glushko worked.

Flights on the Su-7 began in 1945. When the RD-1 was turned on, the aircraft's speed increased by an average of 115 km / h, but the tests had to be stopped due to the frequent failure of the jet engine. A similar situation developed in the design bureaus of Lavochkin and Yakovlev. On one of the prototype La-7 R aircraft, the accelerator exploded in flight, the test pilot miraculously managed to escape. When testing the Yak-3 RD, test pilot Viktor Rastorguev managed to reach a speed of 782 km / h, but during the flight the plane exploded, the pilot died. The frequent accidents led to the fact that the testing of aircraft with the "RD-1" was stopped.

One of the most interesting projects of rocket-powered interceptors was the project of the supersonic (!) RM-1 or SAM-29 fighter, developed at the end of 1944 by the undeservedly forgotten aircraft designer A. S. Moskalev. The aircraft was carried out according to the triangular “flying wing” scheme with oval leading edges, and during its development, the pre-war experience in creating the Sigma and Strela aircraft was used. The RM-1 project was supposed to have the following characteristics: crew - 1 person, power plant - "RD2 MZV" with a thrust of 1590 kgf, wingspan - 8.1 m and its area - 28.0 m2, take-off weight - 1600 kg , the maximum speed is 2200 km / h (and this is in 1945!). TsAGI believed that the construction and flight testing of the RM-1 was one of the most promising areas in the future development of Soviet aviation.

In November 1945, the order to build the RM-1 was signed by Minister A.I. Shakhurin, but in January 1946 the order to build the RM-1 was canceled by Yakovlev. Similar Cheranovsky BICH-26 (Che-24) supersonic project a fighter based on a "flying wing" with a rudder and a variable sweep wing was also canceled.

Post-war acquaintance with German trophies revealed a significant lag in the development of the domestic jet aircraft industry. To bridge the gap, it was decided to use the German JUMO-004 and BMW-003 engines, and then create their own based on them. These engines were named "RD-10" and "RD-20".

In 1945, simultaneously with the task of building a MiG-9 fighter with two RD-20s, the Mikoyan Design Bureau was tasked with developing an experimental fighter-interceptor with an RD-2 M-3 V liquid-propellant rocket engine and a speed of 1000 km / h. The aircraft, which received the designation I-270 ("Zh"), was soon built, but its further tests did not show the advantages of a rocket fighter over an aircraft with a turbojet engine, and work on this topic was closed. In the future, liquid-propellant jet engines in aviation began to be used only on experimental and experimental aircraft or as aircraft boosters.

“... It is terrible to remember how little I knew and understood then. Today they say: "discoverers", "pioneers". And we walked in the dark and stuffed hefty cones. No special literature, no methodology, no well-established experiment. Stone Age jet aircraft. We were both complete mugs! .. ”- this is how Alexei Isaev recalled the creation of BI-1. Yes, indeed, due to their colossal fuel consumption, aircraft with liquid-propellant rocket engines did not take root in aviation, forever giving way to turbojet ones. But having taken their first steps in aviation, rocket engines have firmly taken their place in rocket science.

In the USSR during the war years, a breakthrough in this respect was the creation of the BI-1 fighter, and here the special merit of Bolkhovitinov, who took under his wing and managed to attract to work such future luminaries of Soviet rocket science and astronautics as: Vasily Mishin, First Deputy Chief designer Korolev, Nikolai Pilyugin, Boris Chertok - chief designers of control systems for many combat missiles and carriers, Konstantin Bushuev - head of the Soyuz - Apollo project, Alexander Bereznyak - designer of cruise missiles, Alexei Isaev - developer of liquid propellant rocket engines for submarine and space missiles devices, Arkhip Lyulka - the author and the first developer of domestic turbojet engines.

I-270 (according to NATO classification - Type 11) - an experienced Mikoyan Design Bureau fighter with a rocket engine.

Received a clue and the mystery of the death of Bakhchivandzhi. In 1943, the high-speed wind tunnel T-106 was put into operation at TsAGI. It immediately began to conduct extensive studies of aircraft models and their elements at high subsonic speeds. A model aircraft "BI" was also tested to identify the causes of the disaster. According to the test results, it became clear that the "BI" crashed due to the peculiarities of the flow around the straight wing and tail at transonic speeds and the resulting phenomenon of dragging the aircraft into a dive, which the pilot could not overcome. The BI-1 disaster on March 27, 1943 was the first that allowed Soviet aircraft designers to solve the problem of the “wave crisis” by installing a swept wing on the MiG-15 fighter. 30 years later, in 1973, Bakhchivandzhi was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Yuri Gagarin spoke of him this way:

"... Without the flights of Grigory Bakhchivandzhi, it would probably not have happened on April 12, 1961." Who could have known that exactly 25 years later, on March 27, 1968, like Bakhchivandzhi at the age of 34, Gagarin would also die in a plane crash. They were really united by the main thing - they were the first.

The jet plane is aircraft, which carries out flight in the air through the use of jet engines in its design. They can be turbojet, direct-flow, pulsating type, liquid. Also, jet aircraft can be equipped with a rocket-type engine. AT modern world jet-powered aircraft make up the majority of all modern aircraft.

Brief history of jet aircraft development

The beginning of the history of jet aircraft in the world is considered to be 1910, when a Romanian designer and engineer named Anri Konada created an aircraft based on a piston engine. The difference from standard models was the use of a vane compressor, which set the car in motion. Especially actively the designer began to assert in the post-war period that his apparatus was equipped with a jet engine, although initially he stated the categorically opposite.

Studying the design of the first jet aircraft by A. Konada, several conclusions can be drawn. First, the design features of the car show that the engine in front and its exhaust gases would have killed the pilot. The second development option could only be a fire on the plane. This is exactly what the designer was talking about, at the first launch, the tail section was destroyed by fire.

As for the jet-type aircraft that were made in the 1940s, they had a completely different design when the engine and pilot's seat were removed, and as a result, this increased safety. In places where the flames of the engines came into contact with the fuselage, a special heat-resistant steel was installed, which did not cause injury or damage to the hull.

First prototypes and developments

Of course, aircraft with a turbojet power plant have significantly more advantages than aircraft with piston engines.

An aircraft of German origin under the designation He 178 was first flown on 08/27/1939.

In 1941, a similar apparatus of British designers with the name Gloster E.28 / 39 rose into the sky.

Rocket powered vehicles

He 176, created in Germany, carried out the first separation from the runway on 07/20/1939.

The Soviet aircraft BI-2 took off in May 1942.

Aircraft with a multi-compressor engine (they are considered conditionally airworthy)

The Campini N.1, an Italian-made aircraft, first flew at the end of August 1940. a flight speed of 375 km / h was achieved, which is even less than the piston counterpart.

The Japanese aircraft "Oka" with a Tsu-11 engine was intended for single use, as it was a bomb aircraft with a kamikaze pilot on board. Due to the defeat in the war, the combustion chamber was not finally completed.

By borrowing technology from France, the Americans were also able to make their own jet-powered model, which became the Bell P-59. The car had two jet engines. For the first time, separation from the runway was recorded in October 1942. It should be noted that this machine was quite successful, since it was mass-produced. The device had some advantages over piston counterparts, but still it did not take part in hostilities.

First successful jet prototypes

Germany:

The created Jumo-004 engine was used for several experimental and production aircraft. It should be noted that this is the first power plant in the world that had an axial compressor, like modern fighters. The USA and the USSR received a similar type of engine much later.

The Me.262 aircraft with the installed Jumo-004 type engine first took to the air on 07/18/1942, and after 43 months made its first sortie. The advantages in the air of this fighter were significant. There was a delay in launching the series due to the incompetence of the management.

The jet reconnaissance bomber of the Ar 234 type was made in the summer of 1943, and was also equipped with a Jumo-004 engine. It was actively used in the last months of the war, since only he could work in a situation with a strong predominance of enemy forces.

​ Great Britain:

• The first jet fighter made by the British was the Gloster Meteor, which was created in March 43, and it was put into service on 07/27/1944. At the end of the war, the main task of the fighter was to intercept German aircraft that carried V-1 cruise missiles.

USA:

The first jet fighter in the United States was the device under the designation Lockheed F-80. For the first time, separation from the runway was recorded in January 1944. The aircraft was equipped with an Allison J33 type engine, which is considered a modified version of the engine installed on the Gloster Meteor. The baptism of fire took place in the Korean War, but it was soon replaced by the F-86 Saber aircraft.

The first jet-powered carrier-based fighter was ready in 1945, it was designated the FH-1 Phantom.

The US jet bomber was ready in 1947, it was the B-45 Tornado. Further development made it possible to create the B-47 Stratojet with the AllisonJ35 engine. This engine was an independent development without the introduction of technologies from other countries. As a result, a bomber was made, which is still in operation today, namely the B-52.

USSR:

The first jet aircraft in the USSR was the MiG-9. The first takeoff - 05/24/1946. In total, 602 such aircraft arrived from the factories.

The Yak-15 is a jet-powered fighter that was in service with the Air Force. This aircraft is considered a transitional model from piston to jet.

The MiG-15 was manufactured in December 1947. Actively used in the military conflict in Korea.

The Il-22 jet bomber was made in 1947, it was the first in the further development of bombers.

supersonic jets

The only carrier-based bomber in the history of aviation with supersonic propulsion capabilities is the A-5 Vigilent aircraft.

Supersonic carrier-based fighters - F-35 and Yak-141.

In civil aviation, only two passenger aircraft were created with the ability to fly at supersonic speeds. The first was made in the USSR in 1968 and was designated as Tu-144. 16 such aircraft were made, but after a series of accidents, the machine was taken out of service.

The second passenger vehicle of this type was manufactured by France and Great Britain in 1969. A total of 20 aircraft were built, the operation lasted from 1976 to 2003.

Jet aircraft records

The Airbus A380 can accommodate 853 people on board.

Boeing 747 for 35 years was the largest passenger aircraft with a passenger capacity of 524 people.

Freight:

An-225 "Mriya" is the only aircraft in the world that has a payload capacity of 250 tons. It was originally made to transport the Buran space system.

An-124 Ruslan is one of the largest aircraft in the world with a payload capacity of 150 tons.

It was the largest cargo aircraft before the advent of Ruslan, the carrying capacity is 118 tons.

Maximum flight speed

The Lockheed SR-71 aircraft reaches speeds of 3,529 km/h. Made 32 aircraft, can not take off with full tanks.

MiG-25 - normal flight speed of 3,000 km / h, acceleration up to 3,400 km / h is possible.

Future prototypes and developments

Passenger:

Large:

• High Speed ​​Civil.
• Tu-244.

Business Class:

SSBJ, Tu-444.

SAI Quiet, Aerion SBJ.

Hypersonic:

• Reaction Engines A2.

Managed Laboratories:

Quiet Spike.

Tu-144LL with engines from the Tu-160.

Unmanned:

• X-51
• X-43.

Aircraft classification: