The first jet fighters A.S. Yakovleva. Part I

The MiG-9 is a Soviet jet fighter developed immediately after the end of the war. It became the first jet fighter made in the USSR. The MiG-9 fighter was mass-produced from 1946 to 1948, during which time more than six hundred combat vehicles were produced.

Aviation history scholars often refer to the MiG-9 and other Soviet combat vehicles (Yak-15 and Yak-17) created during this period as a “transitional type of fighter.” These aircraft were equipped with a jet power plant, but at the same time they had an airframe similar to piston engines.

The MiG-9 fighters were not in service with the Russian Air Force for long: they were taken out of service in the early 50s. In 1950-1951, almost four hundred fighters were transferred to the Chinese Air Force. The Chinese used them mainly as training aircraft: pilots learned to operate jet aircraft on them.

The MiG-9 cannot be called a very successful machine: from the moment testing began, it was plagued by disasters, and the designers continually had to correct defects that appeared during operation. However, we should not forget that the MiG-9 was the first jet fighter; it was created and transferred to the troops in an extremely short time. At the time work began on the creation of this machine, the USSR did not even have an engine that could develop the thrust necessary for jet flight.

The “problematic” MiG-9 was soon replaced by the MiG-15, which both our and foreign experts call one of the best fighters of this period. The designers were able to achieve such success only thanks to the experience gained during the creation of the MiG-9.

The appearance of a large number of jet fighters in the Soviet Union caused surprise in the West. Many there did not believe that a country devastated by war would be able to quickly establish mass production of the latest aircraft technology at that time. The appearance of the MiG-9 and other Soviet jet aircraft had serious political significance. Although, of course, in the West they had no idea about the difficulties and problems that Soviet aviation designers and pilots had to face, as well as what it cost the destroyed country to create new types of weapons.

The history of the creation of the first jet aircraft of the USSR

Already at the end of World War II, it became clear that the future of aviation belonged to jet aircraft. In the Soviet Union, work began in this direction; it went much faster after becoming familiar with captured German developments. At the end of the war, the USSR was able to acquire not only intact German aircraft and jet engines, but also seize the German factories where they were produced.

The task to create a jet fighter was simultaneously received by four leading aviation design bureaus of the country: Mikoyan, Lavochkin, Yakovlev and Sukhoi. The main problem was that at that time the USSR did not have its own jet aircraft engine; it had yet to be created.

Meanwhile, time was running out: potential opponents - the USA, England and Germany - already had established serial production of jet aircraft and were actively exploiting this technology.

The first Soviet jet fighters used captured German BMW-003A and YuMO-004 engines.

The Mikoyan Design Bureau worked on the creation of two fighters, which at the project stage were designated I-260 and I-300. It was planned to use the BMW-003A engine on both cars. Work on the aircraft began in February 1945.

The I-260 copied the German Me.262 fighter; two jet engines were located under the wings of the aircraft. The I-300 had a layout with a power plant inside the fuselage.

Purges in the wind tunnel showed that the layout with engines inside the fuselage is more advantageous. Therefore, it was decided to abandon further work on the I-260 prototype and complete the I-300, which later became the first production Soviet jet fighter under the designation MiG-9.

Three experimental vehicles were built for testing: F-1, F-2 and F-3. The F-1 aircraft was ready by December 1945, but the development of the aircraft took until March of the following year, and only then did testing begin. On April 24, 1946, the fighter took off for the first time; the first flight went well.

Already the initial stage of testing clearly showed the enormous superiority of jet aircraft over piston aircraft: the MiG-9 was able to accelerate to a speed of 920 km/h, reach a ceiling of 13 km and gain an altitude of 5 thousand meters in 4.5 minutes. It should be said that initially they planned to arm the aircraft with a 57-mm N-57 automatic cannon, installing it in the partition between the air intakes and two 37-mm NS-23 cannons located in the lower part of the fuselage. However, later they decided to abandon the 57-mm cannon, considering its power excessive.

On July 11, 1946, a tragedy occurred: during the flight, a fragment that came off the wing damaged the stabilizer, causing the aircraft to lose control and crash into the ground. The pilot died.

The second experimental F-2 aircraft was demonstrated to the public during the air parade in Tushino. In August, the Kuibyshev plant began production of a small production batch of ten aircraft. It was planned that they would take part in the parade on Red Square in October 1946.

In March 1947, serial production of the fighter began. However, after the production of 49 aircraft it was suspended. The car had to be urgently rebuilt. Within two months, the fuel system on the MiG-9 was seriously modernized, the design of the tail fairing was changed, the keel area was increased, and a number of other improvements were also made. After this, mass production was resumed.

In June 1947, state tests of four fighters, two prototypes (F-2 and F-3) and two production aircraft, were completed. In general, the MiG-9 received positive reviews: in terms of speed characteristics, rate of climb and flight altitude, it was significantly superior to all piston aircraft in service with the Soviet army. The firepower of the vehicle was also unprecedented.

There were also problems: when firing cannons at an altitude of more than 7 thousand meters, the engine stalled. They tried to fight this shortcoming, but they could not completely eliminate it.

If we compare the characteristics of the MiG-9 with the Yak-15 jet fighter, which was developed at the same time, then the Mikoyan aircraft was inferior to the Yakovlev Design Bureau aircraft in maneuverability, but was faster in horizontal flight and during a dive.

The new car was greeted by the troops without much enthusiasm. Pilots were often simply afraid to fly an airplane that did not have a propeller. In addition to the pilots, the technical staff also had to be retrained, and this had to be done as quickly as possible. Haste often led to accidents that had nothing to do with the technical features of the aircraft.

The first jet fighters A.S. Yakovleva. Part I

The Yak-15 aircraft had every chance of becoming the first Soviet jet fighter to take off. However, due to the caution of A.S. Yakovlev, who delayed preparations for the first flight, the Yak-15 was only a couple of hours behind the MiG-9. But this in no way detracts from his significant contribution to the development of domestic jet aviation. This fighter and its further development of the Yak-17 will be discussed in this article.

By the end of World War II, the Soviet aircraft industry, due to a number of circumstances, lagged behind the level of Germany and our allies, the USA and Great Britain in the development and implementation of turbojet engines. By this time, the British already had the Gloster Meteor and the De Havilland Vampire, the Americans had the unsuccessful P-59 Ercomet, which was replaced by the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. In the Soviet Union, on May 9, 1945, there was practically nothing, and it was urgent to overcome this backlog.

A great help in this was the study of captured German models of jet technology captured at the end of the war. Among them were the YuMO 004 and BMW 003 jet engines, which ended up in the hands of Soviet specialists in quite significant quantities. It was decided to copy these engines and launch mass production of them in our country (under the names RD-10 and RD-20, respectively), and also to begin developing several types of fighters and bombers for these engines. Among the design bureaus that received the corresponding tasks was OKB-115 A.S. Yakovleva.

At the beginning of April 1945, the State Defense Committee issued a decree that ordered OKB-115 to design, build and provide for testing a single-seat fighter aircraft with a turbojet engine (TRD) YuMO 004. To save time and quickly complete this task, Yakovlev decided to use it as a the basis for the new aircraft is the well-proven and tested piston Yak-3.

The first prototype of the fighter, later known as the Yak-15, was originally designated Yak-YuMO (Yak-3 YuMO). It was essentially a repetition, with minor changes, of the design of the all-metal version of the Yak-3 with a VK-107A piston engine, in place of which the German captured YuMO 004B with a thrust of 900 kgf was installed. By the way, there are not many examples of direct conversion of a piston fighter into a jet. At the Focke-Wulf company in 1942, as an experiment, they adapted the FW-190 fighter to a turbojet engine (Yakovlev, apparently, did not know about this during the period of work on the Yak-YUMO). One of the creators of the LaGG aircraft, M.I. Gudkov, in 1942 a project was developed to convert the LaGG-3 to the RD-1 engine by A.M. Cradles according to a modified scheme, similar to the one that Yakovlev later successfully used. The Swedes built and successfully tested the SAAB J-21R jet fighter based on the double-boom SAAB J-21, on which, instead of a DB 605 piston engine with a pusher propeller, they mounted an English Goblin-type turbojet engine.

The fuselage of the Yak-YuMO was generally similar to the design of the Yak-3 (a truss made of steel pipes with duralumin sheathing), but it had to be significantly modified to accommodate the new power plant. The jet engine with a frontal air intake was installed from below in the front part of the fuselage with an engine axis tilt of 4°, with the nozzle exiting from the bottom of the middle part of the fuselage (the so-called redant design). As a result, the nose of the aircraft acquired a characteristic “hanging down” profile, which improved the visibility for the pilot and made it possible to have a fairly good view forward also when taxiing. The modified design made it possible to avoid a long air duct at the inlet and a long nozzle pipe, and thereby losses in thrust of the already not very powerful engine. The tail section behind the engine nozzle was trimmed from below and covered with a heat-protective steel shield. The wing, landing gear and tail were preserved virtually unchanged. We only had to give the front spar a curved upward shape where it passes over the engine and remove the oil cooler air intakes from the leading edge, as well as slightly increase the area of ​​the vertical tail. At the same time, the wing was raised somewhat upward and, with the new shape of the forward fuselage, it became almost mid-positioned. The wing housed four main fuel tanks. The fifth (reserve) was located above the engine. It must be said that the thick wing profile, taken unchanged from the Yak-3, limited the aircraft’s speed capabilities. The maximum speed was also limited for reasons of strength.

An armament installation was designed in the nose of the aircraft above the engine, consisting of two NS-23K guns, although guns were not installed on the prototype. The first experimental Yak-YuMO, obtained by converting the serial Yak-3, was completed in October 1945. The very first engine races on the plane showed that the designers made some mistakes. The temperature of the gas jet turned out to be significantly higher than expected. The steel screen of the lower part of the fuselage was made too short, and the duralumin skin sheets located behind it immediately burned out. The rubber tire of the wheel caught fire. It was necessary to send the aircraft to pilot production for repairs and modifications. The lower skin was made double, with an outer screen made of heat-resistant steel, providing thermal insulation by blowing air between the screen and the fuselage. The pneumatic tail wheel was replaced with a metal one with a sprung rim. These works were completed at the end of December 1945.

By this time, they managed to complete the construction of the second experimental Yak-YuMO. A stabilizer of increased span and area, and a heat-resistant steel tail wheel were mounted on it. The second prototype had standard armament of two 23-mm NS-23 cannons. The guns on the Yak-YUMO (as well as on the production Yak-15) were installed so that their barrels did not protrude beyond the edge of the engine air intake; Thanks to this, firing the guns did not have a negative impact on the stable operation of the engine. This decision turned out to be correct, since the MiG-9 fighter, with its guns protruding strongly forward, brought the designers many problems with power plant surge when firing.

Soon after the first flights, this specimen was transferred to TsAGI for full-scale blowing of the aircraft with the engine running in the T-101 wind tunnel. These blowdowns at various combinations of airspeed and angle of attack provided valuable data regarding the aircraft's pitch trim, taking into account that the line of thrust was below the center of gravity.

In mid-February 1946, the second prototype was returned to the LII, where runs were resumed. And on April 24, 1946, the first flight of the new fighter took place.

Factory tests of the jet machine, which was carried out in various documents under the names Yak-15, Yak-15-RD-10 and Yak-RD, ended on June 22, 1946. During the tests, 19 flights were performed with a total duration of 6 hours. 34 min. During these tests, the aircraft, which had a take-off weight of 2570 kg, managed to reach a maximum ground speed of 770 km/h and 800 km/h at altitude. The practical flight range turned out to be 575 km. These indicators were at the level specified in the MAP order of March 27, 1946, with the exception of the speed at altitude - the plane did not reach the required 850 km/h by 50 km/h. The plane had a run of 520 m, a run of 480 m, and a landing speed of 148 km/h , and its technical flight duration at a speed of 500 km/h was 45 minutes.

The longitudinal, lateral and directional stability of the aircraft was assessed as good, the landing was “simple and similar to the Yak-3.” Test pilots who flew the plane unanimously praised its aerobatic qualities. G.M. Shiyanov pointed out: “The behavior of the aircraft at high speeds is very pleasant. Aircraft control is soft and not tiring." The pilots noted that the aircraft “can easily be mastered by averagely qualified Air Force flight personnel.”

It is curious that the designation Yak15-RD-10 appeared even before the RD-10 engine was actually installed on the aircraft. On April 29, by government decree and the corresponding order of the MAP OKB-115, it was ordered to produce two prototypes of the new fighter with the RD-10 turbojet engine - a Soviet version of the YuMO 004V engine. The first of them was to be submitted for testing in the third quarter of 1946. In fact, the designers only had to replace the YuMO 004V engines with the RD-10 on the two prototypes that had already been built.

In August 1946, the Yak-15, together with the I-300 (MiG-9), took part in the Tushino air parade. Soon after this, Yakovlev and Mikoyan received a personal assignment from I.V. Stalin about the construction of 15 copies of each type for the November parade. The “ceremonial” Yak-15 (Yak15-RD10) was to be carried out without weapons and armor protection, with an upper fuselage tank of increased volume (due to the volume occupied by automatic guns with ammunition on combat vehicles) and a reduced set of radio equipment. The production of the Yak-15 was entrusted to aircraft plant No. 31 in Tbilisi, which managed to produce a small series on time. However, that year the air parade over Red Square was canceled due to bad weather conditions.

The first Yak-15, manufactured in Tbilisi at plant No. 31, and the last small-series vehicle in December 1946 were presented to the State Research Institute of the Air Force for state tests, which were successful in April 1947. These vehicles were equipped with one NS-23 cannon, and their take-off weight was 2742 kg. The gun was located on the right in the forward part of the fuselage. The rest of the prototype series vehicles had no weapons at all and had a full-size tank in the nose (which was reduced in size on vehicles equipped with weapons). These aircraft originally had a single-beam antenna without a stand; later, on the recommendation of the Air Force Research Institute, a two-beam antenna with a stand to the right of the canopy was installed on two aircraft undergoing state tests (which was later introduced in the series). Aircraft No. 31015 was equipped with an RPKO-10M radio compass with an external loop antenna.

On the 9th production prototype, tests were carried out to determine flight qualities. On February 25, 1947, test pilot P.M. Stefanovsky performed a series of aerobatics on this plane. At the beginning of May 1947, the state testing act was approved. It reflected numerous identified shortcomings of the aircraft. However, in conclusion

As can be seen from the above conclusion, the single-seat Yak-15 was considered as a training fighter, and not as a combat aircraft. As always, the generally positive conclusion was accompanied by lists of defects to be eliminated and desired improvements. In particular, it was proposed to eliminate the longitudinal instability of the aircraft (at state tests, in contrast to factory tests, the evaluation of the Yak-15’s longitudinal stability was approached more critically). It was recommended to install a two-beam mast antenna; strengthen the cannon mount truss, ensuring its survivability up to 4000 rounds; equip the cabin with a heating system; install a photo-cinema machine gun similar to this installation on the Yak-11 aircraft, and much more.

In mid-December 1946, when state tests were still underway, a resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers was issued, followed by a corresponding order from the Ministry of Aviation Administration, in which the Tbilisi aircraft plant was instructed to produce 50 Yak-15 fighters with the RD-10 turbojet engine in January-March 1947; of these, 25 were to be single-seat, and the rest were to be released in a two-seat training modification. Unlike the first series of 15 aircraft, these aircraft were supposed to carry weapons, however, Deputy Minister of Aviation Industry P. Dementyev, in January 1947, spoke out in favor of these aircraft being built without weapons, since at that time the NS-guns 23K did not pass state tests and were not mass-produced. Only upon completion of the specified series of 50 aircraft (65 together with the initial series) would it be possible, according to Dementyev, to proceed to the production of these fighters with weapons, armor and an RPKO-10M radio semi-compass with an antenna hidden in the fuselage (initially it was installed outside). It is unknown to what extent this recommendation of Dementyev was implemented, but it is clear that a significant part of the production vehicles were unarmed or had only one cannon. Later production vehicles were produced with two NS-23 automatic cannons and a two-beam antenna stand on the right side of the cockpit canopy.

As E. Adler (at that time the leading designer of the Yak-15, who was responsible for the production of the “ceremonial” batch of the Yak-15 in Tbilisi) said in his memoirs, on his initiative, in parallel with this work in Tbilisi, a copy of the Yak-15 with a pair of 30- mm of experimental guns that Yakovlev received from Shpitalny. The aircraft was shot at the factory shooting range and, together with the main batch of aircraft, was sent to Moscow, but this option did not receive further development.

On May 1, 1947, during a parade over Red Square, 50 Yaks and the same number of MiG-9s marched in formations. That same year, aerobatics using jet aircraft was demonstrated for the first time in Tushino. First, a set of aerobatics was performed by Colonel I. Polunin, followed by Colonel N. Khramov’s team demonstrating their skills. In 1948, an aerobatic team was created on the Yak-15, headed by twice Hero of the Soviet Union, General E.Ya. Savitsky, in 1949 another five of Colonel P. Chupikov was added to it.

The Yak-15 was built serially from 1946 to 1947. at the Tbilisi Aviation Plant, a total of 280 aircraft were produced. Most of them remained in service for several more years. During operation, various defects were discovered. For example, there were cases of RD-10 engines stopping at high altitudes. The cause turned out to be a disruption in the fuel supply to the engines due to the formation of air pockets in the booster pumps of the fuel tanks. To eliminate this phenomenon, it was decided to drain the booster pumps, as well as install fuel tanks on the Yak-15, adapted for negative overloads. It’s worth saying here that the RD-10 engines, despite such a drawback as a short resource, have generally proven themselves during operation on the Yak-15 and further variants of this aircraft as being quite reliable and stably operating - of course, subject to proper handling of the new one. technology.

As they were removed from service, some examples were transferred to aviation educational institutions. So, in 1954, at the Leningrad Institute of Aviation Instrumentation, one could see the Yak-15, which, along with several MiG-9s, was used as a teaching aid (full-scale stand).

On the basis of the Yak-15 aircraft, experimental versions were produced, remaining in single samples. One of them was the Yak-17 RD-10 (Yak-RD, Yak-RDYu) (the first with the designation Yak-17), completed construction in early September 1946. It differed from its predecessor in a new wing composed of high-speed laminated TsAGI profiles, a modified tail, an ejection pilot seat with an armored backrest, and the installation of a 55 mm thick windshield armored glass. The landing gear also changed, since the old one was impossible to fit into the new thin wing. In the new version, the main supports were mounted on the power elements of the fuselage, and the cleaning was carried out back into the fuselage niches with the wheel turning 180° around the strut. The plane passed ground tests, there were taxis, but they did not take the plane into the air. At this time, the Yak-15 was mass-produced, and its further development was seen as a vehicle with a more promising chassis with a nose strut.

The serial Yak-15 (board “47”) was used by LII in the late forties. As a flying laboratory for testing the wing-mounted in-flight refueling system. In 1948, a group of LII designers, headed by V.S. Vakhmistrov (known from his experiments with Zveno aircraft), developed a refueling system in which the refueling aircraft and the refueling aircraft released cables and achieved their coupling with each other thanks to the special maneuvering of the refueling aircraft. After this, a refueling hose was released from the wing or fuselage of the tanker, which was pulled by a cable to the end of the wing of the aircraft being refueled and locked there. Then the process of transferring fuel under the influence of gravity began. Soon, LII test pilots I. Shelest and V. Vasyanin developed a more rational “wing-to-wing” refueling system, in which the aircraft flew on parallel courses and the aircraft being refueled did not need to enter the wake of the tanker. The system was successfully tested on two modified Tu-2 aircraft, and then the aforementioned Yak-15 board 47 was also equipped with a dummy receiving device on the wing console and simulated in-flight refueling from the Tu-2.

In parallel with the creation of the basic single-seat combat version of the Yak-15, it was planned to develop its two-seat training (export) version. Initially it was designated Yak-YuMO "exportable", later Yak-15V, Yak-15UT, but in the end it was given the official designation Yak-21. The export version lacked weapons, and a cabin for the cadet was installed in place of the fuselage fuel tank. Both cabins have a common teardrop-shaped canopy with two sliding parts without a gap between them. An experimental “spark” was also produced in Tbilisi. The plane was laid down back in 1946, but the first flight of the Yak-21 took place on April 5, 1947. The planned production of another 25 aircraft of this modification did not take place, since by that time another version of the “sparky” had been developed - the Yak-21T with a nose strut, which became the Yak-17UTI series.

To be continued…

Sources: Yakubovich N. The first-born jets of the USSR - MiG-9, Yak-15, Su-9, La-150, Tu-12, Il-22, etc. M.: Yauza, 2015. P. 25-43. Gordon E. Yakovlev’s first-born jets // Aviation and time. 2002. No. 6. pp. 5-17. Shvydkin A. Yak-15: jet hawk // Aviapanorama. 2004. No. 5. pp. 12-16. Komissarov S. Jet fighters of the Yak-15/17 family // Wings of the Motherland. 2007. No. 7. pp. 27-31. Yakubovich N. Reactive “feather”. Yak-17 // Wings of the Motherland. 1999. No. 12. pp. 1-3.

Description of the design of the MiG-9 fighter

The MiG-9 is an all-metal single-seat fighter aircraft powered by two turbojet engines. It is made according to the classic design with a mid-wing and a three-wheel retractable landing gear.

The aircraft has a semi-monocoque fuselage with a smooth working skin. In its nose there is an air intake, which is divided into two tunnels, each of which supplies air to one of the engines. The channels have an elliptical cross-section; they run along the side parts of the fuselage, bypassing the cockpit on both sides.

The wing of an airplane is trapezoidal in shape with flaps and ailerons.

The tail of the MiG-9 is all-metal with a high-mounted stabilizer.

The pilot's cabin is located in the front part of the fuselage, it is closed by a streamlined canopy consisting of two parts. The front part, the visor, is fixed, and the rear part moves back along three guides. On later modifications of the vehicle, the visor is made of armored glass. In addition, to protect the pilot, the vehicle is equipped with front and rear armor plates, their thickness is 12 mm.

The MiG-9 has a three-post retractable landing gear with a front wheel. The landing gear release system is pneumatic.

The fighter was equipped with a power plant consisting of two RD-20 turbojet engines, which were nothing more than a copy of the German captured BMW-003 engines. Each of them could develop a thrust of 800 kgf. The engines of the first series (A-1) had a service life of only 10 hours, the service life of the A-2 series was increased to 50 hours, and the RD-20B engines could operate for 75 hours. The MiG-9 power plant was launched using Riedel starting motors.

The engines were installed in a modified part of the fuselage, the nozzles were adjustable, they could be set in four positions: “start”, “take-off”, “flight” or “high-speed flight”. The control of the cone of the nozzle apparatus was electrically remote.

To protect the body from hot gases, a special thermal screen was installed on the underside of the tail section, which was a corrugated sheet of heat-resistant steel.

The fuel was placed in ten tanks located in the wings and fuselage. Their total volume was 1595 liters. The fuel tanks were connected to each other to ensure uniform use of fuel, which made it possible to maintain the aircraft's alignment during flight.

The MiG-9 was equipped with an RSI-6 radio station, an RPKO-10M radio semi-compass, and a KP-14 oxygen apparatus. The aircraft received power from a captured LR-2000 generator, which was later replaced by the domestic GSK-1300.

The fighter's armament consisted of one 37-mm N-37 cannon with forty rounds of ammunition and two 23-mm NS-23 cannons with 40 rounds of ammunition. Initially, they planned to equip the aircraft with a more powerful 57-mm N-57 cannon, but this idea was later abandoned.

One of the main problems of the fighter was the entry of powder gases into the engines, since the N-37 cannon was installed on a partition between two air intakes. In later modifications of the aircraft, gas exhaust pipes began to be installed on the N-37. Vehicles produced earlier were already equipped with them in combat units.

The first MiG-9s had a collimator sight, which was later replaced by an automatic rifle sight.

The situation with jet engines in the USSR changed for the better only at the very end of the war with the arrival of captured German turbojet engines. They were quickly put into mass production in the Soviet Union. The use of captured jet engines has significantly accelerated the creation of domestic jet aviation. Already on April 24, 1946, test pilot A.N. Grinchik lifted into the air the experimental I-300 (“F”) designed by OKB-155, the first domestic fighter with a turbojet engine. The plane reached a speed of 920 km/h and had powerful artillery weapons. During the testing of weapons on this aircraft, a number of experimental modifications were built (I-302 (“FP”), I-307 (“FF”) and I-308 (“FR”)). In addition, it was planned to modernize the aircraft to install the TR-1A engine designed by A.M. Lyulka (I-305 (“FL”)) and “Nin-I” English (I-320 (“FN”)).

In 1946, the I-300 was put into serial production at plant No. 1 named after. Stalin in Kuibyshev and adopted by the Air Force under the name MiG-9. In total, 604 MiG-9 fighters came out of the workshops of plant No. 1. Two training modifications were also built on the basis of the MiG-9 - I-301T (“FT-1” and “FT-2”). For the first time in domestic practice, an ejection seat was tested on the FT-2 aircraft.

MiG-9

Simultaneously with the task to build the I-300 fighter with a turbojet engine, OKB-155 received the task to develop an experimental fighter-interceptor with a liquid-propellant rocket engine. The aircraft, designated I-270 (“Zh”), was soon built, but its further tests did not show the advantage of a missile fighter over an aircraft with a turbojet engine, and work on this topic was stopped.

At the end of 1946, a delegation was sent to England, which included chief designer A.I. Mikoyan. During the negotiations, the parties agreed on the acquisition by the USSR in Great Britain of the most advanced turbojet engines: “Derwent-V” with a thrust of 1590 kgf, “Nin-I” with a thrust of 2040 kgf and “Nin-II” with a thrust of 2270 kgf for use in the creation of new Soviet jet aircraft and subsequent serial production. Subsequently, “Derwent-V” was produced under license by the domestic industry under the name RD-500, and “Nin-I” and “Nin-II” - as RD-45 and RD-45F. The emergence of new engines allowed the USSR to begin creating the next generation of jet fighters.

By a resolution of March 11, 1947, the Council of Ministers of the USSR approved a plan for the experimental construction of aircraft for 1947, according to which, by order of the MAP dated April 15, 1947, OKB-155 was to develop a front-line fighter with a jet engine and a pressurized cockpit. Management of the design and development work on the creation of the I-310 (“S”) aircraft with the RD-45F engine - the future MiG-15 - which began in January 1947, was entrusted to Deputy Chief Designer A.G. Brunov and engineer A.A. Andreeva.

MiG-15

December 30, 1947 test pilot V.N. Yuganov took its first prototype into the air. During factory tests, the aircraft showed good results, and by decree of the Council of Ministers of March 15, 1948, it was put into mass production at plant No. 1 named after. Stalin. The MiG-15 aircraft became the first Soviet production fighter with a swept (35°) wing. It is worth noting that back in 1945, the swept wing was tested in flight conditions on the experimental OKB-155 MiG-8 “Duck” piston aircraft. Another new feature was introduced on this vehicle - a chassis with a nose wheel.

Subsequently, serial production of MiG-15 fighters and its modifications was carried out at 9 (!) aircraft factories of the USSR, where a total of 13,131 aircraft of this type were built. In addition, serial production of the MiG-15 was established under Soviet license in Poland and Czechoslovakia. The total production of the MiG-15 reached a record value for jet fighters - more than 18 thousand aircraft.

The MiG-15 aircraft was distinguished by its simplicity and reliability of design, high flight and operational qualities, as well as powerful armament, consisting of one 37 mm caliber gun and two 23 mm caliber ones. During state tests that took place in May–August 1948, the MiG-15 received high praise: in terms of its maximum speed, rate of climb, ceiling and flight range, it was the best domestic fighter of that time. In terms of basic flight characteristics, it even exceeded the tactical and technical requirements: at an altitude of 5000 m, the speed of the MiG-15 was 1028 km/h, and at an altitude of 2620 m – 1042 km/h. On the basis of the MiG-15, the UTI MiG-15 (“ST”) trainer fighter was built, which was also put into service and put into mass production.

In 1949, OKB-155 carried out work to modify the serial MiG-15 fighter for the VK-1 engine with a thrust of 2700 kgf, which made it possible to improve the flight characteristics of the aircraft. The maximum speed increased to 1076 km/h. Subsequently, the aircraft, which received the name MiG-15bis (“SD”), was also equipped with faster-firing NR-23 cannons, a hydraulic booster in the aileron control system, as well as OSP-48 blind approach equipment. In 1950, the MiG-15bis was replaced in the assembly shops of serial factories by the MiG-15. On its basis, modifications of the MiG-15Sbis escort fighter (SD-UPB) and the MiG-15Rbis reconnaissance aircraft (SR) were developed and also mass-produced.

The MiG-15bis fighter also became the basis for testing the first domestic radar stations. On the experimental SP-1 aircraft in 1949–1950. The Thoriy-A radar was tested, and at SP-5 in 1951–1952. - Radar "Emerald". The Izumrud station made it possible for the first time to fully use a single-seat fighter to intercept enemy aircraft and conduct targeted fire at them, regardless of visibility conditions. In addition, various types of aviation equipment and weapons were tested on numerous experimental aircraft built on the basis of the MiG-15, MiG-15bis and UTI MiG-15 fighters.

The MiG-15 and MiG-15bis aircraft received a baptism of fire in the skies of the Korean Peninsula and showed their noticeable advantage over American fighters. During the Korean War, the MiG-15bis established itself as a reliable, unpretentious machine. As the technicians recalled, there was no such aircraft either before or after it. In the air battles of the Korean War, the MiG-15 won the right to be called one of the best serial fighters of the early 50s. He brought world fame to the design bureau. For the creation and development of the MiG-15 aircraft in the series, the development of its systems and components, a group of OKB workers were awarded Stalin Prizes of I, II and III degrees.

In parallel with the work to improve the MiG-15, the design bureau was developing and building an all-weather fighter I-320 (“R”) with two RD-45F engines and a Thorium-A radar. It made its first flight on April 16, 1949. During testing, a second prototype (R-2) with VK-1 engines was built. However, for a number of reasons, the project did not receive further development.

As a result of further improvement of the MiG-15bis, the I-330 (“SI”) fighter was created, which received the name MiG-17 when put into service. His wing sweep increased from 35° to 45°. The wing profile has become thinner. In addition, the fuselage of the aircraft was lengthened and the area of ​​the brake flaps was increased. These measures made it possible to improve its speed and maneuverability: the maximum speed of the MiG-17 was already 1114 km/h. After successful completion of the tests, the aircraft was put into service and produced at five serial factories. The development of an engine with an afterburner VK-1F and its installation - for the first time in domestic practice - on the MiG-17F (SF) aircraft made it possible to further improve its flight characteristics. MiG-17F aircraft were mass-produced at factories in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Novosibirsk.

The MiG-17 became the first serial fighter in our country capable of reaching the speed of sound in a dive.

The Izumrud airborne radar, tested on the experimental SP-5, was used on a modification of the MiG-17 - the all-weather fighter-interceptor MiG-17P. This aircraft was mass-produced at the plant in Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod), and was soon replaced by the MiG-17PF with an uprated VK-1F engine, the serial production of which was also mastered at the plant in Tbilisi. The upgraded MiG-17PFU aircraft were armed with air-to-air guided missiles.

Interceptor fighters MiG-17P, MiG-17PF, MiG-17PFU became the first mass-produced combat aircraft of the USSR Air Defense Forces, formed in 1954.

MiG-17

A total of 8,045 MiG-17 aircraft of all modifications were produced at serial factories. For the development and introduction into the series of the MiG-17 aircraft, the leading specialists of OKB-155 were awarded the Stalin Prize, 1st degree. The MiG-17 fighter and its modifications were also mass-produced in Poland, China and Czechoslovakia. The development of MiG-17 production marked the beginning of the Chinese aviation industry. MiG-17F and MiG-17PF aircraft took part in combat operations in Vietnam and the Middle East.

The MiG-17 fighter and its modifications were constantly improved. In addition, a number of experimental and experimental aircraft were built on their basis, on which various new types of weapons, sights, radars, other equipment, new design solutions, etc. were tested.

The main result of the activities of the OKB, led by A.I. Mikoyan, in the first post-war five years, the creation of the country's first serial jet fighter MiG-9 and mass-produced MiG-15 and MiG-17 aircraft began. Their total production volume, even without taking into account their variants built abroad, exceeded 21 thousand copies. Thanks to the MiG-15, the design bureau gained worldwide recognition as one of the leading developers of the world's best fighter aircraft. The consistent development of the MiG-15 and MiG-17 allowed the OKB by the mid-50s. approach the creation of all-weather fighters, and then aircraft with supersonic flight speeds.

Characteristics of the MiG-9

Below are the characteristics of the MiG-9.

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History assigned the responsibility for preserving Russia in one of the most difficult times in the last thousand years to Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. And he coped with this responsibility with honor, preserving the country and all the peoples living on its territory, making Russia a country of advanced science and great culture. He did this with the minimum possible loss of life and property.

The most influential world forces were unable to crush the Soviet state and exterminate the peoples of the USSR during Lenin and Stalin times. In Russia, many of the interventionists of Western countries, their mercenaries, including the White armies, enemies of Russia within the country and hordes of troops of Europe united by Hitler found their grave. This is what the West cannot forgive either Stalin, the Russian people, or itself.

The era of the 1930s, war and post-war times, attracts us with the grandeur of its achievements, the heroism of millions of people, and the greatness of a power called the Soviet Union.

In the post-war period, the lives of the peoples of the USSR were preserved thanks to enormous achievements in the field of weapons. Throughout its previous existence, Russia has never had such powerful, victorious Armed Forces, which since the end of 1942 have surpassed the armed forces of any country in the world and remained the strongest in the world until the last day of the existence of the Soviet Union.

Our army and our military industry, destroyed since 1985 by the traitor M.S. Gorbachev, had such a margin of safety that in 1991, before the destruction of the USSR, it remained the strongest. And today we are alive thanks to the fact that under Gorbachev and Yeltsin we did not manage to destroy all nuclear weapons, all missiles, planes, guns and tanks, all weapons factories.

Unfortunately, few people understand that the security of the peoples of Russia fully corresponds to the state of its Armed Forces. But the leaders of the Soviet Union understood this well.

The USSR did not doubt for a minute that only thanks to a well-armed, strong army, our country is free, independent and calm for the life and future of its children.

Few people can imagine the power of our post-war army. It was a multimillion-strong army, working like a well-oiled machine, which was capable of defeating any enemy. But an army cannot successfully defend its country if it is not equipped with weapons whose combat qualities are equal to or superior to those of the enemy.

The Soviet leadership understood this, thought about the future of the country and, despite the colossal costs associated with the introduction of hostilities with the enemy who attacked us, allocated funds to create a new generation of weapons. And not thanks to our intelligence, but thanks to the work of Soviet scientists and engineers before the war, during and after the war, new types of weapons were created in the USSR.

Our intelligence, in my opinion, was characterized by insufficient capabilities to provide reliable information. Before the war, she “catched German ducks” and named one after another incorrect dates for the attack on the USSR and became so bogged down in disinformation that she lost the trust of the Soviet government.

Intelligence did not indicate the direction of the main attacks of the German troops in 1941, but claimed that half of the German troops were intended to attack England, looked at the transfer of Manstein’s army from Sevastopol to Leningrad, tripled the number of German troops surrounded at Stalingrad, and could not determine to which front near Kursk in 1943 the enemy would deliver the main blow.

Even in 1945, when our troops, fighting for every house, were advancing towards the Reichstag, intelligence did not know that Hitler’s headquarters bunker was located nearby in the Imperial Chancellery and therefore our troops were not sent specifically to capture the Imperial Chancellery and Hitler was neither alive nor dead didn't take it.

And it is not at all by chance that the presence of secret representatives of the USSR in the highest echelons of power in Hitler’s Germany, for example, Stirlitz, was written by a person more drawn to the West than to Russia.

The myth about the omnipotence of Soviet intelligence was inflated by the West with the aim of accusing the Soviet Union of not having designed new military equipment, atomic weapons, but of stealing the developments of Western countries and especially the developments of Germany and the USA.

These myths were and are being invented to discredit Soviet science, our scientists, designers, engineers, workers, country leaders, research teams and production enterprises. Without these myths, the United States would have to admit that Russians in science and production are much more capable than rich Western countries, and the socialist system is more effective than the capitalist system.

In fact, Soviet designers and scientists already during the war were working on creating fundamentally new military equipment. One type of such equipment was aircraft with turbojet engines, or, as they were called, jet aircraft.

The Yakovlev Design Bureau took as a basis the design of the famous, lightest and most maneuverable fighter of the Second World War - the Yak-3. On April 24, 1946, the first flight of our country's first jet fighter, the Yak-15, designed by the A. S. Yakovlev Design Bureau, took place. On the same day, April 24, 1946, the Soviet jet fighter designed by the Design Bureau of A. I. Mikoyan and M. I. Gurevich MiG-9 made its first flight. Both flights were successful.

April 24 became the birthday of Soviet jet aviation . But almost no one in the country knows about this significant day, because our media hides the achievements of our ancestors from their descendants. On August 18, 1946, on USSR Air Fleet Day, both aircraft were demonstrated at a parade in Tushino.

By November 7, 1946, about 30 aircraft were prepared for the air parade over Red Square, but due to weather conditions, the air parade was canceled and only on May 1, 1947, the country's first jet aircraft flew over Red Square for the first time. The rustling whistle of the formation of flying planes was greeted with delight by thousands of Muscovites and guests of the capital.

The USSR did not lag behind in the creation of jet bomber aircraft. In February-April 1949, it passed state tests and the Il-28 front-line bomber, designed by the S.V. Ilyushin Design Bureau, was put into mass production.

The MiG-15 jet fighter, taken into the air at the end of 1947, became the symbol of post-war Soviet aviation. Already in 1948, mass production of this remarkable aircraft, superior to all types of US fighters, began.

In response to the US threat to use atomic bombs against the USSR, Stalin, who had excellent air defense systems and a Mig-15 fighter, had reason to say that American planes would not reach the cities of the Soviet Union. The ability of our Air Force to protect the peaceful labor of the Soviet people was demonstrated by the war in Korea unleashed by the United States on June 25, 1950.

The Soviet Mig-17 fighter was publicly demonstrated at the air parade in Tushino on June 20, 1953, but it was also created under Stalin. It became the first aircraft in the USSR to reach the speed of sound in horizontal flight.

When creating the aircraft, testers again encountered the formidable phenomenon of flutter of an unprecedented variety and the reverse action of the ailerons at speeds close to sound. Only the highest flying skill of test pilot Sedov saved the plane, since within a second the plane was in flutter, no more than a third of the rudders remained. Our talented engineers identified the causes and fixed all the problems.

Thanks to its high performance characteristics, reliability and ease of operation, the MiG-17 was recognized as one of the best fighters of its time, especially after participating in battles in Egypt in 1956.

Testing of the remarkable MiG-19 fighter began in 1952 under Stalin. In flight, the plane reached almost one and a half speed of sound and a fantastic rate of climb - in 1.1 minutes it took off to 10 kilometers altitude. At that time, no aircraft in the world had such a rate of climb.

Having such a machine, equipped with guns, missiles and bombs, our children could sleep peacefully, since the plane was able to instantly intercept and destroy any enemy vehicle. The MiG-19 was noticeably superior to its foreign contemporaries: F-100, Super Saber, Starfighter.

I would especially like to note one more aircraft - the two-seat loitering interceptor of the Design Bureau of A. S. Yakovlev Yak-25, also tested during the life of I. V. Stalin on July 19, 1952 and demonstrated to the public in July 1955 at the aviation festival in Tushino and on May 1, 1956 over Red Square and in Tushino.

This aircraft, with two AM-5A engines of 2600 kgf each, designed by A. A. Mikulin, was intended for long-term patrols away from the base. It was equipped with excellent flight-navigation and radar systems, allowing it to intercept enemy targets in any weather conditions and over a wide range of altitudes.

This aircraft, together with ground-based air defense systems, blocked the possibility of the United States attacking us from the north through the North Pole. It was indispensable for workers in the Far North with a small number of airfields. A total of 480 Yak-25 aircraft were produced, mainly with the powerful Sokol radar. And despite the fact that there was no replacement for it, N.S. Khrushchev, having organized a pogrom of Soviet aviation, did not spare the irreplaceable Yak-25 and in 1963 he removed it from service.

It is impossible not to recall another unique machine - the Ilyushin Design Bureau attack aircraft Il-40, which took to the air in 1953. But N.S. Khrushchev in 1956 decided to abolish attack aviation, and the country was left without a wonderful aircraft, especially needed by the infantry.

In the mid-1950s, the Sukhoi Design Bureau resumed its work. In September 1955, the first flight of the SU-7 aircraft took place, and in 1956, for the first time in the USSR, the SU-7 aircraft reached a speed twice the speed of sound. Sukhoi's aircraft were heavier than Yakovlev's and occupied a middle position between a front-line bomber and a fighter. And it was precisely this type of vehicle that the country’s Air Force needed.

In April 1959, the SU-7B aircraft (modified SU-7) took off, capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons and bombing from low altitudes. At the end of the 1980s, SU-7B of all modifications were removed from service by M. S. Gorbachev.

Such a decision can be called sabotage, because airplanes can fly and have been flying all over the world for decades. Even aircraft from the 1950s have normal flight performance characteristics and, with periodic repairs, updating equipment and weapons, can serve for a long time in protecting the country. Destroying planes, as Khrushchev destroyed out of his own stupidity and Gorbachev and Yeltsin did to please the United States, is a crime.

N.S. Khrushchev did not allow the production of bombers - flying boats designed in 1952 and subsequent years by R. L. Bartini. Perhaps in this case Khrushchev is right, but it is necessary to talk about at least one project. The unique seaplane A-57 designed by Bartini is flat, like a triangle cut out of a board, which has part of the fuselage under water, and on top it is flat and rises slightly above the water. Therefore, it is difficult to notice on the surface of the ocean. Its speed is 2500 km/h, flight range is 12-14 thousand kilometers, take-off weight is 320,000 kg, armament is one thermonuclear bomb “244 N” weighing 3000 kg. It could reach the United States and return, especially with the nuclear power plant proposed in 1961. It gives the impression of a project of the future.

And jet seaplanes designed by the G. M. Beriev Design Bureau are a reality embodied in metal. For the first time, the R-1 jet gyroplane weighing 20,000 kg took off from the water at the end of May 1952, that is, also during the life of I.V. Stalin.

Even the United States recognized the P-1 as the world's first jet flying boat. On its basis, the Beriev Design Bureau in 1953 began developing a more advanced seaplane, and on June 20, 1956, the BE-10 jet seaplane weighing 48,500 kg took off from the surface of the water. It set 12 world records, including a speed of 912 km/h and an altitude of 14,962 meters without load and 11,997 meters with load. This is truly a flying ship.

But the most expensive and difficult to design and manufacture were, of course, bombers. The Soviet aviation industry produced very beautiful aircraft. In my opinion, the most beautiful planes in the world. But each type of aircraft produced in the 1950s has its own beauty. The beauty of bombers is special, memorable forever, because behind this beauty one can see the formidable power. And the most beautiful are the planes designed in the first half of the 1950s.

In my opinion, the most powerful aircraft of the 1950s was the 3M OKB strategic bomber designed by chief designer V. M. Myasishchev. This aircraft was shown very well at the beginning of the 1974 feature film “The Sky With Me.” On January 20, 1953, during Stalin’s lifetime, the M-4 aircraft (prototype of the 3M aircraft) was flown into the air. Subsequently, all M-4 aircraft were converted into tanker aircraft for refueling aircraft in the air.

On March 26, 1956, flight tests of the 3M bomber began. The maximum take-off weight of the 3M aircraft was 193 tons without external tanks and 202 tons with a drop tank. The flight range with one in-flight refueling was over 15,000 km with a flight duration of 20 hours. It was truly an intercontinental aircraft, capable of taking off from airfields on the territory of the USSR and attacking targets in the United States.

The 3M aircraft and its modifications set 19 world records for altitude and speed of flight with cargo. The 3Ms were in service with long-range aviation until 1985 and were then destroyed in accordance with the Soviet-American agreement on the reduction of strategic offensive weapons.

And this handsome man was killed by M. S. Gorbachev. The 3M aircraft was the great strategic bomber of a great continental power. It is huge, squat, with huge wings descending to the very ground, connected into a single monolith, aimed at flight, striking in its size and power. Today's cut-down Russia, unlike the USSR and the USA, does not produce any strategic bombers, and does not design new ones.

It should be noted that when, in connection with the creation of the Energia-Buran system, the question arose about transporting the system units by air to the assembly site at Baikonur, they remembered 3M. Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev redesigned the plane and named it VM-T.

In just two years, the Myasishchev Design Bureau created an aircraft similar to the Boeing B-52, which was a US national program. VM-T Atlant aircraft, 3M converted into cargo aircraft in 1980, performed more than 150 flights to transport cargo of the Energia-Buran system.

The second great aircraft of the great Soviet power of the 1950s is the Tu-95 strategic bomber. The bomber, designated "95", was intended to destroy important stationary targets with cruise missiles and bomb weapons day and night, in any weather conditions and anywhere in the world.

The first copy of the Tu-95 strategic bomber, designed by the Tupolev Design Bureau, also flew under the leadership of the country by I.V. Stalin on November 12, 1952. The aircraft was equipped with turboprop engines, characterized by lower fuel consumption, but due to the propellers, lower speed.

This aircraft met all the requirements for strategic missile-carrying bombers. Its flight range was 15,400 km, maximum flight speed – 882 km/h, maximum take-off weight – 172 tons.

And to conclude the topic about bombers of the 1950s, we need to talk about one more famous long-range bomber, the TU-16. The Tu-16 aircraft, designed by the A. N. Tupolev Design Bureau, was lifted into the air on April 27, 1952, that is, under Stalin.

Already in 1953, mass production of this complex machine began, and the first bombers began to arrive in combat units of the country's Air Force. On May 1, 1953, nine TU-16s passed over Red Square.

The Tu-16 occupied a middle position between a strategic and front-line bomber and was used very widely as a carrier of bombs, nuclear weapons, anti-ship missiles, as well as as a reconnaissance aircraft, patrol aircraft, anti-submarine aircraft and for many other military purposes.

Due to the size of the state's territory, the USSR really needed such an aircraft with a flight range of 5,800 km and a maximum take-off weight of 79 tons. In 1993, under Yeltsin's rule, the TU-16 aircraft was removed from service with the Russian Air Force and Navy. We have become even more defenseless against threats from the West and the East. But in China, the TU-16 aircraft, called N-6, is still in service today. It must be said that over the past 25 years Russia has not produced a single aircraft of the 3M class, TU-95 and TU-16.

Pay attention to the timing of testing, fine-tuning and the start of serial production of the most complex jet aircraft in Stalin's time. The quality of design and production time of the machines are amazing. We achieved perfection in aircraft production under Stalin. Not a single country in the world has achieved our results in the design and manufacture of aircraft by any indicator.

We had exactly the number of types of aviation equipment needed to ensure the security of the country. And if you remove at least one type of the named aircraft, then a gap will appear in the country’s air defense, which means the safety of the citizens of the USSR will decrease.

In addition, by creating strategic jet aviation, we made the territory of the United States vulnerable and put an end to American permissiveness in the world, as well as the possibility of implementing the plan to destroy the Soviet Union, that is, we thwarted the possibility of Western countries carrying out a conspiracy against Russia.

It is impossible not to notice the fact that the production of the vast majority of aircraft was started under I.V. Stalin (Stalin died on March 5, 1953) and N.S. Khrushchev enjoyed the fruits of his labors after the aircraft were designed, tested, completed, and launched into mass production and under the reign of Khrushchev began to be supplied in large quantities to the Air Force, Navy, and Air Defense Forces.

The flight personnel, soldiers, sailors and officers praised Khrushchev for the new excellent jet aircraft technology, with which one can defeat any enemy, but they did not name the true organizer of the triumph of Soviet military aviation in the 1950s, I.V. Stalin.

The majority of the country's residents, of course, did not understand that it was not the mind and will of Khrushchev, but the mind and will of I.V. Stalin and L.P. Beria that these mighty defenders of the sky of the Motherland were born. Designers, engineers, workers, managers of sites, enterprises and many other Soviet people whose intelligence and labor the country ensured its security were not glorified. The people did not know their heroes.

It must be said that information about Soviet military aviation is not only hidden by liberal revisionists, but also presented to our youth in a clearly distorted form. And only a few people in our country know about such an outstanding aircraft as the strategic bomber of the 3M OKB of V. M. Myasishchev.

After the war, pre-war aircraft still remained in civil aviation: LI-2, R-2, PO-2 and others. But gradually funds were allocated for the production of new passenger aircraft.

Passenger aircraft An-2, Il-12, Il-14 with piston engines that meet the new requirements for civil aviation were designed and put into serial production.

The An-2 aircraft was not only a passenger aircraft for local airlines, but also the best agricultural aviation aircraft in the world. If it had been produced not by the USSR, but by the USA, then even today it would be cultivating agricultural land in most countries of the world. It is no longer produced in Russia, like other domestic civil aviation aircraft, but the remaining machines still continue to cultivate the country’s fields. Every year there are fewer and fewer of these cars left.

Passenger aircraft Il-12 and Il-14 differed from the Li-2 in their greater maximum take-off weight, comfort, nose wheel and the embodiment in their design of many achievements in the field of aircraft construction of piston aircraft.

The Soviet aviation industry also began producing piston helicopters Mi-1, Mi-4, Ka-15.

In 1955, Il-12, Li-2, An-2 aircraft and Mi-4 helicopters were even used in the Soviet Antarctic expedition. But, of course, a sufficient amount of money was not allocated for the development of civil aviation in the post-war period, since the most important issue in the post-war period was the question of preserving the state and people and protecting them from an external aggressor, and for this they needed military aviation that was not inferior to the enemy.

Russian Aviation

August 5, 2022 marked the 115th anniversary of the birth of aircraft designer Artem Mikoyan. The machines created under his leadership went down in the history of the domestic and world aircraft industry, some of them became real “long-livers.” For example, the MiG-15 fighter began to enter combat units of the Soviet Air Force in 1949. In various modifications, it was in service in more than 40 countries around the world. According to the Rostec press service, as of 2016, one aviation regiment armed with MiG-15bis fighters was listed as part of the Air Force of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. This is the most produced jet combat aircraft in the history of aviation - just over 17 thousand aircraft were produced. In addition, in the late 1990s, two Polish-made UTI MiG-15 aircraft set four world speed records in the C-1e class, three of which remain valid today.

Work on the MiG-15 was different from all previous projects of the Mikoyan Design Bureau. Firstly, it was not just about another aircraft - this fighter, due to a number of innovations, became an event for domestic aviation.

The first Mig-15 prototype - S-1 aircraft with Nin-1 engines

Immediately after the war, the United States began active work to create its own jet aircraft, for which experimental aircraft brought from Germany were used, as well as captured drawings and documents. The result of persistent and hard work overseas was the first jet fighter P-59 Airacomet, and then the F-80 Shooting Star, F-84 Thunderjet. Later, almost simultaneously with the MiG-15, the Americans began developing the F-86 Saber fighter.

In the USSR, on April 24, 1946, the first Soviet jet fighters MiG-9 and Yak-15 took to the skies. A La-160 with a swept wing took off behind them, thereby clearly demonstrating the correctness of the MiG-15 course taken by the Mikoyanites. Work on the creation of a new fighter at the Mikoyan Design Bureau began in early 1947. According to government decree, the new front-line fighter was supposed to reach speeds of up to 1020 km/h at an altitude of 5 thousand meters, while the time to rise to this altitude was 3 minutes 12 seconds. The practical ceiling of the vehicle was supposed to be 13 thousand meters, the flight range at an altitude of 10 thousand meters was 1200 km, the take-off run was 700 meters. The task was not an easy one; to achieve it, it was decided to move almost in parallel in three ways: a new engine, a swept wing, and new means of rescuing the pilot.

After the war, the first gas turbine engines were developed, which allowed aircraft to reach previously unattainable speeds. But it soon became clear that this speed advantage required a quick solution to emerging problems - it was necessary to reduce aerodynamic drag. A way out of the situation could be a wing with a sweep angle of more than 30 degrees.

Before the advent of real swept wings, jet aircraft with an aerodynamic airframe called “tailless” made it possible to evaluate their controllability and stability at high speeds. The most famous such project in the post-war years was the English experimental jet aircraft DH 108, which was called Swallow. However, in September 1946, the Lastochka crashed, which was a big blow to the very idea of ​​\u200b\u200busing swept wings. The short flight of the “swallow” partly undermined faith in jet aviation - the opinion was expressed that at high speeds the plane inevitably collides with such a dense air environment that the wing cannot withstand it and is destroyed.

The design engineers understood that new ideas on aerodynamics and correct strength calculations were required. In this new development, Mikoyan closely interacted with a group of TsAGI scientists who studied swept wings under the leadership of Vladimir Struminsky. Collaboration with scientists largely contributed to the success of the MiG-15 - the machine turned out right away, which is a very rare case for a new aerodynamic configuration. Thus, the design solutions developed at the Mikoyan Design Bureau turned the swept wing into a working structure.

Opening up the possibilities of high speeds, the chief designer had to think doubly about the safety of the pilots. Mikoyan immediately identified the vital need to develop a new ejection seat. At high speed in an emergency, leaving the plane quickly and safely is not an easy task. Among other difficulties, there is a risk of being pinned by the incoming air flow. The powder charge of such a “catapult gun” should throw a person over the keel of the aircraft without dangerous overloads.

When creating an ejection seat for the MiG-15, a number of complex experiments were carried out. To calculate the ejection force, a special structure was built. A cart moved along a long rail track, almost vertical. At first it was rapidly accelerated by the firing mechanism, and then just as quickly stopped with the help of a powerful brake. At first, the animals were “rolled” on a cart, changing the charge strength each time. The first person who dared to “eject” in this way was the master of parachuting Rostislav Stasevich, later the head of the department for ejection installations at the Yakovlev Design Bureau.

Then there were experiments on an airplane - they decided to shoot the seat from a Pe-2 bomber. The first, according to tradition, was “Ivan Ivanovich”, this is the name of the dummy, the weight and dimensions of which correspond to the data of the “average pilot”. Following him, parachute virtuoso Gavriil Kondrashov ejected. Kondrashov’s ejection and his extremely clear report made it possible to sum up the development – ​​further progress is possible, and the MiG-15 became the first fighter to be equipped with a special ejection seat as standard.

The history of the creation of the MiG-15 is connected with engine building. In June 1946, the Ministry of Aviation Industry was allowed to purchase English engines. In the same year, Artem Mikoyan, together with aircraft engine designer Vladimir Klimov and leading specialist in aviation materials science Sergei Kishkin, were sent to England to familiarize themselves with the characteristics of the engines, as well as the possibility of their development. Soviet designers successfully negotiated in England - as a result, 25 Nin and 30 Derwent engines were purchased. Based on them, it was soon possible to develop domestic analogues - RD-45 and RD-500. Yakovlev and Lavochkin built cars for the RD-500, which was considered a fighter engine, Mikoyan chose the more powerful RD-45.

MiG-15 fighter with the VK-1A (RD-45) engine unhooded

The MiG-15 received its worldwide recognition in the skies over Korea. On June 25, 1950, the war between the southern and northern parts of Korea began and immediately ceased to be civil. A day later, June 27, 1950, American aircraft began bombing. In addition to the aircraft that fought in World War II, the Americans used F-80 and F-84 jet fighters, as well as B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers. The USSR, at the request of the PRC government, transferred several air divisions to the northeastern provinces of China. Soviet pilots flying MiG-15s took part in air battles. Foreign magazines and newspapers began to write about the new Soviet fighter, calling it a “Korean surprise.” The MiGs turned out to be a surprise not only for the “superfortress” B-29s, which had lost their invulnerability, but also for American fighters. The first battle between the F-80 and the MiG-15 showed that the MiGs have greater speed and maneuverability.

In order to regain superiority in the skies in Korea, the Americans began to use their first swept-wing jet fighter, the F-86 Saber. What is most surprising is that both aircraft - the Soviet MiG-15 and its American “brother” Saber - were created in an atmosphere of great secrecy. But in the very first air battle it became clear that the planes were very similar. “This is what science means! Serious research by different scientists, different engineers, carried out completely independently of each other, led to extremely similar results,” stated Vladimir Struminsky.

MiG-15 and F-86 Saber at an air show in the USA, 2015.

A real baptism of fire in the air showed many things that would not have been noticed during testing. It turned out that the MiG's sight was less advanced than the Saber's, but the MiGs had absolute superiority in armament thanks to three powerful cannons, the second salvo of which was 11 kg. Foreign experts were also greatly impressed by the exceptional survivability of the MiG-15. Some planes returned from the battle with more than a hundred holes in them.

The MiG-15 was the first machine that brought Mikoyan experience of mass production. The MiG-15 not only went into production, but became the most produced combat jet in the history of aircraft manufacturing. And this, of course, is the great merit of Artem Ivanovich. Later, aircraft designer Semyon Lavochkin would say: “This talented designer successfully combines two principles - an inventor and an engineer. That is why the machines that Artem Mikoyan designs are bold in concept, not fantastic, but real, feasible in practice...”

The article uses excerpts from the book by M.S. Arlazorov "Artem Mikoyan"

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F-86 SaberMiG-15