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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 2481.PDF
OCTOBER 14TH, 1943 FLIGHT 4*5 RussianAirjcraf t Designers Some LittleAinown Facts About Their Histories and Careers : Unfounded Rumours About Tupolev's Dismissal: The Younger (generation Alexander Yakovlev. By V. L. GRUBERG A. N. Tupolev IT is said of Alexander Yakovlev, the designer of thefamous Russian "Yak." fighter, that the crucial pointin his life was a childhood encounter with his grand- mother's mechanical cuckoo clock. For, having dismantledit, young Yakovlev became absorbed by a desire to learn the intricacies of mechanisms. Trifling incidents such asythis have a strange quality about them, and can often least the first mould of a man's future career. Regular daily visits to the Khodynka airfield, wherethere was a dump of crashed and derelict aircraft, brought Yakovlev closer to aviation, to which he later devoted hisserious studies. Finally, after a course of technical train- ing, he graduated at the university. Early in his studieshe acquired the reputation of being a rebel—following his own ideas of aeronautical training and obstinately uphold-ing his own views on aircraft. His dogged perseverance enabled him to produce the design for the first Soviet ultra-light aircraft in 1927. His originality and resourcefulness, displayed in this design, aroused the interest of Russianauthorities and made his name. He was sent to the Air Force Academy, the highest institution of aeronauticaltraining in Russia, and graduated from there in 1934. Only two years afterwards he won a competition atTushino for the best design of a monoplane trainer, and shortly afterwards he was appointed director of a new air-craft factory. Since then he has produced some sixty air- craft designs, ranging from light sporting machines to up-io-date fighters. T From the very beginning of his creative career, Yakovlevwas primarily interested in light aircraft. His main aim was speed and reduction of weight; and while in the earlydays his views aroused considerable controversy in Russian aeronautical circles, the results obtained by him wereconvincing. One of his first achievements was the application ofan early type of the Soviet M.11 engine of 100 h.p. tothe construction of a trainer. With this engine Yakovlevproduced a trainer capable of a speed of just over 160m.p.h. When he assumed the leadership of a group ofdesigners at a new aircraft factory he adhered to theidea of speed in an uncom- promising manner. Chargedwith the task of designing a new fighter, he adopted yetanother rule for his designs : the requirements of massproduction. Out of such convictionsthe Yak 1 fighter was born, followed by Yak 4 andYak 7. The Yak, Russia's Ilyushin and Kokinaki, the test pilot. reply to the Messerschmitt, proved to be about. 660 lb.lighter than similar German machines, a quality which proved to be of great advantage in the battles with theLuftwaffe. The efficiency of the Yak 1 was testified by reports from Russia at the beginning of hostilities, whichproved the brilliant tactical qualities and manoeuvrability of this aircraft and placed the pilots of Heinkels andMesserschmitts under a definite handicap. Yakovlev, who is the holder of the Banner of SocialistLabour, and whose previous achievements brought him the Stalin Prize, the highest recognition of scientific and tech-nical work, was awarded early this year the Stalin Prize for his wartime work for the Soviet Air Force. Sergey Ilyushin is Yakovlev's " opposite number " in thedesign of fighter-bombers and close-support aircraft. In the early 'thirties the trend of Russian bomber design wasto concentrate on large bombers. Subsequently more attention was being paid to lighter and fast bombers. In1935 Ilyushin produced a hew bomber showing consider- able improvements on the types then in service with theSoviet Air Force. In fact, this design represented an important step Jorward in the development of Russiantypes. While «he reported annual increase in bomber speed was then somewhere about 10 to 12 m.p.h.,Ily'Jshin's type improved the performance by 40 to 50 m.p.h. Shortly afterwards the aircraft was subjected toa severe test when Vladimir Kokinaki, the well-known Soviet test and long-distance pilot, flew it non-stop fromMoscow to Baku and back. The aircraft has also proved to reach a higher ceiling by 3,000 to 4,500ft. than its pre-decessors, and the load carried was improved by 1,100 to 2,200 lb. Ilyushin's greatest contribution to Russian aviation, thedesign of close-support aircraft, is the result of methodical development going back to 1936. Already at that time the Russians had quite crys-tallised ideas of both the functions and qualities olsuch aircraft. In fact, so far back as 1932 leadingSoviet tacticians foresaw the mass employment "•aircraft in ground battle, and the need for specialisedtypes for such operations. Later, Lt. Gen. Petrov, ofthe Soviet Air Force, de- fined the characteristics ofthis type of aircraft in the following words: " Thequalities of the modern assault aircraft are judgednot only by the power of its weapons but by its miles' per hour, its manoeuvra- bility and climbing speed.
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