Книги
Putnam
L.Andersson
Soviet Aircraft and Aviation 1917-1941
57
L.Andersson - Soviet Aircraft and Aviation 1917-1941 /Putnam/
Avro 504K, U-1 and MU-1
Designed as a successor to the Avro 500 the two-seat Avro 504 biplane - made its maiden flight in September 1913. The Avro 504J version (and later Avro 504K) became the standard trainer of the RFC in 1917 and several thousands were built during the First World War and and in the early 1920s. The Avro 504K version, which appeared in 1918, had a new universal engine mounting which permitted more powerful types of engines to be fitted.
The long fuselage of the Avro 504 was of rectangular section with four longerons, wire braced, box-girder type, with rounded top decking. The circular cowling enclosed a rotary engine, which could be of several different types including the 100hp Gnome Monosoupape, 110hp Le Rhone and 130hp Clerget. The wing centre section was supported by four struts. The equal-span, two-bay wings were rigged with stagger (30· on the U-1). Each wing panel had five main ribs and the spars were made of pine (U-1). Both wings and tailplane were of constant chord and had straight tips with rounded corners. There were ailerons on both the upper and lower wings. The elevators were unbalanced and the comma-type rudder was characteristic for the Avro 504. There was no fin. The undercarriage included a long skid which was to prevent overturning.
The Avro 504 was produced in Great Britain until 1927. It was used by both civil and military operators and many were exported to Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands East Indies, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA. Many were also built under licence in Australia, Belgium, Canada and Japan. Modified versions, including the Avro 504N, were also produced and exported.
British intervention forces brought about thirty or more Avro 504Ks to Russia during the Civil War and at least twelve of them were captured and used by the RKKVF: 2280, 3707, 3710, 9673, 9678, 9747, 9749, 9754, 9756, 9757 and 9758 (probably including E3707, E3710, H9673, H9678, H9747, H9749, H9754, H9756, H9757 and H9758). The Soviet purchase of surplus aviation equipment in Great Britain in 1922 included ten Avro 504Ks with 110hp Le Rhone engines (2055, 5498, 6646, 7479, 9479, 9501, 9571, 9589, 9605 and 9610, probably H2055, J5498, H6646, H7479, E9479, E9501, H9571, H9589, H9605 and H9610). They were delivered on board the Miranda to Leningrad in May 1922 along with a new float-equipped Avro 504 (probably an Avro 504L) powered by a 130hp Clerget (c/n 5041). The Avro 504L was a more powerful float-equipped version of the Avro 504K and the prototype flew in 1919. It had single-step main floats and a small tail float, and differed from the Avro 504K by having a large fin. The Soviet example was assembled in Leningrad and flown for the first time in August 1922.
The Avro 504Ks were used by the 1st Aviation School at Kacha (ten from 1922) and the Moscow School of Military Pilots (five, including three that had been used by the Sevastopol school in 1921). The 7th Aviaotryad at Khar'kov also had one. The float- equipped example was issued to the 1st Otdel'nyi Razvedivatel'nyi Gidrootryad at Oranienbaum.
One of the Avros captured during the Civil War was taken near Petrozavodsk in the summer of 1919. It was dismantled and transported to GAZ No. 1 in Moscow, where it was studied in detail and copied by a team led by Nikolai Polikarpov. Production drawings were prepared and sent to GAZ No. 5 Samolet in Moscow, where production started late in 1922. The first aircraft built was almost certainly c/n 165, tested at the NOA until March 1923. It had a span of 10.97m and a wing area of 30.6m2, which was reduced to 10.85m and 30.0 m2 respectively on later production aircraft. Length was 8.72m, some 25cm less than the original Avro, while weight had increased by 40kg. The NOA received other Avros from GAZ No. 5 production; c/n 177 in April 1923 and c/ns 272 and 274 in March 1924. When Soviet-made (GAZ No. 4) M-11 copies of the 120hp Le Rhone became available they were fitted in place of original engines.
In 1925 production was discontinued in Moscow and moved to GAZ No. 3 Krasnyi letchik in Leningrad, where it continued until 1931. It also seems that the RVZ No. 2 repair shop at Nizhnii-Novgorod built a few Avros in addition to repair and rebuilding work. The 'repair numbers' 243-252 were allocated to Avros that were to have built but this batch was later cancelled, 272-275 were probably delivered in 1924, 302-331 were ordered in 1923 and delivered in 1924, and another sixteen (unnumbered) were cancelled. In 1925 the VVS designation U-3 was assigned to the Avro trainer and although this was changed to U-1 in 1926 the earlier designation was still in use in 1927. The MU-1 seaplane was fitted with floats of simplified construction, which weighed 170kg compared to the 211kg of the original British floats. Unlike the original Avro-built floatplane the MU-1 had no fin and no tail float. Although the floats were lighter it seems that the MU-1's empty weight had gone up in comparison with the original, from 640kg to 840kg.
It was planned in 1922 to build thirty-three Avros in the following year. GAZ No. 5 production amounted to at least 207 aircraft (c/ns 165 to 371 noted), which were delivered between 1923 and 1925. The following GAZ No. 3 production batches are known: 1794-1797 (four MU-1s), 1798, 1799 (two U-1s), 1800-1805 (six MU-1s), 1806-1833 (twenty-eight U-1s), 1834, 1835 (two MU-1s), 1836-1848 (thirteen U-1s), 1912-1981 (70 U-1s), 1992- 2001 (ten U-1s), 2002-2011 (ten MU-1s), 2012-2089 (seventy-eight U-1s), 2152-2236 (eighty-five U-1s), 2237- 2256 (twenty MU-1s), 2312-2390 (seventy-nine U-1s), 2391-2406 (sixteen MU-1s), -2497-2564- and -2636-2663- (possibly 2496-2670 U-1s)
According to Shavrov's Istoriya konstruktsii samoletov v SSSR do 1938 a total of 737 U-1s was built, including seventy-three MU-1s. The number of aircraft delivered to the VVS between November 1923 and April 1931 was 657. To this should be added those delivered earlier in 1923 and later in 1931, and those delivered to Osoaviakhim in 1931. On 1 October, 1923, fifty-one were in RKKVF service including the captured and imported machines. Two hundred were in service in 1927 and in 1930 the number had risen to over three hundred. Regarding the float-equipped MU-1 an order for twelve was issued in 1923, but the first two were not delivered until 1925. Ten were in service at the end of 1926. Another ten were ordered in February 1927 and there were forty-four in service at the end of 1930.
The U-1 became the first VVS standard trainer and replaced Farmans, Nieuports, Moranes and many other old types at the flying schools. It was used at the 1st Voennaya shkola letchikov (Military School of Pilots) at Kacha and the 2nd Voennaya shkola letchikov at Borisoglebsk. These schools had between ten and twenty U-1s each in 1923 and between eighty and ninety in 1927. A few were also used by the Training eskadril'ya, later Akademiya VVF, the 1st Vysshaya shkola voennykh letchikov (Higher School of Military Pilots) in Moscow and by the Vysshaya shkola KVF at Egorevsk. During the later 1920s the Voenno-teoreticheskaya shkola (Military-Theoretical School) in Leningrad and the Voennaya shkola vozdushnogo boya (Military School of Aerial Combat) at Orenburg also received U-1s. The Orenburg school, which became the 3rd Voennaya shkola letchikov in 1928, had about seventy U-1s in 1931. The new 7th and 8th Voennye shkoly letchikov at Stalingrad and Odessa, respectively, received U-1s from 1929.
The MU-1s were used by the Voennaya shkola morskikh letchikov (Military School of Naval Pilots) at Sevastopol, which moved to Eisk on the Sea of Azov in 1930. During the second half of the 1920s one or two MU-1s were also assigned to the the 55th and 62nd Aviaotryady, the 87th and 88th Training Aviaotryady, and to the commander of the 9th Aviahrigada. The ship-based aviazven'ya of the cruisers Chervona Ukraina and Profmtern each had a few MU-1s. By November 1933 nineteen MU-1s remained but in 1934 the last of this type were replaced by Shavrov Sh-2s.
Small numbers of U-1s were used by a few other training establishments and by the NOA and the NII VVS. Some were issued to operational units as hacks for liaison and training duties, including the 1st OIAE, the 1st ORAO, the 1st OOTA, the 82nd, 84th and 85th Training otryady. In June 1930 operational units in the Moscow, Leningrad, Belorussian and Ukrainian Military Districts had U-1s (six in each district). In November 1933 a total of 249 U-1s remained but they were soon replaced by Polikarpov U-2s at the VVS schools. One U-1 was used for experiments with rocket-assisted takeoff in Leningrad in 1931 (pilot S I Mukhin), when take-offs in less than two seconds were achieved. Another U-1 was converted into the KASKR autogyro in 1929 (see Kamov-Skrzhinsky KASKR, Autogyros and Helicopters section). U-1s were exported to China (Canton Government in 1925), Persia (five in July 1928) and possibly Mongolia (two in 1925).
The U-1 was also used by civil organisations. Dobrolet wanted to try the type as a crop duster and acquired one from the VVS. It was registered ДЛ-16 (DL-16) (c/n 339) on 15 August 1928, which changed to CCCP-110 in 1929. This machine crashed and was replaced by another one, CCCP-195, at the end of that year. The U-1 was not very successful in the crop dusting role so the last-mentioned example plus another were transferred to the Leningrad Training Centre and the 3rd Combined Aviation School in 1931. One aircraft (c/n 2034) was given to the TsVIRL by the VVS in June 1929.
The Osoaviakhim schools were supplied with U-1s beginning in 1928 when the the Penza school received two in July and the Khar'kov school received two, soon followed by another three (Deti Oktyabrya, Krasnyi militsioner Ukrainy and Zhilkooperatsiya Ukrainy). The Moscow school got four (numbered 1 to 4, one named Delegatka) in February 1929. Two of these were registered CCCP-312 (c/n 353) and CCCP-313 (c/n 2161). The Zaporozh'e branch of Osoaviakhim received c/n 308. Most of the 1931 production seems to have been for Osoaviakhim, which used the U-1 until 1935 as a trainer and as a tug for gliders and sailplanes.
Starting in 1930 the U-1 was replaced by the Polikarpov U-2, but with a proportion of the wing covering taken off the U-1 remained in use as a taxiing trainer for many years. Thousands of civil and military Soviet pilots were trained on the U-1, which was regarded as a good trainer. It was simple to fly, although somewhat unstable. The thin wing profile caused loss of lift at high angles of attack and this brought about a tendency to stall. Pupils were told that the U-1 did not forgive mistakes.
U-1 (MU-1)
120hp M-2
Span 10.85 (10.97) m; length 8.78 (9.85) m; height 3.21 (3.58) m; wing area 30 m2
Empty weight 600 (840)kg; loaded weight 840 (l,080)kg, alternative specification: Empty weight 650(815)kg; loaded weight 860(1,055) kg
Maximum speed 139 (136) km/h; landing speed 70 (75) km/h; climb to 1,000m in 5.5 (9.1); ceiling 4,500 (3,100) m; endurance 1.5hr; range 195km
Designed as a successor to the Avro 500 the two-seat Avro 504 biplane - made its maiden flight in September 1913. The Avro 504J version (and later Avro 504K) became the standard trainer of the RFC in 1917 and several thousands were built during the First World War and and in the early 1920s. The Avro 504K version, which appeared in 1918, had a new universal engine mounting which permitted more powerful types of engines to be fitted.
The long fuselage of the Avro 504 was of rectangular section with four longerons, wire braced, box-girder type, with rounded top decking. The circular cowling enclosed a rotary engine, which could be of several different types including the 100hp Gnome Monosoupape, 110hp Le Rhone and 130hp Clerget. The wing centre section was supported by four struts. The equal-span, two-bay wings were rigged with stagger (30· on the U-1). Each wing panel had five main ribs and the spars were made of pine (U-1). Both wings and tailplane were of constant chord and had straight tips with rounded corners. There were ailerons on both the upper and lower wings. The elevators were unbalanced and the comma-type rudder was characteristic for the Avro 504. There was no fin. The undercarriage included a long skid which was to prevent overturning.
The Avro 504 was produced in Great Britain until 1927. It was used by both civil and military operators and many were exported to Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands East Indies, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA. Many were also built under licence in Australia, Belgium, Canada and Japan. Modified versions, including the Avro 504N, were also produced and exported.
British intervention forces brought about thirty or more Avro 504Ks to Russia during the Civil War and at least twelve of them were captured and used by the RKKVF: 2280, 3707, 3710, 9673, 9678, 9747, 9749, 9754, 9756, 9757 and 9758 (probably including E3707, E3710, H9673, H9678, H9747, H9749, H9754, H9756, H9757 and H9758). The Soviet purchase of surplus aviation equipment in Great Britain in 1922 included ten Avro 504Ks with 110hp Le Rhone engines (2055, 5498, 6646, 7479, 9479, 9501, 9571, 9589, 9605 and 9610, probably H2055, J5498, H6646, H7479, E9479, E9501, H9571, H9589, H9605 and H9610). They were delivered on board the Miranda to Leningrad in May 1922 along with a new float-equipped Avro 504 (probably an Avro 504L) powered by a 130hp Clerget (c/n 5041). The Avro 504L was a more powerful float-equipped version of the Avro 504K and the prototype flew in 1919. It had single-step main floats and a small tail float, and differed from the Avro 504K by having a large fin. The Soviet example was assembled in Leningrad and flown for the first time in August 1922.
The Avro 504Ks were used by the 1st Aviation School at Kacha (ten from 1922) and the Moscow School of Military Pilots (five, including three that had been used by the Sevastopol school in 1921). The 7th Aviaotryad at Khar'kov also had one. The float- equipped example was issued to the 1st Otdel'nyi Razvedivatel'nyi Gidrootryad at Oranienbaum.
One of the Avros captured during the Civil War was taken near Petrozavodsk in the summer of 1919. It was dismantled and transported to GAZ No. 1 in Moscow, where it was studied in detail and copied by a team led by Nikolai Polikarpov. Production drawings were prepared and sent to GAZ No. 5 Samolet in Moscow, where production started late in 1922. The first aircraft built was almost certainly c/n 165, tested at the NOA until March 1923. It had a span of 10.97m and a wing area of 30.6m2, which was reduced to 10.85m and 30.0 m2 respectively on later production aircraft. Length was 8.72m, some 25cm less than the original Avro, while weight had increased by 40kg. The NOA received other Avros from GAZ No. 5 production; c/n 177 in April 1923 and c/ns 272 and 274 in March 1924. When Soviet-made (GAZ No. 4) M-11 copies of the 120hp Le Rhone became available they were fitted in place of original engines.
In 1925 production was discontinued in Moscow and moved to GAZ No. 3 Krasnyi letchik in Leningrad, where it continued until 1931. It also seems that the RVZ No. 2 repair shop at Nizhnii-Novgorod built a few Avros in addition to repair and rebuilding work. The 'repair numbers' 243-252 were allocated to Avros that were to have built but this batch was later cancelled, 272-275 were probably delivered in 1924, 302-331 were ordered in 1923 and delivered in 1924, and another sixteen (unnumbered) were cancelled. In 1925 the VVS designation U-3 was assigned to the Avro trainer and although this was changed to U-1 in 1926 the earlier designation was still in use in 1927. The MU-1 seaplane was fitted with floats of simplified construction, which weighed 170kg compared to the 211kg of the original British floats. Unlike the original Avro-built floatplane the MU-1 had no fin and no tail float. Although the floats were lighter it seems that the MU-1's empty weight had gone up in comparison with the original, from 640kg to 840kg.
It was planned in 1922 to build thirty-three Avros in the following year. GAZ No. 5 production amounted to at least 207 aircraft (c/ns 165 to 371 noted), which were delivered between 1923 and 1925. The following GAZ No. 3 production batches are known: 1794-1797 (four MU-1s), 1798, 1799 (two U-1s), 1800-1805 (six MU-1s), 1806-1833 (twenty-eight U-1s), 1834, 1835 (two MU-1s), 1836-1848 (thirteen U-1s), 1912-1981 (70 U-1s), 1992- 2001 (ten U-1s), 2002-2011 (ten MU-1s), 2012-2089 (seventy-eight U-1s), 2152-2236 (eighty-five U-1s), 2237- 2256 (twenty MU-1s), 2312-2390 (seventy-nine U-1s), 2391-2406 (sixteen MU-1s), -2497-2564- and -2636-2663- (possibly 2496-2670 U-1s)
According to Shavrov's Istoriya konstruktsii samoletov v SSSR do 1938 a total of 737 U-1s was built, including seventy-three MU-1s. The number of aircraft delivered to the VVS between November 1923 and April 1931 was 657. To this should be added those delivered earlier in 1923 and later in 1931, and those delivered to Osoaviakhim in 1931. On 1 October, 1923, fifty-one were in RKKVF service including the captured and imported machines. Two hundred were in service in 1927 and in 1930 the number had risen to over three hundred. Regarding the float-equipped MU-1 an order for twelve was issued in 1923, but the first two were not delivered until 1925. Ten were in service at the end of 1926. Another ten were ordered in February 1927 and there were forty-four in service at the end of 1930.
The U-1 became the first VVS standard trainer and replaced Farmans, Nieuports, Moranes and many other old types at the flying schools. It was used at the 1st Voennaya shkola letchikov (Military School of Pilots) at Kacha and the 2nd Voennaya shkola letchikov at Borisoglebsk. These schools had between ten and twenty U-1s each in 1923 and between eighty and ninety in 1927. A few were also used by the Training eskadril'ya, later Akademiya VVF, the 1st Vysshaya shkola voennykh letchikov (Higher School of Military Pilots) in Moscow and by the Vysshaya shkola KVF at Egorevsk. During the later 1920s the Voenno-teoreticheskaya shkola (Military-Theoretical School) in Leningrad and the Voennaya shkola vozdushnogo boya (Military School of Aerial Combat) at Orenburg also received U-1s. The Orenburg school, which became the 3rd Voennaya shkola letchikov in 1928, had about seventy U-1s in 1931. The new 7th and 8th Voennye shkoly letchikov at Stalingrad and Odessa, respectively, received U-1s from 1929.
The MU-1s were used by the Voennaya shkola morskikh letchikov (Military School of Naval Pilots) at Sevastopol, which moved to Eisk on the Sea of Azov in 1930. During the second half of the 1920s one or two MU-1s were also assigned to the the 55th and 62nd Aviaotryady, the 87th and 88th Training Aviaotryady, and to the commander of the 9th Aviahrigada. The ship-based aviazven'ya of the cruisers Chervona Ukraina and Profmtern each had a few MU-1s. By November 1933 nineteen MU-1s remained but in 1934 the last of this type were replaced by Shavrov Sh-2s.
Small numbers of U-1s were used by a few other training establishments and by the NOA and the NII VVS. Some were issued to operational units as hacks for liaison and training duties, including the 1st OIAE, the 1st ORAO, the 1st OOTA, the 82nd, 84th and 85th Training otryady. In June 1930 operational units in the Moscow, Leningrad, Belorussian and Ukrainian Military Districts had U-1s (six in each district). In November 1933 a total of 249 U-1s remained but they were soon replaced by Polikarpov U-2s at the VVS schools. One U-1 was used for experiments with rocket-assisted takeoff in Leningrad in 1931 (pilot S I Mukhin), when take-offs in less than two seconds were achieved. Another U-1 was converted into the KASKR autogyro in 1929 (see Kamov-Skrzhinsky KASKR, Autogyros and Helicopters section). U-1s were exported to China (Canton Government in 1925), Persia (five in July 1928) and possibly Mongolia (two in 1925).
The U-1 was also used by civil organisations. Dobrolet wanted to try the type as a crop duster and acquired one from the VVS. It was registered ДЛ-16 (DL-16) (c/n 339) on 15 August 1928, which changed to CCCP-110 in 1929. This machine crashed and was replaced by another one, CCCP-195, at the end of that year. The U-1 was not very successful in the crop dusting role so the last-mentioned example plus another were transferred to the Leningrad Training Centre and the 3rd Combined Aviation School in 1931. One aircraft (c/n 2034) was given to the TsVIRL by the VVS in June 1929.
The Osoaviakhim schools were supplied with U-1s beginning in 1928 when the the Penza school received two in July and the Khar'kov school received two, soon followed by another three (Deti Oktyabrya, Krasnyi militsioner Ukrainy and Zhilkooperatsiya Ukrainy). The Moscow school got four (numbered 1 to 4, one named Delegatka) in February 1929. Two of these were registered CCCP-312 (c/n 353) and CCCP-313 (c/n 2161). The Zaporozh'e branch of Osoaviakhim received c/n 308. Most of the 1931 production seems to have been for Osoaviakhim, which used the U-1 until 1935 as a trainer and as a tug for gliders and sailplanes.
Starting in 1930 the U-1 was replaced by the Polikarpov U-2, but with a proportion of the wing covering taken off the U-1 remained in use as a taxiing trainer for many years. Thousands of civil and military Soviet pilots were trained on the U-1, which was regarded as a good trainer. It was simple to fly, although somewhat unstable. The thin wing profile caused loss of lift at high angles of attack and this brought about a tendency to stall. Pupils were told that the U-1 did not forgive mistakes.
U-1 (MU-1)
120hp M-2
Span 10.85 (10.97) m; length 8.78 (9.85) m; height 3.21 (3.58) m; wing area 30 m2
Empty weight 600 (840)kg; loaded weight 840 (l,080)kg, alternative specification: Empty weight 650(815)kg; loaded weight 860(1,055) kg
Maximum speed 139 (136) km/h; landing speed 70 (75) km/h; climb to 1,000m in 5.5 (9.1); ceiling 4,500 (3,100) m; endurance 1.5hr; range 195km
Soviet aircraft mere normally fitted with skis in the winter. The first U-1 trainer (Avro 504K copy) mas completed in 1923.
The U-1 and R-1 (in the background) were the standard VVS training types in the second half of the 1920s and early 1930s.
An MU-1 (c/n 2253) of the Military School of Naval Pilots at Sevastopol, circa 1930. The MU-1 was a float-equipped copy of the Avro 504K.
The float-equipped version of the U-1 was called MU-1 and was used at the Military School of Naval Pilots at Sevastopol.
Bristol F.2B Fighter
The Bristol F.2B Fighter, of which one (2049, possibly ex-E2049) was captured by the Red Army during the Civil War, was a two-seat reconnaissance, light bomber and fighter aircraft. It was easily recognised by having its fuselage mounted midway between the upper and lower mainplanes, with a gap between the lower wing and the fuselage. Armament consisted of one forward-firing machine gun, one or two machine-guns mounted on a ring in the observer's cockpit and up to 120kg of bombs. The F.2A first flew in September 1916 and about 4,500 were built until 1919 of the F.2B model, which served with the RAF in great numbers and was also used by the air forces in Afghanistan, Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Spain, the USA and Yugoslavia.
A second example (identified as c/n 1088) was obtained in Britain in connection with other aircraft purchases for evaluation and was delivered in May 1922. It was assigned to the Martinsyde-equipped 2nd Otdel'naya istrebitel'naya aviatsionnaya eskadril'ya in Moscow after being tested and the other F.2B was issued to the 2nd Otdel'nyi istrebitel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad in Kiev after it had been repaired. Both were used as trainers until withdrawn from use in 1925.
300hp Hispano-Suiza 8Fb
Span 11.97m; length 7.57m; height 2.9m; wing area 37.63m2
Empty weight 940kg; loaded weight 1,360kg
Maximum speed 191km/h; landing speed 75km/h; climb to 2,000m in 7.2min; ceiling 6,100m; endurance 3hr
The Bristol F.2B Fighter, of which one (2049, possibly ex-E2049) was captured by the Red Army during the Civil War, was a two-seat reconnaissance, light bomber and fighter aircraft. It was easily recognised by having its fuselage mounted midway between the upper and lower mainplanes, with a gap between the lower wing and the fuselage. Armament consisted of one forward-firing machine gun, one or two machine-guns mounted on a ring in the observer's cockpit and up to 120kg of bombs. The F.2A first flew in September 1916 and about 4,500 were built until 1919 of the F.2B model, which served with the RAF in great numbers and was also used by the air forces in Afghanistan, Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Spain, the USA and Yugoslavia.
A second example (identified as c/n 1088) was obtained in Britain in connection with other aircraft purchases for evaluation and was delivered in May 1922. It was assigned to the Martinsyde-equipped 2nd Otdel'naya istrebitel'naya aviatsionnaya eskadril'ya in Moscow after being tested and the other F.2B was issued to the 2nd Otdel'nyi istrebitel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad in Kiev after it had been repaired. Both were used as trainers until withdrawn from use in 1925.
300hp Hispano-Suiza 8Fb
Span 11.97m; length 7.57m; height 2.9m; wing area 37.63m2
Empty weight 940kg; loaded weight 1,360kg
Maximum speed 191km/h; landing speed 75km/h; climb to 2,000m in 7.2min; ceiling 6,100m; endurance 3hr
One Bristol F.2B Fighter was captured during the Civil War and one was purchased from Great Britain for evaluation during 1922. Both served as trainers until withdrawn from use in 1925.
De Havilland D.H. 4, D.H.9, R-1 and variants
First flown in August 1916, the de Havilland D.H.4 became regarded as one of the best reconnaissance and bomber aircraft of the First World War. It was a two-seat two-bay biplane of wire-braced wooden construction covered with plywood and fabric. The fuselage was of rectangular cross-section with four longerons and connecting struts braced by steel wires, strengthened with plywood covering. The cockpits were located rather far apart with the main fuel tanks between the seats, the pilot being seated right below the upper wing. Standard armament consisted of one synchronised forward-firing Vickers machine-gun mounted on top of the fuselage, a single or twin Lewis gun on a Scarff ring for the observer, and 410kg of bombs carried on racks under the fuselage and wings. A variety of water-cooled inline engines were fitted in production aircraft including the 230hp Siddeley Puma, the 200hp RAF 3A, the 250hp Rolls-Royce III, the 260hp Fiat, the 375hp Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII and the 400hp Liberty 12.
The staggered two-spar wings were of parallel chord and equal span. The spars were lightened by spindling between the ribs. A gravity fuel tank was located in the centre section of the upper wing. The ailerons were unbalanced. The tailplane was fitted with variable-incidence gear and the fin and rudder were of typical de Havilland shape with horn-balanced rudder and unbalanced elevators. The undercarriage was of normal type with a one-piece axle and rubber shock absorbers. A total of 1,449 D.H.4s was built in Great Britain and the American aviation industry produced another 4,846, which were later rebuilt and converted into a large number of different versions.
Fifty D.H.4s powered by the 240hp Fiat engine had been ordered by the Russian Government from Great Britain. They were never delivered but drawings were provided for licence production in 1917 and arrived at the Duks factory in Moscow, later GAZ No. 1, in the autumn of that year. A Royal Air Force flight of eight D.H.4s supported the Allied landing at Murmansk in June 1918 and Fiat-powered D.H.4s were later used in North Russia and at Baku. More than 160 D.H.9s and D.H.9As were used by the British Expeditionary Forces in North and South Russia or supplied to the White Russians.
In 1918, after the Revolution, N N Polikarpov was assigned the task of preparing manufacture of the D.H.4 in Moscow, but production could not start until suitable engines had become available in the form of 240hp Fiat A 12s. Two machines, almost certainly the first two, were completed by GAZ No. 1 in 1920 and flown on 2 June (c/n 2262) and 15 June (c/n 2293). In 1921 a first batch of at least twenty- one aircraft was built (c/ns including 2301-2321, probably 2294-2321), followed by a second batch of forty (c/ns 2397-2436) in 1922-23. The construction numbers 2437-2470 were probably reserved for D.H.4s, too, as plans existed in 1922 to produce during the next year thirty-five D.H.4s with Maybach engines in addition to thirty-nine with Fiats.
The Fiat-powered D.H.4s were the only examples of this model not having a frontal radiator, permitting the use of a close fitting engine cowling, not unlike the one designed for the D.H.9. On British-built aircraft the radiator was usually located between the front undercarriage legs, but the GAZ No. 1 version had two radiators attached to the sides of the forward fuselage, or a single radiator fitted above the centre section of the upper wing. Skis could be fitted in place of wheels for winter operations. One aircraft was modified in 1923 with streamlined steel-tube interplane struts. In 1924 another was fitted with wings of thicker aerofoil section designed by V V Kalinin and V L Moiseenko, and one was tested with a 260hp Maybach engine. Little influence on performance was noticed and production switched to the D.H.9 instead.
The RKKVF captured at least five American-built Liberty-engined DH-4Bs, including four numbered 63893, 63934, 63945 and 63954. In 1921 most of the ten or fifteen D.H.4s in service were moved from the Ukraine to Tambov. In 1922 Aviaeskadra No. 2 and the 2nd otryad of the DVK had D.H.4s, and a few were used by the School of Military Pilots in Moscow and the Military School of Observers at Leningrad. After additional aircraft had been produced the D.H.4 also served with the 3rd Otdel'nyi razvedi-vatel'nyi aviaotryad at Gomel' and the 13th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Luga, but most were transferred to the 16th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad (later 8th) at Irkutsk in 1924. The 1st, 3rd and 5th Otdel'nye razvedivatel'nye aviatsionnye eskadrilii, the 1st, 5th, 12th, 15th and 17th Otdel'nye razvedivatel'nye aviaotryady and the VVS headquarters of the Leningrad Military District also had small numbers of D.H.4s, as did the NOA/NII VVS.
When the D.H.4 was relegated to the training role in 1925 most aircraft were handed over to the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow, the Strel'bom school at Serpukhov, later Orenburg, the Training Eskadril'ya, later Akademiya VVS, and a few other VVS training establishments. The last of the DH-4Bs (c/n 63954) was used as a trainer by the VVS Headquarters of the Leningrad Military District and it was written off in 1929. The last Soviet-built D.H.4 was also in service until 1929. This was c/n 2408, which apparently was tested with a 180hp Fiat engine at the Nil VVS before being scrapped. D.H.4s were handed over to Aviakhim at Kursk in 1925 and Irkutsk in January 1926, but these examples were no longer airworthy.
D.H.4 - GAZ No. 1-built
240hp Fiat A-12
Span 13.04m; length 9.4m; height 3.2m; wing area 39.5 m2
Empty weight (early production) 1,160 (1,056) kg; loaded weight 1,585 (1,550) kg
Maximum speed 151km/h; landing speed 80km/h; climb to 1,000m in 8min; ceiling 4,000m; endurance 3hr; range 450km
First flown in August 1916, the de Havilland D.H.4 became regarded as one of the best reconnaissance and bomber aircraft of the First World War. It was a two-seat two-bay biplane of wire-braced wooden construction covered with plywood and fabric. The fuselage was of rectangular cross-section with four longerons and connecting struts braced by steel wires, strengthened with plywood covering. The cockpits were located rather far apart with the main fuel tanks between the seats, the pilot being seated right below the upper wing. Standard armament consisted of one synchronised forward-firing Vickers machine-gun mounted on top of the fuselage, a single or twin Lewis gun on a Scarff ring for the observer, and 410kg of bombs carried on racks under the fuselage and wings. A variety of water-cooled inline engines were fitted in production aircraft including the 230hp Siddeley Puma, the 200hp RAF 3A, the 250hp Rolls-Royce III, the 260hp Fiat, the 375hp Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII and the 400hp Liberty 12.
The staggered two-spar wings were of parallel chord and equal span. The spars were lightened by spindling between the ribs. A gravity fuel tank was located in the centre section of the upper wing. The ailerons were unbalanced. The tailplane was fitted with variable-incidence gear and the fin and rudder were of typical de Havilland shape with horn-balanced rudder and unbalanced elevators. The undercarriage was of normal type with a one-piece axle and rubber shock absorbers. A total of 1,449 D.H.4s was built in Great Britain and the American aviation industry produced another 4,846, which were later rebuilt and converted into a large number of different versions.
Fifty D.H.4s powered by the 240hp Fiat engine had been ordered by the Russian Government from Great Britain. They were never delivered but drawings were provided for licence production in 1917 and arrived at the Duks factory in Moscow, later GAZ No. 1, in the autumn of that year. A Royal Air Force flight of eight D.H.4s supported the Allied landing at Murmansk in June 1918 and Fiat-powered D.H.4s were later used in North Russia and at Baku. More than 160 D.H.9s and D.H.9As were used by the British Expeditionary Forces in North and South Russia or supplied to the White Russians.
In 1918, after the Revolution, N N Polikarpov was assigned the task of preparing manufacture of the D.H.4 in Moscow, but production could not start until suitable engines had become available in the form of 240hp Fiat A 12s. Two machines, almost certainly the first two, were completed by GAZ No. 1 in 1920 and flown on 2 June (c/n 2262) and 15 June (c/n 2293). In 1921 a first batch of at least twenty- one aircraft was built (c/ns including 2301-2321, probably 2294-2321), followed by a second batch of forty (c/ns 2397-2436) in 1922-23. The construction numbers 2437-2470 were probably reserved for D.H.4s, too, as plans existed in 1922 to produce during the next year thirty-five D.H.4s with Maybach engines in addition to thirty-nine with Fiats.
The Fiat-powered D.H.4s were the only examples of this model not having a frontal radiator, permitting the use of a close fitting engine cowling, not unlike the one designed for the D.H.9. On British-built aircraft the radiator was usually located between the front undercarriage legs, but the GAZ No. 1 version had two radiators attached to the sides of the forward fuselage, or a single radiator fitted above the centre section of the upper wing. Skis could be fitted in place of wheels for winter operations. One aircraft was modified in 1923 with streamlined steel-tube interplane struts. In 1924 another was fitted with wings of thicker aerofoil section designed by V V Kalinin and V L Moiseenko, and one was tested with a 260hp Maybach engine. Little influence on performance was noticed and production switched to the D.H.9 instead.
The RKKVF captured at least five American-built Liberty-engined DH-4Bs, including four numbered 63893, 63934, 63945 and 63954. In 1921 most of the ten or fifteen D.H.4s in service were moved from the Ukraine to Tambov. In 1922 Aviaeskadra No. 2 and the 2nd otryad of the DVK had D.H.4s, and a few were used by the School of Military Pilots in Moscow and the Military School of Observers at Leningrad. After additional aircraft had been produced the D.H.4 also served with the 3rd Otdel'nyi razvedi-vatel'nyi aviaotryad at Gomel' and the 13th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Luga, but most were transferred to the 16th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad (later 8th) at Irkutsk in 1924. The 1st, 3rd and 5th Otdel'nye razvedivatel'nye aviatsionnye eskadrilii, the 1st, 5th, 12th, 15th and 17th Otdel'nye razvedivatel'nye aviaotryady and the VVS headquarters of the Leningrad Military District also had small numbers of D.H.4s, as did the NOA/NII VVS.
When the D.H.4 was relegated to the training role in 1925 most aircraft were handed over to the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow, the Strel'bom school at Serpukhov, later Orenburg, the Training Eskadril'ya, later Akademiya VVS, and a few other VVS training establishments. The last of the DH-4Bs (c/n 63954) was used as a trainer by the VVS Headquarters of the Leningrad Military District and it was written off in 1929. The last Soviet-built D.H.4 was also in service until 1929. This was c/n 2408, which apparently was tested with a 180hp Fiat engine at the Nil VVS before being scrapped. D.H.4s were handed over to Aviakhim at Kursk in 1925 and Irkutsk in January 1926, but these examples were no longer airworthy.
D.H.4 - GAZ No. 1-built
240hp Fiat A-12
Span 13.04m; length 9.4m; height 3.2m; wing area 39.5 m2
Empty weight (early production) 1,160 (1,056) kg; loaded weight 1,585 (1,550) kg
Maximum speed 151km/h; landing speed 80km/h; climb to 1,000m in 8min; ceiling 4,000m; endurance 3hr; range 450km
De Havilland D.H. 4, D.H.9, R-1 and variants
Lacking resources for development of advanced and specialized aircraft the fledgling Soviet aviation industry copied what was at hand when production started again after the Civil War, a proven, reliable, versatile aircraft of simple construction - the de Havilland D.H.9 which later became known as the R-1 in the Soviet Union. Being used for reconnaissance, artillery observation, light bombing, attack, civil and military training, maritime patrol, seaplane training, liaison, target-towing, mail-carrying, experiments and in other roles, the R-1 was the Soviet aircraft of the 1920s. Nine different types of engines were installed in de Havilland and R-1 aircraft; Liberty, Siddeley Puma, Fiat, Rolls-Royce Eagle, Mercedes, M-5, Maybach, BMW and Lorraine-Dietrich, but the M-5-powered R-1s were the most numerous.
The D.H.9 was structurally similar to its predecessor and used identical wings and tail section, but the pilot's cockpit was moved back behind the fuel tanks and the forward part of the fuselage was better streamlined. A retractable radiator was fitted under the front fuselage. A D.H.4 was converted to the new standard and tested in July 1917, whereupon production immediately switched to the new model. Most of the D.H.9s were powered by the 230hp Siddeley Puma, but with this engine the new model was under-powered and, in fact, inferior in performance to the D.H.4 which it was to supplement rather than replace. The D.H.9A appeared in 1918. Developed by the Westland Aircraft company, it combined the 400hp Liberty engine and frontal radiator with the best features of the D.H.4 and D.H.9. The fuselage was strengthened by replacing the plywood partitions of the D.H.9 with wire cross bracing and wings of greater span were fitted to improve climb and ceiling.
After the war surplus D.H.9 and D.H.9A aircraft were reconditioned and exported, many by the Aircraft Disposal Company, or used for civil purposes and in the 1920s D.H.4, D.H.9 and D.H.9A aircraft served with the military air services of Arabia, Argentina (one only), Australia, Bolivia, Belgium, Canada, Cuba, Chile, Mexico, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Holland, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Spain, South Africa, Turkey, the USA and the USSR.
By the end of 1920 nineteen captured Puma-engined D.H.9s and Liberty-engined D.H.9As were on charge. They were used mostly in the Ukraine and in Caucasia. More were repaired and put into service during the following year and by December 1921 forty-three were flying with RKKVF units. The authorities in Moscow had noted the reliability of the de Havilland types and when the opportunity arose to purchase more such aircraft from Britain there was no hesitation. The Secretary of the Royal Swedish Aero Club, Torsten Gullberg, who had been discussing an airline project with the Soviet Government offered to supply aircraft to the USSR in the spring of 1921. He contacted the Aircraft Disposal Company and began negotiations concerning reconditioned D.H.9s without engines. In Sweden he acquired 260hp Mercedes engines which had been smuggled out from Germany after the war and stored. A contract for forty aircraft and forty-eight engines was signed on 22 December 1921.
E I Gvaita went to England for inspection and acceptance of the aircraft. Four of the engines were sent to England and installed in each of the aircraft, which were then shipped from London to Leningrad on board the Swedish freighter Miranda. They arrived on 4 June 1922. The engines were shipped separately from Sweden. Anton Nilsson, another Swede who had joined the RKKVF as a pilot, was sent to Leningrad to supervise unloading of the consignments. These D.H.9s had the following s/ns: 1243, 1285, 2803, 5580, 5582, 5671, 5703, 5713, 5720, 5729, 5744-5746, 5748, 5752, 5758, 5778, 5786, 5795, 5800, 5803, 5805, 5808, 5811-5813, 5815, 5817, 5819, 5821, 5826-5828, 5832, 5841, 5846, 9152, 9165, 9334 and 9350 (most were almost certainly from the D and H serial batches). The first aircraft assembled by RVZ No. 1 and tested by Savin on 14 August was s/n 5817. Two aircraft (s/ns 5778 and 5813) were kept at the NOA.
One D.H.9A fitted with the 320hp Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engine was delivered in May 1922 for evaluation and in 1923 ten D.H.9As with 400hp Liberty and twenty D.H.9s with 220hp Puma engines were acquired from England via the Arcos Company. The Saturn arrived at Leningrad from London via Antwerp and Reval with seventeen of these aircraft in October 1923. Another four D.H.9As (Liberty engine) and twenty-two D.H.9s (Puma engine) followed in August 1924. In VVS documents the Rolls-Royce powered aircraft is identified as number 16105, but A J Jackson's De Havilland Aircraft since 1909 (Putnam, third edition, 1987) gives this aircraft as c/n 37. The ten D.H.9As were s/ ns 157 to 160, 2866, 2870, 3457, 3647, 3649, and 8802. The twenty D.H.9s were s/ns 138, 168, 206 to 213, 255, 468, 636, 1209, 5541, 5814, 9277, 9290, 9294 and 9329. The twenty-two D.H.9s delivered in 1924 were probably H5855, H5864, H5880, H9242, H9250, H9252, H9260, H9275, H9278, H9283, H9285, H9297, H9298, H9302, H9309, II9311, H9313, H9330, H9341 and H9309 which received British Cs of A in July 1924, and two others.
The British-built D.H.9s were used by the 1st Otdel'naya razvedivatel'naya aviaeskadril'ya at Ukhtomskaya, Moscow, the 2nd Otdel'naya razvedivatel'naya aviaeskadril'ya at Vitebsk and the 5th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Gomel' until 1924. One or two served with the 3rd, 6th, 10th, 13th and 14th Otdel'nye razvedivatel'nye aviaotryady in 1922-24, and later with the 17th and 83rd Aviaotryady and the 20th and 24th Aviaeskadrilii. The 4th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Tashkent received about ten in 1924 and used them into 1925, but four of these were flown to Kabul in October and handed over to the Afghanistan Government.
The Il'ich otryad, named after Lenin, whose middle name was Il'ich, was formed in April 1924 at Khar'kov. Twelve D.H.9As arrived in December 1923 and were assembled locally. Nine of these aircraft were handed over with ceremony by the ODVF on 18 May, 1924 and were followed by another four in June and July. They were given names including Donetskii shakhter, Krasnyi Kievlyanin, (Jkrainskii chekist, Shakhter Donhassa, Stalinskii proletarii, Profsoyuzy Ekaterinoslavshchiny, Samolet Sumshchiny, Yuzovskii proletarii, Chervonii vartovik podolii, Nezamoshnik Odesshchiny and Proletarii Odesshchiny (Donets Miner, Red Kiev Inhabitant, Ukrainian Cheka Officer, Miner of the Donbass, Stalin Proletarian, Trade-Unions of the Ekaterinoslav Region, Aircraft of the Sumy Area, Yuzovka Proletarian, Red Guard of Podol'e, Odessa Pauper, Odessa Pro-letarian). The D.H.9As of this unit were replaced, however, by Soviet- built R-ls before the end of the year.
The Mercedes-powered D.H.9s were withdrawn from use completely in 1925 and nineteen were handed over to Dobrolet along with forty-seven engines in 1927. Ten, and later one more, were assembled and the rest were reduced to spares. The Dobrolet D.H.9s did not receive normal civil registrations and had large white numbers painted on the fuselage sides instead, which were treated as registration numbers in the paperwork. After having been tested with little suc-cess as crop-dusters the civil D.H.9s were then assigned to photographic- work. Only three were actually sent on aerial photography missions in 1927 and one in 1928. All but four, which were re-registered CCCP-112 to CCCP-115, were then written off, the last example being cancelled in 1930. In 1928 the VVS offered Dobrolet twenty-eight additional D.H.9s, of which many were unserviceable, and a large number of extra wings, but the offer was refused.
Mercedes-engined D.H.9s used by Dobrolet
Reg Reg 1929 C/n In Service Notes
1 9152 2.27-6.29
2 CCCP-112 5826 4.27-29/30
3 1285 5.27-6.29 Crashed 11.28
4 2803 5.27-6.29
5 CCCP-113 5746 6.27-29/30
6 5778 7.27-6.29 Crashed 6.28
7 CCCP-114 5813 3.28-29/30
ДЛ-8 CCCP-115 9350 4.28-29/30
ДЛ-9 5821 3.28-6.29
ДЛ-10 5580 3.28-6.28 Crashed 22.6.28
ДЛ-11 5817 .29-29/30 Probably CCCP-116 ntu
In addition to service with the reconnaissance units, the Puma-engined D.H.9s and Liberty-engined D.H.9As were also used as trainers, before they were withdrawn from the reconnaissance units in 1924. They remained until 1928, most with the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow, but some were flown at the 2nd School of Military Pilots, the Strel'bom school, the Military School of Special Service, the Military-Technical School, the 83rd Training Eskadril'ya and the Akademiya VVS. A few were also assigned to the NOA.
D.H.9 (D.H.9A), original aircraft
260hp Mercedes D.IVa (400hp Liberty 12)
Span 12.94 (14) m; length 9.38 (9.22) m; height (3.45) m; wing area 40 (45.22) m2
Empty weight 1,200 (1,270) kg; loaded weight 1,720 (2~100) kg
Maximum speed 170 (193) km/h; landing speed 95 (90) km/h; climb to 1,000m in 6.5 (4) min; ceiling 4,580 (5,100) m; endurance 4 (5.5) hr; range 680 (750) km
Lacking resources for development of advanced and specialized aircraft the fledgling Soviet aviation industry copied what was at hand when production started again after the Civil War, a proven, reliable, versatile aircraft of simple construction - the de Havilland D.H.9 which later became known as the R-1 in the Soviet Union. Being used for reconnaissance, artillery observation, light bombing, attack, civil and military training, maritime patrol, seaplane training, liaison, target-towing, mail-carrying, experiments and in other roles, the R-1 was the Soviet aircraft of the 1920s. Nine different types of engines were installed in de Havilland and R-1 aircraft; Liberty, Siddeley Puma, Fiat, Rolls-Royce Eagle, Mercedes, M-5, Maybach, BMW and Lorraine-Dietrich, but the M-5-powered R-1s were the most numerous.
The D.H.9 was structurally similar to its predecessor and used identical wings and tail section, but the pilot's cockpit was moved back behind the fuel tanks and the forward part of the fuselage was better streamlined. A retractable radiator was fitted under the front fuselage. A D.H.4 was converted to the new standard and tested in July 1917, whereupon production immediately switched to the new model. Most of the D.H.9s were powered by the 230hp Siddeley Puma, but with this engine the new model was under-powered and, in fact, inferior in performance to the D.H.4 which it was to supplement rather than replace. The D.H.9A appeared in 1918. Developed by the Westland Aircraft company, it combined the 400hp Liberty engine and frontal radiator with the best features of the D.H.4 and D.H.9. The fuselage was strengthened by replacing the plywood partitions of the D.H.9 with wire cross bracing and wings of greater span were fitted to improve climb and ceiling.
After the war surplus D.H.9 and D.H.9A aircraft were reconditioned and exported, many by the Aircraft Disposal Company, or used for civil purposes and in the 1920s D.H.4, D.H.9 and D.H.9A aircraft served with the military air services of Arabia, Argentina (one only), Australia, Bolivia, Belgium, Canada, Cuba, Chile, Mexico, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Holland, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Spain, South Africa, Turkey, the USA and the USSR.
By the end of 1920 nineteen captured Puma-engined D.H.9s and Liberty-engined D.H.9As were on charge. They were used mostly in the Ukraine and in Caucasia. More were repaired and put into service during the following year and by December 1921 forty-three were flying with RKKVF units. The authorities in Moscow had noted the reliability of the de Havilland types and when the opportunity arose to purchase more such aircraft from Britain there was no hesitation. The Secretary of the Royal Swedish Aero Club, Torsten Gullberg, who had been discussing an airline project with the Soviet Government offered to supply aircraft to the USSR in the spring of 1921. He contacted the Aircraft Disposal Company and began negotiations concerning reconditioned D.H.9s without engines. In Sweden he acquired 260hp Mercedes engines which had been smuggled out from Germany after the war and stored. A contract for forty aircraft and forty-eight engines was signed on 22 December 1921.
E I Gvaita went to England for inspection and acceptance of the aircraft. Four of the engines were sent to England and installed in each of the aircraft, which were then shipped from London to Leningrad on board the Swedish freighter Miranda. They arrived on 4 June 1922. The engines were shipped separately from Sweden. Anton Nilsson, another Swede who had joined the RKKVF as a pilot, was sent to Leningrad to supervise unloading of the consignments. These D.H.9s had the following s/ns: 1243, 1285, 2803, 5580, 5582, 5671, 5703, 5713, 5720, 5729, 5744-5746, 5748, 5752, 5758, 5778, 5786, 5795, 5800, 5803, 5805, 5808, 5811-5813, 5815, 5817, 5819, 5821, 5826-5828, 5832, 5841, 5846, 9152, 9165, 9334 and 9350 (most were almost certainly from the D and H serial batches). The first aircraft assembled by RVZ No. 1 and tested by Savin on 14 August was s/n 5817. Two aircraft (s/ns 5778 and 5813) were kept at the NOA.
One D.H.9A fitted with the 320hp Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engine was delivered in May 1922 for evaluation and in 1923 ten D.H.9As with 400hp Liberty and twenty D.H.9s with 220hp Puma engines were acquired from England via the Arcos Company. The Saturn arrived at Leningrad from London via Antwerp and Reval with seventeen of these aircraft in October 1923. Another four D.H.9As (Liberty engine) and twenty-two D.H.9s (Puma engine) followed in August 1924. In VVS documents the Rolls-Royce powered aircraft is identified as number 16105, but A J Jackson's De Havilland Aircraft since 1909 (Putnam, third edition, 1987) gives this aircraft as c/n 37. The ten D.H.9As were s/ ns 157 to 160, 2866, 2870, 3457, 3647, 3649, and 8802. The twenty D.H.9s were s/ns 138, 168, 206 to 213, 255, 468, 636, 1209, 5541, 5814, 9277, 9290, 9294 and 9329. The twenty-two D.H.9s delivered in 1924 were probably H5855, H5864, H5880, H9242, H9250, H9252, H9260, H9275, H9278, H9283, H9285, H9297, H9298, H9302, H9309, II9311, H9313, H9330, H9341 and H9309 which received British Cs of A in July 1924, and two others.
The British-built D.H.9s were used by the 1st Otdel'naya razvedivatel'naya aviaeskadril'ya at Ukhtomskaya, Moscow, the 2nd Otdel'naya razvedivatel'naya aviaeskadril'ya at Vitebsk and the 5th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Gomel' until 1924. One or two served with the 3rd, 6th, 10th, 13th and 14th Otdel'nye razvedivatel'nye aviaotryady in 1922-24, and later with the 17th and 83rd Aviaotryady and the 20th and 24th Aviaeskadrilii. The 4th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Tashkent received about ten in 1924 and used them into 1925, but four of these were flown to Kabul in October and handed over to the Afghanistan Government.
The Il'ich otryad, named after Lenin, whose middle name was Il'ich, was formed in April 1924 at Khar'kov. Twelve D.H.9As arrived in December 1923 and were assembled locally. Nine of these aircraft were handed over with ceremony by the ODVF on 18 May, 1924 and were followed by another four in June and July. They were given names including Donetskii shakhter, Krasnyi Kievlyanin, (Jkrainskii chekist, Shakhter Donhassa, Stalinskii proletarii, Profsoyuzy Ekaterinoslavshchiny, Samolet Sumshchiny, Yuzovskii proletarii, Chervonii vartovik podolii, Nezamoshnik Odesshchiny and Proletarii Odesshchiny (Donets Miner, Red Kiev Inhabitant, Ukrainian Cheka Officer, Miner of the Donbass, Stalin Proletarian, Trade-Unions of the Ekaterinoslav Region, Aircraft of the Sumy Area, Yuzovka Proletarian, Red Guard of Podol'e, Odessa Pauper, Odessa Pro-letarian). The D.H.9As of this unit were replaced, however, by Soviet- built R-ls before the end of the year.
The Mercedes-powered D.H.9s were withdrawn from use completely in 1925 and nineteen were handed over to Dobrolet along with forty-seven engines in 1927. Ten, and later one more, were assembled and the rest were reduced to spares. The Dobrolet D.H.9s did not receive normal civil registrations and had large white numbers painted on the fuselage sides instead, which were treated as registration numbers in the paperwork. After having been tested with little suc-cess as crop-dusters the civil D.H.9s were then assigned to photographic- work. Only three were actually sent on aerial photography missions in 1927 and one in 1928. All but four, which were re-registered CCCP-112 to CCCP-115, were then written off, the last example being cancelled in 1930. In 1928 the VVS offered Dobrolet twenty-eight additional D.H.9s, of which many were unserviceable, and a large number of extra wings, but the offer was refused.
Mercedes-engined D.H.9s used by Dobrolet
Reg Reg 1929 C/n In Service Notes
1 9152 2.27-6.29
2 CCCP-112 5826 4.27-29/30
3 1285 5.27-6.29 Crashed 11.28
4 2803 5.27-6.29
5 CCCP-113 5746 6.27-29/30
6 5778 7.27-6.29 Crashed 6.28
7 CCCP-114 5813 3.28-29/30
ДЛ-8 CCCP-115 9350 4.28-29/30
ДЛ-9 5821 3.28-6.29
ДЛ-10 5580 3.28-6.28 Crashed 22.6.28
ДЛ-11 5817 .29-29/30 Probably CCCP-116 ntu
In addition to service with the reconnaissance units, the Puma-engined D.H.9s and Liberty-engined D.H.9As were also used as trainers, before they were withdrawn from the reconnaissance units in 1924. They remained until 1928, most with the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow, but some were flown at the 2nd School of Military Pilots, the Strel'bom school, the Military School of Special Service, the Military-Technical School, the 83rd Training Eskadril'ya and the Akademiya VVS. A few were also assigned to the NOA.
D.H.9 (D.H.9A), original aircraft
260hp Mercedes D.IVa (400hp Liberty 12)
Span 12.94 (14) m; length 9.38 (9.22) m; height (3.45) m; wing area 40 (45.22) m2
Empty weight 1,200 (1,270) kg; loaded weight 1,720 (2~100) kg
Maximum speed 170 (193) km/h; landing speed 95 (90) km/h; climb to 1,000m in 6.5 (4) min; ceiling 4,580 (5,100) m; endurance 4 (5.5) hr; range 680 (750) km
Several de Havilland D.H. 9s were captured during the Civil War and others were purchased from Great Britain in 1922-24.
De Havilland D.H. 4, D.H.9, R-1 and variants
Lacking resources for development of advanced and specialized aircraft the fledgling Soviet aviation industry copied what was at hand when production started again after the Civil War, a proven, reliable, versatile aircraft of simple construction - the de Havilland D.H.9 which later became known as the R-1 in the Soviet Union. Being used for reconnaissance, artillery observation, light bombing, attack, civil and military training, maritime patrol, seaplane training, liaison, target-towing, mail-carrying, experiments and in other roles, the R-1 was the Soviet aircraft of the 1920s. Nine different types of engines were installed in de Havilland and R-1 aircraft; Liberty, Siddeley Puma, Fiat, Rolls-Royce Eagle, Mercedes, M-5, Maybach, BMW and Lorraine-Dietrich, but the M-5-powered R-1s were the most numerous.
The D.H.9 was structurally similar to its predecessor and used identical wings and tail section, but the pilot's cockpit was moved back behind the fuel tanks and the forward part of the fuselage was better streamlined. A retractable radiator was fitted under the front fuselage. A D.H.4 was converted to the new standard and tested in July 1917, whereupon production immediately switched to the new model. Most of the D.H.9s were powered by the 230hp Siddeley Puma, but with this engine the new model was under-powered and, in fact, inferior in performance to the D.H.4 which it was to supplement rather than replace. The D.H.9A appeared in 1918. Developed by the Westland Aircraft company, it combined the 400hp Liberty engine and frontal radiator with the best features of the D.H.4 and D.H.9. The fuselage was strengthened by replacing the plywood partitions of the D.H.9 with wire cross bracing and wings of greater span were fitted to improve climb and ceiling.
After the war surplus D.H.9 and D.H.9A aircraft were reconditioned and exported, many by the Aircraft Disposal Company, or used for civil purposes and in the 1920s D.H.4, D.H.9 and D.H.9A aircraft served with the military air services of Arabia, Argentina (one only), Australia, Bolivia, Belgium, Canada, Cuba, Chile, Mexico, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Holland, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Spain, South Africa, Turkey, the USA and the USSR.
By the end of 1920 nineteen captured Puma-engined D.H.9s and Liberty-engined D.H.9As were on charge. They were used mostly in the Ukraine and in Caucasia. More were repaired and put into service during the following year and by December 1921 forty-three were flying with RKKVF units. The authorities in Moscow had noted the reliability of the de Havilland types and when the opportunity arose to purchase more such aircraft from Britain there was no hesitation. The Secretary of the Royal Swedish Aero Club, Torsten Gullberg, who had been discussing an airline project with the Soviet Government offered to supply aircraft to the USSR in the spring of 1921. He contacted the Aircraft Disposal Company and began negotiations concerning reconditioned D.H.9s without engines. In Sweden he acquired 260hp Mercedes engines which had been smuggled out from Germany after the war and stored. A contract for forty aircraft and forty-eight engines was signed on 22 December 1921.
E I Gvaita went to England for inspection and acceptance of the aircraft. Four of the engines were sent to England and installed in each of the aircraft, which were then shipped from London to Leningrad on board the Swedish freighter Miranda. They arrived on 4 June 1922. The engines were shipped separately from Sweden. Anton Nilsson, another Swede who had joined the RKKVF as a pilot, was sent to Leningrad to supervise unloading of the consignments. These D.H.9s had the following s/ns: 1243, 1285, 2803, 5580, 5582, 5671, 5703, 5713, 5720, 5729, 5744-5746, 5748, 5752, 5758, 5778, 5786, 5795, 5800, 5803, 5805, 5808, 5811-5813, 5815, 5817, 5819, 5821, 5826-5828, 5832, 5841, 5846, 9152, 9165, 9334 and 9350 (most were almost certainly from the D and H serial batches). The first aircraft assembled by RVZ No. 1 and tested by Savin on 14 August was s/n 5817. Two aircraft (s/ns 5778 and 5813) were kept at the NOA.
One D.H.9A fitted with the 320hp Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engine was delivered in May 1922 for evaluation and in 1923 ten D.H.9As with 400hp Liberty and twenty D.H.9s with 220hp Puma engines were acquired from England via the Arcos Company. The Saturn arrived at Leningrad from London via Antwerp and Reval with seventeen of these aircraft in October 1923. Another four D.H.9As (Liberty engine) and twenty-two D.H.9s (Puma engine) followed in August 1924. In VVS documents the Rolls-Royce powered aircraft is identified as number 16105, but A J Jackson's De Havilland Aircraft since 1909 (Putnam, third edition, 1987) gives this aircraft as c/n 37. The ten D.H.9As were s/ ns 157 to 160, 2866, 2870, 3457, 3647, 3649, and 8802. The twenty D.H.9s were s/ns 138, 168, 206 to 213, 255, 468, 636, 1209, 5541, 5814, 9277, 9290, 9294 and 9329. The twenty-two D.H.9s delivered in 1924 were probably H5855, H5864, H5880, H9242, H9250, H9252, H9260, H9275, H9278, H9283, H9285, H9297, H9298, H9302, H9309, II9311, H9313, H9330, H9341 and H9309 which received British Cs of A in July 1924, and two others.
The British-built D.H.9s were used by the 1st Otdel'naya razvedivatel'naya aviaeskadril'ya at Ukhtomskaya, Moscow, the 2nd Otdel'naya razvedivatel'naya aviaeskadril'ya at Vitebsk and the 5th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Gomel' until 1924. One or two served with the 3rd, 6th, 10th, 13th and 14th Otdel'nye razvedivatel'nye aviaotryady in 1922-24, and later with the 17th and 83rd Aviaotryady and the 20th and 24th Aviaeskadrilii. The 4th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Tashkent received about ten in 1924 and used them into 1925, but four of these were flown to Kabul in October and handed over to the Afghanistan Government.
The Il'ich otryad, named after Lenin, whose middle name was Il'ich, was formed in April 1924 at Khar'kov. Twelve D.H.9As arrived in December 1923 and were assembled locally. Nine of these aircraft were handed over with ceremony by the ODVF on 18 May, 1924 and were followed by another four in June and July. They were given names including Donetskii shakhter, Krasnyi Kievlyanin, (Jkrainskii chekist, Shakhter Donhassa, Stalinskii proletarii, Profsoyuzy Ekaterinoslavshchiny, Samolet Sumshchiny, Yuzovskii proletarii, Chervonii vartovik podolii, Nezamoshnik Odesshchiny and Proletarii Odesshchiny (Donets Miner, Red Kiev Inhabitant, Ukrainian Cheka Officer, Miner of the Donbass, Stalin Proletarian, Trade-Unions of the Ekaterinoslav Region, Aircraft of the Sumy Area, Yuzovka Proletarian, Red Guard of Podol'e, Odessa Pauper, Odessa Pro-letarian). The D.H.9As of this unit were replaced, however, by Soviet- built R-ls before the end of the year.
The Mercedes-powered D.H.9s were withdrawn from use completely in 1925 and nineteen were handed over to Dobrolet along with forty-seven engines in 1927. Ten, and later one more, were assembled and the rest were reduced to spares. The Dobrolet D.H.9s did not receive normal civil registrations and had large white numbers painted on the fuselage sides instead, which were treated as registration numbers in the paperwork. After having been tested with little suc-cess as crop-dusters the civil D.H.9s were then assigned to photographic- work. Only three were actually sent on aerial photography missions in 1927 and one in 1928. All but four, which were re-registered CCCP-112 to CCCP-115, were then written off, the last example being cancelled in 1930. In 1928 the VVS offered Dobrolet twenty-eight additional D.H.9s, of which many were unserviceable, and a large number of extra wings, but the offer was refused.
Mercedes-engined D.H.9s used by Dobrolet
Reg Reg 1929 C/n In Service Notes
1 9152 2.27-6.29
2 CCCP-112 5826 4.27-29/30
3 1285 5.27-6.29 Crashed 11.28
4 2803 5.27-6.29
5 CCCP-113 5746 6.27-29/30
6 5778 7.27-6.29 Crashed 6.28
7 CCCP-114 5813 3.28-29/30
ДЛ-8 CCCP-115 9350 4.28-29/30
ДЛ-9 5821 3.28-6.29
ДЛ-10 5580 3.28-6.28 Crashed 22.6.28
ДЛ-11 5817 .29-29/30 Probably CCCP-116 ntu
In addition to service with the reconnaissance units, the Puma-engined D.H.9s and Liberty-engined D.H.9As were also used as trainers, before they were withdrawn from the reconnaissance units in 1924. They remained until 1928, most with the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow, but some were flown at the 2nd School of Military Pilots, the Strel'bom school, the Military School of Special Service, the Military-Technical School, the 83rd Training Eskadril'ya and the Akademiya VVS. A few were also assigned to the NOA.
D.H.9 (D.H.9A), original aircraft
260hp Mercedes D.IVa (400hp Liberty 12)
Span 12.94 (14) m; length 9.38 (9.22) m; height (3.45) m; wing area 40 (45.22) m2
Empty weight 1,200 (1,270) kg; loaded weight 1,720 (2~100) kg
Maximum speed 170 (193) km/h; landing speed 95 (90) km/h; climb to 1,000m in 6.5 (4) min; ceiling 4,580 (5,100) m; endurance 4 (5.5) hr; range 680 (750) km
Lacking resources for development of advanced and specialized aircraft the fledgling Soviet aviation industry copied what was at hand when production started again after the Civil War, a proven, reliable, versatile aircraft of simple construction - the de Havilland D.H.9 which later became known as the R-1 in the Soviet Union. Being used for reconnaissance, artillery observation, light bombing, attack, civil and military training, maritime patrol, seaplane training, liaison, target-towing, mail-carrying, experiments and in other roles, the R-1 was the Soviet aircraft of the 1920s. Nine different types of engines were installed in de Havilland and R-1 aircraft; Liberty, Siddeley Puma, Fiat, Rolls-Royce Eagle, Mercedes, M-5, Maybach, BMW and Lorraine-Dietrich, but the M-5-powered R-1s were the most numerous.
The D.H.9 was structurally similar to its predecessor and used identical wings and tail section, but the pilot's cockpit was moved back behind the fuel tanks and the forward part of the fuselage was better streamlined. A retractable radiator was fitted under the front fuselage. A D.H.4 was converted to the new standard and tested in July 1917, whereupon production immediately switched to the new model. Most of the D.H.9s were powered by the 230hp Siddeley Puma, but with this engine the new model was under-powered and, in fact, inferior in performance to the D.H.4 which it was to supplement rather than replace. The D.H.9A appeared in 1918. Developed by the Westland Aircraft company, it combined the 400hp Liberty engine and frontal radiator with the best features of the D.H.4 and D.H.9. The fuselage was strengthened by replacing the plywood partitions of the D.H.9 with wire cross bracing and wings of greater span were fitted to improve climb and ceiling.
After the war surplus D.H.9 and D.H.9A aircraft were reconditioned and exported, many by the Aircraft Disposal Company, or used for civil purposes and in the 1920s D.H.4, D.H.9 and D.H.9A aircraft served with the military air services of Arabia, Argentina (one only), Australia, Bolivia, Belgium, Canada, Cuba, Chile, Mexico, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Holland, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Spain, South Africa, Turkey, the USA and the USSR.
By the end of 1920 nineteen captured Puma-engined D.H.9s and Liberty-engined D.H.9As were on charge. They were used mostly in the Ukraine and in Caucasia. More were repaired and put into service during the following year and by December 1921 forty-three were flying with RKKVF units. The authorities in Moscow had noted the reliability of the de Havilland types and when the opportunity arose to purchase more such aircraft from Britain there was no hesitation. The Secretary of the Royal Swedish Aero Club, Torsten Gullberg, who had been discussing an airline project with the Soviet Government offered to supply aircraft to the USSR in the spring of 1921. He contacted the Aircraft Disposal Company and began negotiations concerning reconditioned D.H.9s without engines. In Sweden he acquired 260hp Mercedes engines which had been smuggled out from Germany after the war and stored. A contract for forty aircraft and forty-eight engines was signed on 22 December 1921.
E I Gvaita went to England for inspection and acceptance of the aircraft. Four of the engines were sent to England and installed in each of the aircraft, which were then shipped from London to Leningrad on board the Swedish freighter Miranda. They arrived on 4 June 1922. The engines were shipped separately from Sweden. Anton Nilsson, another Swede who had joined the RKKVF as a pilot, was sent to Leningrad to supervise unloading of the consignments. These D.H.9s had the following s/ns: 1243, 1285, 2803, 5580, 5582, 5671, 5703, 5713, 5720, 5729, 5744-5746, 5748, 5752, 5758, 5778, 5786, 5795, 5800, 5803, 5805, 5808, 5811-5813, 5815, 5817, 5819, 5821, 5826-5828, 5832, 5841, 5846, 9152, 9165, 9334 and 9350 (most were almost certainly from the D and H serial batches). The first aircraft assembled by RVZ No. 1 and tested by Savin on 14 August was s/n 5817. Two aircraft (s/ns 5778 and 5813) were kept at the NOA.
One D.H.9A fitted with the 320hp Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engine was delivered in May 1922 for evaluation and in 1923 ten D.H.9As with 400hp Liberty and twenty D.H.9s with 220hp Puma engines were acquired from England via the Arcos Company. The Saturn arrived at Leningrad from London via Antwerp and Reval with seventeen of these aircraft in October 1923. Another four D.H.9As (Liberty engine) and twenty-two D.H.9s (Puma engine) followed in August 1924. In VVS documents the Rolls-Royce powered aircraft is identified as number 16105, but A J Jackson's De Havilland Aircraft since 1909 (Putnam, third edition, 1987) gives this aircraft as c/n 37. The ten D.H.9As were s/ ns 157 to 160, 2866, 2870, 3457, 3647, 3649, and 8802. The twenty D.H.9s were s/ns 138, 168, 206 to 213, 255, 468, 636, 1209, 5541, 5814, 9277, 9290, 9294 and 9329. The twenty-two D.H.9s delivered in 1924 were probably H5855, H5864, H5880, H9242, H9250, H9252, H9260, H9275, H9278, H9283, H9285, H9297, H9298, H9302, H9309, II9311, H9313, H9330, H9341 and H9309 which received British Cs of A in July 1924, and two others.
The British-built D.H.9s were used by the 1st Otdel'naya razvedivatel'naya aviaeskadril'ya at Ukhtomskaya, Moscow, the 2nd Otdel'naya razvedivatel'naya aviaeskadril'ya at Vitebsk and the 5th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Gomel' until 1924. One or two served with the 3rd, 6th, 10th, 13th and 14th Otdel'nye razvedivatel'nye aviaotryady in 1922-24, and later with the 17th and 83rd Aviaotryady and the 20th and 24th Aviaeskadrilii. The 4th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Tashkent received about ten in 1924 and used them into 1925, but four of these were flown to Kabul in October and handed over to the Afghanistan Government.
The Il'ich otryad, named after Lenin, whose middle name was Il'ich, was formed in April 1924 at Khar'kov. Twelve D.H.9As arrived in December 1923 and were assembled locally. Nine of these aircraft were handed over with ceremony by the ODVF on 18 May, 1924 and were followed by another four in June and July. They were given names including Donetskii shakhter, Krasnyi Kievlyanin, (Jkrainskii chekist, Shakhter Donhassa, Stalinskii proletarii, Profsoyuzy Ekaterinoslavshchiny, Samolet Sumshchiny, Yuzovskii proletarii, Chervonii vartovik podolii, Nezamoshnik Odesshchiny and Proletarii Odesshchiny (Donets Miner, Red Kiev Inhabitant, Ukrainian Cheka Officer, Miner of the Donbass, Stalin Proletarian, Trade-Unions of the Ekaterinoslav Region, Aircraft of the Sumy Area, Yuzovka Proletarian, Red Guard of Podol'e, Odessa Pauper, Odessa Pro-letarian). The D.H.9As of this unit were replaced, however, by Soviet- built R-ls before the end of the year.
The Mercedes-powered D.H.9s were withdrawn from use completely in 1925 and nineteen were handed over to Dobrolet along with forty-seven engines in 1927. Ten, and later one more, were assembled and the rest were reduced to spares. The Dobrolet D.H.9s did not receive normal civil registrations and had large white numbers painted on the fuselage sides instead, which were treated as registration numbers in the paperwork. After having been tested with little suc-cess as crop-dusters the civil D.H.9s were then assigned to photographic- work. Only three were actually sent on aerial photography missions in 1927 and one in 1928. All but four, which were re-registered CCCP-112 to CCCP-115, were then written off, the last example being cancelled in 1930. In 1928 the VVS offered Dobrolet twenty-eight additional D.H.9s, of which many were unserviceable, and a large number of extra wings, but the offer was refused.
Mercedes-engined D.H.9s used by Dobrolet
Reg Reg 1929 C/n In Service Notes
1 9152 2.27-6.29
2 CCCP-112 5826 4.27-29/30
3 1285 5.27-6.29 Crashed 11.28
4 2803 5.27-6.29
5 CCCP-113 5746 6.27-29/30
6 5778 7.27-6.29 Crashed 6.28
7 CCCP-114 5813 3.28-29/30
ДЛ-8 CCCP-115 9350 4.28-29/30
ДЛ-9 5821 3.28-6.29
ДЛ-10 5580 3.28-6.28 Crashed 22.6.28
ДЛ-11 5817 .29-29/30 Probably CCCP-116 ntu
In addition to service with the reconnaissance units, the Puma-engined D.H.9s and Liberty-engined D.H.9As were also used as trainers, before they were withdrawn from the reconnaissance units in 1924. They remained until 1928, most with the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow, but some were flown at the 2nd School of Military Pilots, the Strel'bom school, the Military School of Special Service, the Military-Technical School, the 83rd Training Eskadril'ya and the Akademiya VVS. A few were also assigned to the NOA.
D.H.9 (D.H.9A), original aircraft
260hp Mercedes D.IVa (400hp Liberty 12)
Span 12.94 (14) m; length 9.38 (9.22) m; height (3.45) m; wing area 40 (45.22) m2
Empty weight 1,200 (1,270) kg; loaded weight 1,720 (2~100) kg
Maximum speed 170 (193) km/h; landing speed 95 (90) km/h; climb to 1,000m in 6.5 (4) min; ceiling 4,580 (5,100) m; endurance 4 (5.5) hr; range 680 (750) km
Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard
Designed by G A Handasyde, the Martinsyde F.3 single-seat biplane fighter first flew in November 1917. It was armed with two synchronised machine-guns enclosed by the engine cowling and it was powered by a 275hp Rolls-Royce Falcon III engine. Only seven F.3s were built, but the re-engined F.4 version was ordered in large numbers. This type had a different lower wing of narrower chord and the cockpit had been moved aft to improve downwards view. It was one of the fastest fighters of its time but was not adopted by the RAF and most of the large production contacts were cancelled after the Armistice. The few already delivered to the RAF were used on second-line duties only. The Armistice prevented the Martinsyde fighter from proving itself operationally and most of those built for the RAF were acquired by the Aircraft Disposal Company in 1920 and a number was later sold abroad.
The Martinsyde F.4 was powered by a 300hp Hispano-Suiza 8Fb eight-cylinder water-cooled engine driving a 2.7m diameter Lang two-blade wooden propeller. A frontal radiator was fitted and fuel capacity was 173 litres. The fuselage was made in two parts. The structure of the forward section consisted of solid hickory longerons and spruce spacers and it was covered by birch three-ply, the rear section having spruce longerons and fabric covering. Two fixed forward-firing 7.7mm Vickers machine-guns were located ahead of the cockpit, housed within the top fuselage decking which had gun muzzle blast troughs.
The wing spars were built of three laminations of spruce. Each wing panel had four box compression ribs and numerous former ribs. The tail unit was of fabric-covered wood. The narrow undercarriage consisted of V-struts made of spruce with rubber chord shock absorbers.
About 330 Martinsyde F.4s were built before production was halted in 1919. A contract for 1,500 Liberty-powered Martinsyde F.3s had been placed by the American authorities but this order was also soon cancelled. One F.4 was taken to Japan by a British aviation mission in 1921 and two other examples were presented to Poland and Portugal in 1921. The Martinsyde company tried to survive for some time and made a racing version of the F.4, a number of two-seat conversions and other variants, but it soon had to close down. The F.4 was then marketed by the Aircraft Disposal Company. Portugal bought three in 1923 and Spain acquired at least 25. Four were sold to Ireland, two to Lithuania and one to Finland for evaluation, followed by another fourteen in 1927. In 1926 Uruguay received one and Latvia bought one normal F.4 and seven ADC Is, which were conversions of the F.4 powered by an Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar radial engine. A few F.4s were also flown in British civil markings.
The RKKVF authorities acquired the Martinsyde F.4 for re-equipment of some of its fighter units. Twenty were ordered by the Soviet Government from the Aircraft Disposal Company and arrived in Leningrad on board the Miranda in May 1922, followed by another twenty-one in the autumn of 1923. The RAF serial numbers of these aircraft were D4271-4273, D4276, D4277, D4280, D4282, D4283, D4288, D4289, D4291, D4292, D4304, H7633, H7685, H7686, H7690, H7691, H7693, H7698, H7703, H7706-7712, H7715, H7720, H7723, H7724, H7728, H7735, H7749, H7751, H7757, H7758, H7774, H7775 and H7794. Twenty-five were in service by September 1923 and a year later thirty-eight were on charge. When the original Hispano-Suiza engines became worn out after some time they were replaced by the Soviet-built 290hp M-6 copy.
The Martinsyde fighters were assigned to the 2nd Otdel'naya Istrebit'elnaya Aviaeskadril'ya based at Ukhtomskaya, near Moscow, and served with this unit until withdrawn from operational use when the unit was disbanded in 1926-27. After having been in service for two-and-a-half years thirty-one of the Martinsydes were presented to the VVS in connection with an official ceremony at the Central Airport in Moscow on 17 May 1925. Soviet railway and waterway workers had formed a special committee for an aviation fund in 1924, which had supervised the subscription of some 750,000 roubles. This money was to be used for the establishment of a VVS eskadril'ya to be named Dzerzhinsky after F E Dzerzhinsky, who is known as the first chief of the Cheka (or ChK - Chrezvychainaya komissiya, Special Commission), the secret political police which became the GPU in 1922. Dzerzhinsky had also held the People's Commissar for Communiations post from 1921.
In what might be described as something of a giant propaganda bluff some 35,000 people were gathered at the Moscow airport to inspect the 'new' Martinsyde fighters which had been given individual names including Proletarskaya oborona, Proletarii, Krasnyi zheleznodorozhnik, Krasnyi gorets, Krasnyi severyanin, Kras- novostochnyi, Strazh revolyutsii, Vsegda golov, Chekist, Serg Ordzhonikadze, Jan Tomp, Pavel Vavilov (Proletarian Defence, Proletarian, Red Railway Worker, Red Mountaineer, Red Northerner, Red Easterner, Revolution Guard, Always Ready, Chekist).
A number of Martinsydes also served in the fighter trainer role with the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow and the Strel'bom school at Serpukhov, later moved to Orenburg. At the end of 1928 the Akademiya VVF had one, the 1st and 2nd Schools of Military Pilots each had two, while the 3rd School of Military Pilots (previously Military School of Aerial Combat and Strel'bom) had ten. Those with the 3rd School were withdrawn from use in 1930, but the 1st School still had two on charge in July 1931.
On 29 June 1928 the Nil VVS received s/n 4280 from Zavod 39 in Moscow, where it had been rebuilt after a crash. At the end of that year some twenty Martinsydes remained and the last three were retired in 1931. Eleven were handed over to Osoaviakhim, but they were probably used as instructional airframes and were not flown.
V B Shavrov mentions in his Istoriya konstruktsii samoletov v SSSR do 1938 a two-seat reconnaissance 'Martinsyde F 16', about which he writes that it had increased span on the upper wing, and that twenty were purchased, but no trace of this type has been found in any original documents.
300hp Hispano-Suiza 8Fb (290hp M-6)
Span 10.06m; length 7.76m; height 2.65m; wing area 29.76sq m
Empty weight 855kg; loaded weight 1,113kg
Maximum speed 212km/h; landing speed 75km/h; climb to 1,000m in 2.2min; ceiling 6,850m; endurance 1 1/2hr; range 330km
Designed by G A Handasyde, the Martinsyde F.3 single-seat biplane fighter first flew in November 1917. It was armed with two synchronised machine-guns enclosed by the engine cowling and it was powered by a 275hp Rolls-Royce Falcon III engine. Only seven F.3s were built, but the re-engined F.4 version was ordered in large numbers. This type had a different lower wing of narrower chord and the cockpit had been moved aft to improve downwards view. It was one of the fastest fighters of its time but was not adopted by the RAF and most of the large production contacts were cancelled after the Armistice. The few already delivered to the RAF were used on second-line duties only. The Armistice prevented the Martinsyde fighter from proving itself operationally and most of those built for the RAF were acquired by the Aircraft Disposal Company in 1920 and a number was later sold abroad.
The Martinsyde F.4 was powered by a 300hp Hispano-Suiza 8Fb eight-cylinder water-cooled engine driving a 2.7m diameter Lang two-blade wooden propeller. A frontal radiator was fitted and fuel capacity was 173 litres. The fuselage was made in two parts. The structure of the forward section consisted of solid hickory longerons and spruce spacers and it was covered by birch three-ply, the rear section having spruce longerons and fabric covering. Two fixed forward-firing 7.7mm Vickers machine-guns were located ahead of the cockpit, housed within the top fuselage decking which had gun muzzle blast troughs.
The wing spars were built of three laminations of spruce. Each wing panel had four box compression ribs and numerous former ribs. The tail unit was of fabric-covered wood. The narrow undercarriage consisted of V-struts made of spruce with rubber chord shock absorbers.
About 330 Martinsyde F.4s were built before production was halted in 1919. A contract for 1,500 Liberty-powered Martinsyde F.3s had been placed by the American authorities but this order was also soon cancelled. One F.4 was taken to Japan by a British aviation mission in 1921 and two other examples were presented to Poland and Portugal in 1921. The Martinsyde company tried to survive for some time and made a racing version of the F.4, a number of two-seat conversions and other variants, but it soon had to close down. The F.4 was then marketed by the Aircraft Disposal Company. Portugal bought three in 1923 and Spain acquired at least 25. Four were sold to Ireland, two to Lithuania and one to Finland for evaluation, followed by another fourteen in 1927. In 1926 Uruguay received one and Latvia bought one normal F.4 and seven ADC Is, which were conversions of the F.4 powered by an Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar radial engine. A few F.4s were also flown in British civil markings.
The RKKVF authorities acquired the Martinsyde F.4 for re-equipment of some of its fighter units. Twenty were ordered by the Soviet Government from the Aircraft Disposal Company and arrived in Leningrad on board the Miranda in May 1922, followed by another twenty-one in the autumn of 1923. The RAF serial numbers of these aircraft were D4271-4273, D4276, D4277, D4280, D4282, D4283, D4288, D4289, D4291, D4292, D4304, H7633, H7685, H7686, H7690, H7691, H7693, H7698, H7703, H7706-7712, H7715, H7720, H7723, H7724, H7728, H7735, H7749, H7751, H7757, H7758, H7774, H7775 and H7794. Twenty-five were in service by September 1923 and a year later thirty-eight were on charge. When the original Hispano-Suiza engines became worn out after some time they were replaced by the Soviet-built 290hp M-6 copy.
The Martinsyde fighters were assigned to the 2nd Otdel'naya Istrebit'elnaya Aviaeskadril'ya based at Ukhtomskaya, near Moscow, and served with this unit until withdrawn from operational use when the unit was disbanded in 1926-27. After having been in service for two-and-a-half years thirty-one of the Martinsydes were presented to the VVS in connection with an official ceremony at the Central Airport in Moscow on 17 May 1925. Soviet railway and waterway workers had formed a special committee for an aviation fund in 1924, which had supervised the subscription of some 750,000 roubles. This money was to be used for the establishment of a VVS eskadril'ya to be named Dzerzhinsky after F E Dzerzhinsky, who is known as the first chief of the Cheka (or ChK - Chrezvychainaya komissiya, Special Commission), the secret political police which became the GPU in 1922. Dzerzhinsky had also held the People's Commissar for Communiations post from 1921.
In what might be described as something of a giant propaganda bluff some 35,000 people were gathered at the Moscow airport to inspect the 'new' Martinsyde fighters which had been given individual names including Proletarskaya oborona, Proletarii, Krasnyi zheleznodorozhnik, Krasnyi gorets, Krasnyi severyanin, Kras- novostochnyi, Strazh revolyutsii, Vsegda golov, Chekist, Serg Ordzhonikadze, Jan Tomp, Pavel Vavilov (Proletarian Defence, Proletarian, Red Railway Worker, Red Mountaineer, Red Northerner, Red Easterner, Revolution Guard, Always Ready, Chekist).
A number of Martinsydes also served in the fighter trainer role with the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow and the Strel'bom school at Serpukhov, later moved to Orenburg. At the end of 1928 the Akademiya VVF had one, the 1st and 2nd Schools of Military Pilots each had two, while the 3rd School of Military Pilots (previously Military School of Aerial Combat and Strel'bom) had ten. Those with the 3rd School were withdrawn from use in 1930, but the 1st School still had two on charge in July 1931.
On 29 June 1928 the Nil VVS received s/n 4280 from Zavod 39 in Moscow, where it had been rebuilt after a crash. At the end of that year some twenty Martinsydes remained and the last three were retired in 1931. Eleven were handed over to Osoaviakhim, but they were probably used as instructional airframes and were not flown.
V B Shavrov mentions in his Istoriya konstruktsii samoletov v SSSR do 1938 a two-seat reconnaissance 'Martinsyde F 16', about which he writes that it had increased span on the upper wing, and that twenty were purchased, but no trace of this type has been found in any original documents.
300hp Hispano-Suiza 8Fb (290hp M-6)
Span 10.06m; length 7.76m; height 2.65m; wing area 29.76sq m
Empty weight 855kg; loaded weight 1,113kg
Maximum speed 212km/h; landing speed 75km/h; climb to 1,000m in 2.2min; ceiling 6,850m; endurance 1 1/2hr; range 330km
A total of forty-one Martinsyde F.4 fighters were purchased from Great Britain in two batches in 1922-23. They were assigned to the 2nd Fighter aviaeskadril'ya based near Moscow.
Norman-Thompson NT.2b Flying-boat
The three-seat Norman-Thompson NT.2b Flying-boat was a biplane with pusher engine. Its most distinctive feature was the unusually big triangular fin with high-set tailplane. It had an enclosed cabin and could be fitted with skis for winter operation from ice or snow. Other than a few examples obtained by Estonia and Peru, and one acquired by the RKKVF, no Norman-Thompson Flying-boats were sold to foreign military users. The one imported to the Soviet Union (3312, probably ex-N3312, later identified as c/n? 1622) arrived in May 1922 and after evaluation it was assigned to the 1st Razvedivatel'nyi gidrootryad at Oranienbaum. It was then transferred to Sevastopol and used for liaison duties. It was written off in 1925.
220hp Wolseley Viper
Span 14.76m; length 8.35m
Loaded weight 1,710kg
Maximum speed 140km/h; ceiling 3,500m
The three-seat Norman-Thompson NT.2b Flying-boat was a biplane with pusher engine. Its most distinctive feature was the unusually big triangular fin with high-set tailplane. It had an enclosed cabin and could be fitted with skis for winter operation from ice or snow. Other than a few examples obtained by Estonia and Peru, and one acquired by the RKKVF, no Norman-Thompson Flying-boats were sold to foreign military users. The one imported to the Soviet Union (3312, probably ex-N3312, later identified as c/n? 1622) arrived in May 1922 and after evaluation it was assigned to the 1st Razvedivatel'nyi gidrootryad at Oranienbaum. It was then transferred to Sevastopol and used for liaison duties. It was written off in 1925.
220hp Wolseley Viper
Span 14.76m; length 8.35m
Loaded weight 1,710kg
Maximum speed 140km/h; ceiling 3,500m
Line-up of Nieuport 24bis fighters with a couple of B.E.2es at the end of the line, Moscow 1922. K K Artseulov at front between the two nearest aircraft.
Sopwith 1 1/2-Strutter
The single-bay biplane known as the 'Sopvich' in the Soviet Union had long sloping struts between the fuselage and the upper wing and was originally named Sopwith 1 1/2-Strutter because of these extra centre section struts. Developed in 1915 primarily for the Royal Naval Air Service, it was delivered to that Service from February 1916, but was soon accepted by the Royal Flying Corps as well. The Sopwith was an immediate success in the reconnaissance, patrol and day bombing roles. The pilot's fixed Vickers machine-gun was mounted on the centre line of the forward fuselage and it was one of the first British aircraft fitted with a machine-gun firing through the propeller arc by means of interrupter gear. Furthermore the famous Scarff gun ring-mounting was first developed for the 1 1/2-Strutter.
Apart from the strut arrangement and the armament the 1 1/2-Strutter was of conventional design for its period. A circular cowling enclosed the rotary engine which drove a two-blade wooden propeller. The pilot's cockpit was located well forward of the leading edge of the lower wing, while the rear cockpit was behind the trailing edge of the upper wing. The rudder and elevators were unbalanced and the fin had a peculiar rounded forward end. The staggered wings were straight and of parallel chord and unbalanced ailerons were fitted. British- and French-built versions had different wire bracing arrangement. The undercarriage was of normal V type.
In addition to the reconnaissance version there were single-seat and two-seat bomber versions and many aircraft were built as trainers without the gun ring in the rear cockpit. Over 1,500 were produced in Great Britain and more than 4,000 in France, as the Sopwith 1A2, Sopwith 1B2 and Sopwith 1B1 (single-seat). The 1 1/2-Strutter was also used by Belgium, Russia and the USA. After the war it served with the air forces of Japan and Romania and, in small numbers, also in a few other countries.
Some 125 Sopwith 1 1/2-Strutters were delivered to Russia from Great Britain and a number was built under licence. At least thirty-four were taken over by the RKKVF in 1917 and several were captured in 1919-1920, both British- and French-built examples. The Soviet Latvian Air Force had seven in 1918-19. Some were captured from the RKKVF in 1919 - at least one by Latvian troops, one by Estonia and one by Lithuania (A 1527, which became the first aircraft of that country's air force). Most Sopwiths used by the RKKVF had 130hp Clerget engines, but some were fitted with the 120hp Le Rhone. The Sopwith was one of the most numerous aircraft types in the RKKVF before 1922 and many were also built by Duks in Moscow, later GAZ No. 1 Aviakhim. One was modified by V P Grigorev at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute and fitted with a 185hp Opel engine and an undercarriage taken from a Rumpler.
At the end of 1920 a total of 130 Sopwiths were in service, of which eighty-two remained one year later. In 1921 they served in all military districts but the largest numbers were assigned to the Eastern Front district, North Caucasia, Caucasia, the Ukraine, Kiev, Khar'kov, Turkestan and the 5th Army in Siberia. A few aircraft were added to the inventory, the last batch built by GAZ No. 1 in 1922 consisted of about twenty-five machines (c/ns 2322-2346 probably). The Sopwith served with the following RKKVF units:
Until 1922: the 3rd, 9th, 11th, 15th and 18th Aviaotryady
Until 1923: the'15th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Smolensk (120 and 130hp Sopwith lA2s) and the 1st Razvedivatel'naya eskadril'ya of the Aviatsionnaya eskadra No. 2 at Kiev (2nd otryad only initially)
Until 1924: the 7th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Klin (from 1923), the 10th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Rostov (from 1922, also had Halberstadts and Rumplers), the 16th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Irkutsk (from 1922) and the 17th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Chita (1924 only)
Until 1925: the 18th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Chita (from 1922).
Single examples were used by many other units and by the NOA. Relegated to second-line roles the Sopwith was assigned to the aviabazy and in small numbers to the 1st Military School of Pilots at Kacha, the Higher Military School of Aerial Observers in Leningrad, the Strel'bom school at Serpukhov, the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots, the School of Military Photography and the Training eskadril'ya in Moscow. Sixty-nine remained by October 1924. Many were written off in 1925 but about ten were retained, some until 1929. In December 1928 there were two with the 50th Aviaotryad (c/ns 189 and 8746) and two at the 2nd Voennaya shkola letchikov (c/ns 2322 and 2328).
Some were exported to Afghanistan (one in 1921 and a few more in 1925) and others were handed over to the ODVF late in 1924 and in 1925. These included the following aircraft:
Tomich, flown by Bazhenko and Maslennikov at Tomsk and Novonikolaevsk, Siberia. C/n 1786, flown at Novgorod.
Krasnaya zvezda, flown by Fadeev for the first time after assembly on 8 October 1925 at Yakutsk. Officially presented to the ODVF in November 1925.
Krasnoyarets, flown by Baturin at Krasnoyarsk in 1925.
Stalinets, flown at Stalingrad. Written off in 1926 and given to a museum.
One flown at Orenburg, Bashkiriya, in 1925.
Known identities of Soviet Sopwith 1 1/2-Strutters:
(British- and French-built aircraft) 352/3, 4/H, 5 to 7, 9, 10, 18, 34, 35, 37,39,123,125,126,171,175,189, 200, 214, 219, 238, 241, -/252, 257, 4/258, 260, 296, 298, 299, 301, 302, 306, 326, 339, 402, 418, -/514, 1202/536, 1786, 2000, 2316, 2341-2343, 2357, 2360, 2366, 2368, 2379, 2403, 2407, 2410, 2523, 2557, 2595, 2723, 3131, 3159, 3191, 3407, 4056, 4065, 5760, 4C6078, 6804 and 7046.
(Mostly British-built aircraft) 985, 1000, 1002, 1003, 1006, 1010, 1013, 1015, 1017-1022, 1527, 1552/538, 2383, 2395, 2396, 2398, 2411, 5219, 5247, 5248, 5975, 6925, 6930, 6934, 6950, 8179, 8204, 8266, 8312, 8316, 8323, 8324, 8744, 8746 and 8749 (prob- ablv/possibly including ex-A985, A1527, A1552, N5219, A5247, A5243, A5975, A6925, A6930, A6934, A6950, A8179, A8204, A8266, A8312, A8316, A8323, A8324, A8744, A8746 and A8749)
Aircraft in the 2322-2338 range were probably GAZ No. 1-built.
130hp Clerget
Span 10.2m; length 7.7m; height 3.12m; wing area 32.8m2
Empty weight 593kg; loaded weight 975kg
Maximum speed 149km/h; climb to 1,000m in 4.4min; ceiling 4,700m; endurance 3'zhr
The single-bay biplane known as the 'Sopvich' in the Soviet Union had long sloping struts between the fuselage and the upper wing and was originally named Sopwith 1 1/2-Strutter because of these extra centre section struts. Developed in 1915 primarily for the Royal Naval Air Service, it was delivered to that Service from February 1916, but was soon accepted by the Royal Flying Corps as well. The Sopwith was an immediate success in the reconnaissance, patrol and day bombing roles. The pilot's fixed Vickers machine-gun was mounted on the centre line of the forward fuselage and it was one of the first British aircraft fitted with a machine-gun firing through the propeller arc by means of interrupter gear. Furthermore the famous Scarff gun ring-mounting was first developed for the 1 1/2-Strutter.
Apart from the strut arrangement and the armament the 1 1/2-Strutter was of conventional design for its period. A circular cowling enclosed the rotary engine which drove a two-blade wooden propeller. The pilot's cockpit was located well forward of the leading edge of the lower wing, while the rear cockpit was behind the trailing edge of the upper wing. The rudder and elevators were unbalanced and the fin had a peculiar rounded forward end. The staggered wings were straight and of parallel chord and unbalanced ailerons were fitted. British- and French-built versions had different wire bracing arrangement. The undercarriage was of normal V type.
In addition to the reconnaissance version there were single-seat and two-seat bomber versions and many aircraft were built as trainers without the gun ring in the rear cockpit. Over 1,500 were produced in Great Britain and more than 4,000 in France, as the Sopwith 1A2, Sopwith 1B2 and Sopwith 1B1 (single-seat). The 1 1/2-Strutter was also used by Belgium, Russia and the USA. After the war it served with the air forces of Japan and Romania and, in small numbers, also in a few other countries.
Some 125 Sopwith 1 1/2-Strutters were delivered to Russia from Great Britain and a number was built under licence. At least thirty-four were taken over by the RKKVF in 1917 and several were captured in 1919-1920, both British- and French-built examples. The Soviet Latvian Air Force had seven in 1918-19. Some were captured from the RKKVF in 1919 - at least one by Latvian troops, one by Estonia and one by Lithuania (A 1527, which became the first aircraft of that country's air force). Most Sopwiths used by the RKKVF had 130hp Clerget engines, but some were fitted with the 120hp Le Rhone. The Sopwith was one of the most numerous aircraft types in the RKKVF before 1922 and many were also built by Duks in Moscow, later GAZ No. 1 Aviakhim. One was modified by V P Grigorev at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute and fitted with a 185hp Opel engine and an undercarriage taken from a Rumpler.
At the end of 1920 a total of 130 Sopwiths were in service, of which eighty-two remained one year later. In 1921 they served in all military districts but the largest numbers were assigned to the Eastern Front district, North Caucasia, Caucasia, the Ukraine, Kiev, Khar'kov, Turkestan and the 5th Army in Siberia. A few aircraft were added to the inventory, the last batch built by GAZ No. 1 in 1922 consisted of about twenty-five machines (c/ns 2322-2346 probably). The Sopwith served with the following RKKVF units:
Until 1922: the 3rd, 9th, 11th, 15th and 18th Aviaotryady
Until 1923: the'15th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Smolensk (120 and 130hp Sopwith lA2s) and the 1st Razvedivatel'naya eskadril'ya of the Aviatsionnaya eskadra No. 2 at Kiev (2nd otryad only initially)
Until 1924: the 7th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Klin (from 1923), the 10th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Rostov (from 1922, also had Halberstadts and Rumplers), the 16th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Irkutsk (from 1922) and the 17th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Chita (1924 only)
Until 1925: the 18th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Chita (from 1922).
Single examples were used by many other units and by the NOA. Relegated to second-line roles the Sopwith was assigned to the aviabazy and in small numbers to the 1st Military School of Pilots at Kacha, the Higher Military School of Aerial Observers in Leningrad, the Strel'bom school at Serpukhov, the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots, the School of Military Photography and the Training eskadril'ya in Moscow. Sixty-nine remained by October 1924. Many were written off in 1925 but about ten were retained, some until 1929. In December 1928 there were two with the 50th Aviaotryad (c/ns 189 and 8746) and two at the 2nd Voennaya shkola letchikov (c/ns 2322 and 2328).
Some were exported to Afghanistan (one in 1921 and a few more in 1925) and others were handed over to the ODVF late in 1924 and in 1925. These included the following aircraft:
Tomich, flown by Bazhenko and Maslennikov at Tomsk and Novonikolaevsk, Siberia. C/n 1786, flown at Novgorod.
Krasnaya zvezda, flown by Fadeev for the first time after assembly on 8 October 1925 at Yakutsk. Officially presented to the ODVF in November 1925.
Krasnoyarets, flown by Baturin at Krasnoyarsk in 1925.
Stalinets, flown at Stalingrad. Written off in 1926 and given to a museum.
One flown at Orenburg, Bashkiriya, in 1925.
Known identities of Soviet Sopwith 1 1/2-Strutters:
(British- and French-built aircraft) 352/3, 4/H, 5 to 7, 9, 10, 18, 34, 35, 37,39,123,125,126,171,175,189, 200, 214, 219, 238, 241, -/252, 257, 4/258, 260, 296, 298, 299, 301, 302, 306, 326, 339, 402, 418, -/514, 1202/536, 1786, 2000, 2316, 2341-2343, 2357, 2360, 2366, 2368, 2379, 2403, 2407, 2410, 2523, 2557, 2595, 2723, 3131, 3159, 3191, 3407, 4056, 4065, 5760, 4C6078, 6804 and 7046.
(Mostly British-built aircraft) 985, 1000, 1002, 1003, 1006, 1010, 1013, 1015, 1017-1022, 1527, 1552/538, 2383, 2395, 2396, 2398, 2411, 5219, 5247, 5248, 5975, 6925, 6930, 6934, 6950, 8179, 8204, 8266, 8312, 8316, 8323, 8324, 8744, 8746 and 8749 (prob- ablv/possibly including ex-A985, A1527, A1552, N5219, A5247, A5243, A5975, A6925, A6930, A6934, A6950, A8179, A8204, A8266, A8312, A8316, A8323, A8324, A8744, A8746 and A8749)
Aircraft in the 2322-2338 range were probably GAZ No. 1-built.
130hp Clerget
Span 10.2m; length 7.7m; height 3.12m; wing area 32.8m2
Empty weight 593kg; loaded weight 975kg
Maximum speed 149km/h; climb to 1,000m in 4.4min; ceiling 4,700m; endurance 3'zhr
A Sopwith 1 1/2-Strutter named Krasnyi pobeditel' (Red Victor) with the slogan "Krasnye orly vsekh stran - sletaites" (Red Eagles Of All Countries - Fly Together).
The Sopwith 1 1/2-Strutter was one of the most numerous types in the RKKVF before 1922 and many were built by the Duks (GAZ No. 1) factory in Moscow.
This Sopwith Snipe was named Nelly and flown by G S Sapozhnikov. It crashed on 8 September, 1922, on the Wrangel Front.
Vickers 64 Viking IV
The Vickers Viking amphibian could be fitted with an enclosed cabin for eight passengers or as an open four-seater for reconnaissance and bombing. It was a single-engined pusher biplane with biplane horizontal tail surfaces. The mainwheels could be folded forwards against the hull. Argentina, Canada, France, Japan (two only), the Netherlands East Indies and the USA (one only) ordered Vikings for their air forces and navies.
One example furnished as a six-seat passenger transport (c/n 16) was ordered under contract LK220S by the Russian Trade Delegation at Reval and delivered on 8 September 1922 to Leningrad. It was assembled and test flown in October. After a short period with the 1st Razvedivatel'nyi gidroaviaotryad in Leningrad the Viking was transferred to the 4th Razvedivatel'nyi gidroaviaotryad (later 4th Otdel'nyi morskoi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad) at Sevastopol by L I Giksa in May 1923 and two years later to the 2nd Otdel'nyi morskoi istrebitel'nyi aviaotryad at Odessa. It was then used by the 1st Morskava minonosnaya eskadril'ya at Sevastopol for a short time before being destroyed in a crash when flown by P P Sorokin late in 1926.
450hp Napier Lion II
Span 15.24m; length 10.36m; height 4.32; wing area 60 nv
Empty weight 1.850kg; loaded weight 2,630kg
Maximum speed 170km/h; ceiling 4,300m; endurance 4hr; range 650km
The Vickers Viking amphibian could be fitted with an enclosed cabin for eight passengers or as an open four-seater for reconnaissance and bombing. It was a single-engined pusher biplane with biplane horizontal tail surfaces. The mainwheels could be folded forwards against the hull. Argentina, Canada, France, Japan (two only), the Netherlands East Indies and the USA (one only) ordered Vikings for their air forces and navies.
One example furnished as a six-seat passenger transport (c/n 16) was ordered under contract LK220S by the Russian Trade Delegation at Reval and delivered on 8 September 1922 to Leningrad. It was assembled and test flown in October. After a short period with the 1st Razvedivatel'nyi gidroaviaotryad in Leningrad the Viking was transferred to the 4th Razvedivatel'nyi gidroaviaotryad (later 4th Otdel'nyi morskoi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad) at Sevastopol by L I Giksa in May 1923 and two years later to the 2nd Otdel'nyi morskoi istrebitel'nyi aviaotryad at Odessa. It was then used by the 1st Morskava minonosnaya eskadril'ya at Sevastopol for a short time before being destroyed in a crash when flown by P P Sorokin late in 1926.
450hp Napier Lion II
Span 15.24m; length 10.36m; height 4.32; wing area 60 nv
Empty weight 1.850kg; loaded weight 2,630kg
Maximum speed 170km/h; ceiling 4,300m; endurance 4hr; range 650km
Vickers Vimy Commercial (Vernon)
The civil version of the twin-engine Vickers Vimy bomber biplane was a transport with accommodation for a crew of two and twelve passengers. The bulky fuselage was of oval cross-section with an open cockpit on top of the nose section and a twin-fin box-type tail unit. China placed an order for forty, which probably was and continued to be for a long time the largest order for commercial aircraft placed by any operator in the world, one went to France and a few were sold in Great Britain. The type was also acquired by the RAF as the Vernon.
A Vimy transport was acquired by the RKKVF for evaluation together with the Vickers Viking. This machine (c/n 42), which combined the features of both the Vimy Commercial and the Lion-engined Vernon, was delivered in August 1922. It was flown for the first time on 10 August at Khodynka in Moscow by A V Pankrat'ev. During the summer of 1923 it was chartered by Dobrolet for temporary demonstration and passenger fights. It was then transferred from the NOA to the Strel'bom school at Serpukhov and in 1925-26 it served with the 1st Otdel'nyi otryad tyazheloi aviatsii (detached heavy aviation otryad). It was offered to Dobrolet in February 1928 but was rejected and was then written off.
Two 450hp Napier Lion II
Span 21.3m; length 13.3m; height 4.63m; wing area 161 nr
Empty weight 4,080kg; loaded weight 5,660kg
Maximum speed 177km/h; landing speed 91km/h; climb to 1,000m in 7min; endurance 2 1/2 hr; range 450km
The civil version of the twin-engine Vickers Vimy bomber biplane was a transport with accommodation for a crew of two and twelve passengers. The bulky fuselage was of oval cross-section with an open cockpit on top of the nose section and a twin-fin box-type tail unit. China placed an order for forty, which probably was and continued to be for a long time the largest order for commercial aircraft placed by any operator in the world, one went to France and a few were sold in Great Britain. The type was also acquired by the RAF as the Vernon.
A Vimy transport was acquired by the RKKVF for evaluation together with the Vickers Viking. This machine (c/n 42), which combined the features of both the Vimy Commercial and the Lion-engined Vernon, was delivered in August 1922. It was flown for the first time on 10 August at Khodynka in Moscow by A V Pankrat'ev. During the summer of 1923 it was chartered by Dobrolet for temporary demonstration and passenger fights. It was then transferred from the NOA to the Strel'bom school at Serpukhov and in 1925-26 it served with the 1st Otdel'nyi otryad tyazheloi aviatsii (detached heavy aviation otryad). It was offered to Dobrolet in February 1928 but was rejected and was then written off.
Two 450hp Napier Lion II
Span 21.3m; length 13.3m; height 4.63m; wing area 161 nr
Empty weight 4,080kg; loaded weight 5,660kg
Maximum speed 177km/h; landing speed 91km/h; climb to 1,000m in 7min; endurance 2 1/2 hr; range 450km
Fokker D VII
Designed in 1917 by Reinhold Platz, the Fokker D VII was certainly one of the most successful aircraft of all time. This legendary single-seat fighter soon revealed outstanding agility and excellent controllability and became the mainstay of the German Luftstreitkrafte. The Fokker V 11 prototype was first flown in January 1918 and a batch of 400 was immediately ordered after a competition for single-seat fighters at Adlershof the same month. The D VII featured wooden cantilever wings with two box-spars and a welded steel-tube fuselage of rectangular cross section. Metal panels covered the sides of the fuselage forward of the lower wings and forward of the cockpit on the top decking. The triangular fin and tailplane were also made of steel tube. The ailerons, elevator and rudder were horn-balanced. The struts and the undercarriage were of streamlined steel-tube and an extra lifting surface was added to the axle between the wheels.
The Fokker fighter was at first fitted with the 160hp Mercedes D III engine driving a normal two-bladed wooden propeller, but this engine later gave way to the six-cylinder in-line water-cooled BMW IIIa rated at 185hp. A flat car-type radiator was fitted in front of the engine. Armament consisted of two fixed synchronised 7.92mm LMG 08/15 machine-guns with 500 rounds each, mounted on top of the fuselage in front of the cockpit.
The Fokker D VII was operational from April 1918 and by November nearly 800 were in service. Many were smuggled from the Fokker works at Schwerin in Germany to Holland in railway waggons in 1919. They were later sold and these aircraft and a number of ex-German machines saw service in Belgium, Holland, Lithuania, Poland, Rumania and the Soviet Union. A few also found their way to Denmark (two), Finland (three), Hungary, Latvia (three), Manchuria (three), Sweden (one) and Switzerland (four), and two were used by the Germans at Lipetsk. The last four of the Dutch machines were written off as late as 1938.
Fifty D VIIs were sold by Fokker to the Soviet Government in 1922. They were handed over in Amsterdam to representatives of the Russian Trade Commission in Berlin and their c/ns were; 10, 20, 25, 31-33, 38, 40, 45, 49-52, 54, 56-75, 82-88 and 92-100. One was test-flown by the German pilot Harry Rother in Amsterdam. Upon delivery to Leningrad in May 1922 they were assigned to the 1st Otdel'naya istrebitel'naya aviatsionnaya eskadril'ya at Gatchina, Leningrad, and the 3rd Otdel'naya istrebitel'naya aviatsionnaya eskadril'ya at Kiev. A German fitter named Hans Schmidt was sent out to erect the aircraft properly. In September 1922 the 1st Otdel'naya istrebitel'naya aviaeskadril'ya made a flight to Moscow with seventeen Fokker D VIIs. A single aircraft was assigned to the Commander of the Leningrad Military District and three to the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow. One of these was destroyed when the commander of the school, N P Il'zin, collided in the air with a pupil flying a Nieuport 17 in September 1922.
Early in 1925 the D VIIs were replaced by Fokker D.XIs in the eskadrilii at Leningrad and Kiev and were handed over to the 1st Otdel'nyi morskoi istrebitel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad, a naval fighter unit at Peterhof and to the 1st Otdel'nyi istrebitel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad at Evpatoriya on the Black Sea. When these units became the 46th and 50th Aviaotryady in 1927, thirty-seven D VIIs remained. The 46th Aviaotryad received Grigorovich I-2s in 1928, and the 50th was disbanded in 1929. Single examples of the Fokker D VII were used for advanced training from about 1928 by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 8th Schools of Military Pilots, a couple of other flying schools, the 83rd (Training) Aviaotryad, the 73rd Aviaotryad and the 15th, 17th and 29th Aviaeskadrilii. Three of the eleven aircraft remaining in 1931 were handed over to Osoaviakhim, possibly for use as advanced trainers or aerobatic display aircraft. By the end of 1932 only four were on VVS charge and one was still left in December 1933. In the VVS the Fokker D VII was normally known as the FD-VII.
185hp BMW IIIa
Span 8.9m; length 6.95m; height 2.75; wing area 20.2irr
Empty weight 688kg; loaded weight 906kg
Maximum speed 198km/h; landing speed 90km/h; climb to 1,000m in 2.5min; ceiling 6,500m; endurance 1.8hr; range 425km
Designed in 1917 by Reinhold Platz, the Fokker D VII was certainly one of the most successful aircraft of all time. This legendary single-seat fighter soon revealed outstanding agility and excellent controllability and became the mainstay of the German Luftstreitkrafte. The Fokker V 11 prototype was first flown in January 1918 and a batch of 400 was immediately ordered after a competition for single-seat fighters at Adlershof the same month. The D VII featured wooden cantilever wings with two box-spars and a welded steel-tube fuselage of rectangular cross section. Metal panels covered the sides of the fuselage forward of the lower wings and forward of the cockpit on the top decking. The triangular fin and tailplane were also made of steel tube. The ailerons, elevator and rudder were horn-balanced. The struts and the undercarriage were of streamlined steel-tube and an extra lifting surface was added to the axle between the wheels.
The Fokker fighter was at first fitted with the 160hp Mercedes D III engine driving a normal two-bladed wooden propeller, but this engine later gave way to the six-cylinder in-line water-cooled BMW IIIa rated at 185hp. A flat car-type radiator was fitted in front of the engine. Armament consisted of two fixed synchronised 7.92mm LMG 08/15 machine-guns with 500 rounds each, mounted on top of the fuselage in front of the cockpit.
The Fokker D VII was operational from April 1918 and by November nearly 800 were in service. Many were smuggled from the Fokker works at Schwerin in Germany to Holland in railway waggons in 1919. They were later sold and these aircraft and a number of ex-German machines saw service in Belgium, Holland, Lithuania, Poland, Rumania and the Soviet Union. A few also found their way to Denmark (two), Finland (three), Hungary, Latvia (three), Manchuria (three), Sweden (one) and Switzerland (four), and two were used by the Germans at Lipetsk. The last four of the Dutch machines were written off as late as 1938.
Fifty D VIIs were sold by Fokker to the Soviet Government in 1922. They were handed over in Amsterdam to representatives of the Russian Trade Commission in Berlin and their c/ns were; 10, 20, 25, 31-33, 38, 40, 45, 49-52, 54, 56-75, 82-88 and 92-100. One was test-flown by the German pilot Harry Rother in Amsterdam. Upon delivery to Leningrad in May 1922 they were assigned to the 1st Otdel'naya istrebitel'naya aviatsionnaya eskadril'ya at Gatchina, Leningrad, and the 3rd Otdel'naya istrebitel'naya aviatsionnaya eskadril'ya at Kiev. A German fitter named Hans Schmidt was sent out to erect the aircraft properly. In September 1922 the 1st Otdel'naya istrebitel'naya aviaeskadril'ya made a flight to Moscow with seventeen Fokker D VIIs. A single aircraft was assigned to the Commander of the Leningrad Military District and three to the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow. One of these was destroyed when the commander of the school, N P Il'zin, collided in the air with a pupil flying a Nieuport 17 in September 1922.
Early in 1925 the D VIIs were replaced by Fokker D.XIs in the eskadrilii at Leningrad and Kiev and were handed over to the 1st Otdel'nyi morskoi istrebitel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad, a naval fighter unit at Peterhof and to the 1st Otdel'nyi istrebitel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad at Evpatoriya on the Black Sea. When these units became the 46th and 50th Aviaotryady in 1927, thirty-seven D VIIs remained. The 46th Aviaotryad received Grigorovich I-2s in 1928, and the 50th was disbanded in 1929. Single examples of the Fokker D VII were used for advanced training from about 1928 by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 8th Schools of Military Pilots, a couple of other flying schools, the 83rd (Training) Aviaotryad, the 73rd Aviaotryad and the 15th, 17th and 29th Aviaeskadrilii. Three of the eleven aircraft remaining in 1931 were handed over to Osoaviakhim, possibly for use as advanced trainers or aerobatic display aircraft. By the end of 1932 only four were on VVS charge and one was still left in December 1933. In the VVS the Fokker D VII was normally known as the FD-VII.
185hp BMW IIIa
Span 8.9m; length 6.95m; height 2.75; wing area 20.2irr
Empty weight 688kg; loaded weight 906kg
Maximum speed 198km/h; landing speed 90km/h; climb to 1,000m in 2.5min; ceiling 6,500m; endurance 1.8hr; range 425km
Fifty Fokker D VII fighters were obtained from Holland and delivered in May 1922. They were assigned to the fighter eskadrilii at Gatchina, near Leningrad, and Kiev.
When delivered in May 1922 half of the fifty Fokker D VII fighters acquired by the RKKVF were assigned to the 1st Otdel'naya istrebitel'naya eskadril'ya at Gatchina, south of Leningrad.
Fokker C I and C III
Developed in 1918 by the Fokker Flugzeugwerke GmbH at Schwerin, the V 38 prototype was apparently not completed until after the Armistice. Being a two-seat variant of the D VII fighter and intended for the reconnaissance role it was armed with one fixed machine-gun firing forwards and another gun mounted on a ring in the observer's cockpit. It was of mixed construction with wooden cantilever wings and a welded steel-tube fuselage. Metal panels covered the fuselage forward of the lower wing and the rest was fabric-covered, as were the wing and tail surfaces. The ailerons, two-part elevators and rudder were horn-balanced. The interplane and under-carriage struts were made of streamlined steel-tube and the fuel tank was mounted on the axle between the mainwheels. Power was provided by the 185hp BMW IIIa water-cooled inline engine also used on the Fokker D VII.
A number of C Is was taken from Germany to Holland in 1919 and sixty of these were delivered to the Dutch Air Force, which later built five more from parts. The Dutch Navy bought sixteen and a few were also sold to Denmark. The C II was a civil version of the C I and the C III was an unarmed transition trainer variant with a different engine. Spain acquired ten C IIIs fitted with 220hp Hispano-Suiza engines in 1922. Three C Is were sold to the Soviet Union with the fifty Fokker D VIIs in 1922, followed by twelve C IIIs in 1923. Both types were acquired for use as trainers. The C Is had 185hp BMW engines while the C IIIs were fitted with 160/180hp Mercedes engines. Known constructor's numbers include 117, 118, 138, 139, 143, 144, 148, 161 and 164, of which at least 118 and 139 were C Is. The C Is, which were armed with Vickers machine-guns, arrived in Leningrad in May 1922 and were distributed with the D VIIs to the 1st and 3rd Otdel'nye Istrebitel'nye Aviaeskadrilii at Leningrad and Kiev and to the Moscow Aviation School.
The last Fokker C I (c/n 118) had been transferred from the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow to the NOA in the spring of 1924, where it was used for experimental purposes until 1928. The twelve C IIIs were assigned to the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots. In 1928 the Military School of Aerial Combat at Orenburg had four and the Combined School of Military Pilots and Mechanics also used a single Fokker C III. There were some discussions about a possible transfer of Fokker C IIIs to civil service with Dobrolet and Ukrvozdukhput' early 1928, but this was not realized and the last aircraft of this type was finally withdrawn from use in 1929.
Fokker CI (C III)
185hp BMW IIIa (180hp Mercedes)
Span 10.5m; length 7.23 (8) m; height 2.87; wing area 26.25 (29) m2
Empty weight 855 (740) kg; loaded weight 1,255 (1,090) kg
Maximum speed 175km/h; cruising speed 130; landing speed 85km/h; climb to 5,000m in 27.5min; ceiling 6,000m; endurance 4hr; range 620km
Developed in 1918 by the Fokker Flugzeugwerke GmbH at Schwerin, the V 38 prototype was apparently not completed until after the Armistice. Being a two-seat variant of the D VII fighter and intended for the reconnaissance role it was armed with one fixed machine-gun firing forwards and another gun mounted on a ring in the observer's cockpit. It was of mixed construction with wooden cantilever wings and a welded steel-tube fuselage. Metal panels covered the fuselage forward of the lower wing and the rest was fabric-covered, as were the wing and tail surfaces. The ailerons, two-part elevators and rudder were horn-balanced. The interplane and under-carriage struts were made of streamlined steel-tube and the fuel tank was mounted on the axle between the mainwheels. Power was provided by the 185hp BMW IIIa water-cooled inline engine also used on the Fokker D VII.
A number of C Is was taken from Germany to Holland in 1919 and sixty of these were delivered to the Dutch Air Force, which later built five more from parts. The Dutch Navy bought sixteen and a few were also sold to Denmark. The C II was a civil version of the C I and the C III was an unarmed transition trainer variant with a different engine. Spain acquired ten C IIIs fitted with 220hp Hispano-Suiza engines in 1922. Three C Is were sold to the Soviet Union with the fifty Fokker D VIIs in 1922, followed by twelve C IIIs in 1923. Both types were acquired for use as trainers. The C Is had 185hp BMW engines while the C IIIs were fitted with 160/180hp Mercedes engines. Known constructor's numbers include 117, 118, 138, 139, 143, 144, 148, 161 and 164, of which at least 118 and 139 were C Is. The C Is, which were armed with Vickers machine-guns, arrived in Leningrad in May 1922 and were distributed with the D VIIs to the 1st and 3rd Otdel'nye Istrebitel'nye Aviaeskadrilii at Leningrad and Kiev and to the Moscow Aviation School.
The last Fokker C I (c/n 118) had been transferred from the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow to the NOA in the spring of 1924, where it was used for experimental purposes until 1928. The twelve C IIIs were assigned to the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots. In 1928 the Military School of Aerial Combat at Orenburg had four and the Combined School of Military Pilots and Mechanics also used a single Fokker C III. There were some discussions about a possible transfer of Fokker C IIIs to civil service with Dobrolet and Ukrvozdukhput' early 1928, but this was not realized and the last aircraft of this type was finally withdrawn from use in 1929.
Fokker CI (C III)
185hp BMW IIIa (180hp Mercedes)
Span 10.5m; length 7.23 (8) m; height 2.87; wing area 26.25 (29) m2
Empty weight 855 (740) kg; loaded weight 1,255 (1,090) kg
Maximum speed 175km/h; cruising speed 130; landing speed 85km/h; climb to 5,000m in 27.5min; ceiling 6,000m; endurance 4hr; range 620km
With the exception of the engine type and the configuration of the rear cockpit the Fokker C. III two-seat trainer was similar to the C I. Twelve were acquired in 1923.
Friedrichshafen G IIIa
Together with the Gotha G V, the twin-engined Friedrichshafen G III formed the equipment of the German bomber units during the last years of the First World War. The G III normally carried a crew of three in bomber configuration, but could also be fitted out for transport of passengers. At the request of the Austro-German War Prisoner Repatriation Commission the Deutsche Luft-Reederei sent four of its Friedrichshafen G IIIa aircraft from Konigsberg to Smolensk in January-February 1920, carrying medical supplies and members of the commission. One had to discontinue the flight and landed in Poland but the other three (pilots Lang, Mohr and Polte) reached their destination.
The machine flown by Willi Polte was allowed to return in March but the other two (c/ns 202 and 282) were confiscated by the Soviet authorities and soon went into service with the RKKVF. The reason for letting Polte take off with his aircraft was that he was to carry a Soviet trade representative to Berlin. Their flight ended in Lithuania, however, when Polte had to make a forced landing after getting his fuel tanks holed by ground fire. One of the RKKVF Friedrichshafens, which were equipped to carry eight passengers, was assigned to the Aviazveno osobogo naznacheniya and later the Headquarters of Aviaeskadra No. 1 in Moscow, while the other was used in the Ukrainian and Western Military Districts. One of them (c/n 202) was flown at Khodynka during the 'Week of the Air Fleet' in June 1923.
G IIIa
Two 260hp Mercedes D IVa Span 22.6m; length 12.8m; height 4.14m; wing area 86m;
Empty weight 2,500kg; loaded weight 3,653kg
Maximum speed 145km/h; cruising speed 135km/h; landing speed 100km/h; ceiling 6,000m; endurance 5hr; range 650km
Together with the Gotha G V, the twin-engined Friedrichshafen G III formed the equipment of the German bomber units during the last years of the First World War. The G III normally carried a crew of three in bomber configuration, but could also be fitted out for transport of passengers. At the request of the Austro-German War Prisoner Repatriation Commission the Deutsche Luft-Reederei sent four of its Friedrichshafen G IIIa aircraft from Konigsberg to Smolensk in January-February 1920, carrying medical supplies and members of the commission. One had to discontinue the flight and landed in Poland but the other three (pilots Lang, Mohr and Polte) reached their destination.
The machine flown by Willi Polte was allowed to return in March but the other two (c/ns 202 and 282) were confiscated by the Soviet authorities and soon went into service with the RKKVF. The reason for letting Polte take off with his aircraft was that he was to carry a Soviet trade representative to Berlin. Their flight ended in Lithuania, however, when Polte had to make a forced landing after getting his fuel tanks holed by ground fire. One of the RKKVF Friedrichshafens, which were equipped to carry eight passengers, was assigned to the Aviazveno osobogo naznacheniya and later the Headquarters of Aviaeskadra No. 1 in Moscow, while the other was used in the Ukrainian and Western Military Districts. One of them (c/n 202) was flown at Khodynka during the 'Week of the Air Fleet' in June 1923.
G IIIa
Two 260hp Mercedes D IVa Span 22.6m; length 12.8m; height 4.14m; wing area 86m;
Empty weight 2,500kg; loaded weight 3,653kg
Maximum speed 145km/h; cruising speed 135km/h; landing speed 100km/h; ceiling 6,000m; endurance 5hr; range 650km
Halberstadt C V
A number of German Halberstadt biplanes of different models were captured or interned by Germany's adversaries and by neutral Holland during the last phases of the First World War and in the following period, and others were sold. In this way Halberstadt aircraft found their way to Estonia, Lithuania, Holland and Poland. Eighteen Halberstadt C Vs were purchased by the Soviet Union in 1922. They arrived in Leningrad on board the steamer Hansdorf on 2 June 1922. Construction numbers included 2430 to 2435, 2437, 2440, 2441 (possibly 2430 to 2441), 2792/1216/18, 2799, 2808 and 1358/3460/18.
The Halberstadt C V was designed by an engineer named Theiss for high-altitude long-distance reconnaissance and photographic work. Flown for the first time early in 1918 it was to serve in the German reconnaissance units along with the contemporary Rumpler C VII during the final stages of the war. About 550 were built by the Halbertstiidter Flugzeugwerke GmbH, BFW, Aviatik and DFW. Being a two- bay biplane with straight high-aspect-ratio wings without dihedral the Halberstadt C V had wings and tailplanes of wooden construction with fabric covering. There were horn-balanced ailerons at the tips of the upper wing. On the lower wing the tips were rounded. The egg-shaped vertical fin was typical of Halberstadt aircraft and the single-piece rudder and elevator were horn-balanced. All control surfaces had steel-tube structure and fabric covering. A conventional V-type undercarriage made of streamlined steel-tube was fitted and the tailskid was mounted on a small under-fin.
The fuselage had slab sides and rounded top decking and tapered to a horizontal knife-edge aft. It was mainly plywood-covered but aluminium metal plates were used for the areas around the engine, which was mounted with the cylinder block protruding. The engine was a 220hp six-cylinder inline water-cooled Benz IV driving a two- bladed wooden propeller. A chimney-type exhaust manifold was fitted. The radiator and a gravity fuel tank were located in the centre section of the upper wing. Armament comprised a fixed forward-firing 7.9mm machine-gun and a flexible gun mounted on a gun ring for the observer.
The Halberstadt C Vs were rather short-lived in RKKVF service. They were used by the 1st Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad based near Leningrad until relegated to training work in 1923, just one year after their introduction into service. The Voenno-Tekhnicheskaya Shkola in Leningrad, the Voenno-Teoricheskaya Shkola, the Military School of Pilots and Observers and the Flying otryad of the Military School of the KVF had two each but all were withdrawn from use after a short time.
220hp Benz BzIV
Span 13.62m; length 6.98m; height 3.36 ; wing area 43 nv
Empty weight 930kg; loaded weight 1,362kg
Maximum speed 170km/h; climb to 1,000m in 3.2min; ceiling 6,500m; endurance 3 1/2hr; range 600km
A number of German Halberstadt biplanes of different models were captured or interned by Germany's adversaries and by neutral Holland during the last phases of the First World War and in the following period, and others were sold. In this way Halberstadt aircraft found their way to Estonia, Lithuania, Holland and Poland. Eighteen Halberstadt C Vs were purchased by the Soviet Union in 1922. They arrived in Leningrad on board the steamer Hansdorf on 2 June 1922. Construction numbers included 2430 to 2435, 2437, 2440, 2441 (possibly 2430 to 2441), 2792/1216/18, 2799, 2808 and 1358/3460/18.
The Halberstadt C V was designed by an engineer named Theiss for high-altitude long-distance reconnaissance and photographic work. Flown for the first time early in 1918 it was to serve in the German reconnaissance units along with the contemporary Rumpler C VII during the final stages of the war. About 550 were built by the Halbertstiidter Flugzeugwerke GmbH, BFW, Aviatik and DFW. Being a two- bay biplane with straight high-aspect-ratio wings without dihedral the Halberstadt C V had wings and tailplanes of wooden construction with fabric covering. There were horn-balanced ailerons at the tips of the upper wing. On the lower wing the tips were rounded. The egg-shaped vertical fin was typical of Halberstadt aircraft and the single-piece rudder and elevator were horn-balanced. All control surfaces had steel-tube structure and fabric covering. A conventional V-type undercarriage made of streamlined steel-tube was fitted and the tailskid was mounted on a small under-fin.
The fuselage had slab sides and rounded top decking and tapered to a horizontal knife-edge aft. It was mainly plywood-covered but aluminium metal plates were used for the areas around the engine, which was mounted with the cylinder block protruding. The engine was a 220hp six-cylinder inline water-cooled Benz IV driving a two- bladed wooden propeller. A chimney-type exhaust manifold was fitted. The radiator and a gravity fuel tank were located in the centre section of the upper wing. Armament comprised a fixed forward-firing 7.9mm machine-gun and a flexible gun mounted on a gun ring for the observer.
The Halberstadt C Vs were rather short-lived in RKKVF service. They were used by the 1st Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad based near Leningrad until relegated to training work in 1923, just one year after their introduction into service. The Voenno-Tekhnicheskaya Shkola in Leningrad, the Voenno-Teoricheskaya Shkola, the Military School of Pilots and Observers and the Flying otryad of the Military School of the KVF had two each but all were withdrawn from use after a short time.
220hp Benz BzIV
Span 13.62m; length 6.98m; height 3.36 ; wing area 43 nv
Empty weight 930kg; loaded weight 1,362kg
Maximum speed 170km/h; climb to 1,000m in 3.2min; ceiling 6,500m; endurance 3 1/2hr; range 600km
"Хальберштадт" C-V советских ВВС
The eighteen Halberstadt C V two-seaters acquired in 1922 were assigned to a reconnaissance otryad in Leningrad but were short-lived in RKKVF service.
The eighteen Halberstadt C V two-seaters acquired in 1922 were assigned to a reconnaissance otryad in Leningrad but were short-lived in RKKVF service.
This Brandenburg C I was probably captured in the Ukraine. At the end of 1921 only one aircraft of this type remained in RKKVF service.
Junkers F 13 (Ju-13, F-13, PS-2)
On 25 June 1919 one of the most significant transport aircraft of all time was first flown - the Junkers F 13. Over 300 were built between 1919 and 1931 of this all-metal six-seat monoplane and they saw world-wide service in the absolute sense of that expression. Hugo Junkers had started to produce his revolutionary all-metal cantilever monoplanes covered with the typical corrugated duralumin for the German Air Service during the First World War. Designed by Otto Reuter, the F 13 was arranged from the outset to carry passengers comfortably. In contrast to all the converted military aircraft that were used as passenger transports immediately after the war the safe and robust F 13 had an enclosed cabin which accommodated four passengers in cushioned seats, with seatbelts, lighting and windows.
Typical of the appearance of the F 13 and other early Junkers aircraft was the corrugated light duralumin skin, the thick wing and the water-cooled inline engine with a flat frontal radiator. Driving a wooden two-bladed propeller the engine had a 'chimney' type exhaust outlet projecting upwards through the engine cowling. The boxlike fuselage consisted of three main parts; the front section with the engine mounting, the mid-section with the 1.4m wide enclosed four-seat passenger cabin with a door in each side, and the tail section. The pilot and flight mechanic were accommodated in an open cockpit in front of the passenger cabin, the roof of the fuselage being rounded aft of their cockpit. The fuel tanks were located in the wing centre section.
The wings were broadest and thickest at the outer ends of the centre section and the outer wing panels had dihedral and tapered both in chord and thickness. The wing structure was built up of nine duralumin tubular spars arranged round the periphery of the wing-section. The spars were staggered and tied together by diagonal bracing to form a girder and the centre section of the wing was built integral with the fuselage. The whole structure was covered with a load-bearing corrugated skin. The unbalanced ailerons had curved trailing edges in order to increase their area and effectiveness and the rudder and elevators were also unbalanced. The small fin was triangular and the tailplane was rectangular. The undercarriage had rubber shock absorbers.
Many successive modifications were introduced but few changed the general appearance of the aircraft. The most significant were a new, more upright fin with horn-balanced rudder replacing two different earlier forms of triangular fins with unbalanced rudders, horn-balanced elevators replaced unbalanced ones, a redesigned undercarriage, larger wings for higher takeoff weights (span increasing from about 14.5 to 17.75m), more sweep on the outer wing panels (increasing from 3.5 to 8.5 degrees), and a lengthened fuselage (from about 9.7 to 10.8m) with a reinforced engine mounting. Many different types of engines were fitted, including a number of radials, but those usually installed were the 185hp BMW IIIa,' the 230hp Junkers L 2 and the 310hp Junkers L 5.
The Junkers F 13 was used by airline companies and air forces in more than forty countries, the most important operators outside Germany were ABA in Sweden, Ad Astra Aero in Switzerland, Aero Express in Hungary, Aero O/Y in Finland, Danziger Luftpost, Dobrolet in the Soviet Union, Junkers-Luftverkehr in Persia and in the USSR, PLL in Poland, SCADTA in Colombia, Transadriatica in Italy, Union Airways in South Africa, the US Air Mail Service, OLAG in Austria and the VVS. In Germany Junkers put a large number of F 13s in service with the Junkers-Luftverkehr AG and many were later used by Lufthansa.
The Soviet Union was the most important F 13 customer outside Germany. Referred to by the Soviet authorities as the Ju-13 with the 185hp BMW engine and F-13 with the Junkers L 5, more than sixty Junkers F 13s gave service in the USSR starting in 1922. They were all delivered from German production, but were for a short period serviced and repaired by the Junkers plant at Fili until the Dobrolet workshop in Moscow could take over this kind of work in 1924-25. A few of the F 13s used in the Soviet Union might have been assembled at Fili from Dessau-built sub-assemblies.
At the beginning of 1920 the German firm Richard Michler & Co offered to deliver eight Junkers F 13s to the Soviet Government, to be flown to Vitebsk or Smolensk. The first attempt to fly a Junkers F 13 to Moscow in 1919 ended with a crash on take-off but in October one of two F 13s sent out reached its destination, probably Smolensk, according to a representative of the firm. The other F 13, D-322 Annelise piloted by Hans Hesse, had to make a forced landing in Lithuania on 15 October and was confiscated there. The proposed deal was never finalised.
The first time the air-minded Moscovites got acquainted with the Junkers was probably when the May 1922 issue of the Vestnik Vozdushnogo Flota carried an advertisement for the 'Zavod Junkers' with a picture of the F 13. On 6 May an F 13, carrying the Danzig registration Dz32 (c/n 579) and piloted by Alfred Gothe arrived in Moscow. It was demonstrated at Khodynka on 7 May and a flight to Leningrad was made on 25 May. In July and August D-194 (c/n 590) and D-205 (c/n 589) arrived and with these aircraft the Junkers company, under the name of Aviakul'tura, ran a passenger service between Moscow and Nizhnii-Novgorod during the annual trade fair at the last-mentioned city. D-194 remained in Moscow during the winter and was registered to Junkers-Luftverkehr as R-RECA, but it was sold to an organisation called Mugmel'stroi (see later).
In May 1923 Dz30 (c/n 569) became the second R-RECA and Dz31 (c/n 547) was registered R-RECB. This R-RECA was soon re-registered R-RECG, however, as the first R-RECA was not cancelled although it changed owner. Another six aircraft arrived in June and July; R-RECC (c/n 643), R-RECD (c/n 572), R-RECE (c/n 614), R-RECF (c/n 630), R-RECH (c/n 636) and R-RECI (c/n 651). With these machines a Moscow-Tiflis service was opened on 1 June. In 1924 R-RECG (c/n 569) was scheduled for sale to the ODVF and a new R-RECG (c/n 693) was put into service but the sale was cancelled and c/n 569 was re-registered R-RECK in August 1924.
On 2 November 1924 R-RECE was transferred to Teheran and this was the first step in a future transfer of the Junkers-Luftverkehr fleet to Persia. The aircraft kept their Soviet registrations, however. Later the F 13s still based in Moscow were either sold or transferred back to Germany. R-RECD was sold to the German War Ministry to be used as a liaison aircraft at Lipetsk, R-RECE was sold to the Persian Air Force and R-RECF was obtained by the VVS. R-RECB and R-RECH were returned to Germany.
The recently formed Dobrolet company hired two military Junkers F 13s (c/ns 586 and 637) in April 1923 before placing an order for fourteen similar aircraft on the 28th of that month. The order was later amended for the delivery of a total of twenty aircraft. Four of these were intended for Ukrvozdukhput' and the military authorities tried to persuade Dobrolet to deliver up to eight F 13 to the RKKVF. Eventually only two aircraft were taken over and the other eighteen remained with Dobrolet. They were registered R-RDAA to R-RDAW, except for R-RDAH and R-RDAI which were given to the RKKVF. The first, R-RDAA (c/n 649), arrived from Germany on 3 June. Most were financed by public subscription and named after the organisations that had collected the money. On 29 June R- RDAC Moskovskii sovet (Mossovet) was handed over and in July R-RDAA Mossovet II, R-RDAB Prezidium VSNKh, R-RDAC Chervonets, R-RDAE Prombank and R-RDAF ODVF followed. R-RDAN Nauka, R-RDAO Krasnyi kamvol'shchik and R-RDAP Pravda were presented to Dobrolet on 25 November 1923.
R-RDAB (c/n 654) crashed on 16 July but was later rebuilt and R-RDAR (c/n 674) was sold to Zakavia. The first regular service by Dobrolet F 13s was the Moscow-Nizhnii Novgorod route opened in July 1923 by R-RDAE Prombank and run until September. R-RDAE was later fitted with floats imported from Dessau and based on the Moscow River during the Moscow Agricultural Fair of 1923. In 1924 it was based in Sevastopol. R-RDAM was sent on a propaganda tour around West Siberia and was named Sibrevkom during a presentation ceremony at Novonikolaevsk. R-RDAS was used on similar work in the Urals and was named Krasnyi Ural before being sold to Aviakhim. Three aircraft (c/ns 669, 670 and 672) intended for Dobrolet's Central Asian routes were taken over by the VVS in January 1924 when a local uprising started. R-RDAG Dekhan-Khlopkorob, R-RDAK Tashkentskii zheleznodorozhnik and R-RDAL Irregator were sent as re-placements and two new machines were acquired from Germany, R-RDAY Krasnaya Fergana (c/n 712) and R-RDAZ Pishchevik (c/n 713).
R-RDAO (crew: N I Naidenov and V D Osipov) and R-RDAP (I K Polyakov and I V Mikheev) participated in the much publicised long-distance flight to Peking in 1925. They left Moscow along with four other aircraft on 10 June and arrived at Irkutsk on 26 June and at Ulan-Bator in Mongolia on 4 July. R-RDAP crashed at Laiotan on 9 July but R- RDAO completed the flight and arrived at Peking on 13 July. After a trip to Nanking it returned to Peking on 20 August and was sent by sea to Vladivostok. Still stored there in 1926 it was acquired by the VVS for delivery to the Canton Government in China. R-RDAP was returned to Moscow in 1926 and was put into service again after extensive repairs. R-RDAA Mossovet was rebuilt to 85% after a crash and another heavily damaged F 13 (c/n 692) was bought from Aviakhim, rebuilt and put into service as R-RDAT in March 1926.
In March-April 1923 the Junkers-Luftverkehr F 13 R-RECA had flown to Teheran. It was then handed over to the Mugmel'stroi organisation. Azdobrolet, the Baku-based independent branch of Dobrolet, purchased an F 13 (c/n 668) from Germany, which was later registered R-RASA. This aircraft and that of Mugmel'stroi were soon handed over to the Tiflis-based Zakavia, who also bought R-RDAR (c/n 674) from Dobrolet. Named Azdobrolet, Mugmel'stroi and Bol'shevik these machines were put into service on a route between Tiflis and Baku. Zakavia ran into economic difficulties, however, and the aircraft were handed over to the VVS at Tiflis. They were returned to the company, but after R- RECA Mugmel'stroi had crashed in March the two remaining (c/ns 668 and 674) were again turned over to the VVS, this time definitively.
Returning to Dobrolet, R-RDAA Mossovet, R-RDAE Prombank and R-RDAT MSNKh-Mostorg opened a new route between Verkhneudinsk and Mongolia in 1926. R-RDAA Mossovet was also used to transport furs in Northern Siberia, R-RDAE Prombank was sent to Arkhangel'sk to participate in a sealing expedition and R-RDAS participated in an expedition to Wrangel Island in 1927. Missions of this type were typical of the work performed by the F 13s when not engaged in passenger transport. In 1928 A S Demchenko took off with the float- equipped R-RDAA Mossovet on a proving flight along the Lena River and later a new route between Irkutsk and Yakutsk was opened. In the same year M S Babushkin used RR-DAS during the Nobile rescue operation.
All the F 13s imported to the Soviet Union in 1923-25 were powered by the 185hp BMW engine. In 1924 Dobrolet had plans to acquire ten 220hp Siddeley Puma engines to be used in some of the F 13s but this was not done. The first Dobrolet F 13 with the 310hp Junkers L 5 engine was ordered on 21 April 1928 and delivered in May (c/n 2017). Another F 13, registered RR37, was also delivered but no trace has been found of this aircraft in Soviet documents. In addition to this a number of old BMW-engined F 13s were transferred to Dobrolet from the VVS in 1928-1930. Ukrvozdukhput' received an F 13 imported in 1928, RRUAZ (c/ n 2020). The Azerbaidzhan Red Crescent Society showed interest in obtaining an F 13 ambulance but no order was placed. A last pair of L 5- powered F 13s was purchased by Dobrolet in 1929 and eight of their old BMW-engined machines were also re-engined with the L 5.
In 1929 Dobrolet's F 13s were re-registered СССР-125 to 147 and СССР-149, some with the URSS- prefix for use on international routes. URSS-145 Mossovet was tested with aerial dusting gear against forest pests near Lake Baikal. The equipment fitted had been designed by K Ivanov and built in the Dobrolet repair shop at Irkutsk. In 1930 СССР-133 and СССР-136 were carrying herring spawn from the Caspian to the Aral Sea and another Junkers F 13 was sent out to open the Sakhalin route from Khabarovsk. By 1 May 1930 seventeen Junkers F 13s, nine with BMW engines and eight with the L 5, were in service in Central Asia, six with BMW engines in East Siberia, three with L 5s in the Ukraine and one L 5-engined machine was in Moscow.
At the end of 1930 the GVF took over Dobrolet's F 13s, including the one that Dobrolet had received from Ukrvozdukhput' at the beginning of the year. By December 1930 the GVF fleet list included twenty-seven F 13s. A year later twenty-six were in service but at the end of 1932 only thirteen remained. In the summer of that year three were based in Moscow, ten in Central Asia, six in Kazakstan, four in East Siberia, one in West Siberia and one in Transcaucasia. Most were used for passenger transport and other related tasks but one was used by the Nil GVF from late 1932. In 1933 the East Siberian Department had F 13s registered СССР-Л24, Л25 and Л92, while СССР-Л19, Л59, Л67, Л85, Л86, and Л714 were used in Central Asia and СССР-Л36 and Л56 in Kazakstan. By this time new designations were assigned to Junkers aircraft, presumably to conceal their German origin for political reasons, and the L 5-engined F 13s became PS-2s. The PS-1 designation was possibly reserved for F 13s with BMW engines. PS-3 and PS-4 were assigned to the W 33 and PS-5 was the former JuG-1 (K 30). In 1934 five PS-2s remained and three of these were still active in Central Asia in October 1935.
Known 1931-type civil Junkers F 13 registrations: СССР-Л3, Л9, Л19, Л23, Л24, Л25, Л33 (c/n 637), Л34, Л35, Л36, Л56, Л58, Л59, Л61, Л62, Л63, Л67, Л85, Л86, Л89, Л92 and Л714.
The Junkers F 13 entered Deruluft service on its Leningrad-Riga route in June 1928. The first two, RR40 and RR41 (c/ns 650 and 757), were handed back to Luft Hansa in June 1929 but in April the same year D-424, URSS- 307, URSS-308 and D-558 (c/ns 702, 723, 730 and 752) had joined the Deruluft fleet. One of these was replaced by URSS-320 (c/n 765) in 1930. Covered cockpits were introduced on the F 13s in 1932 and the passenger cabin was heated to enable the company to open winter services. The F 13s were flown with both wheels and skis. During the winter of 1930 a combined wheel/ski undercarriage was tested but not adopted. In May 1935 a new and larger airport was opened in Leningrad and the last F 13s were replaced by three- engined Ju 52/3ms.
At an early stage the ODVF realised the potential of the F 13 as an instrument of aviation propaganda. The 'safe' looks of the aircraft was perfect for demonstrations and for taking people who had never seen an aircraft before on a short flight from small fields in the countryside. Two F 13s were acquired in September 1924, R-RODA (c/n 679) and R-RODB (c/n 692), which were both 'presented' to the ODVF on 11 January 1925 and named Sel'skosoyuz-Litsom k derevne and Krasnyi artel'shchik-Vse v ODVF respectively. R-RODB crashed on 16 February and was sold to Dobrolet and replaced by a second R-RODB (c/n 749), named Vse v Aviakhim, in June 1925. In 1927 both aircraft received new 'registrations', R-RODB becoming VKP/h-1 and R-RODA VKP/b- 2. Both were still in service in 1929.
R-RDAS (c/n 671) Krasnyi Ural acquired by the Ural Aviakhim from Dobrolet in October 1925 was sold to the VVS in 1928. R-RSAA (c/n 645) Sibrevkom (ex-Dobrolet R-RDAM) purchased in 1924 by Sibaviakhim was transferred to the Leningrad branch of Osoaviakhim in 1929. Many propaganda tours and agitation flights were made around parts of the Soviet Union by these aircraft during the 1920s, often reported in detail in the Pravda and Izvestiya newspapers and the aviation press. To many the Junkers F 13s Vse v Aviakhim and Litsom k derevne were their first encounter with aviation. In 1931 Osoaviakhim had two F 13s and another two were received from the GVF in June 1932.
The RKKVF received their first Junkers F 13 (c/n 586) in 1922. It was assigned to the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots at Khodynka but was soon transferred to the so-called Otryad tyazheloi aviatsii (OTA), or Heavy Aviation Squadron, also at Khodynka, which by then had already received another pair of F 13s (c/ns 637 and 647). On 20 May 1923 B K Veiling and flight mechanic Grunin took took off from Moscow in Junkers c/n 647 to fly A A Znamensky, Commander-in-Chief of the RKKVF, to Tashkent via Khar'kov, Rostov, Tiflis, Baku, Askhabad and Bukhara. On the return journey they passed Khiva, Kazalinsk, Orenburg and Borisoglebsk and the total distance covered amounted to 10,567km. On 18 November Veiling crashed with c/n 647 in Moscow and was killed. Another three F 13s were added to the RKKVF inventory in 1923, one came from Germany (probably c/n 658) and two were from Dobrolet (c/ns 661 and 666).
The initial trio of F 13s was transferred to the Training eskadril'ya in Moscow before Veiling crashed but c/n 637 later followed the 1st OTA when this unit received Farman F.62 bombers and moved to Leningrad, where it became the 55th Aviaeskadril'ya in 1927. The 2nd Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Tashkent had disposed of its LVG aircraft and re-equipped with six Junkers F 13s early 1924. Three of these were those taken over from Dobrolet (c/ns 669, 670 and 672)-one marked 1 was ex-R-RDAT. The Dobrolet machines were converted into makeshift bombers by removing two of the passenger seats and mounting a Lewis machine-gun in the rear window on each side. Bomb racks were fitted beneath the wings. Based at Khiva together with a number of D.H.9As the F 13s were immediately put into service for reconnaissance, bombing and transport in one of the campaigns against the so-called basmachi insurgents. On 1 October 1924 one of this unit's machines (c/n 666) was flown to Kabul and handed over to the Afghan Government.
Early in 1925 three F 13s were acquired from Junkers (c/ns 677, 691 and 753) and two of these were assigned to the 4th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad, a Ju 21-equipped unit based at Tashkent. The three taken over briefly from Zakavia by the 47th (later 7th) Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Tiflis were given back to the company, but two of them (c/n 668 and 674) were returned to the VVS inventory in May 1925. They remained with the 7th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad, later the 44th Aviaotryad until 1928. At the end of 1925 another three were purchased from Junkers: c/ns 630, ex- R-RECF of Junkers-Luftverkehr, 733 and 767. Two went to the 4th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad and one became a personal transport for the VVS Commander in the Central Asian Military District. Krasnyi Ural (c/n 671) of Ural Aviakhim and an F 13 that had been in China (c/n 648) were added to the VVS inventory around 1928.
The F 13s based at Tashkent were later used by the Ju-21-equipped 35th and 40th Aviaotryady. One crashed in 1930 but the other two were handed over to the new 95th Transportnyi otryad at Tashkent in 1931-32. This unit had a total of three F 13s. The 5th Otdel'naya Razvedivatel'naya Aviaeskadril'ya (later the 22nd Aviapark) at Khar'kov, the 84th Training aviaotryad and the Nil VVS also used single F 13s. Ten of the military F 13s were transferred to Dobrolet between 1927 and 1929. About twenty different F 13s were used by the VVS altogether but the number on charge at one time never exceeded about a dozen. By January 1934 only one remained. The following F 13s saw VVS service: c/ns 586, (590), 630, 637, 647, 648, (658), 661, 666, 668, 669, 670, 671, 672, 674, 677, 691, 733, 753 and 767.
Some of the Soviet Junkers F 13s were exported to other countries. Afghanistan received one on 1 October 1924 (c/n 666), Persia was supplied with two on 22 May 1924 (c/ns 675 and 676), Mongolia got one on 30 May 1925 and two were sent to the Canton Government in China in May 1926 (c/n 648 and 677).
185hp BMW IIIa (310hp Junkers L 5)
Span 17.75m; length 9.6 (9.8) m; height 3.3; wing area 43 nr
Empty weight 1,160 (1,415) kg; loaded weight 1,800 (2,300) kg
Maximum speed 165 (208) km/h; cruising speed 135 (170) km/h; landing speed 80 (90) km/h; climb to 1,000m in 7min; ceiling 4,300 (5,000) m
On 25 June 1919 one of the most significant transport aircraft of all time was first flown - the Junkers F 13. Over 300 were built between 1919 and 1931 of this all-metal six-seat monoplane and they saw world-wide service in the absolute sense of that expression. Hugo Junkers had started to produce his revolutionary all-metal cantilever monoplanes covered with the typical corrugated duralumin for the German Air Service during the First World War. Designed by Otto Reuter, the F 13 was arranged from the outset to carry passengers comfortably. In contrast to all the converted military aircraft that were used as passenger transports immediately after the war the safe and robust F 13 had an enclosed cabin which accommodated four passengers in cushioned seats, with seatbelts, lighting and windows.
Typical of the appearance of the F 13 and other early Junkers aircraft was the corrugated light duralumin skin, the thick wing and the water-cooled inline engine with a flat frontal radiator. Driving a wooden two-bladed propeller the engine had a 'chimney' type exhaust outlet projecting upwards through the engine cowling. The boxlike fuselage consisted of three main parts; the front section with the engine mounting, the mid-section with the 1.4m wide enclosed four-seat passenger cabin with a door in each side, and the tail section. The pilot and flight mechanic were accommodated in an open cockpit in front of the passenger cabin, the roof of the fuselage being rounded aft of their cockpit. The fuel tanks were located in the wing centre section.
The wings were broadest and thickest at the outer ends of the centre section and the outer wing panels had dihedral and tapered both in chord and thickness. The wing structure was built up of nine duralumin tubular spars arranged round the periphery of the wing-section. The spars were staggered and tied together by diagonal bracing to form a girder and the centre section of the wing was built integral with the fuselage. The whole structure was covered with a load-bearing corrugated skin. The unbalanced ailerons had curved trailing edges in order to increase their area and effectiveness and the rudder and elevators were also unbalanced. The small fin was triangular and the tailplane was rectangular. The undercarriage had rubber shock absorbers.
Many successive modifications were introduced but few changed the general appearance of the aircraft. The most significant were a new, more upright fin with horn-balanced rudder replacing two different earlier forms of triangular fins with unbalanced rudders, horn-balanced elevators replaced unbalanced ones, a redesigned undercarriage, larger wings for higher takeoff weights (span increasing from about 14.5 to 17.75m), more sweep on the outer wing panels (increasing from 3.5 to 8.5 degrees), and a lengthened fuselage (from about 9.7 to 10.8m) with a reinforced engine mounting. Many different types of engines were fitted, including a number of radials, but those usually installed were the 185hp BMW IIIa,' the 230hp Junkers L 2 and the 310hp Junkers L 5.
The Junkers F 13 was used by airline companies and air forces in more than forty countries, the most important operators outside Germany were ABA in Sweden, Ad Astra Aero in Switzerland, Aero Express in Hungary, Aero O/Y in Finland, Danziger Luftpost, Dobrolet in the Soviet Union, Junkers-Luftverkehr in Persia and in the USSR, PLL in Poland, SCADTA in Colombia, Transadriatica in Italy, Union Airways in South Africa, the US Air Mail Service, OLAG in Austria and the VVS. In Germany Junkers put a large number of F 13s in service with the Junkers-Luftverkehr AG and many were later used by Lufthansa.
The Soviet Union was the most important F 13 customer outside Germany. Referred to by the Soviet authorities as the Ju-13 with the 185hp BMW engine and F-13 with the Junkers L 5, more than sixty Junkers F 13s gave service in the USSR starting in 1922. They were all delivered from German production, but were for a short period serviced and repaired by the Junkers plant at Fili until the Dobrolet workshop in Moscow could take over this kind of work in 1924-25. A few of the F 13s used in the Soviet Union might have been assembled at Fili from Dessau-built sub-assemblies.
At the beginning of 1920 the German firm Richard Michler & Co offered to deliver eight Junkers F 13s to the Soviet Government, to be flown to Vitebsk or Smolensk. The first attempt to fly a Junkers F 13 to Moscow in 1919 ended with a crash on take-off but in October one of two F 13s sent out reached its destination, probably Smolensk, according to a representative of the firm. The other F 13, D-322 Annelise piloted by Hans Hesse, had to make a forced landing in Lithuania on 15 October and was confiscated there. The proposed deal was never finalised.
The first time the air-minded Moscovites got acquainted with the Junkers was probably when the May 1922 issue of the Vestnik Vozdushnogo Flota carried an advertisement for the 'Zavod Junkers' with a picture of the F 13. On 6 May an F 13, carrying the Danzig registration Dz32 (c/n 579) and piloted by Alfred Gothe arrived in Moscow. It was demonstrated at Khodynka on 7 May and a flight to Leningrad was made on 25 May. In July and August D-194 (c/n 590) and D-205 (c/n 589) arrived and with these aircraft the Junkers company, under the name of Aviakul'tura, ran a passenger service between Moscow and Nizhnii-Novgorod during the annual trade fair at the last-mentioned city. D-194 remained in Moscow during the winter and was registered to Junkers-Luftverkehr as R-RECA, but it was sold to an organisation called Mugmel'stroi (see later).
In May 1923 Dz30 (c/n 569) became the second R-RECA and Dz31 (c/n 547) was registered R-RECB. This R-RECA was soon re-registered R-RECG, however, as the first R-RECA was not cancelled although it changed owner. Another six aircraft arrived in June and July; R-RECC (c/n 643), R-RECD (c/n 572), R-RECE (c/n 614), R-RECF (c/n 630), R-RECH (c/n 636) and R-RECI (c/n 651). With these machines a Moscow-Tiflis service was opened on 1 June. In 1924 R-RECG (c/n 569) was scheduled for sale to the ODVF and a new R-RECG (c/n 693) was put into service but the sale was cancelled and c/n 569 was re-registered R-RECK in August 1924.
On 2 November 1924 R-RECE was transferred to Teheran and this was the first step in a future transfer of the Junkers-Luftverkehr fleet to Persia. The aircraft kept their Soviet registrations, however. Later the F 13s still based in Moscow were either sold or transferred back to Germany. R-RECD was sold to the German War Ministry to be used as a liaison aircraft at Lipetsk, R-RECE was sold to the Persian Air Force and R-RECF was obtained by the VVS. R-RECB and R-RECH were returned to Germany.
The recently formed Dobrolet company hired two military Junkers F 13s (c/ns 586 and 637) in April 1923 before placing an order for fourteen similar aircraft on the 28th of that month. The order was later amended for the delivery of a total of twenty aircraft. Four of these were intended for Ukrvozdukhput' and the military authorities tried to persuade Dobrolet to deliver up to eight F 13 to the RKKVF. Eventually only two aircraft were taken over and the other eighteen remained with Dobrolet. They were registered R-RDAA to R-RDAW, except for R-RDAH and R-RDAI which were given to the RKKVF. The first, R-RDAA (c/n 649), arrived from Germany on 3 June. Most were financed by public subscription and named after the organisations that had collected the money. On 29 June R- RDAC Moskovskii sovet (Mossovet) was handed over and in July R-RDAA Mossovet II, R-RDAB Prezidium VSNKh, R-RDAC Chervonets, R-RDAE Prombank and R-RDAF ODVF followed. R-RDAN Nauka, R-RDAO Krasnyi kamvol'shchik and R-RDAP Pravda were presented to Dobrolet on 25 November 1923.
R-RDAB (c/n 654) crashed on 16 July but was later rebuilt and R-RDAR (c/n 674) was sold to Zakavia. The first regular service by Dobrolet F 13s was the Moscow-Nizhnii Novgorod route opened in July 1923 by R-RDAE Prombank and run until September. R-RDAE was later fitted with floats imported from Dessau and based on the Moscow River during the Moscow Agricultural Fair of 1923. In 1924 it was based in Sevastopol. R-RDAM was sent on a propaganda tour around West Siberia and was named Sibrevkom during a presentation ceremony at Novonikolaevsk. R-RDAS was used on similar work in the Urals and was named Krasnyi Ural before being sold to Aviakhim. Three aircraft (c/ns 669, 670 and 672) intended for Dobrolet's Central Asian routes were taken over by the VVS in January 1924 when a local uprising started. R-RDAG Dekhan-Khlopkorob, R-RDAK Tashkentskii zheleznodorozhnik and R-RDAL Irregator were sent as re-placements and two new machines were acquired from Germany, R-RDAY Krasnaya Fergana (c/n 712) and R-RDAZ Pishchevik (c/n 713).
R-RDAO (crew: N I Naidenov and V D Osipov) and R-RDAP (I K Polyakov and I V Mikheev) participated in the much publicised long-distance flight to Peking in 1925. They left Moscow along with four other aircraft on 10 June and arrived at Irkutsk on 26 June and at Ulan-Bator in Mongolia on 4 July. R-RDAP crashed at Laiotan on 9 July but R- RDAO completed the flight and arrived at Peking on 13 July. After a trip to Nanking it returned to Peking on 20 August and was sent by sea to Vladivostok. Still stored there in 1926 it was acquired by the VVS for delivery to the Canton Government in China. R-RDAP was returned to Moscow in 1926 and was put into service again after extensive repairs. R-RDAA Mossovet was rebuilt to 85% after a crash and another heavily damaged F 13 (c/n 692) was bought from Aviakhim, rebuilt and put into service as R-RDAT in March 1926.
In March-April 1923 the Junkers-Luftverkehr F 13 R-RECA had flown to Teheran. It was then handed over to the Mugmel'stroi organisation. Azdobrolet, the Baku-based independent branch of Dobrolet, purchased an F 13 (c/n 668) from Germany, which was later registered R-RASA. This aircraft and that of Mugmel'stroi were soon handed over to the Tiflis-based Zakavia, who also bought R-RDAR (c/n 674) from Dobrolet. Named Azdobrolet, Mugmel'stroi and Bol'shevik these machines were put into service on a route between Tiflis and Baku. Zakavia ran into economic difficulties, however, and the aircraft were handed over to the VVS at Tiflis. They were returned to the company, but after R- RECA Mugmel'stroi had crashed in March the two remaining (c/ns 668 and 674) were again turned over to the VVS, this time definitively.
Returning to Dobrolet, R-RDAA Mossovet, R-RDAE Prombank and R-RDAT MSNKh-Mostorg opened a new route between Verkhneudinsk and Mongolia in 1926. R-RDAA Mossovet was also used to transport furs in Northern Siberia, R-RDAE Prombank was sent to Arkhangel'sk to participate in a sealing expedition and R-RDAS participated in an expedition to Wrangel Island in 1927. Missions of this type were typical of the work performed by the F 13s when not engaged in passenger transport. In 1928 A S Demchenko took off with the float- equipped R-RDAA Mossovet on a proving flight along the Lena River and later a new route between Irkutsk and Yakutsk was opened. In the same year M S Babushkin used RR-DAS during the Nobile rescue operation.
All the F 13s imported to the Soviet Union in 1923-25 were powered by the 185hp BMW engine. In 1924 Dobrolet had plans to acquire ten 220hp Siddeley Puma engines to be used in some of the F 13s but this was not done. The first Dobrolet F 13 with the 310hp Junkers L 5 engine was ordered on 21 April 1928 and delivered in May (c/n 2017). Another F 13, registered RR37, was also delivered but no trace has been found of this aircraft in Soviet documents. In addition to this a number of old BMW-engined F 13s were transferred to Dobrolet from the VVS in 1928-1930. Ukrvozdukhput' received an F 13 imported in 1928, RRUAZ (c/ n 2020). The Azerbaidzhan Red Crescent Society showed interest in obtaining an F 13 ambulance but no order was placed. A last pair of L 5- powered F 13s was purchased by Dobrolet in 1929 and eight of their old BMW-engined machines were also re-engined with the L 5.
In 1929 Dobrolet's F 13s were re-registered СССР-125 to 147 and СССР-149, some with the URSS- prefix for use on international routes. URSS-145 Mossovet was tested with aerial dusting gear against forest pests near Lake Baikal. The equipment fitted had been designed by K Ivanov and built in the Dobrolet repair shop at Irkutsk. In 1930 СССР-133 and СССР-136 were carrying herring spawn from the Caspian to the Aral Sea and another Junkers F 13 was sent out to open the Sakhalin route from Khabarovsk. By 1 May 1930 seventeen Junkers F 13s, nine with BMW engines and eight with the L 5, were in service in Central Asia, six with BMW engines in East Siberia, three with L 5s in the Ukraine and one L 5-engined machine was in Moscow.
At the end of 1930 the GVF took over Dobrolet's F 13s, including the one that Dobrolet had received from Ukrvozdukhput' at the beginning of the year. By December 1930 the GVF fleet list included twenty-seven F 13s. A year later twenty-six were in service but at the end of 1932 only thirteen remained. In the summer of that year three were based in Moscow, ten in Central Asia, six in Kazakstan, four in East Siberia, one in West Siberia and one in Transcaucasia. Most were used for passenger transport and other related tasks but one was used by the Nil GVF from late 1932. In 1933 the East Siberian Department had F 13s registered СССР-Л24, Л25 and Л92, while СССР-Л19, Л59, Л67, Л85, Л86, and Л714 were used in Central Asia and СССР-Л36 and Л56 in Kazakstan. By this time new designations were assigned to Junkers aircraft, presumably to conceal their German origin for political reasons, and the L 5-engined F 13s became PS-2s. The PS-1 designation was possibly reserved for F 13s with BMW engines. PS-3 and PS-4 were assigned to the W 33 and PS-5 was the former JuG-1 (K 30). In 1934 five PS-2s remained and three of these were still active in Central Asia in October 1935.
Known 1931-type civil Junkers F 13 registrations: СССР-Л3, Л9, Л19, Л23, Л24, Л25, Л33 (c/n 637), Л34, Л35, Л36, Л56, Л58, Л59, Л61, Л62, Л63, Л67, Л85, Л86, Л89, Л92 and Л714.
The Junkers F 13 entered Deruluft service on its Leningrad-Riga route in June 1928. The first two, RR40 and RR41 (c/ns 650 and 757), were handed back to Luft Hansa in June 1929 but in April the same year D-424, URSS- 307, URSS-308 and D-558 (c/ns 702, 723, 730 and 752) had joined the Deruluft fleet. One of these was replaced by URSS-320 (c/n 765) in 1930. Covered cockpits were introduced on the F 13s in 1932 and the passenger cabin was heated to enable the company to open winter services. The F 13s were flown with both wheels and skis. During the winter of 1930 a combined wheel/ski undercarriage was tested but not adopted. In May 1935 a new and larger airport was opened in Leningrad and the last F 13s were replaced by three- engined Ju 52/3ms.
At an early stage the ODVF realised the potential of the F 13 as an instrument of aviation propaganda. The 'safe' looks of the aircraft was perfect for demonstrations and for taking people who had never seen an aircraft before on a short flight from small fields in the countryside. Two F 13s were acquired in September 1924, R-RODA (c/n 679) and R-RODB (c/n 692), which were both 'presented' to the ODVF on 11 January 1925 and named Sel'skosoyuz-Litsom k derevne and Krasnyi artel'shchik-Vse v ODVF respectively. R-RODB crashed on 16 February and was sold to Dobrolet and replaced by a second R-RODB (c/n 749), named Vse v Aviakhim, in June 1925. In 1927 both aircraft received new 'registrations', R-RODB becoming VKP/h-1 and R-RODA VKP/b- 2. Both were still in service in 1929.
R-RDAS (c/n 671) Krasnyi Ural acquired by the Ural Aviakhim from Dobrolet in October 1925 was sold to the VVS in 1928. R-RSAA (c/n 645) Sibrevkom (ex-Dobrolet R-RDAM) purchased in 1924 by Sibaviakhim was transferred to the Leningrad branch of Osoaviakhim in 1929. Many propaganda tours and agitation flights were made around parts of the Soviet Union by these aircraft during the 1920s, often reported in detail in the Pravda and Izvestiya newspapers and the aviation press. To many the Junkers F 13s Vse v Aviakhim and Litsom k derevne were their first encounter with aviation. In 1931 Osoaviakhim had two F 13s and another two were received from the GVF in June 1932.
The RKKVF received their first Junkers F 13 (c/n 586) in 1922. It was assigned to the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots at Khodynka but was soon transferred to the so-called Otryad tyazheloi aviatsii (OTA), or Heavy Aviation Squadron, also at Khodynka, which by then had already received another pair of F 13s (c/ns 637 and 647). On 20 May 1923 B K Veiling and flight mechanic Grunin took took off from Moscow in Junkers c/n 647 to fly A A Znamensky, Commander-in-Chief of the RKKVF, to Tashkent via Khar'kov, Rostov, Tiflis, Baku, Askhabad and Bukhara. On the return journey they passed Khiva, Kazalinsk, Orenburg and Borisoglebsk and the total distance covered amounted to 10,567km. On 18 November Veiling crashed with c/n 647 in Moscow and was killed. Another three F 13s were added to the RKKVF inventory in 1923, one came from Germany (probably c/n 658) and two were from Dobrolet (c/ns 661 and 666).
The initial trio of F 13s was transferred to the Training eskadril'ya in Moscow before Veiling crashed but c/n 637 later followed the 1st OTA when this unit received Farman F.62 bombers and moved to Leningrad, where it became the 55th Aviaeskadril'ya in 1927. The 2nd Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Tashkent had disposed of its LVG aircraft and re-equipped with six Junkers F 13s early 1924. Three of these were those taken over from Dobrolet (c/ns 669, 670 and 672)-one marked 1 was ex-R-RDAT. The Dobrolet machines were converted into makeshift bombers by removing two of the passenger seats and mounting a Lewis machine-gun in the rear window on each side. Bomb racks were fitted beneath the wings. Based at Khiva together with a number of D.H.9As the F 13s were immediately put into service for reconnaissance, bombing and transport in one of the campaigns against the so-called basmachi insurgents. On 1 October 1924 one of this unit's machines (c/n 666) was flown to Kabul and handed over to the Afghan Government.
Early in 1925 three F 13s were acquired from Junkers (c/ns 677, 691 and 753) and two of these were assigned to the 4th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad, a Ju 21-equipped unit based at Tashkent. The three taken over briefly from Zakavia by the 47th (later 7th) Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Tiflis were given back to the company, but two of them (c/n 668 and 674) were returned to the VVS inventory in May 1925. They remained with the 7th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad, later the 44th Aviaotryad until 1928. At the end of 1925 another three were purchased from Junkers: c/ns 630, ex- R-RECF of Junkers-Luftverkehr, 733 and 767. Two went to the 4th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad and one became a personal transport for the VVS Commander in the Central Asian Military District. Krasnyi Ural (c/n 671) of Ural Aviakhim and an F 13 that had been in China (c/n 648) were added to the VVS inventory around 1928.
The F 13s based at Tashkent were later used by the Ju-21-equipped 35th and 40th Aviaotryady. One crashed in 1930 but the other two were handed over to the new 95th Transportnyi otryad at Tashkent in 1931-32. This unit had a total of three F 13s. The 5th Otdel'naya Razvedivatel'naya Aviaeskadril'ya (later the 22nd Aviapark) at Khar'kov, the 84th Training aviaotryad and the Nil VVS also used single F 13s. Ten of the military F 13s were transferred to Dobrolet between 1927 and 1929. About twenty different F 13s were used by the VVS altogether but the number on charge at one time never exceeded about a dozen. By January 1934 only one remained. The following F 13s saw VVS service: c/ns 586, (590), 630, 637, 647, 648, (658), 661, 666, 668, 669, 670, 671, 672, 674, 677, 691, 733, 753 and 767.
Some of the Soviet Junkers F 13s were exported to other countries. Afghanistan received one on 1 October 1924 (c/n 666), Persia was supplied with two on 22 May 1924 (c/ns 675 and 676), Mongolia got one on 30 May 1925 and two were sent to the Canton Government in China in May 1926 (c/n 648 and 677).
185hp BMW IIIa (310hp Junkers L 5)
Span 17.75m; length 9.6 (9.8) m; height 3.3; wing area 43 nr
Empty weight 1,160 (1,415) kg; loaded weight 1,800 (2,300) kg
Maximum speed 165 (208) km/h; cruising speed 135 (170) km/h; landing speed 80 (90) km/h; climb to 1,000m in 7min; ceiling 4,300 (5,000) m
Junkers F 13 O.T.A. (c/n 637) of the Otryad tyazheloi aviatsii (Heavy Aviation Flight), Moscow 1925. A total of about twenty F 13s served with the VVF in the transport, training and auxiliary bombing roles.
Military personnel with the pilot P M Zakharov (centre), below the propeller of a VVS Junkers F 13. Zakharov was later employed by Deruluft.
R-RDAE Prombank (c/n 656) was one of the first twenty Junkers F 13s ordered by Dobrolet and delivered in 1923.
Dobrolet's R-RDAO Krasnyi kamvol'shchik (c/ n 648) was presented to the company with two other Junkers F 13s on 25 November, 1923.
Two Dobrolet Junkers F 13s participated in the Moscow-Peking flight in the summer of 1925. R-RDAP Pravda (c/n 673) was flown by V B Kopylov.
Junkers F 13 R-RDAA (c/n 649) Mossovet, probably during a flight made by V L Galyshev from Krasnoyarsk to the north in March 1926.
Junkers F 13 R-RODB Vse v Aviakhim (c/n 749) was acquired by Aviakhim in 1925 to replace the earlier R-RODB (c/n b92), which had crashed.
In May-June 1929 Junkers F 13 URSS-145 Mossovet (c/n 649) was equipped for aerial spraying and tested in the vicinity of Lake Baikal (Pilot S V Lyalin).
Starting in 1922 more than sixty Junkers F 13s saw service in the Soviet Union. R-RECB (c/n 547) was registered to Junkers-Luftverkehr in Moscow in 1923.
Dobrolet opened its Central Asian network with nine Junkers F 13s. R-RDAC, R-RDAK and R-RDAL were named Dekhan-Khlopkorob, Tashkentskii zheleznodorozhnik and Irregator and presented to Dobrolet at Tashkent on 1 May, 1924.
Two different aircraft were registered R-RECG (c/ns 569 and 693). Junkers-Luftverkehr used a total of ten Junkers F 13s in the Soviet Union before the company moved its activities to Persia.
The first aircraft on the Khabarovsk-Sakhalin route in the Far East of the USSR was Junkers F 13 CCCP-127 (c/n 670), seen here in January 1930.
Junkers F 13 R-RDAM Sibrevkom (c/n 645) was acquired by Sibaviakhim from Dobrolet in 1924 and was later re-registered R-RSAA. Photographed somewhere in the Altai mountains, July 1925.
Junkers F 13 D-257 (c/n 647) was delivered to the RKKVF in May 1923 and is seen here with both German registration and red stars.
Junkers F 13 R-RASA (C/n 668) was the only aircraft acquired hy Azdobrolet and based at Baku in Azerbaidzhan. At the end of 1923 it was taken over by Zakavia, a company based at Tiflis.
These two Junkers F 13s (c/ns 675 and 676) were delivered to Persia in May 1924. Note the machine-gun stands. One of the five D.H. 9As delivered at the same time is seen in the background.
The air force of the Chinese Kuomintang Government at Canton received two float-equipped Junkers F 13 transports from the Soviet Union in 1926.
Luft-Verkehrs- Gesellschaft LVG C VI
The LVG C V and C VI, which served simultaneously, were two of the most successful German reconnaissance and artillery observation aircraft of the First World War. About 1,100 C VI aircraft were built in 1918. This two-seat biplane did not differ much from the LVG C V, but was lighter and more compact. The same engine, a water-cooled six-cylinder inline 220hp Benz Bz IV, was installed, but the extreme forward part of the fuselage was remodeled to make the fitting of a spinner unnecessary. The cylinder block protruded through the metal plating around the engine and a chimney-type manifold exhaust was fitted. A flush radiator was installed in the centre section of the wing, which featured a large angular cut-out in the trailing edge for better view for the pilot.
The fuselage was plywood-covered except for the metal panels in the nose, and built up on a framework consisting of slab-sided formers and four longerons, covered with a thin layer of plywood. The vertical tail surfaces had an egg-shaped form similar to that of Halberstadt aircraft and the tailplane also had a rounded profile. The rudder and elevators had small horn-balances. The fabric-covered staggered wings were of parallel chord and the upper wings were slightly raked at the tips, the tips of the lower wings being rounded. The ailerons mounted on the upper wings were of parallel chord and unbalanced. A standard type under-carriage was fitted. Armament consisted of one fixed forward-firing machine-gun for the pilot and one flexibly mounted machine-gun for the observer in the rear cockpit. Small bombs could also be carried.
After the war LVG C VI aircraft appeared in small numbers in the military air services of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Switzerland, the Ukraine and a few other countries. Several attempts were made by Russians to purchase LVG aircraft in Germany in 1919-1920 but it has not been possible to establish who these buyers were acting for or if they were ever successful. Among the first foreign aircraft acquisitions made by the Soviet Government in 1922 involved twenty LVG C VI aircraft, delivered in April/May 1922 and assembled at RVZ No. 1. The first one completed was c/n 12/3, test-flown on 2 May and then assigned to the NOA. Constructor's numbers of the whole batch were: 14/1, 40/2, 12/3, 41/4, 42/5, 11/6, 43/7, 44/8, 45/9, 13/10, 11, 75/12, 13, 14, 15, 74/16, 17, 18, 14599/19 and 20. It is not known if the numbers 1-20 were original or if they were added by RVZ No. 1.
The LVG was called the 'El'fauge' in the Soviet Union after the pronunciation of its designation in German. It was used by the 2nd, 4th and 8th Otdel'nye razvedivatel'nye aviatsionnye otryady at Tashkent until replaced by de Havilland D.H.9s and Junkers F 13s in 1924, and by the 14th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad at Severnaya, just north of Moscow, until 1924. The 1st Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Leningrad and the 6th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Khar'kov had one each. Two LVG C Vis (12/ 75 and 16/74) were used at the NOA in 1923. In connection with the withdrawal from use of the LVG C VI in 1924-25 Dobrolet was offered eight aircraft (and seventeen Benz engines) for their aerial photography department in September 1924, but they rejected the offer. However, LVGs had already been in use for civil purposes earlier.
Deruluft acquired two LVG C Vis for local flights and communications between their airports. RR11 (c/n 4643, ex-D-123) was delivered from Germany in December 1922 and was used until 1926. A second aircraft, RR14 (c/n 4590, probably ex-D-76), was delivered in June 1923, but this machine did not pass its airworthiness tests in October 1924 and was probably scrapped. An organisation called Kashirstroi purchased another old LVG C VI cheaply in Berlin. This aircraft also arrived in Moscow in June 1923. It was to be used for personal transport between the Kashirstroi offices in Moscow and the construction sites at the Kashirka River south of the capital but no further details are known about this aircraft.
M220hp Benz Bz VI
Span 7.45m; length 13m; height 2.8m; wing area 35 m2
Empty weight 945kg; loaded weight 1,375kg
Maximum speed 170km/h; climb to 1,000m in 4min; endurance 3hr
The LVG C V and C VI, which served simultaneously, were two of the most successful German reconnaissance and artillery observation aircraft of the First World War. About 1,100 C VI aircraft were built in 1918. This two-seat biplane did not differ much from the LVG C V, but was lighter and more compact. The same engine, a water-cooled six-cylinder inline 220hp Benz Bz IV, was installed, but the extreme forward part of the fuselage was remodeled to make the fitting of a spinner unnecessary. The cylinder block protruded through the metal plating around the engine and a chimney-type manifold exhaust was fitted. A flush radiator was installed in the centre section of the wing, which featured a large angular cut-out in the trailing edge for better view for the pilot.
The fuselage was plywood-covered except for the metal panels in the nose, and built up on a framework consisting of slab-sided formers and four longerons, covered with a thin layer of plywood. The vertical tail surfaces had an egg-shaped form similar to that of Halberstadt aircraft and the tailplane also had a rounded profile. The rudder and elevators had small horn-balances. The fabric-covered staggered wings were of parallel chord and the upper wings were slightly raked at the tips, the tips of the lower wings being rounded. The ailerons mounted on the upper wings were of parallel chord and unbalanced. A standard type under-carriage was fitted. Armament consisted of one fixed forward-firing machine-gun for the pilot and one flexibly mounted machine-gun for the observer in the rear cockpit. Small bombs could also be carried.
After the war LVG C VI aircraft appeared in small numbers in the military air services of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Switzerland, the Ukraine and a few other countries. Several attempts were made by Russians to purchase LVG aircraft in Germany in 1919-1920 but it has not been possible to establish who these buyers were acting for or if they were ever successful. Among the first foreign aircraft acquisitions made by the Soviet Government in 1922 involved twenty LVG C VI aircraft, delivered in April/May 1922 and assembled at RVZ No. 1. The first one completed was c/n 12/3, test-flown on 2 May and then assigned to the NOA. Constructor's numbers of the whole batch were: 14/1, 40/2, 12/3, 41/4, 42/5, 11/6, 43/7, 44/8, 45/9, 13/10, 11, 75/12, 13, 14, 15, 74/16, 17, 18, 14599/19 and 20. It is not known if the numbers 1-20 were original or if they were added by RVZ No. 1.
The LVG was called the 'El'fauge' in the Soviet Union after the pronunciation of its designation in German. It was used by the 2nd, 4th and 8th Otdel'nye razvedivatel'nye aviatsionnye otryady at Tashkent until replaced by de Havilland D.H.9s and Junkers F 13s in 1924, and by the 14th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad at Severnaya, just north of Moscow, until 1924. The 1st Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Leningrad and the 6th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Khar'kov had one each. Two LVG C Vis (12/ 75 and 16/74) were used at the NOA in 1923. In connection with the withdrawal from use of the LVG C VI in 1924-25 Dobrolet was offered eight aircraft (and seventeen Benz engines) for their aerial photography department in September 1924, but they rejected the offer. However, LVGs had already been in use for civil purposes earlier.
Deruluft acquired two LVG C Vis for local flights and communications between their airports. RR11 (c/n 4643, ex-D-123) was delivered from Germany in December 1922 and was used until 1926. A second aircraft, RR14 (c/n 4590, probably ex-D-76), was delivered in June 1923, but this machine did not pass its airworthiness tests in October 1924 and was probably scrapped. An organisation called Kashirstroi purchased another old LVG C VI cheaply in Berlin. This aircraft also arrived in Moscow in June 1923. It was to be used for personal transport between the Kashirstroi offices in Moscow and the construction sites at the Kashirka River south of the capital but no further details are known about this aircraft.
M220hp Benz Bz VI
Span 7.45m; length 13m; height 2.8m; wing area 35 m2
Empty weight 945kg; loaded weight 1,375kg
Maximum speed 170km/h; climb to 1,000m in 4min; endurance 3hr
Twenty German LVG C VI reconnaissance aircraft were acquired by the RKKVF in 1922 and used by units based at Tashkent and Moscow until replaced in 1924.
Ansaldo A 1 Balilla
When plans for the re-equipment of the RKKVF were drawn up in 1920-21 the Soviet authorities soon concluded that import of aircraft from abroad was necessary. Soviet aircraft design was virtually non-existent and the few aircraft factories that were in operation were mostly repairing or rebuilding old aircraft and only small series of obsolete First World War types were built.
A number of Italian Ansaldo aircraft were included in the first consignments of aviation equipment arriving in the Soviet Union in 1922. One of the types acquired, the highly manoeuvrable Ansaldo A 1 Balilla fighter, was a development of the earlier Ansaldo SVA types. Designed by U Savoia and R Verduzio for the Societa Ansaldo, the first SVA, a conventional biplane of wooden construction, appeared in March 1917. Flown in the autumn of the same year, the A 1 Balilla was the first successful indigenous Italian fighter. It was a small wooden single- bay biplane with a plywood-covered fuselage, which was of rectangular cross section at the front. The rear portion of the fuselage was triangular - an Ansaldo speciality.
The equal-span untapered and unstaggered wings had rounded tips. There was a triangular fin and two-part elevators and all flying control surfaces were unbalanced. The undercarriage was of normal type and consisted of two V-struts and a cross-axle. The water- cooled 220hp SPA 6A six-cylinder in-line engine was covered by a metal cowling and a flat car-type radiator was fitted in front of it. There were short individual exhaust stubs for each cylinder on the starboard side. The main fuel tank was jettisonable through an opening in the bottom of the fuselage. The Balilla carried an armament of two 7.7mm Vickers machine-guns synchronised with the wooden two- bladed propeller.
At least 270 A 1 Balillas were built and most of these were delivered to the Italian Air Force. The A 1bis, in which the SPA 6A had been replaced by a 250hp Isotta-Fraschini V 6 engine, was evaluated in 1923, but was not built in series. Balillas were also sold to the air forces of Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Poland and the Soviet Union and single examples are reported to have been sold or presented to Belgium, Honduras, Mexico, Spain and Uruguay. Large-scale licence production was initiated in Poland but was soon abandoned.
The Red Army captured at least two Ansaldo Balillas (c/ns 59/8 and 161) during the Civil War, which were repaired and put into service with the RKKVF. Thirty new Balillas were ordered from Italy for two morskie istrebitel'nye (naval fighter) otryady and for the Moscow Aviation School (ten each), but only eighteen aircraft (c/ns 300-317) were delivered to Odessa in 1922. They were used in the naval fighter defence role by the 1st Otdel'nyi morskoi istrebitel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad at Peterhof, near Leningrad and the 2nd Otdel'nyi morskoi istrebitel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad at Odessa. In 1926-27 the Italian fighters were replaced by Fokker D VIIs in the first-mentioned unit and and by Fokker D. XIs and R-ls in the second. Thirteen Balillas remained at the end of 1927 and all were written off in the following year. A couple also served with the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow until 1925.
205-220hp SPA 6A.
Span 7.68m; length 6.5m; height 2.85m; wing area 21 m\
Empty weight 640kg; loaded weight 885kg.
Maximum speed 220km/h; climb to 1,000m in 3min; ceiling 6,000m; endurance 2hr.
When plans for the re-equipment of the RKKVF were drawn up in 1920-21 the Soviet authorities soon concluded that import of aircraft from abroad was necessary. Soviet aircraft design was virtually non-existent and the few aircraft factories that were in operation were mostly repairing or rebuilding old aircraft and only small series of obsolete First World War types were built.
A number of Italian Ansaldo aircraft were included in the first consignments of aviation equipment arriving in the Soviet Union in 1922. One of the types acquired, the highly manoeuvrable Ansaldo A 1 Balilla fighter, was a development of the earlier Ansaldo SVA types. Designed by U Savoia and R Verduzio for the Societa Ansaldo, the first SVA, a conventional biplane of wooden construction, appeared in March 1917. Flown in the autumn of the same year, the A 1 Balilla was the first successful indigenous Italian fighter. It was a small wooden single- bay biplane with a plywood-covered fuselage, which was of rectangular cross section at the front. The rear portion of the fuselage was triangular - an Ansaldo speciality.
The equal-span untapered and unstaggered wings had rounded tips. There was a triangular fin and two-part elevators and all flying control surfaces were unbalanced. The undercarriage was of normal type and consisted of two V-struts and a cross-axle. The water- cooled 220hp SPA 6A six-cylinder in-line engine was covered by a metal cowling and a flat car-type radiator was fitted in front of it. There were short individual exhaust stubs for each cylinder on the starboard side. The main fuel tank was jettisonable through an opening in the bottom of the fuselage. The Balilla carried an armament of two 7.7mm Vickers machine-guns synchronised with the wooden two- bladed propeller.
At least 270 A 1 Balillas were built and most of these were delivered to the Italian Air Force. The A 1bis, in which the SPA 6A had been replaced by a 250hp Isotta-Fraschini V 6 engine, was evaluated in 1923, but was not built in series. Balillas were also sold to the air forces of Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Poland and the Soviet Union and single examples are reported to have been sold or presented to Belgium, Honduras, Mexico, Spain and Uruguay. Large-scale licence production was initiated in Poland but was soon abandoned.
The Red Army captured at least two Ansaldo Balillas (c/ns 59/8 and 161) during the Civil War, which were repaired and put into service with the RKKVF. Thirty new Balillas were ordered from Italy for two morskie istrebitel'nye (naval fighter) otryady and for the Moscow Aviation School (ten each), but only eighteen aircraft (c/ns 300-317) were delivered to Odessa in 1922. They were used in the naval fighter defence role by the 1st Otdel'nyi morskoi istrebitel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad at Peterhof, near Leningrad and the 2nd Otdel'nyi morskoi istrebitel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad at Odessa. In 1926-27 the Italian fighters were replaced by Fokker D VIIs in the first-mentioned unit and and by Fokker D. XIs and R-ls in the second. Thirteen Balillas remained at the end of 1927 and all were written off in the following year. A couple also served with the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow until 1925.
205-220hp SPA 6A.
Span 7.68m; length 6.5m; height 2.85m; wing area 21 m\
Empty weight 640kg; loaded weight 885kg.
Maximum speed 220km/h; climb to 1,000m in 3min; ceiling 6,000m; endurance 2hr.
The first foreign equipment obtained for the RKKVF included eighteen Ansaldo A 1 Balilla fighters. They were assigned to the naval fighter flights at Odessa and Leningrad.
SVA 10
The Ansaldo SVA 10 owed its origins to the single-seat SVA 3, SVA 4 and SVA 5 and more directly to the two- seat SVA 9 reconnaissance and training aircraft, which were all designed by V Savoia and R Verduzio for the Ansaldo company. Powered by the six-cylinder liquid-cooled 220hp SPA 6A engine, the SVA 10 was described as a fast two-seat reconnaissance and light bombing biplane. The lower wings were of shorter span than the upper ones and there were ailerons only on the upper wings. The wings were connected by three pairs of diagonal streamlined steel-tube struts on each side and the plywood-covered fuselage featured the typical thin Ansaldo triangular cross section rear end. There were individual exhaust stubs for each cylinder on the starboard side of the metal engine cowling. The fin was of triangular planform as on other Ansaldo types. Armament consisted of one fixed forward-firing machine-gun, one flexible gun in the rear cockpit and light bombs. The SVA 10 served with the Italian Air Force from 1918 and was used in quantity by Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. It was also obtained in small numbers by or presented to Argentina, Chile, Holland, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and the USA.
The Ukraine acquired a small number of SVAs in 1920 and also bought one SVA S 1. Georgia probably received twenty to twenty-five SVA 10s in 1920. A first batch often was delivered to Tiflis in November 1920 and were test-flown there by the Ansaldo company pilot Lovadina. Some of these aircraft were captured by the Red Army and taken on charge by the RKKVF, including c/ns 566, 572 and 574, of which c/n 574 was fitted with the 250hp Isotta-Fraschini engine. The Soviet Government order for Ansaldo aircraft placed in 1922 included thirty new SVA 10s, ten each for the 9th and 10th aviaotryady and the Moscow Aviation School, but in the event the only ones delivered were the sixteen that arrived at Odessa on the steamer Patras early in May 1922 (c/ns 617, 677-686 and 751-755).
Fourteen of the new SVA 10s were assigned to the Rostov-based 9th and 10th Otdel'nye razvedivatel'nye aviatsionnye otryady, where they replaced Sopwith l 1/2-Strutters and other types, and two were assigned to the 1st Higher School of Pilots in Moscow. The 47th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad, sometimes called the Otdel'nyi svodnyi Kavkazskii razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad (Detached Composite Kaukasian Reconnaissance Squadron) was set up at Tiflis at the beginning of 1924 with these two machines, the three captured SVA 10s and a few Lebed XIIs. This unit became the 7th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad in 1925 and the 44th Korpusnoi aviaotryad in 1926, but by then the SVA 10s had been replaced by R-1s. All but a few were written off in 1925. In addition to the units mentioned above, the Balilla-equipped 48th Aviaotrvad at Odessa had a single SVA 10.
The Ansaldo A 5 was a two-bay biplane with normal interplane struts in place of the Warren type wing strut arrangement used on the SVA 10. Wings from the Pomilio PE were mated to an SVA fuselage, and both single-seat and two-seat A 5s were built. They were intended for highspeed and strategic reconnaissance respectively, but were not adopted by the Italian Air Force. Although fitted with a more powerful 290hp Ansaldo E145 engine the A 5 was inferior to the SVA. Only a few were built and one of them seems to have been included in the Italian deliveries to Georgia or the Ukraine. A (captured) SVA identified as s/n 13203 was first used by the Istrebitel'naya Eskadril'ya and then by the Razvedivatel'naya Eskadril'ya of the Aviatsionnaya Eskadra No. 2 at Kiev and, although fitted with a 220hp SPA engine, this aircraft was probably identical to the Italian s/n 13203, which was of the A 5 model.
Ansaldo SVA 10s, February 1924
Unit S/n C/n
9th ORAO
1 683
2 684
3 685
4 755
5 752
6 754
7 686
10th ORAO
1 617
2 677
3 679
4 680
5 681
6 751
7 753
1st VySL
678
682
205-220hp SPA 6A
Span 9.1m; length 8.1m; height 2.65; wing area 26.9m!
Empty weight 730kg; loaded weight 1,080kg
Maximum speed 200km/h; climb to 1,000m in 3.5min; ceiling 4,800m; endurance 3hr
The Ansaldo SVA 10 owed its origins to the single-seat SVA 3, SVA 4 and SVA 5 and more directly to the two- seat SVA 9 reconnaissance and training aircraft, which were all designed by V Savoia and R Verduzio for the Ansaldo company. Powered by the six-cylinder liquid-cooled 220hp SPA 6A engine, the SVA 10 was described as a fast two-seat reconnaissance and light bombing biplane. The lower wings were of shorter span than the upper ones and there were ailerons only on the upper wings. The wings were connected by three pairs of diagonal streamlined steel-tube struts on each side and the plywood-covered fuselage featured the typical thin Ansaldo triangular cross section rear end. There were individual exhaust stubs for each cylinder on the starboard side of the metal engine cowling. The fin was of triangular planform as on other Ansaldo types. Armament consisted of one fixed forward-firing machine-gun, one flexible gun in the rear cockpit and light bombs. The SVA 10 served with the Italian Air Force from 1918 and was used in quantity by Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. It was also obtained in small numbers by or presented to Argentina, Chile, Holland, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and the USA.
The Ukraine acquired a small number of SVAs in 1920 and also bought one SVA S 1. Georgia probably received twenty to twenty-five SVA 10s in 1920. A first batch often was delivered to Tiflis in November 1920 and were test-flown there by the Ansaldo company pilot Lovadina. Some of these aircraft were captured by the Red Army and taken on charge by the RKKVF, including c/ns 566, 572 and 574, of which c/n 574 was fitted with the 250hp Isotta-Fraschini engine. The Soviet Government order for Ansaldo aircraft placed in 1922 included thirty new SVA 10s, ten each for the 9th and 10th aviaotryady and the Moscow Aviation School, but in the event the only ones delivered were the sixteen that arrived at Odessa on the steamer Patras early in May 1922 (c/ns 617, 677-686 and 751-755).
Fourteen of the new SVA 10s were assigned to the Rostov-based 9th and 10th Otdel'nye razvedivatel'nye aviatsionnye otryady, where they replaced Sopwith l 1/2-Strutters and other types, and two were assigned to the 1st Higher School of Pilots in Moscow. The 47th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad, sometimes called the Otdel'nyi svodnyi Kavkazskii razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad (Detached Composite Kaukasian Reconnaissance Squadron) was set up at Tiflis at the beginning of 1924 with these two machines, the three captured SVA 10s and a few Lebed XIIs. This unit became the 7th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad in 1925 and the 44th Korpusnoi aviaotryad in 1926, but by then the SVA 10s had been replaced by R-1s. All but a few were written off in 1925. In addition to the units mentioned above, the Balilla-equipped 48th Aviaotrvad at Odessa had a single SVA 10.
The Ansaldo A 5 was a two-bay biplane with normal interplane struts in place of the Warren type wing strut arrangement used on the SVA 10. Wings from the Pomilio PE were mated to an SVA fuselage, and both single-seat and two-seat A 5s were built. They were intended for highspeed and strategic reconnaissance respectively, but were not adopted by the Italian Air Force. Although fitted with a more powerful 290hp Ansaldo E145 engine the A 5 was inferior to the SVA. Only a few were built and one of them seems to have been included in the Italian deliveries to Georgia or the Ukraine. A (captured) SVA identified as s/n 13203 was first used by the Istrebitel'naya Eskadril'ya and then by the Razvedivatel'naya Eskadril'ya of the Aviatsionnaya Eskadra No. 2 at Kiev and, although fitted with a 220hp SPA engine, this aircraft was probably identical to the Italian s/n 13203, which was of the A 5 model.
Ansaldo SVA 10s, February 1924
Unit S/n C/n
9th ORAO
1 683
2 684
3 685
4 755
5 752
6 754
7 686
10th ORAO
1 617
2 677
3 679
4 680
5 681
6 751
7 753
1st VySL
678
682
205-220hp SPA 6A
Span 9.1m; length 8.1m; height 2.65; wing area 26.9m!
Empty weight 730kg; loaded weight 1,080kg
Maximum speed 200km/h; climb to 1,000m in 3.5min; ceiling 4,800m; endurance 3hr
The Ansaldo SVA 10 was a two-seat reconnaissance aircraft. Thirty were ordered but only sixteen were delivered in May 1922 and assigned to two otryady based at Rostov.
Ansaldo A 300/3
The Ansaldo A 300 reconnaissance and light bombing aircraft, a heavier and more powerful type than the earlier SVA models, was first flown in 1919. It was a two-bay biplane of normal wooden construction powered by a 300hp Fiat A 12bis engine. It had equal-span wings with unbalanced ailerons and a normal undercarriage. The A 300/2 was a two-seat version, while the A 300/3 had provision for a crew of three; pilot, gunner and observer. Armament consisted of a single machine-gun mounted in the rear cockpit. The A 300/4 model was adopted by the Italian Air Force as its standard reconnaissance type and a total of 612 were delivered from 1924/ 25. Most Italian reconnaissance units converted to the A 300 but apparently the Regia Aeronautica was not completely satisfied with this aircraft and it was replaced by other types after only a short period of service. About one hundred were converted to the A 300/6 with 410hp Fiat A 20 engines by the Gabardini company.
Exports of the A 300 were made to the military air services of Belgium, China, Hungary (just a few), Mexico (one), Poland, Spain, the Soviet Union and Turkey (one). A substantial number of A 300s were built under licence in Poland, but the large-scale production contracts placed were soon cancelled and the Service career of the Polish A 300s was plagued by engine fires and structural failures.
The Soviet order for Ansaldo aircraft placed in 1922 was to have included fifty examples of the A 300/3 three-seat version, but the number of aircraft ordered was eventually reduced to thirty (c/ns 7066-7095). The first consignment of sixteen SVA 10s and four A 300 aircraft was shipped to Odessa on board the Patras in April 1922 and by June all A 300s had arrived. The Ansaldo test pilot Botalla and three fitters assembled and test-flew the Italian aircraft at Odessa and in Moscow. The A 300s were assigned to the 1st Razvedivatel'naya eskadril'ya of the Aviatsionnaya Eskadra No. 2 at Kiev. This unit became the 3rd Otdel'naya razvedivatel'naya aviatsionnaya eskadril'ya in 1924. The NOA, the 1st Higher School of Pilots and the Higher School of Observers also had single examples of the A 300/3 and three were assigned to the Academv of the VVS in 1925.
In 1925 the A 300s of the 3rd Otdel'naya razvedivatel'naya aviaeskadril'ya at Kiev were replaced by R-1s and passed on to the 14th and 17th Korpusnye aviaotryady, also at Kiev, and other units. In the spring of 1926 the A 300 was tested with the 250hp BMW IV engine and at least eighteen were converted to two-seat A 250/2s with this engine in 1926-27. From 1927 the Ansaldos were serving with the 17th and 37th Aviaotryady, also at Kiev, but they were finally replaced by R-ls in 1928. Relegated to the advanced training role they passed to the 2nd Combined School of Military Pilots and Mechanics at Vol'sk.
In November 1927 Dobrolet and Ukrvozdukhput had been offered six to eight Ansaldos each, but there was no requirement for aircraft of this type in civil aviation. By the end of 1929 eighteen Ansaldos remained. All but two were written off in 1930 and the last disappeared during the following year.
300hp Fiat A 12bis
Span 11.24m; length 8.53m; height 2,98m; wing area 41 m'
Empty weight 1,225kg; loaded weight 1,675kg
Maximum speed 198km/h; climb to 1,000m in 4.4min; ceiling 6,000m; endurance 3hr
The Ansaldo A 300 reconnaissance and light bombing aircraft, a heavier and more powerful type than the earlier SVA models, was first flown in 1919. It was a two-bay biplane of normal wooden construction powered by a 300hp Fiat A 12bis engine. It had equal-span wings with unbalanced ailerons and a normal undercarriage. The A 300/2 was a two-seat version, while the A 300/3 had provision for a crew of three; pilot, gunner and observer. Armament consisted of a single machine-gun mounted in the rear cockpit. The A 300/4 model was adopted by the Italian Air Force as its standard reconnaissance type and a total of 612 were delivered from 1924/ 25. Most Italian reconnaissance units converted to the A 300 but apparently the Regia Aeronautica was not completely satisfied with this aircraft and it was replaced by other types after only a short period of service. About one hundred were converted to the A 300/6 with 410hp Fiat A 20 engines by the Gabardini company.
Exports of the A 300 were made to the military air services of Belgium, China, Hungary (just a few), Mexico (one), Poland, Spain, the Soviet Union and Turkey (one). A substantial number of A 300s were built under licence in Poland, but the large-scale production contracts placed were soon cancelled and the Service career of the Polish A 300s was plagued by engine fires and structural failures.
The Soviet order for Ansaldo aircraft placed in 1922 was to have included fifty examples of the A 300/3 three-seat version, but the number of aircraft ordered was eventually reduced to thirty (c/ns 7066-7095). The first consignment of sixteen SVA 10s and four A 300 aircraft was shipped to Odessa on board the Patras in April 1922 and by June all A 300s had arrived. The Ansaldo test pilot Botalla and three fitters assembled and test-flew the Italian aircraft at Odessa and in Moscow. The A 300s were assigned to the 1st Razvedivatel'naya eskadril'ya of the Aviatsionnaya Eskadra No. 2 at Kiev. This unit became the 3rd Otdel'naya razvedivatel'naya aviatsionnaya eskadril'ya in 1924. The NOA, the 1st Higher School of Pilots and the Higher School of Observers also had single examples of the A 300/3 and three were assigned to the Academv of the VVS in 1925.
In 1925 the A 300s of the 3rd Otdel'naya razvedivatel'naya aviaeskadril'ya at Kiev were replaced by R-1s and passed on to the 14th and 17th Korpusnye aviaotryady, also at Kiev, and other units. In the spring of 1926 the A 300 was tested with the 250hp BMW IV engine and at least eighteen were converted to two-seat A 250/2s with this engine in 1926-27. From 1927 the Ansaldos were serving with the 17th and 37th Aviaotryady, also at Kiev, but they were finally replaced by R-ls in 1928. Relegated to the advanced training role they passed to the 2nd Combined School of Military Pilots and Mechanics at Vol'sk.
In November 1927 Dobrolet and Ukrvozdukhput had been offered six to eight Ansaldos each, but there was no requirement for aircraft of this type in civil aviation. By the end of 1929 eighteen Ansaldos remained. All but two were written off in 1930 and the last disappeared during the following year.
300hp Fiat A 12bis
Span 11.24m; length 8.53m; height 2,98m; wing area 41 m'
Empty weight 1,225kg; loaded weight 1,675kg
Maximum speed 198km/h; climb to 1,000m in 4.4min; ceiling 6,000m; endurance 3hr
The single Ansaldo A 300 (c/n 7071) and one of the two Avro Babys used by the 1st Higher School of Red Military Pilots in Moscow. Thirty A 300 reconnaissance aircraft were delivered to the RKKVF.
Fiat ARF
The two-seat single-engine reconnaissance-bomber Fiat ARF (Aeroplano-Rosatelli-Fiat) was a modified version of the Fiat BR, with increased fuel capacity and detail refinements. A company called CNA purchased two ARFs on behalf of the Russian trade delegation in Italy, under a contract requiring this company to test and deliver the aircraft. They were registered I-ARGA and I-ARGO and it was decided to ferry them to the USSR and not send them by boat or rail, despite the opposition of the technicians of the Russian delegation. The aircraft left Mirafiori and flew via Campo-formido but both crashed in October 1921 at Tulomino before leaving Italy; the Italian ferry pilots Stratta and Garrone were killed. This abortive undertaking was almost certainly the first attempt by the new Soviet Government to purchase aircraft abroad.
650-700hp Fiat A. 14
Span 16.23m; length 10.13m; height 3.7m
Empty weight 2,350kg; loaded weight 4,709kg
Maximum speed 200km/h
The two-seat single-engine reconnaissance-bomber Fiat ARF (Aeroplano-Rosatelli-Fiat) was a modified version of the Fiat BR, with increased fuel capacity and detail refinements. A company called CNA purchased two ARFs on behalf of the Russian trade delegation in Italy, under a contract requiring this company to test and deliver the aircraft. They were registered I-ARGA and I-ARGO and it was decided to ferry them to the USSR and not send them by boat or rail, despite the opposition of the technicians of the Russian delegation. The aircraft left Mirafiori and flew via Campo-formido but both crashed in October 1921 at Tulomino before leaving Italy; the Italian ferry pilots Stratta and Garrone were killed. This abortive undertaking was almost certainly the first attempt by the new Soviet Government to purchase aircraft abroad.
650-700hp Fiat A. 14
Span 16.23m; length 10.13m; height 3.7m
Empty weight 2,350kg; loaded weight 4,709kg
Maximum speed 200km/h
Savoia S.16
The Italian Societa Idrovolanti Alta Italia (SIAI) built a long range of successful flying-boats and its first postwar design, the S.16, a six-seat passenger transport flying-boat, appeared in 1919. Designed by Raffaele Conflenti, it was a single-engined two-bay biplane powered by a water-cooled 300hp Fiat A.12bis engine. There were three separate open cockpits for the pilot and passengers in the hull, which had a concave bottom forward of the single step. The lower wings were fitted with ailerons and set at slight dihedral. The engine was mounted with a frontal radiator on a number of struts in a position between the wings, driving a four-blade wooden pusher propeller.
Orders for the S.16 started to arrive after the Paris Air Salon of 1919, some of them from civil customers and others for the two-seat military version intended for reconnaissance and light bombing. The forward cockpit in the bow was equipped with a single machine-gun for the observer (the Soviet examples were fitted with DA machine-guns), mounted on a revolving ring. There were provisions for underwing bomb racks for 220kg of bombs. The S.16bis version had an improved extremely strong hull with triple wooden planking below the water-line with tarred linen between the layers, strengthened wings, a new propeller and increased fuel capacity. At least 100 S.16s were ordered by the Italian Navy and by the Regia Aeronautica and the air services of both the Spanish Army and Navy acquired many from 1921. Ecuador received one in 1924, Latvia six in 1923 and Turkey twenty in 1924.
In order to be able to re-equip the naval reconnaissance units of the RKKVF the Soviet Government placed an order for the S.16bis on 11 December 1922. Thirty-five, of which five were intended as reserve aircraft, were delivered to Sevastopol in 1923, and these were followed by a 36th example in 1924 (c/ns 5018-5046 except one, 5050-5056 and 5065). The first twenty of these were sent to Hamburg by train accompanied by the Savoia test pilot Guarnieri and fourteen arrived by boat in Leningrad in April 1923. The S.16s were assigned to the 3rd Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi gidro-aviatsionnyi otryad at Odessa and the 4th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi gidro-aviatsionnyi otryad at Sevastopol, which became the 53rd and 64th Aviaotryady in 1927. One of these flying-boats was fitted with a 250- 310hp BMW IV engine for comparative tests but crashed on its second flight on 2 October 1925. Meanwhile, the S.16ter version had been developed in Italy and during 1926-27 GAZ No. 3 in Leningrad was given the task of modifying some thirteen of the S.16s to the same standard. The Soviet S.16ter had a 450hp Lorraine-Dietrich V-12 engine which gave it improved performance.
One S.16 piloted by E M Lukht participated in an expedition to Wrangel Island north of the extreme northeastern part of the Soviet Union in August 1927. It was carried along with Dobrolet's Junkers F 13 R-RDAS on board the steamship Kolyma and was employed for ice reconnaissance. Both aircraft were later flown from Tiksi on the north coast along the Lena River all the way down to Irkutsk. The 53rd Aviaotryad at Odessa was disbanded in 1928 and the 64th at Sevastopol followed suit in 1931. The Savoia flying-boats were handed over to other units for use as trainers. A number of S.16s had been assigned to the School of Naval Pilots at Sevastopol/Eisk for advanced training and to these were added a few remaining from operational units in 1933. The Eisk school still had seven on charge by the beginning of 1934.
S.16bis (S.16ter)
300hp Fiat A.12bis (450hp Lorraine-Dietrich)
Span 15.5m; length 9.97m; height 3.67m; wing area 60 nv
Empty weight 1,670 (1,850) kg; loaded weight 2,570 (2,650) kg
Maximum speed 165 (190) km/h; cruising speed 120 (140) km/h; alighting speed 85 (90) km/h; climb to 1,000m in 8 (6) min; ceiling 3,500 (4,000) m; endurance 4ft (3ft) hr; range 550km
The Italian Societa Idrovolanti Alta Italia (SIAI) built a long range of successful flying-boats and its first postwar design, the S.16, a six-seat passenger transport flying-boat, appeared in 1919. Designed by Raffaele Conflenti, it was a single-engined two-bay biplane powered by a water-cooled 300hp Fiat A.12bis engine. There were three separate open cockpits for the pilot and passengers in the hull, which had a concave bottom forward of the single step. The lower wings were fitted with ailerons and set at slight dihedral. The engine was mounted with a frontal radiator on a number of struts in a position between the wings, driving a four-blade wooden pusher propeller.
Orders for the S.16 started to arrive after the Paris Air Salon of 1919, some of them from civil customers and others for the two-seat military version intended for reconnaissance and light bombing. The forward cockpit in the bow was equipped with a single machine-gun for the observer (the Soviet examples were fitted with DA machine-guns), mounted on a revolving ring. There were provisions for underwing bomb racks for 220kg of bombs. The S.16bis version had an improved extremely strong hull with triple wooden planking below the water-line with tarred linen between the layers, strengthened wings, a new propeller and increased fuel capacity. At least 100 S.16s were ordered by the Italian Navy and by the Regia Aeronautica and the air services of both the Spanish Army and Navy acquired many from 1921. Ecuador received one in 1924, Latvia six in 1923 and Turkey twenty in 1924.
In order to be able to re-equip the naval reconnaissance units of the RKKVF the Soviet Government placed an order for the S.16bis on 11 December 1922. Thirty-five, of which five were intended as reserve aircraft, were delivered to Sevastopol in 1923, and these were followed by a 36th example in 1924 (c/ns 5018-5046 except one, 5050-5056 and 5065). The first twenty of these were sent to Hamburg by train accompanied by the Savoia test pilot Guarnieri and fourteen arrived by boat in Leningrad in April 1923. The S.16s were assigned to the 3rd Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi gidro-aviatsionnyi otryad at Odessa and the 4th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi gidro-aviatsionnyi otryad at Sevastopol, which became the 53rd and 64th Aviaotryady in 1927. One of these flying-boats was fitted with a 250- 310hp BMW IV engine for comparative tests but crashed on its second flight on 2 October 1925. Meanwhile, the S.16ter version had been developed in Italy and during 1926-27 GAZ No. 3 in Leningrad was given the task of modifying some thirteen of the S.16s to the same standard. The Soviet S.16ter had a 450hp Lorraine-Dietrich V-12 engine which gave it improved performance.
One S.16 piloted by E M Lukht participated in an expedition to Wrangel Island north of the extreme northeastern part of the Soviet Union in August 1927. It was carried along with Dobrolet's Junkers F 13 R-RDAS on board the steamship Kolyma and was employed for ice reconnaissance. Both aircraft were later flown from Tiksi on the north coast along the Lena River all the way down to Irkutsk. The 53rd Aviaotryad at Odessa was disbanded in 1928 and the 64th at Sevastopol followed suit in 1931. The Savoia flying-boats were handed over to other units for use as trainers. A number of S.16s had been assigned to the School of Naval Pilots at Sevastopol/Eisk for advanced training and to these were added a few remaining from operational units in 1933. The Eisk school still had seven on charge by the beginning of 1934.
S.16bis (S.16ter)
300hp Fiat A.12bis (450hp Lorraine-Dietrich)
Span 15.5m; length 9.97m; height 3.67m; wing area 60 nv
Empty weight 1,670 (1,850) kg; loaded weight 2,570 (2,650) kg
Maximum speed 165 (190) km/h; cruising speed 120 (140) km/h; alighting speed 85 (90) km/h; climb to 1,000m in 8 (6) min; ceiling 3,500 (4,000) m; endurance 4ft (3ft) hr; range 550km
A batch of Savoia S.16 flying-boats was ordered from Italy for re-equipment of the RKKVF naval reconnaissance otryady at Odessa and Sevastopol.
The Savoia S.16s remained in service in the reconnaissance role until 1931 and were then retained as trainers.
Khioni No. 4 (Anatra VKh Anadva)
The twin-fuselage VKh light bomber was built by the Anatra firm at Odessa during the First World War. It was designed by V N Khioni and actually consisted of two Anatra Anade fuselages fitted to new wings and a new tail unit. Anatra Anasal fuselages were used later. The crew consisted of a pilot and a gunner in the left fuselage, an observer and another gunner in the right fuselage, and a third gunner in a small nacelle fitted to the upper wing. Two prototypes were completed in June 1916 and May 1917 respectively and a batch of fifty series aircraft was ordered on 3 November 1917, but none was completed due to the Revolution.
After the Civil War the second prototype was rebuilt at Odessa as the Khioni No. 4 and flown to Moscow on 17 July 1922. It was tested there by K K Artseulov. It was now fitted with seats for seven passengers. On 21 July a Nieuport fighter from the Moscow aviation school crashed into the wings of the Khioni, which was severely damaged. The tests continued when the aircraft had been repaired and after some time with the 14th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad in Moscow in 1923 the aircraft was finally handed over to Strel'bom, the VVS bombing and gunnery school at Serpukhov.
Two 160hp Salmson
Span 19.1m; length 8.1m; height 3.74m; wing area 62m2
Empty weight 1,300kg; loaded w eight 2,100kg
Maximum speed 140km/h; climb to 1,000m in 7.7min; ceiling 4,400m
The twin-fuselage VKh light bomber was built by the Anatra firm at Odessa during the First World War. It was designed by V N Khioni and actually consisted of two Anatra Anade fuselages fitted to new wings and a new tail unit. Anatra Anasal fuselages were used later. The crew consisted of a pilot and a gunner in the left fuselage, an observer and another gunner in the right fuselage, and a third gunner in a small nacelle fitted to the upper wing. Two prototypes were completed in June 1916 and May 1917 respectively and a batch of fifty series aircraft was ordered on 3 November 1917, but none was completed due to the Revolution.
After the Civil War the second prototype was rebuilt at Odessa as the Khioni No. 4 and flown to Moscow on 17 July 1922. It was tested there by K K Artseulov. It was now fitted with seats for seven passengers. On 21 July a Nieuport fighter from the Moscow aviation school crashed into the wings of the Khioni, which was severely damaged. The tests continued when the aircraft had been repaired and after some time with the 14th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad in Moscow in 1923 the aircraft was finally handed over to Strel'bom, the VVS bombing and gunnery school at Serpukhov.
Two 160hp Salmson
Span 19.1m; length 8.1m; height 3.74m; wing area 62m2
Empty weight 1,300kg; loaded w eight 2,100kg
Maximum speed 140km/h; climb to 1,000m in 7.7min; ceiling 4,400m
Grigorovich M-24 (MR-4)
A number of Grigorovich M-9 and M-20 flying-boats were produced by the GAZ No. 3 Krasnyi letchik factory in Leningrad after the Revolution. In order to produce a more up-to-date flying-boat for naval reconnaissance D P Grigorovich, who had created most of the flying-boats used by the air service of the Imperial Russian Navy during the First World War, was instructed by the Naval Aviation Department of the Glavvozdukhflot on 12 April 1922 to design a development of the successful M-9. His first attempt was the M-23bis powered by a 280hp Fiat engine. A prototype was completed by GAZ No. 3 in the summer of 1923, but it did not fly and it was destroyed by floods at Krestovskii Island in the autumn of the same year.
A new prototype designated M-24 was developed on the initiative of Grigorovich's assistant A N Sedel'nikov and was built and flown in October 1923. This was a two-bay biplane flying-boat with the lower wings having dihedral. Auxiliary floats were below the outer sections of the lower wings. Power was provided by a water-cooled 220hp Renault engine with frontal radiator and pusher propeller mounted below the upper wing and supported by a number of struts. The engine was enclosed by a cowling. The fragile-looking tail unit, which was very similar to the one used on the M-9, included horn-balanced rudder and elevator. An open cockpit for an observer was located in the bow and equipped with a machine-gun. Armament also comprised a second fixed machine-gun and 100kg of bombs. The M-24 could be fitted with skis for operation from ice or snow.
Twelve of the forty M-24s built by GAZ No. 3 had been ordered and paid for by the Leningrad division of the ODVF on 12 September 1923. They were given presentation names and were officially handed over to the 2nd Otdel'nyi morskoi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad at Leningrad together with an additional two aircraft in two batches of four and one of six between January and June 1924. The 2nd Otdel'nyi morskoi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad, which had earlier flown Grigorovich M-9s and M-20s, was at the same time assigned the name Krasnyi Balt'ets (Red Sailor of the Baltic Fleet). The M-24s were named Volodarsky, Krasnyi Putilovets, Krasnyi Petrogubjin, Petrogradskaya Pravda, Volkhovstroi, Leningrad, Leningradskie profsoyuzy, Vladimir Il'ich, Pskovichanin, Krasnaya Kareliya, Krym SSSR, Bryanskii Rabotchii, Toplivnik and Cherepanin.
At the same time as the M-24 came into service it became obvious that the design was something of a failure and a special commission was formed in order to investigate the deficiencies. The type was withdrawn from service but due to the lack of suitable naval aircraft it was decided to try to modify the M-24. The only other aircraft available to the VVS naval squadrons in 1924 were about thirty Savoia S.16s and twenty Junkers Ju-20s were in the process of being delivered. Grigorovich was at the time working at GAZ No. 1 in Moscow and the redesign of the M-24 was made by others. The 220hp Renault engine was boosted to 260hp by replacing the original pistons with new ones made of aluminium. Production was resumed and the twenty additional flying-boats that were delivered late 1924 were sometimes referred to as the M-24bis.
Of the sixty M-24s built (c/ns including 1718-1760) only twenty-eight were in fact accepted and taken on charge by the VVS and very few of these were actually issued to operational units. All twenty-eight were in service by September 1924. Two Junkers Ju-20s were received by the 2nd Otdel'nyi morskoi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad in 1924 and this type replaced the M-24s of that unit in the following year. The 1st Otdel'nyi morskoi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Peterhof received a few M-24s but had converted to the Ju-20 by the beginning of 1925. The Savoia S.16bis-equipped 3rd Otdel'nyi morskoi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Sevastopol also had two M-24s in 1925, before the type was relegated to the advanced training role in the summer of the same year.
The MR-1 designation was allotted to the M-24 at about the same time, but this was soon changed to MR-4 when the floatplane version of the R- 1 was designated MR-1. Seventeen MR-4s were retained as trainers. Some were transferred to the Naval Aviation otryad of the Military School of Aerial Observers in Leningrad. The last example was still on hand by December 1928 in the 51st Aviaotryad (formerly the 1st Otdel'nyi morskoi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad), although the type was formally withdrawn from use during that year.
An offer to Dobrolet of a number of M-24s free of cost was rejected, but one M-24bis was transferred to Mosoaviakhim some time around May 1929.
M-24 (M-24bis)
220 (260)hp Renault
Span 16m; length 9m; wing area 55nv
Empty weight 1,200kg; loaded weight 1,650 (1,700)kg
Maximum speed 130 (140) km/h; ceiling 3,500 (4,000) m; range 400km
A number of Grigorovich M-9 and M-20 flying-boats were produced by the GAZ No. 3 Krasnyi letchik factory in Leningrad after the Revolution. In order to produce a more up-to-date flying-boat for naval reconnaissance D P Grigorovich, who had created most of the flying-boats used by the air service of the Imperial Russian Navy during the First World War, was instructed by the Naval Aviation Department of the Glavvozdukhflot on 12 April 1922 to design a development of the successful M-9. His first attempt was the M-23bis powered by a 280hp Fiat engine. A prototype was completed by GAZ No. 3 in the summer of 1923, but it did not fly and it was destroyed by floods at Krestovskii Island in the autumn of the same year.
A new prototype designated M-24 was developed on the initiative of Grigorovich's assistant A N Sedel'nikov and was built and flown in October 1923. This was a two-bay biplane flying-boat with the lower wings having dihedral. Auxiliary floats were below the outer sections of the lower wings. Power was provided by a water-cooled 220hp Renault engine with frontal radiator and pusher propeller mounted below the upper wing and supported by a number of struts. The engine was enclosed by a cowling. The fragile-looking tail unit, which was very similar to the one used on the M-9, included horn-balanced rudder and elevator. An open cockpit for an observer was located in the bow and equipped with a machine-gun. Armament also comprised a second fixed machine-gun and 100kg of bombs. The M-24 could be fitted with skis for operation from ice or snow.
Twelve of the forty M-24s built by GAZ No. 3 had been ordered and paid for by the Leningrad division of the ODVF on 12 September 1923. They were given presentation names and were officially handed over to the 2nd Otdel'nyi morskoi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad at Leningrad together with an additional two aircraft in two batches of four and one of six between January and June 1924. The 2nd Otdel'nyi morskoi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad, which had earlier flown Grigorovich M-9s and M-20s, was at the same time assigned the name Krasnyi Balt'ets (Red Sailor of the Baltic Fleet). The M-24s were named Volodarsky, Krasnyi Putilovets, Krasnyi Petrogubjin, Petrogradskaya Pravda, Volkhovstroi, Leningrad, Leningradskie profsoyuzy, Vladimir Il'ich, Pskovichanin, Krasnaya Kareliya, Krym SSSR, Bryanskii Rabotchii, Toplivnik and Cherepanin.
At the same time as the M-24 came into service it became obvious that the design was something of a failure and a special commission was formed in order to investigate the deficiencies. The type was withdrawn from service but due to the lack of suitable naval aircraft it was decided to try to modify the M-24. The only other aircraft available to the VVS naval squadrons in 1924 were about thirty Savoia S.16s and twenty Junkers Ju-20s were in the process of being delivered. Grigorovich was at the time working at GAZ No. 1 in Moscow and the redesign of the M-24 was made by others. The 220hp Renault engine was boosted to 260hp by replacing the original pistons with new ones made of aluminium. Production was resumed and the twenty additional flying-boats that were delivered late 1924 were sometimes referred to as the M-24bis.
Of the sixty M-24s built (c/ns including 1718-1760) only twenty-eight were in fact accepted and taken on charge by the VVS and very few of these were actually issued to operational units. All twenty-eight were in service by September 1924. Two Junkers Ju-20s were received by the 2nd Otdel'nyi morskoi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad in 1924 and this type replaced the M-24s of that unit in the following year. The 1st Otdel'nyi morskoi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Peterhof received a few M-24s but had converted to the Ju-20 by the beginning of 1925. The Savoia S.16bis-equipped 3rd Otdel'nyi morskoi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Sevastopol also had two M-24s in 1925, before the type was relegated to the advanced training role in the summer of the same year.
The MR-1 designation was allotted to the M-24 at about the same time, but this was soon changed to MR-4 when the floatplane version of the R- 1 was designated MR-1. Seventeen MR-4s were retained as trainers. Some were transferred to the Naval Aviation otryad of the Military School of Aerial Observers in Leningrad. The last example was still on hand by December 1928 in the 51st Aviaotryad (formerly the 1st Otdel'nyi morskoi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad), although the type was formally withdrawn from use during that year.
An offer to Dobrolet of a number of M-24s free of cost was rejected, but one M-24bis was transferred to Mosoaviakhim some time around May 1929.
M-24 (M-24bis)
220 (260)hp Renault
Span 16m; length 9m; wing area 55nv
Empty weight 1,200kg; loaded weight 1,650 (1,700)kg
Maximum speed 130 (140) km/h; ceiling 3,500 (4,000) m; range 400km
A Grigorovich M-24 reconnaissance flying-boat named Kommuna. This type was not successful and was quickly relegated to the training role.
Popov
In 1919 M I Popov moved from Novonikolaevsk to Moscow with the MP 5 and MP 6 two-seat trainers, which had been built earlier. The MP 6 (c/n 1) was used by the Moscow Shkola Voennykh Letchikov until some time in 1922. In the summer of 1923 a Popov 6bis with the same 120hp Le Rhone engine was at Khodynka Airport in Moscow. An aircraft called Popov VII (s/n 10), also with the 120hp Le Rhone, was at Chita in December 1922. Another two-seater, apparently called Popov-1, was powered by a 150hp Hispano-Suiza engine.
No specifications known
In 1919 M I Popov moved from Novonikolaevsk to Moscow with the MP 5 and MP 6 two-seat trainers, which had been built earlier. The MP 6 (c/n 1) was used by the Moscow Shkola Voennykh Letchikov until some time in 1922. In the summer of 1923 a Popov 6bis with the same 120hp Le Rhone engine was at Khodynka Airport in Moscow. An aircraft called Popov VII (s/n 10), also with the 120hp Le Rhone, was at Chita in December 1922. Another two-seater, apparently called Popov-1, was powered by a 150hp Hispano-Suiza engine.
No specifications known
Porokhovshchikov IV and 6
A A Porokhovshchikov designed a number of aircraft between 1917 and 1923 which, with the exception of the Porokhovshchikov V, were all intended for use as trainers. The general layout of these aircraft was reminiscent of the Caudron G III with a rear fuselage consisting of two wire-braced open-structure booms attached to the wings and not to the nacelle where the engine and the crew were accommodated. The Porokhovshchikov V was a two-seat single-bay biplane of very small span powered by a 80hp Le Rhone engine. All other Porokhovshchikov aircraft were two-seat three-bay biplanes with ailerons on the upper wings. The wings were untapered and of parallel chord with square-cut tips.
The Porokhovshchikov IV was flown for the first time on 27 February 1917. It was a pusher with the pupil in front and the instructor in the rear seat. Power was provided by an air-cooled 50hp Gnome or 80hp Le Rhone rotary engine but these could be substituted by other types of engines. The wide-track main undercarriage had two pairs of wheels, and skis could also be fitted. More than one Porokhovshchikov IV was allegedly built, but by September 1922 only one (c/n 1) remained and it is quite possible that this was the only one built. At that time it was under repair.
The Porokhovshchikov IVbis had the same layout as the previous aircraft but the 80hp Le Rhone engine was mounted at the front of the nacelle in tractor position, driving a two-bladed wooden propeller. The two seats were arranged side-by-side. Fifty-five were ordered in 1919 and in the following year a prototype and a few more were built in Moscow by GAZ No. 5 'Samolet' (previously 'Moska'). On 16 February the official acceptance tests with the first of these took place. The modified Porokhovshchikov IV-2bis was demonstrated at Khodvnka on 15 October 1921. This was a Porokhovshchikov IVbis (tractor engine) modified by engineer A R Rubenchik with the seats placed behind each other (pupil in front). In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the aircraft a Porokhovshchikov IVbis was flown from Moscow to Tsaraisk and back by the designer during the night of 28 January 1922. Known Porokhovshchikov IVbis c/ns: 1/78, used by the Aviagruppa osobogo naznacheniva (Special Duties Air Group) in 1923, 118, 142 and 159/154.
The Porokhovshchikov 6 with side-by-side seating was strengthened and had a new undercarriage with a through axle. It was powered by the 80 or 110hp Le Rhone, or occasionally a 120hp Anzani. Test flights in 1922 showed that the open centre section of the upper wing, devised to improve the pilot's view, affected performance - ceiling was only 200m. On the Porokhovshchikov 6-bis the centre section was covered with fabric in the same way as on the earlier aircraft. Fitted with a 120hp Le Rhone engine this machine was test-flown in March 1923. Performance was acceptable and the prototype (no c/n allotted) was sent as a pattern aircraft to a factory (probably GAZ No. 5 in Moscow) where work had already started on a batch of about thirty aircraft. In 1922 it had been planned to include twelve Porokhovshchikov trainers in the 1923 production plans.
One Porokhovshchikov 6-bis trainer was demonstrated publicly by the designer during the 'Week of the Air Fleet' at Khodynka in June 1923 and one was recorded as having been written off from one of the RKKVF flying schools at some time before August 1923. In April 1923 twenty-nine series aircraft were transferred from the factory to the 'Aviarabotnik' repair shop to be modified and completed. Planned delivery date was 30 November 1923 but these aircraft were obviously never completed and were probably scrapped instead.
Porokhovshchikov IV bis (6 bis)
80hp (110hp) Le Rhone
Span 10.2m; length 7.3m; height 2.7m; wing area 33.1 m2
Empty weight 398 (420) kg; loaded weight 660 (682) kg
Maximum speed 112 (120) km/h; landing speed 60 (62) km/h; climb to 1,000m in 9fe (8) min; ceiling 3,600 (3,500) m; endurance 5 (3.3) hr; range 350 (-) km
A A Porokhovshchikov designed a number of aircraft between 1917 and 1923 which, with the exception of the Porokhovshchikov V, were all intended for use as trainers. The general layout of these aircraft was reminiscent of the Caudron G III with a rear fuselage consisting of two wire-braced open-structure booms attached to the wings and not to the nacelle where the engine and the crew were accommodated. The Porokhovshchikov V was a two-seat single-bay biplane of very small span powered by a 80hp Le Rhone engine. All other Porokhovshchikov aircraft were two-seat three-bay biplanes with ailerons on the upper wings. The wings were untapered and of parallel chord with square-cut tips.
The Porokhovshchikov IV was flown for the first time on 27 February 1917. It was a pusher with the pupil in front and the instructor in the rear seat. Power was provided by an air-cooled 50hp Gnome or 80hp Le Rhone rotary engine but these could be substituted by other types of engines. The wide-track main undercarriage had two pairs of wheels, and skis could also be fitted. More than one Porokhovshchikov IV was allegedly built, but by September 1922 only one (c/n 1) remained and it is quite possible that this was the only one built. At that time it was under repair.
The Porokhovshchikov IVbis had the same layout as the previous aircraft but the 80hp Le Rhone engine was mounted at the front of the nacelle in tractor position, driving a two-bladed wooden propeller. The two seats were arranged side-by-side. Fifty-five were ordered in 1919 and in the following year a prototype and a few more were built in Moscow by GAZ No. 5 'Samolet' (previously 'Moska'). On 16 February the official acceptance tests with the first of these took place. The modified Porokhovshchikov IV-2bis was demonstrated at Khodvnka on 15 October 1921. This was a Porokhovshchikov IVbis (tractor engine) modified by engineer A R Rubenchik with the seats placed behind each other (pupil in front). In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the aircraft a Porokhovshchikov IVbis was flown from Moscow to Tsaraisk and back by the designer during the night of 28 January 1922. Known Porokhovshchikov IVbis c/ns: 1/78, used by the Aviagruppa osobogo naznacheniva (Special Duties Air Group) in 1923, 118, 142 and 159/154.
The Porokhovshchikov 6 with side-by-side seating was strengthened and had a new undercarriage with a through axle. It was powered by the 80 or 110hp Le Rhone, or occasionally a 120hp Anzani. Test flights in 1922 showed that the open centre section of the upper wing, devised to improve the pilot's view, affected performance - ceiling was only 200m. On the Porokhovshchikov 6-bis the centre section was covered with fabric in the same way as on the earlier aircraft. Fitted with a 120hp Le Rhone engine this machine was test-flown in March 1923. Performance was acceptable and the prototype (no c/n allotted) was sent as a pattern aircraft to a factory (probably GAZ No. 5 in Moscow) where work had already started on a batch of about thirty aircraft. In 1922 it had been planned to include twelve Porokhovshchikov trainers in the 1923 production plans.
One Porokhovshchikov 6-bis trainer was demonstrated publicly by the designer during the 'Week of the Air Fleet' at Khodynka in June 1923 and one was recorded as having been written off from one of the RKKVF flying schools at some time before August 1923. In April 1923 twenty-nine series aircraft were transferred from the factory to the 'Aviarabotnik' repair shop to be modified and completed. Planned delivery date was 30 November 1923 but these aircraft were obviously never completed and were probably scrapped instead.
Porokhovshchikov IV bis (6 bis)
80hp (110hp) Le Rhone
Span 10.2m; length 7.3m; height 2.7m; wing area 33.1 m2
Empty weight 398 (420) kg; loaded weight 660 (682) kg
Maximum speed 112 (120) km/h; landing speed 60 (62) km/h; climb to 1,000m in 9fe (8) min; ceiling 3,600 (3,500) m; endurance 5 (3.3) hr; range 350 (-) km
Very few Porokhovshchikov P-IVbis trainers were built and most of the similar Porokhovshchikov 6s were never completed.
Savel'ev Chetyrekhplan (Quadruplane)
V F Savel'ev, a mechanic in the Imperial Russian Air Service, built a successful two-seat reconnaissance machine with four wings at Smolensk in 1916. In 1922-23 he constructed a new two-seat quadruplane (c/n 1/76) while working in the 1st Aviapoezd-masterskaya (aircraft repair train). The lower wing was mounted immediately behind the rear undercarriage struts below the fuselage, the second wing ended against the fuselage sides and the third wing consisted of two separate halves with an open space between them. The fourth wing was supported by the four interplane struts. Tests at the NOA between April and August 1923 revealed difficult handling and other deficiencies and this prevented further development. The aircraft was written off.
110hp Le Rhone
Span 5.6m; length 6.42m; height 3.33m; wing area 18.5nv
Empty weight 506kg; loaded weight 802kg
Maximum speed 165km/h; climb to 1,000m in 7min; ceiling 3,500m; endurance 4hr; range 500km
V F Savel'ev, a mechanic in the Imperial Russian Air Service, built a successful two-seat reconnaissance machine with four wings at Smolensk in 1916. In 1922-23 he constructed a new two-seat quadruplane (c/n 1/76) while working in the 1st Aviapoezd-masterskaya (aircraft repair train). The lower wing was mounted immediately behind the rear undercarriage struts below the fuselage, the second wing ended against the fuselage sides and the third wing consisted of two separate halves with an open space between them. The fourth wing was supported by the four interplane struts. Tests at the NOA between April and August 1923 revealed difficult handling and other deficiencies and this prevented further development. The aircraft was written off.
110hp Le Rhone
Span 5.6m; length 6.42m; height 3.33m; wing area 18.5nv
Empty weight 506kg; loaded weight 802kg
Maximum speed 165km/h; climb to 1,000m in 7min; ceiling 3,500m; endurance 4hr; range 500km
Khioni Konek-Gorbunok (Kh-5)
The Kh-5 two-seat trainer was built in 1923 by V N Khioni at RVZ/ GAZ No. 7, the former Anatra aeroplane works in Odessa. Remaining parts from First World War Anatra Anade production were used to a great extent and the resulting aircraft was fitted with a 100hp Fiat water-cooled engine with a frontal radiator. The Kh-5 was a two-bay biplane with fabric-covered wings. Two separate fuel tanks were attached to the undersurfaces of the upper wing half-way between the inner pair of interplane struts and the centre-section struts. The upper wings had large horn-balanced ailerons and the rudder and elevators also had aerodynamic balancing surfaces. Metal panels covered the upper surface of the fuselage and the sides forward of the leading edges of the lower wings.
The new machine was flown for the first time in May 1923 and it was flown by Khioni both at Odessa and in Moscow with the nickname Konek-Gorbunok (Hunchback Horse) painted on the fuselage sides. This name caught on and the initial Kh-5 designation was soon abandoned. The prototype was handed over to the NOA for State trials in September but was destroyed in a crash on 23 July 1924. In the meantime an order for another thirty Konek-Gorbunoks had been placed by the VVS and these were built by GAZ No. 7 during 1924. Apparently a second prototype (c/n 1) was also built and this machine was first flown on 18 July 1924. The Konek-Gorbunok was rated inferior to all other trainers tested by the NOA in 1924 and by the time the thirty- aircraft batch had been completed the VVS had lost interest, probably because there were plenty of other types of trainers available.
Most of the Konek-Gorbunoks were apparently stored at Odessa until released for civil use. It seems that only four were taken on charge by the VVS (c/ns 5, 6, 17 and 28). They were officially handed over to the Khar'kov-based 5th Otdel'naya razvedivatel'naya aviaeskadril'ya 'Il'ich' during a ceremony in Odessa on 3 May 1925 and later served as liaison aircraft with the 4th Otdel'naya istrebitel'naya aviatsionnaya eskadril'ya and the 5th and 9th Aviaeskadrilii. The last military Konek-Gorbunok was still in service at the beginning of 1929.
In June 1924 two machines were released for use by the Obshchestvo aviatsii i vozdukhoplavaniya Ukrainy i Kryma (OAVUK), the Society of Aviation and Aeronautics of the Ukraine and Crimea. The slow-flying performance and low landing speed of the type suited it for use by the ODVF and OAVUK in their aviation propaganda campaigns. This was a kind of organised barnstorming with aircraft being sent to small and large communities all over the Soviet Union. In old ex-VVS machines, mostly Sopwith 1 1/2-Strutters, Junkers F 13s and Konek-Gorbunoks many people were given an opportunity to fly for the first time, of whom few had even seen an aeroplane before. Making the public air-minded was seen as an important task and at the same time money was raised for the aircraft presentation schemes of the ODVF and the OAVUK.
The two OAVUK Konek-Gorbunoks were based at Odessa and named Krasnyi Finrabotnik Odesshchiny and Krasnyi Profrabotnik Odesshchiny. They were flown by N I Romashkin and A T Berbenko on tours around the Ukraine. The Krasnyi Finrabotnik Odesshchiny (c/n 14) was registered RRUOA in August 1925 and the other probably became RRUOB. A third machine (c/n 29) was acquired later and became RRUOD. It was handed over to the Osoaviakhim Civil Aviation School at Khar'kov when the school was opened on 4 November 1928.
Twelve Konek-Gorbunoks were released for the ODVF and they were delivered early in 1925. The Moscow- based MODVF received three, R-RMAA, R-RMAB and R-RMAC, which were registered in April 1925 together with another two, R-RMOA and R-RMOB (c/n 23). One of these was named Moskovskii potrebitlokoop (Moskovskaya potrebitel'skaya kooperatsiya) in May 1925 and R-RMOB was sold to Dobrolet. R-RODE (c/n 2) was based at Tula but crashed on 18 May 1925. The small fleet of the civil flying school opened at Tula in 1930 also included a Konek-Gorbunok, but this must have been another machine. R-RWOA (c/ n 3), owned by the Vyatsk branch of the ODVF, was loaned to Dobrolet between 1926 and 1927 and was registered RR-DLI during that time. The Konek-Gorbunok based at Nizhnii-Novgorod and named Nizhegorodets (c/n 30) crashed on 5 June 1926 and R-RODC (c/n 1) based at Arkhangel'sk was withdrawn from use in 1927. The ODVF branch in Bashkiriva received a machine registered R-RODO (changed to RR-ODS in August 1928) and named it Jangi-Aul. Others were assigned to Gomel' and Ivanovo-Voznesensk.
Being able to fly very slowly and to land almost anywhere the Konek- Gorbunok was found to be suitable also for another role - crop dusting and pest control. The idea of using aircraft in the struggle against locusts and agricultural pests was tried on a small scale in 1923-24 and in February 1925 Dobrolet acquired two Konek-Gorbunoks for this task. Containers and spray nozzles for pesticide powder were designed by Professor Vold'rev and built by the Dobrolet workshops in Moscow. The containers were fitted in the front cockpits of the two Konek-Gorbunoks, which were registered R-RDLB (c/n 20) and R-RDLC (c/n 22) in Mav 1925 (changed to RR-DEB and RR-DEC in 1927).
The first mission assigned was to combat locusts in North Caucasia and a detachment commanded by I V Mikheev and consisting of the two Konek-Gorbunoks and B.E.2e R-RDLA was sent from Moscow in the spring of 1925. The aircraft, fuel, spare parts and other equipment were transported by barge down the Volga and then by air and by horse to a temporary landing ground near the area which was to be dusted. From that time similar expeditions were regularly sent out by Dobrolet. The later well-known polar aviator M V Vodop'yanov participated in this work as a mechanic and learnt to fly in a Konek-Gorbunok, from which he had removed the crop-dusting gear. In March-April 1926 RR-DLE (c/n 18) and RR-DLI (c/n 3) were taken over from Aviakhim, and another pair of Konek-Gorbunoks was loaned (c/ns 23 and 30).
Eleven new Konek-Gorbunoks were added to the Dobrolet fleet late in 1926, which by the end of the year included thirteen such aircraft. Nine of the new machines were assigned registrations in the spring of 1927: RR-DEK (c/n 7), RR-DEM (c/n 15), RR-DEN (c/n 26), RR-DEO (c/n 12), RR-DEP (c/n 24), RR-DES (c/n 10), RR-DET (c/n 25), RR-DEW (c/n 8) and RR-DEZ (c/n 13). RR-MOB (c/ n 23) had also been taken over by that time. A new type of registration based on the constructor's numbers was introduced in April 1928, when the Dobrolet Konek-Gorbunoks became ДЛ-7, ДЛ-8, ДЛ-10, ДЛ-12, ДЛ-13, ДЛ-15, ДЛ-20, ДЛ-22, ДЛ-23, ДЛ-24, ДЛ-25 and ДЛ-26 (with corresponding c/ns). Nine surviving machines were assigned the 1929-type registrations CCCP-101 to CCCP-109, but only seven remained when these reservations were taken up on 4 June 1929. Most were withdrawn from use in the following autumn, however, and the delivery of fifteen Polikarpov APs (U-2s) for the 1930 season put an end to the Konek-Gorbunok's career in Dobrolet service.
100hp Fiat A-10
Span 11.46m; length 7.8m; height 3.05m; wing area 37 m2
Empty weight 700kg; loaded weight 975kg
Maximum speed 111km/h; cruising speed 99km/h; landing speed 70km/h; climb to 1,000m in 9.8min; ceiling 3,500m, endurance 4.8hr; range 530km
The Kh-5 two-seat trainer was built in 1923 by V N Khioni at RVZ/ GAZ No. 7, the former Anatra aeroplane works in Odessa. Remaining parts from First World War Anatra Anade production were used to a great extent and the resulting aircraft was fitted with a 100hp Fiat water-cooled engine with a frontal radiator. The Kh-5 was a two-bay biplane with fabric-covered wings. Two separate fuel tanks were attached to the undersurfaces of the upper wing half-way between the inner pair of interplane struts and the centre-section struts. The upper wings had large horn-balanced ailerons and the rudder and elevators also had aerodynamic balancing surfaces. Metal panels covered the upper surface of the fuselage and the sides forward of the leading edges of the lower wings.
The new machine was flown for the first time in May 1923 and it was flown by Khioni both at Odessa and in Moscow with the nickname Konek-Gorbunok (Hunchback Horse) painted on the fuselage sides. This name caught on and the initial Kh-5 designation was soon abandoned. The prototype was handed over to the NOA for State trials in September but was destroyed in a crash on 23 July 1924. In the meantime an order for another thirty Konek-Gorbunoks had been placed by the VVS and these were built by GAZ No. 7 during 1924. Apparently a second prototype (c/n 1) was also built and this machine was first flown on 18 July 1924. The Konek-Gorbunok was rated inferior to all other trainers tested by the NOA in 1924 and by the time the thirty- aircraft batch had been completed the VVS had lost interest, probably because there were plenty of other types of trainers available.
Most of the Konek-Gorbunoks were apparently stored at Odessa until released for civil use. It seems that only four were taken on charge by the VVS (c/ns 5, 6, 17 and 28). They were officially handed over to the Khar'kov-based 5th Otdel'naya razvedivatel'naya aviaeskadril'ya 'Il'ich' during a ceremony in Odessa on 3 May 1925 and later served as liaison aircraft with the 4th Otdel'naya istrebitel'naya aviatsionnaya eskadril'ya and the 5th and 9th Aviaeskadrilii. The last military Konek-Gorbunok was still in service at the beginning of 1929.
In June 1924 two machines were released for use by the Obshchestvo aviatsii i vozdukhoplavaniya Ukrainy i Kryma (OAVUK), the Society of Aviation and Aeronautics of the Ukraine and Crimea. The slow-flying performance and low landing speed of the type suited it for use by the ODVF and OAVUK in their aviation propaganda campaigns. This was a kind of organised barnstorming with aircraft being sent to small and large communities all over the Soviet Union. In old ex-VVS machines, mostly Sopwith 1 1/2-Strutters, Junkers F 13s and Konek-Gorbunoks many people were given an opportunity to fly for the first time, of whom few had even seen an aeroplane before. Making the public air-minded was seen as an important task and at the same time money was raised for the aircraft presentation schemes of the ODVF and the OAVUK.
The two OAVUK Konek-Gorbunoks were based at Odessa and named Krasnyi Finrabotnik Odesshchiny and Krasnyi Profrabotnik Odesshchiny. They were flown by N I Romashkin and A T Berbenko on tours around the Ukraine. The Krasnyi Finrabotnik Odesshchiny (c/n 14) was registered RRUOA in August 1925 and the other probably became RRUOB. A third machine (c/n 29) was acquired later and became RRUOD. It was handed over to the Osoaviakhim Civil Aviation School at Khar'kov when the school was opened on 4 November 1928.
Twelve Konek-Gorbunoks were released for the ODVF and they were delivered early in 1925. The Moscow- based MODVF received three, R-RMAA, R-RMAB and R-RMAC, which were registered in April 1925 together with another two, R-RMOA and R-RMOB (c/n 23). One of these was named Moskovskii potrebitlokoop (Moskovskaya potrebitel'skaya kooperatsiya) in May 1925 and R-RMOB was sold to Dobrolet. R-RODE (c/n 2) was based at Tula but crashed on 18 May 1925. The small fleet of the civil flying school opened at Tula in 1930 also included a Konek-Gorbunok, but this must have been another machine. R-RWOA (c/ n 3), owned by the Vyatsk branch of the ODVF, was loaned to Dobrolet between 1926 and 1927 and was registered RR-DLI during that time. The Konek-Gorbunok based at Nizhnii-Novgorod and named Nizhegorodets (c/n 30) crashed on 5 June 1926 and R-RODC (c/n 1) based at Arkhangel'sk was withdrawn from use in 1927. The ODVF branch in Bashkiriva received a machine registered R-RODO (changed to RR-ODS in August 1928) and named it Jangi-Aul. Others were assigned to Gomel' and Ivanovo-Voznesensk.
Being able to fly very slowly and to land almost anywhere the Konek- Gorbunok was found to be suitable also for another role - crop dusting and pest control. The idea of using aircraft in the struggle against locusts and agricultural pests was tried on a small scale in 1923-24 and in February 1925 Dobrolet acquired two Konek-Gorbunoks for this task. Containers and spray nozzles for pesticide powder were designed by Professor Vold'rev and built by the Dobrolet workshops in Moscow. The containers were fitted in the front cockpits of the two Konek-Gorbunoks, which were registered R-RDLB (c/n 20) and R-RDLC (c/n 22) in Mav 1925 (changed to RR-DEB and RR-DEC in 1927).
The first mission assigned was to combat locusts in North Caucasia and a detachment commanded by I V Mikheev and consisting of the two Konek-Gorbunoks and B.E.2e R-RDLA was sent from Moscow in the spring of 1925. The aircraft, fuel, spare parts and other equipment were transported by barge down the Volga and then by air and by horse to a temporary landing ground near the area which was to be dusted. From that time similar expeditions were regularly sent out by Dobrolet. The later well-known polar aviator M V Vodop'yanov participated in this work as a mechanic and learnt to fly in a Konek-Gorbunok, from which he had removed the crop-dusting gear. In March-April 1926 RR-DLE (c/n 18) and RR-DLI (c/n 3) were taken over from Aviakhim, and another pair of Konek-Gorbunoks was loaned (c/ns 23 and 30).
Eleven new Konek-Gorbunoks were added to the Dobrolet fleet late in 1926, which by the end of the year included thirteen such aircraft. Nine of the new machines were assigned registrations in the spring of 1927: RR-DEK (c/n 7), RR-DEM (c/n 15), RR-DEN (c/n 26), RR-DEO (c/n 12), RR-DEP (c/n 24), RR-DES (c/n 10), RR-DET (c/n 25), RR-DEW (c/n 8) and RR-DEZ (c/n 13). RR-MOB (c/ n 23) had also been taken over by that time. A new type of registration based on the constructor's numbers was introduced in April 1928, when the Dobrolet Konek-Gorbunoks became ДЛ-7, ДЛ-8, ДЛ-10, ДЛ-12, ДЛ-13, ДЛ-15, ДЛ-20, ДЛ-22, ДЛ-23, ДЛ-24, ДЛ-25 and ДЛ-26 (with corresponding c/ns). Nine surviving machines were assigned the 1929-type registrations CCCP-101 to CCCP-109, but only seven remained when these reservations were taken up on 4 June 1929. Most were withdrawn from use in the following autumn, however, and the delivery of fifteen Polikarpov APs (U-2s) for the 1930 season put an end to the Konek-Gorbunok's career in Dobrolet service.
100hp Fiat A-10
Span 11.46m; length 7.8m; height 3.05m; wing area 37 m2
Empty weight 700kg; loaded weight 975kg
Maximum speed 111km/h; cruising speed 99km/h; landing speed 70km/h; climb to 1,000m in 9.8min; ceiling 3,500m, endurance 4.8hr; range 530km
The Konek-Gorbunok was designed by V N Khioni as a trainer but was not accepted in this role by the RKKVF. The prototype is seen in June 1923.
Konek-Gorbunok Ivanovets (c/n 31) was supplied to the Aviakhim at Ivanovo-Voznesensk in 1925. Aviakhim used about half of the thirty-two Konek-Gorbunoks built and Dobrolet received about twelve.
The Khioni Konek-Gorbunok was supplied to Aviakhim for aviation propaganda. This example belonged to the Mosoaviakhim and was named Moskovskii potrebitlokoop in May 1925. Pilot Soryan and instructor Zhdanov.
The equipment of the Imperial Russian Air Fleet consisted mainly of a number of French aircraft types. This photograph of a Deperdussin Type D was probably taken before the First World War.
Farman F.30
The classic Farman biplanes of the First World War were built in large numbers and were used in many countries. The prototype of the HF.30 (later F.30) flew in December 1915. This was a two-seat pusher reconnaissance aircraft, which had been developed from the earlier HF.24 and HF.25. On the HF.30 the fuselage nacelle was mounted midway between the upper and lower wings, not on the lower wing as on the earlier models, and the undercarriage had been altered. Power was provided by a 150 or 155hp Salmson engine, the F.30bis having a 160hp Salmson. As a reconnaissance aircraft the type was initially armed with a flexible machine-gun. Besides being sold to the French and Belgian air services, the F.30 was also acquired by Russia.
According to Shavrov 400 were built by the Duks company in Moscow. A few Russian machines were later captured by Czechoslovakia, Estonia and Poland. The F.30 captured on 19 January 1919 by Estonian troops became the first aircraft of that country's air force. The F.30 was one of the most important reconnaissance aircraft in Russia and in the RKKVF until 1921, and remaining aircraft were used as trainers until 1924-25. In 1921 the F.30s available were concentrated on the Ukrainian, Caucasian and Turkestan fronts. At the beginning of the year 147 were on charge. One year later seventy-one remained and they were used by the 2nd, 7th (one only), 11th, 16th and 18th Aviaotryady, and also by the Teoreticheskava Shkola in Leningrad (two) and the No. 1 Flying School at Kacha (six).
One Farman F.30 (c/n 236/238) was used by the NOA until the end of 1923. At the beginning of 1924 there were at least seventeen F.30s in RKKVF service, of which nine were assigned to the Flying otryad of the Military School of the KVF, the 1st Military School of Pilots and the Military-Technical School, and the rest were still kept by the 16th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Irkutsk and other operational units. They were probably all written off in 1924-25. About ten were given to the ODVF in 1924 for local recruitment and aviation propaganda. Though formally being civil aircraft with civil certificates of airworthiness and registration certificates, they were initially flown with military markings (red stars). A few were later given civil registration letters. RRODP of the Bashkir Osoaviakhim was still in use as late as September 1929.
The following local ODVF branches are known to have used Farman F.30s:
Ural ODVF (Ekaterinburg)
Uralskii komsomolets (c/n 263/318) and Smychka (c/n 222)
Bashkir ODVF
RRODP (c/n 259/310) and RR()DG(T?)
Trudovaya Bashkiriya
Egor'evsk ODVF
One F.30
Ivanovo-Voznesensk ODVF
Ivanovo-Voznesenskii bol'shevik (c/n 261/ 320)
Kostroma ODVF
C/n 240, crashed on 25 May 1925
Nizhegorod ODVF
C/n 318
North Caucasian ODVF (Tsaritsyn)
c/ns 230/11077 and 260/31
Known c/ns of Farman F.30s in Soviet service: 1 to 9, 11, 13, 16, 23, 62, 74, 79, 110/D, 183, 222, 236/238, 239, 240, 243, 247, 259, 285, 300, 301, 309, 310, (307 to 311), 261/320, 339, 384, 404, 890, 1008, 1074/1004, 1213, 1220, 1243, 1258, 1382, 1385, 1390, 1493, 1652, 1677, 1698, 1709, 1711, 1724, 1736, 1766, 1771, 1813, 1855, 1862, 1910, 1911 and 1920.
Most of the numbers below 400 could be 'repair' numbers. Many of the aircraft listed were probably Duks-built, as were those in the 2023 to 2090, 2103 to 2195 and 2201 to 2225 c/n ranges. The last of these were built in 1919 or 1920.
F.30
150hp Salmson
Span 15.81m; length 8.65m; height 3.2; wing area 49 m2
Empty weight 830kg; loaded weight 1,180kg
Maximum speed 136km/h; landing speed 60km/h; climb to 1,000m in 5min; ceiling 4,500m; endurance 4hr; range 540km
The classic Farman biplanes of the First World War were built in large numbers and were used in many countries. The prototype of the HF.30 (later F.30) flew in December 1915. This was a two-seat pusher reconnaissance aircraft, which had been developed from the earlier HF.24 and HF.25. On the HF.30 the fuselage nacelle was mounted midway between the upper and lower wings, not on the lower wing as on the earlier models, and the undercarriage had been altered. Power was provided by a 150 or 155hp Salmson engine, the F.30bis having a 160hp Salmson. As a reconnaissance aircraft the type was initially armed with a flexible machine-gun. Besides being sold to the French and Belgian air services, the F.30 was also acquired by Russia.
According to Shavrov 400 were built by the Duks company in Moscow. A few Russian machines were later captured by Czechoslovakia, Estonia and Poland. The F.30 captured on 19 January 1919 by Estonian troops became the first aircraft of that country's air force. The F.30 was one of the most important reconnaissance aircraft in Russia and in the RKKVF until 1921, and remaining aircraft were used as trainers until 1924-25. In 1921 the F.30s available were concentrated on the Ukrainian, Caucasian and Turkestan fronts. At the beginning of the year 147 were on charge. One year later seventy-one remained and they were used by the 2nd, 7th (one only), 11th, 16th and 18th Aviaotryady, and also by the Teoreticheskava Shkola in Leningrad (two) and the No. 1 Flying School at Kacha (six).
One Farman F.30 (c/n 236/238) was used by the NOA until the end of 1923. At the beginning of 1924 there were at least seventeen F.30s in RKKVF service, of which nine were assigned to the Flying otryad of the Military School of the KVF, the 1st Military School of Pilots and the Military-Technical School, and the rest were still kept by the 16th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviaotryad at Irkutsk and other operational units. They were probably all written off in 1924-25. About ten were given to the ODVF in 1924 for local recruitment and aviation propaganda. Though formally being civil aircraft with civil certificates of airworthiness and registration certificates, they were initially flown with military markings (red stars). A few were later given civil registration letters. RRODP of the Bashkir Osoaviakhim was still in use as late as September 1929.
The following local ODVF branches are known to have used Farman F.30s:
Ural ODVF (Ekaterinburg)
Uralskii komsomolets (c/n 263/318) and Smychka (c/n 222)
Bashkir ODVF
RRODP (c/n 259/310) and RR()DG(T?)
Trudovaya Bashkiriya
Egor'evsk ODVF
One F.30
Ivanovo-Voznesensk ODVF
Ivanovo-Voznesenskii bol'shevik (c/n 261/ 320)
Kostroma ODVF
C/n 240, crashed on 25 May 1925
Nizhegorod ODVF
C/n 318
North Caucasian ODVF (Tsaritsyn)
c/ns 230/11077 and 260/31
Known c/ns of Farman F.30s in Soviet service: 1 to 9, 11, 13, 16, 23, 62, 74, 79, 110/D, 183, 222, 236/238, 239, 240, 243, 247, 259, 285, 300, 301, 309, 310, (307 to 311), 261/320, 339, 384, 404, 890, 1008, 1074/1004, 1213, 1220, 1243, 1258, 1382, 1385, 1390, 1493, 1652, 1677, 1698, 1709, 1711, 1724, 1736, 1766, 1771, 1813, 1855, 1862, 1910, 1911 and 1920.
Most of the numbers below 400 could be 'repair' numbers. Many of the aircraft listed were probably Duks-built, as were those in the 2023 to 2090, 2103 to 2195 and 2201 to 2225 c/n ranges. The last of these were built in 1919 or 1920.
F.30
150hp Salmson
Span 15.81m; length 8.65m; height 3.2; wing area 49 m2
Empty weight 830kg; loaded weight 1,180kg
Maximum speed 136km/h; landing speed 60km/h; climb to 1,000m in 5min; ceiling 4,500m; endurance 4hr; range 540km
A much-adorned Morane-Saulnier Parasol. A large number of Morane-Saulnier aircraft of different types were used by the RKKVF.
Morane-Saulnier MS.30E1 (AI) andMS.35EP2 (AR)
The Morane-Saulnier Type AI light single-seat fighter of 1917 was adopted by the French military air service and a large number was built. The Type AI was a small monoplane with the parasol wing supported by a complex system of diagonal struts, and the engine was enclosed by a circular cowling typical of many First World War fighters. It was later used as an advanced trainer for fighter pilots as the MoS 30E1 and saw military service also in Belgium, China, Japan (one), Poland, the USA and elsewhere. The two-seat MS.35EP2 (Type AR) was a similar two-seat parasol-wing trainer, first flown in 1924, that was acquired by the air forces in Argentina (two), Belgium, Brazil, China, Guatemala (one), Mexico, the Netherlands East Indies (one), Paraguay (one), Poland, Romania, Uruguay and Turkey.
Four Morane-Saulnier trainers were purchased by the Soviet Union for evaluation in 1923 and tested by the NOA. The AR was ranked fifth of the trainers tested in 1923-24. They were then assigned to the 1st School of Military Pilots at Kacha, Sevastopol, where in February 1924 all four were on charge, one of which was referred to as a 'Morane-Saulnier Trainer', while the other three were just Morane-Saulniers. Three were written off late in 1925, and c/n 2460, which was powered by an 80hp Le Rhone and must have been an MS.35, crashed on 9 July 1926. In December 1924 a French newspaper reported that ten Morane-Saulnier aircraft had been ordered by the Soviet Union together with 54 Hanriot trainers, but apparently this order was never signed or was cancelled.
MS.30E1 (AI)
120hp Le Rhone 9Jb
Span 8.85m; length 5.8m; height 2.45m; wing area 13.5m2
Empty weight 405kg; loaded weight 562kg
Maximum speed 193km/h; landing speed 90km/h; climb to 1,000m in 3min; ceiling 6,500m; endurance 2.4hr; range 460km
MS.35EP2 (AR)
80hp Le Rhone 9c
Span 10.56m; length 6.76m; height 1.8m; wing area 18m'
Empty weight 450kg; loaded weight 700kg
Maximum speed 138km/h; landing speed 75km/h; climb to 1,000m in 6 1/2 min; ceiling 4,250m; endurance 2.8hr; range 360km
The Morane-Saulnier Type AI light single-seat fighter of 1917 was adopted by the French military air service and a large number was built. The Type AI was a small monoplane with the parasol wing supported by a complex system of diagonal struts, and the engine was enclosed by a circular cowling typical of many First World War fighters. It was later used as an advanced trainer for fighter pilots as the MoS 30E1 and saw military service also in Belgium, China, Japan (one), Poland, the USA and elsewhere. The two-seat MS.35EP2 (Type AR) was a similar two-seat parasol-wing trainer, first flown in 1924, that was acquired by the air forces in Argentina (two), Belgium, Brazil, China, Guatemala (one), Mexico, the Netherlands East Indies (one), Paraguay (one), Poland, Romania, Uruguay and Turkey.
Four Morane-Saulnier trainers were purchased by the Soviet Union for evaluation in 1923 and tested by the NOA. The AR was ranked fifth of the trainers tested in 1923-24. They were then assigned to the 1st School of Military Pilots at Kacha, Sevastopol, where in February 1924 all four were on charge, one of which was referred to as a 'Morane-Saulnier Trainer', while the other three were just Morane-Saulniers. Three were written off late in 1925, and c/n 2460, which was powered by an 80hp Le Rhone and must have been an MS.35, crashed on 9 July 1926. In December 1924 a French newspaper reported that ten Morane-Saulnier aircraft had been ordered by the Soviet Union together with 54 Hanriot trainers, but apparently this order was never signed or was cancelled.
MS.30E1 (AI)
120hp Le Rhone 9Jb
Span 8.85m; length 5.8m; height 2.45m; wing area 13.5m2
Empty weight 405kg; loaded weight 562kg
Maximum speed 193km/h; landing speed 90km/h; climb to 1,000m in 3min; ceiling 6,500m; endurance 2.4hr; range 460km
MS.35EP2 (AR)
80hp Le Rhone 9c
Span 10.56m; length 6.76m; height 1.8m; wing area 18m'
Empty weight 450kg; loaded weight 700kg
Maximum speed 138km/h; landing speed 75km/h; climb to 1,000m in 6 1/2 min; ceiling 4,250m; endurance 2.8hr; range 360km
The first aircraft used by the RKKVF were French types taken over from the Imperial Russian Air Fleet in 1917. This Nieuport fighter has an interesting and unusual type of national insignia.
The most significant event on the Eastern Front was the Bolshevik revolution in Russia that led to the Russian exit from the war. This Nieuport 17 was in Russian service and, as shown by the markings, went on to serve the Bolshevik forces.
Many Nieuport 10, 17, 21, 23, 24, 25 and other models were taken over by the RKKVF. This is probably a Nieuport 23.
Many Nieuport 10, 17, 21, 23, 24, 25 and other models were taken over by the RKKVF. This is probably a Nieuport 23.
Nieuport 24bisC1
The French Nieuport 24 was a light biplane fighter designed by Gustave Delage. Being a refinement of the very successful Nieuport 17 series the Nieuport 24 employed a new aerofoil section, a new tail unit and a more powerful engine. It underwent official trials at the Section Technique in February and March 1917 and displayed a modest improvement on the earlier Nieuport 17 and 23. The Nieuport 24C1 was then quickly introduced on the production lines.
The structure of the faired fuselage consisted of four spruce longerons, spacers and formers supporting spruce stringers. It was covered by fabric except on the forward part which was plywood-covered. The circular engine cowling was made of aluminium. The 130hp nine-cylinder Le Rhone 9Jb rotary engine driving a two-blade wooden propeller was chosen for the new fighter. A single 7.7mm Vickers machine-gun was mounted slightly to starboard of the centre line on top of the forward fuselage. The tail surfaces with horn-balanced rudder and unbalanced elevators were of wooden construction with plywood covering, but the Nie 24bisC1 version reverted to the characteristic Nieuport tail assembly of steel-tube construction with fabric-covering. With a similarly shaped rudder and lacking a fin the Nie 24bisC1 was nearly indistinguishable from the Nie 17C1. The undercarriage consisted of simple aluminium tube V-struts and a conventional one-piece axle.
The Nie 24 had swept fabric-covered wings and interplane V struts. The upper surface of the top wing was covered by plywood between the leading edge and the main spar. There were two box spars in the upper wing and a single spar in the lower wings, which were much narrower. Ailerons were fitted on the upper wing, which had a circular cut-out in the trailing edge. Deliveries started in the summer of 1917 but relatively few went into service with the French Aviation Militaire and with the RFC. Some 120 Nie 24 and 140 Nie 24bis aircraft were acquired by the USAAS in France for training and some went to Italy. A number were exported to Japan along with a few Nieuport 27s and the Nie 24 was adopted as the Imperial Japanese Army's standard fighter. It was produced there under licence as the Army Type Ko 3 Fighter in great numbers between 1919 and 1923.
According to Shavrov twenty Nie 24s were delivered to Russia in 1917 and the Nie 24 and Nie 24bis were built by the Aktsionernoe obshchestvo Duks in Moscow from 1917. Six Soviet Nie 24bis were captured and used by Poland. Others were with the Latvian Air Force in 1919. At least eleven served in the Soviet Latvian Air Force in 1918-19. In December 1920 the RKKVF had sixty-seven Nie 24 and twenty-six Nie 24bis fighters on charge. The Civil War took its toll but production at GAZ No. 1 (ex- Duks) kept the number of serviceable aircraft up and in December 1921 there were seventy-nine of both types. They were employed in all military districts, but the majority was concentrated in the Ukraine. Production at GAZ No. 1 included the following c/ns:
-2228-2261 and 2263-2292 (about sixty aircraft in 1920)
-2347-2396 (fifty aircraft in 1921-1922)
-2471-2496 (thirty aircraft in 1923)
By September 1923 125 Nie 24s were in service, but their number diminished quickly and a year later only sixty-nine remained. They were used until 1922 by the Istrebitel'naya eskadril'ya in Moscow, the 1st and (until 1923) 2nd otryady of the Istrebitel'naya eskadril'ya at Kiev, the 4th, 14th and 18th Aviaotryady and the 2nd naval Istrootryad at Odessa. It served until 1925 with the 4th Otdel'naya istrebitel'naya aviaeskadril'ya at Minsk (including one aircraft named Metallist). This unit then received Fokker D.XIs and moved to Smolensk. Nieuport 24s were also employed as reconnaissance aircraft by the 12th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad at Pervomaisk and by the 17th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otrvad at Chita until 1924.
The Nieuport 24 was also used in small numbers by many other units including the 2nd otryad of the DVK and the NOA. Relegated to the fighter training role it served with the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow, the Strel'bom school at Serpukhov and the Training Eskadril'ya in Moscow. Small numbers were also assigned to the Military-Technical School, the 1st School of Military Pilots and the Academy of the VVS. A few Nieuport 24s were given to local ODVF sections in 1924-25 for instructional purposes and for aviation propaganda. Fifty-six were written off by the VVS in April 1925, but all were not retired until 1926, when there were still a few with the 4th and 5th Otdel'nye istrebitel'nye aviaeskadrilii and the 1st Legkobombardirovochnaya eskadril'ya.
Known c/ns of Soviet Nieuport 24 and Nieuport 24bis aircraft, excluding those built bv GAZ No. 1 in 1921-1923: 51, 65", 67, 68, 81, 273, 274, 278, 279, 286, 310, 322, 332, 335, 350, 367, 377, 379, 480, 4095, 4284 to 4287, 4293, 4300, 4301, 4303-4306, 4311, 4312, 4321, 5086, 5088, 5089, 5094, 5098, 5111, 5114, 5120, 5125, 5126, 5127-5129, 5131, 5134,5135, 5147, 5423, 5424, 542 5436, 5440 and 5627.
120hp Le Rhone 9Ja or 130hp Le Rhone 9Jb
Span 8.16m; length 6.4m; height 2.4m; wing area 15m2.
Weight. Empty 555kg; loaded 556kg
Maximum speed 170km/h; climb to 1,000m in 2.7min; ceiling 6,800m; endurance 2.15hr
Conflicting data has been published, including the following dimensions: Span 8.21m; length 5.87m; wing area 14.75m2
The French Nieuport 24 was a light biplane fighter designed by Gustave Delage. Being a refinement of the very successful Nieuport 17 series the Nieuport 24 employed a new aerofoil section, a new tail unit and a more powerful engine. It underwent official trials at the Section Technique in February and March 1917 and displayed a modest improvement on the earlier Nieuport 17 and 23. The Nieuport 24C1 was then quickly introduced on the production lines.
The structure of the faired fuselage consisted of four spruce longerons, spacers and formers supporting spruce stringers. It was covered by fabric except on the forward part which was plywood-covered. The circular engine cowling was made of aluminium. The 130hp nine-cylinder Le Rhone 9Jb rotary engine driving a two-blade wooden propeller was chosen for the new fighter. A single 7.7mm Vickers machine-gun was mounted slightly to starboard of the centre line on top of the forward fuselage. The tail surfaces with horn-balanced rudder and unbalanced elevators were of wooden construction with plywood covering, but the Nie 24bisC1 version reverted to the characteristic Nieuport tail assembly of steel-tube construction with fabric-covering. With a similarly shaped rudder and lacking a fin the Nie 24bisC1 was nearly indistinguishable from the Nie 17C1. The undercarriage consisted of simple aluminium tube V-struts and a conventional one-piece axle.
The Nie 24 had swept fabric-covered wings and interplane V struts. The upper surface of the top wing was covered by plywood between the leading edge and the main spar. There were two box spars in the upper wing and a single spar in the lower wings, which were much narrower. Ailerons were fitted on the upper wing, which had a circular cut-out in the trailing edge. Deliveries started in the summer of 1917 but relatively few went into service with the French Aviation Militaire and with the RFC. Some 120 Nie 24 and 140 Nie 24bis aircraft were acquired by the USAAS in France for training and some went to Italy. A number were exported to Japan along with a few Nieuport 27s and the Nie 24 was adopted as the Imperial Japanese Army's standard fighter. It was produced there under licence as the Army Type Ko 3 Fighter in great numbers between 1919 and 1923.
According to Shavrov twenty Nie 24s were delivered to Russia in 1917 and the Nie 24 and Nie 24bis were built by the Aktsionernoe obshchestvo Duks in Moscow from 1917. Six Soviet Nie 24bis were captured and used by Poland. Others were with the Latvian Air Force in 1919. At least eleven served in the Soviet Latvian Air Force in 1918-19. In December 1920 the RKKVF had sixty-seven Nie 24 and twenty-six Nie 24bis fighters on charge. The Civil War took its toll but production at GAZ No. 1 (ex- Duks) kept the number of serviceable aircraft up and in December 1921 there were seventy-nine of both types. They were employed in all military districts, but the majority was concentrated in the Ukraine. Production at GAZ No. 1 included the following c/ns:
-2228-2261 and 2263-2292 (about sixty aircraft in 1920)
-2347-2396 (fifty aircraft in 1921-1922)
-2471-2496 (thirty aircraft in 1923)
By September 1923 125 Nie 24s were in service, but their number diminished quickly and a year later only sixty-nine remained. They were used until 1922 by the Istrebitel'naya eskadril'ya in Moscow, the 1st and (until 1923) 2nd otryady of the Istrebitel'naya eskadril'ya at Kiev, the 4th, 14th and 18th Aviaotryady and the 2nd naval Istrootryad at Odessa. It served until 1925 with the 4th Otdel'naya istrebitel'naya aviaeskadril'ya at Minsk (including one aircraft named Metallist). This unit then received Fokker D.XIs and moved to Smolensk. Nieuport 24s were also employed as reconnaissance aircraft by the 12th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otryad at Pervomaisk and by the 17th Otdel'nyi razvedivatel'nyi aviatsionnyi otrvad at Chita until 1924.
The Nieuport 24 was also used in small numbers by many other units including the 2nd otryad of the DVK and the NOA. Relegated to the fighter training role it served with the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in Moscow, the Strel'bom school at Serpukhov and the Training Eskadril'ya in Moscow. Small numbers were also assigned to the Military-Technical School, the 1st School of Military Pilots and the Academy of the VVS. A few Nieuport 24s were given to local ODVF sections in 1924-25 for instructional purposes and for aviation propaganda. Fifty-six were written off by the VVS in April 1925, but all were not retired until 1926, when there were still a few with the 4th and 5th Otdel'nye istrebitel'nye aviaeskadrilii and the 1st Legkobombardirovochnaya eskadril'ya.
Known c/ns of Soviet Nieuport 24 and Nieuport 24bis aircraft, excluding those built bv GAZ No. 1 in 1921-1923: 51, 65", 67, 68, 81, 273, 274, 278, 279, 286, 310, 322, 332, 335, 350, 367, 377, 379, 480, 4095, 4284 to 4287, 4293, 4300, 4301, 4303-4306, 4311, 4312, 4321, 5086, 5088, 5089, 5094, 5098, 5111, 5114, 5120, 5125, 5126, 5127-5129, 5131, 5134,5135, 5147, 5423, 5424, 542 5436, 5440 and 5627.
120hp Le Rhone 9Ja or 130hp Le Rhone 9Jb
Span 8.16m; length 6.4m; height 2.4m; wing area 15m2.
Weight. Empty 555kg; loaded 556kg
Maximum speed 170km/h; climb to 1,000m in 2.7min; ceiling 6,800m; endurance 2.15hr
Conflicting data has been published, including the following dimensions: Span 8.21m; length 5.87m; wing area 14.75m2
Line-up of Nieuport 24bis fighters with a couple of B.E.2es at the end of the line, Moscow 1922. K K Artseulov at front between the two nearest aircraft.
The Nieuport 24bis fighter was built by GAZ No. 1 in Moscow until 1923. A last series of thirty aircraft was completed in that year.
In September 1923 the RKKVF had 125 Nieuport 24bis fighters in service but their number diminished quickly. They were withdrawn from fighter units in 1925.
Tellier T.3
The Tellier T.3 flying-boat was a three-seat pusher biplane with a gunner's stand in the bow. It was used in the patrol and bombing roles by the French Navy from 1917 and by the navies of Japan and Portugal after the First World War. Its most typical feature was the profile of the narrow curved rear part of the hull, including the horn-balanced rudder and the absence of a fin. One pattern aircraft and a production licence had been obtained by Russia in 1916 and a large order was placed with the Duks factory in Moscow. Twenty were built before production was interrupted, but as there were no engines for these aircraft they were stored for the time being. In 1920 they were taken to GAZ No. 3 in Leningrad. Ten were assembled there, but after one had crashed while being test flown in the summer of 1921 the rest were scrapped. The one that had crashed (c/n 1960) was repaired and retained at the Leningrad Gidroaviabaza until 1923.
200hp Hispano Suiza 8Ac
Span 15.6m; length 11.84m; height 3.4m; wing area 46.55 mJ
Empty weight 1,134kg; loaded weight 1,729kg
Maximum speed 125km/h; climb to 1,000m in 13min; ceiling 3,500m; endurance 4hr
The Tellier T.3 flying-boat was a three-seat pusher biplane with a gunner's stand in the bow. It was used in the patrol and bombing roles by the French Navy from 1917 and by the navies of Japan and Portugal after the First World War. Its most typical feature was the profile of the narrow curved rear part of the hull, including the horn-balanced rudder and the absence of a fin. One pattern aircraft and a production licence had been obtained by Russia in 1916 and a large order was placed with the Duks factory in Moscow. Twenty were built before production was interrupted, but as there were no engines for these aircraft they were stored for the time being. In 1920 they were taken to GAZ No. 3 in Leningrad. Ten were assembled there, but after one had crashed while being test flown in the summer of 1921 the rest were scrapped. The one that had crashed (c/n 1960) was repaired and retained at the Leningrad Gidroaviabaza until 1923.
200hp Hispano Suiza 8Ac
Span 15.6m; length 11.84m; height 3.4m; wing area 46.55 mJ
Empty weight 1,134kg; loaded weight 1,729kg
Maximum speed 125km/h; climb to 1,000m in 13min; ceiling 3,500m; endurance 4hr