Despite the fact that the Soviet Union collapsed quite a long time ago, some people still use passports issued during that period. Moreover, they do not show the desire to change the document. Such an expression of the will of a person cannot be called wrong or illegal, since according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, such certificates of subjects are legally valid to this day. Some individuals want to know a passport of a citizen of the USSR how to get it, is it valid in 2018 and is it possible to carry out the restoration procedure?
More than thirty-six thousand people in the state have in their hands an identity document of the former type. It is a voluntary expression of one's own opinions, political or otherwise. However, some citizens today continue to be interested in information on how to obtain a USSR passport instead of a Russian passport.
The Soviet document of the representatives of the USSR had unique features and differences:
- the personal data of a person was written down by hand in two languages: the first language was Russian, the second was recognized as official in the republic issuing the certification document;
- the certificate, unlike most modern ones, had a main page with a vertical orientation;
- cover, sheets were fastened with paper clips made of metal. Unlike the modern ones, which use stainless steel paper clips, these will show rusty spots over time;
- in the Soviet state, the passport of the last sample did not need to be changed in due time according to age after a person was twenty-five and forty-five years old, it was necessary to paste in an actual photograph. Changed the document in case of loss, accidental damage, theft, change of name due to marriage.
The following information was entered into the passport:
- the presence of children (name);
- blood group of the face;
- the address of registration and the date of discharge were indicated (if the place of residence was changed);
- information about marriage or divorce.
The identity card of the subject of the Soviet state was the main document on an equal footing with the party card. For those who had the latter, it was worse to lose it.
Is the passport valid today?
Those who have expressed a desire to receive a USSR passport instead of a Russian one should inquire whether the USSR passport is currently valid.
The Supreme Court of Russia recognizes it as relevant, as a result of the Soviet-style certificate must be accepted as a document confirming a person throughout the territory of the Russian Federation. And yet the government advises to wear them together as well. People who regularly use the Soviet version have the right to present it, but it is also better to acquire a modern identity card of the Russian Federation.
The government decree was considered in response to a request from a resident from Moscow. He considered that if there was no proper federal law, then the Regulation on the certificate of a resident of the country was not enough reason for a mandatory replacement. So getting passports of the USSR, issued in accordance with the samples, is a legal decision.
Having dealt with the previous question, it becomes clear that the USSR passport is valid in 2018. Therefore, the question of return arises: how to return the USSR passport? This applies primarily to those who are accidental.
If a Russian has a document in his possession and is drawn up in accordance with a standard legitimate during the Soviet Union, the definition of permanent registration at the place of residence within the borders is of great importance Russian Federation as of February 6, 1992. At this time, the 1948-1 law was introduced, where in Art. 13, the norms are spelled out, stating that persons who have a permanent residence permit within the country at the time of the above date automatically become subjects of the Russian Federation.
In this case, the person is free to write a special application to the migration service. The application form indicates a request for logging the certificate of a citizen of the Russian Federation. In addition, you should attach: a Soviet passport (if not lost), a biography of the applicant, a document proving the identity of a citizen of Russia indicating the presence of a place of permanent registration.
If the person is registered in another area, a request is sent to the state bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with an instruction to provide all available registration addresses and dates of stay of the citizen (if there are several).
Steps for returning an ID
There are people who believe that Russian citizenship is not legitimate, and because of this, they are decisive to return their passport from the times of the USSR. The replacement is fraught with some difficulties. For example, a document with original watermarks is not being issued now, and the cost of one copy is approximately seven thousand rubles.
There is another problem: the state inspection of the Soviet Union is not working, which means that there is no body competent to put a stamp. You can issue a certificate confirming Soviet citizenship by sending a request to the migration inspectorate. The form indicates:
- full Name;
- actual place of residence;
- date of Birth;
- for what reason a passport was previously registered, proving Russian citizenship;
- whether the person was a citizen of the Soviet Union and what acts testify to this;
- whether the application for withdrawal from USSR citizenship was issued in accordance with the accepted form;
- whether they registered citizenship of the Russian Federation, or a withdrawal from the list of citizens of the country.
To speed up the process, experts advise attaching the necessary certificates and certificates to the application. The list of the required set of documentation includes copies of the 1st and 2nd pages of the RF passport.
The certificate will be permanent or temporary
They stopped replacing documents of the Soviet state back in 2004, but not everyone wanted to replace them and still use these passports. There are no restrictive rules for the use of this option and no new rules are planned to come into force in the near future. Recently, a draft was submitted for consideration to remove the restriction on the period of use of certificates of Union nationals of the 1974 version. The law equates the validity period of the identity card of Russia and the Soviet state.
How legal is the use
The passport of a citizen of the USSR corresponding to the 1974 model is considered fully legal and legally binding.
In practice, problems arise with it. Residents often encounter difficulties in purchasing tickets for various vehicles, in, benefits, in concluding contracts for real estate and other property. Difficulties in applying for a job are possible.
The process of replacing today's identity is quite real. Attempts by the authorities to refuse a citizen to change the document for the desired passport are illegal and unacceptable. There is not a single rule prohibiting the use of the Soviet model. Although problems cannot be avoided during operation.
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On the morning of March 27, 1943, the first Soviet jet fighter "BI-1" took off from the airfield of the Koltsovo Air Force Research Institute in the Sverdlovsk Region. Passed the seventh test flight to achieve maximum speed. Reaching a two-kilometer altitude and gaining a speed of about 800 km / h, the plane suddenly went into a dive at the 78th second after running out of fuel and collided with the ground. An experienced test pilot G. Ya. Bakhchivandzhi, who was sitting at the helm, was killed. This disaster became an important stage in the development of aircraft with liquid-propellant rocket engines in the USSR, but although work on them continued until the end of the 1940s, this direction of aviation development turned out to be a dead end. Nevertheless, these first, albeit not very successful steps had a serious impact on the entire further history of the post-war development of Soviet aviation and rocketry ...
Joining the "jet" club
"The era of propeller-driven airplanes should be followed by the era of jet airplanes ..." - these words of the founder of jet technology, KE Tsiolkovsky, began to be embodied in the mid-1930s of the twentieth century.
By this time, it became clear that a further significant increase in aircraft flight speed due to an increase in the power of piston engines and a more perfect aerodynamic shape is practically impossible. The aircraft had to be equipped with motors, the power of which could not be increased without an excessive increase in the mass of the engine. So, to increase the flight speed of a fighter from 650 to 1000 km / h, it was necessary to increase the power of the piston engine 6 (!) Times.
It was obvious that the piston engine was to be replaced by a jet engine, which, having smaller transverse dimensions, would allow to reach high speeds, giving more thrust per unit weight.
Jet engines are divided into two main classes: air-jet engines, which use the energy of oxidation of combustible oxygen from air taken from the atmosphere, and rocket engines, containing all the components of the working fluid on board and capable of operating in any environment, including airless. The first type includes turbojet (turbojet), pulsating air-jet (PuVRD) and ramjet (ramjet), and the second - liquid-propellant rocket (LPRE) and solid-propellant rocket (TTRD) engines.
The first samples of jet technology appeared in countries where the traditions in the development of science and technology and the level of the aviation industry were extremely high. These are, first of all, Germany, the USA, as well as England, Italy. In 1930, the project of the first turbojet engine was patented by the Englishman Frank Whittle, then the first working model of the engine was assembled in 1935 in Germany by Hans von Ohain, and in 1937 the Frenchman Rene Leduc received a government order to create a ramjet engine ...
In the USSR, however, practical work on the "jet" theme was carried out mainly in the direction of liquid-propellant rocket engines. The founder of rocket engine building in the USSR was V.P. Glushko. In 1930, then an employee of the Gas Dynamic Laboratory (GDL) in Leningrad, which at that time was the only design bureau in the world to develop solid-propellant missiles, he created the first domestic LPRE ORM-1. And in Moscow in 1931-1933. F. L. Tsander, a scientist and designer of the Jet Propulsion Research Group (GIRD), developed the OR-1 and OR-2 LPRE.
A new powerful impetus to the development of jet technology in the USSR was given by the appointment of MN Tukhachevsky in 1931 to the post of Deputy People's Commissar of Defense and Chief of Armaments of the Red Army. It was he who insisted on the adoption in 1932 of the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars "On the development of steam turbine and jet engines, as well as jet-powered aircraft ...". The work begun after this at the Kharkov Aviation Institute made it possible only by 1941 to create a working model of the first Soviet turbojet engine designed by A.M. Lyulka and contributed to the launch on August 17, 1933 of the first in the USSR liquid-propellant rocket GIRD-09, which reached an altitude of 400 m.
But the lack of more tangible results pushed Tukhachevsky in September 1933 to merge the GDL and the GIRD into a single Jet Research Institute (RNII), headed by a Leningrader, 1st rank military engineer I. T. Kleimenov. His deputy was the future Chief Designer of the space program, Muscovite S.P.Korolev, who two years later in 1935 was appointed head of the rocket aircraft department. And although the RNII was subordinate to the ammunition management of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry and its main topic was the development of rocket shells (the future "Katyusha"), Korolev, together with Glushko, managed to calculate the most advantageous design schemes for the devices, types of engines and control systems, types of fuel and materials. As a result, by 1938, his department developed an experimental guided missile system, including projects of liquid-propellant cruise "212" and ballistic "204" long-range missiles with gyroscopic control, aircraft missiles for firing at air and ground targets, anti-aircraft solid-fuel missiles with guidance on the light and radio beam.
In an effort to get the support of the military leadership and in the development of a high-altitude rocket plane "218", Korolev substantiated the concept of a fighter-interceptor, capable of reaching great heights in a few minutes and attacking aircraft that broke through to the protected object.
But the wave of mass repressions that unfolded in the army after the arrest of Tukhachevsky reached the RNII. There a counterrevolutionary Trotskyist organization was "exposed", and its "members" IT Kleimenov, GE Langemak were shot, and Glushko and Korolev were sentenced to 8 years in camps.
These events slowed down the development of jet technology in the USSR and allowed European designers to get ahead. On June 30, 1939, German pilot Erich Varzitz took off the world's first jet aircraft with a liquid-propellant engine designed by Helmut Walter "Heinkel" He-176, reaching a speed of 700 km / h, and two months later, the world's first jet aircraft with a turbojet engine " Heinkel "He-178, equipped with the engine of Hans von Ohain," HeS-3 B "with a thrust of 510 kg and a speed of 750 km / h. A year later, in August 1940, the Italian "Caproni-Campini N1" took off, and in May 1941, the British "Gloucester Pioneer" E.28 / 29 made its maiden flight with the "Whittle" W-1 turbojet engine designed by Frank Whittle.
Thus, Nazi Germany became the leader in the jet race, which, in addition to aviation programs, began to implement a missile program under the leadership of Wernher von Braun at the secret training ground in Peenemünde ...
But all the same, although the massive repressions in the USSR caused significant damage, they could not stop all the work on such an obvious reactive topic that Korolev had begun. In 1938 the RNII was renamed to NII-3, now the "royal" rocket plane "218-1" began to be designated "RP-318-1". New leading designers - engineers A. Shcherbakov, A. Pallo replaced the ORM-65 liquid-propellant engine of the "enemy of the people" V. P. Glushko with the nitric-acid-kerosene engine "RDA-1-150" designed by L. S. Dushkin.
And now, after almost a year of testing in February 1940, the first flight of the RP-318-1 took place in tow behind the R 5 aircraft. Test pilot? P. Fedorov at an altitude of 2800 m unhooked the towing cable and started the rocket engine. A small cloud from an incendiary squib appeared behind the rocket plane, then brown smoke, then a fiery jet about a meter long. "RP-318-1", having developed a maximum speed of only 165 km / h, went into flight with a climb.
This modest achievement nevertheless allowed the USSR to become a member of the pre-war "jet club" of the leading aviation powers ...
"Close fighter"
The successes of the German designers did not go unnoticed by the Soviet leadership. In July 1940, the Defense Committee under the Council of People's Commissars adopted a decree defining the creation of the first domestic aircraft with jet engines. The resolution, in particular, provided for the solution of issues "on the use of high-power jet engines for ultra-high-speed stratospheric flights" ...
Massive Luftwaffe raids on British cities and the absence in the Soviet Union of a sufficient number of radar stations revealed the need to create a fighter-interceptor to cover especially important objects, on the project of which young engineers A. Ya.Bereznyak and A.M. Isaev began to work in the spring of 1941 from the design bureau of designer V.F.Bolkhovitinov. The concept of their missile interceptor with a Dushkin engine or a "close fighter" was based on Korolev's proposal put forward back in 1938.
When an enemy aircraft appeared, a "close fighter" was supposed to take off quickly and, having a high rate of climb and speed, catch up and destroy the enemy in the first attack, then, after running out of fuel, using the reserve of altitude and speed, plan for landing.
The project was distinguished by its extraordinary simplicity and low cost - the whole structure was supposed to be made of plywood from solid wood. The engine frame, pilot protection and landing gear were made of metal, which were removed under the influence of compressed air.
With the beginning of the war, Bolkhovitinov attracted all the OKB to work on the aircraft. In July 1941, a draft design with an explanatory note was sent to Stalin, and in August, the State Defense Committee decided to urgently build an interceptor, which was needed by the air defense units of Moscow. According to the order of the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry, 35 days were given for the manufacture of the machine.
The aircraft, which received the name "BI" (a close fighter or, as journalists later interpreted, "Bereznyak - Isaev") was built almost without detailed working drawings, drawing its full-size parts on plywood. The fuselage skin was glued on a veneer blank, then attached to the frame. The keel was carried out at the same time with the fuselage, like a thin wooden wing of a coffered structure, and was covered with canvas. Even a carriage for two 20-mm ShVAK cannons with 90 rounds of ammunition was made of wood. The D-1 A-1100 rocket engine was installed in the aft fuselage. The engine consumed 6 kg of kerosene and acid per second. The total fuel supply on board the aircraft, equal to 705 kg, ensured engine operation for almost 2 minutes. The estimated take-off weight of the BI aircraft was 1650 kg with an empty weight of 805 kg.
In order to reduce the time for creating an interceptor, at the request of the Deputy People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry for Experimental Aircraft Construction A.S. Yakovlev, the glider of the BI aircraft was examined in a full-scale TsAGI wind tunnel, and at the airfield test pilot BN Kudrin began jogging and approaching in tow ... We had to tinker a lot with the development of the power plant, since nitric acid corroded tanks and wiring and had a harmful effect on humans.
However, all work was interrupted due to the evacuation of the design bureau to the Urals in the village of Belimbay in October 1941. There, in order to debug the operation of the liquid-propellant engine systems, a ground stand was mounted - the BI fuselage with a combustion chamber, tanks and pipelines. By the spring of 1942, the ground test program was completed. Soon Glushko, released from prison, got acquainted with the design of the aircraft and the bench test facility.
Flight tests of the unique fighter were assigned to Captain Bakhchivandzhi, who made 65 sorties at the front and shot down 5 German planes. He had previously mastered the systems management at the stand.
The morning of May 15, 1942 forever entered the history of Russian cosmonautics and aviation, with the takeoff from the ground of the first Soviet aircraft with a liquid-propellant jet engine. The flight, which lasted 3 minutes 9 seconds at a speed of 400 km / h and a climb rate of 23 m / s, made a strong impression on everyone present. This is how Bolkhovitinov recalled it in 1962: “For us, standing on the ground, this take-off was unusual. With an unusually fast gaining speed, the plane took off from the ground in 10 seconds and disappeared from sight in 30 seconds. Only the engine flame spoke of where he was. Several minutes passed in this way. Frankly, my veins started shaking. "
The members of the state commission noted in an official act that "the takeoff and flight of the BI-1 aircraft with a rocket engine, first used as the main engine of the aircraft, proved the possibility of practical flight on a new principle, which opens up a new direction for the development of aviation." The test pilot noted that the flight on the BI aircraft is exceptionally pleasant in comparison with conventional types of aircraft, and the aircraft surpasses other fighters in ease of control.
A day after the tests, a solemn meeting and meeting were held in Bilimbay. A poster hung over the presidium table: "Greetings to Captain Bakhchivandzhi, a pilot who made a flight to a new one!"
Soon, the GKO decided to build a series of 20 BI-VS aircraft, where, in addition to two cannons, a cluster bomb was installed in front of the pilot's cockpit, which housed ten small anti-aircraft bombs weighing 2.5 kg each.
A total of 7 test flights were performed on the BI fighter, each of which recorded the best flight performance of the aircraft. The flights took place without flight accidents, only minor damage to the landing gear occurred during landings.
But on March 27, 1943, when accelerating to a speed of 800 km / h at an altitude of 2000 m, the third prototype spontaneously went into a dive and crashed into the ground near the airfield. The commission investigating the circumstances of the crash and death of test pilot Bakhchivandzhi was unable to establish the reasons for the delay in the aircraft at its peak, noting that the phenomena occurring at flight speeds of the order of 800 -1000 km / h have not yet been studied.
The catastrophe hit hard on the reputation of the Bolkhovitinov Design Bureau - all the unfinished BI-VS interceptors were destroyed. And although later in 1943-1944. a modification of the BI-7 was designed with ramjet engines at the wing ends, and in January 1945 pilot BN Kudrin performed the last two flights on the BI-1, all work on the aircraft was stopped.
And yet the liquid-propellant engine
The concept of a rocket fighter was most successfully implemented in Germany, where since January 1939, in a special "Section L" of the firm "Messerschmitt", where Professor A. Lippisch and his staff had moved from the German glider institute, work was underway on "Project X" - " on-site interceptor "Me-163" "Komet" with liquid rocket engine operating on a mixture of hydrazine, methanol and water. It was an aircraft of an unconventional "tailless" scheme, which, for the sake of maximum weight reduction, took off from a special trolley and landed on a ski extending from the fuselage. The first flight at maximum thrust was performed by test pilot Dietmar in August 1941, and in October, for the first time in history, the mark of 1000 km / h was exceeded. It took more than two years of testing and refinement before the Me-163 was put into production. It became the first aircraft with a liquid-propellant rocket engine to take part in battles since May 1944. And although more than 300 interceptors were produced by February 1945, no more than 80 combat-ready aircraft were in service.
The combat use of Me-163 fighters showed the inconsistency of the missile interceptor concept. Due to the high speed of approach, the German pilots did not have time to accurately aim, and the limited supply of fuel (only for 8 minutes of flight) did not make it possible for a second attack. After running out of fuel on planning, the interceptors became easy prey for American fighters - Mustangs and Thunderbolts. Before the end of hostilities in Europe, Me-163 shot down 9 enemy aircraft, while losing 14 aircraft. However, the losses from accidents and disasters were three times higher than the combat losses. The unreliability and short range of the Me-163 contributed to the fact that other jet fighters Me-262 and He-162 were put into mass production by the Luftwaffe leadership.
The leadership of the Soviet aviation industry in 1941-1943. was focused on the gross production of the maximum number of combat aircraft and the improvement of production samples and was not interested in the development of promising work on jet technology. Thus, the BI-1 disaster put an end to other projects of Soviet missile interceptors: Andrey Kostikov's 302, Roberto Bartini's R-114 and Korolev's RP. Here the distrust that Stalin's deputy for experimental aircraft construction Yakovlev felt in jet technology, considering it a matter of a very distant future, played a role.
But information from Germany and the Allied countries became the reason that in February 1944 the State Defense Committee in its decree pointed out the intolerable situation with the development of jet technology in the country. At the same time, all developments in this respect were now concentrated in the newly organized Research Institute of Jet Aviation, whose deputy chief was Bolkhovitinov. This institute brought together groups of jet engine designers who had previously worked at various enterprises, headed by M. M. Bondaryuk, V. P. Glushko, L. S. Dushkin, A. M. Isaev, A. M. Lyulka.
In May 1944, the State Defense Committee adopted another decree, which outlined a broad program for the construction of a jet aviation technology... This document provided for the creation of modifications of the Yak-3, La-7 and Su-6 with an accelerating LPRE, the construction of "purely rocket" aircraft at the Yakovlev and Polikarpov design bureaus, an experimental Lavochkin aircraft with a turbojet engine, as well as fighters with air-jet motor-compressor engines at the Mikoyan Design Bureau and Sukhoi. To this end, the Su-7 fighter was created in the Sukhoi design bureau, in which the RD-1 liquid-jet developed by Glushko worked together with a piston engine.
Flights on the Su-7 began in 1945. When the RD-1 was turned on, the aircraft's speed increased by an average of 115 km / h, but the tests had to be stopped due to the frequent failure of the jet engine. A similar situation developed in the design bureaus of Lavochkin and Yakovlev. On one of the experimental La-7 R aircraft, the accelerator exploded in flight, the test pilot miraculously managed to escape. While testing the Yak-3 RD, test pilot Viktor Rastorguev managed to reach a speed of 782 km / h, but during the flight the plane exploded, the pilot died. More frequent accidents led to the fact that the tests of aircraft with "RD-1" were stopped.
Korolev, who was released from prison, also contributed to this work. In 1945, for his participation in the development and testing of rocket launchers for combat aircraft "Pe-2" and "La-5 VI", he was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.
One of the most interesting projects of interceptors with a rocket engine was the project of the supersonic (!!!) fighter "RM-1" or "SAM-29", developed at the end of 1944 by the undeservedly forgotten aircraft designer A. S. Moskalev. The aircraft was designed according to the "flying wing" of a triangular shape with oval leading edges, and its development was based on the pre-war experience of creating the Sigma and Strela aircraft. The RM-1 project was supposed to have the following characteristics: crew - 1 person, power point - "RD2 MZV" with a thrust of 1590 kgf, wingspan - 8.1 m and its area - 28.0 m2, takeoff weight - 1600 kg, maximum speed - 2200 km / h (and this is in 1945!). TsAGI believed that the construction and flight tests of "RM-1" - one of the most promising areas in the future development of Soviet aviation.
In November 1945, the order to build RM-1 was signed by Minister A. I. Shakhurin, but ... in January 1946, the notorious 'aviation business' was launched, and Shakhurin was convicted, and the order to build RM- 1 "canceled by Yakovlev ...
The post-war acquaintance with German trophies revealed a significant lag in the development of domestic jet aircraft construction. To close the gap, it was decided to use German engines "JUMO-004" and "BMW-003", and then create their own on their basis. These engines were named "RD-10" and "RD-20".
In 1945, simultaneously with the task to build a MiG-9 fighter with two RD-20s, the Mikoyan Design Bureau was tasked with developing an experimental fighter-interceptor with an RD-2 M-3 V rocket engine and a speed of 1000 km / h. The aircraft, designated I-270 ("Zh"), was soon built, but its further tests did not show the advantages of a rocket fighter over an aircraft with a turbojet engine, and work on this topic was closed. In the future, liquid-propellant jet engines in aviation began to be used only on prototype and experimental aircraft or as aircraft accelerators.
They were the first
“… It’s scary to remember how little I knew and understood then. Today they say: "discoverers", "pioneers". And we walked in the dark and stuffed huge bumps. No special literature, no technique, no well-established experiment. The stone age of jet aircraft. We were both complete burdocks! .. "- this is how Alexei Isaev recalled the creation of BI-1. Yes, indeed, because of their colossal fuel consumption, aircraft with liquid-propellant rocket engines did not take root in aviation, forever giving way to turbojets. But having made their first steps in aviation, rocket engines firmly took their place in rocketry.
In the USSR, during the war years in this regard, a breakthrough was the creation of the BI-1 fighter, and here the special merit of Bolkhovitinov, who took under his wing and managed to attract to work such future luminaries of Soviet rocketry and astronautics as: Vasily Mishin, First Deputy Chief designer Korolev, Nikolai Pilyugin, Boris Chertok - chief designers of control systems for many combat missiles and launch vehicles, Konstantin Bushuev - head of the Soyuz - Apollo project, Alexander Bereznyak - cruise missile designer, Alexey Isaev - developer of liquid-propellant rocket engines for submarine and space missiles devices, Arkhip Lyulka is the author and the first developer of domestic turbojet engines ...
Received a clue and the mystery of the death of Bakhchivandzhi. In 1943, the T-106 high-speed wind tunnel was put into operation at TsAGI. It immediately began to conduct extensive research on aircraft models and their elements at high subsonic speeds. The BI model was also tested to identify the causes of the crash. According to the test results, it became clear that the "BI" crashed due to the peculiarities of the flow around the straight wing and tail at transonic speeds and the resulting phenomenon of pulling the aircraft into a dive, which the pilot could not overcome. The crash of March 27, 1943, the BI-1 was the first that allowed Soviet aircraft designers to solve the problem of the "wave crisis" by installing a swept wing on the MiG-15 fighter. Thirty years later, in 1973, Bakhchivandzhi was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Yuri Gagarin spoke about him like this:
"... Without the flights of Grigory Bakhchivandzhi, perhaps there would have been no April 12, 1961". Who could have known that exactly 25 years later, on March 27, 1968, like Bakhchivandzhi at the age of 34, Gagarin would also die in a plane crash. They were really united by the main thing - they were the first.
Evgeny Muzrukov
The post was written for the anniversary almost three years ago, but the material is very interesting.
Original taken from zzaharr at 60 years of jet civil aviation
At a time when the friends of all aviation enthusiasts are simply torn from the abundance of posts about the celebration of the centenary of our valiant Air Force, another significant event somehow imperceptibly passed, namely the 60th anniversary of civil transport on jet liners.
Experts will immediately correct me, saying that "Comet" took off "back in 1949, and they will be right. But let's count all the same from the first passenger flight.
January 1952 De Havilland Comet: 
De Havilland Comet 1 receives the airworthiness certificate. An aircraft with a difficult fate, but it was the first. In May and August, it makes its first regular flights from London Heathrow to Johannesburg and Colombo.
July 1954 Boeing 707
Boeing 707 prototype makes its maiden flight. In October 1955, Pan American Airlines places the first order for six 707-121s.
May 1955 Sud Aviation Caravelle
The first flight of the Caravel performed on May 27, 1955. This is the world's first passenger aircraft with a tail-mounted engine, but it should be noted that the nose of the fuselage borrowed a lot from the Comet.
June 1955 Tu-104
The first flight of the Tu-104 was made on June 17, 1955. On November 5, 1955, the first production aircraft, built at the Kharkov aircraft plant in Ukraine, took off. In 1956, the Soviet Union managed to hit the Western world when, during the visit of the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev to London, a Soviet-made jet aircraft flew there.
September 1959 Douglas DC-8-10
In September 1959, Delta Air Lines and United began commercial operation of the DC-8. On August 21, 1961, the Douglas DC-8 broke the sound barrier and reached a speed of 1.012 M or 1262 km / h. during a controlled peak from a height of 12496 m.
May 1960 Convair 880
Delta Air Lines introduces the Convair 880/22 to scheduled flights (first prototype flight in January 1959). It is followed by the 880-M, intended for intercontinental routes. The designation "880" is given to it because its maximum speed is 880 ft / s (1000 km / h).
January 1962 Hawker Siddeley Trident HS121
Hawker Siddeley Trident HS121, a "second generation" medium-range jet, takes off in Hatfield, UK. The aircraft was designed to meet BEA requirements and had three engines in the tail. The aircraft was equipped with highly advanced avionics for its time and became the first airliner capable of fully automatic landing (since 1965 in evaluation mode, and since 1966 - on regular flights).
October 1962 Tu-124
A novelty appears on Aeroflot's Moscow-Tallinn flight. The Tu-124 is actually a smaller copy of the previously developed Tu-104, and both types are similar in appearance, but differ in size. For the first time in the world for passenger aircraft, the Tu-124 uses turbofan engines, which differ from the previously used turbojet engines by increased efficiency. He made a successful landing on the Neva after both engines failed.
August 1963BAC One-Eleven
BAC One-Eleven, aka BAC 1-11 - British jet airliner for short and medium-haul lines. Designed and manufactured by British Aircraft Corporation. It first flew on August 20, 1963. From the beginning of operation, it was in great demand and was well bought by British Airlines.
February 1964 Boeing 727
Boeing 727 Eastern Airlines operated its first commercial flights from Miami to Washington and Philadelphia. Three-engine, medium-range jet, maiden flight in February 1963. To simplify the use of the aircraft in under-prepared airports, important attention was paid to wing mechanization (reducing the required runway length) and an integrated ladder (to simplify boarding and disembarking passengers in the absence of a regular ladder).
April 1964 Vickers VC10
On April 23, 1964, the Vickers VC10 receives a certificate of airworthiness and was put on regular passenger traffic between London and Lagos. During operation, the Vickers VC10 set the record for the time to cross the Atlantic (London - New York), which was only beaten by the supersonic Concorde.
November 1965 McDonnell Douglas DC-9
In November 65th Delta Air Lines unveiled its first McDonnell Douglas DC-9 in a festive atmosphere. This twin-engine short-haul jet aircraft became one of the most massive liners in history.
Subsequent modifications of the DC-9 were the MD-80, MD-90 and Boeing 717. Taking into account the last Boeing 717 aircraft produced in 2006, the total production of the DC-9 family (DC-9 / MD-80/90/717) continued 41 year and amounted to about 2,500 aircraft.
1967 MarchIL-62
Il-62 - the first Soviet jet intercontinental passenger aircraft. In operation since 1967, serial production in 1966-1995. A total of 276 aircraft were produced. A third of all produced cars were exported to socialist countries. A design feature of the aircraft is a small fourth two-wheeled rear landing gear, used to prevent an empty aircraft from overturning when parked and taxiing. The Il-62 became the first Russian jet aircraft to use reverse engine thrust.
April 1967Boeing 737
April 9, 1967 at 13:15, the first flight took place at the Boeing Field airfield boeing aircraft 737-100 with tail number N73700. This was the beginning of a flight biography, perhaps the most successful and massive aircraft in history. civil aviation... The Boeing 737 is so widely used that there are on average 1200 aircraft in the air at any given time, and every 5 seconds one 737 takes off somewhere in the world. In fact, Boeing 737 is the generic name for over ten types of aircraft.
September 1967Tu-134
In September 1967, the first commercial flight Moscow-Adler was made on the Tu-134. However, for almost three years, the Tu-134s were used only on international lines, and only in the summer of 1969 they began to serve the intra-union lines Moscow-Leningrad and Moscow-Kiev. Initially, the Tu-134 was not designed as a new aircraft. The design bureau had the idea of \u200b\u200bmodernizing the Tu-124. The aircraft's fuselage was lengthened, the engines were moved to the tail section, and the empennage was replaced with a T-shaped one. A total of 852 aircraft of all modifications were built.
December 1968 Tu-144
Tu-144 is the world's first supersonic airliner ever used by airlines for commercial transportation. It made its first flight on December 31, 1968. The plane crossed the symbolic Mach 2 milestone on May 25, 1970, flying at an altitude of 16300 m at a speed of 2150 km / h. The production of the aircraft was launched at the Voronezh plant No. 64. Subsequently, the Tu-144D was used only for freight traffic between Moscow and Khabarovsk. By the time of abandonment of operation, 16 Tu-144 aircraft were built.
March 1969Aérospatiale / BAC Concorde
Prototype 001 was completed in early 1969, and on March 2, 1969 it made its first flight from the factory airfield in Toulouse under the control of Sud Aviation test pilot Andre Turk. Commercial operation of the Concordes began on January 21, 1976, when British Airlines G-BOFA (No. 206) took off on its maiden flight from London to Bahrain. On the same day, an F-BFBA flight (No. 205) opened the Paris-Dakar line of Air France. On April 10, 2003, British Airways and Air France announced their decision to cease commercial operations of their Concord fleet. Last flights took place on 24 October.
January 1970 Boeing 747
The first Boeing 747, officially designated the Boeing 747-100, was built on September 2, 1968. On January 1, 1970, a Pan American World Airways aircraft made its first commercial flight. Boeing 747 has a two-deck layout, while the upper deck is significantly inferior in length to the lower one. The size and peculiar "hump" of the upper deck made the Boeing 747 one of the most recognizable aircraft in the world, the hero of dozens of movies and the symbol of civil aviation.
May 1971 Tu-154
In May 1971, pre-production Tu-154 aircraft began to be used to transport mail from Moscow to Tbilisi, Sochi, Simferopol and Mineralnye Vody. It was mass-produced from 1968 to 1998; a total of 932 aircraft were produced. The production rate sometimes reached 5 cars per month. From 1998 to 2011, small-scale production of Tu-154M aircraft was carried out at the Aviakor plant in Samara. The final discontinuation of production is planned for 2012.
The most massive Soviet jet passenger aircraft, which until the end of the first decade of the 21st century remained one of the main aircraft on medium-range routes in Russia. He became one of the main characters in the feature film "The Crew"; Mosfilm, 1979
August 1971 McDonnell Douglas DC-10
The first medium-haul DC-10-10 began service with American Airlines in August 1971. Jumbo aside, it was the world's first wide-body aircraft in the modern sense of the word. Production of this aircraft was discontinued in 1989, but many of the aircraft were converted into a cargo version and continue to fly to this day. As of February 2010, 168 DC-10 vehicles (including tankers) are in service, of which 67 are FedEx and 59 are USAAF.
October 1972 Airbus A300
On October 28, 1972, the star of a new player in the medium and long-haul aircraft market, Airbus Industrie, emerged. On that day, her first-born airliner A300 B1 made its maiden flight. During the development of the A300, it was almost impossible to imagine that an aircraft with two turbines would be able to perform transatlantic and Pacific flights. Therefore, the range was determined only for continental flights. Later, the limited range became a major disadvantage of the aircraft.
December 1980 IL-86
On December 26, 1980, the first and most massive Soviet / Russian passenger wide-body aircraft Il-86 performed the first regular flight on the route Moscow - Tashkent. Il-86 is considered one of the best and safest aircraft in Russia and the world. In the entire history of its operation, not a single passenger was killed. The spacious cockpit was even larger than the A-380 cockpit.
September 1982 Boeing 767
Boeing 767-200 wide-body long-haul aircraft became the first aircraft of a new generation passenger linerswhich began operating in the early 1980s. The Boeing 767-200 also became the first twin-engine aircraft capable of handling transatlantic routes between Europe and America without landing. The first 767 entered service on September 8, 1982. To date, the fleet of 767s has flown over 27 billion nautical miles and performed 7.7 million flights.
March 1988 Airbus A320
In March 1988, Air France received the first A-320. The A320 aircraft is the world's first passenger aircraft with a fly-by-wire control system (EDSU), a cockpit equipped with side control sticks (side sticks) instead of conventional steering columns, and a horizontal tail made entirely of composite materials. The A320 family includes both younger brothers (318/319) and older ones (A321). On this moment more than 5100 units were produced.
January 1989 Tu-204
In 1988, the first prototype of the Tu-204 was manufactured at the pilot production facility of ANTK, designed to replace the aging Tu-154. On January 2, 1989, he first took to the sky. On February 23, 1996 Tu-204 made its first flight with passengers on the route Moscow - Mineralnye Vody. The cockpit is equipped with color displays and low-travel center Y-shaped handles. Aircraft and engine control system - fly-by-wire; Tu-204 became the first domestic airliner, on which these innovations were applied.
February 1993 Airbus A340
In competition with Boeing, Airbas Corporation decided to go its own way and created a direct competitor for the 474. At the end of February 1993, the first A340-300 aircraft received airline Air France. In early February 1993, the first A340-200 expanded the fleet of the German lufthansa Airlines... On June 16-18, 1993, the A340-200 aircraft, named World Ranger, performed a round-the-world flight on the route Paris - Auckland ( New Zealand) - Paris with one landing in Auckland. The Airbus A340-600 was the world's longest passenger aircraft with a fuselage length of 75.36 meters before the release of the extended version of the Boeing 747-8 - 76.4 meters.
May 1995 Boeing 777
The Boeing 777 (aka Triple Seven, aka "port") is the world's largest twin-engine jet passenger aircraft. The General Electric GE90 engines installed on it are the largest and most powerful jet engines in aviation history. Distinctive feature are also six-wheel landing gear. The Boeing 777 was the first commercial airliner to be 100% computer-based. The first 777-200 was delivered to United Airlines on May 15, 1995.
April 2005 Airbus A380
The Airbus A380 is the largest passenger airplane. This double-deck liner has the following dimensions: height - 24 m, length - 73 m, wingspan - 79.4 m.In standard configuration, it can accommodate 555 passengers, the charter version is able to take on board 853 people. Designed for non-stop flights up to 15,000 km. Airbus А380 is the most economical of the airliners of this class. It consumes 3 liters of fuel per passenger per 100 kilometers. It took 10 years and 12 billion euros to develop this model. The aircraft was announced as an alternative to the Boeing 747.
May 2008 Sukhoi Superjet 100
The first Superjet 100 was presented to the public on September 26, 2007 at the plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and on May 19, 2008, it successfully completed its maiden flight. In February 2012 SSJ100 received the EASA type certificate. As of mid-July 2012, nine SSJ100 aircraft operated by airlines have flown more than 5,200 commercial flights with a total duration of over 10,200 flight hours.
December 2009 Boeing 787 Dreamliner
The first test flight of the new "soldier" in the war for passengers and economic efficiency took place on December 15, 2009. As of June 2010, 868 aircraft have been ordered. Boeing-787 is a wide-body twin-engine passenger aircraft capable of carrying 250-330 passengers over a distance of 16 thousand 299 kilometers (depending on modification). More than half of the aircraft's parts are made of lightweight composite materials, the new 787 has a 12% higher fuel efficiency compared to a Boeing 777, and will also consume 20% less fuel during operation than modern aircraft of the same class.
That's, in fact, all 60 years. Of the upcoming new products, we can expect Airbus A350 and MC21, which will be even lighter, more economical, quieter, more comfortable, more reliable, etc. etc. But, all the same, it will be twin-engine low-wing aircraft ... More on that next time.
Thanks for attention.
In the minds of a large number of people, one way or another connected with general aviation, such a concept as a "personal plane" for some time was inextricably linked with light one- or two-engine propeller-driven aircraft, which were equipped with turboprop or piston engines. Until the very last time jet aircraft seemed too expensive and uneconomical for customers who could afford this mode of transport. There is nothing strange in this, since even cheap planes with jet engines cost several million dollars, and their powerful engines consumed a large amount of fuel, compared to piston counterparts. Therefore, attempts to create a small jet for private use for many years ended in nothing.
However, today there is every reason to believe that significant changes will take place in business aviation in the near future: the era of single-engine and twin-engine jet aircraft is coming. At the same time, we are talking not only about business jets, which are designed to carry 4-8 passengers, but about cars that are similar to sports cars. That is, the usual 2-4 seater jet aircraft, which are already in no way inferior to their counterparts with piston engines.
At the same time, naturally, civilian business jets such as ECLIPSE 500, CITATION MUSTANG, ADAM 700 and Embraer PHENOM 100 have more market prospects, as they allow you to comfortably move a small company anywhere. According to experts, in the next 10 years about 4300-5400 "pocket" jet aircraft will be sold in the world, and this is already quite an impressive figure. At the same time, there is a demand not only for standard business jets, but also for completely new machines, super-light business jets or even a kind of air taxis.
Such aircraft even had a special designation VLG - Very Light Jet. Entry-level jets or personal jets, previously often referred to as microjets. The maximum passenger capacity of such vehicles does not exceed 4-8 people, and the maximum weight does not exceed 4,540 kg. These planes are lighter than those models that are usually called business jets and are designed to be operated by 1 pilot. Examples of such machines are the models already mentioned above.
The ultra-light jet is a completely new concept, and an increasing number of experts around the world are concluding that the emergence of such aircraft could revolutionize the business aviation segment. Honeywell and Rolls-Royce took this factor into account in time to draw up their rather serious annual forecasts for assessing the market situation. The market situation is already changing. The widespread use of composite materials in the creation of aircraft, the miniaturization of jet engines, the emergence of new aviation electronic systems, all this, since the late 1990s, has been driving the market for such aircraft forward.
Currently, the owners of aircraft equipped with piston engines, some of which were designed and built in the post-war period, are beginning to think about buying modern jet aircraft. The huge interest of the audience led to the emergence of a large number of a wide variety of projects and developments. Unfortunately, most of them will forever remain concepts and projects that have not even reached the prototype stage.
Embraer PHENOM 100
The first company that managed to overcome the entire development process and present a finished aircraft was the Brazilian company Eclipse Aviation. It is this aircraft company entered civil aviation, the first to receive a certificate for a "pocket" jet aircraft. The Brazilian aircraft manufacturer entered the market with its Embraer PHENOM 100, the demand for which exceeded all expectations, which was one of the harbingers of the coming commercial revolution.
At present, the prospect of purchasing their own jet aircraft on the market for the conditional $ 500,000 leaves indifferent a large number of aviation professionals, but those people who love and dreamed of flying all their lives - namely, they are the main buyers of such unusual vehicles - simply could not believe your happiness. And although the real cost of the Brazilian first-born has surpassed $ 1 million (sales started at $ 1.3 million), it remains not only competitive, but simply a unique offer with an incredibly low price. It was simply unrealistic to acquire such an aircraft with such flight characteristics in the recent past. At the same time, all airlines that work in this segment are trying to do everything possible so that the prices for their products do not exceed the psychologically important mark of $ 1 million.
Passion for the Very Light Jet even led to some pretty daring projects, such as transforming a combat trainer into a civilian ultralight jet. It is not hard to imagine if the most modern Russian training aircraft Yak-130 suddenly became available to civilian customers. There would be a demand for it. There would be their own home-grown "Abramovichs" (and not their own) who would want to acquire something remotely, but reminiscent of a combat vehicle. This opportunity was almost realized by the Aviation Technology Group (ATG).
The trainer aircraft, which was developed by ATG, was named ATG Javelin and was quite different from its traditional representatives. It differed from promising TCB models, first of all, in its very low weight - no more than 2,900 kg, which, for example, is 2.3 times less than that of the Russian Yak-130 trainer in a similar configuration. At the same time, the American ATG Javelin was a twin-engine aircraft with a full electronic filling, which allowed it (as stated) to effectively train pilots of both civilian airliners and the latest 5th generation fighters.
A huge number of different scenarios of possible air battles, as well as imitation of the operation of self-defense systems and airborne weapons, the possibility of analyzing the actions of the pilot and planning combat missions, were "sewn" into its onboard electronics. According to representatives of the ATG company, the implementation of all this in practice made it possible to successfully use the ATG Javelin not only for basic and initial training of pilots, but also for advanced training of military pilots, who could then switch to control of such machines as Eurofighter, Su-30 or Rafale.
By its design, the ATG Javelin TCB was similar to a fighter with a light and durable airframe, which was produced with extensive use of composite materials. The crew members were in the cockpit in tandem under a special two-section canopy. The vehicle featured a low cantilever wing with a swept leading edge. Swept horizontal tail, 2 keels, 2 ventral ridges were inclined outward by 20 °. The landing gear was three-pillar, the nose support was equipped with a hydraulic drive. The engines were mounted behind the cockpit, air was supplied to them through the side air intakes. Flat exhaust nozzles were located between the keels.
Initially, this aircraft was developed and designed specifically as a training aircraft, but later it increasingly began to be positioned as an air taxi or even a light business jet solution. In order to operate without restrictions on civil air routes, ATG Javelin was supposed to be equipped with a set of equipment similar to that used on passenger aircraft, including air and ground collision avoidance equipment, systems for flights with reduced vertical separation intervals, and an aircraft navigation computer system. ... Reading such statements from the developers, all that remained was to think about how they were going to fit all this equipment into the declared mass of the aircraft, which did not exceed 3 tons.
Also, the creators of the car hoped to be certified according to FAR-23 standards. The first flight, the only built copy of ATG Javelin, was performed on September 30, 2005. Despite the fact that the company received 150 firm orders for its offspring, ATG was never able to find that strategic partner that would allow the new product to be launched into mass production. In 2008, the firm declared itself bankrupt, and development and testing of ATG Javelin was stopped. So fans of light aviation lost the opportunity to get their hands on a practically combat training aircraft, which has an enviable, practically supersonic speed... The maximum speed of the ATG Javelin was 975 km / h.
Information sources:
-http: //luxury-info.ru/avia/airplanes/articles/karmannie-samoleti.html
-http: //pkk-avia.livejournal.com/41955.html
-http: //www.dogswar.ru/oryjeinaia-ekzotika/aviaciia/6194-ychebno-boevoi-samol.html
April 18, 1941 - The first flight of the German aircraft Messerschmitt Me.262 took place, which later became the world's first serial jet aircraft and the world's first jet aircraft that participated in hostilities. Due to delays in the development of jet engines, a Jumo 210G piston engine was installed in this flight.
History does not tolerate the subjunctive mood, but if it were not for the indecision and shortsightedness of the leadership of the Third Reich, the Luftwaffe again, as in the first days of World War II, would have received a complete and unconditional advantage in the air.
In June 1945, Royal Air Force pilot Captain Eric Brown took off in a captured Me-262 from occupied Germany and headed for England. From his memoirs: “I was very excited because it was such an unexpected turn. Previously, every German plane flying over the English Channel was met by a barrage of fire from anti-aircraft guns. And now I was flying home in the most valuable German plane. This plane has a rather sinister look - it looks like a shark. And after takeoff, I realized how much trouble the German pilots could bring us in this magnificent car. Later, I was part of a team of test pilots who tested the Messerschmitt jet at Fanborough. At that time I did 568 mph (795 km / h) on it, while our best fighter did 446 mph, which is a huge difference. It was a real quantum leap. The Me-262 could have changed the course of the war, but the Nazis had it too late. "
The Me-262 entered the world aviation history as the first serial combat jet fighter.
In 1938, the German Armaments Directorate assigned the Messerschmitt A.G. to develop a jet fighter on which it was planned to install the latest BMW P 3302 turbojet engines. According to HwaA's plan, BMW engines were to be delivered to mass production already in 1940. By the end of 1941, the glider of the future fighter-interceptor was ready.
Everything was ready for testing, but constant problems with the BMW engine forced the Messerschmitt designers to look for a replacement. It was the Junkers Jumo-004 turbojet engine. After finalizing the design in the fall of 1942, the Me-262 took to the air.
Experimental flights showed excellent results - the maximum speed was close to 700 km / h. But German Arms Minister A. Speer decided that it was too early to start mass production. A thorough revision of the aircraft and its engines was required.
A year passed, the "childhood diseases" of the aircraft were eliminated, and Messerschmitt decided to invite the German ace, the hero of the Spanish war, Major General Adolf Galland to the test. After a series of flights on the modernized Me-262, he wrote a report to the Luftwaffe commander Goering. In his report, the German ace in enthusiastic tones proved the unconditional superiority of the newest jet interceptor over piston single-engine fighters.
Galland also suggested starting the immediate deployment of the serial production of the Me-262.
In early June 1943, at a meeting with the commander of the German Air Force Goering, it was decided to start serial production of the Me-262. In the factories of Messerschmitt A.G. preparations began for the assembly of a new aircraft, but in September Goering received an order to "freeze" this project. Messerschmitt urgently arrived in Berlin at the headquarters of the commander of the Luftwaffe and there he got acquainted with Hitler's order. The Fuehrer expressed bewilderment: "Why do we not get the Me-262 when the front needs hundreds of Me-109 fighters?"
Upon learning of Hitler's order to stop preparations for mass production, Adolf Galland wrote to the Fuehrer that the Luftwaffe needed a jet fighter like air. But Hitler had already decided everything - the German Air Force needed not an interceptor, but a jet attack bomber. The tactics of "Blitzkrieg" did not give the Fuehrer rest, and the idea of \u200b\u200ba lightning attack with the support of "blitz stormtroopers" firmly stuck in Hitler's head.
In December 1943, Speer signed an order to begin development of a high-speed jet attack aircraft based on the Me-262 interceptor.
The Messerschmitt Design Bureau was given carte blanche, and funding for the project was restored in full. But the creators of the high-speed attack aircraft faced numerous problems. Due to massive allied air raids on industrial centers in Germany, interruptions in the supply of components began. There was a lack of chromium and nickel, which were used to make the turbine blades of the Jumo-004B engine. As a result, the production of Junkers turbojet engines fell sharply. In April 1944, only 15 pre-production attack aircraft were assembled, which were transferred to a special test unit of the Luftwaffe, which was practicing the tactics of using new jet technology.
Only in June 1944, after the transfer of production of the Jumo-004B engine to the underground plant Nordhausen, it became possible to start mass production of the Me-262.
In May 1944, Messerschmitt began developing bomb racks for the interceptor. A variant was developed with the installation of two 250-kg or one 500-kg bombs on the Me-262 fuselage. But in parallel with the project of the attack-bomber, the designers, secretly from the Luftwaffe command, continued to refine the project of the fighter.
During the inspection, which took place in July 1944, it was found that work on the jet interceptor project was not curtailed. The Fuhrer was furious, and the result of this incident was Hitler's personal control over the Me-262 project. Any change in the design of the jet "Messerschmitt" from that moment could only be approved by Hitler.
In July 1944, the Kommando Nowotny unit was created under the command of the German ace Walter Novotny (258 enemy aircraft shot down). It was equipped with thirty Me-262 equipped with bomb racks.
The Novotny team was tasked with testing the attack aircraft in combat conditions. Novotny violated the order and used a jet plane as a fighter, in which he achieved considerable success. After a series of reports from the front on the successful use of the Me-262 as an interceptor in November, Goering decided to order the formation of a fighter unit with jet Messerschmitts. Also, the commander of the Luftwaffe was able to convince the Fuhrer to reconsider his opinion about the new aircraft. In December 1944, the Luftwaffe adopted about three hundred Me-262 fighters, and the attack aircraft production project was closed.
In the winter of 1944, "Messerschmitt A.G." felt an acute problem with obtaining the components necessary for the assembly of the Me-262. Allied bomber aircraft bombed German factories around the clock. In early January 1945, HWaA decided to disperse jet fighter production. Nodes for the Me-262 began to be assembled in one-story wooden buildings, hidden in the forests. The roofs of these mini-factories were covered with olive-colored paint, and it was difficult to spot the workshops from the air. One such plant produced the fuselage, another made the wings, the third made the final assembly. After that, the finished fighter took off into the air, using the impeccable German autobahns for takeoff.
The result of this innovation was 850 Me-262 turbojets, produced from January to April 1945.
In total, about 1900 Me-262s were built and eleven modifications were developed. Of particular interest is the two-seater night fighter-interceptor with radar station "Neptune" in the forward fuselage. This concept of a two-seat jet fighter equipped with a powerful radar was repeated by the Americans in 1958, using the F-4 Phantom II.
In the fall of 1944, the first air battles between the Me-262 and Soviet fighters showed that the Messerschmitt was a formidable enemy. Its speed and climb time were incomparably higher than that of Russian aircraft. After a detailed analysis of the combat capabilities of the Me-262, the Soviet Air Force command ordered the pilots to open fire on the German jet fighter from the maximum distance and use an evasion maneuver.
Further instructions could have been adopted after testing the Messerschmitt, but this opportunity presented itself only at the end of April 1945, after the capture of the German airfield.
The design of the Me-262 consisted of an all-metal cantilever low-wing aircraft. Two Jumo-004 turbojet engines were installed under the wings, on the outside of the landing gear. Armament consisted of four 30 mm MK-108 cannons mounted on the nose of the aircraft. Ammunition - 360 shells. Due to the dense layout of the cannon armament, excellent accuracy was provided when firing at enemy targets. Experiments were also carried out to install larger-caliber guns on the Me-262.
The jet Messerschmitt was very easy to manufacture. The maximum manufacturability of the units facilitated its assembly in the "forest factories".
With all the advantages, the Me-262 had incorrigible disadvantages:
A small service life of engines - only 9-10 hours of operation. After that, it was required to carry out a complete disassembly of the engine and replace the turbine blades.
The Me-262's long takeoff run made it vulnerable during takeoff and landing. Fw-190 fighter units were assigned to cover takeoff.
Extremely high requirements for aerodrome coverage. Due to the low-located engines, any object entering the Me-262's air intake caused damage.
This is interesting: on August 18, 1946, at an aviation parade dedicated to the Day of the Air Force, an I-300 (MiG-9) fighter flew over the Tushino airfield. It was equipped with an RD-20 turbojet engine - an exact copy of the German Jumo-004B. Also at the parade was presented the Yak-15, equipped with a captured BMW-003 (later RD-10). It was the Yak-15 that became the first Soviet jet aircraft officially adopted by the Air Force, as well as the first jet fighter on which military pilots mastered aerobatics. The first serial Soviet jet fighters were created on the basis laid in the Me-262 back in 1938.
American soldiers inspect the captured German Me262A1aU4 jet fighter, Me-262A-1a U4 modification, equipped with a 50mm VK5 cannon. It was intended as an interceptor for bombers. Not commercially produced.
German jet fighter-bomber Messerschmitt Me-262A-2a "Sturmvogel" ("Burevestnik") from I / KG 51 at the airfield. There are two 250 kg bombs on the ventral suspension of the aircraft.
