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Aviation industry of Russia and the USSR. History of the development of the Russian aviation industry Aircraft production in the USSR by year

It is difficult to imagine the modern world without airplanes. In particular, this applies to Russia, which, according to 2010 data, ranks second in the world in terms of military aircraft production volume. But the Russian aviation industry is only a little over a hundred years old.

First steps in aircraft construction (before 1917)

The date of the beginning of the formation of the Russian aviation industry can be considered 1908. At this time the first airship was built. Development proceeded with varying degrees of success. Thus, by 1913 there were only 4 factories in the entire country. But by 1914, the ministry had ordered almost 300 aircraft. In general, there was a shortage of domestic replacements for components imported from abroad. For example, practically no engines were produced for aircraft. The main reason for this is the low level of development of mechanical engineering in general.

This continued until October 1917. During this initial period of development, approximately 5,600 aircraft were built.

Aircraft construction during the USSR period (before the start of the 1941 war)

The era of the USSR radically changed the situation. Among the main achievements are the aircraft engine production system and new developments in the field of materials science. Thus, by 1930, the aviation industry ceased to depend on supplies of equipment from other countries. Other problems related to flutter and spin have been resolved. The use of more durable materials, modernization of wing shapes, and so on played an important role in this.

Aviation industry during the war of 1941-1945

During the Great Patriotic War, the history of the aviation industry in Russia and the USSR developed in accordance with the needs of the army. Many factories were evacuated, but even in such conditions, the USSR aviation industry produced a large number of aircraft for the Red Army Air Force:

33930 attack aircraft;
11,903 bombers;
50687 fighters.

To achieve this result, the state had to go through many problems. It was especially difficult in the first years of the war. For example, due to a decrease in the quality of aircraft at the beginning of 1943, it was necessary to reduce the number of products produced. There was also a shortage of labor. To improve the situation, the mobilization of persons involved in the aviation industry for agricultural work was prohibited.

Period 1980-1990

In the second half of the 1980s, the Soviet aviation industry began to lag behind its American competitor. In the previous decade, serial mass production of both civil and military aircraft was established. However, military aviation received more attention. Closer to the collapse of the USSR, an economic crisis occurred, which led to a reduction in production volumes.

There were also positive experiences. Thus, by the mid-1990s, Russia began to supply aircraft equipment abroad. One of the most significant examples is the conclusion of a contract with India in 1996.

In general, during this period there was a decline in production. The maximum production volume of airplanes and helicopters occurred in 1992. By 1994, the pace began to decline.

Current state of affairs

At the beginning of the new millennium, Russia was faced with the problem of an aging aircraft fleet. In addition, factories and other enterprises were in decline and were not capable of producing sufficient quantities of modern aircraft of adequate quality. In this situation, purchasing equipment abroad became a more or less acceptable solution. By the beginning of 2010, foreign-made aircraft began to occupy the majority of the fleet of domestic companies.

Thus, the aviation industry plays a significant role in the history of Russia. This was especially noticeable during the Great Patriotic War. The Russian and Soviet aviation industry is known for the serial production of jet aircraft. He also has a considerable number of civil aviation aircraft under his belt.

Russia is now in the process of recovering from the crisis of the 90s. Even then, the creation of joint ventures began. Since the 2000s, the economy and, consequently, the aviation industry began to grow. Industry corporations were created on the basis of disparate enterprises. All this stopped the degradation of the industry and opened up a number of development prospects.

A.N. Kosygin immediately proposed measures for economic transformation, which were based on new planning methods and new principles of economic stimulation.

The economic reform was developed by a group of economists led by Lieberman. The intensification and introduction of elements of self-financing at enterprises should have given impetus to the further development of production. Pressure on enterprises from above was stopped, a share of profits remained at the disposal of enterprises, material incentive funds were created, loans were issued to finance industrial construction, and changes in plans were not allowed without agreement with the enterprise.

At the first stage, significant results were achieved. The Eighth Five-Year Plan became the most successful in the post-war years. Production volume increased 1.5 times, 1,900 large enterprises were built.

In 1972, the main funds from light industry began to be directed to the development of the defense complex. Attempts were made to introduce new methods of work (team contracting), and imported equipment was purchased.

To successfully continue reforms, new approaches were required. But most economic leaders could not abandon their usual management methods, which led to the curtailment of reforms.

The system rejected all initiatives “from below” to revive the economy. Many business executives were not concerned about increasing the national wealth, but about putting maximum labor and materials into the product and selling it to the state at a higher price.

The existing management mechanism counteracted the introduction of scientific and technological achievements into production.

The development period for new products stretched for decades. The state budget deficit and external financial debt increased. There was inconsistency in the implementation of reforms.

In the 70s, the influx of “petrodollars” smoothed out failures in economic development. This made it possible to leave the directive management system intact.

Subsequently, the fall in demand for natural fuels led to a drop in oil and gas prices, which hit the Soviet economy. The growth rate fell 3 times by the beginning of the 80s. The country's economy was in critical condition.

The country's leadership made efforts to stabilize the situation in agriculture. National income was redistributed in favor of the countryside, debts were written off, purchase prices were increased, and comprehensive mechanization, chemicalization and land reclamation were carried out.

In the 70s an emphasis was placed on agro-industrial integration - the cooperation of collective and state farms into AgroIndustrial Associations with services provided by their industries. For this purpose, GosAgroProm was created in 1985. Despite all efforts, agriculture remained the weakest sector of the economy. Product losses amounted to up to 40%. The rural economic crisis was aggravated by the unfair exchange between city and countryside. Tough bureaucratic management suppressed the initiative of the peasants.

The process of changing the standard of living of the people during this period proceeded contradictorily. On the one hand, significant progress has been made in solving the housing problem. By the beginning of the 80s. 80% of families had separate apartments, on the other hand, investments in the social sphere were sharply reduced. Health care costs have been cut significantly. A huge supply of money was issued, not supported by quality goods. As a result, there was a shortage of goods.

But despite the high costs, the country achieved relative prosperity compared to previous decades. This created the appearance of social stability.

Foreign policy of the USSR in 1960 - 1980. The Soviet leadership in the field of international relations and foreign policy consistently adhered to the solution of three most important tasks:

Task 1. Eliminating the threat of the collapse of the socialist camp and its close cohesion politically, economically and militarily. The implementation of this foreign policy task was carried out in accordance with the doctrine of limited sovereignty, which in the West was called the “Brezhnev Doctrine”. Its essence was that in the event of a danger to socialism from imperialist forces, the entire socialist community should act as a united front and provide the weak socialist link, that is, a specific country, with fraternal assistance, including military assistance.

This doctrine was used during the crisis in Czechoslovakia, when troops of the Warsaw Pact Organization (WTO) entered its territory in August 1968, neutralized anti-socialist protests and suspended democratic transformations.

Relations with China were difficult. At the end of the 1960s. they simply became tense, leading to border conflicts. The most serious military clash occurred in March 1969 on Damansky Island in the Far East, where our losses amounted to more than 150 people. All this forced the USSR to maintain large armed formations near the Soviet-Chinese border.

Task 2. Support for communist, national liberation and pro-Soviet movements and regimes. The Brezhnev leadership tried to continue the line of unifying the international communist movement. Two meetings of the communist and workers' parties were held in Moscow (1965, 1969), the purpose of which was to develop a unified strategy for the class struggle against the world of capital. But the crisis of world socialism showed the true state of affairs, which sharply reduced the attractiveness of the communist movement in capitalist countries. This clearly manifested itself in the late 1980s, since there was no longer either the power of example or material support from the USSR.

The Soviet Union sought to expand its geopolitical influence at the expense of the Third World countries. Military and economic assistance was provided to the regimes of Libya, Syria, Iraq, Ethiopia, Angola, Mozambique, and South Yemen, which declared their socialist and pro-Soviet orientation.

In the context of world politics, such activities were viewed as a permanent struggle between two systems within the framework of the Cold War and the expansion of socialist influence on the globe. Like the international communist movement, these actions would later prove to be an illusion.

3. Normalization of relations between East and West, called “détente of international tension.” To a large extent, this was based on the military parity of the USSR - USA, the Warsaw Department - NATO and the awareness among world politicians of the impossibility of victory in a nuclear war.

In the early 1970s. The Soviet leadership put forward a Peace Program, which contained proposals to ban weapons of mass destruction, reduce stockpiles of nuclear missiles, eliminate military hotspots and end military conflicts in various regions of the world, ensure security in Europe, and resolve controversial issues between states only through negotiations.

The main diplomatic components of détente were:

- the signing in 1970 of an agreement between the USSR and Germany on the normalization of relations;

- the conclusion in 1971 of a quadrilateral agreement on West Berlin, according to which the groundlessness of the territorial and political claims of the Federal Republic of Germany to West Berlin was confirmed;

- improving relations between the USSR and the USA. In 1968, a treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons was signed, to which most states acceded. In addition, the USSR and the USA concluded a treaty on the limitation of missile defense systems (1972), as well as two agreements on the limitation of strategic offensive weapons SALT 1 in 1972 and SALT 2 in 1979;

- successful implementation in 1972 - 1975. the multi-stage European Conference on Security and Cooperation, which ended on August 1, 1975 with the signing of the Final Act in the capital of Finland, Helsinki, by the leaders of 33 European countries, as well as the USA and Canada. It established the principles of equality, inviolability of borders, non-interference in internal affairs, the priority of human rights, freedom of information and movement.

It should be noted that the latter provisions became the international legal basis for the dissident movement in the USSR and were actively supported by the West.

In the late 1970s - early 1980s. détente gave way to a new aggravation of international relations and confrontation. This was explained by the continued confrontation between East and West and the arms race, the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan in December 1979, the deployment in Europe of a new generation of Soviet and American medium-range missiles, and the promotion by the United States of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), or the “Star Wars” program. .

This was also influenced by the incident that occurred in the Sakhalin region, where on the night of August 31 to September 1, 1983, a South Korean passenger plane was shot down, violating USSR airspace. US President Ronald Reagan declared the USSR an “evil empire,” and the confrontation intensified sharply. These were the realities of the ongoing Cold War.

Related information.

The first self-built aircraft appeared in Russia on the eve of the First World War. One of the most famous Russian aircraft of that time was the four-engine wooden biplane “Russian Knight” and the “Ilya Muromets” created on its basis, designed by Igor Sikorsky, built in 1913-1914. “Russian Knight” became the world’s first four-engine aircraft, marking the beginning of heavy aviation, and “Ilya Muromets” became the world’s first passenger aircraft and heavy bomber. On August 1, 1914, that is, at the beginning of the First World War, the Russian air force consisted of 244 aircraft, which looked more than worthy compared to other participants in the conflict. Germany had 232 airplanes, France - 138, England - 56 first-line airplanes, Austria-Hungary - about 30 aircraft.

However, during the war, Russia failed to create a truly powerful aviation industry. The state has actually withdrawn from coordinating the production of aircraft. Before the start of the war, there were seven aircraft factories in the country, located in Riga, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Odessa. From 1914 to 1917, five more enterprises came into operation. Most of the cars produced by Russian factories were produced under foreign licenses (16 foreign models and only 12 domestic ones were in serial production). At the same time, foreign firms did not seek to sell their latest developments to the Russians, which means that the characteristics of the aircraft were worse than those of their foreign counterparts. There were few exceptions, for example, the most popular Russian-built aircraft before 1917 (about 170 units were produced) - the Anade reconnaissance aircraft designed by the entrepreneur and designer of Italian origin Arthur Anatra, the M-5 and M-9 flying boats designed by Dmitry Grigorovich and, of course, bombers "Ilya Muromets" by Igor Sikorsky. However, the Muromets, in addition to a few Russian RBZ-6s, were equipped with German Argus, French Renault and English Sunbeam engines, as well as French licensed Salmson. During the war, 1511 engines (licensed only) and 5607 aircraft were produced in Russia. For comparison, Germany produced 40,449 engines and 47,831 aircraft, the UK produced 41,034 engines and 55,061 aircraft, and France produced 93,100 engines and 52,146 aircraft.

The revolutions and the subsequent Civil War and foreign intervention did not contribute to the development of industry in general and the aviation industry in particular. Many talented aviation specialists emigrated abroad, some were shot as “counter-revolutionary elements.” By 1920, the already not very high productivity of Russian aircraft factories fell 10 times compared to 1917. Essentially, the Soviet government was forced to start aircraft manufacturing from scratch. Particular hopes were placed on cooperation with Germany. The Treaty of Versailles, which ended the First World War, prohibited this country from having its own military aircraft, and the carrying capacity of passengers x aircraft was limited to 600 kilograms (including the weight of crew members). Therefore, cooperation between German aircraft manufacturers and Soviet Russia was beneficial to both parties. The Germans got the opportunity to build airplanes, and the Russians got access to modern technologies and aviation enterprises on their territory.

In 1922, the USSR entered into an agreement with the Junkers company on the participation of German specialists in the development of Soviet military aviation. It was assumed that German engineers would establish in the Soviet Union the production of metal aircraft for various purposes, aircraft engines, and provide assistance in mastering the production of aviation materials. In 1923-1925, at the aircraft plant in Fili, the Germans began assembling Ju-20 and Ju-21 reconnaissance aircraft. In general, cooperation with Junkers did not live up to expectations. The planes built in Fili had low flight characteristics; for this reason, already in March 1926, the Soviet government decided to terminate the contract with Junkers and intensively develop its own aircraft industry.

Nevertheless, thanks to cooperation with the German side, Soviet specialists gained their first experience in metal aircraft construction. After all, the world's first all-metal aircraft was designed by Hugo Junkers back in 1915. In 1922, the Soviet Union received the first batch of the metal necessary to create aircraft - chain mail aluminum, an analogue of German duralumin, and on May 26, 1924, the first Soviet all-metal aircraft ANT-2, designed by Andrei Tupolev, took off. A year later, Russian students surpassed German teachers: under the leadership of Tupolev, the world's first all-metal monoplane bomber TB-1 (ANT-4) with engines located along the wing was built in the Soviet Union. It was this scheme that became classic and subsequently formed the basis for all the “flying fortresses” of the Second World War. In 1932, as a continuation of the TB-1, the four-engine TB-3 (ANT-6) was built, which served in the Soviet Air Force until the Great Patriotic War. To be fair, it should be noted that back in 1920, the German engineer Adolf Rohrbach built a multi-engine passenger monoplane with an engine
lyes on the wing. But this machine made only a few flights and did not have a noticeable impact on the development of aviation.

The weakest point of the Soviet aircraft industry was the lack of its own engines. The first Soviet aircraft Il-400 (in the I-1 series) Nikolai Polikarpov I-1 (in the I-2 series) Dmitry Grigorovich, built in 1923, had an American captured water-cooled Liberty engine (Soviet designation M-5) with a power of 400 hp, developed at the end of the First World War. The Liberty was quite good for its time, but it weighed too much to be installed on fighter aircraft. The Il-400 monoplane flew faster than the I-1 biplane, but was less reliable. Therefore, in the mid-1920s, only 14 Il-400 and 209 I-1 were produced.

However, the first mass-produced Soviet aircraft was not a fighter, but an R-1 reconnaissance aircraft designed by Polikarpov. Until the end of the 1920s, reconnaissance aircraft were one of the most common classes of aircraft throughout the world, accounting for 82% of the number of military aircraft in the USSR, 60% in Poland, 44% in France and 40% in Italy. The P-1, created in 1923, was built on the basis of the English DH-9 reconnaissance aircraft from the First World War with a Liberty engine. Of course, by the time of its appearance, the R-1 could have been considered an outdated machine, but the Soviet Union was in too much need of a reliable and simple model of aviation
th technology for mass production. In addition, the two-seat reconnaissance aircraft could be used as a multi-purpose aircraft, for example, the P-5 and P-Z, which replaced the P-1 in the early 1930s, were actively used in a number of conflicts as light bombers and attack aircraft.

Since the birth of aviation, there has been a debate about which type of engine is preferable for an aircraft - water-cooled or air-cooled. In-line or V-shaped water-cooled engines had less drag and, with equal power, allowed them to develop higher speeds, while the poorly streamlined but lighter star-shaped engine reduced the weight of the vehicle and thus improved its maneuverability. During the 1920s and the first half of the 1930s, speed and maneuverability of fighter aircraft were considered equally important. Therefore, in the USSR, as in many other countries, aircraft were built with engines of both types. In the mid-1920s, the USSR purchased licenses for two engines: the German BMW-6 (M-17) with 500 hp. water-cooled and the British Jupiter VI (M-22) (in French metric version) with 480 hp. air cooled. It was precisely this engine that originally powered the first mass-produced Soviet fighter, the I-5, designed in 1929 by Polikarpov and Grigorovich, who ended up in the Butyrka prison in Moscow on charges of counter-revolutionary activities. I-5 turned out to be successful, and the designers were released.

The first actual Soviet engine M-11 with a power of 100 hp. appeared in 1929. It was installed on one of the most popular aircraft in the history of aviation - the U-2 (Po-2) designed by Polikarpov. This biplane was created as a training aircraft in the late 1920s, but was then widely used in agriculture and communications as an ambulance and even a light night bomber. From 1929 to 1959 there were
More than 33,000 U-2s were produced.

The 1920s are considered a period of stagnation in aviation development. Manufacturers of the most advanced countries in aviation during the First World War - England and France - considered a new big war unlikely and did not pay due attention to the introduction of technological innovations into aircraft construction. The development of German aviation was limited by the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty, and the Soviet Union created its aviation industry virtually from scratch, trying to catch up with Western countries. Sport and passenger aviation developed most intensively in the world. Especially in the USA, where, in conditions of fierce competition, air carriers tried to master all the innovations as quickly as possible. It was in the United States of America that the first serial high-speed passenger aircraft of the new type Boeing 247 was built in 1933. In the USSR, almost at the same time, the high-speed passenger aircraft KhAI-1 took off, becoming the first high-speed passenger aircraft in Europe.

In the early 1930s, there was a sharp leap in aircraft manufacturing: such innovations as all-metal construction, streamlined engine cowlings (NACA), variable propeller pitch, wing mechanization (flaps, slats), cantilever low wings, enclosed cockpits and, of course, were actively being introduced. same, retractable landing gear. First of all, these new products affected passenger aircraft, and then bomber aircraft. As a result, a new class of aircraft appeared, the so-called high-speed bombers, which flew faster than fighters. A typical representative of this class was the Soviet twin-engine bomber SB (ANT-40) designed by Tupolev. Until 1941, 6831 ma were built in the USSR this type of tire. SBs were actively used in the Spanish Civil War, Khalkhin Gol, China, in the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940 and at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. By then it was already obsolete, but in 1934 it was one of the fastest bombers in the world, it could carry 600 kilograms of bombs at a speed of almost 332 km/h, outperforming most fighters existing at that time.

Most fighters of the early 1930s were not far removed from the models of the First World War. Basically, these were biplanes or sesquiplanes (the lower wing is smaller than the upper) of wooden or mixed construction, with fixed landing gear, armed with a pair of rifle-caliber machine guns and flying only 50-100 km/h faster than the cars of 1914-1918, mainly due to more powerful engines.

In 1934, Nikolai Polikarpov created a new high-speed monoplane, the I-16, which was to become the main Soviet fighter of the 1930s and early 1940s. I-16 is the world's first serial monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear; initially it also had a closed cabin, but it had to be abandoned. The quality of the glazing left much to be desired, and pilots, accustomed to open cockpits, actively protested against the necessary but inconvenient innovation. Thanks to a very short
The I-16 fuselage had a low longitudinal moment of inertia and, as a result, a quick response to rudder deflection, which gave the vehicle exceptional maneuverability. However, flying the I-16 turned into a difficult job, requiring a high level of training from the pilot.

There were variants of this vehicle with engines M-22 and M-25 (licensed American Wright R-1820-F3), M-62 and M-63 with two and four 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns, with two 20 mm ShVAK cannons and a 12.7 mm BS machine gun. The I-16 was produced in 30 different modifications (types) and, together with Soviet pilots, participated in numerous wars and conflicts of the 1930s and 1940s. Along with the I-16, the Soviet Air Force was armed with another Polikarpov fighter - the I-15 biplane, as well as its versions I-15bis and I-153. The latter began mass production in 1938, and in 1941 it was the second most popular aircraft in the Red Army Air Force after the I-16. Biplanes were used in many countries until the outbreak of World War II. While inferior to monoplanes in speed, they were superior to them in maneuverability. There was even a “two fighter” theory, according to which monoplane fighters were supposed to act in battle together with biplane fighters: the former would catch up with the enemy and pin him down with attacks, and the latter would destroy him in air combat.

However, since the mid-1930s, speed has become the main flight characteristic of fighters, and the last word in fighter aviation is high-speed monoplane fighters with water-cooled engines, such as the Bf.109 in Germany or the Supermarine Spitfire in the UK.

The first alarm signal sounded for Soviet aircraft designers in Spain, where the I-15 and I-16 initially prevailed over the German aircraft created in the early 1930s, but began to lose to the Bf.109 of earlier modifications, and even more so would have had little chance against the Bf.109E version with DB-601 engines with 1100 hp. and reinforced weapons.

After the victory of the revolution, the party and government very quickly realized the need to create and develop the Russian air fleet. Issues of aviation development have repeatedly been the focus of attention of Soviet party and government bodies and have been repeatedly considered at party congresses, special sessions and meetings with the participation of senior Soviet party and government officials.

Domestic aircraft construction in the early twenties was based on the modernization and serial production of the best models of foreign-made aircraft. In parallel, work was carried out to create our own designs.

One of the first aircraft built in Soviet times was a modernized version of the English aircraft DN-9. Its development was entrusted to N.N. Polikarpov, and the aircraft in various modifications had the name P-1. At this time, based on the English aircraft of the AVRO brand "A two-seat training aircraft U-1 was produced, intended for flight schools.

Of the domestic aircraft of original design created in the twenties, the AK-1 passenger aircraft by V. L. Alexandrov and V. V. Kalinin should be noted. Two aircraft were designed by pilot V.O. Pisarenko and built in the workshops of the Sevastopol pilot school, where he was an instructor. The design teams led by D. P. Grigorovich and N. N. Polikarpov, who worked on the creation of flying boats, passenger aircraft, and fighter aircraft, were very famous.

During this period, there was a transition in the domestic aircraft industry to the creation of aircraft made of metal. In 1925, the design bureau AGOS (aviation, hydroaviation and experimental construction) was created at TsAGI, headed by A. N. Tupolev. The topics of the AGOS work were very diverse, and teams were formed within the bureau. The engineers who headed them later became famous designers.

Many of the aircraft created at the bureau participated in international exhibitions and long-distance flights. Thus, ANT-3 (R-3) aircraft were used for flights across European capitals and the Far Eastern flight Moscow - Tokyo. In 1929, the heavy metal aircraft TB-1 (ANT-4) flew from Moscow to New York via the North Pole. Aircraft of this type were used not only in long-range bomber aviation, but also in Arctic expeditions. The technical manager of the TB-1 project was designer V. M. Petlyakov. AGOS also designed the ANT-9 passenger aircraft, which made a long-distance flight of 9037.

At the same time, the land aircraft engineering department (OSS), under the leadership of N. N. Polikarpov, built fighter aircraft I-3, DI-2. During the same period, the well-known U-2 (Po-2) aircraft was built, which served for about 35 years. One of the very successful was the R-5 machine created by the land aircraft manufacturing department, which was subsequently produced in various versions - as a reconnaissance aircraft, an attack aircraft and even as a light bomber.

The department of naval aircraft construction, headed by D.P. Grigorovich, built naval aircraft, mainly reconnaissance aircraft.

Along with combat and passenger vehicles, airplanes and light aircraft were designed for sports organizations, among them the first aircraft of A. S. Yakovlev, called AIR.

In the early thirties, airplanes had the old form - a biplane design and landing gear that was not retractable in flight. The skin of metal planes was corrugated. At the same time, a reorganization was taking place in the experimental aircraft manufacturing industry, and teams based on aircraft types were created at the Aviarabotnik plant.

Initially, the task to develop the I-5 aircraft was given to A. N. Tupolev, and later N. N. Polikarpov and D. P. Grigorovich were involved in its creation. This aircraft, in various modifications, was in service for almost ten years, and I-15, I-153, and I-16 fighters even took part in combat operations in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War.

The team of I. I. Pogossky designed seaplanes, in particular the maritime long-range reconnaissance aircraft MDR-3 (later its team was headed by G. M. Beriev, who built aircraft for naval aviation until the seventies).

Under the leadership of A. N. Tupolev, heavy bombers were created, including TB - 3, one of the best and most famous aircraft of this type.

Design bureaus led by A. I. Putilov and R. L. Bartini worked on the creation of all-metal steel aircraft.

The successes achieved in aircraft construction and especially engine design made it possible to begin the creation of an aircraft with a record flight range ANT - 25. This aircraft with an M - 34 R engine designed by A. A. Mikulin went down in history after the flights performed on it from Moscow through the North Pole to USA.

By the beginning of the forties, in accordance with the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars "On the reconstruction of existing and construction of new aircraft factories", several new aircraft factories were put into operation, which were intended to produce the latest aircraft. During the same period, a competition was announced for the best design of a fighter aircraft. Talented design engineers S.A. Lavochkin, V.P. Gorbunov, M.I. Gudkov, A.I. Mikoyan, M.I. Gurevich, M.M. Pashinin, V.M. Petlyakov worked on its creation. N. N. Polikarpov, P. O. Sukhoi, V. K. Tairov, I. F. Florov, V. V. Shevchenko, A. S. Yakovlev, V. P. Yatsenko. All of them made a huge contribution to the development of not only Soviet, but also world aviation. As a result of the competition in 1941, LaGG, MiG and Yak aircraft - well-known fighters of the Great Patriotic War period - began to enter service.

The words of K. E. Tsiolkovsky that the era of propeller airplanes would be followed by the era of jet airplanes turned out to be prophetic; the era of jet airplanes practically began in the forties. On the initiative of the prominent Soviet military leader M.N. Tukhachevsky, who was at that time Deputy People's Commissar for Armaments, many research institutions working in the field of rocket technology were created.

Theoretical developments and research conducted in the late twenties made it possible to come close to creating a rocket plane. Such a glider was built by B.I. Cheranovsky for the State Aviation Research Institute, and in 1932 the glider was modified for the experimental engine of one of the founders of domestic rocketry - engineer F.A. Tsander.

In April 1935, S.P. Korolev announced his intention to build a cruise missile - a laboratory for human flight at low altitudes using air-rocket engines.

Ensuring maximum aircraft speed was the dream of every designer. Attempts were made to equip piston aircraft with jet boosters. A typical example is the Yak-7 WRD aircraft, under the wing of which two ramjet engines were suspended. When they were turned on, the speed increased by 60-90 km/h.

Much work was done to create a special fighter aircraft with a liquid-propellant rocket engine, which was supposed to have a high rate of climb with a significant flight duration.

However, neither fighters with piston engines and boosters installed on them, nor aircraft with rocket engines have found application in combat aviation practice.

In 1945, secular aviation crossed the speed limit of 825 km/h after the installation of a motor-compressor engine, combining the features of piston and jet engines, on the I-250 (Mikoyan) and Su-5 (Sukhoi) aircraft.

By order of the State Defense Committee, the work on the creation and construction of jet aircraft was entrusted to Lavochkin, Mikoyan, Sukhoi and Yakovlev.

On April 24, 1946, the Yak-15 and MiG-9 aircraft, which had turbojet engines as power plants, took off on the same day. Later, the La-160 was built, the first jet aircraft in our country with a swept wing. Its appearance played a significant role in increasing the speed of fighters, but it was still far from reaching the speed of sound.

The second generation of domestic jet aircraft were more advanced, faster, more reliable machines, including the Yak-23, La-15 and especially the MiG-15, which was recognized in its time as one of the best military aircraft of that time.

For the first time in the USSR, the speed of sound in flight with a decrease was achieved at the end of 1948 on an experimental La-176 aircraft by pilot O.V. Sokolovsky. And in 1950, already in horizontal flight, MiG-17 and Yak-50 aircraft passed the “sound barrier”. In September - November 1952, the MiG-19 developed a speed 1.5 times greater than the speed of sound and was superior in its main characteristics to the SUPER-SEIBR, which by that time was the main fighter of the US Air Force.

Having overcome the “sound barrier,” aviation continued to master ever greater speeds and flight altitudes. The speed reached such values that to further increase it, new solutions to the problem of stability and controllability were required. In addition, aviation has come close to the “thermal barrier”. The problem of aircraft thermal protection required an urgent solution.

On May 28, 1960, on the T-405 aircraft designed by general designer P. O. Sukhoi, pilot B. Adrianov set an absolute world flight speed record - 2092 km/h along a closed route of 100 km.

As a result, our aviation received an aircraft capable of flying at a speed of approximately 3000 km/h for 30 minutes. Flights on these aircraft indicated that, thanks to the use of heat-resistant materials and powerful cooling systems, the problem of the “thermal barrier” for these flight speeds had been largely solved.

During the post-war years, excellent passenger and transport aircraft were created in the USSR. Back in 1956, Aeroflot began operating the Tu-104 aircraft, which was the first in the world to begin regular passenger transportation. Il-18, Tu-124, Tu-134, An-10 and Yak-40 at that time promoted our Civil Air Fleet to one of the leading places in the world.

New domestic passenger aircraft An-24, Tu-154M, Il-62M and Yak-42 carry out mass air transportation within the country and abroad. At the end of the seventies, the supersonic passenger aircraft Tu-144 was created. A new qualitative and quantitative level of passenger transportation was achieved with the introduction into operation of the Il-86 Airbus. Military transport aviation received An-22 and Il-76T aircraft, used for transporting military and civil cargo. In 1984, the operation of the giant An-124 "RUSLAN" aircraft began, and later the An-225 "MRIYA".

Helicopters, which only became a viable and economically feasible means of transport only after the Second World War, are now widely used. Soviet aviation designers created reliable rotary-wing aircraft for various purposes - light Mi-2 and Ka-26, medium Mi-6 and Ka-32 and heavy Mi-26 and others for military and civil aviation.

The successes of the Russian aviation industry in creating combat aircraft were demonstrated in 1988. at the international aviation exhibition in Farnborough (England), where the MiG-29 fighter was demonstrated; the same aircraft, Buran and Su-27 were demonstrated in Paris in 1989.

Summing up all of the above, we can conclude that, despite all the difficulties and failures, aviation in our country has made a huge step in its development. And I want to believe that, thanks to the gigantic intellectual potential accumulated in Russia, aviation will continue to develop at a pace no less rapid than before.

Literature

1. A. N. Ponomarev "Soviet aviation designers" MOSCOW. Voenizdat. 1990

2. A. N. Ponomarev "Aviation on the threshold into space" MOSCOW. Voenizdat. 1971

3. I.K. Kostenko “Flying wings” MOSCOW. Mechanical engineering. 1988

4. G. F. Baidukov “The first flights across the Arctic Ocean. From the memoirs of a pilot.” MOSCOW. 1977

The department of naval aircraft construction, headed by D.P. Grigorovich, built naval aircraft, mainly reconnaissance aircraft.

Along with combat and passenger vehicles, airplanes and light aircraft were designed for sports organizations, among them the first aircraft of A. S. Yakovlev, called AIR.

A brigade of long-range bombers under the leadership of S.V. Ilyushin somewhat later designed the DB-3 aircraft, and then the well-known IL-2 attack aircraft. S.A. Korchigin’s brigade spent several years designing an attack aircraft, which, however, was not used. Under the leadership of A. N. Tupolev, heavy bombers were created, including TB - 3 - one of the best and most famous aircraft of this type.

Design bureaus led by A. I. Putilov and R. L. Bartini worked on the creation of all-metal steel aircraft.

The words of K. E. Tsiolkovsky that the era of propeller airplanes would be followed by the era of jet airplanes turned out to be prophetic. The jet age practically began in the forties. On the initiative of the prominent Soviet military leader M.N. Tukhachevsky, who was at that time Deputy People's Commissar for Armaments, many research institutions working in the field of rocket technology were created.

Theoretical developments and research conducted in the late twenties made it possible to come close to creating a rocket plane. Such a glider was sharpened by B.I. Cheranovsky for the GIRD, and in 1932 the glider was modified for an experimental engine of one of the founders of domestic rocket science - engineer F.A. Tsander.

In April 1935, S.P. Korolev announced his intention to build a cruise missile - a laboratory for human flight at low altitudes using air-rocket engines.

Much work was done to create a special fighter aircraft with a liquid-propellant rocket engine, which was supposed to have a high rate of climb with a significant flight duration.

However, neither fighters with piston engines and boosters installed on them, nor aircraft with rocket engines have found application in combat aviation practice.

In 1945, secular aviation crossed the speed limit of 825 km/h after the installation of a compressor engine, combining the features of piston and jet engines, on the I-250 (Mikoyan) and Su-5 (Sukhoi) aircraft.

By order of the State Defense Committee, the work on the creation and construction of jet aircraft was entrusted to Lavochkin, Mikoyan, Sukhoi and Yakovlev.

The second generation of domestic jet aircraft were more advanced, faster, more reliable machines, including the Yak-23, La-15 and especially the MiG-15, which was recognized at the time as one of the best military aircraft of that time.

For the first time in the USSR, the speed of sound in flight with a decrease was achieved at the end of 1948 on an experimental La-176 aircraft by pilot O.V. Sokolovsky. And in 1950, already in horizontal flight, MiG-17 and Yak-50 aircraft passed the “sound barrier”. In September - November 1952, the MiG - 19 developed a speed 1.5 times greater than the speed of sound and was superior in its main characteristics to the "SUPER-SEIBR", which by that time was the main fighter of the US Air Force.

On May 28, 1960, on the T-405 aircraft designed by general designer P. O. Sukhoi, pilot B. Adrianov set an absolute world flight speed record - 2092 km/h along a closed route of 100 km.

Helicopters, which only became a viable and economically feasible means of transport only after the Second World War, are now widely used. Soviet aviation designers have created reliable rotary-wing aircraft for various purposes - light Mi-2 and Ka-26, medium Mi-6 and Ka-32 and heavy Mi-26 and others for military and civil aviation.

Until now, the MiG-29 and Su-27 aircraft are unsurpassed leaders in their class of fighters. Thanks to their design and the perfection of their power plants, they can perform unique aerobatics that are inaccessible to foreign analogues of these fighters. Summing up all of the above, we can conclude that, despite all the difficulties and failures, aviation in our country has made a huge step in its development. And I want to believe that, thanks to the gigantic intellectual potential accumulated in Russia, aviation will continue to develop at a pace no less rapid than before.

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