Early STOL and VTOL Projects From Imperial Russia

[hesham]

Hi,

Many projects to a VTOL & STOL aircraft and a really aircraft
from 1909 to 1918.

 

[hesham]

Hi,

Also old VTOL and STOL projects from 1910-1918.

 

[hesham]

Hi,

A group of VTOL & STOL projects from 1910 to 1915.

 

[lark]

All from : www.vtol.boom.ru I presume...

 

[Stargazer]

All the projects in this page were taken from a great book published in 1992 by the Russian MAI institute and entitled Вертолеты Дореволюционной России (The Helicopters of Pre-revolution Russia). There are 118 diagrams and plans in that book, plus a set of portraits of the aviators/engineers, as is often the custom in Soviet/Russian books.

I will post the interesting images in this thread and translate their captions, except if the designer already has a topic of his own (for instance Yuryev).

Here is a set of very early designs:

• 002: K.P. Yaroshevskiy's single- and multiple-screw 'Aeroplane' projects
• 003: I. Melikov's helicopter project
• 004: I.P. Yuvenalyev's 'Aerovelocipede' and 'Aeromotive' projects
• 005: S.I. Baranovskiy's 'Flyer' convertible machine project
• 006: I.Z. Ratsiyevich's 'Rats' helicopter project
• 007: I.I. Sytin's rotary wing machine project
• 009: P.D. Chernov's 'Aeronaut' rotary wing machine project
• 013: A. Trzhuinskiy-Revich's 'Passe-en-l'air' helicopter project

If I made any mistake in transcription and/or translation, please let me know!

 

[Stargazer]

More of the very early stuff:

• 019: L.D. André's helicopter project
• 020: V.P. Konovalov's helicopter project
• 024: I. Bykov's helicopter-musclecopter
• 025: K.Ya. Danilyevskiy's 'Flying Carpet' composite aircraft
• 029: Model of I.M. Yanushev'shelicopter
• 034: Lipkovskiy helicopter project
• 035: Lipkovskiy helicopter project based on British patent
• 036: I.I. Lipkovskiy's multiple screw helicopter projects

 

[Stargazer]

• 040: V.I. Rebikov's helicopter project
• 048: Ch.A. Tanskiy's helicopter in "musclecopter" variant
• 051: V.V. Tatarinov's unfinished helicopter
• 052: V.V. Tatarinov helicopter project with 'centrofugal' main rotor
• 053: L.Ye. Voyevodin helicopter project
• 054: S.O. Oshchevskiy-Kruglik helicopter-musclecopter project
• 055: S.O. Oshchevskiy-Kruglik helicopter project
• 056: N. Balogh helicopter project

 

[Stargazer]

• 057: A.S. Lopatinskiy'sconvertible machine project
• 058: A.Ya. Rubens'shelicopter project
• 061: B.G. Lutskiy's'Helicoplan'
• 062: K.A. Antonov helicopter project
• 063: K.A. Antonov helicopter
• 065: N. Budkin's helicopter project
• 066: M.I. Dyachkov'shelicopter project
• 067: S.P. Zayonts's single-rotor helicopter project

Pictures 59 and 60 were related to Igor Sikorskiy and will therefore be added to a specific topic.

 

[Jemiba]

Interesting examples of those "weird and wonderful" times. Thanks for posting them !

Danilyevskiy's 'Flying Carpet' looks like a human powered paraglider ? If so, it could have been
a real progress compared to the round parachutes already in use then, although VTO is hardly
imaginable.

 

[Stargazer]

Weird, wacky and wonderful indeed... Here are some more of these incredible machines, when no preconceived ideas had formatted the imagination of the engineers!

• 072: Varesov helicopter project
• 073: A.N. Yakunin'srotary wing machine project
• 074: S.A. Gubin's convertible machine project
• 075: S.A. Gubin next to his convertible machine
• 076: F.S. Starovoyt with a model of his helicopter
• 077: Model of S.P. Cherkyezov's 'Bolgariya' rotary wing machine
• 078: V.I. Styepanov's 'Aeroplane-Parachute' convertible machine project
• 079: T.Ya. Tovmach helicopter project

 

[Stargazer]

• 080: Sketch of M.S. helicopter
• 081: A.F. Simonov helicopter, illustration by A.P. Semenyutoy
• 082: V.N. Lyevitskiy helicopter project
• 084: P.P. Osipov convertible helicopter project
• 094: Sketch of P.Ye. Komarov'shelicopter
• 095: M.F. Krayevskiy's rotary wing machine project
• 096: M.F. Krayevskiy swashplate project*
• 097: N.I. Sorokin's helicopter

Figures 85 to 93 all related to B.N. Yuryev and will therefore be posted in a separate topic.

* I don't usually post the technical drawings but 096 seemed pretty interesting here.

 

[Stargazer]

• 098: A.M. Mylnikov's 'Air Smotrilnya' 'tethered' helicopter
• 099: Sketch of V.N. Zmyeyev helicopter
• 100: A.S. Korzinshchikov helicopter project
• 101: I.G. Ratfelder's 'Automobile aeroplane' helicopter project
• 102: Sketch of A.Z. Tsvetkov helicopter
• 103: Sketch of A.R. Abramson helicopter
• 104: A.P. Fedotov rotary wing machine project
• 105: Sketches of F.S. Buryan helicopters

 

[Stargazer]

• 108: Sketch of G. Poltor-Pavel's helicopter
• 109: E. Trauberg's 'Giroplan' rotary wing machine project
• 110: V.K. Klimovich's helicopter project
• 111: Ye.Ye. Gorin's helicopter project
• 112: A.G. Ufimtsev's convertible machine project
• 113: A.G. Ufimtsev's longitudinal control convertible machine
• 114: I.A. Aida's first helicopter project
• 115: I.A. Aida's second helicopter project

 

[Stargazer]

• 116: Ye.V. Telminov's rotary wing machine
• 117: Kh.G. Verland's 'Aeromina' helicopter project

Picture 118 relates to Giorgiy Aleksandrovich Bothezat (the same Bothezat that later did the very first American helicopter), and so this will be posted in a separate topic.

This ends the set of pictures from this amazing book. The images that were not posted are mostly drawings of technical details/devices and portraits.

 

[hesham]

Great find Stargazer.

 

[Stingray]

Some additional info:


Bykov musclecopter

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,16232

I. Bykov's man-powered helicopter design, submitted to the GIU (Chief Engineering Directorate of the Russian War Ministry) in 1897. It had a vertical rudder and an elevation rudder for control; it was necessary to tilt the rotor axle forward to achieve forward motion. The shape of the rotor allowed it to act as parachute as well. The project was rejected due to human-powered flying devices having already been proven impossible to leave the ground.


Melikov helicopter

Presented in Paris, 1879, by Russian engineer Joseph Melikov (or Melikhov), this project for a 170kg helicopter was the world's first helicopter project with a turbine motor. It was to have a capacity of 4hp with a container of ice above it to prevent overheating. The rotor itself could also act as a parachute due to its shape.


Ratsiyevich "Rat"

Ivan Z. Ratsievich's patent for a helicopter with rotor drive powered optionally by steam, electric motor, or pilot's muscles, and two paddle-wheels for providing transitional flight and power increase. A light gas was also to be pumped into a hollow section of the craft, supposedly to aid in lift. In case of an emergency, the pilot had to tear away parts to jump out of the machine. The design was rejected by the Department of Trade and Manufactures "for lack of novelty."


Tatarinov "Aeromobile"

(from "Helicopters and Autogyros of the World" by P. Lambermont, 1958)

In the very year that Sikorsky was working on his first helicopter, Tatarinov started to build his "Aeromobile" with a grant provided by the Russian Ministry of War at Petrograd. The project was never finished, since Sukhomlinov, Russian Minister of War at the time, thought the work was progressing too slowly and consequently funds dried up. In despair, Tatarinov set fire to his rotorcraft and the hangar which housed it.

The Aeromobile had four rotors turning at the end of an X formed of beams. Beneath it the chassis contained an EDTT 25hp water-cooled engine which was to drive the rotors as well as a five-bladed "centrifugal propeller", which in some respects made this aircraft a convertible. The pilot's seat and controls were placed behind the engine. The total weight was 1300kg.

 

[Stingray]

Interestingly, I seem to have found at least two people by the name of "Chernov" in very early rotorcraft development (D.K. Chernov and P.D. Chernov). Their projects don't seem to share any similarity either, except for being rotorcraft of course (from what I remember translating from a Russian article. I'll have to go look for it again). Could this be some kind of mistake, or were there two separate Chernov's at roughly that same timeframe, working on the same general type of aviation projects? If the latter, then that is quite an interesting coincidence.

I'm also having trouble confirming the date of the Yaroshevskiy "Aeroplane." Some sources claim it was shown in 1875 and apparently again in 1880, yet there is conflicting mentions of work in the early 1900s with nothing prior to then. Probably just a mistake or leaving out significant details on both parts, but I have trouble connecting the dates (if they're all actually true) due to such a long timeframe.

 

[hesham]

Here is a helicopter from V.V. Tatarinov.

http://en.avia.pro/blog/kto-sozdal-samolet

 

[hesham]

• 020: V.P. Konovalov's helicopter project

Hi,

http://archive.aviationweek.com/search?QueryTerm=oehmichen&DocType=Article&sort=

 

[hesham]

Here is a helicopter from V.V. Tatarinov.

http://en.avia.pro/blog/kto-sozdal-samolet

This designer was called E.P.Sverchkov and not V.V. Tatarinov,and that was
his real Project drawing.

http://shusharmor.livejournal.com/tag/%D0%B0%D1%8D%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%20%D0%A2%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0

 

[hesham]

Hi,

I think we have two designers not one,Yvan Makhonine and Jean Markhonine.

Yvan Makhonine Projects

Hi all, you know Yvan Makhonine? This french inventor build the Mak.10 (1931) and the Mak.123 (1947) with variable wing geometry. Anybody knows other projects of this man? I need also a short history, but not in french... Servus Maveric

www.secretprojects.co.uk

http://kulturserver-nds.de/home/hubtest/medien/Typenkartei3953xGUN7x9T3Z7.pdf

 

[Bottleship]

About Fedotov machine (104):
Five 360 hp engines (2-metres propellers)
20 passengers (~1,5-2 tons)
Speed ~140-150 kmph
Actually, this project more powerful than big bomber projects - Izhora biplane/triplane and Svyatogor.
...
About Ufimtsev machine (112, 113):
To ten engines on wing. In vertical mode use powerful - X8 (!) - short-time afterburner.
...
Nezhdanovskiy in 1880th created concept of jet helicopter, with ramjets in propeller.
...
In 1881 projected machine, with jet engines on convertable wing.
...
In 1883 S. I. Baranovskiy projected "Letun" ("Flyer"). Monoplane, two pusher-engine and one vertical engine, folding wing (to back), special wheel base - "Letun", for quick takeoff, standing on land with a big slope.
...
(from "Istoria samoletov", D. A. Sobolev)

 

[hesham]

Nezhdanovskiy in 1880th created concept of jet helicopter, with ramjets in propeller.
...
In 1881 projected machine, with jet engines on convertable wing.
...

Thank you Iron,but so weird, jets in 1880s ?.

 

[Bottleship]

Nezhdanovskiy in 1880th created concept of jet helicopter, with ramjets in propeller.
...
In 1881 projected machine, with jet engines on convertable wing.
...

Thank you Iron,but so weird, jets in 1880s ?.

Jet aircrafts was projected. In 1860th in Russia and France projected pulse-jet engines. Teleshev in 1864 projected and in 1867 builted small pulse-jet engine and tested. And, he was projected giant V-wing double-deck airliner on 120 passengers. Other 1860th projects - French le Louvrie (1865), Spanish Maffiotti, British Batler and Edwards (1865-1867). Also, was a more earlier projects - German (in Russia) G. Rebenstein, 1837, and F. Mattiss (I haven't data - British, American or other, and, i don't know a time of project). To 1880th, jet aircraft projected in German and Italia.

 

[hesham]

Thanks.

 

[hesham]

Hi,

Vertical take-off pioneer plane design. Poland / Russia.
On October 2, 1910, the Electrotechnical Committee of the Main Engineering Board asked the Air Navigation Division to evaluate the design of the aircraft capable of vertical take-off submitted by S. Czerkawski. This task was performed by Cpt. Kalinowski, and his opinion was submitted to the Electrotechnical Division on 3 November 1910.
Czerkawski proposed the construction of a biplane type aircraft capable of vertical take-off - without a ground run. He intended to achieve this by setting the plane vertically on the ground and firing a suitably strong explosive so that (and the action of the propellers pulling the plane) the apparatus would rise into the air. Characteristic for this vertical take-off and landing aircraft was to land using a parachute placed in the forward part of the fuselage, bringing the plane to the ground. The tangential character was also to steer the flight in the horizontal plane by changing the position of the camera's center of gravity - moving the pilot's seat forwards and backwards was to enable changes in flight altitude.

Captain Kalinowski decided that even if it was possible to take off by means of an explosion of a powder charge, it would always be a dangerous and troublesome solution, preparation for take-off would be complicated, and in light winds there would even be problems with stabilizing the vertical position of the plane. The proposed method of landing would entail inevitable damage or destruction of the plane. Kalinowski also drew attention to the difficulties with the transition from vertical to horizontal flight and the low flight speed of the horizontal inlet plane, and finally to its low weight and insufficient parachute area, which is important for determining the proper descent speed of the aircraft.

In the conclusion of his report, he stated that the implementation of Czerkawski's project would not bring positive results.

samolotypolskie.pl - Czerkawski samolot

 

[hesham]

Hi,

Design for a pioneering convertible aircraft. Poland / Russia.

On November 25, 1915, Emanuel Grubski reported to the Main Military and Technical Board (GWTU) that he had developed an original flying apparatus in the form of a 2-engine aircraft equipped with a rotor with 2 blades - each with a half circle contour - rotodine. This rotor could be stopped in level flight and would then work as a wing. This feature allows the design of Grabski's flying apparatus to be classified in the row of convertible aircraft, of the type referred to at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries as "helicopters".
According to the opinion of the GWTU Technical Committee assessing Grabski's design on November 30, 1915, the rotor proposed by him will not lift the apparatus into the air - it will not provide sufficient lift. At the same time, skepticism was expressed as to the possibility of flying rotorcraft-type devices, whether in a helicopter or rotodine system, because the experience and scientific research to date reveal that in the current state of aviation technology, helicopter rotors cannot provide sufficient lift-off force to lift the apparatus. So it was decided that adding a rotor to a classic plane would not bring any practical results. This answer was also given to the inventor on February 15, 1916.

samolotypolskie.pl - Grubski "helikoplan"

 

[hesham]

Hi,

Pioneering plane or helicopter project. Poland / Russia,

On December 14, 1912, J. Komornicki informed the Ministry of
War of Russia about the invention of the flying apparatus he had
made.He asked to help him. He would like to present his project
in person to the Air Navigation Division of the Central Engineering
Management (GIU). He asked the Branch to delegate specialists who
could familiarize themselves with the project in Kiev. On December 22,
1912, he was answered that the Department was not able to delegate competent specialists to it, that he could present the project in person,
but he had to cover his arrival and the cost of his stay in St. Petersburg
himself.

No information about further correspondence regarding this project.
It can be assumed that it was an aerodynamic design in an airplane or helicopter layout.

samolotypolskie.pl - Komornicki aparat latający

 

[hesham]

Hi,

W. Korczewski, son of A., subject of the Russian Empire, construction technician from Uman (Ukraine). On July 27, 1908, in a letter to the Chief Engineering Board, he referred to press information that the GIU was organizing a competition for the design of heavier-than-air flying apparatus. In this connection, he mentioned that he is working on a very important and fully useful invention and would like to receive an answer to his questions. Judging by them, Korczewski worked on a project of an aerodyne-type aircraft or helicopter, we do not know. Let us recall his questions. - What conditions is to be met by the project, is it supposed to be a new idea, a structure not yet patented, i.e. a previously unknown system? - If an innovative project is presented, will the Ministry of War keep it secret until an invention patent is obtained? - On the recommendation of the Ministry of War, can the Ministry of Trade and Industry quickly issue a patent - after assessing the plans - for Russia and Finland? - Can he receive the competition rules from the GIU (how many and what prizes?). - Is there a law that the Ministry of War may use inventions without restrictions? The Electrotechnical Department of the Central Management Board of Engineering replied to Korczewski on August 5, 1908 that if the competition draft was approved, its regulations would be published. As for inventive patents, it was emphasized that patents are issued not by the Ministry of War, but by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

samolotypolskie.pl - Korczewski W.