Mil autogyro of 1942

[Stingray]

Looking very similar to the Kamov AK.

 

[hesham]

My dear Stingray,


I think it was a version of the Kamov AK;


http://alternathistory.org.ua/baevye-avtozhiry-stalina-avtozhir-ak

 

[Stingray]

Mil must have collaborated with Kamov on the design then. Both of their names appear attached to the "AK" autogyro.

 

[Cy-27]

In Mikhail Maslov's recent book on Soviet Autogyros he explains that the Kamov AK (Artilleriyskiy Korrektirovshchik - Artillery Spotter) was prepared at the NII VVS in the spring of 1940 and the plans sent to Department No. 19 of Factory No. 156 soon after. A month or so later the new experimental Factory No.290 was set up for construction. N.I. Kamov was the chief designer and acting director of the factory, his deputy was M.L.Mil. They remained at the factory while the final AK version was produced as two prototypes in late 1942. The delay had been caused by the relocation of the Factory to Bilimbay in the Urals. By January 1943 all work on autogyros ceased at the factory, due to a government decree and Kamov left to head Factory No. 494 (Polikarpov Po-2 production) and Mil sent to TsAGI.

Kamov proposed two variants for the AK, a ‘jumping’ version where lift was achieved by the energy of the pre-spun rotor. The second, described as a ‘autogyro-helicopter’, had three large vertical surfaces with profiled slots to increase efficiency.

Stingray and Hesham’s drawings above are described in the book as one of several evolution drawings which did lead to the final cabin version.

There were at least two other open cockpit versions in this evolution, illustrated in the book, the first featured an open cockpit and overhead rotor control lever which also had a distinctive tail fin with a parallelogram shape. The second version had a different rotor mount and revised, more rounded, tail structure.

A first idea for a closed cabin version was not as streamlined as the final AK with small tail triangular endplates and conventional rotor control.

Source:
Soviet Autogyros 1929-1942 by Mikhail Maslov (Helion) ISBN 978-3-910294-65-9

 

[hesham]

Thank you my dear Cy-27,


and can you display some of them are,as you mention.

 

[ACResearcher]

Any information on the dimensions on this craft? The numbers on the drawing are unreadable.

AlanG

 

[Cy-27]

As requested by Hesham, here are the two open cockpit drawings and an early draft of the enclosed cockpit design.

Source:

Soviet Autogyros 1929-1942 by Mikhail Maslov (Helion) ISBN 978-3-910294-65-9

 

[hesham]

Excellent my dear Cy-27,many thanks.

 

[Stargazer]

Nice pics! Since this was primarily a Kamov project, with Mil helping, I suppose the title of this topic is a little misleading, right?

 

[Cy-27]

I suppose the title of this topic is a little misleading, right?

I would think so.

 

[redstar72]

Nice pics! Since this was primarily a Kamov project, with Mil helping, I suppose the title of this topic is a little misleading, right?

As I can understand, they are different projects (while similar). They have very different tail design, as you can see. The drawing posted by Stingray and Hesham in the topic beginning is signed as "AM autohyro-helicopter", and the caption says this drawing is taken from explanatory memorandum to autogyro-helicopter project by Mil.