Famous aircraft of the Second World War. Aviation USSR: Airplanes of World War II. Airplanes produced under the guidance of Petrovakov

Disputes before the Second World War on what is more important, high speed or better maneuverability *, finally resulted in favor of greater speed. The experience of hostilities convincingly showed that it is the speed in the end and is the determining factor in the victory in air combat. The pilot of a more maneuverable, but less high-speed aircraft was just forced to defend himself, giving way to the initiative of the enemy. However, when conducting air combat, such a fighter, having an advantage in horizontal and vertical maneuverability, will be able to solve the outcome of the battle in its favor, taking a favorable position for shooting.

Before the war, for a long time it was believed that to increase the maneuverability, the plane should be unstable, insufficient stability of the aircraft and-16 cost a life of not one pilot. Having studied in front of the war, German aircraft, the Research Institute of the Air Force was noted:

"... All German aircraft differ sharply from domestic sustainability in their large stocks, which also significantly improves flight safety, the survivability of the aircraft and simplifies the technique of piloting and mastering low qualifications of low qualifications."

By the way, the difference between the German aircraft and the latest domestic people, who were experiented almost internally, was so striking, which forced the head of the Major General A.I. Filin to pay attention to I.V. Stalin. The consequences were dramatic for Filin: he was arrested on May 23, 1941

(Source 5 Alexander Pavlov) As you know, maneuverability of the aircraft Depends, first of all, from two quantities. The first - the specific engine load is determined by the vertical maneuverability of the machine; The second is the specific load on the wing - horizontal. Consider these indicators in BF 109 more (see table).

Comparison of BF 109 aircraft
Plane		BF 109E-4	BF 109F-2	BF 109F-4	BF 109G-2	BF 109G-4	BF 109G-6	BF 109G-14	BF 109G-14 / U5 / MW-50	BF 109G-14	BF 109G-10 / U4 / MW-50
The year of application 19.		40/42	41/42	41/42	42/43	42/43	43/44	43/44	44/45	44/45	44/45
Take-off weight, kg		2608	2615	2860	2935	3027	2980	3196	2970	3090	3343
Plaza wing m²		16,35	16,05	16,05	16,05	16,05	16,05	16,05	16,05	16,05	16,05
Power Su, L.S.		1175	1175	1350	1550	1550	1550	1550	1550	1800	2030
2,22	228	2,12	1,89	1,95	1,92	2,06	1,92	1,72	1,65
159,5	163,1	178,2	182,9	188,6	185,7	199,1	185,1	192,5	208,3
Maximum speed	kM / C.	561	595	635	666	650	660	630	666	680	690
	H M.	5000	5200	6500	7000	7000	6600	6600	7000	6500	7500
Module M / s		16,6	20,5	19,6	18,9	17,3	19,3	17,0	19,6	17,5/ 15,4	24,6/ 14,0
Varyge time, sec		20,5	19,6	20,0	20,5	20,2	21,0	21,0	20,0	21,0	22,0

* Notes to Table: 1. BF 109G-6 / U2 with GM-1 system, the weight of which in the filled state was 160 kg plus 13 kg of additional engine oil.

2.BF 109G-4 / U5 with the MW-50 system, the weight of which in the refilled state was 120 kg.

3.BF 109G-10 / U4 was armed with one 30 mm gun MK-108 and two 13-mm machine guns Mg-131, as well as the MW-50 system.

Theoretically "streaky", compared with its main opponents, has better vertical maneuverability throughout World War II. But in practice it did not always correspond to reality. Much in battle depended on the experience and abilities of the pilot.

Eric Brown (British, who experienced BF 109G-6 / U2 / R3 / R6 in 1944 in Farnborough) recalled: "We conducted comparative trophy 59G-6 trophy tests with Spitfire fighters of the LF.IX, XV and XIV series, as well as With R-51c "Mustang". On the railing, "Gustav" exceeded all these aircraft on all echelons of heights. "

D. A. Alekseev, who fought on Lavochkin in 1944, compares the Soviet car with the main one at that time, the opponent - BF 109G-6. "La-5FN is superfluous by Messerschmitt. If "Mesa" tried to get away from us up, catch up. And the steeper "Messer" went up, the easier it was to catch up.

The horizontal speed of La-5pn was a little faster "Messer", and the advantage of "La" in speed over the "focker" was even more. In the horizontal flight, neither "Messer" nor "Focker" from La-5pn could not leave. If German pilots had no opportunity to dive, then we, sooner or later, were catching up.

I must say that the Germans have constantly improved their fighters. The Germans had a modification of "Messer", which La-5PN in speed even exceeded. She also appeared at the end of the war, somewhere by the end of 1944. I did not have to meet with these "messes", but Lobanov met. I remember well how Lobanov was very surprised that I got such "messes", which from his La-5pn went on converting, and he could not catch up with them. "

Only at the final stage of the war, from the fall of 1944 to May 1945, the palm of the championship gradually moved to allied aviation. With the advent of such machines on the Western front as the P-51D and P-47D "Classic" output from the attack by peeing became rather problematic for BF 109g.

American fighters caught up with him and shot down at the exit. On the "Gorka" they also did not leave the chances of "incense". The newest BF 109k-4 could take away from them and in dive and vertically, but the quantitative superiority of the Americans and their tactical techniques reduced these advantages of the German fighter.

On the Eastern Front, the situation was somewhat different. More than half of the BF 109G-6 and G-14 arrived in aircraft from 1944 were equipped with an MW50 engine forcing. The injection of the water-methanol mixture significantly increased the energy transport of the machine at altitudes to about 6500 meters. The increase in horizontal velocity and on diving was very significant. Remembers F. de Joffre.

"On March 20, 1945 (...) Six of our Yak-3 were attacked by twelve" messes ", including six ME-109 / g. They were piloted exclusively experienced pilots. The German maneuvers differed in such a clarity, as if they were on the teaching. Messerschmitta-109 / g Thanks to a special system of enrichment of a combustible mixture, they quietly enter the sheer peak, which pilots are called "deadly". Here they are digging from the rest of the "Messers", and we do not have time to open fire, as they suddenly attack us from behind. Bleton is forced to jump with parachute. "

The main problem of using MW50 was that the system could not work during the entire flight. Injection could be used for a maximum for ten minutes, then the motor overheated and threatened to jam. Next, a five-minute break required, after which, it was possible to start the system again. These ten minutes were usually enough to spend two - three attacks with dive, but if BF 109 was drawn into a maneuverable battle at low altitudes, he could well lose.

Huptmann Hans-Werner Lerchae, who in September 1944 in Rehlin was experiencing a trophy la-5pn, wrote in the report. "In view of the advantages of its engine La-5FN, it was better for fighting for battles at low altitudes. Its maximum speed in the earth is only slightly less than that of FW190A-8 and BF 109 on the leaf. Overclocking characteristics are comparable. La-5FN is inferior to BF 109 with MW50 speed and railing at all heights. The effectiveness of Alerona La-5pn is higher than that of the "One hundred and ninth", the time of the earth is less. "

In this regard, consider horizontal maneuverance. As I said, horizontal maneuverability depends, first of all, from the specific load on the wing of the aircraft. And the smaller this size of the fighter, the faster it can perform the turns, barrels and other pilot figures in the horizontal plane. But it is only in theory, in practice it was often not so simple. During the Civil War in Spain, BF 109B-1 met in the air C I-16 Type 10. The value of the specific load on the wing in the German fighter was somewhat lower than that of the Soviet, but the battle on the deviras, as a rule, won the Republican pilot.

The problem for the "German" was that after one or two crossings in one direction, the pilot "shifted" his plane in the other direction and here "the estimated" lost. Smaller in size and 16, which literally "went" by the handle of the control, possessed a greater speed of the roll and, hence more vigorously performed this maneuver compared to more inert BF 109b. As a result, the German fighter lost precious shares of seconds, and the time of execution of the maneuver became a little big.

Several otherwise there were battles on the turns during the so-called "Battle of England". Here the opponent BF 109e has become more maneuverable "Spitfire." Its specific load on the wing was significantly lower than that of Messerschmitt.

Lieutenant Max-Helmut Ostermann, subsequently became the commander 7./jg54, an expert from 102 victories, recalled: "Spitfairy" showed themselves surprising by maneuverable aircraft. Demonstration of air acrobatics - loops, rolls, shooting on the priese - all this could not do not admire. "

But what was written by the English historian Mike Speaker in general observations about the characteristics of the aircraft.

"The ability to reversal depends on two factors - the specific load on the wing and the speed of the aircraft. If the two fighters fly at the same speed, the fighter with a smaller load on the wing bypassing on the prience of his opponent. However, if it flies significantly faster, it often happens the opposite. " It is the second part of this conclusion that the German pilots in battles with the British were used. To reduce the speed on the Bearing, the Germans produced a closure by 30 °, putting them into a running position, and at the further reduction of the speed automatically produced forekinds.

The final output of the British on the maneuverability of the BF 109e can be taken from the Town Test Report in the Farnborough Flight Research Center:

"The pilot maneuverability noted a small difference between" Emil "and" Spitfire "mk.i and mk.ii at altitudes of 3500-5000 m - one slightly better in one mode, the other in" his "maneuver. Above 6100 meters BF 109e was a little better. Harricsein had a higher windshield resistance, which put it below the "Spitfyra" and BF 109 in acceleration. "

In 1941, new BF109 FRs modifications appeared on the fronts. And although they had a slightly smaller wing area, and the take-off weight is greater than that of the predecessors, they have become more high-speed and more maneuverable, due to the use of new, improved wing aerodynamics. . The time of the varyney has decreased, and with the released flaps it was possible to "play" another second, which was confirmed by the tests of the trophy "streaky" in the Research Institute of the RKKA Air Force. Nevertheless, German pilots tried not to get involved in battles on the bins, since it had to reduce the speed, and, as a result, to lose the initiative.

Later versions of BF 109 release after 1943 noticeably "added weight" and really slightly worsened indicators of horizontal maneuverability. This was due to the fact that as a result of massive raids of American bomber to the territory of Germany, the Germans gave priority to the tasks of air defense. And in the fight against heavy bombers, horizontal maneuverability is not so important. Therefore, the bet was made to the strengthening of on-board weapons, which led to the growth of the electric fighter weight.

The exception was only BF 109 G-14, which was the easiest and most motive aircraft of the modification "G". Most of these machines came to the Eastern Front, where maneuverable battles were much more likely. And those that fell to the West, as a rule, were attracted to combat enemy escort fighters.

I remember I.I. Kozhemyako, who spent a duel on Yak-1B with BF 109G-14. "It turned out like this: only we flew to the attack aircraft, and they didn't come to the front line, and they were" messengers "and fell upon us. I was the leading "top" pair. We saw the Germans from afar, my Komask Sokolov managed to transfer the team: "Ivan! A couple of "thin" top! Disable! " This is my couple and agreed with this pair "One hundred and ninth." The Germans tied the maneuverable battle, the nasty Germans were. During the battle and I, and the leading German pair broke away from their slaves. We twitted twenty minutes twenty. Converged - they diverged, converged - diverged!. Nobody wanted to give up! What I just did not do that the German in the tail to go - "Yak" literally put on the wing, no damn it turned out! While spinning, the speed was lost to a minimum, and as soon as in the corkscrew, none of us broke down? .. then we'll disappear, make a circle more, wind, and again - the gas sector "for full", the turn as cool as possible!

All the fact that at the exit of the viragee, we got the "wing to the wing" and fly in one direction. German looks at me, I am on the German. Patovaya situation. He considered the German pilot in all details: a young guy sits in the cabin, in the grid helmet. (I remember, I also envied him: "I'm lucky! ..", because I have from under the sweat of the sweat of the tech stream.)

What to do in such a situation is completely incomprehensible. Some of us will try to leave, will not have time to get up, the enemy shoots. I will try to go to the vertical - and there shifts, only the nose will have to raise. While they spinned, only one thought was - sitting in this reptile, and here "I came to myself" and I understand that my "not very". First, it turns out that the German tied me a fight, pulled off the cover of the attack aircraft. God forbes until I spinning with him, the attack aircraft lost someone - to have a "pale appearance and curves of the legs."

Although I gave me my Komask to this fight, but it turns out that I, bounce in a protracted battle, followed by the "shot down", and the fulfillment of the main combat problem is the cover of "Ils" - neglected. I explain later why you could not get off from the German, prove that you are not a camel. Secondly, there is now another "Messer" and the end to me, I, as tied. But, apparently, the German thoughts were the same, at least about the appearance of the second "yak" it was exactly.

I look, slowly departs the German to the side. I pretend that I do not notice. He is on the wing and in a sharp peak, I am "full gas" and from him in the opposite direction! Well, you on horseradish, such a skillful. "

Summing up, I. I. Kozhemyakova said that Messer as a fighter of a maneuverable battle was excellent. Well, if it was then the fighter created precisely for a maneuverable battle, so this is "Messer"! Speed, highly adolescent (especially vertical), highly dynamic. I do not know how all the rest, but if you take into account, only speed and maneuverability, Messer for the "dog dump" was almost ideal. Another thing is that most German pilots, this kind of battle was not frankly loved, and I still can not understand why?

I do not know that there the Germans "didn't allow", but only not TTX Messera. In a Kursk arc, a couple of times they were tightened to such "carousels", the head from Vertion almost flew out, so the "messes" were spinning around us.

Honestly, I dreamed of fighting all the war exactly on such a fighter - fast and superior to all vertically. But it did not work. "

Yes, and on the basis of memories of other veterans of the Second World War, it can be concluded that BF 109G did not pull on the role of "flying full". For example, the magnificent horizontal maneuverability of BF 109G-14 demonstrated E.Hartmann in battle with Mustangs at the end of June 1944, when he licked three fighters alone, and then he managed to fight back from the eight of the P-51D, which could not even succeed Get into his car.

Dive. Some historians claim that the BF109 is extremely difficult to control on diving, the steers are not effective, the airplane is "sucking", and the planes can not withstand the loads. Probably, these findings are made on the basis of the conclusions of pilots experiencing trophy samples. For example, I will give a few such statements.

In April 1942, the future colonel and commander of the 9th mead, the AU with the 59th air victories of A.I. Pokryshkin arrived in Novocherkassk, in a group of pilots, mastering trophy BF109 E-4 / N. According to him, the "Messerschmitts" flews and two Slovak pilots gave rise to captivity. Perhaps Alexander Ivanovich pushed something with the dates, since the Slovak fighter pilots at that time were still in Denmark, at the "Carup Growa" aerodrome, where BF 109e was studied. And on the Eastern Front, they appeared, judging by the documents of the 52nd Fighter Squadron, July 1, 1942 as part of 13. (Slovak.) / JG52. But, back to the memories.

"For a few days in the zone, I worked a simple and complex pilotage and began to confidently manage the" messerschmitt ". We must pay tribute - the plane was good. Had a number of positive qualities compared to our fighters. In particular, the ME-109 stood an excellent radio station, the front glass was armored, the lamp cap was reset. We just dreamed about it. But there were serious disadvantages of ME-109. Picking worse quality than "Miga". I knew about this at the front when I had to break off from the groups of Messerschmittov attacking me in a steep peak. "

Another pilot - Englishman Eric Brown, who experienced BF 109G-6 / U2 / R3 / R6 in 1944 in Farnborough (United Kingdom) tells about the characteristics of the dive.

"With a relatively small cruising speed, it accounted for only 386 km / h, to manage" Gustav "was just wonderful. However, with an increase in speed, the situation has changed rapidly. When dive with a speed of 644 km / h and the emergence of high-speed pressure, the controls behave as if they were frozen. Personally, I achieved 708 km / h at a height of 3000 m, and the impression was created that the controls were simply blocked. "

But another statement, this time, from the book "Tactics of Fighter Aviation" released in the USSR, in 1943: "The sediment of the aircraft in the conclusion from the dive of fighter ME-109 is large. Cool dive with a low-height output for the ME-109 fighter is difficult. Change the direction during the dive and in general during the attack at high speed for the ME-109 fighter is also difficult. "

And now let's turn to the memoirs of other pilots. Remember the pilot of the Squadron "Normandy" Francois de Joffre, AC with 11 victories.

"The sun beats so much that I have to make incredible efforts in order not to lose the chalet. He, like me, loves a mad race. I am configured to him. Wing to wing We continue patroling. Everything seemed to have ended without any adventures, as suddenly two "Messerschmitt" fall on us on top. We are caught by surprise. I, like crazy, take a handle on myself. The car is terribly shuddered and stands up, but fortunately does not break into a corkscrew. Fritz's queue takes place 50 meters from me. I'm late for a quarter second with a maneuver, and the German would send me directly to the world, from where they do not return.

The air battle begins. (...) In maneuverability, I have an advantage. The enemy feels it. He understands that now I am the master of the situation. Four thousand meters ... Three thousand meters ... We are rapidly going to the ground ... the better! There should be an advantage of "yak". I'm hard squeezing my teeth. Suddenly "Messer", the whole white, except for an ominous, black cross and a disgusting, spider-shaped swastika leaves the peak and flies on the cracking flight to Goldap.

I try not to lag behind and, hung from rage, haunting him, squeezing out of the "yak" everything that he can give. The arrow shows the speed of 700 or 750 kilometers per hour. I increase the recovery angle and when it reaches about 80 degrees, suddenly remembering Berran, who crashed in Alytus, becoming a victim of a tremendous load that destroyed the wing.

Instinctively I take a handle on myself. It seems to me that it is served hard, even too hard. I still pull, carefully, to damage anything, and I chose her little. Movements acquire former confidence. The nose of the aircraft goes to the line of the horizon. Speed \u200b\u200bsomewhat falls. How it all on time! I almost do not understand anything. When the consciousness is completely returning to me through the fraction of a second, I see that the enemy fighter rushes at the Earth itself, as if playing in the leaps and white tops of the trees. "

Now I think everyone understands what "cool dive with a low-height output" is performed by BF 109. As for A.I. Pokryshkin, he is right in his conclusion. MiG-3, indeed, was overclocked faster on dive, but for other reasons. First, he had more perfect aerodynamics, the wing and horizontal plumage had a smaller relative thickness of the profile compared with the wing and plumage BF 109. And, as it is known, it is the wing that creates the maximum resistance of the aircraft in the air (about 50%). Secondly, the power of the fighter engine plays no less role. At "Miga", at low altitudes, it was approximately equal to or slightly higher than that of Messerschmitt. And in the third, "MiG" was heavier than BF 109E by almost 700 kilograms, A BF 109F - more than 600. In general, a slight advantage in each of the factors mentioned was expressed at a higher diving of the Soviet fighter.

Former pilot of the 41st GIAM Colonel of the reserve D. A. Alekseev, who fought on fighters of La-5 and La-7, recalls: "German fighter airplanes were strong. High-speed, maneuverable, durable, with very strong weapons (especially "focker"). At diving, they la-5 were catching up, they came off with diving. Coup and dive, only we saw them. By and large, in the dive, nor "messer", nor Fokker, even La-7 caught up. "

Nevertheless, D. A. Alekseev knew how to knock down BF 109, outgoing in dive. But this "trick" could only make an experienced pilot. "Although, and on the dive there is a chance to catch a German chance. German in dive, you are behind him, and here you need to act correctly. Give a full gas, and the screw, for a few seconds, to the maximum "tighten". Here for these a few seconds "Lavochkin" literally makes a jerk. On this "jerk" it was quite possible with German to get close to the distance of the fire. So came closer and shot down. But if you missed this moment, then really everything is not catching up. "

Let's return to BF 109G-6, which was tested by E.Bon. Here, too, there is one "small" nuance. This aircraft was equipped with an GM1 engine forcing system, a 115-liter tank of this system was located behind the pilot cab. It is known for certain that the British failed to fix the GM1 corresponding to the mixture and they simply poured into its gasoline tank. It is not surprising that with such an additional load with a total weight of 160 kg more difficult to bring the fighter from the peak.

As for the figure of 708 km / h given by the pilot, then, in my opinion, or she is strongly understated, or he dicked at a low angle. The maximum dive speed developed by any modification BF 109 was significantly higher.

For example, from January to March 1943, in the Luftwaffe Research Center, BF 109F-2 was tested for the maximum diving speed from various heights. At the same time, the following results were obtained on the true (and not instrument) speed:

From the memoirs of German and English pilots it is clear that in battle sometimes achieved and higher pending rates.

Without a doubt, the BF109 was perfectly accelerated on the dive and easily went out of it. At least, none of the Luftwaffe veterans known to me responded to the Prication of Messera negatively. A huge help of the pilot in the withdrawal of a steep peak was provided by the stabilizer regulated in flight, which was used instead of a trimmer and was rearranged by a special steering wheel at an angle of attack from + 3 ° to -8 °.

Eric Brown recalled: "If the stabilizer is installed on the horizontal flight, it was necessary to attach a lot of effort to the control knob to remove the aircraft from the speed of 644 km / h. If it was set to dive, the output was somewhat difficult if you did not turn back. Otherwise, an excessive load on the handle appears. "

In addition, on all the steering surfaces of Messerschmitt, Flenels were present - plates rejuvenated on Earth, which made it possible to remove part of the load transmitted from the steering wheel to the handle and pedals. On the machines of the series "F" and "G", floters were increased by area due to increased speeds and loads. And on BF 109G-14 / AS modifications, BF 109G-10 and BF109K-4 flthers, in general, became dual.

The technical staff of the Luftwaffe was very carefully close to the procedure for installing Flenels. All fighters before each combat departure passed thorough adjustment using special transport. Perhaps the allies that have tested the trophy German samples simply did not pay attention to this moment. And with incorrect adjustment of the load flyer, transmitted to the controls, really could increase several times.

For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that on the Eastern Front, the battles took place at altitudes 1000, to 1500 meters, there was no place to leave with dive ...

In the middle of 1943 in the Research Institute of the Air Force Joint tests of Soviet and German aircraft were held. So, in August, they tried to compare the latest Yak-9d and La-5FN in training air battles with BF 109G-2 and FW 190A-4. The focus was made on flight-fighting qualities, in particular, on maneuverability of fighters. Immediately seven pilots, transplancing from the cabin to the cockpit, conducted training fights first in horizontal, and then in vertical planes. The advantages of the pickup were determined by the acceleration of the machines from a speed of 450 km / h to the maximum, and the free air battle began with a meeting of fighters during frontal attacks.

After the "battle" with the "three-point" Messer (he piloted the captain of the jugs), the pilot test pilot Senior Lieutenant Maslyakov wrote: "The La-5FN aircraft to a height of 5000 m possessed the advantage over BF 109G-2 and could have the offensive fight as in horizontal, So in vertical planes. On the deviras, our fighter came into the tail of the enemy after 4-8 aging. At the vertical maneuver, up to 3000 m "Lavochkin" had an explicit advantage: he was gaining "extra" 50-100 m. With 3000 m, this superiority was reduced and at an altitude of 5,000 meters became the same. With a height of 6000 m La-5pn several lagged.

At the dive of "Lavochkin" also lagged behind the "Messerschmitt", but when the aircraft is derived again, he caught up with a smaller radius of curvature. This moment must be used in air combat. It should be striving to fight with a German fighter at altitudes up to 5000 m, applying a combined maneuver in horizontal and vertical planes. "

It turned out to be more difficult to "fight" with the German fighters, the Yak-9D aircraft, a relatively large stock of fuel has adversely affected the maneuverability of "Yaka", especially vertical. Therefore, their pilots were recommended to fight on the blesses.

Recommendations were issued at the preferred battle tactics with one or another enemy aircraft, taking into account the German Booking Schemes used by the Germans. In the institution signed by the head of the Institute, General Shishkin's conclusion said: "Yak-9 and La-5 serial aircraft in their combat and flight-tactical data to a height of 3,500-5000 m are superior to German fighters of the latest modifications (BF 109G-2 and FW 190A-4) And with the correct operation of aircraft in the air, our pilots can successfully fight the enemy machines. "

The following is the table of characteristics of Soviet and German fighters based on the materials of the testing of the Air Force. (For domestic machines The data of experimental instances are given).

Comparison of aircraft in the NII Air Force
Plane		Yak-9.	La-5FN	BF 109G-2	FW190A-4.
Flight weight, kg		2873	3148	3023	3989
Maximum speed, km / h	in the earth	520	562/595*	524	510
	on high	570	626	598	544
	m.	2300	3250	2750	1800
	on high	599	648	666	610
	m.	4300	6300	7000	6000
Power Su, L.S.		1180	1850	1475	1730
Plaza wing m²		17,15	17,50	16,20	17,70
167,5	180,0	186,6	225,3
2,43	1,70	2,05	2,30
Set time 5000 m, min		5,1	4,7	4,4	6,8
Varyrage time at 1000m, sec		16-17	18-19	20,8	22-23
Set of heights for military reversal, m		1120	1100	1100	730

* Using a forced mode

Real battles on the Soviet-German front differed noticeably from the "staged" in the test institute. German pilots did not enter the maneuverable fights both in the vertical and horizontal plane. Their fighters sought a sudden attack to knock down the Soviet aircraft, and then went to the clouds or their territory. The attack aircraft also unexpectedly collapsed on our ground troops. Catch and those and others have rarely managed. Special tests conducted by the Air Force were aimed at working out techniques and methods to combat Fockey-Wulf attack aircraft. They participated in the trophy FW 190A-8 No. 682011 and "Lightweight" FW 190A-8 No. 58096764, for the interception of which the most modern fighters of the Red Army Air Force flew: Yak-3. Yak-9u and La-7.

"Fights" showed that for the successful struggle with low-fatty German aircraft, it is necessary to develop new tactical techniques. After all, it is most often "Fokke-Wolf" approached low altitudes and leaving the shaving flight at maximum speeds. Under these conditions, it turned out to be difficult to detect an attack in a timely manner, and the persecution became more complicated, since the gray matte color hid a German car against the background of the terrain. In addition, the FW 190 pilots included the engine forcing the engine at low altitudes. The testes determined that in this case the Fockey-Wolf Earth reached the speed of 582 km / h, that is, they could not catch up with Yak-3 (the aircraft existing Air Force, the aircraft developed a speed of 567 km / h), nor 9U (575 km / h). Only La-7 on the forples accelerated to 612 km / h, but the speed reserve was insufficient to quickly reduce the distance between the two aircraft until the direction of the sighting fire was distinguished. According to the test results, the management of the Institute issued recommendations: it is necessary to echelonize our fighters in patrols in altitudes. In this case, the task of the pilots of the upper tier would be in the breakdown of the bombing, as well as in the attack of the cover fighters accompanying attack aircraft, and the attack aircraft themselves would most likely be able to intercept the cars of the lower patrol, which had the opportunity to accelerate on the dictation canopy.

Especially it should be said about the FW-190 bronotch. The appearance of modification FW 190A-5 meant that the German command was considered Fokke-Wulf as the most promising attack aircraft. Indeed, without that significant armor (its weight on FW 190A-4 reached 110 kg) strengthened due to 16 additional plates with a total weighing 200 kg mounted in the lower parts of the center and motor. Removing the two wing guns "Erlikon" reduced the weight of the second volley to 2.85 kg (for FW 190A-4, it was 4.99 kg, for La-5FN 1.76kg), but it was partially compensated for the growth of the take-off weight and has a beneficial effect on flight properties. FW 190 - Thanks to the displacement of the center, the stability of the fighter has increased. A set of heights for military reversal increased by 100 m, the time of execution of the varyrage decreased by about a second. The plane accelerated to 582 km / h by 5000 m and gained this height in 12 minutes. Soviet engineers expressed assumption: real flight data FW190A-5 is higher, since the machine quality adjustment device has worked abnormally and the engine is observed even when it works on Earth.

At the end of the war, German aviation, although represented a certain danger, but did not led active hostilities. In the conditions of complete domination in the air of the Allied Aviation, no most advanced aircraft could change the nature of war. German fighters only defended in extremely unprofitable conditions. In addition, they almost had no one to fly on them, since the whole color of German fighter aviation died in fierce battles on the Eastern Front.

* - the maneuverability of the aircraft in the horizontal plane is described by the time of the viragee, i.e. Time of full reversal. The radius of the varyrage will be the less than the less the specific load on the wing, that is, the aircraft with a large wing and less flight weight, (having a large lifting force, which will be equal to the centrifugal), can perform a sharper reversal. Obviously, an increase in lifting force while reducing the speed can occur when the wing mechanization is released (the release of closes and with a decrease in the speed of automatic preds), however, the output from the viragee at a lower speed is fraught with the loss of the initiative in battle.

Secondly, in order to perform a turn, the pilot is necessary, first of all, check the aircraft. The roll speed depends on the transverse stability of the aircraft, the efficiencies of the aileron, and the moment of inertia, which is the less (M \u003d L M), the smaller the wing span and its mass. From here, maneuverability will be worse by an airplane with two engines on the wing, filled with tanks in the wing consoles or installed on the wing of weapons.

The maneuverability of the aircraft in the vertical plane is described by its raisingness and depends, first of all, on the specific load on the power (the ratio of the mass of the aircraft to its power of its power plant and other words expresses the number of kg of weight, which "carries" one horsepower) and obviously with smaller values \u200b\u200bof the plane It has greater raisingness. It is obvious that railing depends on the ratio of flight mass to total aerodynamic resistance.

Sources

• How to compare the aircraft of the Second World War. /TO. Cosmmkov, "AS" №2.3 1991 /
• Comparison of fighters of the Second World War. / "Wings of the Motherland" №5 1991 Viktor Bakur /
• Race behind the ghost speed. Fallen out of the nest. / "Wings of the Motherland" №12 1993 Viktor Bakur /
• German trail in the history of domestic aviation. / Sobolev D.A., Khazanov D.B. /
• Three MiP about Messere / Alexander Pavlov "Avia Master" 8-2005./

Once on the site, we held the "Air Parade" contest dedicated to the anniversary, where the readers were asked to guess the names of some of the most famous aircraft of the Second World War according to their silhouettes. The competition was completed, and now we publish photos of these combat vehicles. We propose to remember what the winners and defeated in the sky are fought.

Editorial PM.

Germany

Messerschmitt BF.109

In fact, a whole family of German combat vehicles, the total number of which (33,984 pieces) makes the 109th one of the most massive aircraft of the Second World War. Used as a fighter, fighter-bomber, fighter-interceptor, scout aircraft. It was as a fighter "Messer" he deserved sad glory from Soviet pilots - at the initial stage of war, Soviet fighters, such as I-16 and Lagg, were clearly inferior in technical terms BF.109 and carried heavy losses. Only the appearance of more advanced aircraft, such as Yak-9, allowed our pilots to fight with "messes" almost equal. The most mass modification of the machine was BF.109G ("Gustav").

Messerschmitt BF.109

Messerschmitt Me.262.

The plane was not remembered not to his special role in the Second World War, but by what was the firstborn of reactive aviation on the battlefield. ME.262 began to design before the war, but the real interest in the project was awakened by Hitler only in 1943, when the Luftwaffe had already lost its battle power. ME.262 possessed the speed indicators unique for its time (about 850 km / h), height and railing and therefore had serious advantages over any fighter of that time. In reality, there were 100 lost ME.262 for 150 allied aircraft. Low efficiency combat application It was explained by the "dampness" of the design, small experience in the use of reactive aviation and insufficient preparation of pilots.

Messerschmitt Me.262.

Heinkel-111.

Heinkel-111.

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka

The JU 87 piquetting bomber produced in several modifications has become a kind of contemporary forerunner high-precision weaponsSince metal bombs are not with a high height, but from a steep diver, which made it possible to determine the ammunition. It was very effective in the fight against tanks. Due to the specifics of the use in high overload conditions, the machine was equipped with automatic air brakes to exit the peak in case of loss by the pilot of consciousness. To enhance the psychological effect of the pilot during the attack included the "Jericho tube" - a device that has made a terrible howl. One of the most famous pilots-asians flying on the "piece," was Hans-Ulrich Rudel, left rather boastful memories of war on the Eastern Front.

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka

Focke-Wulf FW 189 Uhu

Tactical reconnaissance aircraft FW 189 UHU is interesting primarily by its unusual two-ball construction for which soviet soldiers Nicknamed it "Rama". And it was on the Eastern Front that this intelligence officer turned out to be the most useful Nazis. Our fighters knew well that bombers would fly for the "frame" and strike in proven purposes. But it was not so shot down this sluggage plane because of his high maneuverability and excellent survivability. When approaching the Soviet fighters, he could, for example, begin to describe the circles of a small radius, into which the speed cars simply could not fit.

Focke-Wulf FW 189 Uhu

Probably the most recognizable Luftwaffe bomber was developed in the early 1930s under the guise of a civil transport aircraft (to create German Air Force forbade the Versailles Agreement). At the beginning of the Second World War Heinkel-111 was the most massive Luftwaffe bombard. He became one of the main characters of the battle for England - she was the result of the Hitler's attempt to break the will to the resistance of the British by massive bombing raids on the city of Misty Albion (1940). Already then it became clear that this average bomber is morally outdated, he lacks speed, maneuverability and security. Nevertheless, the plane continued to use and produce up to 1944.

Allies

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

The American "Flying Fortress" during the war constantly increased its security. In addition to magnificent survivability (in the form of, for example, the ability to return to the database with one whole engine of four) in a modification of the B-17G heavy bomber received thirteen 12.7 mm machine guns. A tactic was developed, within which the "flying fortresses" walked over the enemy territory in a checker, protecting each other cross-fire. The aircraft equipped high-tech at that time a bombing sight of Norden, built on the basis of an analog calculator. If the British bombed the third Reich mainly in the dark, then the "flying fortresses" were not afraid to appear over Germany in the bright time of the day.

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

Avro 683 Lancaster

One of the main participants in the raid bombing aviation allies to Germany, the British heavy bomber of the Second World War. Avro 683 Lancaster has accounted for the entire bombing cargo, thrown by the British on the Third Reich. Loading capacity allowed a four-dimensional aircraft to beboard "blockbusters" - super heavy concrete bombs Tallboy and Grand Slam. Low protected estimated the use of "Lancaster" as night bombers, but the night bombing was distinguished by low accuracy. In the afternoon, these aircraft carried tangible losses. Lancaster actively participated in the most destructive bombing plates of the Second World War - to Hamburg (1943) and Dresden (1945).

Avro 683 Lancaster

North American P-51 Mustang

One of the most significant fighters of the Second World War, which played an exceptional role in events on the Western Front. No matter how protecting themselves heavy bombers allies, which took place in the raids to Germany, these large, low-departed and relatively low-speed aircraft carried heavy losses from German fighter aircraft. North American commissioned by the British government urgently created a fighter who could not only fight with "messes" and "fockers", but also to have a sufficient radius of action (at the expense of suspended tanks) to accompany the "Bomberov" raids to the continent. When in 1944, "Mustangi" began to be used in this capacity, it became clear that the air war in the West by the Germans finally lost.

North American P-51 Mustang

Supermarine Spitfire.

The main and most massive fighter of the British Air Force Air Force, one of the best fighters of the Second World War. Its high-altitude and high-speed characteristics made it an equal opponent to the German Messerschmitt BF.109, and in the full-time fighting of these two cars, the skill of pilots played a major role. "Spitfairy" have greatly proven themselves, covering the evacuation of the British from Dunkirk after the success of Hitler's Blitzkrieg, and then during the Battle of Britain (July-October 1940), when English fighters had to fight like German bombers not-111, DO-17, JU 87, and with fighters BF. 109 and BF.110.

Supermarine Spitfire.

Japan

Mitsubishi A6m Raisen.

At the beginning of the Second World Japanese deck fighter A6M Raisen was the best in the world in his class, even though the Japanese word "Ray-Sen" was present in his title, that is, "fighter-zero". Thanks to the suspended tanks, the fighter had a high range of flight (3105 km), which made it indispensable for participation in the raids on the Ocean TVD. Among the aircraft participating in the assault on Pearl Harbor were 420 A6M. The Americans have learned lessons from communicating with the Jürch, pushing Japanese, and by 1943 their fighter aviation surpassed its once dangerous opponent.

Mitsubishi A6m Raisen.

The most massive pyric bombarder of the USSR began to be produced even before the war, in 1940, and remained to the victory. The lowlands with two motors and a double killek was a very progressive machine for its time. In particular, it provided for the Hermokabine and the electrodistant station management (which is the source of many problems into force of novelty). In reality, PE-2 is not so often, in contrast to JU 87, it was used as a peak bomber. Most often, he applied bomb shocks on the squares from the horizontal flight or from a gentle, and not deep dive.

PE-2.

The most massive combat aircraft in history (all of these "Ils" produced 36,000 pieces) is considered a real legend of battlefields. One of its features is carrying a bronorpus that was replaced by a frame and a trim in most of the fuselage. The attack aircraft worked at altitudes a few hundred meters above the ground, becoming not the most difficult target for ground anti-aircraft agents and the object of hunting from German fighters. The first IL-2 options were built single, without a bertler, which led to quite high combat losses among aircraft of this type. And yet Il-2 played a role on all TVD, where our army fought, becoming a powerful means of supporting the ground forces in the fight against the enemy armored vehicles.

IL-2

Yak-3 became the development of the well-proven Yak-1m fighter battles. In the process of refinement, the wing was shortened and other structural changes were taken to reduce weight and improve aerodynamics. This lightweight wooden aircraft showed an impressive speed of 650 km / h and had excellent flight characteristics at low heights. Yak-3 tests started in early 1943, and during the battle on the Kursk arc, he entered into battle, where with the help of 20-mm shvak guns and two 12.7-mm Berezina machine guns successfully opposed the "messerrstam" and "fockers".

Yak-3.

One of the best Soviet fighters of La-7, which was admitted for a year before the end of the war, was the development of the Lagg-3 war. All the advantages of the "ancestor" were reduced to two factors - high survivability and maximal use in the design of the tree instead of a deficient metal. However, a weak motor and a large weight turned Lagg-3 in an unimportant opponent of all-metal Messerschmitt BF.109. From Lagg-3 in OKB-21, Lavochkina made La-5, putting a new ASH-82 engine and improving aerodynamics. The modification of La-5FN with a forced motor has already been an excellent combat vehicle, surpassing in a number of parameters BF.109. In La-7, the weight was reduced again, as well as weapons. The plane became very good, even staying wooden.

La-7.

U-2, or PO-2, created in 1928, by the beginning of the war was certainly a model of outdated equipment and was not designed at all as a combat aircraft (the training and combat version appeared only in 1932). However, for the sake of victory, this classical Biplan had to work a night bomber. His undoubted advantages are simplicity in management, the possibility of planting outside the airfields and take off with small sites, low noise.

U-2.

On a small gas, in the dark, U-2 was chosen to an enemy object, remaining unnoticed almost until the moment of bombing. Since the bombing was made from small heights, its accuracy was very high, and the "corn" caused a serious damage to the enemy.

The article "Air Parade of Winners and defeated" was published in the magazine "Popular Mechanics" (

It was one of the main generics of troops and played a very large role during the fighting. It is not by chance that each of the fought parties sought to ensure the constant increase in the combat capability of its aviation by increasing the production of aircraft and continuously improving them and update. As never before, a scientific and engineering potential was involved in the military sphere, a variety of research institutes and laboratories, design bureaus and testing centers, the efforts of which were created by the newest combat vehicles. It was the time of extraordinarily stormy progress to aircraft. At the same time, the epoch of the evolution of aircraft with piston engines would be completed, which were undertaken in aviation from the moment of its origin. The combat aircraft of the end of the Second World War was the most perfect samples of aviation technology created on the basis of piston motors.

The significant difference in the peaceful and military periods of development of combat aviation was that during the war the effectiveness of the equipment was determined directly by the experimental way. If in peaceful time Military specialists and aircraft designers, ordering and creating new aircraft samples, relied only at the speculative ideas about the nature of the future war, or were guided by the limited experience of local conflicts, then large-scale hostilities changed dramatically the situation. The practice of air fighting has become not only a powerful catalyst in accelerating aviation progress, but also the only criterion when comparing the quality of aircraft and choosing the main directions of further development. Each of the parties improved its aircraft based on their own experience in conducting hostilities, the availability of resources, the possibilities of technology and aircraft industry as a whole.

During the war years in England, the USSR, the USA, Germany and Japan were created big number aircraft playing a prominent role during the armed struggle. Among them are a lot of outstanding samples. Of interest is the comparison of these machines, as well as the comparison of those engineering and scientific ideas that were used in their creation. Of course, among the numerous types of aircraft who participated in the war and representing different schools of aircraft construction, it is difficult to allocate the best. Therefore, the choice of machines to some extent wearing conditional.

Fighters were the main means to conquer domination in the air in the fight against the enemy. The success of the combat operations of terrestrial troops and other bodies of aviation, the safety of rear objects was largely depended on the effectiveness of their actions. It is not by chance that the class of fighters developed most intensively. The best of them traditionally refer to the Yak-3 and La-7 aircraft (USSR), North American R-51 Mustang ("Mustang", USA), Supermarine "Spitfire" ("Spitfire", England) and Messerschmitt BF 109 ( Germany). Among the many modifications of Western fighters for comparison, R-51D, "Spitfire" XIV and BF 109G-10 and K-4 are chosen, that is, those aircraft that were based serially and entered the military air forces At the final stage of war. All of them were created in 1943 - early 1944. In these machines, the richest combat experience was reflected, already accumulated by the time warring countries. They became as if symbols of combat aviation technology of their time.

Before comparing different types of fighters, it is worth a little say about the basic principles of comparison. The main thing is that it is necessary to keep in mind those conditions for combat use, which they were created. The war in the east showed that in the presence of the front line, where terrestrial troops are the main force of the armed struggle, there were relatively small flight heights from aviation. The experience of air fighting on the Soviet-German front indicates that the overwhelming majority of them were conducted at altitudes up to 4.5 km, regardless of the high-rise aircraft. Soviet designers, improving fighters and motors for them, could not not take into account this circumstance. At the same time, the English "Spitfairy" and American Mustangs differed more highly, since the nature of the actions to which they were calculated was completely different. In addition, the R-51D possessed a much larger flight range required to accompany heavy bombers, and therefore was much harder than the "Spitfairy", German BF 109 and Soviet fighters. Thus, since the English, American and Soviet fighters were created for different combat conditions, then the question of which of the cars was generally the most effective. It is advisable only to basic technical solutions and features of machines.

Otherwise it is about German fighters. They were intended to fight the air both on Eastern and in Western fronts. Therefore, they can be fully compared with all allies fighters.

So what did the best fighters of the Second World War stand out? What was their fundamental difference from each other? Let's start with the main thing - with technical ideology, laid designers in the projects of these aircraft.

The most unusual concepts of creation were, perhaps, "Spitfire" and "Mustang".

"This is not just a good plane, it's" Spitfire! " - Such an assessment of the English test pilot of the city of Powell is undoubtedly applies to one of the last fighters of the fighter of this family - "Spitfire" XIV, the best fighter of the British air forces of the war period. It was on the "Spitfire" XIV in air combat a German jet fighter IM 262 was shot down.

Creating "Spitfire" in the mid-1930s, the designers tried to combine, seemingly incompatible things: high speed peculiar to the speed-to-use high-speed monoplanes, with excellent maneuverable, high-altitude and running characteristics inherent in biplanes. The goal was mainly achieved. Like many other speed fighters, Spitfire had a scheme of free-free monoplane of well-streamlined forms. But it was only an external similarity. For its weight, "Spitfire" had a wing of relatively large sizes, which gave a small load per unit carrier surface, much smaller than that of other monoplas fighters. Hence, excellent maneuverability in the horizontal plane, a high ceiling and good run-up properties. Such an approach was not exceptional: similarly came, for example, Japanese constructors. But the creators of "Spitfyra" went on. Due to the large aerodynamic resistance of the wing, such significant sizes could not be relying to achieve a high maximum flight speed - one of the most important indicators of the quality of fighters of those years. To reduce resistance, the profiles have applied a much lower relative thickness than other fighters, and gave the wing of an elliptical form in the plan. This further reduced aerodynamic resistance when flying at high altitude and on maneuver modes.

The company managed to create an outstanding combat aircraft. This does not mean that "Spitfire" was deprived of any drawbacks. They were. For example, because of the low load on the wing, he inferior to many fighters on acceleration properties on dive, slower than German, American and the more Soviet fighters, reacted by the roll to the actions of the pilot. However, these shortcomings did not wear a fundamental nature, and in general, Spitfire was undoubtedly one of the strongest air combat fighters, which in the case demonstrated excellent qualities.

Among the many variants of the Mustang fighter, the greatest success fell to the stake of aircraft that was equipped with the English motors of Merlin. These were P - 51V, C and, of course, the R-51D is the best and most famous american fighter Second World War. Since 1944, these aircraft have ensured the safety of heavy American bomber B-17 and B-24 from the attacks of German fighters and in battle demonstrated their superiority.

The main distinguishing feature of Mustang in terms of aerodynamics was a laminar wing, for the first time in the world practice of aircraft, installed on a combat aircraft. On this "highlight" of the aircraft born in the laboratory of the American Research Center NASA on the eve of the war, should be said particularly. The fact is that the opinion of specialists about the feasibility of using the laminar wing on fighters of that period is ambiguous. If in front of the war on the laminar wings lay high hopes, since under certain conditions they had less aerodynamic resistance compared to conventional, then experience with the "Mustang" took the initial optimism. It turned out that in real exploitation, such a wing is not effective enough. The reason was that to implement a laminar flow on such a wing, a very careful finishing of the surface was required and high accuracy in holding profiling. Due to the roughness that occurred when applied for protective painting by the plane, and even a small inaccuracy in profiling, inevitably appeared in serial production (a small wave-likeness of a thin metal casing), the lamination effect on the Wing of the R-51 is greatly reduced. According to its carrier properties, laminar profiles were inferior to usual, which caused difficulties in ensuring good maneuverable and running properties.

For small angles of attack, laminar profiles of the wing (sometimes called laminized) have less aerodynamic resistance than the profiles of the usual type.

In addition to reduced resistance, laminar profiles had the best high-speed quality - with an equal relative thickness, the effects of air compressibility (wave crisis) were manifested at high speeds than on the profiles of the usual type. I had to reckon with this then. In the dive, especially at high altitudes, where the speed of sound is significantly less than that of the Earth, the aircraft began to reach speeds in which the features associated with approaching the sound speed have already been manifested. It was possible to increase the so-called critical speed, or using more speed profiles, which turned out to be laminar, or reducing the relative thickness of the profile, mixing with the inevitable increase in the weight of the structure and the reduction of the wing volumes, often used (including R-51d) for Placement of gas tanks and. Interestingly, due to a much lesser relative thickness of profiles, the wave crisis on the wing "Spitfair" arose at greater speed than on the "Mustang" wing.

Research in the English Aviation Scientific Center RAE has shown that due to the significantly lower relative thickness of the wing profiles, the SPITFAYR fighter at high speeds had a smaller coefficient of aerodynamic resistance than "Mustang". This was due to a later manifestation of the wave crisis of streamlining and more "soft" his character.

If a air battles We were conducted at relatively small heights, the crisis phenomena of the compressibility of the air were almost never manifested, so the need for a special high-speed wing was acutely not felt.

The path to the creation of Soviet aircraft Yak-3 and La-7 was very unusual. Essentially, they were deep modifications of Yak-1 and Lagg-3 fighters developed in 1940 and produced mass.

In the Soviet Air Force at the final stage of the war there was no fighter more popular than Yak-3. At that time it was the easiest fighter. The French pilots of Normandy-Neman regiment, who fought on Yak-3, responded so about his fighting: "Yak-3 gives you a complete superiority over the Germans. On Yak-3, you can twitch against four, and the four of them - against sixteen! "

The root recycling of the design of Yak was undertaken in 1943 with the aim of a sharp improvement in flight characteristics with a very modest power of power plants. The decisive destination in this work was the facilitation of the aircraft (including due to the reduction of the area of \u200b\u200bthe wing) and a significant improvement in its aerodynamics. Perhaps it was the only way to qualitatively promote a plane, since new more powerful motors suitable for installation on Yak-1, the Soviet industry has not yet released.

A similar, extremely difficult to implement, the path of development of aviation equipment was extraordinary. The usual way to improve the flight data complex of aircraft was then in improving aerodynamics without noticeable changes in the glubarites of the glider, as well as in installing more powerful motors. Almost always it was accompanied by a noticeable increase in weight.

Designers Yak-3 with this thorough task coped brilliantly. It is unlikely that in aviation of the period of World War II, you can find another example of a similar and so effective work performed.

Yak-3 compared to Yak-1 was much easier, had a smaller relative profile thickness and a wing area and had excellent aerodynamic properties. The power supply of the aircraft has increased significantly, which dramatically improved its railing, overclocking characteristics and vertical maneuverability. At the same time, such an essential for horizontal maneuverability, takeoff and landing the parameter, as a specific load on the wing, has changed little. In war, Yak-3 was one of the simplest fighter in piloting.

Of course, in the tactical plan, Yak-3 did not replaced aircraft, distinguished by stronger weapons and greater battleship, but perfectly complemented them, embodying the idea of \u200b\u200ba light, high-speed and maneuverable car of air combat, intended primarily to combat fighter enemy.

One of the few, if not the only fighter with the air cooling motor, which can be attributed to the best air combat fighters of World War II. The well-known Soviet AS I. N. Kozhevitub knocked down 17 German aircraft (including the Jet Fighter Me-262) from 62 La Marks destroyed on fighters.

The history of La-7 is also unusual. In early 1942, on the basis of the Lagg-3 fighter, which was produced by a rather mediocre combat vehicle, a La-5 fighter was developed, differing from the predecessor only with a power plant (the liquid cooling motor was replaced by a much more powerful two-row "star"). During the further development of La-5, designers focused on aerodynamic improvement. In the period 1942-1943. Fighters of the brand "La" were the most frequent "guests" in the inventory aerodynamic pipes of the leading Soviet Aviation Research Center of the TsAGA. The main goal of such tests was to identify the main sources of aerodynamic losses and the definition of constructive measures that contribute to the decrease in aerodynamic resistance. An important feature of this work was that the proposed design changes did not require large alterations of the aircraft and changes in the production process and could be relatively easily made by serial plants. It was a truly "jewelry" job when, it would seem, a rather impressive result was obtained from the trifles.

The fruit of this work became the resulting in early 1943 of La-5FN - one of the strongest Soviet fighters of that time, and then La-7 - the plane, rightfully occupied the place among the best fighters of the Second World War. If, when moving from La-5 to La-5FN, the increase in flight data was achieved not only due to better aerodynamics, but also due to a more powerful motor, then improving the characteristics of La-7 achieved exclusively by means of aerodynamics and decrease in the weight of the structure. This aircraft had a speed of 80 km / h more than La-5, of which 75% (that is, 60 km / h) gave aerodynamics. Such an increase in speed is equivalent to an increase in motor power by more than a third, and without increasing weight and dimensions of the aircraft.

The best features of the air combat fighter were embodied in La-7: high speed, excellent maneuverability and railing. In addition, compared to the rest of the fighters that we are talking about, he possessed a greater vitality, since only this aircraft had an air cooling motor. As you know, such motors are not only more viable than liquid cooling engines, but also serve as a peculiar protection of the flyer from the front hemisphere, since they have large cross-sectional dimensions.

The German fighter Messerschmitt BF 109 was created at about the same time as "Spitfire". Like an English aircraft, BF 109 has become one of the most successful samples of the war of the war period and has passed a big way of evolution: it was equipped with more powerful motors, improved aerodynamics, operational and aerobatic characteristics. In terms of aerodynamics, the largest changes were made for the last time in 1941, when BF 109F appeared. Further improvement of flight data went mainly due to the installation of new engines. Externally, the latest modifications of this fighter - BF 109G-10 and K-4 differed little from much earlier BF 109F, although there were a number of aerodynamic improvements.

This aircraft was the best representative of the light and maneuverable combat vehicle of Hitler Luftwaffe. Throughout the entire Second World War, Fighters Messerschmitt BF 109 were among the best samples of the aircraft of their class, and only by the end of the war they began to lose their positions. Combine quality peculiar to the best Western fighters designed for relatively large height Mattical use, with qualities inherent in the best Soviet "medium-mentioned" fighters turned out to be impossible.

Like its English colleagues, the BF 109 aircraft designers tried to combine high maximum speed with good maneuverable and running and landing. But they solved this task completely differently: unlike the "Spitfair", BF 109 had a greater specific load on the wing, which allowed to get high speed, and not only well-known preduckles were used to improve maneuverability, but also the flaps, which at the right moment were used The battle could deviate by the pilot on a small angle. The use of managed closures was a new and original solution. To improve the run-up characteristics, in addition to automatic preds and controlled flaps, hanging aleons were used, which worked as additional sections of the flaps; A managed stabilizer was also applied. In short, BF 109 had a unique system of directly controlling lifting force, in many respects characteristic of modern aircraft with automation inherent in it. However, in practice, many decisions of the designers were not intensified. Because of the difficulty, it was necessary to abandon the controlled stabilizer, hanging the aileons, the exhaust system of closures in battle. As a result, according to its maneuverable qualities, BF 109 was not very different from other fighters - both Soviet and American, although he was inferior to the best domestic car. The characteristics of take-off and landing were similar.

The experience of aircraft industry shows that the gradual improvement of the combat aircraft is almost always accompanied by an increase in its weight. This is due to the installation of more powerful, and therefore more heavy motors, an increase in fuel reserve, an increase in the relics of weapons, necessary construction enhancements and other concomitant activities. In the end, the moment occurs when the reserves of this design are exhausted. One of the limitations is the specific load on the wing. This is understandable, not the only parameter, but one of the most important and common to all aircraft. So, as the "Spitfire" fighters are modified from version 1A to XIV and BF 109 from B-2 to G-10 and K-4, the specific load on the wing has increased by about a third! Already at BF 109G-2 (1942), it was 185 kg / m2, while Speton IX, which was also released in 1942, was about 150 kg / m2. For BF 109G-2, such a load on the wing was close to the limit. With further, its growth sharply deteriorated by aerobatic, maneuverable and running and landing characteristics of the aircraft, despite the very effective mechanization of the wing (prejust and flaps).

Since 1942, German designers have improved their best air combat fighter in conditions of very hard weight restrictions, which strongly prested the possibility of high-quality improvement of the aircraft. And the creators of "Spitfyra" had more sufficient reserves and continued to increase the power of the installed motors and strengthen the weapons, not particularly believed to increase weight.

The quality of their serial production has a large influence on the aerodynamic properties of aircraft. Careless making can reduce all the efforts of designers and scientists. This happens not so rarely. Judging by the trophy documents, in Germany, at the end of the war, a comparative study of the aerodynamics of German, American and English fighters, came to the conclusion that BF 109G had the worst quality of industrial implementation, and, in particular, for this reason, his aerodynamics was the worst that Most likely can be extended to BF 109K-4.

From what has been said, it is clear that in terms of the technical concept of the creation and aerodynamic characteristics of the layout, each of the compaled aircraft is quite original. But there are a lot of general features: well-streamlined forms, thoroughly injecting motors, well-spent local aerodynamics and aerodynamics of cooling devices.

As for the design, the Soviet fighters were much easier and cheaper in production than British, German and, especially, American cars. The scarce materials in them were used in very limited quantities. Due to this, in the USSR, it was possible to ensure a high rate of production of aircraft in the conditions of severe material restrictions and lack of qualified labor force. It must be said that our country was in the most difficult position. From 1941 to 1944 Including a significant part of the industrial zone, where many metallurgical enterprises were placed, was occupied by the fascists. Some factories managed to evacuate the country deep into and establish production in new places. But a significant part of the production potential was nevertheless lostly lost. In addition, a large number of qualified workers and specialists went to the front. The machines also replaced women and children who could not work at the appropriate level. Nevertheless, the aviation industry of the USSR, though not immediately, but was able to provide the needs of the front in the aircraft.

Unlike all-metal western fighters, a tree was widely used in Soviet cars. However, in many power elements, actually determined the weight of the structure, was used. That is why in terms of the level of weight perfection, Yak-3 and La-7 practically did not differ from foreign fighters.

According to technological thought, the ease of access to individual aggregates and convenience of service in general, BF 109 and Mustang looked somewhat preferably. However, "Spitfire" and Soviet fighters were also well adapted to the terms of combat operation. But in such very important characteristics as the quality of the equipment and the level of automation, Yak-3 and La-7 were inferior to Western fighters, the best of which were German aircraft according to the degree of automation (not only BF 109, but also others).

The most important indicator of high flight data of the aircraft and its combat capability is generally the power plant. It is in the aviation engine building that the latest achievements in the field of technology, materials, control systems, and automation systems are primarily found. Motor building is one of the most independent industries of the air industry. Compared to the aircraft, the process of creating and finishing new engines takes much more time and requires great effort.

In the period of World War II, England occupied the leading position in aviation engine building. It is the Motors of the company Rolls-Royce equipped with "Spitfire" and the best "Mustangs" (R-51B, C and D). It is possible without exaggeration to say that just the installation of the English motor "Merlin", which was produced in the US under license by Pakcard, made it possible to realize the great opportunities of Mustang and led him to the category of elite fighters. Prior to this, the R-51 was although the original, but on the combat capabilities of a rather mediocre aircraft.

The peculiarity of English motors, largely determined their excellent characteristics, was to use high-grade gasoline, the conditional octane number of which reached 100-150. This made it possible to apply a greater degree of superior air (more precisely, the working mixture) into the cylinders and thereby get high power. The USSR and Germany could not provide aviation needs in such high-quality and expensive fuel. A gasoline with an octane number of 87-100 was usually used.

A characteristic feature that united all the motors who stood on compared fighters was to use two-speed drive centrifugal superchargers (PCOs) providing the required highness. But the difference between Motors Rolls-Royce consisted that their blowers had not one, as usual, but two consecutive compression steps, and even with intermediate cooling of the working mixture in a special radiator. Despite the complexity of such systems, their use turned out to be fully justified for high-altitude motors, since significantly reduced the loss of power spent by the motor to be discharged. It was a very important factor.

The original was the discharge system of DB-605 motors, which was driven through a turbomuft, which, with automatic control, smoothly adjust the gear ratio from the motor to the impairler impeller. Unlike two-speed drive superchargers that stood on Soviet and English engines, the turbo household allowed to reduce the drop in the power, which had a place between the discharge speeds.

The important advantage of German engines (DB-605 and others) was to apply the direct fuel injection into the cylinders. Compared to a conventional carburetor system, it has increased the reliability and cost-effectiveness of the power plant. Of the other motors, only the Soviet ASH-82FN, which was standing on La-7, had a similar direct injection system.

An essential factor in increasing the flight data "Mustang" and "Spitfyra" was that their motors had relatively short-term operating modes at high power. In battle, the pilots of these fighters could use for some time except for a long, that is, nominal or combat (5-15 minutes), or emergency (1-5 minutes) modes. Combat, or, as it was also called, military regime became the main for the operation of the motor in air combat. Motors of Soviet fighters did not have high-power modes at a height, which limited the possibilities of additional improvement in their flight characteristics.

Most of the "Mustangs" and "Spitfires" options were calculated on a greater height of combat use, characteristic of aviation actions in the West. Therefore, their motors had sufficient alosight. German Motor Lockers were forced to solve a complex technical task. With a relatively large billing height of the motor needed to fight in the air in the West, it was important to ensure the necessary power on small and medium heights required to conduct hostilities in the East. As you know, a simple increase in highness usually leads to increasing power losses at low heights. Therefore, designers showed a lot of ingenuity and applied a number of extraordinary technical solutions, in their high-rise Motor DB-605 occupied an intermediate position between the English and Soviet engines. To increase power at altitudes, a waterparty injection mixture was used below (MW-50 system), which was given the opportunity, despite the relatively low octane number of fuel, significantly increase the supervision, and, consequently, the power without detonation. A kind of maximum mode was obtained, which, as well as an emergency, could usually be used to three minutes.

In the altitudes of over-estimated, the injection of nitrogen (GM-1 system) could be used, which, being a powerful oxidizing agent, as if reimbursed the lack of oxygen in a rarefied atmosphere and made it possible for some time to increase the high-rise of the motor and bring it closer to the characteristics to Rolls motors Royce. True, these systems increased the weight of the aircraft (by 60-120 kg), significantly complicated the power plant and its operation. For these reasons, they were applied apart and were not used on all BF 109G and K.

A significant impact on the combat capability of the fighter has its armament. According to the composition and arms of weapons, the aircraft under consideration differed quite strongly. If the Soviet Yak-3 and La-7 and the German BF 109G and K had a central arms arrangement (guns and machine guns in the nasal part of the fuselage), then the "spitfire" and "mantangs" it was located in the wing outside the area, overeaten by the screw. In addition, Mustang had only large-caliber machine gun weapons, while there were also guns on other fighters, and La-7 and BF 109k-4 had only cannonial weapons. At the West Theater of Military Actions, the R-51D was first used to combat the enemy fighters. For this purpose, the power of its six machine guns turned out to be quite sufficient. Unlike Mustang, the English "Spitfires" and Soviet Yak-3 and La-7 were struggled with the aircraft of any appointments, including with bombers, which naturally required more powerful weapons.

Comparing the wing and central installation of weapons, it is difficult to answer which of these schemes was the most efficient. All the same Soviet front pilots and aviation specialists, as well as German, preferred the central, which provided the greatest part of the fire. This location turns out to be more profitable when the attack of the opponent's aircraft is carried out from extremely small distances. Namely, they usually tried to act on the Eastern Front Soviet and German pilots. In the West, air battles were carried out mainly at a high altitude, where the maneuverability of fighters deteriorated significantly. It was much more difficult to get closer to the enemy, and with bombers are also very dangerous, because the fighter because of the sluggish maneuver was difficult to evade the fire of the air gunners. For this reason, they opened fire from far distance and the wing setting of weapons, calculated on a given lesion distance, turned out to be quite comparable to the central. In addition, weapon rate at the wing scheme was higher than that of the weapon synchronized for firing through the screw (guns per La-7, machine guns on Yak-3 and BF 109G), the arms turned out to be near the center of gravity and the ammunition consumption practically did not affect it position. But one disadvantage was still organically inherent in the wing scheme - this is an increased moment of inertia relative to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, which deteriorated the reaction of the fighter on the roll to the actions of the pilot.

Among the many criteria that determined the combat capability of the aircraft, the most important for the fighter was the combination of its flight data. Of course, they are important not by themselves, but in combination with a number of other quantitative and qualitative indicators, such as, for example, stability, aerobatic properties, ease of operation, review, etc. For some classes of aircraft, educational, for example, these indicators are of paramount importance. But for the combat cars of the last war, the flight characteristics and weapons are determining, which are the main technical terms of the combat effectiveness of fighters and bombers. Therefore, designers sought first of all to achieve priority in flight data, or rather in those who played a primary role.

It is worth clarifying that under the words "flight data" means a whole complex of essential indicators, the main of which for the fighters were the maximum speed, vertegeneration, range or time of combat departure, maneuverability, the ability to quickly gain speed, sometimes practical ceiling. Experience has shown that the technical perfection of fighters cannot be reduced to some one criterion, which would be expressed by the number, formula or even an algorithm calculated for implementation on a computer. The question of comparing fighters, as well as the search for the optimal combination of the main flight characteristics, still remains one of the most difficult. How, for example, to determine in advance what was more important - superiority in maneuverability and practical ceiling or some advantage at maximum speed? As a rule, the priority in one is obtained at the expense of another. Where is the "Golden Middle", which gives the best combat qualities? Obviously, much depends on the tactics and the nature of the war in the air as a whole.

It is known that the maximum speed and railing significantly depend on the motor mode. One thing is a long or nominal mode, and completely different - emergency floors. This is clearly seen from the comparison of the maximum speeds of the best fighters of the final period of war. The presence of high-power modes significantly improves flight characteristics, but only for a short time, since otherwise the destruction of the motor can occur. For this reason, a very short-term emergency mode of operation of the motor, which gave the highest power, was not considered the main for the operation of the power plant in air combat. It was intended for use only in the most emergency, deadly situations for pilot. This provision is well confirmed by the analysis of flight data of one of the last German piston fighters - Messerschmitt BF 109k-4.

The main characteristics of BF 109K-4 are given in fairly extensive materials of the report prepared at the end of 1944 for the German Chancellor. The report covered the state and prospects of German aircraft construction and was preparing with the participation of the German Aviation Research Center DVL and leading aviation firms, such as Messerschmitt, Arado, Junkers. In this document, which is all grounds to be considered quite serious, when analyzing the capabilities of BF 109k-4, all its given data correspond only to the length of the length of the power plant, and the characteristics on the maximum power mode are not considered and not even mentioned. And it is not surprising. Due to the thermal overloads of the motor, the pilot of this fighter when a height with a maximum take-off weight could not even use the nominal mode and was forced to reduce the revolutions and, accordingly, power. When taken with less weight, the situation has improved not much. Therefore, it is simply not necessary to talk about some real increase in prats by applying an emergency mode (MW-50), simply.

On the above graph of the vertical velocity of the height set (in fact, this is a characteristic of railing) it is clearly seen what an increase could be given to the use of maximum power. However, such an increase is rather formal, since a set of height in this mode was impossible. Only in certain moments of the flight, the pilot could include the MW-50 system, i.e. Emergency power forcing, and even then, when the cooling systems had the necessary reserves on heat removal. Thus, the MW-50 forcing system, although it was useful, but was not vital for BF 109k-4 and therefore it was not far on all fighters of this type. Meanwhile, the Print publishes the BF 109K-4 data, corresponding to the emergency mode using MW-50, which is completely not characteristic of this aircraft.

The above mentioned well confirmed by the combat practice of the final stage of war. So, in Western press, the superiority of Mustangs and Spitfires is often said about the German fighters at the Western Theater of Military Action. On the Eastern Front, where air battles passed on small and medium heights, outside the competition were Yak-3 and La-7, which was repeatedly noted by the pilots of the Soviet Air Force. But the opinion of the German combat pilot V. Wolfruma:

The best fighters with whom I met in battle were North American Mustang R-51 and Russian Yak-9U. Both fighters have a clear advantage in the characteristics over Me-109, regardless of the modification, including Me-109k-4

By the beginning of the war, MiG-3 fighters were in a building much more than other machines. However, the "third" moment was still not mastered by the system pilots, the retraining of most of them was not completed.

In the near future, two regiments were formed on MiG-3 with a large percentage of familiar tests. This partly helped to eliminate the shortcomings of piloting. But still, MiG-3 lost even fighters I-6, widespread at the beginning of the war. Exceiving at the speed at the heights of more than 5000 m, on small and medium heights, he inferior to other fighters.

This is a disadvantage, and at the same time the advantage of the "third" mig. MiG-3 is a high-rise aircraft, all the best qualities of which were manifested at an altitude of more than 4500 meters. He found his application as a high-rise night fighter in the air defense system, where its large ceiling up to 12,000 meters and the speed at altitudes were decisive. So, MiG-3 was mainly used until the end of the war, in particular, guarding Moscow.

In the very first battle over the capital, July 22, 1941, MiG-3 shot down the enemy aircraft pilot of the 2nd separate fighter aircraft deck of Moscow air defense Mark Gallai. On the same plane, at the beginning of the war flew and won his first victory one of Alexander Tishrychkin.

Yak-9: "King" of modifications

The design office of Alexander Yakovlev, until the end of the 1930s, produced lungs, mostly sports aircraft. In 1940, Yak-1 fighter was launched in a series with excellent flight qualities. At the beginning of the war, Yak-1 successfully gave to the German pilots.

Already in 1942, Yak-9 began to enable our Air Force. The new Soviet car possessed high maneuverability, allowing to maintain a dynamic fight near the enemy at low and medium heights.

It was Yak-9 that turned out to be the most massive Soviet fighter Patriotic War. He was produced from 1942 to 1948, almost 17 thousand aircraft were built.

In the design of Yak-9 instead of heavy wood, Duralumin was used, which made the aircraft easier and left a place for modifications. It is the ability of Yak-9 to modernizations, it became its main advantage. He had 22 the main modifications, of which 15 were serially built. This is a front-line fighter, fighter-bomber, interceptor, escort, scout, passenger aircraft special purpose and training aircraft.

The most successful modification is the Yak-9U fighter, which appeared in the fall of 1944. It is enough just to say that his pilots called the "killer".

LA-5: disciplined soldier

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, German aviation had an advantage in the sky of the USSR. But in 1942, a Soviet fighter appeared, which could lead with German aircraft on equal terms - this is La-5, developed in the Lavochkin CB.

Despite his simplicity - in the cabin of La-5 there were even the most elementary devices like aircraftizant - the plane immediately liked the plane.

The new Lavochkaya aircraft had a strong design and did not fall apart even after dozens of direct hits. At the same time, La-5 had impressive maneuverability and speed: the time of magnitude is 16.5-19 seconds, speed above 600 km / h.

Another advantage of La-5 - he, as a disciplined soldier, did not perform the shape of the "Corkscrew" pilot, without directly the pilot order, and in case it fell into a corkscrew, then he left him on the first team.

La-5 fought in the sky over Stalingrad and Kursk Arc, the pilot-speech-speakers Ivan Kozhevub fought, it was on him that the famous Alexey Maresyev flew.

PO-2: Night bomber

The aircraft of the I-2 (U-2) is considered the most massive biplane in the history of world aviation. Creating an educational plane in the 1920s, Nikolai Polycarpov did not assume that for his unpretentious car there would be another, serious use.

During the Great Patriotic War, U-2 turned into an effective night bomber. In the Soviet Air Force, aviation shelves appeared, armed exclusively U-2. It was these biplans that fulfilled more than half of all the departures of Soviet bombers during the war years.

"Sewing machines" - so called the Germans of U-2, which bombed their units at night. One biplan overnight could make several combat departures, and given the maximum bomb load of 100-350 kg, the aircraft could reset the ammunition more than a heavy bomber.

It was on Biplans "Polycarpova fought the famous 46th Guards Taman Aviation Regiment. Four squadrons of 80 shutts, 23 of which received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. For courage and aviation skill, the Germans nicknamed girls Nachthhexen - "Night Witches." During the war years, the female airlock made 23,672 combat departures.

In total, during the war, 11 thousand biplanes U-2 were manufactured. They were produced at the air facility No. 387 in Kazan. Cabins for aircraft and avialers were produced serially and at the factory in Ryazan. Today it is the State Ryazan dashboard (GPPZ), which is part of CRT.

Only in 1959, U-2, renamed in 1944 in 1944 in honor of his creator, finished his impeccable thirty-year-old service.

IL-2: Winged Tank

IL-2 - the most massive combat aircraft in history, more than 36 thousand cars were released. Il-2 attacks brought huge losses to the enemy, for which the Germans called the Black Death attack, and among our pilots, as soon as this bombarder was not called, "humpbat", "Winged Tank", "Concrete Airplane".

The Il-2 series came out before the war itself - in December 1940. The first flight on it was made by the famous test pilot Vladimir Kokkinaki. These serial armored attack aircraft entered the arms at the beginning of the war.

The IL-2 attack aircraft became the main shock force of Soviet aviation. The key to excellent combat characteristics have become a powerful aircraft engine, an armored mouse required to protect the crew, as well as rapid aircraft guns and jet shells.

Above the creation of components for the most mass attack aircraft in history, the best enterprises of the country, including those incoming today in Rostex, worked. The leading enterprise for the production of ammunition for the aircraft was the famous Tula KB of instrument making. Transparent IL-2 flashlight glazing was made on the Lytkarinsky plant of optical glass. The assembly of engines for attack aircraft was carried out in the shops of the plant No. 24, today known as the enterprise "Kuznetsov". Screws for attack aircraft produced in Kuibyshev at the AviaGregat plant.

Thanks to the modern technologies at that time, IL-2 became a real legend. There was a case when the attachment returned from the departure and counted on it more than 600 hits. After the rapid repair, "winged tanks" again went into battle.

The Second World War was a war in which the air force played a key role in the battles. Prior to that, the aircraft could affect the results of one battle, but not on the course of the whole war. Huge jerks in the field of aerospace engineering led to the fact that the air front has become an important part of war effort. As it was of great importance, the opposing nations were constantly sought to develop new aircraft to defeat the enemy. Today we will talk about the top ten unusual aircraft of the Second World War, which you may have never even heard.

1. Kokusai ki-105

In 1942, during combat operations in the Pacific, Japan realized that it would need large aircraft, which could be delivered to provisions and ammunition necessary for making the Mary war against the Allied Troops. At the request of the government, the Japanese company Kokusai developed the KU-7 aircraft. This huge two-ball planper was large enough to transport light tanks. KU-7 was considered one of the greatest planners developed during World War II. When it became clear that martialctions In the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese military leaders decided to focus on the production of fighters and bombers instead of transport aircraft. The work on the improvement of KU-7 was continued, but she was slow pace.

In 1944, the Japanese military efforts began to endure the collapse. They not only quickly surrendered positions by rapidly moving allied troops, but also collided with the fuel crisis. Most Japanese objects of the oil industry were either captured, or the deficit of materials was tested, so the military were forced to start looking for alternatives. At first they planned to use cedar nuts to produce a substitute for oil raw materials. Unfortunately, the process dragged into and led to mass cutting Forests. When this plan fell out of the crash, the Japanese decided to supply fuel from Sumatra. The only way to do it was the use of the KU-7 long forgotten aircraft. Kokusai was installed on the plane two engines, expansion tanks, in fact, creating a flying fuel tank Ki-105.

The plan originally had a lot of flaws. First, to get to Sumatra, Ki-105 needed to spend all fuel reserves. Secondly, the Ki-105 aircraft could not transport crude crude oil, so the fuel was necessary to first produce and processed on the oilfield. (Ki-105 worked only on purified fuel.) Thirdly, Ki-105 would have spent 80% of fuel during the reverse flight, nothing would be left for military needs. Fourth, Ki-105 was slow and unmanent, which made it easy prey for fighters of the Allied troops. Fortunately for japanese pilotsThe war ended, and the program on the use of the Ki-105 aircraft was closed.

2. HENSCHEL HS-132

At the beginning of World War II, the Allied troops terrorized the infamous Piking bomber JU-87 Stuka. JU-87 Stuka reset the bombs with incredible accuracy, which led to huge losses. Nevertheless, when the allied aircraft reached higher performance standards, the JU-87 Stuka was not able to compete with fast and mannere enemy fighters. Not wanting to refuse the idea of \u200b\u200bpicketing bombers, the German aviation command ordered the creation of a new jet.

The design of the bomber proposed by the company "HENSCHEL" was rather simple. Engineers "Henschel" managed to create an airplane, which was incredibly fast, especially when dive. Due to the accent at speed and recruitment, the HS-132 model had a number of unusual features. The jet engine was located on the top of the aircraft. This, along with the narrow fuselage, demanded from the pilot to take a rather strange position during the control of the bombers. The HS-132 pilots were to lie on the stomach and look into the small glazed nose to see where to fly.

Lying position helped the pilot counteracts the power creating overload, especially when he rapidly gained her height to avoid hitting the Earth. Unlike most German experimental aircraft created at the end of the war, the HS-132 could deliver a lot of problems to allies if they were produced in large quantities. Fortunately for the Allied Ground Forces, Soviet soldiers seized the "Henschel" plant earlier than the construction of prototypes was completed.

3. Blohm & Voss BV 40

The key role in the victory of the Allies was played by the efforts of the US Air Force and the command of British bombardment aviation. The Air Force of these two countries produced countless raids on german troopsIn essence, having deprived their ability to wage war. By 1944, the Allied aircraft almost unhindered bombed by German factories and cities. Faced with a significant decrease in the efficiency of Luftwaffe (Naval Air Forces of Hitler's Germany), manufacturers of German aircraft began to offer ways to resist the opponent's air attacks. One of them was the creation of the BV 40 aircraft (the creation of the mind of the famous engineer Richard Fogt). BV 40 is the only well-known fighter.

Given the decline in the technical and material possibilities of the German aircraft industry, Fogt designed the planper as simple as possible. It was made of metal (cabin) and wood (the rest). Despite the fact that the BV 40 could even build a person who has no special skills and education, Fogt wanted to make sure that the planper will not be easily knocked down. Since he did not need the engine, he was very narrow fuselage. Due to the lying position of the pilot, the front of the plane was significantly trimmed. Fogt hoped that high speed and small size of the plane would make it invulnerable.

BV 40 rose into the air with two fighters BF 109. Once upon an appropriate height, towing airplanes "released" the planter. After that, the BF 109 pilots began their attack, to which BV 40 was connected later. To develop the speed necessary for the implementation of an effective attack, the planeber should have made a dive at an angle of 20 degrees. Given this, the pilot had only a few seconds to open fire on the target. BV 40 was equipped with two thirty million meters. Despite successful tests, the planper for some reason was not adopted. The German command decided to focus its efforts on creating interceptors with a turbojet engine.

4. Rotabuggy Raul Hafner

One of the problems faced by military commanders during World War II was the delivery of military equipment to the forefront. To solve this issue, countries experimented with various ideas. British aerospace engineer Raul Hafneru came to mind the crazy thought to equip all vehicles with helicopter propellers.

Hafner had many ideas on how to increase the mobility of the British troops. One of its first projects was Rotachute, a small autogyr (type of aircraft), which could be reset from the transport aircraft with one soldier inside. It was an attempt to replace parachutes during an airborne landing. When the idea of \u200b\u200bHafner did not fit, he took up two other projects - Rotabuggy and Rotatank. Rotabuggy's autogyro, ultimately, was built and passed the test.

Before attaching the rotor to the jeep, Hafner first decided to check what would remain after the car as a result of the fall. To this end, he loaded the jeep with concrete objects and dropped it from a height of 2.4 meters. Testing a car (it was "Bentley") passed successfully, after which Hafner has developed a rotor and tail to make it like an autogyro.

The British Air Force became interested in the Hafner project and held the first test flight Rotability, which ended in failure. Theoretical autogyr could fly, but it was extremely difficult for them. The Hafner project failed.

5. Boeing YB-40

When German bombarding campaigns began, the crews of the bombers of the Allied forces were faced with a rather strong and well-trained opponent in the face of Luftwaffe pilots. The problem was even more aggravated by the fact that neither the British nor Americans had effective escort fighters to conduct long-range combat. In such conditions, their bombers were defeated by defeat. The British command of bomber aviation ordered to go to night bombardments, while the Americans continued the daytime towers and carried big losses. Finally, the exit from the situation was found. They were the creation of a YB-40 escort fighter, which was a modified B-17 model equipped with an incredible number of machine guns.

To create the YB-40 Air Force, the US Air Force concluded a contract with the VEGA corporation. The modified aircraft B-17 appeared two additional turfs and double machine guns that allowed YB-40 to defend the frontal attacks.

Unfortunately, all these changes have significantly increased the weight of the aircraft, which caused problems during the first test flights. The battle of YB-40 was much slower than the rest of the bombers from the B-17 series. Because of these significant disadvantages, further work on the project YB-40 was completely discontinued.

6. Interstate TDR.

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles for various purposes, sometimes extremely contradictory, is a distinctive feature of military conflicts of the XXI century. And although unmanned aerial vehicles are usually considered a new invention, they were used during the Second World War. While the Luftwaffe command invests investment in creating unmanned managed rocketsThe United States of America were the first to put on with remote-manned aircraft. US Navy has invested in two projects to create unmanned aerial vehicles. The second ended with a successful appearance of a "flying torpedo" TDR.

The idea of \u200b\u200bcreating unmanned aerial vehicles arose in 1936, but was not implemented until the Second World War began. Engineers of the American television company RCA have developed a compact device for receiving and transmitting information that allowed the TDR control using a television transmitter. The US Navy leadership believed that the exact weapon would be crucial in a stopping of Japanese shipping, so it was ordered to develop an unmanned aerial vehicle. In order to reduce the use of strategic materials in the production of the TDR flying bomb, it was built mainly of wood and had a simple design.

Initially, TDR was launched from Earth by controlling crew. When it reached the height, it took it under the control of a specially modified TBM-1C Avenger torpedo stage, which, holding from TDR at a certain distance, directed it to the target. One Avenger squadron fulfilled 50 missions using TDR, making 30 successful strikes on the enemy. Japanese troops were shocked by the actions of Americans, as they, as it turned out, was resorted to the tactics of Kamikadze.

Despite the success of the strikes, the US Navy was disappointed in the idea of \u200b\u200bunmanned aerial vehicles. By 1944, the Allied troops had almost complete superiority in the air at the Pacific Theater of Military Activities, and the need to use a comprehensive experimental weapon disappeared.

7. DOUGLAS XB-42 MIXMASTER

In the midst of World War II, the well-known American aircraft manufacturing company "Douglas" decided to start developing revolutionary bomber aircraft to overcome the gap between light and high-altitude heavy bombers. "Douglas" focused her efforts on creating a high-speed XB-42 bomber, capable of overtaking the Luftwaffe interceptors. If Engineers were "Douglas" managed to make the aircraft fast enough, they would be able to give most The fuselage under the bomb load, reducing a significant number of defensive machine guns, which were present almost on all heavy bombers.

The XB-42 was equipped with two engines, which were placed inside the fuselage, and not on wings, and a pair of propellers rotating in different directions. Given the fact that the speed was in priority, the XB-42 bomber accommodate the crew of three people. The pilot and his assistant were inside the individual "bubble" lanterns located next to each other. The scorer was located in the nose XB-42. Defensive weapons were minimized. XB-42 had two remotely managed defensive turrets. All innovations paid off. XB-42 was able to develop speed up to 660 kilometers per hour and accompanied the bombs with a total weight of 3,600 kilograms.

XB-42 turned out to be an excellent advanced bomber, but by the time he was ready for mass production, the war has already ended. The XB-42 project was the victim of the variable wishes of the US Air Force command; He was rejected, after which Douglas began to create a bomber with a jet engine. XB-43 JetMaster turned out to be successful, but not attributed the attention of the United States Air Force. Nevertheless, he became the first American reactive bomber, having routed the way to create other aircraft of this kind.

The original XB-42 bomber is kept by the National Museum of Aviation and Cosmonautics and at the moment waiting for its queue for the restoration. During the transportation of his wings, the mysterious way disappeared, and no one had seen them.

8. General Aircraft G.A.L. 38 Fleet Shadower

Before the advent of electronics and high-precision weapons, airplanes were developed in accordance with a specific combat. During World War II, this need led to a number of absurd specialized aircraft, including General Aircraft G.A.L. 38 Fleet Shadower.

At the beginning of World War II, the United Kingdom faced a threat to the huge navy of Germany (Crygsmarine). German ships blocked English waterways and prevented rear security. Since the ocean is large, it was extremely difficult to explore the positions of enemy ships, especially before the appearance of radars. In order to be able to track the location of the ships of Crygsmarine, the Admiralty needed aircraft for observation flights that could fly at night at low speed and high height, intelligent the position of the opponent's fleet and reporting on them on the radio. Two companies - "Airspeed" and "General Aircraft" - at the same time invented two almost identical aircraft. However, the General Aircraft model turned out to be more strange.

Airplane G.A.L. 38 was formally biplane, despite the fact that he had four wings, and the length of the lower pair was three times less than the top. Crew G.A.L. 38 consisted of three people - a pilot, an observer who was in the glazed nose, and a radar located in the tail of the fuselage. Since the aircraft move much faster by battleships, G.A.L. 38 was arranged so to fly slowly.

Like most specialized aircraft, G.A.L. 38 Over time, became unnecessary. With the invention of radar, the Admiralty decided to focus on patrol bombers (for example, Liberator and Sunderland).

9. Messerschmitt ME-328

The ME-328 aircraft has never been adopted because the Luftwaffe and Messerschmitt company could not decide on the functions that he had to perform. ME-328 was a regular small fighter. The company "Messerschmitt" introduced three ME-328 models at once. The first was a small inspector fighter planter, the second was activated by pulsating air-reactive engines, and the third worked on ordinary jet engines. All of them had a similar fuselage and a simple wooden design.

However, since Germany desperately tried to find a way to reverse the running of the air war, Messerschmitt offered several ME-328 models. Hitler approved the ME-328 bomber having four pulsating air-jet engines, but it was not supplied to production.

Caproni Campini N.1 looks at the sound very similar to the jet aircraft, but is actually this is not. This experimental aircraft was designed to approach Italy to the reactive era. By 1940, Germany has already developed the world's first jetting plane, but held this project in the strictest secrecy. For this reason, Italy mistakenly considered a country that developed the world's first jet turbine engine.

While the Germans and the British were experimed with a gas turbine engine, which helped to light the first real reactive aircraft, the Italian engineer secreto Campini decided to create a "motocompressor air-jet engine" (Eng. Motorjet), which was installed in the nasal part of the fuselage. According to the principle of work, he was very different from the real gas turbine engine.

It is curious that the Caproni Campini N.1 aircraft had a small space at the end of the engine (something like an afternoon chamber), where the process of combustion of fuel took place. The engine N.1 was similar to the reactive front and rear parts, but the rest was fundamentally different from it.

And although the design of the engine of the Caproni Campini N.1 aircraft was innovative, its performance is not particularly impressed. N.1 was huge, cumbersome and unmanent. The large size of the "motocompressor air-reactive engine" was a deterrent for combat aircraft.

Because of its massiveness and disadvantages of "Motor-compressor air-reactive engine", the aircraft N.1 has developed a speed of no more than 375 kilometers per hour, much less than modern fighters and bombers. During the first test long flight, the nozzle camera N.1 "Ate" too much fuel. For this reason, the project was closed.

All these failures did not unite confidence in Italian commanders, who by 1942 there were more serious problems (for example, the need to protect their homeland) than useless investments in dubious concepts. With the beginning of World War II, Caproni Campini N.1 tests were completely stopped, and the aircraft was stored.

Soviet Union Also experimented with a similar concept, however, airplanes with a motor compressor air jet engine were never shipped to mass production.

Anyway, the prototype N.1 survived the second world War And now is a museum exhibit that demonstrates an interesting technology that, unfortunately, turned out to be a dead end.

Material prepared ROSEMARINA - on the article Listverse.com

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