Soviet Combat Aircraft of the Second World War.

184 Pages·1998·86.44 MB·English

by  Yefim Gordon

SOVIET COMBAT AIRCRAFT - VOLUME ONE
Contents
OKBs DataTables
Introduction 6 Bereznyak-Isaev 15 A Lavochkin 174
Glossary ...........................12 Bisnovat ...........................17 B Mikoyan-Gurevich 175
Notes 13 Borovkov-Frolov 18 C PolikarpovBiplanes 175
ColourProfiles 180 Gudkov 20 D PolikarpovMonoplanes 176
Type Index 183 Ilyushin 20 E OtherFighterTypes 177
Kozlov 22 F YakovlevFighters ofthe FirstHalf
Lavochkin 22 ofthe SecondWorldWar 177
Mikoyan-Gurevich 64 G YakovlevFighters ofthe Second Half
Nikitin 84 ofthe SecondWorldWar 178
Pashinin 86
Polikarpov 86
Silvansky..........................118
Sukhoi 119
Tomashevich 121
Yakovlev 122
Yatsenko..........................172
5
SOVIET COMBAT AIRCRAFT - VOLUME ONE
Introduction
BILL GUNSTON
aBE FRAeS
Stalin's domain was a fairly closed society. Dmitri Khazanov have had the benefit not Well-known,butveryevocative,stateinformation
The rest ofthe world had little idea ofwhat only of long experience studying Soviet air photograph,showing'Sovietfighterplanesonan
airfield'.MiG-3sinavarietyofcolourschemes.
went on in the Soviet Union, and even after craftbutalsoofaccesstothe archivesofthe
PhilipJarrettcollection
OperationBarbarossa- the invasionbyNazi various design bureaux. Even after the col
Germanyon22ndJune 1941whichlaunched lapseoftherigidSovietsystemin1990quitea
whattheSovietUnioncalledTheGreatPatri few errors persisted where Soviet aircraft emigrated.Thefewthatwereleftwereorgan
oticWar- forseveralmonthsnearlyallthein wereconcerned. isedintogroupscalledanOKS(experimental
formationonSovietaircraftwasgleanedfrom construction bureau), administered by the
propagandamaterial putoutbythe German Sovietaviation centralised Glavkoavia, from 1939 renamed
enemy. Checking through a 1941 volume of One ofthe fewthings thatthe outsideworld the MAP (Ministry ofAviation Industry). De
TheAeroplaneSpotterIfound onlyone pho did knowaboutSovietaviationwas thatina spite the word 'construction', the real pur
tograph ofa modern Sovietaircraft that had Communiststatetherewereno'companies'. poseofthesebureauxwastodesignaircraft.
notbeencapturedbytheenemy.Itshoweda Iapologiseforretracingwhatmaybefamiliar Iftheyhadthefacilities, theyalsobuiltproto
MiG-3.Neverhavingheardofsuchanaircraft, ground, butthe systemwas sounlike thatin typesoftheirdesigns.
thecaption-writersaiditwasan'1-18...armed other countries that it may need to be ex Eachbureauwasallocatedafewtechnical
witheightmachineguns'! plainedyetagain. staffanda largernumberofmostlyunskilled
Todaywe can put such nonsense behind IntheearlydaysoftheSovietstateseveral workers. Everyone, especiallyseniordesign
us. IncompilingthisbookYefimGordonand of the most experienced aircraft designers ers,wasallocatedtoaparticularOKS,buttoa
6
INTRODUCTION
verylimiteddegreeindividualscouldchoose production capacity. After 1934 some ofthe almost all the Luftwaffe's bombers. Hitler
toworkelsewhere. largestnewfactorieswerebuiltfartotheEast, never intended to make his armies march
These bureaux undertook hardly any re in such places as Irkutsk, Gorkii, Rybinsk, 5,000 miles across Siberia to the Pacific. His
search.Thatwaslefttocentralisedestablish Khabarovsk and Novosibirsk. However, on reason for attacking the Soviet Unionwas in
ments, such as the Central Aviation and 22ndJune 1941 veryfewofthese newplants ordertotakeovertheoil-producingregionof
Hydrodynamics Institute (which had wind had been completed. More than 900/0 ofthe Azerbaijan. He then intended to set up a
tunnels) and the Central Institute ofAviation Soviet aircraft industrywas still in European guardedfrontieronorWestofthe Urals,and
Motors. Even more surprisingly, not onlydid Russia, and by 1943almosteveryfactory ex thencarryonthewaragainstBritain.
theOKBsnotbuildaircraftinquantitybutthey cept those within the cities of Moscow and WeBritishthoughthewouldbeabletoac
hadalmostno sayinwhere the aircraft they LeningradhadbeenoverrunbytheGermans. complish this. To quote the 'The Spotter'
had designed were built. If an aircraft was Thus,oftheaircraftinthisbookthatfinally again,on3rdJuly1941 itsaid'WhiletheLuft
deemedworthyofbeingmadeinquantity- in made it to production before June 1941, al waffe is primarily occupied on the Russian
some cases aftercompetitive trials between mosteverytypewasheldbackbytheneedto front, an immediate invasion ofthis country
rivalprototypes- theMAPwouldarrangeforit evacuatethefactoryandre-establishproduc does not seem likely. Such a state ofaffairs
to be put into production at a selected GAl tioneastofthe Urals. The effortthis entailed cannotbeexpectedtolast... thereseemslit
(StateAviationFactory) can be left to the imagination. It was not a tle doubt that Germany will be able to turn
Stalinwas intenselyconcernedwith mod case of simply loading everything on trucks from Russiatothe oneotherremainingfront
ernweapons,suchasaircraft.Hetookaclose and driving off. East ofMoscow most ofthe in Europe before the autumn is far ad
personal interest in their design, and in the roads petered outand became mere tracks, vanced... Wemustbepreparedtomeetand
designers. Though he was a hard man to thick mud in summer and rock-hard rutted defeat the full furyofthe Germanonslaught,
work for, and often thought that designers iceinwinter. Mostoftheevacuatedfactories turnedfromtheEasttotheWest...'
wouldworkharderiftheywereputinprison, andOKBsfoundthattheyhadbeenallocated This pessimistic beliefstemmed from the
hedidtrytogive theWS (airforce) the best anunsuitableexistingbuilding,ora fine new colossalGermanvictoriesofthefirstweekof
aircraft,andhedidtrytobuildupthe USSR's factorythatwasnotyethalf-finished. Barbarossa, which transcended anything
Oncethe evacuateddesignteamsandthe seen before in warfare. They strongly re
production factories had actually been able inforcedthepreviously-heldopinioninWest
toresumeworktheyhadonebigadvantage. ern countries that Sovietweapons might be
TheI-15bis,continueddevelopmentofthebiplane
TheSovietUnionwasagiganticcountry,and availableinimpressivequantity,butthatthey
fighter,buttherewasmoretocomefrom
Polikarpov.PhilipJarrettcollection the newlocationswere beyond the reachof weregenerallyinferiorandobsolete.
7
SOVIET COMBAT AIRCRAFT - VOLUME ONE
Polikarpov's1-153couldposequiteahandfultoa
Bf109Epilot.PhilipJarrettcollection
Eventhepilotsoftenhadonlyarudimenta
ry idea ofhow engines and aircraft systems
actually worked, and this handicap was
accentuatedinthe GreatPatrioticWar. Most
oftheshatteringlossesinthefirsttwoweeks
were sustained notinaircombatbutonthe
ground. This usually left the pilot intact but
unemployed, but such was the Luftwaffe's
commandoftheairthatby1942over70%of
the pre-war pilots had been killed or cap
tured. WS flying training schools found the
onlywaytheycould copewithdemandwas
by shortening the period ofinstruction (this
policywasfairlysoonreversed).
Ingeneral the Sovietfighters were notde
signed for inexperienced pilots, and indeed
Therequirements This posed severe problems to aircraft with wereparticularlychallenging.Accordingly,by
Though Czarist Russia was home to a large liquid-cooled engines, and to the lubrication anystandardthenumberofseriousaccidents
number of pioneer designers, in the 1920s ofeverymovingpart.Italsomeantthatinwin wasunacceptable.
mostaircraftintheSovietUnionwere offor teranyaircraft, evena fighter, mighthave to
eignorigin.Eventhoseinproductionwereto operateonskis. Aircraftdesign
alargeextentbasedonforeigndesigns.How Consideration of landing gear was made Anyobjectivestudyoftheaircraftinthisbook
ever, to a far greaterextentthan the outside moredifficultbythefactthatinalandwarthe must make it clearthat the Sovietdesigners
world realised, these early types were re battlefront is unlikely to stay in the same didnot,aswascommonlysupposedbyWest
placed by aircraft of totally Soviet design. place. Even the unique experience ofstatic ern observers inJune 1941, merelycopythe
Though obviously constrained by the avail trenchwarfareintheFirstWorldWardidnot creationsoftheirforeigncounterparts.Whilst
able engines- and toa considerable degree blind the Soviet commanders to this fact. In pursuingallthe expectedconfigurations,So
the engines thatwere available for front line theGreatPatrioticWarthefrontoftenmoved viet designers tried many others. For exam
service did remain derivatives offoreign de 30 miles (48km) in a day, and altogether ple, the Kozlov EI had a variable-incidence
signs even to the end of the Great Patriotic moved East 1,000 miles (1,600km) and then wing,andtheNikitinISfamilyhadretractable
War- theSovietdesignerswereforcedtocre backagain. Insuchanenvironmentallcom lower wings. Several fighter prototypes had
ate aircraft able to meet a particularly chal bat aircraft had to be able to operate from boosterrockets(two,theLa-7RandSu-7,are
lenging set ofrequirements. Merely copying hastilypreparedairfields. featured here) and the BI rocket interceptor
Westernaircraftwouldhavebeenshortsight Between September 1941 and April 1945 had no parallel elsewhere except the much
ed,asprovedbythefactthatmanyBritishand theWSconstructionbattalionscreated8,545 more tricky and dangerous Me163 Komel.
Americanaircraftsuppliedin 1941-44proved front line airfields (in addition to over 1,300 Polikarpov's last aircraft, left incomplete at
unabletostanduptotheenvironment. much better ones elsewhere in the Soviet hisdeath,wastheMalyutka(littleone),anat
From its birth, the Sovietstate was preoc Union). Usually the surface of the front-line tractiverocket-enginedfighter. Perhapseven
cupiedbytheideaofattackbyahostileneigh airfieldwasgrass,sandorearth,oftenfreshly more advanced in technology, ramjet en
bour (as indeed happened). The entire clearedofscruboreventrees.Overvastareas gines were tested on several Sovietfighters,
country was divided into Military Districts, the surfaceinsummerwassoftmud orbog, includingtheLa-7PVRDincludedhere.
andtheCommanderofeachwasanarmyof andoverfourmillionstraighttreetrunkswere The authors deliberately confined them
ficer with authority over all arms in that re used to make runways. Such surfaces were selvesinthisbooktotypesthatwereactually
gion. The WS (air force) was thus from the too severe for Western fighters, such as the built.Hadtheyincludedunbuiltprojectsthey
outset seen as an adjunct to the army and Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire (the Bell P-39 could have added many more that nobody
othergroundforces. Indeed,inthe 1920sthe Airacobrawasawelcomeexception). couldeverhavesaidweretheresultofplagia
first Sovietair operations were in support of Amajorproblemwasthefactthatin 1941 rism. For example, Belyayev's never-com
forcesbroughtagainstinternalrebels,notably 44 more than two million men and women pletedEOIseatedthepilotina totallyglazed
inTurkestan. Thus, the primarymissionwas joinedtheWSinvariousgroundduties.Afew nosewiththeenginebehindhim.Moskalyev,
closeairsupportofgroundtroops.Airopera hadexperiencewithtrucks andtractors, but whohadin1935actuallyflownhiscomplete
tionsbecamepolarisedaround the ideaofa most had no technical training whatsoever. ly tail-less SAM-7 Sigma, almost completed
battlefront. Despitesustainedattemptstorectifythissitu the push/pull SAM-13 (which had a tail) be
Where fighters were concerned, the pri ation, it had always been taken for granted forehavingtoevacuatetoOmsk.
maryrequirementswereseenasspeed,rate that the general level oftraining ofservicing In1941themostexperiencedSovietfighter
ofclimb and, especially, manoeuvrability in personnelwouldbeextremelybasic.Evenas designerwas NikolayPolikarpov. Inthemid
close combat. Where Sovietaircraftdiffered late as 1943 many aircraft were unwittingly 1930s WS fighter pilots were no different
from most others was in the environment. rendered unserviceable by 'brute force and fromthoseinothercountriesinlikingagilebi
Nowhereelsemightfighters have tooperate ignorance' methods, andthe basicdesignof planeswithopencockpits,andhatingmono
in ambient temperatures ranging from 40° theaircraftalwayshadtobearthispossibility planeswithenclosedcockpits.Caughtinthe
(104°F) in summerto-50° (-58°F) inwinter. inmind. middle,ourNikolaydidhimselfnofavoursby
8
INTRODUCTION
creating,intheTsKB-12,whichledtothe1-16, particularnationalcharacteristicsincorporat These figures inevitablysuggest that, having
anunnecessarilytrickymonoplane.Heprob ed. Theseare examinedunderthe following massiveenginesinsmallairframes, theSovi
ablywas influencedbyBoeing's P-26,which subheadings. etfightersmusthavehadpoormanoeuvrabil
wastrickyenough,butIcan'thelpfeelingone ity, very high take-off and landing speeds
onlyhadtogivethe1-16asingleglancetosay Airframe (implying the need for a long run) and very
'Not for me!' Half a century later designers Itseemscommonsenseforafighterdesigner short radius of action, suffering all these
began deliberately to create fighters that 60 years ago to have made his airframe the penaltiesinordertoachievefantasticspeed.
werelongitudinallyunstable,butin1933such smallest possible structure that could still Tosomedegreethisassessmentwasindeed
aircraftwereliabletocrash,evenwithoutthe house the engine, fuel, pilotand armament. true of the MiG, but the Lavochkin and the
assistanceofanenemy. ThistendencyshowedinSovietfightersmore Yakovlevhadexcellentmanoeuvrability,and
In parallel, Polikarpov continued with his than in any other country. Of course, there couldoperatefromthesamekindoffrontline
biplanefighters,andtookthistechnologyfur wereafewexceptions,butingeneraltheair airstripasanyotherwartimefighters.
therthaninanyothercountry.Versionsofhis craft in this book were characterised by big Moreover, themostsurprisingthingisthat,
1-153notonlyhadretractablelandinggearbut enginesinsmallairframes. despite bolting huge engines into small air
also 20mm cannon, rockets, a turbosuper To get a lot of information into a small frames, the Soviet fighters were if anything
charger and a pressurised cockpit, though space the following table compares some slower than average. Of the aircraft picked
not all at once on the same aircraft! In the mass-produced Soviet fighters with impor out for comparison, the slowest was the
handsofaskilledandaggressivepilot,thePo tantcounterpartsinothercountries. JapaneseA6M,whichatitsbestheightcould
likarpov1-153 could pose quite a handful to reach 351mph (564krn/h). This is because it
thepilotofaMesserschmittBf109E,andwas had the least powerful engine. At their opti
SovietFightersandtheirContemporaries
far superior to the Italian Fiat CR.42 which mum altitudes the three Soviet fighters had
stayedinproductionevenlonger. maximum speeds of 397, 375 and 401mph
EngineCapacity WingArea
Despite the attractions of the biplane, by (638,603and645km/h),whereastheSpitfire
1935 itwas fast becoming accepted all over in](li/res) ff(m2) IXand P-51Dreached 408 and 437mph (656
theworldthatthewaytodesignafighterwas MiG-3 2,847 (46.66) 187.7 (17.43) and703krn/h)respectively.Thismatterisdis
toputthe mostpowerfulavailable engine in Spitfire 1,649 (27.0) 242.2 (22.5) cussedlaterundertheheading'Engines'.
thefrontofthefuselage, drivingatractorpro La-S 2,514 (41.2) 186.0 (17.27)
peller,andputa monoplanewinginthe low A6M'Zero' 1,696 (27.8) 241.5 (22.43)
position,withanenclosedcockpitabovethe Yak-3 2,142 (35.1) 160.0 (14.86)
The1-16tookthePolikarpovsmallfighter
trailing edge. The vast majority of Soviet P-Sl Mustang 1,649 (27.0) 233.0 (21.64)
formulaintomonoplaneformat,withequal
wartimefightersadoptedthislayout,butwith success.PhilipJarrettcollection
9
SOVIET COMBAT AIRCRAFT - VOLUME ONE
Apartfromthebasiccharacteristicofa big Engines Tempest II and Fury which were some
engineinasmallairframethemostoutstand Despitesustainedeffortsbytheenginedesign 50mph(80km/h)faster. Injustthesameway,
ingfeatureoftheSovietwartimefighterswas bureaux and the central institutes, it was whena teamunderIGLazarevhastilyfitted
the widespread use of wood, and wood probablyinthe matterofenginesthatSoviet anM-82(ASh-82)intoaMiG-3theresultwasa
derivedmaterials.Thisreflectedthefactthat fighter designers found it most difficult to greatdisappointment.Laterin1942aproper
theSovietUnion,whileithadlimitlessforests compete. The most important engine family lyengineeredinstallationwasachievedinthe
andquitealotofironorewithwhichtomake forfightersin1941-45wasthatderivedbyVYa AircraftYe, or1-211, and this was the fastest
steel,hadverylimitedindigenoussuppliesof KlimovfromtheFrenchHispano-Suiza12Yof Sovietfightereverflownatthattime.
bauxite with which to make aluminium. In 1934. This had 12 cylinders in V-form, and A particularly instructive comparison can
1942-44 the Western Allies shipped to Mur though a refined engine with a 20-year her be made betweenthe LaGG-3 and the La-5.
mansk and Archangel over 250,000 tons of itage behind it, itwas fundamentally unable The LaGG was a typical Sovietfighter ofthe
aluminium ingots, but this could not have to sustain the rotational speeds and boost 1939-40 era, with a small wooden airframe
beenforeseen.Accordingly,eventhoughthe pressuresoftheBritishRolls-RoyceMerlin.In and a big M-I05 (VK-I05) engine. Despite
SovietUnionhadmadegreatstridesindevel 1941 the typical fighter Merlin (not the new frantic improvements it was indifferent in
opingawide range oflightalloys, fighterde 60-series with a two-stage supercharger), of combat, and large numbers of LaGG pilots
signerswerestronglymotivatedtousewood 1,649in3(27litres) capacity, hada maximum werekilledduringtraining.'LaGG'wassaidat
asmuchaspossible. powerof1,470hp(1,230kW)at3,000rpm.On the time tomeanLakirovanniiGarantirovan
By1941 teamsattheVIAM(All-UnionInsti fuel of94/95octane, the Sovietengine made niiGrob,meaning'varnishedguaranteedcof
tute for Aviation Materials), and in several in the greatest numbers, the VK-I05, could fin'. After Lavochkin replaced the VK-I05 by
GAZ, had developed wood construction fur notgivemorethan1,260hp(940kW)andusu anASh-82theaircraftwastransformed,even
therthaninanyothercountry.Apartfromtra allyonly 1,150hp (858kW), at 2,700 rpm, de tually becoming a fighter in which a skilled
ditional techniques with machined solid spite having a capacity of 2,141in3 (35.09 pilotcouldrackupagoodscoreevenagainst
woodand ordinaryply, therewere two new litres). ,109sand'190s(IvanKozhedubscored62).
techniques. One, called shpon, consisted of The onlyotherfamily ofliquid cooled en One cannot help but be bemused by a
thin(typically1mm)veneers,usuallyofbirch, gines available from production were even widespread belief, even in the Soviet Union
wrapped to form a skin over a male die less suitable for small fighters. AAMikulin's butespeciallyinBritainandFrance,thatfight
(sometimesovertheactualunderlyingstruc 'AM' series had the same V-12 layout, but ers had to have liquid-cooled engines. Prop
tureofframesandstringers).Asecondsheet, used cylinder blocks derived from the Ger erly installed, the air cooled radial was less
like the first - a long band perhaps 20-40cm man BMW VI, with a capacity of 2,847in3 vulnerable, lighter, offered roughly equal
wide-wouldthenbegluedoverthefirst,with (46.66litres).Suchabigengineoughttohave drag, worked better in cold environments,
thegrainrunninginadifferentdirection.The beeninthe2,000+ hp(1,490+ kW)class,but andprobablywasshorterandthusenhanced
finished structure mighthaveas manyassix in fact they were designed originally for dogfightmanoeuvrability.Towardstheendof
layers. bombers, and even at full throttle had low the war the British Hawker and Japanese
Theothertechnique,deltadrevesina(delta crankshaftspeeds. Otherthingsbeingequal, Kawasaki companieswere surprised to find
wood), involved impregnating each layer of an engine's power is proportional to the the radial engine to be superior, while
veneer with resin adhesive. After this had speedofrotationofitscrankshaft.TheAM-35 YakovlevputanASh-82FNintoaYak-3tocre
soakedin,theplieswerethenbondedtogeth had a governed speed of only 2,050rpm ate- sohetoldthewriter- thebestofallthe
erunderpressure. This was used mainlyfor (compared with 3,000 for the Merlin), and wartimefighters.
stiffprimarystructures,suchaswingspars.In thusdespiteitssizeandmassiveweightgave
aboutDecember1940theimportedresinwas only1,200hp(895kW).TheAM-35Awasrated Armament
replaced bylocallyproduced sheets ofphe at1,350hp(1,007kW). Italwaysamazedthewriterthat, lackingnei
nol-formaldehyde adhesive with a trace of Oneoftheunexpectedmajorsuccesssto thermoneynordesignanddevelopmentca
borax. After bonding at 150°C the material ries was A D Shvetsov's 14-cylinder radial, pability, the British and Americans should
wascalledbakelite-ply. originally designated M-82 and in 1941 - in have fought their greatest war with aircraft
The operating environment of what was conformity with the new designer-based guns designed in the FirstWorld War. Even
calledtheEasternFrontintheSecondWorld scheme- rechristened the ASh-82. This had stranger,theBritishselectedforeigndesigns.
Warwas the harshesttowhichaircrafthave air-cooled cylinders based on those of the The Soviet Union, like the Germans, recog
ever been subjected. It is remarkable that AmericanWrightR-1820Cyclone(whichhad nisedthatitisnotagainstthelawsofnatureto
woodenstructurescouldstanduptoit,espe a single rowofnine cylinders) butwithcon designone'sownguns,andtrytomakethem
ciallyastheyfrequentlyhadtospendlongpe siderable development by Shvetsov, in the thebestintheworld.
riodsintheopen. Inwintergreatcarehadto course ofwhichhe reduced the stroke from Thus, designers had a large and growing
exercised to try to keep aircraft clean, be 174.5mm to only 155mm. This resulted in a rangeofweaponstochoosefrom.Inthe1930s
causeslush, mudand oilwouldfreeze rock compact engine with an overall diameter of theShKASwastherifle calibreweapon.This
hard, adding weight, causing aerodynamic only 49.6in (1,260mm). With a capacity of took a 0.30 cal (7.62mm) cartridge fed by a
turbulence and preventing landing gear re 2,514in3(41.2litres),theASh-82FNwasquali belt at the outstandingly high rate of 1,800
tractionorcontrolsurfacemovement. fiedinearly1942at1,630hp(1,215kW),rising rounds per minute. ABritish fighter of 1940
Of course, it was also essential to devise to1,850hp(1,380kW)on100octanefuel. with five ShKASwould have had greaterhit
safefrontlinemethodsforrepairingdamage. Avital factor in any radial-engined fighter tingpowerandmorestrikespersecondthan
This was crucial where the damage was to wasthewaytheenginewasinstalled.Forex with eight Brownings, besides saving over
primarystructure,suchasadeltawingsparor ample, even though the first Bristol Centau 66lb(30kg)inweight. In 1937thelightweight
asteeltubefuselage. Damagerepairandthe rus-enginedTornadoin 1941 wasfasterthan UltraShKASfiredat2,700roundsperminute,
quickreturntooperationalservice9fcombat anypreviousHawkerfighter,afteracaptured a remarkable figure for a single barrel gun,
aircraftwasbroughttoa fine art, eveninthe Focke-WulfFw190 had beenstudied the in butbythistimeitwasrecognisedthatheavier
frontlineinwinter. stallation was redesigned, leading to the calibreswereneeded.
10
INTRODUCTION
FirstoftheSovietcannon,andthefamilyof sible, RAFfighterswouldhavesix20mmHis testedbutusedinaction.Themainreasonfor
related designs made in the greatest num pano cannon. Later in 1941 it was decided suchgunswastodestroytanks,buttheywere
bers,the 20mmShVAKwasintroducedfrom that four would be adequate, and this re alsousedinaircombat.Asinglehitonahos
1936. The designation came from designers mained standard British fighter armament tile aircraft, even on a wingtip, was usually
Shpital'nyi and Vladimirov and Aviatsionnyi until 1955.ThiswasimpossiblewiththeSovi enough.
Krupnokalibre(aviation,largecalibre).Again, etfighters untillateinthewar,whenthreeor In1941theWesternAllieswereintriguedto
this gun was dramatically superior to the fourShVAK, oreventhree orfourofthe new hearthatSovietaircraftwereattackingtanks
RAF's ancient Hispano, firing projectiles of 23mmNS-23,werefittedtotheLa-7andLa-9, withrockets.Suchweaponshadbeendevel
the same calibre atapproximatelythe same but they were the exceptions. The problem opedintheUSSRaheadofallothercountries,
muzzle velocity, at a higher cyclic rate (800 wasnotsomuchshortageofgunsasthefun and by 1941 they had been made to fly in a
rounds perminuteinsteadof650), yetbeing damental difficulty was installing cannon in predictable manner, stabilized by spinning
much more compact and weighing 92.61b thesmallairframes. about the longitudinal axis. The commonest
(42kg) compared with 109lb (49.4kg). Vari Most ofthe USSR's wartime fighters pow pattern, the RS-82 (3.23in, 82mm, calibre),
antsofthisextremelyreliablegunwerefitted ered by a single liquid cooled engine had a was used by the million. Most of the mass
to something like 850/0 ofall Soviet wartime cannonfittedinthetraditionalHispano-Suiza produced Soviet fighters were cleared to
fighters. fashionbetweenthecylinderbanksoftheen launchtheseweapons,whichwereonocca
To provide an intermediate calibre, the gine, with the barrel passing through the re sionusedagainstenemyaircraft.TheYak-9B
Beresincame intouse in 1940. MYe Beresin duction gear and propeller shaft. As this evenhadaninternalbombbay.
quicklydeveloped itas the UBS for synchro meantthatthe gun's recoilforce was onthe
nized installations, the UBKfor wing mount aircraftcentre line, passing close to the cen I have no hesitation in claiming that this
ing and also the UBT for bomber turrets. tre of gravity, it became possible to' install volume, together with the one dealing with
Though it had the same 12.7mm calibre as gunsoftremendouspower. twin-engined fighters, attack aircraft and
the '50-calibre' Browning, it weighed only ThefirstmoveinthisdirectionwastheVYa bombers, are the first tocovertheSovietair
47lb(21.4kg)comparedwith64lb(29kg),and of 1940, a gunwhose powerwas far greater craft ofthe Great Patriotic War comprehen
yet fired projectiles weighing 1.7 ounces thanthesmallchangeincalibreto23mmsug sivelyandwithouterrors.
(48g) at the rate of 1,050 rounds perminute gests. Compared with the 20mm ShVAK, it
with a muzzle velocity of 2,789fVsec (850 fired a projectile more than twice as heavy
m!sec), compared with the Browning's 1.1 withhighermuzzlevelocity,atacyclicrateof
ounces (33g) projectiles fired at 750 rounds 500 rounds per minute. Using AP ammuni
per minute with a muzzle velocity of 2,749 tion, it could pierce 1in (25mm) of armour
fUsec(838m/sec). . evenatarangeofabout0.6miles(1km).
Inthe GreatPatrioticWarthe Beresinand Sovietleaders always liked bigness, espe
the ShVAK were overwhelmingly the most ciallyinweapons, andbefore the end ofthe
important fighter guns. The main problem warvariousfighters had testedgunsofup to
wasthatthesmallSovietfightersfounditdiffi 2.24in (57mm) calibre. In my opinion, the
cult to accommodate them in numbers. In awesome57mmgunswerenotpractical,but
LavochkinLa-7witha PolikarpovUTI-4lead-in
Britainin1941itwasdecidedthat,wherepos- the 37mmand 45mmcalibreswere notonly trainerbehind.PhilipJarrettcollection
11