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ANT-29 (DIP-1)

Until the early 1930s, combat aircraft were mainly equipped with small arms (7.62 mm machine guns). But the outlined transition to a new tactic of air combat demanded to move from firing from close range to firing at long distances. However, with increasing shooting distance, the probability of hitting enemy aircraft decreased. To compensate for this decrease in probability, it was necessary either to increase the number of machine guns, or to increase their rate of fire, or to increase the caliber, i.e. make a transition for equipping gun armament.

The emergence of the first recoilless aircraft dynamo-jet guns (DRP), developed under the leadership of L.V. Kurchevsky, influenced the development of the requirements of the Red Army air forces to fighter aircraft armed with such instruments. In 1923, the head of the workshop of the auto-laboratory at the Committee for Inventions L.B. Kurchevsky filed an application for the invention of a recoilless gun, the so-called dynamo-active cannon (DRP). The recoillessness was achieved by removing part of the powder gases through the nozzle in the breech breech. During the year several samples of 57 mm guns were manufactured and tested.

In September 1924, L.V. Kurchevsky was arrested by the OGPU "for plundering state property" and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment with serving a term in the Solovetsky special-purpose camp. In January 1929, he was released early. Returning to Moscow, L.V. Kurchevsky with great enthusiasm took up the interrupted work. Over the next two years, he developed designs of PSDs of caliber 37 mm, 76.2 mm, 100 mm and more, which were supposed to be used not only in aviation, but also in ground forces and in the Navy.

For the first time, the UHVS informed the CB of tentative requirements for a two-seat cannon fighter on June 26, 1930. A year later, on June 26, 1931, the design bureau received the updated TTT for a new aircraft, which received the designation ANT-29 (design bureau DIP-1) by the design bureau. At the end of December 1932, the final requirements for the DIP cannon fighter with two M-34 engines with 750 hp each appeared.

The aircraft was designed around the gun. The APK-8 gun of caliber 102 mm and 4 m in length protruded beyond the forward contour of the fuselage, and its gas exhaust pipe ended at the wheel of a direction. In addition to the DRP, in the center wing section, 2 machine guns and 1 turret machine gun were installed at the shooter-observer. For the ANT-29, a two-engine cantilever low-profile with an all-metal structure with a smooth skin (one of the first in the USSR) and a retractable chassis was adopted. The cockpit of the pilot and the gunner were closed. The scheme was the development of ANT-21 (MI-3), but with smaller geometrical sizes and more perfect.

The design and construction of the car began in 1932, the design was carried out by a team led by P.O. Sukhoi. During the design, the design has undergone a number of changes: the wing, tail part of the fuselage, and the plumage have changed. The power plant was reoriented to imported French engines Hispano-Suiza 12 Ybrs with 760 hp each. (launched in the USSR in the series under the designation M-100). By early February 1935, the plane was ready and on February 3 it was sent to the airfield for testing. February 14, 1935 test pilot N. Blagin for the first time raised the ANT-29 into the air. Test flights continued until March 28, 1936. The conclusions made on the basis of the begun tests were not very encouraging: the aircraft proved to be unstable with all possible changes in operational alignments, the elevator and heading required revision; the engine cooling system required complete rework. New weapons, landing gear, radio equipment required testing. After four test flights the plane was sent for rework. At the beginning of November, flights on the modified ANT-29 resumed. Test flights were conducted by pilot S.Korzinschikov. State tests were to begin in the first half of 1936.

March 28, 1936 was followed by an order to stop work on the aircraft ANT-29. The decision to stop further work on the DIP aircraft was mainly due to the lack of a 100 mm caliber APK-8 dynamo-jet cannon, the prototype aircraft was equipped with a mock-up of this gun. One of the reasons for the cessation of work was the fact that the DRP did not justify the hopes placed on them, and in the future, with an increase in the power of on-board fighter design fighters focused on high-speed aircraft guns and missiles.