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ANT-35 (PS-35)

The development of a high-speed passenger twin-engine aircraft, designed to carry about 10 passengers, began in the design bureau as unplanned. In May 1934, Aviavnito Aviation Engineering and Engineering Society and Za Rulem newspaper announced a competition for high-speed transport aircraft. The technical requirements for single-engine and twin-engined airplanes included the creation of a machine with a flight speed of 400-450 km / h, a range of 1250-1500 km, a ceiling of 7500 m, capable of carrying 5-12 passengers with their luggage.

Several dozens of projects, mainly twin-engined airplanes, were submitted to the competition, and although none of them was implemented in practice, the digital indicators of the projects influenced the creation of new domestic passenger aircraft.

TsAGI did not participate in this competition, but A.N. Tupolev, on an initiative basis, decided as soon as possible to design and build a passenger aircraft based on the structural elements of the high-speed bomber ANT-40 (SB), which were being worked on at that time in the brigade of A.A.Arkhangelsky, who worked on PS-35 under the general guidance of A. N. Tupolev. According to its scheme, design and even the general appearance of the aircraft PS-35 resembled a high-speed bomber SB. This accelerated the design and construction of a prototype PS-35 and mastering mass production.

The design of the aircraft, which received the designation ANT-35 by the design bureau, began on August 1, 1935. ANT-35 was a twin-engine all-metal nizkoplan with retractable landing gear. From the ANT-40 were taken wing, tail, landing gear and a number of other units. The desire to get a greater flight speed determined the maximum possible "compression" of the cross-sectional dimensions of the fuselage and the use of additional measures to improve the interfacing of the airframe units, the quality of exterior trim. The aircraft was designed under the French engines Gnome-Ron 14Krsd "Mistral Major" with gearboxes (in the Soviet-built M-85 with a capacity of 860 hp). In the passenger cabin of the aircraft were placed 10 soft seats with folding backs, and the cabin itself was equipped with heat and sound insulation, general and individual ventilation, electric lighting and a heating system.

The ANT-35 was equipped with the necessary flight-navigation and radio communication equipment using the latest instruments and units (autopilot, radio compass, etc.), which distinguished it favorably from other domestic aircraft of that period that were in mass production and operation. All the latest advances in aviation science were introduced into the design of the ANT-35, which improved the aircraft's flight performance: a new type of hoods that supported directly on the cylinder heads of engines, an oil radiator in the toe of the wing, hydraulically-controlled guards, a continuous stabilizer with a working plating, rubber dampers in the attachment of engines to the wing, which favorably distinguished it from other domestic aircraft of that period, which were in serial production and operation.

The first flight experienced ANT-35 made on August 20, 1936 (the crew of test pilot M.M.Gromov). With a normal flight weight of 6,620 kg, the aircraft developed a maximum speed of 390 km / h, becoming at that time one of the fastest passenger aircraft in the world. In the fall of 1936, the experienced ANT-35 was demonstrated at the 15th Aviation Exhibition in Paris, generating a great deal of interest among the aviation public.

High-speed passenger aircraft, serialA significant drawback of the experienced ANT-35, as a passenger car, was the small height of the cabin. When launched into the series, it was decided to increase the height of the fuselage by 0.15 m. The new enlarged fuselage was made for the second ANT-35bis aircraft. The “doubler” was to be equipped with Wright Cyclone engines or their Soviet licensed counterparts, the M-62IR with a power of 820/1000 hp.

In March 1937, the construction of a "backup" began at the experimental plant No. 156. The aircraft was considered as the head for the series and in the fall of 1937 it was transferred for development to Plant No. 22, where the aircraft began mass production under the designation PS-35. In addition to the "understudy" in the pilot production there were two more ANT-35 aircraft, which were also transferred for completion. In total, in 1938-1939, plant number 22 passed 9 serial aircraft PS-35. The total release along with the first two was 11 aircraft.

This all-metal monoplane with two engines M-62IR with a power of 840/1000 hp had a retractable landing gear, excellent aeronautical equipment for flying at night and in adverse weather conditions. The passenger cabin, in addition to heat and sound insulation and heating, was equipped with general and individual ventilation and lighting. Not a single passenger aircraft serving the line of the Civil Air Fleet at that time had such comfortable conditions.

The mass serial production of the PS-35 aircraft was not adjusted, since in the second half of the 1930s a license was acquired for one of the world's best passenger and transport aircraft, the DC-3, produced under the designation PS-84 with the same engines. The aircraft had a significantly greater payload, passenger capacity and flight range. With the same engine power as the PS-35, it carried much more payload, albeit at a slightly lower speed.

For a number of years the PS-35 was used by the Civil Air Fleet for passenger traffic on the international routes Moscow-Prague, Moscow-Stockholm. Before the war, aircraft of this type flew on short-distance high-speed intra-Union lines (Moscow-Lvov, Moscow-Odessa). The PS-35 was intensively used as transport aircraft during World War II as part of separate transport detachments for transporting soldiers, paratroopers and partisans dropping behind enemy lines, transporting canned blood and medicines, as well as ammunition, fuel and food, for exporting Soviet units, caught in the environment. The aircraft was in operation until 1944.