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ANT-37 (DB-2)

In the fall of 1934, the USSR government ordered the AN Tupolev design bureau to create an ultra-long bomber with a bomb load of 1,000 kilograms. The development of a new type of aircraft involved the design team of PO O. Sukhoi. The project was based on the ANT-25 aerodynamic scheme with a large elongation wing, and also separate parts and aggregates ANT-36 (DB-1) were used.

Its creation began in 1934, and at first it was thought that the new aircraft could be built by making the necessary improvements and changes in the single-engine DB-1 (ANT-25). The installation of the "Gnome-Ron" engines with wooden two-bladed propellers was hoped to be fully borrowed after testing on the twin-engine fighter DI-8 (ANT-46). At the same time, almost all the forces of the designers of the Central Aerodynamic Institute during this period were thrown at the creation of an experienced ANT-40 (SB) bomber, from which they also hoped to use separate structural elements, solutions for linking systems and equipment. These circumstances allowed the developers to assume that the construction of a new long-range aircraft, designated the ANT-37, would not cause any particular difficulties.

However, as soon as the design department of TsAGI plunged into the design of the ANT-37, all participants in the events — from the ordinary calculator to the institute’s leaders — had to admit that things were not so simple. Work on the binding layout, deployed in early 1935, revealed the need for fundamental changes in the design of the DB-1, previously adopted as the original sample.

All these "discoveries" were voiced by the chief designer of the aircraft P.O. Sukhoi at the technical council held at TsAGI on January 4, 1935. At the next meeting, February 28, Pavel Osipovich said that his team had to completely redesign the entire aircraft. Initially with the ANT-37 they tried to use the constructive elements of single-engine ANT-25. In particular, when building the first prototype, they included separate units of the military version of the ANT-25 (DB-1) - a center section, aft fuselage, a landing gear, wing detachment spars, etc. But already in the process of construction, the designers gradually abandoned the use of these units or used them with very significant changes. In the correspondence concerning the ANT-37, it was stated: "The experience with this machine showed that the use of certain parts of some machines, when building others, should be treated with extreme caution: reworking to adapt old versions of aircraft parts to new options is extremely difficult and rarely successful . This disrupts the planned dates and increases the cost in all cases of replacing unsuitable units of old machines with new units. For example, a 37 bis machine without old parts will be made faster and cheaper."

In January 1935, the layout was approved, and on June 15, the construction of the first sample was completed. The next day, the plane was taken out to the airfield to start production tests. The first flight, which was led by test pilot KK Popov, was successful, and the aircraft was handed over for state tests.

The first ANT-37 was brought to the airfield at the end of June 1936. After performing several successful flights under the factory testing program, it was decided that with a slight delay in terms of terms the aircraft could be transferred to continue testing by the Air Force Scientific Research Institute. However, when making the next flight, on August 20, 1935, the first prototype of the ANT-37 collapsed in the air due to vibration of the tail. Test Pilot K.K. Popov and flight engineer MM. Yegorov was saved by parachute, another crew member was killed. The accident served as the basis for conducting a series of studies on the flutter and buffering of the structure, designed to eliminate these dangerous phenomena in all subsequent specimens.

Active preparations were made for the serial production of aircraft, which was planned to be deployed at plant number 18. The variant ANT-37, reworked for the needs of civil aviation, was also considered. The third instance of the bomber, completed by the plant by 52%, was completed in Moscow - the designers decided to set on it a flight range record for female crews and modernize the aircraft. To do this, they installed more powerful M-86 engines and three-blade VISH screws, equipped additional fuel tanks in the car and completely removed the armament.

The aircraft received the designation ANT-37bis (DB-2B) or “Motherland”. This copy was built for such a flight, it even had a special index - RD, which was decoded as the "Record of Range". The fuselage was left almost unchanged, but more powerful M-86 engines were installed in 950 hp. 800 hp on the ground at an altitude of 4200 m, VISH propellers were three-bladed. Armament was removed from the aircraft, the volume of tanks was increased, and the nose of the fuselage was retrofitted for a record flight. All work was done by the team of PO O. Sukhoi - the actual author of this aircraft.

In order for the record to take place, it was necessary to load the maximum amount of fuel. Seventeen tanks of fuel were placed wherever possible. In the cockpit there was an overflow tank. As the fuel in one of the large tanks was running out, it was necessary to have time to switch the faucet to a new tank. Therefore, the trouble of switching these seventeen tanks was enough for the whole long way.

On September 24-25, 1938, the crew, consisting of the commander V.S.Grizodubova, the second pilot P.D.Osipenko and the navigator M.M. Raskova, set the world record of non-stop flight for women. Having started at the Moscow airfield, the Rodina aircraft flew 5,947 km in 26 hours and 29 minutes and landed near Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Recognition of their merits was expressed in the ranks of Heroes of the Soviet Union. They were the first women to be awarded this title. In 1939, one of the very first Soviet color animated films “Taiga Friends” was shot, dedicated to the heroic pilots.

The fourth copy was also built - a copy of the “Motherland” with a wing-tank for flights over a distance of 12,000 km, but, unfortunately, it was not finished.