Bartini T-117 transport

Bartini created the T-117 - main transport aircraft with two engines AL-73 with 2300/2600 horsepower. It was the first plane that allowed transport of tanks and trucks. There were also a passenger and sanitary versions with hermetic fuselage. The aircraft project was ready in the fall of 1944 and spring of 1946 is presented in the MAP. After positive Air Force and Civil Air Fleet conclusions after petitions and letters to a number of prominent aviation leaders (Khrunichev, G.F.Baydukova, A.D.Alekseeva, I.P.Mazuruka et al.) it was approved, and in July 1946, the construction of the aircraft was launched. In June 1948, construction of the aircraft was almost finished (80%), the project was discontinued because Stalin considered the use of engines AL-73, needed for strategic Tu-4, a luxury and have had the IL-12.

Since the late 1930s, the design office has brought together aviation engineers arrested by the dreaded secret police NKVD (People's Commissariat of Interior Affairs) on the basis of allegations made under the famous Stalin purges. These political persecutions, which were to create an atmosphere of fear and consolidate Stalin's absolutist power, did not miss many Soviet industry leaders, including aviation. Any failure in the test program of a prototype of a new airplane or mere defamation could mean an immediate end to career, arrest or even execution in this dark time for the self-recognized designer. Bartinimu became a fatal acquaintance ofh the "enemy of the people" Tuchachevsky. In addition, he was accused of alleged espionage for Italian fascist leader Mussolini. The NKVD came for him on February 14, 1938.

One of several projects developed by the Italian designer at CKB-29 became a T-117 tactical transport aircraft project. The opening project of this twin-engine horizons with an unusually wide (5 m) hull with a cross-section in the form of three mutually intersecting circles was seen in the autumn of 1944, and the MAP was introduced in the spring of 1946.

Because the T-117 air-cargo compartment had to be able to accommodate an armored transporter or truck (total weight up to 8 t), due to its large internal dimensions and stern ramp, as opposed to the cargo cabin of all the other Soviet aircraft, the MAP project of this aircraft was subsequently incorporated into the development plans for 1947. While the first prototype of the T-117 was to be handed over to the state examinations in May 1947 at the latest, the transfer of the prototype second was expected in April 1949.

The second T-117 was to be the first to distinguish especially by installing defense equipment. This was to consist of two moving 20 mm cannons installed in a SEB-3A-type derailed tower and a 12.7 mm LU-68 movable tailgate. In addition to the military transport version, which had the transport capacity of 80 fully armed soldiers, the development plans also included a civilian transport version. It should be able to carry 50 passengers with 500 kg of cargo at a distance of 1,600 km at an average speed of 365 km / h. The installation of stronger power units had the potential to transport up to 1.5 times more people.

The Technological 1:1 T-117 model aircraft in the military transport version was reviewed and approved by MAP in June 1947. The prototype construction of this machine was taken over by factory No. 86 from Taganrog. Its assembly began in July 1946. In this connection, the OKB-86 design office was established on the basis of the decree of 28 July of the same year. RL Bartini himself became the designer of this design office.

In June 1948, when the first prototype of this machine was already 80% technically ready, the entire T-117 program was stopped by JV Stalina. Fateful for this machine became its drive units in the form of 2,000 hp star-type engines AS-73. They were primarily designed for four-engine strategic Tu-4 bombers (Bull ). In addition, they also provided the propulsion of a twin-engined Il-12 ( Coach ) type airplane , which was already in mass production.

RL Bartini therefore worked on an alternative modification of this machine with the installation of a weaker 1,850 hp star-type engines of the AŠ-82FN type. At the same time, the T-117 aircraft, besides the ability to fly at a speed of 415 km / h at a height of 2000 m in configuration with a 4.3 t load, also secured a transfer range of 2,200 km. The project of the modified T-117 met the official green light. The date of the prototype transfer of the A-82FN engines powered by the T-117 to state exams was set for February 1949. Since the OKB-86 was canceled as part of the reorganization of the Soviet industry, the last modification of the T-117 never ended in the project.

After T-117 Bartini designed the T-200 - a special heavy military transport and landing aircraft, with a fuselage of high capacity lines which formed a wing profile and the trailing edge, opening up and down between the two tail boom, formed a passage width of 5 meters and a height of 3 meters for bulky cargo. The power plant of the aircraft was a combination: two piston engine of four-star-ASH 2800 horsepower (future) and two turbojets RD-45 at 2270 kg of thrust. Envisaged border management wing layer, which chord - 5.5 m (version of the T-210).

The project was developed in 1947, was approved, and the aircraft in the same year is recommended for the construction, but it is not built because of the closure of EDO. Subsequently, these developments were used to create transport aircraft at Antonov such as the An-8.