Zhukovsky Central AeroHydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI)
The Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after Professor N.E.Zhukovsky" is the world's largest center of aviation science. For the first time in world practice, the institute united fundamental scientific search, applied research, design development, production and testing of experimental aircraft. TsAGI, which is also known as the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, was founded in Moscow in 1918. In the 1920's and 30's, TsAGI projects ranged from prototype airplanes to aero-sleds and from torpedo boats to wind-generated electricity. Gradually, the main direction of TsAGI evolved and centered upon aerodynamic research.
TsAGI has a unique experimental base enabling fundamental research and applied investigations on aerodynamics, flight dynamics and strength of aerospace vehicles. TsAGI's test facilities include a complex of wind tunnels and gasdynamic research installations, static and dynamic strength labs, thermal strength and acoustic chambers, propulsion system and compressor test benches, an air-power generating complex. Wind tunnels and gasdynamic research installations complex contains more than 100 facilities ensuring simulation of flight at velocities from 5 m/sec up to M = 20.
The founder of modern aviation science, Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovskiy, who V.I.Lenin called the "father of modern aviation", was the director of TsAGI. The brilliant theoretician, Sergey Alekseyevich Chaplygin, became his assistant. The decision concerning the creation of TsAGI, made against a background of an intense struggle with foreign intervention and internal counterrevolution, was graphic proof of the foresight of the Communist Party and its understanding of the tremendous role, which science must play in transforming backward Russia into a powerful socialist state.
The founder of TsAGI - Professor of the Imperial Technical School and Moscow State University Nikolai Zhukovsky - had very deep knowledge in higher mathematics and engineering. It is not surprising that around this person a collective of students, obsessed with the idea of practical aeronautics, rallied. His theoretical work in the field of aviation, practical experience in the creation of wind tunnels in Moscow State University, IMTU and Kuchino, and research conducted in these laboratories served as the foundation for the development of aviation science in Russia.
In 1918 students and students of N.E.Zhukovsky managed to persuade his teacher to turn to the new authorities with a proposal to create a complex scientific center in Soviet Russia. The creation of a powerful Soviet aviation industry was the durable and reliable basis for the subsequent development of Soviet aviation. The Party confronted the scientists and designers with the problem of achieveing new heights in the development of Soviet aviation science and technology. The Communist Party and the Soviet Government, supported the proposal of the outstanding scientist, N. Ye. Zhukovskiy, and made the decision to create the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute - TsAGI.
The initiative of Professor Zhukovsky was supported by the head of the Scientific and Technical Department of the Supreme Council of the National Economy N.P.Gorbunov, and on December 1, 1918, the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (abbreviated to TsAGI) began work. After the death of N.E. Zhukovsky in 1921 TsAGI was headed by his colleague - SA Chaplygin, a prominent scientist in the field of mechanics, who made a major contribution to the formation of the scientific image of the institute.
The Soviet Government charged TsAGI with the formation of the scientific bases of aviation and other new technology, in which definite importance belonged to such disciplines, as aerodynamics, hydrodynamics and strength of materials. Along with this, at the Institute for a period of almost eighteen years (from 1918 to 1936) there were accomplished under the leadership of the outstanding scientist-engineer of our time, A. N. Tupolev, the design and cinstruction of aircraft, many of which, thanks to their remarkable qualities, brought glory to our country. By combining the experimental and theoretical methods of research for the purpose of solving the most urgent problems brought forward by practice, the Institute created a reliable foundation, which ensured the successful development of Soviet aviation and other new technology.
TsAGI, even in this period and in all the subsequent years, gave a great deal of attention to the research and works, connected with the requirements for strengthening the defense of the Soviet State. In the Scientific-and-Technical Committee of the Main Adminstration of the Air Force (GUVVF) the TsAGI scientists, together with military pilots and engineers, solved important problems concerned with design improvements, completion and flight testing of the "Il'ya Muromets" aircraft, which were being adopted by the Air Force.
N.Ye.Zhukovskiy and S.A.Chaplygin in their investigations of wing aerodynamics, propellers, air flow and other problems laid the theoretical foundation of aviation science. A new stage in the development of the theory and the ereation of aviation engineeting science - a reliable basis for the practice of Soviet aircraft construction-- was connected with the organization of TsAGI, in proportion to its formation and development of an experimental and productive base and its attraction of more and more young talented scientists.
The Institute was headed by N.Ye. Zhukovsky (chairman of the college), and A.N. Tupolev became his first assistant and at the same time the head of the aviation department. He immediately took over the organization of the Institute, implementing the ideas of Zhukovsky. As a result, an institution is created that can not only give scientific advice, but also directly guide the development of the industry. The aviation department of TsAGI, headed by Tupolev, became, in fact, an airplane KB with its own production base (workshops, since 1926 - an experimental plant).
In 1923, the first light Soviet aircraft, the ANT-l, was built in accordance with A.N.Tupolev's design; it had certain components made from Kol'chug-aluminum (a Duralumin-type alloy) - a metal, created by Soviet scientists and workers and produced by the Kol'chug plant. In 1925, a combat aircraft of completely metal construction - the ANT-3 (R-3) - had already been airborne.
In the years of the pre-war five-year plans, at the height of the carrying out of Lenin's plans for the industrialization of the country, investigations of a number of urgent problems of industrial aerodynamics were carried out on an especially broad scale at the Institute. Entire series of fans, wind engines, compressors and other machines and devices were developed and studied in detail.
In 1930-31 new special scientific-research institutes were created on the basis of TsAGI departments and laboratories: the All-Union Institute of Aviation Materials (VIAM), the Central Institute of Aviation Engine Construction (TsIAM), the All-Union Institute of Hydraulic Machine Construction (VIGM) and the Central Scientific Research Institute of Wind Power (TsEI), whose activities had a shaping effect on the development of the corresponding divisions of science and technology. In the early 1930s, when work began on larger and more complex aircraft, the allocated space again is not enough. Then it is decided to design and build new buildings to house the Design Department of the Experimental Construction Sector (KOSOS) and the Plant of Experimental Designs (ZOK).
By 1934, the ZOK operated three aircraft manufacturing workshops, which were located in one spacious assembly shop. The work of the workshops is provided by five teams of designers. By this time, the teams of designers had become specialized. If, for example, VM Petlyakov's team was still responsible for the design of the wings for all ANT aircraft, now it was working on a certain category of aircraft.
The orderly structure thus removed from Tupolev some of the responsibilities for the implementation of the technical management and, at the same time, gave more authority and responsibility to the brigade leaders, strengthening their independence. As a result, the pace of design work noticeably increased.
Until 1936, the OKB A.N.Tupolev was a member of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, where torpedo boats and aircraft of various designations were developed under his leadership. Since 1936, the leadership of the Design Bureau combined with the post of Chief Engineer of the Main Directorate of the aviation industry of the NKTP, forms a strategic direction for the development of Soviet aviation, science and technology.
In 1936 the construction of a new scientific base for TsAGI was begun. As early as a year later small wind tunnels had already begun operation, and in the fall of 1939 flow was obtained in the T-101 and T-104.
In July 1936, the KOSOS and ZOK were transformed into the No. 156 factory of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry. In the same year, the Arkhangelsk brigade stands out in an independent special design bureau (OKB) and moves to the new premises of the serial 23rd plant.
TsAGI in the late 1930s almost completely switched to research and development. The operational, flight testing and refueling department, OELID, which was located here for a long time, was located on the territory of the Central Airfield in Moscow. Then, OELID was renamed into the 8th department of TsAGI, after which, from July 14 to July 20, 1939, the Ramenskoye airfield (now Zhukovsky) was transferred to the Moscow suburb.
In the years of the Great Patriotic War - this most severe experience, which the people bore so heroically and steadfastly, the main efforts of the scientific staff of TsAGI were directed at rendering aid to the front and towards creating the bases for further progress in aviation technology. "Everything for the front, everything for victory" - this slogan of the Communist Party determined the activity and the direction of the efforts of each scientist, worker, experimenter and all the employees of TsAGI.
The Soviets entered into a desperate struggle to gain parity with the West. Highly centralized research institutes such as TsAGI and an abundance of talented designers allowed for steady progress. But the sense of backwardness, real and imagined, haunted the aeronautical establishment. The aeropropulsion section is just one example of chronic obsolescence and failure. The next important stage in the scientific activity of TsAGI is connected with the radical technical re-equipping of Soviet aviation - with the creation of transonic aircraft with jet engines. The beginning of the 50's was marked by investigations, directed towards the achievement of even higher speeds and by the creation of effective power plants for such aircraft.
In order not to move blindly along this path, it was necessary to create an arsenal of new wind tunnels and special stands. The implementation of the research results of TsAGI scientists should be grateful to those dozens of countries where Soviet fighters MiG-15, MiG-17, MiG-21, Su-7B, etc., and anti-aircraft missile systems were exported. In the end, a close union of OKB designers and TsAGI scientists ensured victories in the skies of Korea, North Vietnam, and later - the Middle East. Aerodynamics and stamina TsAGI said the decisive word in the creation of all aircraft - carriers of strategic nuclear weapons: from Tu-16 to Tu-160.
The formation of rocket technology in the USSR also did not pass without the participation of TsAGI. Moreover, the next expansion of the Institute's experimental base, which took place at the turn of the 1950s-1960s, was aimed precisely at creating new facilities that provide hypersonic flow rates and simulate such complex processes as aerodynamic heating at the entrance of an aircraft into the atmosphere, propagation shock waves and much more. A whole series of gas-dynamic installations and wind tunnels were designed to achieve flow velocities in the range of M = 8-20; Laboratory of heat resistance tests and endurance tests; the power base of the institute was improved.
Stages for the Institute were studies of aerodynamics and flight dynamics of aircraft with a wing of variable geometry. Having successfully solved the problems of stability and controllability, strength and aeroelasticity and having proved the advantages of such an arrangement, TsAGI gave birth to such multi-regime aircraft as MiG-23, Su-24 and Tu-160.
Conducting research on these and other machines stimulated the development of the computing base of the Institute and the formation of the direction of numerical methods of calculations in gas dynamics and strength.
In the late 1960s unfolded work on the creation of front-line fighters of a new generation with high thrust and maneuverability. Studies of non-stationary aerodynamics, new layouts with a bearing fuselage and control of the vortex structure of the wing were embodied in the MiG-29 and Su-27 aircraft, which demonstrated unrivaled maneuverability and combat potential.
The specialists of TsAGI made an important contribution to the creation of new generation passenger and transport aircraft Il-96, Tu-204 and An-124. The use of supercritical profiles made it possible to improve the aerodynamic characteristics of the wing and, as a result, improve the efficiency of these aircraft. The solution of the flutter problem for Il-96 and Tu-204 aircraft, directly related to flight safety, was found as a result of joint research by TsAGI, LII and OKB.
The most large-scale work of the last two decades, carried out with the involvement of all units of the Institute, was the creation of an aerospace "Buran" aircraft. Suffice it to say that to study its thermal protection was built full-scale heat-strength vacuum chamber TPVK with a diameter of 14 m and a length of 30 m! The problems of acoustic strength, the construction of algorithms for an automatic control system and much more were addressed. Brilliant flight debut "Buran" took place half a month before the seventieth anniversary of TsAGI.
In 1994, by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation TsAGI received the status of the State Scientific Center. It is symbolic that the registration document has No. 1!
The scientific merits of the TsAGI team are unquestionable, and for a long time already the names of many of its employees have been inscribed in gold letters in the history of world aviation. An equally important achievement is the creation of a scientific research system that avoids duplication and dispersion of funds. At the same time, not one aspect of the creation of aircraft is left without attention. A reasonable combination of object works with fundamental research has formed the backbone thanks to which, even today, in the conditions of the long-term crisis of the defense industry, Russian aviation technology, despite all, retains leading positions in the world in several directions.
TsAGI was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1926), the Red Banner (1933), the Order of Lenin (1945), the Certificate of Honor of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1968) for his great contribution to the development of aerospace science and technology. , the Order of the October Revolution (1971). In 1998, TsAGI announced the gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation.
Since 2014 TsAGI, along with CIAM, GosNIIAS, SibNIA and GKNIPAS, is a part of the National Research Center "The Institute named after N.Ye. Zhukovsky, which performs the role of a single center for the management of domestic applied science in the aviation sector to form an advanced scientific and technical reserve based on the principles of interdisciplinary convergence of sciences and inter-industry integration of technologies.
TsKB - Central Design Bureau
From the first days of its existence, the young Soviet Republic needed not only to fight the internal and external counterrevolution, but also to overcome the technical and economic backwardness of tsarist Russia, to improve the scientific and technical base. It was at this time that Vladimir Ilyich Lenin spoke of aviation as a powerful means of scientific and technological progress, well aware of the country's need for an air fleet. Implementation of the program of industrialization of the country made it possible to create the material foundations of the aircraft industry for the development and construction of heavy aircraft of domestic production. The design bureau, headed by AN Tupolev, in 1923 managed to create an all-metal triple-engine ANT-2.
From June 1926 to November 1931, Sergei Vladimirovich Ilyushin worked as chairman of the aircraft section of the Air Force Scientific and Technical Committee (NTC Air Force), where he studied the world experience in aircraft construction, developing tactical and technical requirements for new aircraft. Under the leadership of Ilyushin, he was able to develop technical requirements for NN planes. Polikarpova (including the U-2), A.N. Tupolev and D.G. Grigorovich. In addition, in 1930-1931, Sergei Vladimirovich worked as an assistant to the head of the Air Force Scientific Research Institute (NII VVS) in the scientific and technical part.
| brigade | theme | designer |
|---|---|---|
| # 1 | Heavy aircraft | V.M. Petlyakov |
| # 2 | Seaplanes | I. Pogossky (Apr 1934 - AP Golubkov) |
| # 3 | Fighter and experimental | P.O.Sukhoi |
| # 5 | High-speed military and passenger | A.A.Arkhangelsky |
| # 6 | Experimental | V.M.Myasishchev |
| # 10 | Torpedo boats | N.S.Nekrasov |
In 1930, at the insistence of administrative authorities, a number of previously independent and very different in design teams - the group of D.P. Grigorovich , N.N. Polikarpova , S.A. Kocherigina , A.N. Rafaelyantsa , R.L. Bartini and others - were part of a huge institution, the Central Design Bureau. Experimental aircraft in the Central Design Bureau were supposed to be built by common friendly efforts, pouring the whole world on each in turn, and thus, ahead of planned government terms.
In the summer of 1931 Ilyushin filed a report on the transfer to the aviation industry, having previously secured the support of the head of the All-Union Aviation Association P.I.Baranova. Ilyushin's report was considered, and from November 1931 he headed the design bureau of TsAGI.
The Soviet scientific-research institutes were intimately connected with the aircraft industry as a whole. The chief designer at TsAGI was A.N.Tupolev. The absurd organization and reorganization of industry produced the merger of the Central Design Bureau (TsKB) and the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI). In January 1933, the long-awaited division of TsAGI and TsKB, based on the territory of the Moscow Aviation Plant No. 39, took place. In the new Central Design Bureau, Nikolai Polikarpov became the head of the design team No. 2 specializing in fighter jets. In January 1933, when someone's head in the General Directorate of the aviation industry (SUAF) came up with the idea to collect all the aircraft designers of the country under one roof. This was the birth of the Central Design Bureau (TsKB), located at the plant #39 in Moscow. Its chief was appointed S.V.Ilyushin, then better known as a senior administrator, rather than as a designer. His design experience was limited to the creation of several training and sports gliders. However, Ilyushin was eager for independent work on the design of combat aircraft.
In ten years from 1927 to 1937, Tupolev's bureau created 10 large-scale machines for the country that met the requirements of the Air Force and GVF, including IL-4, R-3, R-7, TB-1, TV-ZSB, RD (ANT-25), TB-7 (ANT-42), ANT-9, and ANT-14. During these same years N.N. Polikarpov released - I-5, U-2, R-5 and I-16, that is, five types, Ilyushin IL-2 and IL-4 design bureau, that is, two types, and Bartini - EP-2, that is one.
The plan was not serial production of machines, but as if they were semi-parallel: parts, assemblies and assemblies of all machines should be manufactured simultaneously, and for final assembly, they should be supplied sequentially, so that the workshops do not stand idle, so as not to be "stuck" with machines interfering with each other. Then the planes, although different in design and experimental, can be built quickly, almost like in serial plants, and fewer skilled workers will be needed.
Hopes rested again on a simple basis: it is better to act together. It seemed like a good idea at the time. But such "intricacies" as intuition, dissimilar ideas about the aesthetics of technical solutions, how, finally, the compatibility or incompatibility of the characters of people, all were not taken into account.
In 1931, the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry decided to reorganize TsAGI. In August 1931, the institute was united with the 39th plant under the KB, headed by Sergei Ilyushin. Tupolev was appointed as an assistant to Ilyushin for TsAGI and the Central Design Bureau (TsKB), but in May of the next year a new reorganization followed: the Central Design Bureau was transformed into the Experimental Aircraft Building Section (SOS), whose deputy director for TsAGI is appointed S.V.Ilyushin. The SOS included a number of units, including the design department of Tupolev.
However, in January 1933 TsAGI regained its former independence. The plant of experimental designs began its work. Among the first aircraft built here was a large six-engine ANT-16 / TB-4. In January 1933, at the suggestion of Ilyushin, the design department of the Experimental Construction Sector (COSOS) of TsAGI reorganized Aviation Plant No. 39 of the VR for the Central Design Bureau (TsKB). Menzhinsky, whose chief (and part-time deputy director of the plant) appointed Sergei Vladimirovich, and the design department of TsAGI for the development of heavy aircraft.
| brigade | theme | designer |
|---|---|---|
| # 1 | ground attack and reconnaissance | S. A. Kocherigin |
| # 2 | fighters | N.N.Polikarpov |
| # 3 | experimental designs | V.A.Chizhevsky |
| # 4 | weapons | I.I.Maltsev |
| # 5 | sea planes | G.M.Beriev |
| # 6 | static testing | P.M.Kreyson |
Six months later, when the collective of the Central Design Bureau was separated into independent KB design teams, N.N. Polikarpova, V.A. Chizhevsky and G.M. Beriyeva, Ilyushin led the newly formed brigade No. 3, which in September 1935 was transformed into the design bureau of the aviation plant No. 39.
Tupolev believed that: "In the USSR, dwarf bricks, even if headed by talented designers, will not achieve much, we need powerful organizations like KOSOS, which are two or three in number." In those years, he believed that these could be strong bureaus created around Grigorovich and Polikarpov.
A flurry of repression later hit the aviation designers, specialists. October 21, 1937 A. Tupolev was arrested. He was accused of leading the supposedly created "Russian-Fascist Party", which aimed at sabotage in the aircraft industry, and also that he was a French spy recruited back in 1924. A trial on Tupolev was held only on May 28, 1940. He He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 5 years' disqualification and confiscation of property. The famous designers V. Petlyakov, V. Myasyshchev, R. Bartini, I. Neman, and the armed A. Nadashkevich were arrested and convicted.
TsKB - Central Design Bureau - Projects
The aircraft developed in the Central Design Bureau had, in addition to the standard designation of the Air Force, its own, "proprietary". It consisted of the abbreviated name of the organization and the ordinal number of the project to be executed. For this reason, the maneuverable fighter I-15, designed by brigade No. 2, was also referred to in the documentation as CKB-3.
| TsKB-1 | LR | Kocherigin | experiental light scout |
| TsKB-2 | DI-5 | Yatsenko | double fighter project |
| TsKB-3 | I-15 | Polikarpov | fighter |
| TsKB-3bis | I-15bis / I-152 | fighter | |
| TsKB-4 | TSh-3 | Kocherigin | experimental heavy assault aircraft |
| TsKB-5 | LSH-1 | Grigorovich | pilot light attack aircraft |
| TsKB-6 | passenger aircraft project< | ||
| TsKB-7 | I-Z | Grigorovich | fighter |
| TsKB-8 | TB-5 | Grigorovich | Experimental heavy bomber |
| TsKB-9 | light communication aircraft project | ||
| TsKB-10 | BICH-14 | Cheranovsky | experimental aircraft flying wing |
| TsKB-11 | DI-6 | Kocherigin | double exterminate spruce |
| TsKB-12 | I-16 | Polikarpov | fighter with the M-22 engine |
| TsKB-12bis | I-16 | experimental fighter with the Wright-Cyclone engine | |
| TsKB-13 | BKK-5 | Chizhevsky | experimental flying-wing aircraft |
| TsKB-15 | I-17 | Polikarpov | first experimental fighter |
| TsKB-16 | MBR-5 | Beriev | Experimental near-sea reconnaissance |
| TsKB-18 | I-16 | attack aircraft project | |
| TsKB-19 | I-17 | Polikarpov | 2nd experimental fighter |
| TsKB-19bis | I-17bis | Polikarpov | experimental fighter |
| TsKB-21 | SI | high-speed fighter project | |
| TsKB-25 | I-19 / I-18 | Polikarpov | fighter project |
| TsKB-26 | BB-2 | Ilyushin | pilot bomber |
| TsKB-26P | passenger aircraft | ||
| TsKB-27 | R-9 | Kocherigin | Experimental high-speed scout |
| TsKB-28 | I-20 | Polikarpov | fighter project |
| TsKB-29 | SPB | long-range high-speed dive bomberbased on I-16 | |
| TsKB-30 | DB-3 | Ilyushin | long-range bomber |
| TsKB-30F | Il-4 / DB-3F | Ilyushin | long-range bomber |
| TsKB-32 | I-21 | Ilyushin | experimental fighter |
| TsKB-33 | I-18 | Polikarpov | fighter project |
| TsKB-38 | DI-6Sh | attack aircraft | |
| TsKB-41 | DI-6 | single-seat fighter project | |
| TsKB-42 | TsKB-3RV | a record airplane | |
| TsKB-43 | I-18bis | Polikarpov | fighter interceptor |
| TsKB-44 | VIT-1 | Polikarpov | experimental air fighter of tanks |
| TsKB-46 | TsKB-12P | fighter I-16P | gun |
| TsKB-48 | VIT-2 | Polikarpov | air fighter tanks project |
| TsKB-51 | DB-3TP | experimental floating torpedo carrier | |
| TsKB-52 | I-21 | 2nd experimental fighter | |
| TsKB-53 | DB-3T | torpedo-bomber | |
| TsKB-54 | DB-3SS | experimental aircraft for tracking long-range bombers | |
| TsKB-55 | BSh-2 | Ilyushin | experimental armored ground attack aircraft |
| TsKB-55P | Il-2 | attack aircraft | |
| TsKB-56 | DB-4 | Ilyushin | experimental long-range bomber |
| TsKB-57 | BSh-2 | Ilyushin | experimental armored ground attack aircraft with AM-38 engine |
| TsKB-60 | Il-6 | heavy armored ground attack aircraft project |
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