Fighters of the USSR
Military aviation
Fighters of the USSR

Fighters of the USSR

 

Surely all have seen a trace in the clouds left by modern aircraft flying at high altitudes. He called contrails and is formed only when the jet or rocket engines. Before 1943 years seen anything like this was impossible - neither military nor civilian aircraft with such engines did not exist. Ironically, in the history of mankind is war often serve as the impetus for the development of scientific and technical progress.

Full list of the USSR fighter here

It happened with the aircraft. It was during the Second World War in the struggle for supremacy in the sky created the first truly reliable jet and turbojet engines, as well as war machines capable of flying at unusually high altitudes with great speed. Jet engines provide the necessary thrust for flight by burning fuel in a special chamber. A stream of hot gases at enormous speed flows out of the combustion chamber, thereby forming a reactive force, pushing the engine, and together with it and the plane in the opposite direction.

Turbojet engines differ from jet engines in that air is injected into the combustion chamber under pressure using a compressor and a turbine that rotates a stream of hot gases from the combustion chamber. As a result, engine power rises and fuel consumption drops.  The first jet plane in history was the German Heinkel-176, the design of which was started by the designer Hans Regner at the end of 1937 at Heinkel. It was installed liquid jet engine. On the twentieth of June 1939, the aircraft made the first flight, piloted by its famous test pilot Erich Varzitts. However, the “first pancake”, as they say, came out in a lump - the imperfection of the design did not allow to achieve particularly high speeds. The value of this project is that it allowed to lay the basic principles of the construction of jet aircraft. 

"Heinkel-176»

Heinkel-176

But in 1943 year it rose in the sky the new brainchild of German designers - jet interceptor "Messerschmitt-262». This war machine has caused a lot of trouble Luftwaffe anti-Hitler coalition. Reactive "Messerschmitts" appeared on all fronts in 1944 year, their altitude and speed characteristics made them practically invulnerable.

The plane was armed with four powerful guns. At the end of the war, work on its improvement continued, and soon Me-262 managed to overcome the sound barrier, that is, they began to fly at a speed exceeding the speed of sound in the air - 331 m / s. New aircraft had an unusual appearance - after all, at supersonic speeds, the laws of aerodynamics change, and the usual shape of the wings had to be replaced with swept or triangular.   

 

Messerschmitt-262

Messerschmitt-262

At the end of the Second World War and in the USSR, work was underway to develop jet combat equipment. This immediately engaged in four famous design bureaus - Mikoyan, Yakovlev, Lavochkin and Sukhoi. The race was won by designers Mikoyan and Gurevich - their jet fighter made its first flight 24 April 1946 year, just a couple of hours ahead of the machine created in the Design Bureau Yakovlev. It is interesting that there was not yet a production of jet engines in the USSR, so the MiG-9 was initially equipped with Junkers and BMW engines. At the same time, the results shown by the new aircraft were impressive - the MiG developed a speed of about a thousand kilometers per hour and climbed to an altitude of more than 13 kilometers. The first Soviet jet fighter was armed with two rapid-fire guns.

 

MiG-9

MiG-9

Still, the first jet fighter aircraft, taken into service in the Air Forces of the USSR, became a Yak-15, created in the Yakovlev Design Bureau. He had a somewhat lower speed, but have high reliability and security, for which it appreciated the pilots. In addition, developers have installed on it the engine of his own design, so the plane could immediately go to the series. Armed Yak-15 was two aircraft guns. Later, this aircraft is the most reliable and "obedient", used for pilot training management jet engines.

Yak-15

Yak-15

Jet fighters - the most high-speed combat vehicles. By the beginning of 50-ies they "learned" to accelerate to 1200 km / h, and it later turned out that this is not the limit. Modern aircraft capable of speeds that exceed the speed of sound for more than four times!

Full list of the USSR fighter here

 

Avia.pro

The German jet plane, although it caused a lot of trouble for the Soviet troops, was not entirely suitable for the 2nd World War. Poor aiming and low maneuverability at high speed made this aircraft ineffective in aerial combat against rotary-wing aircraft. After the war, Soviet developers quickly eliminated these shortcomings with their jet aircraft. This is how the first double-barreled rapid-fire 18-gauge cannon with a new sight appeared on the Yak.

I read a lot of military literature. Especially about the air battles during World War Ottechestvennoy. This paper is a very good addition specifications of military equipment of the time.

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