DESCRIPTION
An interceptor prototyped in World War II in the Soviet Union I made Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270
OPERATIONEXPLANATION
Throttle:Engine start
VTOL:Flap
Ag1: position light
Rocket :JATO
HISTORY
In the early stages of World War II (1942), a complete prototype BI-1 (also known as The Devil's Broomstick), made its first several flights. The I-270 shared the BI-1's simple, tapered fuselage, bubble canopy, wing design, and dual-chambered bipropellant rocket motor. On the other hand, it was considerably larger than the BI-1 and featured short, reinforced wings (from the RP-218) and a raised T-tail which aircraft such as the Tupolev ANT-8 proved, offered better landing control than the BI-1's more traditional fighter layout. While there seems little doubt that the BI-1 influenced the design of the I-270, the latter appears far from a direct descendant of the former, and much closer to being a Soviet version of the Me 263, sharing very similar fuselage, canopy and landing gear layouts, while adding a conventional stabilizer surface atop the vertical tail, absent on the German design.
Soviet tradition of rocketry, starting from the early work of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and carried through by men like Sergei Korolev, made rocket fighters a reality. The RD-2M engine, designed by Leonid Dushkin was the dual-combustion chamber version of the engine used for the 1941 BI-1 rocket plane. That in turn had followed from a tradition dating back to Sergey Korolev's work on project "06" in the early 1930s and the RP-318 rocket plane designed in 1936.
The first gliding trials commenced in December 1946, with the first prototype towed into the air behind a Tupolev Tu-2, ballast-loaded in place of an engine. The second prototype began powered tests early in 1947, but was damaged beyond repair making a hard landing. Shortly afterwards, the first prototype was also destroyed in a landing accident. By this stage, turbojet technology was at a far more advanced stage than it had been at the outset of the project, and surface-to-air missiles had replaced the need for point-defence interceptors. Under these circumstances, the Air Force decided to cancel the project.
Specifications
Spotlights
- Trainzo 3.2 years ago
- ChiChiWerx 3.2 years ago
General Characteristics
- Created On iOS
- Wingspan 26.4ft (8.0m)
- Length 29.1ft (8.9m)
- Height 10.9ft (3.3m)
- Empty Weight 5,634lbs (2,555kg)
- Loaded Weight 5,634lbs (2,555kg)
Performance
- Wing Loading 14.0lbs/ft2 (68.2kg/m2)
- Wing Area 403.1ft2 (37.5m2)
- Drag Points 2035
Parts
- Number of Parts 120
- Control Surfaces 7
- Performance Cost 663
Nice, relatively simple build of a little known rocket fighter prototype with the best part being that you used rockets to power it, so it’s really fun. The pitch rate is adequate and not ridiculously fast, though it could use more pitch and trim authority at lower speeds, as well as for the pattern and landing. It really should roll a lot faster, though, and it should fly a little faster...I’d guesstimate a rocket fighter like this should fly at least 500 KTAS (the Komet was at least that fast), especially down low, and the fastest I saw with this one was around 450 KTAS. Plus, the JATO rocket doesn’t add much thrust, if any...but it’s impressively cool looking with that big flame and lots more smoke! But it’s not too far off and it’s better than making it a 1,000 knot plane. It glides way faster than I would have expected for something with 14 lbs/ft2 of wing loading. But it works if you start out at 10,000’ high key above the runway midpoint and fly 170 KIAS and 20 degrees nose low during the 360 to landing. You do have to carefully time the round out and flare to landing, but it lands quite nicely. The last disappointment was the armament... many builders make the same mistake of using cannons as air to air armament, but the cannons really can’t hit an aerial target unless they’re XML modded. Yours are not here and it’s impossible to hit an aerial target, which is why I stick to using the original wing guns for my builds. Nice job overall.
That is one tiny propeller.
Great and historical build .
The Komet Soviet version.