Soviet 1930s Ramjet resarch

[Ivan]

A while ago there was a very interesting video on youtube about that subject... but i cant find it anymore (not even the forum topic about it at www.militaryphotos.net)

Anwyay... what that video was about is the following:
[*]In the late 1930s the soviet resarch groups were very close to building a Mach-1 ramjet powered interceptor.
[*]There were a lot of experimental machines with quite heavy armament around that might have been used in the early stages of the war (BI-1 rocket interceptor and the ramjet version of the same machine)

In the chaos following the german invasion, almost all traces of these planes were lost, apart from some photos of the BI-1 and a few other prototypes that might have been used against the Luftwaffe.

[Sean_TK]

Very interesting.

I recently watched a "History Channel" documentary entitled "Secret Russian Aircraft of World War II." They sure had some interesting and revolutionary concepts going for them at the time. The show may have even mentioned some ramjet stuff but I cannot remember. I do remember some BI-1 info however.
Another interesting concept that I came across was the "Zveno Project", which used TB-1s and TB-3s pretty much as flying aircraft carriers, carrying Polikarpov series fighters. From what I have read, it sounds as if the idea was somewhat successful operationally during WWII.

I don't speak Russian so I have no idea what they are saying, but this caught my attention:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB5oypXdmcw

[Ivan]

About that Zveno project... i think that i have a load of info about how effective those things were.
At least its certain that they sometimes loaded the I-16s (the usual fighter carried on those) with the bombs and used the big bomber as a taxi to get them close to the target.

Numbers and more info as soon as im back from work

[Ivan]

About the Zveno project
The I-16 version used had a few modifications, most important a reinforced wing and increased fuel load. The 20mm cannons were removed.

Each TB-3 had 2 I-16s mounted, each with 2 250kg bombs. When close to the target, the I-16s were released and the TB-3 turned back home. The fighters came home on their own power.

Total missions flown for six TB-3s and their load: 29

Info is from a book on the Pe-2 bomber... maybe a dedicated I-16 book will give a lot more info but i dont have one.

[expat]

How about making your own:

jam jar pulse jet

Matt

[Sean_TK]

Interesting...

Knew some of that Ivan, but the fact that 29 missions were actually carried out is pretty cool.  ;)