“ANNA” GEORGY BERIEV | MODEL CONSTRUCTION

Amphibian Be-8 has completed the collection of seaplanes, which began in 1941 scout KOR-2 (be-4). Despite the relatively high assessment from specialists, Be-8 for a number of reasons, mass production has not been, and was used mostly as a flying laboratory. Work on the be-8 began in 1946 on the basis of the technical project of the ship’s scout LL-145 with the start of ejection. As a prototype, a new amphibious aircraft was a flying boat of all-metal construction, made on a parasol. Wing, who were technologically on the center section and two detachable parts, were recruited from the profiles of WT-230. On its consoles housed fixed landing gear floats lateral stability, and on the back edge landing flaps, uklonivshiesya on take-off 15° landing 40°. In the wings were the fuel tanks.

Boat — duradanda with keeled bottom in the bow and mehregany parts of the displacement 21,055 m2 was divided into five watertight compartments, providing almost four times the reserve buoyancy at normal flight weight. Between the 11th and 12th ribs were niches for cleaning the main supports of the wheeled chassis, and between the 29th and 31st frames for the tail wheel. Release and retraction is carried out electrically in an emergency situation, manually. The main wheels had the size 650×225 mm.

Sludge boat did not exceed 0.56 m at normal flight weight and 0.58 m — when reloading.

The regulator is unregulated. The management plane is dual, cable.

The power plant consisted of a radial air-cooled engine with single stage supercharger DB-21 takeoff power to 700 HP at 2300 Rev/min. (specific fuel consumption this mode 0,285 kg/HP h) and automatic screw AV-29E-81A with a diameter of 3 m.

In addition to staff, there was passenger and cargo versions. Was the possibility of using aircraft as training, aerial photography, ice fishing and a scout.

March 11, 1947 issued a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR №493-192 on the construction plane “A” (in the Bureau called him “Anna”). The tempo of work even at that time was quite high — 8 July 1947 the Commission held a mock, and 22 November of the same year, even before the official presentation of the aircraft for flight tests of the factory, conducted the first high-speed run on the water. Through the day she was repeating and, as it turned out, not in vain — it was necessary to urgently reinforce the tail section between the frames No. 23 — 29 and install anti-flatter loads on the consoles of the wing.

Amphibian Be-8

3 Dec 1947 BAA-8 made its first flight from the water with a duration of 25 minutes. Picked up the amphibian in the air the crew of a test pilot M. V. Tsepilova and a flight engineer D. J. Chernetsky. Two weeks later — on 15 December at the plane “A” flew the Deputy chief of Department of flight service of naval aviation, Lieutenant Colonel S. B. Reydel and major N. F. Piskarev.

In his report on the flight of S. B. Reydel wrote: “the Plane is simple in piloting and available to the pilot even less than medium-skilled workers, i.e. pilot, flying the Po-2 or UT-2. It can be used as a liaison aircraft and training”.

On the last day of 1947 began taxiing and Jogging on a dirt runway of the factory airfield in Taganrog. The conclusion of the test pilot M. V. Tsepilova was quite positive, however, he noted that he raised the nose of the boat closes the pilot’s view forward and to the right and therefore have to steer the “snake” as a fighter. 11 Feb 1948 Tsepilov and Chernetsky for the first time raised the plane from the land.

Test flights continued throughout the winter and spring. March 18, 1948 testers reported full implementation of the program. In the report, Tsepilov noted that the amphibian can be transferred to the state tests, and “high seaworthiness of an amphibian of be-8, its excellent aerobatic properties, the permissibility of adoption by additional overload of passengers and cargo give rise to consider it appropriate to develop a number of modifications of amphibious Be-8: patrol variant, an educational-training and transport”.

Flying laboratory to study the possibility of using hydrofoils as landing gear system of seaplanes

Amphibian:

1 — the float is the lateral stability; 2 — brace wing; 3 — wheel main landing gear in the retracted position; 4 — air intake oil cooler; 5 — headlamp; 6 — rudder; 7 — trimmer of the rudder; 8 — tail wheel; 9 — the water wheel; 10 — redan; 11 — glass of the passenger cabin; 12 — cockpit; 13 —anti-flatter load; 14 — compartment fuel tank; 15 — the Elevator; 16—trimmer pitch control; 17 — receiver air pressure (LDPE); 18 — powerplant with engine AL-21; 19 — pole; 20 — antenna radiolucency, RPKO-10M; 21 fotolook; 22 — the hatch in the bow section; 23 — hatch; 24 — antenna radio RCI-6; 25 — beam antenna radiolucency

In early may, was held controllocation flights from the ground and from the water with the crew of the scientific research Institute No. 15 Navy aviation in the composition of the test pilot Lieutenant Colonel F. S. Leshchenko and flight engineer captain S. I. Ponomarev.

In the act on the results of control tests test pilot, aviation Institute, Navy Colonel Ivanov said: “the Plane in piloting simple and affordable pilot of average skill. The aircraft can be successfully used in all of the recommended options. With the use of the aircraft in the training option, you must install duplicated control rotor for the right pilot”. In the same act States: “Aircraft be-8 operation is simple and can be operated by one mechanic and one mechanic. The approach to the units of VMG (motor-propeller group. — Approx. ed.) and inspect them comfortable, except for the generator”.

The amphibian flew pilots V. I. Kulikov, I. M. Sukhomlin, V. F. Sokolov, A. I. Sitnov (the regiment commander of the naval aviation school. Stalin) and P. Sokolov. In their opinion, the aircraft flying qualities were simple and available to a pilot of average skill. The stock of longitudinal static stability at all flight regimes — sufficient. Lateral and directional controllability were in the normal range.

Takeoff and landing is allowed at the wave height up to 0.6 m, and wind speed 10 to 12 m/s, which exceeded the requirements of naval aircraft to 0.1 m and 2 m/s, respectively. The only “major” drawback of the machine was a beam, dividing the cockpit in half, constraining the location of the pilots. The rest, judging by the conclusion of the research Institute of the Navy, the aircraft on the main flight and technical data, consistent with the decision of the government and was recommended for serial production.

But the first machine was built another instance, first flying in January 1949, unlike the first prototype, it is, in particular, the Electromechanical system of cleaning and landing gear, replaced hydraulic. Instead of a screw AV-29E-81A set of experienced AV-29B-81A, equipped with a defrost, the trim tab on the ailerons and pneumatically operated frontal folds of the hood of the engine.

Both the be-8 for some time were on the factory Parking lot. On one of these machines, piloted by V. M. Tsepilova and S. I. Kondratenko, in 1949, chief designer G. M. Beriev, accompanied by I. G. Kozelsky repeatedly overflying the black sea coast of the Caucasus in search of a non-freezing waters for a test base.

Beriev chose on Gelendzhik Bay. It meets all basic requirements and in addition, on the West Bank during the war was stationed a unit of marine aviation, which remained concreted hydropack. Soon in Noumea buildings were built to service the flight-experimental base and test went without seasonal breaks.

During the operation one of the machines crashed. During the landing collapsed the attachment of one of the side floats, but it was an accident and the incident does not denigrate the car and its characteristics.

Despite the insistence of the command of the fleet in mass production amphibious went. For the be-8 was not a manufacturing base. Factory serial No. 86, near OKB G. M. Beriev Taganrog, passed for the production of landing gliders Il-32. The draft plan of the Ministry of aviation industry in 1948-the year stated that “the holding of improvements is impractical, because the aircraft’s prospects for the launch of a series does not have.”

But despite successful testing and positive feedback from testers, “issue “Annushka” married”, as sadly joked Georgy Mikhailovich Beriev, failed. Neither the military nor civil aircraft customers are not interested in.

But the be-8 has entered the history of aviation not only because of the perfect his side is “discovery”. It is in the framework of scientific research “radium-L” worked out the installation of hydrolic and “radium-K” — hydrofoils.

Project runway devices hydrolyzate for the be-8 was developed in research Institute No. 15 Navy. Preliminary design approved April 6, 1955 The layout of the hydrofoils for amphibians was developed by the 12th laboratory TSAGI, specializing in the problems of high-speed hydrodynamics.

Plane mounted underwater wings of type KS, consisting of the two front V-shaped bow units and T-shaped feed. All wings had supercavities profile, used in hydraulic canals TSAGI.

Amphibian Be-8 afloat

Be-8 to chassis ground

Hydrolyze and underwater wings attached to the aircraft using components of the captured land chassis. In this form Be-8, of course, ceased to be amphibious machine, and therefore, for lowering and lifting hydroplanes used a special roll-out chassis consisting of two main trucks and the tail of the device.

Flight tests of the be-8 hydrolyzate was carried out in the Baltic sea, June — July, hydrofoil — July — September 1956, in the Eastern part of the Gulf at wind speeds from 0 to 9.2 m/s and wind wave height from 0 to 0,7 m.

The first domestic flight of a seaplane, equipped with underwater wings, with landing speeds in excess of 100 km/h took place on 20 July 1956 during the tests was made 29 runs in different modes of operation of the engine 22 and the flight. The seaplane was piloted by senior test pilot Colonel F. S. Leshchenko.

According to test results, it was concluded that the underwater wings provide a normal takeoff and landing of a seaplane and can be recommended as landing devices on new machines. Piloting techniques Be-8 hydrofoil turned out to be easier than in a conventional boat.

Although conducted flight experiments gave interesting results, implementing them on production machines failed due to the significant complication of the design of seaplane and of increasing the resistance in air and in water. Improving the performance of separation, hydrolyze and underwater wings were taken away a considerable part of the power, delaying the release of the boats at redan. For aircraft such a mass of these devices proved to be ineffective.

Performance characteristics

Engine…………………………………..AL-21

Power, HP……………………………….1×700

Length, m…………………………………………….13

Height, m………………………………………..4,48

Wing span, m………………………………….19

Wing area, m2……………………………..40

Maximum takeoff weight, kg…….3800

The maximum amount of fuel, kg………320

Maximum payload, kg 400…

Maximum speed

(1800 m), km/h……………………266

The take-off speed, km/h……………………110

Landing speed, km/h………………..100

Practical ceiling, m………………..5550

Takeoff run (water), m…………………….300

Takeoff run (land), m…………………..270

Flight range with maximum

fuel reserve, km………………………..1205

Crew/passengers, people………………1-2/4-6

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