First Jetliners: Elimination Race. The jet plane is the most powerful aircraft of modern aviation

The post was written for the anniversary almost three years ago, but the material is very interesting.

Original taken from zzaharr 60 years of civil jet aviation

At a time when the friend feeds of all aviation lovers are simply bursting with an abundance of posts about the celebration of the centennial anniversary of our valiant Air Force, another significant event somehow passed unnoticed, namely the 60th anniversary of civil transportation on jetliners.
Experts will immediately correct me, saying that “Comet” took off back in 1949, and they will be right. But let’s still count from the first passenger flight.

January 1952D e Havilland Comet:

The De Havilland Comet 1 receives an airworthiness certificate. difficult fate, but he was the first. In May and August it makes its first scheduled flights from London Heathrow to Johannesburg and Colombo.

July 1954 Boeing 707

The Boeing 707 prototype takes its first flight. In October 1955, Pan American Airlines places its first order for six 707-121s.

May 1955 Sud Aviation Caravelle

The Caravel made its first flight on May 27, 1955. This is the world's first passenger aircraft with tail-mounted engines, but one cannot help but notice that the forward part of the fuselage borrowed a lot from the Comet.

June 1955 Tu-104

The Tu-104 made its first flight on June 17, 1955. On November 5, 1955, the first production aircraft built at the Kharkov aircraft plant in Ukraine took off. In 1956, the Soviet Union managed to hit western world, when during the visit of the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev to London, a Soviet-made jet plane flew there.

September 1959 Douglas DC-8-10

In September 1959, Delta Air Lines and United began commercial operation of the DC-8. On August 21, 1961, the Douglas DC-8 broke the sound barrier and reached a speed of 1.012 Mach or 1262 km/h. during a controlled dive from a height of 12496 m.

May 1960 Convair 880

Delta Air Lines introduces the Convair 880/22 into scheduled service (first prototype flight in January 1959). It is followed by the 880-M, designed for intercontinental routes. The designation "880" is given to it because its maximum speed is 880 ft/s (1000 km/h).

January 1962 Hawker Siddeley Trident HS121

A Hawker Siddeley Trident HS121 jet takes off in Hatfield, UK medium range"second generation". The aircraft was designed to meet the BEA requirement and had three engines located in the tail. The aircraft was equipped with very advanced avionics for its time and became the first airliner capable of performing a fully automatic landing (since 1965 in evaluation mode, and since 1966 - on regular flights).

October 1962 Tu-124

A new product appears on the Aeroflot flight Moscow - Tallinn. The Tu-124 is actually a smaller copy of the previously developed Tu-104, and both types are similar in appearance but differ in size. For the first time in the world, the Tu-124 uses turbofan engines for passenger aircraft, which differ from previously used turbojet engines in their increased efficiency. Made a successful landing on the Neva after both engines failed.

August 1963 BAC One-Eleven

The BAC One-Eleven, also known as BAC 1-11, is a British short- and medium-haul jet airliner. Developed and produced by British Aircraft Corporation. First flew on August 20, 1963. From the start of operation it was in great demand and was well purchased by British airlines.

February 1964 Boeing 727

The first commercial flights were made by Eastern Airlines Boeing 727 from Miami to Washington and Philadelphia. Triple-engine, medium-range jet, first flown in February 1963. To simplify the use of the aircraft at poorly prepared airports, important attention was paid to the mechanization of the wing (reducing the required runway length) and the built-in ramp (to simplify the boarding and disembarkation of passengers in the absence of a standard ramp).

April 1964 Vickers VC10

On 23 April 1964, the Vickers VC10 received its airworthiness certificate and was placed on regular passenger service between London and Lagos. During its operation, the Vickers VC10 set a record for the time to cross the Atlantic (London - New York), which could only be beaten by the supersonic Concorde.

November 1965 McDonnell Douglas DC-9

In November 1965, Delta Air Lines unveiled its first McDonnell Douglas DC-9. This twin-engine short-haul jet aircraft became one of the most popular airliners in history.

Subsequent modifications of the DC-9 were the MD-80, MD-90 and Boeing 717. Taking into account the last Boeing 717 aircraft produced in 2006, the total production of the DC-9 family (DC-9/MD-80/90/717) continued 41 year and amounted to about 2,500 aircraft.

March 1967 IL-62

Il-62 is the first Soviet jet intercontinental passenger aircraft. In service since 1967, mass-produced from 1966 to 1995. A total of 276 aircraft were produced. A third of all cars produced were exported to socialist countries. A design feature of the aircraft is a small fourth two-wheel rear landing gear, used to prevent the empty aircraft from tipping over when parked and taxiing. Il-62 became the first domestic jet aircraft to use reverse engine thrust.

April 1967 Boeing 737

On April 9, 1967, at 13:15, the first flight of a Boeing 737-100 aircraft with tail number N73700 took place at the Boeing Field airfield. This was the beginning of the flight biography of perhaps the most successful and mass-produced aircraft in history. civil aviation. The Boeing 737 is in such widespread use that at any given time there are an average of 1,200 aircraft in the air, and every 5 seconds one 737 takes off somewhere in the world. In fact, Boeing 737 is the generic name for more than ten types of aircraft.

September 1967 Tu-134

In September 1967, the first commercial flight Moscow-Adler was made on a Tu-134. However, for almost three years, Tu-134s were used only on international routes, and only in the summer of 1969 they began to serve the intra-Union routes Moscow-Leningrad and Moscow-Kyiv. Initially, the Tu-134 was not designed as a new aircraft. The design bureau had the idea of modernizing the Tu-124. The plane's fuselage was lengthened, the engines were moved to the tail section, and the tail was replaced with a T-shaped one. A total of 852 aircraft of all modifications were built.

December 1968 Tu-144

The Tu-144 is the world's first supersonic airliner ever used by airlines for commercial transport. It made its first flight on December 31, 1968. The plane crossed the symbolic milestone of Mach 2 on May 25, 1970, flying at an altitude of 16,300 m at a speed of 2,150 km/h. Production of the aircraft began at Voronezh Plant No. 64. Subsequently, the Tu-144D was used only for cargo transportation between Moscow and Khabarovsk. By the time it was abandoned, 16 Tu-144 aircraft had been built.

March 1969 Aerospatiale/BAC Concorde

Prototype No. 001 was completed in early 1969, and made its first flight from the factory airfield in Toulouse on March 2, 1969, under the control of Sud Aviation test pilot Andre Turk. Commercial operation of Concordes began on January 21, 1976, when British Airlines G-BOFA (No. 206) took off on its maiden flight from London to Bahrain. On the same day, flight F-BFBA (No. 205) opened the Paris-Dakar line of Air France. On April 10, 2003, British Airways and Air France announced their decision to cease commercial operations of their Concorde fleet. The last flights took place on October 24.

January 1970 Boeing 747

The first Boeing 747, officially designated Boeing 747-100, was built on September 2, 1968. On January 1, 1970, the plane, owned by Pan American World Airways, made its first commercial flight. The Boeing 747 has a double-deck layout, with the upper deck being significantly shorter than the lower deck. The size and peculiar “hump” of the upper deck have made the Boeing 747 one of the most recognizable aircraft in the world, the hero of dozens of films and a symbol of civil aviation.

May 1971 Tu-154

In May 1971, pre-production Tu-154 aircraft began to be used to transport mail from Moscow to Tbilisi, Sochi, Simferopol and Mineralnye Vody. It was mass-produced from 1968 to 1998, with a total of 932 aircraft produced. The production rate sometimes reached 5 cars per month. From 1998 to 2011, small-scale production of Tu-154M aircraft was carried out at the Aviakor plant in Samara. The final cessation of production is planned for 2012.

The most popular Soviet jet passenger aircraft, which until the end of the first decade of the 21st century remained one of the main aircraft on medium-range routes in Russia. Became one of the main characters feature film"Crew"; Mosfilm, 1979

August 1971 McDonnell Douglas DC-10

The first mid-range DC-10-10 began its service with American Airlines in August 1971. Apart from the Jumbo, it was the world's first wide-body aircraft in the modern sense of the word. Production of this aircraft ceased in 1989, but many aircraft were converted into a cargo version and continue to fly to this day. As of February 2010, there are 168 DC-10s in service (including tankers), of which 67 belong to FedEx and 59 to the USAAF.

October 1972 Airbus A300

On October 28, 1972, the star of a new player in the market of medium and long-haul aircraft - Airbus Industrie - rose. On this day, her first-born, the A300 B1 airliner, made its first flight. During the development of the A300, it was almost impossible to imagine that a twin-turbo aircraft would be capable of transatlantic and Pacific flights. Therefore, the range was determined only for continental flights. Later, the limited range became a major disadvantage of the aircraft.

December 1980 IL-86

On December 26, 1980, the first and most popular Soviet/Russian wide-body passenger aircraft Il-86 performed the first regular flight on the Moscow-Tashkent route. Il-86 is considered one of the best and safest aircraft in Russia and the world. In the entire history of its operation, not a single passenger has died. The spacious cockpit was larger in size than even the cockpit of the A-380.

September 1982 Boeing 767

The Boeing 767-200 wide-body long-haul aircraft became the first aircraft of a new generation of passenger airliners that began flying on air routes in the early 1980s. Also, the Boeing 767-200 became the first twin-engine aircraft capable of serving transatlantic routes between Europe and America without landing. The first 767 entered service on September 8, 1982. To date, the 767 fleet has flown over 27 billion nautical miles and completed 7.7 million flights.

March 1988 Airbus A320

In March 1988, Air France received its first A-320 aircraft. The A320 is the world's first passenger aircraft with a fly-by-wire control system (FFS), a flight deck equipped with sidesticks instead of conventional control columns, and a horizontal tail made entirely of composite materials. The A320 family includes: younger brothers(318/319) and older ones (A321). To date, more than 5,100 units have been produced.

January 1989 Tu-204

In 1988, the first prototype of the Tu-204 was manufactured at the ANTK pilot production facility, designed to replace the aging Tu-154. On January 2, 1989, he took to the skies for the first time. On February 23, 1996, Tu-204 made its first flight with passengers on the route Moscow - Mineralnye Vody. The cockpit is equipped with color displays and central Y-shaped handles with short strokes. The aircraft and engine control system is fly-by-wire; Tu-204 became the first domestic airliner to use these innovations.

February 1993 Airbus A340

In competition with Boeing, the Airbas corporation decided to go its own way and created a direct competitor for the 474. At the end of February 1993, Air France received the first A340-300 aircraft. At the beginning of February 1993, the first A340-200 joined the fleet of the German airline Lufthansa. On June 16-18, 1993, the A340-200 aircraft, named World Ranger, flew around the world on the route Paris - Auckland ( New Zealand) - Paris with one stop in Auckland. The Airbus A340-600 was the world's longest passenger aircraft with a fuselage length of 75.36 meters before the release of an extended version of the Boeing 747-8 - 76.4 m.

May 1995 Boeing 777

The Boeing 777 (aka Triple Seven, aka "port") is the world's largest twin-engine jet passenger aircraft. The General Electric GE90 engines installed on it are the largest and most powerful jet engines in the history of aviation. Distinctive feature There are also six-wheel landing gear. The Boeing 777 was the first commercial airliner to be designed 100% by computers. The first 777-200 was delivered to United Airlines on May 15, 1995.

April 2005 Airbus A380

Airbus A380 is the largest passenger aircraft. This double-deck liner has the following dimensions: height - 24 m, length - 73 m, wingspan - 79.4 m. In the standard configuration it can accommodate 555 passengers, the charter version can accommodate 853 people. Designed for non-stop flights over a distance of up to 15,000 km. The Airbus A380 is the most economical aircraft of its class. It consumes 3 liters of fuel per passenger per 100 kilometers. It took 10 years and 12 billion euros to develop this model. The aircraft was announced as an alternative to the Boeing 747.

May 2008 Sukhoi Superjet 100

The first Superjet 100 was presented to the public on September 26, 2007 at the plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, where it successfully made its first flight on May 19, 2008. In February 2012, the SSJ100 received EASA type certification. As of mid-July 2012, nine airline-operated SSJ100 aircraft have completed more than 5,200 commercial flights totaling over 10,200 flight hours.

December 2009 Boeing 787 Dreamliner

The first test flight of the new “soldier” in the war for passengers and economic efficiency took place on December 15, 2009. As of June 2010, 868 aircraft were ordered. The Boeing 787 is a wide-body twin-engine passenger aircraft capable of carrying 250-330 passengers over a distance of up to 16 thousand 299 kilometers (depending on modification). More than half of the aircraft's parts are made of lightweight composite materials, the new 787 has 12% greater fuel efficiency compared to the Boeing 777, and will also consume 20% less fuel during operation than modern aircraft of the same class.

That, in fact, is all 60 years. Among the upcoming new products, we can expect the Airbus A350 and MC21, which will be even lighter, more economical, quieter, more comfortable, more reliable, etc. etc. But, all the same, these will be twin-engine low-wing aircraft... More on that next time.
Thank you for your attention.

For a long time, the first Soviet jet passenger airliners could not overcome the “childhood diseases” characteristic of their type of aviation. Therefore, their accident rate turned out to be unprecedented compared to this indicator for other Soviet aircraft. In total, 18% of the total was lost as a result of accidents. total number produced by Tu-104.

Tu-104

The Tu-104 made its first flight in 1955, and since 1956 it has started regular flights. Tu-104 became the pride of the USSR. His demonstration flights to London and New York created a sensation. At that time, it was the only jet passenger aircraft in the world, since the English De Havilland Comet was taken off the line after a series of disasters, and the American Boeing 707 was just about to enter service.

Jet aircraft made a breakthrough in aviation. Thus, their flight speed was twice that of piston passenger aircraft: (instead of 350-400 km/h - 750-800 km/h), and the non-stop flight range increased from 1500-2000 km to 3000-3500 km. But, as you know, you have to pay for everything, sometimes too dearly.

The first mysterious Tu-104 crash occurred on August 15, 1958 near Khabarovsk. For some unknown reason, the plane left the flight level, went into a tailspin and crashed into the ground. The conclusion of the investigative commission stated that at a high altitude the airliner was picked up by an upward flow of air, lost speed and control and began to dive. There were no conclusions. Everything repeated itself when, on October 17, 1958, another Tu-104 plane crashed in Chuvashia, flying from Beijing to Moscow.

After the last intermediate landing in Omsk, the Tu-104 flew almost to Moscow, but then the dispatchers refused to allow it to land due to difficult weather conditions. The same unfavorable conditions existed at the alternate airfield in Gorky. The crew of the plane made a turn and headed to Sverdlovsk (the airport in Kazan at that time could not accept the Tu-104 due to the short runway). Over Chuvashia, the airliner, flying at an altitude of 10 km, was picked up and thrown by a turbulent current to an altitude of 13 km, where the engine power dropped sharply, and the plane fell into a dive from which it never recovered.

The reasons for the crash this time would have remained hypothetical if crew commander G.D. Kuznetsov, being calm in the face of imminent death, would not have reported on the radio all the circumstances of the accident (there were no black boxes at that time). This disaster served as an impetus for making technical improvements in the design of the elevators, as well as restrictions for the Tu-104 flight altitude.

In 1960, production of the Tu-104 was discontinued due to the transition to the production of more advanced aircraft. However, they served in civil aviation until 1979, when, after the disaster at Vnukovo, which was caused by the human factor, they were finally withdrawn from civilian service. air fleet. Nevertheless, the aircraft continued to be used as a military service aircraft.

On February 7, 1981, a disaster occurred near Leningrad that put an end to the operation of the Tu-104. After takeoff from Pulkovo, the plane on which the command of the Pacific Fleet was returning to Vladivostok after headquarters exercises in Leningrad crashed. 50 people were killed, including the fleet commander, Admiral E.N. Spiridonov and 15 more admirals and generals. The Pacific Fleet was completely decapitated. The commission found that the causes of the accident were improper alignment of the load and incorrect actions of the crew, that is, the human factor.

The crew was blamed for most of the tragedies that happened to the Tu-104 in the 1960s and 1970s. However, it was found that more than a third (35%) of them were due to technical failure. The Tu-104 turned out to be the most dangerous Soviet civil aircraft, claiming a total of 1,140 lives (although the Il-18 killed more people, however, it was used much longer). However, the Tu-104 was still better than its English predecessor, the De Havilland Comet; in total, 23% of the fleet of these machines was lost. Moreover, most of the crashes of the first English jet airliner occurred because the planes simply fell apart in the air.

Tu-124

The Tu-124 was a modernization of the Tu-104. Keeping its layout at a smaller size, it was for the first time equipped with economical bypass turbojet engines, which have since been installed on all jet aircraft.

The Tu-124 first became famous for its emergency landing on the surface of the Neva on August 21, 1963. Fortunately, everything went well that time. On September 2, 1970, a Tu-124 flying from Rostov to Vilnius, for an unknown reason, left the flight level and crashed into the ground near Dnepropetrovsk. On December 16, 1973, a Tu-124 flying from Vilnius to Moscow went into a steep dive and crashed near Volokolamsk. On January 3, 1976, shortly after takeoff from Vnukovo, a Tu-124 en route to Minsk crashed. In all cases, the cause was equipment failure.

The sad crowning achievement of the operation of the Tu-124 was the death of the aircraft on August 29, 1979 near Kirsanov, Tambov region, when the airliner went into a tailspin and fell apart in the air into pieces from overloads. After this, this model was finally banned. In total, 312 people died in Tu-124 accidents, and the total share of lost aircraft was 9%.

An-10

An-10 is the first passenger turboprop airliner of the Soviet civil air fleet. Its cargo counterpart, the An-12, still flies today. The passenger plane suffered a less enviable fate.

The An-10 has long been considered Aeroflot's most spacious aircraft. Even after the appearance of the Tu-114, it remained so on medium-range lines. It required a shorter runway than other Soviet aircraft. Hence its popularity and widespread use. Over time, naturally, the wear and tear of these liners increased.

A feature of the disasters that led to the removal of the An-10 from service was that these aircraft began to fall apart in the air, with the wings being torn off first. As it turned out later, the fastening of the wings was really weak point these planes. It was the nature of the disasters that occurred with the An-10 that gave rise to the opinion that this model is extremely dangerous. To be fair, it should be said that only five An-10s with passengers crashed during the entire operation of this airliner.

The causes of the first two disasters that occurred at Lvov airport in the winter of 1959-1960 were identical: icing with the flaps fully extended. This most likely indicates human factor, especially since a similar situation has never been repeated anywhere else. In 1962, an An-10 near Sochi crashed into a mountain in mid-air due to a controller error. After that, there were no accidents for 10 years. But in 1972, two identical disasters - near Lugansk and near Kharkov (122 people died in the latter) - put an end to the flights of this airliner.

Nowadays, there is hardly a single person left who does not know about jet aircraft and has not flown on them. But few people know what the hard way What engineers from all over the world had to go through to achieve these results. There are even fewer who know exactly what modern jet aircraft are and how they work. Jet aircraft are advanced, powerful passenger or military vessels powered by an air-breathing engine. Main feature jet plane– this is its incredible speed, which makes the propulsion mechanism stand out from the outdated screw one.

In English, the word "reactive" sounds like "jet". Having heard it, thoughts immediately appear associated with some kind of reaction, and this is not fuel oxidation at all, because such a movement system is acceptable for cars with carburetors. As for airliners and military aircraft, the principle of their operation is somewhat reminiscent of a rocket taking off: physical body reacts to a powerful jet of gas ejected, as a result of which it moves in the opposite direction. This is the basic operating principle of jet aircraft. Also, an important role in the performance of the mechanism that sets such a large machine in motion is played by the aerodynamic properties, wing profile, type of engine (pulsating, direct-flow, liquid, etc.), and design.

The first attempts to create a jet aircraft

The search for a more powerful and high-speed engine for the military, and in the future civilian aircraft began back in 1910. The basis was taken from rocket research of past centuries, which described in detail the use of powder accelerators that could significantly reduce the length of the afterburner and take-off run. The chief designer was the Romanian engineer Henri Coanda, who created an aircraft powered by a piston engine.

What made the first jet aircraft of 1910 different from the standard models of the time? The main difference was the presence of a bladed compressor, which is responsible for setting the aircraft in motion. Although the Coanda airplane was the first, it was very unsuccessful attempt create a plane with a jet engine. During further tests, the device burned out, which confirmed the inoperability of the design.

Subsequent studies revealed possible reasons for the failure:

Poor engine placement. Due to the fact that it was located in the front part of the structure, the danger to the life of the pilot was very great, since the exhaust gases simply would not allow a person to breathe normally and would cause suffocation;
The emitted flame fell directly on the tail of the airplane, which could lead to a fire in this area, a fire and the crash of the aircraft.

Despite the complete fiasco, Henri Coanda claimed that it was he who had the first successful ideas regarding a jet engine for aircraft. In fact, the first successful models were created immediately before the start of the Second World War, in the 30-40s of the 20th century. Having worked on the mistakes, engineers from Germany, the USA, England, and the USSR created aircraft that did not threaten the life of the pilot, and the structure itself was made of heat-resistant steel, thanks to which the body was reliably protected from any damage.

Additional informative information. An engineer from England can rightfully be called the discoverer of the jet engine.–Frank Whittle, who proposed the first ideas and received his patent on them in the end XIX century.

The beginning of the creation of aircraft in the USSR

People first started talking about the development of a jet engine in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The theory of creating powerful airplanes capable of reaching supersonic speed was put forward by the famous Russian scientist K.E. Tsiolkovsky. The talented designer A.M. Lyulka managed to bring this idea to life. It was he who designed the first Soviet jet aircraft powered by a turbojet engine.

The engineer said that this design could reach a speed unprecedented for those times, up to 900 km/h. Despite the fantastic nature of the proposal and the inexperience of the young designer, USSR engineers took on the project. The first airplane was almost ready, but in 1941 hostilities began, the entire team of designers, including Arkhip Mikhailovich, were forced to begin work on tank engines. The bureau itself, with all its aviation developments, was taken deep into the USSR.

Fortunately, A.M. Lyulka was not the only engineer who dreamed of creating an aircraft with a jet aircraft engine. New ideas about creating a fighter-interceptor, the flight of which would be ensured by a liquid engine, were proposed by designers A.Ya. Bereznyak and A.M. Isaev, working in the Bolkhovitinov engineering bureau. The project was approved, so the developers soon began working on the creation of the BI-1 fighter, which, despite the war, was built. The first tests of the rocket fighter began on May 15, 1942, with the brave and courageous test pilot E.Ya. Bakhchivandzhi at its helm. The tests were a success, but continued throughout the next year. Having demonstrated a maximum speed of 800 km/h, the aircraft became uncontrollable and crashed. This happened at the end of 1943. The pilot did not survive, and the tests were stopped. At this time, the countries of the Third Reich were actively engaged in developments and launched more than one air-breathing aircraft into the air, so the USSR air front I lost badly and found myself completely unprepared.

Germany - the country of the first jet vehicles

The first jet aircraft were developed by German engineers. The creation of designs and production were carried out secretly in disguised factories located deep in the forest, so this discovery came as something of a surprise to the world. Hitler dreamed of becoming a world ruler, so he hired the best designers in Germany to create the most powerful weapon, including high-speed jet aircraft. There were, of course, both failures and successful projects.

The most successful of them was the first German jet aircraft, the Messerschmitt Me-262, which was also called the Sturmvogel.

This aircraft became the first in the world to successfully pass all tests, take off freely and then begin mass production. The great “destroyer of the enemies of the Third Reich” "had the following features:

The device had two turbojet engines;
There was a radar located in the nose of the airliner;
The maximum speed of the aircraft reached 900 km/h, while the instructions indicated that it was extremely undesirable to bring ships to such speeds, as control over the controls was lost and the aircraft began to make steep dives in the air.

Thanks to all these indicators and design features, the first Messerschmitt-262 jet aircraft was effective means fight against Allied aircraft, high-altitude B-17s, nicknamed “flying fortresses”. The Sturmofogels were faster, so they conducted a “free hunt” for USSR aircraft that were equipped with piston engines.

Interesting fact. Adolf Hitler was so fanatical in his desire for world domination that with my own hands reduced the efficiency of the Messer-schmitt Me-262 aircraft. The fact is that the design was originally designed as a fighter, but on the instructions of the ruler of Germany, it was converted into a bomber, because of this the engine power was not fully exploited.

I was not at all happy with this course of action. Soviet authorities, so they began to work on creating new aircraft models that could compete with German aircraft. The most talented engineers A.I. Mikoyan and P.O. Sukhoi got to work. The main idea was to add an additional piston engine by K.V. Kholshchevnikov, which would give more right moment fighter acceleration. The engine was not too powerful, so it worked for no more than 5 minutes, because of this, its function was acceleration, and not constant operation throughout the flight.

New creations of Russian aircraft manufacturing could not help resolve the war. Despite this, the super-powerful german planes The Me-262 did not help Hitler turn the course of military events in his favor. Soviet pilots demonstrated their skill and victory over the enemy even with conventional piston ships. In the post-war period, Russian designers created the following USSR jet aircraft , which later became the prototypes of modern airliners:

The I-250, better known as the legendary MiG-13, is a fighter aircraft that A.I. Mikoyan worked on. The first flight was made in March 1945, at that time the car showed a record speed of 820 km/h;

A little later, namely in April 1945, a jet aircraft took to the skies for the first time, rising and maintaining flight due to an air-breathing motor-compressor and piston engine, which was located in the rear part of the structure, P.O. Sukhoi “Su-5”. The speed indicators were no lower than those of its predecessor and exceeded 800 km/h;
An innovation in engineering and aircraft construction in 1945 was the RD-1 liquid-jet engine. It was first used in the Su-7 aircraft model designed by P.O. Sukhoi, which was also equipped with a piston engine that performed the main pushing and driving function. G. Komarov became the tester of the new aircraft. During the first test, it was possible to note that the additional motor increased the average speed by 115 km/h - this was a great achievement. Despite the good result, the RD-1 engine became a real problem for Soviet aircraft manufacturers. Similar aircraft equipped with this model of liquid-jet engine - "Yak-3" and "La-7R", on which engineers S.A. Lavochkin and A.S. Yakovlev worked, crashed during testing due to constant leakage. motor failure;
After the end of the war and defeat fascist Germany The Soviet Union received German aircraft with jet engines “JUMO-004” and “BMW-003” as trophies. Then the designers realized that they were indeed several steps behind. Among engineers, the engines were called “RD-10” and “RD-20”; on their basis, the first aviation jet engines were created, on which A.M. Lyulka, A.A. Mikulin, V.Ya. Klimov worked. At the same time, P.O. Sukhoi was developing a powerful twin-engine aircraft, equipped with two RD-10 type engines located directly under the wings of the aircraft. The jet fighter-interceptor was named "SU-9". The disadvantage of this arrangement of motors can be considered the strong drag when flying. The advantages are excellent access to the engines, thanks to which you could easily get to the mechanism and repair the breakdown. Design feature This aircraft model was equipped with starting powder boosters for take-off, braking parachutes for landing, air-to-air guided missiles and a booster amplifier, facilitating the control process and increasing the maneuverability of the device. The first flight of the Su-9 was carried out in November 1946, but the matter never reached serial production;

In April 1946, an air parade took place in the city of Tushino. It presented new aircraft from the aviation design bureaus of Mikoyan and Yakovlev. The MiG-9 and Yak-15 jet aircraft were immediately put into production.

In fact, Sukhoi “lost” to his competitors. Although, it’s hard to call it a loss, because his fighter model was recognized, and during this time he was able to practically complete work on a new, more modern project - the SU-11, which became a real legend in the history of aircraft construction and the prototype of powerful airliners of our time.

Interesting f act. In fact, the SU-9 jet plane was hard call it a simple fighter. TO The designers nicknamed it “heavy” among themselves, because the aircraft’s cannon and bomb armament was quite high level. It is generally accepted that the SU-9 was the prototype of modern fighter-bombers. Over the entire period, approximately 1,100 units of equipment were manufactured, but they were not exported. More than once the legendary Sukhoi Ninth was used to intercept reconnaissance aircraft in the air ny aircraft. IN the first time this happened was in 1960, when airplanes burst into the airspace of the USSR " LockheedU -2".

First world prototypes

Not only Germans and Soviet designers were involved in the development, testing of new airliners and their production. Engineers from the USA, Italy, Japan, and Great Britain also created many successful projects that cannot be ignored. The first developments with various types of engines include:

“He-178” is a German aircraft with a turbojet power plant, which took off in August 1939;
"GlosterE. 28/39" - an aircraft originally from Great Britain with a turbojet engine, which first took to the skies in 1941;
"He-176" is a fighter created in Germany using rocket engine, made its first flight in July 1939;
"BI-2" is the first Soviet aircraft that was propelled by a rocket power plant;
“CampiniN.1” is a jet aircraft created in Italy, which became the first attempt by Italian designers to move away from the piston analogue. But something went wrong in the mechanism, so the liner could not boast high speed(only 375 km/h). The launch took place in August 1940;
“Oka” with a Tsu-11 engine is a Japanese fighter-bomb, a so-called disposable aircraft with a kamikaze pilot on board;
BellP-59 is an American airliner with two rocket-type jet engines. Production went into series production after the first flight in 1942 and extensive testing;

GlosterMeteor is an air-jet fighter manufactured in Great Britain in 1943; played a significant role during the Second World War, and after its end he performed the task of intercepting German cruise missiles V-1;
"LockheedF-80" is a jet aircraft manufactured in the USA using an AllisonJ engine. These aircraft more than once participated in the Japanese-Korean War;
"B-45 Tornado" - a prototype of modern American B-52 bombers, created in 1947;
"MiG-15" - a successor to the recognized jet fighter "MiG-9", which actively participated in the military conflict in Korea, was produced in December 1947;
Tu-144 is the first Soviet supersonic air-jet passenger aircraft, which became famous for a series of accidents and was discontinued. A total of 16 copies were produced.

This list can be continued endlessly; airliners are improving every year, as designers from all over the world are working to create a new generation of aircraft capable of flying at the speed of sound.

Some interesting facts

Now there are liners that can accommodate large number passengers and cargo, of enormous size and unimaginable speed of over 3000 km/h, equipped with modern combat equipment. But there are some truly amazing designs; Record-breaking jet aircraft include:

Airbus A380 is the most spacious aircraft, capable of accommodating 853 passengers, which is ensured by its double-deck design. It is also one of the most luxurious and expensive airliners of our time. Emirates Airline offers numerous amenities to its customers, including a Turkish bath, VIP suites and cabins, bedrooms, bars and an elevator. But not all devices have such options; it all depends on the airline.

Boeing 747 - for more than 35 years it was considered the most passenger-capacity double-decker airliner and could accommodate 524 passengers;
AN-225 Mriya is a cargo aircraft that boasts a payload capacity of 250 tons;
"LockheedSR-71" is a jet aircraft that reaches a speed of 3529 km/h during flight.

Video

Thanks to modern innovative developments, passengers can get from one point of the world to another in just a few hours, fragile cargo that requires prompt transportation is quickly delivered, and reliable military base. Aviation research does not stand still, because jet aircraft are the basis of a rapidly developing modern aviation. Currently, several Western and Russian manned, passenger, and unmanned airliners with jet engines are being designed, the release of which is planned for the next few years. Russian innovative developments of the future include the 5th generation PAK FA “T-50” fighter, the first copies of which will presumably enter service at the end of 2017 or the beginning of 2018 after testing a new jet engine.

On June 20, 1939, the first ever experimental jet aircraft, the He.176, created by German aircraft designers, flew. With some lag, countries produced jet vehicles anti-Hitler coalition, as well as Japan.

1. First pancake

Work on the creation of the first jet aircraft began at Heinkel in 1937. And two years later the He.176 made its first flight. After five flights, it became clear that he did not have the slightest chance of going into production.

The designers chose for it a liquid-jet engine with a thrust of 600 kgf, which uses methanol and hydrogen peroxide as fuel and oxidizer. It was assumed that the car would reach a speed of 1000 km/h, but it was only possible to accelerate it to 750 km/h. The enormous fuel consumption did not allow the aircraft to move more than 60 km from the airfield. The only advantage compared to conventional fighters was the enormous rate of climb, equal to 60 m/s, which was three times higher than that of vehicles with piston engines.

The fate of the He.176 was also influenced by a subjective circumstance - during the display, Hitler did not like the plane.

2. First serial

Germany was ahead of everyone in creating the first production jet aircraft. It became Me.262. It made its first flight in July 1942 and entered service in 1944. The aircraft was produced both as a fighter, and as a bomber, and as a reconnaissance aircraft, and as an attack aircraft. In total, almost one and a half thousand vehicles entered the army.

The Me.262 used two Jumo-004 turbojet engines with a thrust of 910 kgf, which had an 8-stage axial compressor, a single-stage axial turbine and 6 combustion chambers.

Unlike the He.176, which succeeded in devouring fuel, the jet Messerschmitt was a successful machine with excellent flight characteristics:

Maximum speed at altitude - 870 km/h

Flight range - up to 1050 km

Practical ceiling - 12200 m

Rate of climb - 50 m/s

Length - 10.9 m

Height - 3.8 m

Wingspan - 12.5 m

Wing area - 21.8 sq.m.

Empty weight - 3800 kg

Curb weight - 6000 kg

Armament - up to 4 30-mm cannons, from 2 to 14 hardpoints; weight of suspended missiles or bombs up to 1500 kg.

During the period of hostilities, Me.262 shot down 150 aircraft. Losses amounted to 100 aircraft. This accident rate was largely due to both insufficient training of pilots for flights on a fundamentally new aircraft, and to defects in the engine, which had a short service life and low reliability.

3. One way ticket

The liquid-propellant jet engine was used in only one production aircraft during World War II. In the Japanese Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka manned bomber aircraft designed for kamikaze. From the end of 1944 until the end of the war, 825 of them were produced.

The plane was built on the principle of “cheap and cheerful.” A wooden glider with 1.2 tons of ammonal in the nose was equipped with three liquid-propellant rocket engines that operated for 10 seconds and accelerated the aircraft to a speed of 650 km/h. There were no landing gear or takeoff engines. The bomber delivered the Ohka on a sling within visual range of the target. After which the rocket engine was ignited.

However, the effectiveness of such a scheme was low. Because the bombers were detected by the locators of American Navy ships before the kamikazes were aimed at the target. As a result, both bombers and aircraft filled with ammonal were senselessly lost at distant approaches.

4. British centenarian

The Gloster Meteor was the only Allied jet aircraft to see action in World War II. It made its first flight in March 1943, entered service with the Royal Air Force in July 1944, was produced until 1955 inclusive, and was in service with the air forces of a number of British military allies until the end of the 70s. A total of 3,555 vehicles of various modifications were produced.

During the war period, two modifications of the fighter were produced - F. Mk I and F. Mk III. The F. Mk I squadron shot down 10 German V-1s. F. Mk III, due to their special secrecy, were not released into enemy territory. And they had to repel the attacks of the Luftwaffe, based near Brussels. However, starting in February 1945, German aviation was exclusively engaged in defense. Of the 230 Gloster Meteors produced up to mid-1945, only two were lost when they collided while landing in heavy cloud conditions.

Performance characteristics of Gloster Meteor F. Mk III:

Length - 12.6 m

Height - 3.96 m

Wingspan - 13.1 m

Wing area - 34.7 sq.m.

Take-off weight - 6560 kg

Engines - 2TRD

Thrust - 2×908 kgf

Maximum speed - 837 km/h

Ceiling - 13400 m

Range - 2160 km

Armament - 4 30mm cannons

5. Late to the call

The American Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star began arriving at British airfields immediately before the end of hostilities in Europe - in April 1945. He didn't have time to fight. The F-80 was used extensively as a fighter-bomber a few years later during the Korean War.

The first ever battle between two jet fighters took place on the Korean Peninsula. F-80 and the more modern transonic Soviet MiG-15. The Soviet pilot won.

A total of 1,718 of these early American jets were produced.

Performance characteristics of Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star:

Length - 10.5 m

Height - 3.45 m

Wingspan - 11.85 m

Wing area - 22.1 sq.m.

Take-off weight - 5300 kg

Engines - 1TRD

Thrust - 1×1746 kgf

Maximum speed - 880 km/h

Rate of climb - 23 m/s

Ceiling - 13700 m

Range - 1255 km, with PTB - 2320 km

Armament - 6 12.7 mm machine guns, 8 unguided rockets, 2 454 kg bombs.

6. Soviet-style tender

The first Soviet experimental aircraft BI-1 was designed in the spring of 1941 in twenty days and completed in a month. A wooden glider to which a liquid-propellant rocket engine was attached - it was purely Stakhanov-style. After the start of the war, the plane was evacuated to the Urals. And in July they began testing. According to the designers' plans, BI-1 was supposed to reach a speed of 900 km/h. However, when the famous tester Grigory Yakovlevich Bakhchivandzhi approached the 800 km/h line, the plane lost control and crashed to the ground.

The creation of a jet fighter was normally approached only in 1945. And not even one, but two. By the middle of the year, the twin-engine MiG-9 and single-engine Yak-15 were designed. They took off on the same day - April 24, 1946.

The MiG was more fortunate in terms of its use in the Air Force. As a result of a comparison of the characteristics of the two machines, in which Stalin also took part, the Yak-15 was ordered to be made into a training aircraft for training jet pilots.

The MiG-9 has become a fighting machine. And already in 1946 he began to join the Air Force units. Over three years, 602 aircraft were produced. However, two circumstances greatly affected its fate, and therefore the MiG-9 was discontinued.

Firstly, its development was carried out at an accelerated pace. As a result, until 1948, changes were regularly made to the design of the aircraft.

Secondly, the pilots were very suspicious of the new machine, which required great effort to master and was not forgiving of even minor piloting errors. They were much more familiar with the Yak-15, which was as close as possible to the Yak-3, perfectly familiar to everyone. Actually, it was built on its basis with the necessary minimal deviations.

And in 1948, the first jet fighter, which turned out to be damp, was replaced by the more advanced MiG-15.

Flight characteristics of MiG-9:

Length - 9.75 m

Wingspan - 10.0 m

Wing area - 18.2 sq.m.

Take-off weight - 4990 kg

Engines - 2TRD

Thrust - 2×800 kgf

Maximum speed - 864 km/h

Rate of climb - 22 m/s

Ceiling - 13500 m

Flight duration at an altitude of 5000 m - 1 hour

Armament - 3 guns.

Soon jet engines began to be installed on civil aviation aircraft.

In 1955, the multi-seat passenger jet aircraft “Kometa-1” began to be operated abroad. This passenger car with four turbojet engines had a speed of about 800 kilometers per hour at an altitude of 12 kilometers. The plane could carry 48 passengers.

Jet passenger aircraft “Kometa-3” (in flight and on the ground).

The flight range was about 4 thousand kilometers. The weight with passengers and a full supply of fuel was 48 tons. The wingspan, which has a slight sweep and a relatively thin profile, is 35 meters. Wing area – 187 square meters, the length of the aircraft is 28 meters. However, after a major accident of this aircraft in the Mediterranean Sea, its operation was discontinued. Soon began to be used constructive option this aircraft is “Comet-3” (Fig. 16).

Of interest are the data on the American passenger aircraft with four Lockheed Electra turboprop engines, designed for 69 people (including a crew of two pilots and a flight engineer). The number of passenger seats could be increased to 91. The cabin is sealed, the entrance door is double. The cruising speed of this car is 660 kilometers per hour. The empty weight of the aircraft is 24.5 tons, the flight weight is 50 tons, including 12.8 tons of fuel for the flight and 3.2 tons of spare fuel. Refueling and servicing the aircraft at intermediate airfields took 12 minutes. Production of the aircraft began in 1957.

Since 1954, the American company Boeing has been testing the Boeing 707 aircraft with four turbojet engines. The aircraft speed is 800 kilometers per hour, flight altitude is 12 kilometers, range is 4800 kilometers. This aircraft was intended for use in military aviation as an “air tanker” - for refueling combat aircraft in the air, but could be converted for civilian use. transport aviation. In the latter case, the car could have 100 passenger seats.

In 1959, the French passenger aircraft Caravel began operation. The aircraft had a round fuselage with a diameter of 3.2 meters, which was equipped with a pressurized compartment 25.4 meters long. This compartment housed a passenger cabin with 70 seats. The plane had a swept wing, beveled back at an angle of 20 degrees. The take-off weight of the aircraft is 40 tons. The power plant consisted of two turbojet engines with a thrust of 40 kilonewtons each. The plane's speed was about 800 kilometers per hour.

In the USSR, already in 1954, on one of the airlines, the delivery of urgent cargo and mail was carried out by high-speed jet aircraft “Il-20” (Fig. 17).

Airplane “Il-20”

Since the spring of 1955, Il-20 jet postal and cargo aircraft began to operate on the Moscow-Novosibirsk air route. On board the planes there are matrices of the capital's newspapers. Thanks to the use of these aircraft, residents of Novo-Sibirsk received Moscow newspapers on the same day as Muscovites.

At the aviation festival on July 3, 1955 at the Tushinsky airfield near Moscow, a new jet passenger aircraft designed by A.N. Tupolev “TU-104” was shown for the first time (Fig. 18).

Jet passenger plane “TU-104” at the airfield.

This aircraft, with two turbojet engines with a thrust of 80 kilonewtons each, had excellent aerodynamic shapes. It could carry 50 passengers, and in the tourist version - 70. The flight altitude exceeded 10 kilometers, the flight weight was 70 tons. The plane had excellent sound and heat insulation. The car was sealed; air was taken into the cabin from turbojet compressors. In the event of failure of one turbojet engine, the aircraft could continue flying on the other. The non-stop flight range was 3000-3200 kilometers. The flight speed could reach 1000 kilometers per hour.

On September 15, 1956, a Tu-104 aircraft made its first regular flight with passengers along the Moscow-Irkutsk route. After 7 hours and 10 minutes of flight time, having covered 4,570 kilometers with a landing in Omsk, the plane landed in Irkutsk. Travel time was reduced by almost three times compared to flying on piston aircraft. On February 13, 1958, the Tu-104 aircraft took off on its first (technical) flight on the Moscow-Vladivostok airline - one of the longest in our country.

“TU-104” was highly appreciated both in our country and abroad. Foreign experts, speaking in the press, stated that by starting the regular transportation of passengers on TU-104 jet aircraft, the Soviet Union was two years ahead of the United States, England and other Western countries in the mass operation of passenger turbojet aircraft: the American Boeing 707 jet aircraft " and the English "Comet-IV" entered the air lines only at the end of 1958, and the French "Caravel" - in 1959.

Civil aviation also used airplanes with turboprop engines. This power plant is similar in design to a turbojet engine, but it has an air propeller installed on the same shaft with the turbine and compressor on the front side of the engine. The turbine here is designed in such a way that the hot gases entering the turbine from the combustion chambers give it most of their energy. The compressor consumes power significantly less than that developed by the gas turbine, and the excess power of the turbine is transferred to the propeller shaft.

TVD is an intermediate type of aviation power plant. Although the gases leaving the turbine are discharged through a nozzle and their reaction produces some thrust, the majority of the thrust is generated by the operating propeller, just like a conventional propeller-driven airplane.

The theater engine has not become widespread in combat aviation, since it cannot provide the same speed as pure jet engines. It is also unsuitable on express lines of civil aviation, where speed is the decisive factor, and issues of efficiency and cost of flight fade into the background. But it is advisable to use turboprop aircraft on routes of various lengths, flights along which are carried out at speeds of about 600-800 kilometers per hour. It should be taken into account that, as experience has shown, transporting passengers over a distance of 1000 kilometers is 30% cheaper than on propeller-driven aircraft with piston aircraft engines.

In 1956-1960, many new aircraft with theater engines appeared in the USSR. Among them are “TU-114” (220 passengers), “An-10” (100 passengers), “An-24” (48 passengers), “IL-18” (89 passengers).