![RU067-16](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/RU067-16.jpg)
Grigorovich M-5 (alternative designation Shch M-5, sometimes also Shchetinin M-5) was a successful
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
n
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
-era two-bay unequal-span biplane
flying boat with a single step hull, designed by
Grigorovich Grigorovich, in its original language: (russian: Григорович), is a patronymic meaning "Son of Grigory" and may refer to:
People
*Dmitry Grigorovich (1822–1900), a Russian writer
*Dmitry Pavlovich Grigorovich (1883–1938), a Soviet air ...
. It was the first mass production flying boat built in Russia.
The aircraft designer
Dmitry Pavlovich Grigorovich Dmitry Pavlovich Grigorovich ( uk, Дмитро Павлович Григорович, russian: Дмитрий Павлович Григорович) (born in Kyiv, Russian Empire, now Ukraine, 25 January (6 February) 1883, died 26 July 1938 in Mosc ...
completed his first flying boat (the model M-1) in late 1913, and produced a series of prototypes, gradually improving the design, until the M-5 appeared in the spring of 1915, which was to be his first aircraft to enter series production, with at least 100 being produced, primarily to replace foreign built aircraft, including
Curtiss Model K and
FBA flying boats.
The M-5 was of a wooden construction, the hull was covered in plywood and the wings and tailplane were covered in fabric. Aft of the step the hull tapered sharply into little more than a boom, supporting a characteristic single fin and rudder tail unit, which was braced by means of struts and wires. It was normally powered by a 100 hp
Gnome Monosoupape
The ''Monosoupape'' (French for single-valve), was a rotary engine design first introduced in 1913 by Gnome Engine Company (renamed Gnome et Rhône in 1915). It used a clever arrangement of internal transfer ports and a single pushrod-operated e ...
engine mounted as a pusher between the wings, but some used 110 hp
Le Rhône
Le Rhône was the name given to a series of popular rotary aircraft engines produced in France by Société des Moteurs Le Rhône and the successor company of Gnome et Rhône. They powered a number of military aircraft types of the First Worl ...
or 130 hp
Clerget
Clerget-Blin (full name being ''Société Clerget-Blin et Cie'') was a French precision engineering company formed in 1913 by the engineer and inventor Pierre Clerget and industrialist Eugène Blin. In 1939, the company was absorbed into the '' ...
engines.
The pilot and the observer were accommodated side-by-side in a large cockpit forward of the wings, the observer provided with a single 7.62 mm
Vickers machine gun
The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more men to move and o ...
on a pivoted mounting.
Most of the M-5s served in the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
or in the
Baltic
Baltic may refer to:
Peoples and languages
* Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...
, initially with the Imperial Russian naval air arm and later with both sides in the
Russian Civil War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Russian Civil War
, partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I
, image =
, caption = Clockwise from top left:
{{flatlist,
*Soldiers ...
. Some remained in service until the late 1920s as trainers, reconnaissance and utility aircraft.
One M-5 fell into Finnish hands when it was found drifting at
Kuokkala in 1918. The aircraft was flown by the
Finnish Air Force
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries =
, equipment = 159
, equipment_label ...
until 1919, when it sank. Only one example survives today in the
Istanbul Aviation Museum in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
, preserved in
Ottoman Air Force
The Aviation Squadrons of the Ottoman Empire were military aviation units of the Ottoman Army and Navy.Edward J. Erickson, ''Ordered To Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War'', "Appendix D The Ottoman Aviation Inspectorate an ...
markings.
Versions
;M-5
:Main version.
;M-6
:M-5 with 150 hp Sunbeam engine. (Unsuccessful).
[Gunston 1995, p. 83.]
;M-7
:M-5 with rounded hull and larger keel. Poor take off characteristics.
;M-8
:Version with further rounded hull. Incapable of water take-off.
;M-10
:Smaller version built in 1916. Gnome Monosoupape engine.
;M-20
:Two-seat reconnaissance. Le Rhone 89 kW (120 hp) engine, built in limited numbers from 1916
Operators
![Russian Navy Grigorovich M-5 Type Flying Boat in the Black Sea in about 1915, during World War I](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Russian_Navy_Grigorovich_M-5_Type_Flying_Boat_in_the_Black_Sea_in_about_1915%2C_during_World_War_I.jpg)
;
*
Finnish Air Force
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries =
, equipment = 159
, equipment_label ...
;
*
Imperial Russian Navy
The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from ...
*
White Army
The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв ...
;
*
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
;
*
Soviet Naval Aviation
Soviet Naval Aviation (AV-MF, for ''Авиация военно-морского флота'' in Russian, or ''Aviatsiya voyenno-morskogo flota'', literally "aviation of the military maritime fleet") was the naval aviation arm of the Soviet Na ...
Specifications (M-5)
References
Sources
*Heinonen, Timo: ''Thulinista Hornetiin - Keski-Suomen ilmailumuseon julkaisuja 3'', Keski-Suomen ilmailumuseo, 1992,
*
{{Grigorovich aircraft
Biplanes
Flying boats
1910s Russian military reconnaissance aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Military aircraft of World War I
M-05
Aircraft first flown in 1915
Rotary-engined aircraft