Development
In 1930 the LIIPS ( - Leningrad institute for sail and communications engineers) formed a UK GVF ( - training centre for civil air fleet), in turn the UK GVF formed the NIAI (''Naoochno-Issledovatel'skiy Aero-Institoot'' - scientific test aero-institute) which became the focus of several good design engineers who were given command of individual OKB (''Osboye Konstrooktorskoye Byuro'' – personal design/construction bureau). Along with contemporary aircraft designers, in the USSR and abroad, Grigorii Ivanovich Bakshayev was interested in the concept of variable geometry aircraft, where the size and/or shape of wings are altered according to the stage of flight, or desired characteristics. One methods of achieving this was with a telescopic wing, where wing sections of bigger aerofoil section and area are telescoped out over the original wing. He designed the RK to use a telescopic wing with six sections, of gradually increasing size, extending outwards from the fuselage to the demands of the pilot. The airframe of the RK was a simple structure of steel tube fuselage and a wire braced monoplane wing of constant M-6 section constructed of wood. The extending wing sections were each 460 mm wide and were extended by the observer in the rear cockpit operating a hand-crank connected to cables via a pulley system to pull each section out in turn, with each section pulling the next behind it. Successful flight tests starting in 1937 led to authorisation for a fighter with telescopic wings to be designed and built; The RK-I (''Razdvizhnoye Krylo - Istrebitel'' – extending wing fighter).Specifications (RK)
See also
References
* Gunston, Bill. “The Osprey Encyclopaedia of Russian Aircraft 1875–1995”. London, Osprey. 1995. {{refend 1930s Soviet experimental aircraft NIAI aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1937