The Mikoyan-Gurevich I-350 (''Samolet M''), was a
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
-era
experimental
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...
fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...
. It was the first Soviet aircraft able to maintain
supersonic speed
Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound ( Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...
.
Design and development
From 1947, work began on a new axial-flow
turbojet
The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...
by OKB-165, led by
Arkhip Mikhailovich Lyulka
Arkhip Mikhailovich Lyul'ka (''Russian'': Архи́п Миха́йлович Лю́лька, ''Ukrainian'': Архип Михайлович Люлька) (1908–1984) was a Soviet scientist and designer of jet engines, head of the OKB Lyulka, ...
. OKB Mikoyan-Guryevich designed the I-350 around this engine, the
Lyul'ka TR-3A (redesignated as the Lyulka AL-5). Resembling a scaled-up
MiG-17
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-17; NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the Soviet Union from 1952 and was operated by air forces internationally. The MiG-17 w ...
, the I-350 had a long slim fuselage, mid-set 57° swept wings and a wide-chord fin mounting a tailplane at half-span.
Given the OKB designation ''Izdeliye M'', it was the first Soviet fighter able to fly stably at supersonic speeds.
Redesignated as the I-350, the I-350M-1 first prototype was fitted with a
RP-1 Izumrud airborne interception radar and the second prototype, I-350M-2, was fitted with a
Korshun
This is a complete list of variants and designations of the BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV). It is sorted by country of origin.
Variants
Soviet Union
Infantry fighting vehicles
* BMP (Ob'yekt 764) – The original main prototype of the ...
airborne interception radar.
Operational history
The I-350M-1 first flew on 16 June 1951, piloted by Grigoriy A. Sedov, but the engine failed shortly after takeoff, precipitating a hydraulic system failure. Despite battling very heavy control forces, the pilot made a successful landing after lowering the landing gear using the emergency undercarriage extension system. Four more test flights were made, with very poor engine reliability, before the I-350 programme was terminated in August 1951.
Specifications (I-350)
See also
References
External links
{{Mikoyan aircraft
I-350
1940s Soviet fighter aircraft
Abandoned military aircraft projects of the Soviet Union
Single-engined jet aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1951