Aviation of World War II
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Aviation of World War II |
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KOR-1 (Be-2)Reconnaissance seaplaneBeriev
The Soviet government ordered several such K-3 catapults and 28 HD-55 aircraft for them, but the task was to build their own reconnaissance seaplane, because buying foreign ones was very expensive. CDB MS Beriev was tasked with replacing Heinkel's aircraft with domestic seaplanes. According to the tactical and technical requirements, the aircraft had to solve the following tasks: aerial reconnaissance, adjustment of fire, bombing and attack with machine-gun fire from a dive. The civilian version of the aircraft for the Arctic was also specially discussed. The plan of the aircraft was also negotiated - a biplane, with wings folding for storage on the ship. The plane made its first test flight on September 4, 1936. On May 25, 1937, the plane was transferred for state tests, which the plane did not pass. The aircraft was returned to the plant for revision on August 9, 1937. According to the test results, it was indicated that the aircraft did not meet 25 points of the TTT. Connecting and docking the wings was quite complicated and took up to 40 minutes with three technicians. All metal parts of the aircraft quickly rusted and were not properly protected from corrosion. Low seaworthiness almost completely ruled out the use of the aircraft on the high seas on a ship. Major alterations were related to the central float. The optimal angle of its installation relative to the aircraft axis was selected. To increase stability, the volume of the underwing floats was increased from 180 to 274 liters with their simultaneous lowering by 100 mm (the latter was never done on production aircraft). The prototype aircraft was equipped with an M-25 engine (serial number 250443, licensed version of the American Wright "Cyclone" SR-1828 F3), produced at the Perm Engine-Building Plant No. 19. During the modifications, the propeller-driven group was modified, which began to work normally ... It was decided to adopt the aircraft in a float version, since there was no other aircraft. So the plane that did not pass state tests was put into service. Despite the fact that the launches of the aircraft from the catapult were successful, the use of the aircraft from the catapults was negligible. It all came down to the difficulty of getting the plane on board. A new tactic was developed for the use of the aircraft in the inland seas: the ejection aircraft, after the operation was completed, landed in the support port and re-loaded on board the ship when replenished with supplies. Other scouts, as before, were based in the nearest ports and flew out for reconnaissance on the orders of the ship commander. KOR-1 on a wheeled chassis. Tests of the aircraft on a wheeled chassis began on December 15, 1936. In the conclusion, according to the test results, it was said that the aircraft is suitable for operation at medium-sized airfields, because due to the lack of brakes, the mileage turned out to be quite large (and how could it be without brakes!). Piloting on the plane was prohibited, since the plane left the spin only with the engine running 12-13 turns after one spin of the spin. The aircraft was difficult enough for pilots of average skill to master and required good flight training. Scheme of the KOR-1 aircraft - a single-float biplane with underwing floats. Crew of two people - pilot and letnab (observer pilot). Fuselage - an oval section made of a truss structure made of chromolybdenum pipes. The tail section is braced with ribbons - braces. The fuselage skin is made of duralumin in the nose and linen in the tail. Wings two-spar with box-section spars made of duralumin pipes. The upper and lower wings are interconnected by struts and ribbons - braces. The right and left wing boxes when docked on the ship are folded to the fuselage by turning about the axis of the rear docking nodes of the center section. On the upper wing there are ailerons, on the lower wing there are flaps. Tail unit. Two-spar stabilizer, with an adjustable angle on the ground. The cladding is mainly linen, the lower part is partially sheathed with duralumin, the frame is completely stamped out of duralumin. The keel is made entirely of duralumin. The rudder has a trim tab. Chassis. Single-redan central float in marine version of all-sided design. A water rudder (tiller) is installed in the stern of the float, connected to the aircraft rudder, thus also controlled from the pedals.
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Armament. The aircraft is armed with three 7.62 mm ShKAS. Two of them were located in the center section of the upper wing box (see the drawing of the aircraft) and fired outside the plane swept by the propeller. The angle of installation of machine guns was regulated on the ground. Each machine gun was supplied with a belt of 500 rounds, which were in a cartridge box in the center section of the upper wing. The third machine gun was located in the letnab's cockpit on a pivot turret with a stock of 1000 rounds. The bomb armament consisted of two bombs of 100 kg each, which were suspended on bomb racks under the lower wing. Dropping bombs electric from the trigger on the pilot's handle. Combat use. At the beginning of World War II, six KOR-1 aircraft were part of the 15th Naval Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment commanded by Colonel D.F. Bartkovsky. The regiment was part of the Air Force of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet and was based at the airfields of Vyborg, Oranienbaum, Veino and Valdai Mountain. In the first year of the Second World War, there were cases of the use of a land aircraft on the Southern Front. It was then that the plane received the designation Be-2.
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