Antonov A-1
| {{Infobox Aircraft Begin
| name=A-1 | image= Antonov A-1 (A-1-83) (9717448281).jpg | caption= }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type | type=Training glider | national origin=USSR | manufacturer= | designer=Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov | first flight=1930 | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | number built=ca. 5,700 | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
A-1 (aka Antonov A-1) is a single-seat training glider produced in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and 1940s. The glider also produced in Turkey by THK and MKE, and in Finland by PIK and some other manufacturers.
Development
File:THK müzesi uçak heykeli.jpg]]
File:Harakka I H-12 Karhulan ilmailukerhon lentomuseo 4.JPG]]
A-1 design derived from the Standard-2 (Стандарт-2), designed and flown by Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov in 1930,Sheremetev 1959, 20 which in turn was derived from the Standard-1.Krasil'shchikov 1991, 145 They were produced in large numbers, with around 5,400 built of the U-s3, U-s4 and P-s2 major versions alone.Central Museum of the Air Force The same design formed the basis for the Antonov A-2 and its related group of two-seat designs. Altogether, including the two-seaters, production exceeded 7,600 by 1937.Krasil'shchikov 1991, 143
While members of the family varied in detail, they shared the same basic design, and parts were interchangeable between them.Shushurin 1938, 13 The design featured a typical primary glider layout with a conventional empennage carried at the end of a long boom in place of a conventional fuselage. The boom could be folded sideways for storage.Shushurin 1938, 16 The monoplane wing was carried high on a pylon above this "keel" and was further braced to it with two struts on either side.Sheremetev 1959, 21–22 The pilot sat in front of the wing, and was enclosed in a simple U-shaped wooden fairing that was removed by sliding it forward to allow him or her to enter and leave the aircraft.Sheremetev 1959, 40 The undercarriage consisted of a single skid underneath the "keel", but this could also be fitted with small wooden wheels.Sheremetev 1959, 42
While the original primary training versions (designated У, 'U') featured wings of constant chord, subsequent variants designed for soaring flight (designated П, 'P') had longer-span wings with tapering outer panels and a streamlined nose fairing.Krasil'shchikov 1991, 146 The ultimate development in the line were gliders intended for towed flight (designated Б, 'B), which shared the longer wings and streamlined fairing of the P-types, but added a canopy to enclose the cockpit.
Unlicensed (Licensed, according to some other sources) copies of A-1 and A-2 were produced in Turkey following World War II by {{Interlanguage link|Kayseri Tayyare Fabrikasi|tr|Kayseri Uçak Fabrikasi}} using reverse engineering of Ps-4:
{{Blockquote|text=In order to become self-sufficient and because of increasing, import requirements for gliders in Turkey, their domestic production was established. Therefore, one copy of each aircraft model procured from the USSR were divided, each part was measured, and technical drawings were made. Subsequently the aircraft were copied. This practice of construction (reverse engineering) was also used later by Nuri Demirag, by the Turkish Aeronautical Association (THK) and by the Mechanical and Chemical Industries Corporation (MKEK).|author=Tuncay Deniz|title=Kayseri Tayyare Fabrikasi (KTF)|source=http://www.tuncay-deniz.com/ENGLISH/KTF/ktf.html}}
Kayseri Tayyare Fabrikasi produced at least 11 copies of Ps-4.{{Cite web |title=KTF |url=http://www.tuncay-deniz.com/ENGLISH/KTF/ktf.html |access-date=2024-09-26 |website=www.tuncay-deniz.com}} THK and Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi Kurumu (MKE, MKEK) produced dozens of the THK-4 (A-1, U-s4), THK-7 (A-2, P-s2) and MKEK-6 (A-2, P-s2), which was used for Turkish military pilots training.Deniz 2004
During the Winter War, Finns captured few gliders and drawings of Ps-4 in Äänislinna, which then used by Polyteknikkojen Ilmailukerho to produce its clones and modifications under the names of Harakka I and Harakka II (aka PIK-7, an improved variant of Harakka I) for Finnish pilots training and research purposes.{{Cite web|url=http://iwaru.fi/harakka.html|title=Iwaru Oy, Scale gliders of classic PIK-planes - PIK-7 Harakka II|website=iwaru.fi|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214103306/http://iwaru.fi/harakka.html|archivedate=14 February 2015|accessdate=}}
Variants
In each case, the "s" stands for serii (серии: 'series')
=Prototypes=
:Standard-1 (Стандарт-1)
:Standard-2 (Стандарт-2)
=Trainers=
=Sailplanes=
=Towed=
Specifications (A-1)
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=Krasil'shchikov 1991, 230
|prime units? = met
|crew=one pilot
|length m=5.60
|length ft=18
|length in=5
|span m=10.56
|span ft=34
|span in=8
|height m=1.70
|height ft=5
|height in=7
|wing area sqm=15.6
|wing area sqft=168
|empty weight kg=92
|empty weight lb=200
|gross weight kg=164
|gross weight lb=361
|max speed kmh=70
|max speed mph=40
|sink rate ms=1.2
|sink rate ftmin=240
}}
See also
Notes
{{reflist}}
References
{{commons category}}
- {{cite web |title=Antonov Oleg Konstantinovich |work=Central Museum of the Air Force website |url=http://www.monino.ru/index.sema?a=aviation&sa=info&id=3 |access-date=2008-10-06}}
- {{cite book |last= Deniz |first= Tuncay |title=Turkish Aircraft Production |year=2004 |publisher=Levent Başara |location=Munich }}
- {{cite book |last=Krasil'shchikov |first=Aleksandr Petrovich |title=Planery SSSR (Gliders of the USSR) |year=1991 |publisher=Moskva Mashinostroyeniye |location=Moscow}}
- {{cite book |last= Sheremetev |first= Boris Nikolayevich |title=Planery (Gliders) |year=1959 |publisher=DOSAAF |location=Moscow }}
- {{cite book |last= Shushurin |first=V.V. |title=Atlas konstruktzii planerov (Directory of glider construction) |year=1938 |publisher=Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo oboronnoi promyshlennosti |location=Moscow }}
{{Antonov aircraft}}
{{THK aircraft}}
{{MKEK aircraft}}
Category:1930s Soviet sailplanes