The industry within which research, development in the scientific field, construction and testing of prototypes, serial production of aircraft and their components (engines, on-board systems, equipment) is carried out - all this is the aviation industry.

The scientific, technical and production potential of the aircraft industry creates an opportunity for the development of many related industries, for example, electrical, radio engineering, metallurgical, thereby forming the prerequisites for the country's economic recovery. The aviation industry is of great general economic, scientific and defense importance for developed countries, and makes it possible to master a wide range of civil and military products.

Strategic industry

The possibility of creating high-tech and competitive aviation equipment is evidence of the economic and technical development of the state and a high resource potential. The aviation industry includes a number of large research and development and manufacturing enterprises.

Aviation industry in the USSR

In the Soviet Union, the emergence of the aviation industry as a large industry began in the 1920s, after the Decree of the Soviet government on the nationalization of aircraft factories. At that time, the aviation industry of the USSR consisted of 15 relatively small aircraft factories, which employed about 10 thousand workers, and one aerohydrodynamic institute. The Soviet aviation industry achieved tremendous growth in the period 1939-1945. The further development of the industry made it one of the most concentrated industries in the Soviet Union, and later in Russia.

Modern aircraft industry in Russia

The aviation industry of Russia occupies one of the leading places in the world in terms of the number of aircraft produced for the civil and military sectors. In terms of the volume of production and sale of equipment and components, the value of funds of enterprises, the aircraft industry occupies a leading position among the defense industries. This is one of the most high-tech industries with a huge number of highly qualified personnel involved.

The Russian aviation industry includes more than 20 large specialized enterprises of mass production, four large enterprises of pilot and experimental aircraft building, aircraft repair plants, plants for the production of units and engine building. One of the largest and most dynamically developing enterprises in the industry are the Irkutsk Aviation Plant (IAP) and the Nizhny Novgorod Sokol Plant.

Irkutsk plant

In 1934, the world-famous Soviet, and now Russian aircraft factory began its history. Irkutsk has become the birthplace of one of the leading aircraft manufacturing plants, which is rightfully recognized as one of the most intensively developing enterprises in the aircraft manufacturing industry. This is one of the most knowledge-intensive and high-tech structures in Russia. The Irkutsk Aircraft Plant is part of Irkut Corporation OJSC, one of the leading aircraft manufacturing companies in the world, which has been awarded the title of “Best Exporter of Russia” for three years in a row (from 2008 to 2010). The products manufactured by the Irkutsk Aircraft Plant for civil and military aviation are supplied to 37 countries of the world: China, Egypt, India, Vietnam, etc.

The aircraft factory (Irkutsk) implements a full range of works for the production of aviation equipment. Performs aircraft design, construction and testing, as well as after-sales services. Over the years of the enterprise's existence, more than 6,700 different aircraft have been produced. The plant has mastered the production of models developed by the leading design bureaus of the USSR and Russia.

At the moment, the Irkutsk Aviation Plant produces the following aircraft: Su-30, Yak-130, MS-21, Yak-152. All of them are in great demand. Over the past years, the Irkutsk Aviation Plant has been demonstrating an increase in output and sales of products, as well as their profitability. The aircraft plant pursues an active personnel policy, which provides for the training and retraining of all specialties - from workers to engineering and management staff. The expanding portfolio of orders of the Irkut management corporation allows us to make plans for the development of the enterprise in the long term.

Nizhny Novgorod Aviation Plant "Sokol"

The Sokol aircraft manufacturing company, located in Nizhny Novgorod, is rightfully considered one of the most significant in the Russian aviation industry. The plant was built in 1932 and was to become a significant enterprise among those existing in the USSR and one of the largest in the world. Initially, it was supposed to produce single-seat I-3 fighters, R-5 reconnaissance aircraft and K-5 passenger aircraft, with a total volume of 2000 units in peacetime.

In 1940, a design bureau was organized at the plant under the leadership of the famous designer Semyon Alekseevich Lavochkin. The bureau developed, introduced into production and further improved such famous aircraft: LaGG-3, La-5, La-5FN, La-7. During the war, 17,691 such aircraft were delivered to the front, that is, every fourth fighter.

Since 1949, the Nizhny Novgorod Aviation Plant Sokol began cooperation with the design bureau No. 155 under the leadership of A. I. Mikoyan. The joint activity turned out to be quite successful, and the plant became the main manufacturer of MiGs, which it still is today. Since 1992, NAZ Sokol has produced about 13,500 MiG aircraft, many of which are intended for export deliveries to more than thirty countries of the world. The main products of the Sokol aircraft plant are MiG-29, MiG-31, MiG-35 aircraft.

Produced aviation equipment

Modern aircraft and helicopters produced by the Russian aviation industry are high-class equipment, the result of the labors of employees of many enterprises. The firms "Dry", "Beriev", "Kamov", "Tupolev", "Ilyushin", "Mil" are widely known in the world. The list of manufactured aviation equipment includes passenger aircraft, helicopters for various purposes, and military vessels. Among the products of the Russian aircraft industry, known in the world, the following equipment can be noted. The latest passenger aircraft:

• Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a modern short-haul aircraft (KnAAPO named after Yu. A. Gagarin, Komsomolsk-on-Amur).
• "Irkut-21", a new generation mainline liner. Serial production of the model is planned for 2017 (Irkutsk Aviation Plant).

• IL-96 - a passenger aircraft for medium and large airlines (Voronezh Aircraft Building Society).
• Tu-204/214 is a passenger aircraft for medium-haul airways (Aviation enterprises of Kazan and Ulyanovsk).

Military aircraft: Su-27, Su-30, Su-33, the latest Su-35, new generation fighter T-50, MiG-29, MiG-31, MiG-35, Su-34.

Transport aircraft Il-76 and Be-200 "Amphibian" (Taganrog Aviation Enterprise named after G. M. Beriev).

Helicopters Ka, Mi, "Ansant" (Kazan Helicopter Plant).

Factors of competitiveness

The modern aviation industry of the Russian Federation is capable of producing high-quality and reliable aviation products with numerous competitive advantages. Until recently, this concerned mainly military equipment. So, in 2011, only 20 civil aircraft were produced, despite the fact that 50 foreign-made units were purchased to replenish the fleet of domestic companies. This testified to the lack of competitiveness of Russian civil aircraft.

The main factors by which domestic civil aircraft were inferior to foreign counterparts:

• Technical excellence.
• Operating costs.
• Aircraft annual flight.
• Cost and price.

Aviation Industry Development Trends

In recent years, a large-scale amount of work has been carried out in the aviation industry with state support to improve the level of research, design, production, and operation of various types of civil and military aircraft. The latest research and production, experimental testing and computing bases were created. The latest models of Russian aircraft are not inferior to foreign ones, and sometimes even surpass them in many factors.

The first aircraft of its own construction appeared in Russia on the eve of the First World War. One of the most famous Russian aircraft of that time was the four-engine wooden biplane "Russian Knight" and the Ilya Muromets, designed by Igor Sikorsky, built on its basis, built in 1913-1914. The Russian Knight became the world's first four-engine aircraft that laid the foundation for heavy aviation, and the Ilya Muromets became the world's first passenger aircraft and heavy bomber. On August 1, 1914, that is, at the beginning of the First World War, the Russian air force consisted of 244 aircraft, which looked more than worthy against the background of other participants in the conflict. Germany had 232 airplanes, France - 138, England - 56 first-line aircraft, Austria-Hungary - about 30 machines.

However, during the war, Russia failed to create a truly powerful aviation industry. The state actually removed itself from coordinating the production of aircraft. Before the start of the war, seven aircraft factories operated in the country, located in Riga, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Odessa. From 1914 to 1917 five more enterprises were put into operation. Most of the cars produced by Russian factories were produced under foreign licenses (16 foreign models were in mass production and only 12 domestic ones). At the same time, foreign firms did not seek to sell their latest developments to the Russians, which means that the characteristics of the aircraft were worse than those of their foreign counterparts. There were few exceptions, for example, the most massive Russian-built aircraft before 1917 (about 170 units were produced) - the Anade scout designed by the entrepreneur and designer of Italian origin Arthur Anatra, the M-5 and M-9 flying boats designed by Dmitry Grigorovich and, of course, bombers "Ilya Muromets" Igor Sikorsky. However, in addition to a few Russian RBZ-6s, the Muromets were equipped with German Argus engines, French Renault and English Sunbeam engines, as well as French licensed Salmson engines. During the war, 1511 engines (only licensed) and 5607 aircraft were produced in Russia. For comparison, Germany produced 40,449 engines and 47,831 aircraft, Britain produced 41,034 engines and 55,061 aircraft, and France produced 93,100 engines and 52,146 aircraft.

The revolutions and the subsequent Civil War and foreign intervention did not contribute to the development of industry in general and the aviation industry in particular. Many talented aviation specialists emigrated abroad, some were shot as "counter-revolutionary elements." By 1920, the already not too high productivity of Russian aircraft factories fell 10 times compared to 1917. In fact, the Soviet government was forced to start aircraft construction from scratch. Special hopes were placed on cooperation with Germany. The Treaty of Versailles, which ended the First World War, forbade this country to have its own combat aircraft, and the passenger capacity x aircraft was limited to 600 kilograms (including the weight of crew members). Therefore, cooperation between the German aircraft manufacturers and Soviet Russia was beneficial to both parties. The Germans got the opportunity to build aircraft, and the Russians got access to modern technologies and aviation enterprises on their territory.

In 1922, the USSR signed an agreement with the Junkers firm on the participation of German specialists in the development of Soviet military aviation. It was assumed that German engineers would establish in the Soviet Union the production of metal aircraft for various purposes, aircraft engines, and assist in mastering the production of aviation materials. In 1923-1925, at the aircraft factory in Fili, the Germans set up the assembly of reconnaissance aircraft Ju-20 and Ju-21. In general, cooperation with Junkers did not justify the hopes placed on it. Aircraft built in Fili had low flight characteristics; for this reason, already in March 1926, the Soviet government decided to terminate the contract with Junkers and to strengthen the development of its own aircraft industry.

Nevertheless, thanks to cooperation with the German side, Soviet specialists had the first experience of metal aircraft construction. After all, the world's first all-metal aircraft was designed by Hugo Junkers back in 1915. In 1922, the Soviet Union received the first batch of metal needed to create aircraft - chain-aluminum, an analogue of German duralumin, and on May 26, 1924, the first Soviet all-metal aircraft ANT-2, designed by Andrey Tupolev, took off into the air. A year later, Russian students surpassed German teachers: under the leadership of Tupolev, the world's first all-metal monoplane bomber TB-1 (ANT-4) with engines located along the wing was built in the Soviet Union. It was this scheme that became classic and subsequently formed the basis of all the "flying fortresses" of the Second World War. In 1932, as a continuation of the TB-1, the four-engine TB-3 (ANT-6) was built, which served in the Soviet Air Force until the Great Patriotic War. In fairness, it should be noted that back in 1920, the German engineer Adolf Rohrbach built a multi-engine passenger monoplane with an engine
lyami on the wing. But this machine made only a few flights and did not have a noticeable impact on the development of aviation.

The weakest point of the Soviet aircraft industry was the lack of its own engines. On the first Soviet aircraft Il-400 (in the I-1 series) by Nikolai Polikarpov I-1 (in the I-2 series) Dmitry Grigorovich, built in 1923, there was an American captured Liberty water-cooled engine (Soviet designation M-5) with a capacity of 400 hp, developed at the end of the First World War. The Liberty was not bad for its time, but it weighed too much to be mounted on fighters. The Il-400 monoplane flew faster than the I-1 biplane, but was less reliable. Therefore, in the mid-1920s, only 14 Il-400s and 209 I-1s were produced.

However, the first mass-produced Soviet aircraft was not a fighter, but a R-1 reconnaissance aircraft designed by Polikarpov. Until the end of the 1920s, reconnaissance aircraft were one of the most common classes of aircraft in the world, accounting for 82% of the number of military aircraft in the USSR, 60% in Poland, 44% in France and 40% in Italy. The R-1, created in 1923, was built on the basis of the English reconnaissance aircraft of the First World War DH-9 with a Liberty engine. Of course, by the time of its appearance, the R-1 could be considered an obsolete machine, but the Soviet Union was in too much need of a reliable and simple aircraft model.
and technology for mass production. In addition, a two-seat reconnaissance aircraft could be used as a multi-purpose aircraft, for example, the P-5 and P-Z, which replaced the P-1 in the early 1930s, were actively used in a number of conflicts as light bombers and attack aircraft.

Since the dawn of aviation, there has been a debate about which type of engine is preferable for an aircraft - water-cooled or air-cooled. In-line or V-shaped water-cooled engines had less drag and, with equal power, made it possible to develop greater speed, and a poorly streamlined, but lighter star-shaped motor reduced the weight of the machine and thus improved its maneuverability. In the 1920s and the first half of the 1930s, fighter speed and maneuverability were considered equally important. Therefore, in the USSR, as in many other countries, aircraft were built with engines of both types. In the mid-1920s, the USSR purchased licenses for two engines: the German BMW-6 (M-17) with a power of 500 hp. water-cooled and British Jupiter VI (M-22) (in the French metric version) with a power of 480 hp. air cooled. It was this engine that originally powered the first mass-produced Soviet I-5 fighter, designed in 1929 by Polikarpov and Grigorovich, who ended up in Butyrka prison in Moscow on charges of counter-revolutionary activities. I-5 turned out to be successful, and the designers were released.

The first actually Soviet engine M-11 with a power of 100 hp. appeared in 1929. It was installed on one of the most popular aircraft in the history of aviation - the U-2 (Po-2) designed by Polikarpov. This biplane was created as a trainer in the late 1920s, but then it was widely used in agriculture and communications as an ambulance and even a light night bomber. From 1929 to 1959 it was
over 33,000 U-2s were produced.

The 1920s are considered a period of stagnation in the development of aviation. The manufacturers of the most advanced countries in aviation during the First World War - England and France - considered a new big war unlikely and did not pay due attention to the introduction of technological innovations into the aircraft industry. The development of German aviation was limited by the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty, and the Soviet Union created its aircraft industry from scratch, trying to catch up with Western countries. Sports and passenger aviation developed most intensively in the world. Especially in the United States, where, in the face of fierce competition, air carriers tried to master all the innovations as quickly as possible. It was in the United States of America that the first serial high-speed passenger aircraft of the new type Boeing 247 was built in 1933. In the USSR, at almost the same time, the high-speed passenger aircraft KhAI-1 took off, becoming the first high-speed passenger aircraft in Europe.

In the early 1930s, a sharp leap took place in aircraft construction: such innovations as all-metal construction, streamlined engine cowlings (NACA), variable pitch propeller, wing mechanization (flaps, slats), cantilever low wing, closed cockpits and, of course, same, retractable landing gear. First of all, these innovations affected passenger, and then bomber aircraft. As a result, a new class of aircraft appeared, the so-called high-speed bombers, which flew faster than fighters. A typical representative of this class was the Soviet twin-engine bomber SB (ANT-40) designed by Tupolev. Until 1941, 6831 ma tire of this type. Security Councils were actively used in the Civil War in Spain, at Khalkhin Gol, in China, in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940 and at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. By that time it was already outdated, but in 1934 it was one of the fastest bombers in the world, it could carry 600 kilograms of bombs at a speed of almost 332 km / h, overtaking most fighters that existed at that time.

Most of the fighters of the early 1930s were not far removed from the models of the First World War. Basically, these were biplanes or polutoraplans (the lower wing is smaller than the upper one) of wooden or mixed construction, with fixed landing gear, armed with a pair of rifle-caliber machine guns and flying only 50-100 km / h faster than the machines of 1914-1918, mainly due to more powerful engines.

In 1934, Nikolai Polikarpov created a new high-speed I-16 monoplane, which was to become the main Soviet fighter of the 1930s and early 1940s. I-16 - the world's first mass-produced monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear; originally he had a closed cabin, but it had to be abandoned. The quality of the glazing left much to be desired, and the pilots, accustomed to open cockpits, actively protested against the necessary but inconvenient innovation. Thanks to a very short
The I-16 fuselage had a low longitudinal moment of inertia and, as a result, a quick response to rudder deflection, which gave the car exceptional maneuverability. However, the control of the I-16 turned into a difficult job, requiring a high level of training from the pilot.

There were variants of this machine with M-22 and M-25 engines (licensed American Wright R-1820-F3), M-62 and M-63 with two and four 7.62-mm ShKAS machine guns, with two 20-mm ShVAK cannons and 12.7 mm BS machine gun. The I-16 was produced in 30 different modifications (types) and, together with Soviet pilots, took part in numerous wars and conflicts of the 1930s and 1940s. Together with the I-16, the Soviet Air Force was armed with another Polikarpov fighter - the I-15 biplane, as well as its versions I-15bis and I-153. The latter began to be mass-produced in 1938, and in 1941 it was the second largest in the Red Army Air Force after the I-16. Biplanes were used in many countries until the outbreak of World War II. Yielding to monoplanes in speed, they surpassed them in maneuverability. There was even a theory of "two fighters", according to which monoplane fighters were supposed to act in combat together with biplane fighters: the former catch up with the enemy and pin him down with attacks, while the latter destroy him in air combat.

However, since the mid-1930s, speed has become the main flight characteristic of fighters, and the last word in fighter aviation is high-speed monoplane fighters with water-cooled engines, such as the Bf.109 in Germany or the Supermarine Spitfire in the UK.

The first warning signal sounded for Soviet aircraft designers in Spain, where the I-15 and I-16 initially prevailed over the German aircraft created in the early 1930s, but began to lose the Bf.109 of early modifications, and even more so would have had little chance against the Bf.109E version with 1100 hp DB-601 engines. and enhanced weapons.

After the victory of the revolution, the party and the government very quickly realized the need to create and develop the Russian air fleet. Aviation development issues have repeatedly been at the center of attention of Soviet party and state bodies and have been repeatedly considered at party congresses, special meetings and conferences with the participation of top Soviet party and government officials.

Domestic aircraft construction in the early twenties was based on the modernization and serial production of the best examples of foreign-made aircraft. In parallel, work was underway to create their own designs.

One of the first aircraft built in Soviet times was a modernized version of the English machine DN - 9. N.N. Polikarpov was entrusted with its development, and the aircraft in various modifications had the name R - 1. At that time, on the basis of the English machine of the AVRO brand "A two-seat training aircraft U-1 was produced, intended for flight schools.

Of the domestic aircraft of the original design, created in the twenties, the AK-1 passenger aircraft of V. L. Aleksandrov and V. V. Kalinin should be noted. Pilot V. O. Pisarenko designed two aircraft and built them in the workshops of the Sevastopol pilot school, where he was an instructor. The design teams led by D. P. Grigorovich and N. N. Polikarpov, who worked on the creation of flying boats, passenger aircraft, and fighters, were very famous.

During this period, in the domestic aircraft industry, there was a transition to the creation of aircraft from metal. In 1925, the AGOS design bureau (aviation, hydroaviation and pilot construction) was created at TsAGI, headed by A.N. Tupolev. The topics of work of the AGOS were very diverse, and brigades were formed as part of the bureau. The engineers who led them later became well-known designers.

Many of the aircraft created by the bureau participated in international exhibitions and long-distance flights. So, on ANT - 3 (P-3) aircraft, flights were made to European capitals and the Far Eastern flight Moscow - Tokyo. Heavy metal aircraft TB - 1 (ANT-4) in 1929 made a flight from Moscow to New York over the North Pole. Aircraft of this type were used not only in long-range bomber aviation, but also in Arctic expeditions. The technical manager of the TB-1 project was the designer V. M. Petlyakov. AGOS also designed the ANT-9 passenger aircraft, which made a long-range flight with a length of 9037.

At the same time, the Land Aircraft Building Department (OSS), under the leadership of N. N. Polikarpov, built I-3, DI-2 fighter aircraft. In the same period, the well-known U-2 (Po-2) aircraft was built, which served for about 35 years. One of the most successful was the R - 5 machine, created by the Land Aircraft Building Department, which was subsequently produced in various versions - as a reconnaissance aircraft, attack aircraft, and even as a light bomber.

The Naval Aircraft Department, headed by D. P. Grigorovich, built naval aircraft, mainly reconnaissance ones.

Along with combat and passenger vehicles, airplanes and light aircraft were designed by order of sports organizations, among them the first aircraft of A. S. Yakovlev, called AIR.

At the beginning of the thirties, the aircraft had the old forms - a biplane scheme and a non-retractable landing gear in flight. The skin of metal aircraft was corrugated. At the same time, a reorganization was taking place in the pilot aircraft industry, and brigades for aircraft types were created at the Aviarabotnik plant.

At first, the task for the development of the I-5 aircraft was given to A.N. Tupolev, and later N.N. Polikarpov and D.P. Grigorovich were engaged in its creation. This aircraft in various modifications was in service for almost ten years, and the I-15, I-153, I-16 fighters even participated in the hostilities of the initial period of the Great Patriotic War.

The brigade of I. I. Pogossky designed seaplanes, in particular, the long-range marine reconnaissance aircraft MDR - 3 (later its team was headed by G. M. Beriev, who built aircraft for the Navy aviation until the seventies).

A long-range bomber brigade led by S. V. Ilyushin later designed the DB - 3 aircraft, and then the well-known attack aircraft IL - 2. S. A. Korchigin's brigade was engaged in the design of an attack aircraft for several years, which, however, was not used. Under the leadership of A. N. Tupolev, heavy bombers were created, including TB - 3 - one of the best and most famous aircraft of this type.

Design bureaus, led by A. I. Putilov and R. L. Bartini, worked on the creation of all-metal steel aircraft.

The successes achieved in aircraft construction and especially in the design of engines made it possible to start creating an aircraft of record flight range ANT - 25. This aircraft with the M - 34 R engine designed by A. A. Mikulin went down in history after flights made on it from Moscow through the North Pole to USA.

By the beginning of the forties, in accordance with the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars "On the reconstruction of existing and construction of new aircraft factories", several new aircraft factories were put into operation, which were intended for the production of the latest aircraft. In the same period, a competition was announced for the best design of a fighter aircraft. Talented engineers worked on its creation - designers S. A. Lavochkin, V. P. Gorbunov, M. I. Gudkov, A. I. Mikoyan, M. I. Gurevich, M. M. Pashinin, V. M. Petlyakov, N. N. Polikarpov, P. O. Sukhoi, V. K. Tairov, I. F. Florov, V. V. Shevchenko, A. S. Yakovlev, V. P. Yatsenko. All of them made a huge contribution to the development of not only Soviet, but also world aviation. As a result of the competition in 1941, LaGG, MiG and Yak aircraft, widely known fighters of the Great Patriotic War period, began to enter service.

The words of K. E. Tsiolkovsky that the era of jet airplanes will come after the era of propeller airplanes turned out to be prophetic. the era of jet aircraft practically began in the forties. At the initiative of the prominent Soviet military leader M. N. Tukhachevsky, who at that time was the Deputy People's Commissar for Armaments, many research institutions were created that worked in the field of rocket technology.

Theoretical developments and research conducted at the end of the twenties made it possible to come close to the creation of a rocket plane. Such a glider was built by B. I. Cheranovsky for the GIRD, and in 1932 the glider was modified for an experimental engine of one of the founders of Russian rocket science, engineer F. A. Tsander.

In April 1935, S.P. Korolev announced his intention to build a cruise missile - a laboratory for human flight at low altitudes using air - rocket engines.

Ensuring the maximum speed of the aircraft was the dream of every designer. Attempts were made to equip piston aircraft with jet boosters. A typical example is the Yak-7 VRD aircraft, under the wing of which two ramjet engines were suspended. When they were turned on, the speed increased by 60-90 km/h.

A lot of work was carried out to create a special aircraft - a fighter with a rocket engine, which was supposed to have a high rate of climb with a significant duration of flight.

However, neither fighters with piston engines and boosters installed on them, nor airplanes with rocket engines have found application in the practice of combat aviation.

In 1945, secular aviation crossed the speed limit of 825 km / h after the installation of a motor-compressor engine on I-250 (Mikoyan) and Su-5 (Dry) aircraft, combining the features of piston and jet engines.

By order of the State Defense Committee, work on the creation and construction of jet aircraft was entrusted to Lavochkin, Mikoyan, Sukhoi and Yakovlev.

On April 24, 1946, on the same day, Yak-15 and MiG-9 aircraft took off, which had turbojet engines as power plants. Later, La-160 was built, the first swept-wing jet aircraft in our country. Its appearance played a significant role in increasing the speed of fighters, but it was still far from the speed of sound.

The second generation of domestic jet aircraft was more advanced, faster, more reliable machines, including the Yak - 23, La - 15 and especially the MiG - 15, recognized at that time as one of the best military aircraft of that time.

For the first time in the USSR, the speed of sound in flight with a decrease was achieved at the end of 1948 on an experimental La-176 aircraft by pilot O. V. Sokolovsky. And in 1950, already in level flight, the MiG-17, Yak-50 aircraft passed the "sound barrier". In September - November 1952, the MiG - 19 developed a speed 1.5 times greater than the speed of sound and surpassed the "SUPER-SEIBR" in its main characteristics, which by that time was the main fighter of the US Air Force.

Having overcome the "sound barrier", aviation continued to master ever greater speeds and flight altitudes. The speed reached such values ​​at which for its further increase, new solutions to the problem of stability and controllability were required. In addition, aviation came close to the "thermal barrier". The problem of thermal protection of the aircraft required an urgent solution.

On May 28, 1960, pilot B. Adrianov set an absolute world flight speed record - 2092 km / h along a closed route of 100 km on the T - 405 aircraft of the general designer P. O. Sukhoi.

As a result, our aviation received an aircraft capable of flying at a speed of approximately 3000 km / h for 30 minutes. Flights on these aircraft indicated that, thanks to the use of heat-resistant materials and powerful cooling systems, the problem of the "thermal barrier" for these flight speeds was basically solved.

During the post-war years, excellent passenger and transport aircraft were created in the USSR. As early as 1956, the Tu-104 aircraft began operating on Aeroflot lines, which for the first time in the world began regular passenger transportation. Il-18, Tu-124, Tu-134, An-10 and Yak-40 at that time pushed our Civil Air Fleet to one of the leading places in the world.

New domestic passenger aircraft An-24, Tu-154M, Il-62M and Yak-42 carry out mass air transportation within the country and abroad. At the end of the seventies, the Tu-144 supersonic passenger aircraft was created. A new qualitative and quantitative level of passenger traffic was achieved with the commissioning of the Il-86 Airbus. Military transport aviation received An-22 and Il-76T aircraft, which are used to transport military and civilian cargo. In 1984, the operation of the giant aircraft An-124 "RUSLAN", and later the An-225 "Mriya" began.

Helicopters, which only after the Second World War became a workable and economically viable vehicle, are now widely used. Soviet aviation designers have created reliable rotorcraft for various purposes - light Mi-2 and Ka-26, medium Mi-6 and Ka-32 and heavy Mi-26 and others for military and civil aviation.

The successes of the Russian aviation industry in the creation of combat aircraft were demonstrated in 1988. at the international aviation exhibition in Farnborough (England), where the MiG-29 fighter was demonstrated; the same aircraft, Buran and Su-27 were demonstrated in Paris in 1989.

Until now, the MiG-29 and Su-27 aircraft are unsurpassed leaders in their class of fighters. Thanks to their design and the perfection of power plants, they can perform unique aerobatics that are not available to foreign analogues of these fighters. Summing up all of the above, we can conclude that, despite all the difficulties and failures, aviation in our country has taken a huge step in its development. And I want to believe that, thanks to the gigantic intellectual potential accumulated in Russia, aviation will continue to develop no less rapidly than before.

After the victory of the revolution, the party and the government very quickly realized the need to create and develop the Russian air fleet. Aviation development issues have repeatedly been at the center of attention of Soviet party and state bodies and have been repeatedly considered at party congresses, special meetings and conferences with the participation of top Soviet party and government officials.

Domestic aircraft construction in the early twenties was based on the modernization and serial production of the best examples of foreign-made aircraft. In parallel, work was underway to create their own designs.

One of the first aircraft built in Soviet times was a modernized version of the English machine DN - 9. N.N. Polikarpov was entrusted with its development, and the aircraft in various modifications had the name R - 1. At that time, on the basis of the English machine of the AVRO brand "A two-seat training aircraft U-1 was produced, intended for flight schools.

Of the domestic aircraft of the original design, created in the twenties, the AK-1 passenger aircraft of V. L. Aleksandrov and V. V. Kalinin should be noted. Pilot V. O. Pisarenko designed two aircraft and built them in the workshops of the Sevastopol pilot school, where he was an instructor. The design teams led by D. P. Grigorovich and N. N. Polikarpov, who worked on the creation of flying boats, passenger aircraft, and fighters, were very famous.

During this period, in the domestic aircraft industry, there was a transition to the creation of aircraft from metal. In 1925, the design bureau AGOS (aviation, hydroaviation and pilot construction) was created at TsAGI, headed by A.N. Tupolev. The topics of work of the AGOS were very diverse, and brigades were formed as part of the bureau. The engineers who led them later became well-known designers.

Many of the aircraft created by the bureau participated in international exhibitions and long-distance flights. So, on ANT - 3 (P-3) aircraft, flights were made to European capitals and the Far Eastern flight Moscow - Tokyo. Heavy metal aircraft TB - 1 (ANT-4) in 1929 made a flight from Moscow to New York over the North Pole. Aircraft of this type were used not only in long-range bomber aviation, but also in Arctic expeditions. The technical manager of the TB-1 project was the designer V. M. Petlyakov. The ANT-9 passenger aircraft was also designed at AGOS, which made a long-range flight with a length of 9037.

At the same time, the Land Aircraft Building Department (OSS), under the leadership of N. N. Polikarpov, built I-3, DI-2 fighter aircraft. In the same period, the well-known U-2 (Po-2) aircraft was built, which served for about 35 years. One of the most successful was the R - 5 machine, created by the Land Aircraft Building Department, which was subsequently produced in various versions - as a reconnaissance aircraft, attack aircraft, and even as a light bomber.

The Naval Aircraft Department, headed by D. P. Grigorovich, built naval aircraft, mainly reconnaissance ones.

Along with combat and passenger vehicles, airplanes and light aircraft were designed by order of sports organizations, among them the first aircraft of A. S. Yakovlev, called AIR.

At the beginning of the thirties, the aircraft had the old forms - a biplane scheme and a non-retractable landing gear in flight. The skin of metal aircraft was corrugated. At the same time, a reorganization was taking place in the pilot aircraft industry, and brigades for aircraft types were created at the Aviarabotnik plant.

At first, the task for the development of the I-5 aircraft was given to A.N. Tupolev, and later N.N. Polikarpov and D.P. Grigorovich were engaged in its creation. This aircraft in various modifications was in service for almost ten years, and the I-15, I-153, I-16 fighters even participated in the hostilities of the initial period of the Great Patriotic War.

The brigade of I. I. Pogossky designed seaplanes, in particular, the long-range marine reconnaissance aircraft MDR - 3 (later its team was headed by G. M. Beriev, who built aircraft for the Navy aviation until the seventies).

A long-range bomber brigade led by S. V. Ilyushin later designed the DB - 3 aircraft, and then the well-known attack aircraft IL - 2. S. A. Korchigin's brigade was engaged in the design of an attack aircraft for several years, which, however, was not used.

Under the leadership of A. N. Tupolev, heavy bombers were created, including TB - 3, one of the best and most famous aircraft of this type.

Design bureaus, led by A. I. Putilov and R. L. Bartini, worked on the creation of all-metal steel aircraft.

The successes achieved in aircraft construction and especially in the design of engines made it possible to start creating an aircraft of record flight range ANT - 25. This aircraft with the M - 34 R engine designed by A. A. Mikulin went down in history after flights made on it from Moscow through the North Pole to USA.

By the beginning of the forties, in accordance with the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars "On the reconstruction of existing and construction of new aircraft factories", several new aircraft factories were put into operation, which were intended for the production of the latest aircraft. In the same period, a competition was announced for the best design of a fighter aircraft. Talented engineers worked on its creation - designers S. A. Lavochkin, V. P. Gorbunov, M. I. Gudkov, A. I. Mikoyan, M. I. Gurevich, M. M. Pashinin, V. M. Petlyakov, N. N. Polikarpov, P. O. Sukhoi, V. K. Tairov, I. F. Florov, V. V. Shevchenko, A. S. Yakovlev, V. P. Yatsenko. All of them made a huge contribution to the development of not only Soviet, but also world aviation. As a result of the competition in 1941, LaGG, MiG and Yak aircraft, well-known fighters of the Great Patriotic War period, began to enter service.

The words of K. E. Tsiolkovsky that the era of jet airplanes will come after the era of propeller airplanes turned out to be prophetic. The era of jet aircraft practically began in the forties. At the initiative of the prominent Soviet military leader M. N. Tukhachevsky, who at that time was the Deputy People's Commissar for Armaments, many research institutions were created that worked in the field of rocket technology.

Theoretical developments and research conducted at the end of the twenties made it possible to come close to the creation of a rocket plane. Such a glider was built by B. I. Cheranovsky for the GIRD, and in 1932 the glider was modified for an experimental engine of one of the founders of Russian rocket science, engineer F. A. Tsander.

In April 1935, S.P. Korolev announced his intention to build a cruise missile - a laboratory for human flight at low altitudes using air - rocket engines.

Ensuring the maximum speed of the aircraft was the dream of every designer. Attempts were made to equip piston aircraft with jet boosters. A typical example is the Yak - 7 VRD aircraft, under the wing of which two ramjet engines were suspended. When they were turned on, the speed increased by 60-90 km / h.

A lot of work was carried out to create a special aircraft - a fighter with a rocket engine, which was supposed to have a high rate of climb with a significant duration of flight.

However, neither fighters with piston engines and boosters installed on them, nor airplanes with rocket engines have found application in the practice of combat aviation.

In 1945, secular aviation crossed the speed limit of 825 km / h after the installation of a motor-compressor engine on the I - 250 (Mikoyan) and Su - 5 (Dry) aircraft, which combined the features of a piston and jet engines.

By order of the State Defense Committee, work on the creation and construction of jet aircraft was entrusted to Lavochkin, Mikoyan, Sukhoi and Yakovlev.

On April 24, 1946, on the same day, Yak-15 and MiG-9 aircraft took off, which had turbojet engines as power plants. Later, La-160 was built, the first swept-wing jet aircraft in our country. Its appearance played a significant role in increasing the speed of fighters, but it was still far from the speed of sound.

The second generation of domestic jet aircraft was more advanced, faster, more reliable machines, including the Yak - 23, La - 15 and especially the MiG - 15, recognized at the time as one of the best military aircraft of that time.

For the first time in the USSR, the speed of sound in flight with a decrease was achieved at the end of 1948 on an experimental La-176 aircraft by pilot O. V. Sokolovsky. And in 1950, already in level flight, the MiG-17, Yak-50 aircraft passed the "sound barrier". In September - November 1952, the MiG - 19 developed a speed 1.5 times greater than the speed of sound and surpassed the "SUPER-SEIBR" in its main characteristics, which by that time was the main fighter of the US Air Force.

Having overcome the "sound barrier", aviation continued to master ever-higher speeds and flight altitudes. The speed reached such values ​​at which for its further increase, new solutions to the problem of stability and controllability were required. In addition, aviation came close to the "thermal barrier". The problem of thermal protection of the aircraft required an urgent solution.

On May 28, 1960, pilot B. Adrianov set an absolute world flight speed record - 2092 km / h along a closed route of 100 km on the T - 405 aircraft of the general designer P. O. Sukhoi.

As a result, our aviation received an aircraft capable of flying at a speed of approximately 3000 km / h for 30 minutes. Flights on these aircraft indicated that, thanks to the use of heat-resistant materials and powerful cooling systems, the problem of the "thermal barrier" for these flight speeds was basically solved.

During the post-war years, excellent passenger and transport aircraft were created in the USSR. As early as 1956, the Tu-104 aircraft began operating on Aeroflot lines, which for the first time in the world began regular passenger transportation. Il-18, Tu-124, Tu-134, An-10 and Yak-40 at that time pushed our Civil Air Fleet to one of the leading places in the world.

New domestic passenger aircraft An-24, Tu-154M, Il-62M and Yak-42 carry out mass air transportation within the country and abroad. At the end of the seventies, the Tu-144 supersonic passenger aircraft was created. A new qualitative and quantitative level of passenger traffic was achieved with the commissioning of the Il-86 Airbus. Military transport aviation received An-22 and Il-76T aircraft, which are used to transport military and civilian cargo. In 1984, the operation of the giant aircraft An-124 "RUSLAN", and later An-225 "Mriya" began.

Helicopters, which only after the Second World War became a workable and economically viable vehicle, are now widely used. Soviet aviation designers created reliable rotorcraft for various purposes - light Mi-2 and Ka-26, medium Mi-6 and Ka-32 and heavy Mi-26 and others for military and civil aviation.

The successes of the Russian aviation industry in the creation of combat aircraft were demonstrated in 1988. at the international aviation exhibition in Farnborough (England), where the MiG-29 fighter was demonstrated; the same aircraft, Buran and Su-27 were demonstrated in Paris in 1989.

Until now, the MiG-29 and Su-27 aircraft are unsurpassed leaders in their class of fighters. Thanks to their design and the perfection of power plants, they can perform unique aerobatics that are not available to foreign analogues of these fighters.

Summing up all of the above, we can conclude that, despite all the difficulties and failures, aviation in our country has taken a huge step in its development. And I would like to believe that, thanks to the gigantic intellectual potential accumulated in Russia, aviation will continue to develop no less rapidly than before.

Literature

1. A. N. Ponomarev "Soviet aviation designers" MOSCOW. Military publishing house. 1990

2. A. N. Ponomarev "Aviation on the Threshold of Space" MOSCOW. Military publishing house. 1971

3. I. K. Kostenko "Flying Wings" MOSCOW. Engineering. 1988

4. G. F. Baidukov "The first flights across the Arctic Ocean. From the memoirs of a pilot". MOSCOW. 1977

I recently posted a regular report on our civil aircraft construction for 2015 - - there are also data for 2011-14, naturally questions arise - how can these miserable numbers be compared with what was in the USSR?
In principle, there are statistics FOR ALL years - but it will take time for this "carriage", so I cut down the task for myself - I give numbers with a run-up of 5 years, starting from 1948.
Yes, I explain for those who from the armored train - military-technical cooperation and SZ included in the "citizen" because of the technological similarity in production, at the same time, special-purpose aircraft (except for the An-30) did not get here.
Because planes, nevertheless, different divided them into several subgroups. "A trifle" - with a take-off weight of up to 10 tons did not include. There is a breakdown by factories, but I didn’t do it, because. at the same time, it would be logical for ALL years to give uninterrupted ...
He gave notes only where in other years the output significantly (many times) exceeded that given in the table.

We look at the table - what happened:

1948 1958 1968 1978 1988

Lungs with PD: Lungs with PD: Lungs with HPT: Lungs with HPT: Lungs with HPT:
Li-2 436 Il-14 101* An-24 171 An-26 141 An-32 28
Medium with turbojet: Light with turbojet: Medium with turbojet:
Il-12 258 An-8 8** An-26 2 Yak-40 60 Tu-154 32 ***
Light with turbojet: Medium with turbojet:
Total 694 Il-18 32 Yak-40 22 Tu-134 59 Yak-42 13
Medium with turbojet engines:
An-10 16*** Tu-124 7 Tu-154 67 An-72/74 26
Heavy with turbojet engines:
An-12 32 Tu-134 20 Yak-42 5 Il-62 5
Medium turbojet: Medium turbojet: Heavy turbojet:
Tu-104 54***** An-12 81 Il-62 17 Il-86 5

Tu-110 3 Il-18 31 Il-86 2 Il-76/78 58
Heavy with a turbojet: Heavy with a turbojet: Unique:
Tu-114 3 Il-62 7 Il-76/78 34 An-124 8
Unique: Unique:
Total 248 An-22 3* Tu-144 1 Total 177****
(including 101 light (including 28 light
and 3 heavy) Total 346** Total 386 and 76 heavy /
(including 195 easy (including 201 easy/unique)
and 10 heavy/ and 54 heavy/
/unique) /unique)

1953 1963 1973 1983 Aircraft takeoff weight
(approximately by years from the table, in tons):
Lungs with PD: Lungs with TVD: Lungs with TVD: Lungs with TVD:
Li-2 130 An-24 25 An-24/30 95 An-26 85 1948 10.000
Medium with theater
Total 130 An-12 163 An-26 49 An-32 3**** 1953 1.500
(all lungs) Light with turbojet: Medium with turbojet:
Il-18 62 Yak-40 121 Tu-134 41 1958 10.000
Medium with turbojet Medium with turbojet:
Tu-124 27 Tu-134 41 Tu-154 29 1963 15.500
Heavy with a turbojet engine Heavy with a turbojet engine:
Tu-114 4 Tu-154 18 Il-62 9 1968 12.500
Heavy with turbojet engines:
Total 283* Il-62 11 Il-86 8 1973 13.500
(including 25 lungs
and 4 heavy) Il-76 4 Il-76/78 58 1978 22.000
Unique:
An-22 9 Total 223 1983 19.000
(including 88 lungs
Tu-144 1 and 75 heavy) 1988 19.500

Total 349
(including 265 lungs
and 25 heavy /
/unique)

Notes:
* The release of IL-14 was curtailed, the peak fell
for the previous year - 457 aircraft
** The peak of An-8 production was in 1960 - 75 aircraft
*** The peak of An-10 production was in 1960 - 46 aircraft
**** Most An-32s were produced in 1987 - 54
***** On 1 experimental military-technical cooperation Tu-107
* incl. pre-production Il-62 and Tu-134 - 1 unit each.
** incl. pre-production Tu-144 and Tu-154
*** incl. experimental Tu-155
**** incl. pre-production Il-96 and unique An-225

Next time I will give indicators for Russia after 1991 (including, of course, the southwestern bush - Kyiv / Kharkov and Tashkent) - there are interesting years there and the general dynamics is interesting - broken down by aircraft factories.
Then I'll see if it's possible to "fix" the military commissar in the same way ...