The Ki-105 Ohtori, (‘Phoenix’, allied codename Crane) was a project in the last months of the Pacific War. With Allied attacks on ports and shipping, Japan’s sources of oil to fuel its defensive fighters were drying up. To meet the demand for aviation fuel, the experimental Kokusai Ku-7 transport glider was developed into a powered version for use in transporting fuel from the oilfields still held in Sumatra to Japan.
This required a range of 2500km, and to achieve this the Ki-105’s engines drew on the transported fuel, and used 80% of it to reach Japan (plus what it used to reach Sumatra unloaded). Japan developed a process to make gasoline from pine tree oil, which saw whole forests destroyed to fill the tanks of a few fighter aircraft.
The Ku-7 Manazuru were modified by fitting them with engines, which were designated the Ki-105 Otori (鳳 “Phoenix”). Ku-7-II was the original designation for the Ki-105. Intended for use as fuel transports, only nine, of 300 ordered, were produced before development priorities were shifted elsewhere.
Engines: 2 x Mitsubishi Ha-26-Il, 940 hp (700 kW) Wingspan: 35.00 m / 115 ft 10 in Length: 19.92 m / 65 ft 4 in Height: 5.56 m / 18 ft 3 in Max take-off weight: 12,500 kg / 27,558 lb Normal payload: 3,300 kg / 7,300 lb Cruising speed: 220 km/h / 137 mph / 120 kn Maximum range: 2,500 km / 1,600 mi / 1,300 nmi Crew: 3
The Kokusai Ku-7 Manazuru (真鶴 “white-naped crane”; Allied code-name Buzzard) was a large experimental twin boom Japanese military glider.
An enlarged version of the earlier Maeda Ku-1 glider, it was developed during 1942. The use of a twin boom design allowed for a large square cargo door, which meant that the aircraft was capable of carrying either 32 soldiers, 7600 kg of cargo or even a light tank.
First flown on 15 August 1944, it required a powerful towing aircraft, either the Nakajima Ki-49 or the Mitsubishi Ki-67, which were in short supply. As a result, the aircraft were modified by fitting them with engines, which were designated the Ki-105 Otori (鳳 “Phoenix”). Ku-7-II was the original designation for the Ki-105.
Only two Ku-7 Manazuru were built.
Ku-7 Wingspan: 34.75 m (114 ft 0 in) Wing area: 119.7 m2 (1,288 sq ft) Aspect ratio: 10.8 Length: 19.5 m (64 ft 0 in) Empty weight: 4,536 kg (10,000 lb) Gross weight: 12,000 kg (26,455 lb) Never exceed speed: 354 km/h (220 mph, 191 kn) Maximum towing speed: 201 km/h (125 mph; 109 kn) Crew: 2 Capacity: 32 troops, equipped / 8 short tons (7,300 kg) tank / 75 mm (3.0 in) howitzer with 4 short tons (3,600 kg) tractor / 7,464 kg (16,455 lb)
Classed as a microlight under the FAI definition, the all carbonfibre Ultima two seater was at the point of being marketed in 1998. Koenig Engineering offers kit to construct AK.09 Faucon two-seat composites monoplane, also available from Germany as Junkers Ultima.
Engine: Rotax 912, 80 hp Wing span: 8.20 m Wing area: 10.5 sq.m MAUW: 450 kg Empty weight: 250 kg Fuel capacity: 90 lt Max speed: 260 kph Cruise speed: 230 kph Minimum speed: 65 kph Climb rate: 6.2 m/s Seats: 2 Fuel consumption: 12 lt/hr Price (1998): 98 000 DM Kit price (1998): 52 270 DM
Owner-builder Harold Koehler started his Goodyear racer only to have the engine develop serious trouble on take off during the 1947 race. Pilot Bob Gaffney was not injured.
The 1909 Koechlin Type A monoplane was designed and built by Paul Koechlin in France.
The 1910 monoplane, flown by Marthe Niel, was powered by a water-cooled Grégoire Gyp engine of 35 hp, with the radiators were fitted standing on the fuselage right in front of the pilot. This incarnation has the ailerons at the wing tips. A later incarnation had the ailerons built in the wing
Antoni Kocjan designed the Czajka (transl. Lapwing) secondary training glider in 1931 at Aviation Section workshops of Mechanic Students’ Club of Warsaw University of Technology (KMSPW) at Okęcie near Warsaw. It was intended to provide flight experience at a level between those of the low performing but easy to fly basic trainers and of the high performance cross-country sailplanes.
The Czajka was a single-seat, high wing, open frame (uncovered flat girder fuselage} glider. The two-part wing was rectangular in plan apart from blunted, angled tips. Each part was built around a single spar placed well forward, with plywood covering around the leading edge, forming a D-box, and forward of an angled internal drag strut which ran back from the spar to the upper fuselage longeron near the trailing edge. Behind the spar and drag strut the wing was fabric covered. It was mounted on the upper longeron, with a longitudinal N-strut to the lower longeron from the spar and drag strut, and braced on each side with a single, short steel-tube from the lower longeron to the spar at about 25% span. Trapezoidal, largely constant-chord ailerons occupied more than half the span.
The fuselage was extremely simple, with two longerons gently converging rearwards and vertically joined by the forward N-strut, the rudder post and wire bracing from the upper and lower wing spar bracing points. There were four major Czajka variants, which mostly differed in improved accommodation for the pilot. The first prototype, the first Czajka I, had a totally exposed seat on the lower longeron, its back attached to the forward member of the N-strut. On the second prototype, the first Czajka II, the seat was enclosed in a simple, removable fabric-covered nacelle which tapered in plan back to the rear N-strut member. The last prototype, the Czajka III, had a 350 mm (13.8 in) shorter fuselage as well as a span reduced by 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) and reverted to the exposed seat. The later, 1936, Czajka bis had a ply-covered nacelle as well as a frame strengthened with an additional, vertical tube member at about mid-fuselage. Most produced variants were Czajka II and Czajka-bis.
The tail of the Czajka was conventional and unchanged between the variants. A narrow ply-covered triangular tailplane, mounted on top of the upper longeron and strut-braced to the lower longeron, carried fabric-covered elevators with a gap for rudder movement. The narrow fin was also triangular and, like the slightly tapered, nearly rectangular rudder, reached down to the lower longeron.
The Czajka landed on a rubber-sprung skid mounted on the lower longeron and a tailskid at the foot of the rudder post.
The three prototypes ordered by the government were built at Aviation Section workshops of Mechanic Students’ Club of Warsaw University of Technology (KMSPW) and the first flew on 31 April 1931.
In the summer of 1931, only a few months after the type’s first flight, the three Czajkas joined the Lwów students on their fifth annual gliding expedition to Bezmiechowa. During the year Czajkas set three new Polish duration records, the best lasting 12 min 50 sec, as well as setting the first Polish duration record flown by a woman. On 20 September 1932 one set a new national height gained record of 420 m (1,380 ft).
The Czajka contributed to the development of gliding in Poland in other ways. In April 1935 a Czajka II was used in the first winch-launching in the country. There were also international links: the distinguished glider pilot, Slovenian Boris Cijan gained his C certificate in a Czajka at Bezmiechowa and the type took part in some international events.
Czajka II
Eighteen Czajkas in total were built at Okęcie. In 1932, the workshops were separated as Warsztaty Szybowcowe (Glider Workshops) in Warsaw, which undertook further production. Orders for the Czajka came from the government, from LOPP and from individual gliding clubs and production, begun in 1931, only ended with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. Several Polish factories built them as well as club workshops and there were uncompleted airframes at the time of the invasion, so the total number of completed Polish Czajkas, estimated at about 160, is uncertain. In addition, production licenses had been purchased in Bulgaria, Estonia, Palestine and Yugoslavia.
Czajka III Exposed seat, shorter fuselage and shorter span, lower aspect ratio wing which reduced its best glide angle.
Czajka bis Ply nacelle and strengthened fuselage, flown in 1936. Wingspan: 11.3 m (37 ft 1 in) Wing area: 15.5 m2 (167 sq ft) Length: 6 m (19 ft 8 in) Aspect ratio: 8.2 Empty weight: 95 kg (209 lb) Gross weight: 170 kg (375 lb) Maximum speed: 169 km/h (105 mph, 91 kn) Maximum glide ratio: 13.5 at 53.5 km/h (33.2 mph; 28.9 kn) Rate of sink: 0.99 m/s (195 ft/min) minimum, at 45 km/h (28 mph; 24 kn) Minimum speed: 39 km/h (24 mph; 21 kn) Crew: One
The Kochierigin/Gurievich TSh-3 (Russian: Кочеригин – Гуревич ТШ-3) attack aircraft was developed by S. A. Kochierigin and M. I. Gurievich between 1932 and 1934. It was also known as TsKB-4.
At the beginning of the 1930s, a line of aeronautical development was aimed at the creation of ground attack aircraft for the support of troops on the ground. It was considered that an essential component for this type of aircraft should be armor, capable of guaranteeing protection for the crew and the essential components and systems of the aircraft.
In 1932 a work group led by S. A. Kochierigin as head of the attack aircraft group of the TsKB and M. I. Gurievich, decided to work on the development of an armored attack aircraft, but starting from a monoplane conception with an M-34 750/750 engine of 830 horsepower.
The requirements of the VVS conceived a speed of 250 km/h and a ceiling of 4000 m. The aircraft was also to carry powerful weapons in different combinations.
By the end of 1933 the prototype could be ready. The name of the new model was TSh-3, an acronym for Heavy Attack Aircraft No.3 (ТШ-3 – Тяжелый Штурмовик – 3) and it corresponded to number 4 in the TsKB registry, which is why it is also known as TsKB -4.
Structurally it was a large-area (45.04 m²) low-wing monoplane with strong inverted-V bracing with fixed landing gear covered with “trousers” that blended into the centerplane.
The entire forward portion of the fuselage, including the power plant, cockpit and gunner’s cabin, was formed in the form of an integral armored trunk that was fixed to the duralumin structure. The armor was made up of slats attached by 6 mm screws to the aluminum corners of the structure. The thickness of the armor in the front part reached 8 mm, in the bottom, walls and rear – 6 mm, the top 5 mm. The engine in its upper part did not present armor. The total weight of the armor reached 576 kg.
The radiator was movable and they also featured 6mm armor on the bottom. During the attack it was collected towards the interior of the lower fuselage to avoid being damaged by impacts. In that position the air intake was through an armored inlet located under the propeller. A part of the heat was absorbed by the 106 kg of water in the cooling system, so the radiator was designed oversized.
The lower part of the fuselage was made up of a structure of welded steel tubes and covered with fabric. The tail section added less than 10% to the total weight of the aircraft, weighing only 55 kg.
The wings were constructed of fabric-coated duralumin and featured two-section trailing-edge ailerons that could be used as flaps.
The TSh-3’s armament was made up of two batteries, each with 5 ShKAS machine guns, located in the wings on both sides of the fuselage. In addition, the aircraft had three 250 kg bomb bays located between the wing spars designed to carry small incendiary bombs. Some supports integrated into the wing structure also allowed the fixing of containers for chemical weapons or aviation bombs. The total bomb capacity reached 400 kg. The defensive armament was integrated by a machine gun in the defensive position of the gunner.
The landing gear was of the conventional, fixed type, with a single wheel on each of the main landing gear and tail skid. The main landers were faired by “pants”.
Tests of the prototype were developed in the spring of 1934 by the test pilot V. K. Kokkinaki. Despite the heavy takeoff weight of 3,557 kg, the TSh-3 managed to reach 247 km/h, climbing up to 5,800 meters. These results exceeded the requirements received in 1932, but by 1934, when the tests ended, this speed was already considered quite low. The angular profiles of the armor did not allow thinking about improving aerodynamics and the cooling system did not work effectively, so the TSh-3 was not built in series.
TSh-3 (TsKB-4) Powerplant: One 750/830 hp M-34F Wingspan: 16.50 m Wing area: 45.04 m² Length: 10.75 m Empty weight: 2665 kg Loaded weight: 3557 kg Wing loading: 79.5 kg/m² Power load: 4.7 kg/hp Maximum speed at sea level: 247 km/h Speed at 1000 m: 243 km/h Landing speed: 95 km/h Time to 3000 m: 10.7 min Range: 470 km Endurance: 2 h 30 min Practical ceiling: 5800m Armament: 11 ShKAS 7.62 mm machine guns Bomb load: 400 kg Accommodation: 2 crew
It was thought that an attack aircraft would be useful not only as a land aircraft, but that it could be used on board the Soviet aircraft carriers that were just beginning to be projected in the early 1930s. In particular, it was planned to convert the training ship “Konsomoliets” into an aircraft Carrier, for training with a crew of 26 fighters and 16 attack aircraft.
In parallel with the works on the Grigorovich TSh-2 and based on the LSh-1 attack aircraft, the ShON (Russian: ЦКБ ШОН) light two-seat attack aircraft was created. The initials of its name correspond to Attack Plane for Special Missions (ШОН – Ш турмовик О собого Н азначения) and number 23 corresponded to it in the TsKB production plan (TsKB-23). In its development, apart from SA Kochierigin and NN Polikarpov, DP Grigorovich participated.
A development of the Polikarpov R-5 the ShON was to be armed with a four PV-1 machine gun installation located in the lower part of the gunner’s cabin and capable of firing forwards, downwards and backwards, in addition to a capacity of 400 kg of bombs. The defensive armament was made up of a PV-1 machine gun to defend the rear hemisphere.
The aim was achieving a cheap and simple production aircraft. A feature of the design was the use of armor only on the underside of the engine and cockpit.
The motor mount was made of welded steel tubes and was fixed to the rest of the structure by means of four screws. The fuselage was made with welded carbon steel tubes and from the cabin to the end of the tail was covered with fabric.
The wings were designed in wood. Its structure included two stringers and had a textile covering. To facilitate the operation and the location of the ShON on the deck of the aircraft carrier, the wings were retracted to the rear. Modifications were made to the landing gear, which was reinforced to allow embarked operations.
The prototype was built in 1931 and on April 1 of that year it was ready for testing, which lasted until the summer of 1932.
During the first test flights it was found that at an outside temperature of 21°C the water in the cooling system soon began to boil. For this reason it was decided to replace the cooling liquid with one based on alcohol-glycol. The oil temperature would also get quite high.
Despite the fact that the evaluations of the model were generally positive, the ShON did not go to the stage of serial production, since the need for this type of aircraft disappeared with the decision not to produce aircraft carriers.
ShON Powerplant: 1 x 680 hp BMW-VI Wingspan of upper plane: 14.20 m Wingspan of lower plane: 13.00 m Wing area: 36.52 m² Length: 8.64m Empty weight: 1820 kg Normal takeoff weight: 2670 kg Wing loading: 66 kg/m² Power load: 6.4 kg/hp Top speed: 226 km/h Cruising speed: 194 km/h Practical range: 500 km Practical ceiling: 4000 m Armament: Five 7.62 mm PV-1 machine guns Bombload: 400 kg Accommodation: 2 crew
In the early 1930s both GUAP and the leadership of the VVS of the Red Army considered it necessary to replace the biplane reconnaissance aircraft in service with faster aircraft.
One of the first aircraft manufacturers to respond to the request was SA Kochierigin, who presented conceptual ideas for an experimental reconnaissance aircraft, which could be used as both a two-seater fighter and a light bomber.
The Kochierigin SR (TsKB-27) (Russian: Кочеригин СР (ЦКБ-27)) was assigned the 27th consecutive (TsKB-27) by the Central Construction Bureau and designated SR by the VVS, to highlight its role as a fast reconnaissance aircraft (СР – С коростной Р азведчик).
The new scout aircraft featured the classic monoplane layout of the time with a bomb bay between the spars of the centerplane. This distribution made it necessary to locate the gunner’s position well back in the fuselage.
The construction was of mixed construction, with a monocoque wooden fuselage and metal wings. The wings featured straight leading edge and trailing edge flaps for takeoff and landing operations. In order to ensure longitudinal balance, for the first time in the USSR uncontrolled stabilizers and trimmers were used on the elevators. Control surfaces were covered with tissue.
The landing gear, of the conventional type with a tailwheel, was retracted by means of a pneumatic retraction system.
The new model was designed around a 780 – 800 hp Gnome -Rhone Mistral Major 14Krsd air-cooled star engine, driving a three-blade, variable-pitch propeller, which had begun to be produced under license in the USSR by the Tumansky’s office under the designation M-85.
As armament the SR incorporated two 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns without wing synchronization. The defensive armament consisted of a ShKAS machine gun mounted on a mobile mount. Normally the machine gun was in the cockpit and was only mounted on the mount if necessary. The internal hold had a capacity for 400 kg of bombs.
Compared to the Nieman JAI-VV (ХАИ-ВВ), the new SR presented an important advance from the aerodynamic, constructive and performance point of view. Another point of advantage was the use of the M-85 engine, which was lighter, more powerful and more reliable. The engine was covered by a much more aerodynamically effective NACA type hood than the Townend.
Three prototypes were built between 1935 and 1936.
TsKB-27 reconnaissance aircraft
The first TsKB-27 prototype was delivered for testing at the NII VVS in the summer of 1935 and was noted for excellent speed results, reaching 460 km/h with gear up and 360 km/h with gear exposed. The ceiling reached 9000 meters.
Despite these results, the lack of completion and the complexity of the landing gear retraction system were reported. For the process of retraction and lowering, the pilot had to carry out 5-7 operations in order. On the other hand, when the retraction was carried out, the gear was not fully retracted, deforming the covering of the wings and the fuselage when forced. The work to solve these problems during the tests was not considered sufficient.
The manufacturer’s intention to achieve series production of the model at any cost led Kochierigin to make the decision to eliminate the retraction system and provide the model with a fixed gear, leading to the development of a new model that was renamed R -9 and that he ended up losing the contest with the Nieman R-10.
Variation: Kochierigin R -9
SR (TsKB-27) Power plant: 1 x 780 hp M-85 Wingspan: 12.00 m Wing area: 24.15 m² Length: 9.90m Height: 3.20m Empty weight: 1862 kg Normal takeoff weight: 2649 kg Maximum speed: 460 km/h Cruising speed: 380 km/h Practical range: 840 km ROC: 633 m/min Practical ceiling: 9000 m Armament: 3 x 7.62mm ShKAS machine guns Bombload: 400 kg Accommodation: 2 crew (pilot and gunner)
top drawing side view of the SR and below view of the R-9
