The Bert BF-4 N62F single-seat biplane was the fourth design of Floyd Bert. It took a year to construct at a cost of about $3500.
The wings are wood with Ceconite cover, and ailerons, on the lower wings only, are aluminium and fabric. The fuselage and tail are steel tube and fabric.
The engine is fitted with an inverted fuel system.
Engine: Lycoming O-320-A1A Wingspan: 14 ft / 4.3 m Length: 15 ft / 4.6 m Empty weight: 660 lb / 299.4 kg Gross weight: 1000 lb / 453.6 kg Cruise: 140 mph / 225 kph Landing speed: 60 mph / 96.6 kph ROC: 3200 fpm / 16.26 m/sec Endurance: 2 hr 30 min
The Beriev Be-8 ‘Mole’ of 1947 was an all-metal utility amphibian flying-boat, with the main units of the landing gear retracting into the sides of the hull just below the pilot’s cabin. The wing was supported above the hull by a central pylon, together with a pair of parallel struts on each side. The passenger cabin accommodated six. A small batch of Be-8s was built, and examples were used in a variety of roles including flying ambulance, liaison, and training.
Engine: 1 x Shvetsov ASh-21 radial, 522kW Take-off weight: 3624 kg / 7990 lb Loaded weight: 2815 kg / 6206 lb Wingspan: 19.0 m / 62 ft 4 in Length: 13.0 m / 42 ft 8 in Wing area: 40.0 sqm / 430.56 sq ft Max. speed: 266 km/h / 165 mph Ceiling: 5550 m 18200 ft Range: 810 km / 503 miles
The impoved modification of MBR-2 built in 1938. One prototype only.
Engine: 1 x M-103, 960hp Take-off weight: 3600 kg / 7937 lb Empty weight: 2418 kg / 5331 lb Wingspan: 13.0 m / 42 ft 8 in Length: 10.6 m / 34 ft 9 in Wing area: 26.0 sqm / 279.86 sq ft Max. speed: 376 km/h / 234 mph Ceiling: 8500 m / 27900 ft Range: 720-1215 km / 447 – 755 miles
Georgii Mikhailovich Beriev produced his first original design, Aircraft No. 25, at the Menzhinsky plant in Moscow in 1932. The B.M.W. VIF-powered prototype was transported to Sevastopol on the Black Sea for flight tests, and proving successful the new flying-boat went into production as the MBR-2 (Morskoy Blizhnii Razvedchik, or naval short-range reconnaissance). In production form it was powered by a Soviet-built M-17B inline engine. Deliveries of the MBR-2M-17 intended for use in the short-range bombing and maritime reconnaissance roles, began in 1934. It was a shoulder-wing cantilever monoplane, with its M-17B engine mounted on a pair of N-struts over the wing; it had a two-step wooden hull with plywood covering, and the pilot’s cockpit located just in front of the wing. A strut-braced horizontal tailplane was set high on the single fin. Bow and midships gunners each had a single 7.62mm PV-1 machine-gun.
In 1935, with the first production version already in service, Beriev carried out a redesign of the MBR-2. The pilot’s cockpit was fully enclosed, and the midships gunner’s position protected by a glazed cupola. The M-17B engine was replaced by the M-34NB (redesignated AM-34NB in 1937) of 619kW, and a new curved fin and rudder replaced the original angular vertical tailplane. ShKAS machine-guns supplanted the obsolete PV-1s. The new version was placed in large-scale production, which continued until 1942, when 1,300 of all variants had been built. The MBR-2AM-34 served with all four main Soviet fleets and saw considerable service, first during the Winter War of 1939-40 with Finland, and then throughout the Great Patriotic War of 1941-5. It was tough, reliable and could be fitted with wheel or ski landing gear. Post-war, the MBR-2 served for nearly a decade on fishery patrol duties; it received the NATO codename ‘Mote’.
Variants:
Beriev MBR-2AM-34 In 1935, with the first production version already in service, Beriev carried out a radical redesign of the MBR-2. The pilot’s cockpit was fully enclosed, and the midships gunner’s position protected by a glazed cupola; the M-17B engine was replaced by the M-34NB (redesignated AM-34NB in 1937) of 619kW; an entirely new curved fin and rudder replaced the original angular vertical tailplane; and ShKAS machine-guns supplanted the obsolete PV-1s.
Beriev MBR-2M-103 In 1937 a standard MBR-2AM-34 was modified to take a more powerful M-103 engine, but no production of this version was undertaken
Beriev MP-1 This was a civil passenger version of the MBR-2M-17; it carried six passengers in an enclosed cabin, or an equivalent weight of freight; used in some numbers by Soviet Civil Aviation
Beriev MP-1bis A 1937 civil development of the MBR-2AM-34, with similar capacity to that of the MP-1; one MP-1 bis, piloted by Paulina Osipenka, established a number of women’s world records; between 22 and 25 May 1937 she attained respectively 7605m with a 500kg payload and 7000m with a 1000kg payload; on 2 July the same year she made a non-stop flight of 2416km between Novgorod and Archangelsk.
Specifications:
MBR-2M-17 Engine: 2 x M-17B inline piston, 507kW Take-off weight: 4100 kg / 9039 lb Empty weight: 2475 kg / 5456 lb Wingspan: 19.0 m / 62 ft 4 in Length: 13.5 m / 44 ft 3 in Wing area: 55.0 sqm / 592.01 sq ft Max. speed: 200 km/h / 124 mph Ceiling: 4400 m / 14450 ft Range: 650 km / 404 miles Crew: 4 Armament: 2 x 7.62mm machine-guns, 500kg of bombs
MBR-2AM-34 Max speed: 245km/h Range: 800km Service ceiling: 7150m Empty weight: 2718kg Loaded weight: 4000kg
MBR-2bis Engine: 1 x AM-34NB, 860hp Length: 44.29ft (13.5m) Width: 62.34ft (19.00m) Height: 12.47ft (3.80m) Maximum Take-Off Weight: 9,359lbs (4,245kg) Maximum Speed: 154mph (248kmh; 134kts) Maximum Range: 870miles (1,400km) Service Ceiling: 19,685ft (6,000m) Armament: 2 x 7.62mm machine gun Bombload: 661lbs (300kg) Crew: 4-5 Hardpoints: 2
More or less in parallel with the construction and development of the KOR-1 floatplane, The Beriev bureau worked on the design of a small flying-boat intended to fulfil the same requirement as the hastily developed KOR-1, but to provide much enhanced performance. In configuration the Beriev KOR-2 was a parasol-wing monoplane, the wing pylon-mounted above the stepped flying-boat hull, and braced by two streamlined struts on each side. An inverted gull wing, with a wing-mounted engine and three-bladed controllable-pitch propeller. The tail unit was similar in configuration to that of the KOR-1, except that the high-mounted tailplane was a strut-free cantilever structure. First flown in 1940, this Beriev design was built in a factory at Taganrog, on the shore of the Sea of Azov, only a small number of these aircraft had been completed and delivered to the Soviet navy before the Taganrog area was over-run by the invading Germans in the autumn of 1941. Production of the KOR-2, or Beriev Be-4 as it had then been redesignated, was resumed at a Central Asian factory during 1942, but no records of the number constructed have so far been discovered.
Engine: 1 x Shvetsov M-62 radial, 671kW Take-off weight: 2760 kg / 6085 lb Empty weight: 2055 kg / 4531 lb Wingspan: 12.0 m / 39 ft 4 in Length: 10.5 m / 34 ft 5 in Height: 4.05 m / 13 ft 3 in Wing area: 25.5 sq.m / 274.48 sq.ft Max. speed: 360 km/h / 224 mph Ceiling: 8100 m / 26600 ft Range: 950 km / 590 miles Armament: 1 x 7.62mm machine-gun, 300kg of bombs
The Be-2, originally designated KOR-1, was a shipboard reconnaissance seaplane. It was first flown on 4 September 1936 by P O Noman and entered service in 1938.
Engine: 1 x M-25A, 715hp Take-off weight: 2425 kg / 5346 lb Empty weight: 1640 kg / 3616 lb Wingspan: 11.0 m / 36 ft 1 in Length: 7.1 m / 23 ft 4 in Height: 4.4 m / 14 ft 5 in Wing area: 31.8 sq.m / 342.29 sq ft Max. speed: 277 km/h / 172 mph Ceiling: 6600 m / 1650 ft Range: 860 km / 534 miles
This 1910 machine was designed by Olaf Berg (aerodynamic expert) and Louis Storm (statics expert) for the shipbuilders firm Burmeister & Wain in Denmark. Olaf Berg was one of the early flying pioneers in Paris in 1908, where he saw Farman, Blériot and Levasseur fly at Issy-les-Moulineaux. It was powered by a three-cylinder Nielsen engine. The type III was bought by the Danish army and served until 1914. It currently resides in the Denmark Flymuseum.
Wingspan 8.8 m / 31’2″ Length 8.3 m / 26’3″ Height 2.1 m Weight empty: 770 lbs Speed: 60 mph
An Austro-hungarian design by Franz Berger, the machine was an early example of negative stagger – the lower wing mounted considerably forward of the top wing. Of wooden construction with the exception of the wing struts which were of aluminium, the photograph was taken before February 19, 1910 in the Hungarian region of the double-monarchy, at Balatonboglár near Lake Balaton (in German: the “Plattensee”) at a time when no engine was fitted. It was however planned to use an Anzani 3-cylinder radial of 35-40 hp.
The Monoflygplan of 1911 was an unsuccessful design by Swedish actor Bror Berger, powered by a 42 hp R.E.P 5-cylinder fan type air-cooled engine.
Building began during 1910 in a closed-down cinema behind the Blanchs Café, and in September 1911 Berger tried the machine at Gärdet, Stockholm. The first take-off attempt ended when the landing gear collapsed and the propeller broke. A new propeller was bought from Landskrona while sturdier gear was fitted, and the resulting new trials were, according to the press, very promising. Yet after 1911 nothing more was mentioned of the monoplane until it was donated to the Stockholm Technical Museum in 1927, in the same state of repair as it remains in today.
