This Sunday we dedicate it to write about a development of the previously posted Alekseyev I-211.
The Alekseyev I-215 was a Soviet fighter which used a license-built Rolls-Royce Derwent engine (the same ones that the Gloster Meteor used), instead of the original Lyulka TR-1. Even if it seemed difficult at first, it proved to be just the opposite, it proved to be very easy to replace the engines and the larger diameter compressor of the Brisith engine forward of the leading edge.
That's why, apart from the engines and the redesigned wings, the I-211 was virtually identical to the I-211 and it was flown for the first time on 31st December 1947.
The Derwent engines gave a thrust of 1590kgp each, solving the lack of power of the I-211 and, as the original I-211 wings started cracking with these new engines, new, more aerodynamical wings replaced the original ones. The central section was also modified in order to strength it up and, when a second prototype, named I-215D, was completed, it featured a bycicle style arrangement for the undercarriage.
It was flown for the first in the spring of 1948 and, it seems that the test results were good enough that the Kremlin gave it the green light to start producing it. However, for reasons that aren't very clear, the OKB-21 (the Alekseyev Design Bureau) was disbanded and the airplanes were never mass-produced.
Sources:
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
2. http://survincity.com/2012/05/transformer-alexeev-i-211-215-216-okb-21-fighter/
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