In mid-1917, the concept of a high-speed flying-boat came to an end and it was then when the 2nd Cpt. Scherbachev had the idea of designing a "counter-fighter". It was going to be a land-based single-engined aircraft with dropable wheeled gear to make it able to land on water surfaces. The idea also featured a blocking mechanism to stop the propeller and block it at the horizontal position when the airplane touched the water, turning the engine off.
In summer 1917 the UMA (Uprelevnie Morskoj Aviatsii - Naval Aviation Management) gave green light to this project and named it "Counter-Fighter". It's study and completion was ordered to D.P. Grigorovich, AIS Design Bureau and A.Yu Villish being this last one the only one who could present complete project winning the contest as the other two contestants retired from it.
On 13th September 1917 the project was ready. It was going to be powered by a 200hp Hispano engine and armed with a single Vickers 0.303in placed on the nose. The designs made by Villish included also a catapult for launching, rails, undercarriage and a compressed air system. The construction of the prototype started in the end of 1917 and by spring 1918 the prototype was almost finished as the waterproof boat-shaped fuselage, covered in plymouth which was going to be the fuselage was completed with the tail section (which was very thin and it's believed that it wouldn't have cope very well with the design) also completed but not ensambled.
The only incomplete prototype was destroyed during the Russian Civil War. The war in 1918 didn't allow A. Yu. Villish to finish the project and, as he was a landlord, he fleed Russia and settled in the Baltic Coast (surviving the Russian Civil War). He never returned to aircraft design and construction.
Sources:
1. http://ram-home.com/ram-old/vm-6.html
2. https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=10533.0
3. http://www.airwar.ru/enc/fww1/vm6.html (translated)
No comments:
Post a Comment