Alexander Fyodorovich Moshaisky

Alexander Fjodorowitsch Moshaiski ( Russian Александр Фёдорович Можайский , scientific transliteration Aleksandr Fëdorovič Možajskij ; * March 9th ^July / March 21st 1825 ^greg. In Kotka ; † March 20th ^July^greg. / April 1, 1890 in Petersburg ) a Russian / Polish naval officer and aviation pioneer . In 1883 he built the first powered airplane in the history of his country to be equipped with a steam engine .

Life

He went to sea for many years of his life and was probably confronted with the problem of flight through observations of albatrosses . By building kites, which were used to transmit signals and establish rope connections on many ships at that time, he got to know the principle of heavier than air .

Around 1860 he decided to devote himself to building flying machines. He carried out his first attempts to fly on his own in southern Russia around 1875. He had himself tied to a kite and dragged into the air on a rope by horses to test the strength of wings .

In addition, he carried out lift and drag measurements, which he found out that the best angle of attack range for flat surfaces is between 5 and 15 °. In 1876 he demonstrated a model airplane in Saint Petersburg. It was equipped with a clockwork and was able to rise independently into the air. On November 3, 1881, he had a patent for an airplane with a steam engine drive issued and started looking for donors to realize this project. The construction was completed in 1883 with great difficulty - the state commissions for a long time refused to approve funding for the project. The project had devoured nearly 20,000 rubles and ruined Mozhaisky financially. Flight tests are said to have been carried out with the aircraft between 1882 and 1886, for example two unproven flights in 1884 near Krasnoye Selo near Saint Petersburg with a distance of 65 and 100 feet respectively. The fact that these attempts on the whole were unsuccessful suggests the fact that Moshaiski did not make any improvements to the aircraft in the following years, but tried to produce more powerful steam engines in order to offset their large mass with more power. In the course of these efforts, Mozhaisky died.

Model of the flying machine

His flying machine had a flying mass of 934 kg, a wing area of over 300 m² and was equipped with three steam engines with a total of 50 HP (2 × 20 HP and 1 × 10 HP).

The last flying machine from Moshaiski was equipped with two steam engines (total output of 60 hp and weight of 21 poods (1 pud = 16 kg)). According to the conclusion of the ZAGI (carried out in 1982), the performance would be sufficient for take-off.

The public took little notice of his attempts to fly. At that time, the possibilities for powered aircraft with steam engines were very limited. The steam engines were too heavy.

The asteroid of the central main belt (2850) Mozhaisky is named after him. The same applies to the Nunatak Gora Mozhajskogo in Antarctica.

literature

Gerhard Wissmann: History of Aviation from Icarus to the Present . Verlag Technik, Berlin 1966.

Web links

Commons : Alexander Moshaiski - Collection of images, videos and audio files

www.flyingmachines.org - Brief biography of his work in the powered flight sector (English)

Individual evidence

↑ Polish descent from Aleksander Teodorowicz Możajski. Retrieved July 26, 2017 (Polish).
↑ Andrej Weimarn. History Notes (Russian) ( Memento from March 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
^ Lutz D. Schmadel : Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . Fifth Revised and Enlarged Edition. Ed .: Lutz D. Schmadel. 5th edition. Springer Verlag , Berlin , Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7 , pp. 186 (English, 992 pp., Link.springer.com [ONLINE; accessed on September 18, 2019] Original title: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . First edition: Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg 1992): “1978 TM ₇ . Discovered 1978 Oct. 2 by LV Zhuravleva at Nauchnyj. "

personal data
SURNAME	Moshaiski, Alexander Fyodorowitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Можайский, Александр Фёдорович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Russian naval officer and aviation pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH	March 21, 1825
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kotka
DATE OF DEATH	April 1, 1890
Place of death	St. Petersburg

[1] Polish descent from Aleksander Teodorowicz Możajski. Retrieved July 26, 2017 (Polish).

[2] Andrej Weimarn. History Notes (Russian) ( Memento from March 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive )

[3] Lutz D. Schmadel : Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . Fifth Revised and Enlarged Edition. Ed .: Lutz D. Schmadel. 5th edition. Springer Verlag , Berlin , Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7 , pp. 186 (English, 992 pp., Link.springer.com [ONLINE; accessed on September 18, 2019] Original title: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . First edition: Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg 1992): “1978 TM ₇ . Discovered 1978 Oct. 2 by LV Zhuravleva at Nauchnyj. "