Boris Ivanovich Cheranovsky

Cheranovsky and Korolev at the BITsch-8

Boris Ivanovich Tscheranowski ( Russian Борис Иванович Черановский ; born July 1 ^jul. / 13. July  1896 ^greg. In Pawlowytschi , volhynian governorate , Russian Empire ; d. 17th December 1960 in Moscow , Soviet Union ) was a Russian -sowjetischer aircraft designer of the dealt mostly with tailless aircraft .

Life

He was a painter and sculptor by profession. In 1920 he began to be interested in aviation, and from 1924 to 1927 he studied at the Zhukovsky Academy . In the 1920s he experimented with the parabolic gliders BITsch-1 and -2, which he developed during his studies and built with the help of other students. They were tested in the summer of 1924 at the All Union gliding competition in the Crimea , but only the BITsch-2 was successfully flown by B. N. Kudrin. Cheranovsky's third design was the small motor glider BITsch-3 from 1926, which Kudrin also flew. Tscheranowski then devoted himself in 1927/28 to the development of flying wing wind tunnel models, from which the project of the twin-engine tailless bomber BITsch-5 emerged, but which was not implemented due to a lack of interest from the military. Next, the BITsch-7 and the delta-shaped glider BITsch-8, which in turn took part in the annual Crimean competition, were flown successfully .

In 1931 the BITsch-8 was developed into the BITsch-11, which was to be equipped with a liquid rocket motor developed by GIRD in collaboration with Friedrich Zander , Konstantin Ziolkowski and Sergei Koroljow . The fuselage of the BITsch-11 was designed a little higher for this purpose and the pilot received a closed cabin. Aerodynamically clad tanks were built into the wings, which protruded a little on the upper side of the wing. A landing gear was also provided. The small rocket motor OR-2 generated about 60 kp of thrust during test runs in 1932. Due to Zander's death in 1933, the engine was not installed. Then the BITsch-11 was equipped with a small motor with a pressure screw and flown as a motor glider.

The BITsch-12 was merely a further enlarged and therefore more powerful version of the successful BITsch-8 and -11. Its wingspan was now 14.3 m. The model 13 was a glider of the same span and root depth but with parabolic wings to examine the difference.

The twin-engine BITsch-14, in which the passenger cabin flowed into the parabolic wing, was less successful. It was equipped with two M-11 engines and was tested in 1936/37 by Julian Piontkowski and Pjotr ​​Stefanowski , among others , but was not pursued any further due to insufficient stability and controllability. In 1938 the small single-engine BITsch-20 delta aircraft was created, which was flown with snow runners or wheeled undercarriages. From this emerged in 1939 the racing aircraft BITsch-21 with retractable landing gear and a Renault MW-6 in-line engine.

Cheranovsky's perhaps most unusual design is the BITsch-22 glider. This represents another early attempt at a blended wing body . In order to create enough space for the pilot, the principle of the load-bearing fuselage was chosen, which ends in relatively small wings. The flight was controlled by three rudder flaps along the trailing edge of the wing. There were rudders at the wing tips. The flight tests were initially successful; however, during tests with a larger center of gravity, the BITsch-22 went into a tailspin and crashed.

There are sketches of a last project from 1948, which was called BITsch-26. This machine is very similar to the Saab Draken or the Saab 210 and should be equipped with two AM-5 engines. However, with Tscheranowski's death it did not come to that.

Cheranovsky was awarded the Order of the Red Star for his services to Soviet aviation .

Graphic overview of some constructions

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  BITsch-3, 1926

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  BITsch-7, 1929

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  BITsch-8, 1928

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  BITsch-11, 1931

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  BITsch-14, 1935

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  BITsch-20, 1938

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  BITsch-21, 1939

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  BITsch-22, 1948

literature

• Wilfried Copenhagen : Lexicon Soviet Aviation . Elbe – Dnjepr, Klitzschen 2007, ISBN 978-3-933395-90-0 .
• Rudolf Storck among others: Flying Wings . The historical development of the world's tailless and flying wing aircraft. Bernard and Graefe, Bonn 2003, ISBN 3-7637-6242-6 .
• Bill Gunston: The Osprey Encyclopaedia of Russian Aircraft 1875-1995 . London, Osprey 1995, ISBN 1-85532-405-9 (English).

Web links

Commons : Tscheranowski  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wolfgang Sellenthin, Ulrich Unger: Nurflügler. 1st episode . In: Fliegerrevue . No. 2/1982 , p. 78/79 .