Polikarpov R-5

Polikarpov R-5
Type:	Multipurpose aircraft
Design country:	Soviet Union
Manufacturer:	OKB Polikarpow, Plant No. 1 Moscow
First flight:	1928
Production time:	1931-1937
Number of pieces:	≈7000

The Polikarpow R-5 ( Russian Поликарпов Р-5 ) was a Soviet biplane . In its capacity as a multipurpose aircraft , it was one of the most widespread types in the USSR with almost 7,000 units built in the 1930s, alongside the Po-2 .

history

Nikolai Polikarpow started the development work around 1925. Flight tests with a BMW VI engine began in autumn 1928 and were completed in early 1929. Series production began in 1931, initially with an M-17b engine, the license for the BMW VI. From 1934 the more powerful M-17F was used as a drive, from 1935 the M-34N . This version was called RZ . The R-5 was a robust and reliable aircraft, which it proved, for example, in the supply and evacuation of the crew members of the Cheliuskin trapped in the Arctic ice in March 1934. With a special RZ version was on May 8, 1937 by W. W. Shevchenko with 11,100 Meters set a height record. Production stopped in 1937.

The R-5 was used in all conflicts and wars in which the Soviet Union was involved at the time, such as the Spanish Civil War , the border conflict between the Soviet Union and Japan and the Soviet-Finnish winter war . During the occupation of eastern Poland in September 1939, R-5s and RZs were used on a massive scale. Up to 2,000 are said to have been used as light bomb and attack aircraft against Polish troops and infrastructure. For this role, however, the model proved to be completely unsuitable and out of date, so that it was ultimately only used as a medical and liaison aircraft in the Great Patriotic War until 1944.

Float version MR-5

Other areas of activity were reconnaissance (the designation “R” stands for Raswedtschik = reconnaissance aircraft), as a front-bomb and ground attack aircraft, as a tow plane for cargo gliders or as a torpedo bomber.

The Aeroflot put the R-5 under various names as passenger and cargo aircraft one. These versions were equipped with closed cabins and could carry up to four passengers. A version with floats ( MR-5 ) also existed.

technical description

The R-5 was a braced one-and-a-half-decker made entirely of wood and in most cases equipped with a double control. The two wings were covered with fabric and connected to one another by N-posts, and to the fuselage by I-posts. The tail unit was also tense. The rear wheel landing gear was rigid and had a grinding spur.

Versions

designation	features
R-5Sch	Attack aircraft version from 1931 with two additional PW- 1s in the lower wing, from 1933 up to eight SchKAS -MG were installed. An additional 240–500 kg bomb load could be carried. Used in the Spanish Civil War and in the Soviet-Japanese border conflict.
R-5T	Single-seat torpedo aircraft from 1933 with modified landing gear without a continuous axle. In 1935 50 units were built and used by naval aviators in the Far East.
R-5a (MR-5)	Float version with enlarged vertical tail. Tested from April 1931 and built in small numbers.
R-5L / P-5L	Travel plane for three passengers from 1931. It had a closed cabin and built-in stairs. It only existed as a test sample. In 1933 the P-5L appeared without stairs. It went into production and was the first Soviet series cabin aircraft. Another version, the R-5L, with a range increased to 2100 kilometers, appeared in 1935.
R-5SSS / P-5SSS	Light bomber and attack aircraft from 1934 with covered main wheels and two additional SchKAS machine guns. Around 100 units had been built by 1935. The civilian passenger version was called the P-5SSS.
RZ	A slightly smaller further development from 1935 with a more powerful Mikulin AM-34N engine and clad cabins. Some data centers received four PW-1 machine guns in 1936 and served as attack aircraft.
PZ / P-ZT	Versions from 1936 and 1937 derived from the data center as passenger and mail planes. The P-ZT (also PT-AM-34NB) could also carry cargo containers under the wings, but did not go into series production. 100 of the PZ were built.
PR-5 / PR-5bis	Transport versions developed by Aram Rafaeljanz with a closed cockpit and passenger cabin for four people. The first flight of the PR-5 was carried out on November 18, 1934 by Julian Piontkowski. The PR-5bis version had a slightly larger wingspan and was able to carry 50 kilograms more by slightly changing the center of gravity. Both types were used by Aeroflot in particular in the mountainous regions of the USSR. 200 units were built and were delivered from June 1936.
PR-12	PR-5 test model from 1936, also converted into a monoplane by Rafaeljanz.
ARK-5	From 1935 onwards, at the suggestion of M. W. Wodopjanow, and based on plans by D. S. Markow, two series machines with heated cockpits and storage containers on the wings and sides of the fuselage were converted for use in the Arctic. They were designated N-127 and N-128 .
ED-1	Test execution from 1935 with the German diesel engine Jumo 4 (600 HP), four-blade propeller and enlarged observation cabin for two people. One example was converted in this way and tested in over 200 flights.
P-5 / P-5a	A civilian version from 1933 for two passengers that was created from old military aircraft and was used by Aeroflot or for supplying the Arctic base camps. Machines of this type were used for the Cheliuskin rescue. The variant equipped with floats appeared in 1935 and was named P-5a.
G-61	An airborne variant modified by Pawel Grochowski . Containers with space for seven paratroopers were attached under the wings.
"Potschtowy" (Почтовый)	Mail plane with additional cargo containers on the lower wings. One copy was tested in 1935.

R-5 in the Monino Museum

Furthermore, there were numerous test performances, which remained individual copies and were not assigned their own names:

• In 1931 an R-5 was converted to the long-haul version with additional fuel tanks under the wings and on the sides of the fuselage.
• In 1932 an airplane was given split wings that reduced the landing speed from 95 to 70 km / h. This innovation was adopted for the reconnaissance R-5.
• An R-5 was used to research the spin. It crashed in September 1932.
• In 1935 a variant with retractable landing gear was planned, which was developed by Markow and Skabrow. It only existed as a dummy.
• In 1935 two R-5s were fitted with different V-tail units and tested.
• At the end of the 1930s, an R-5 with a crawler undercarriage developed by NATschechubalin was tested for difficult terrain. Due to the high air resistance, however, these attempts were abandoned.

Based on the R-5, the attack aircraft LSch , TSch-1 , TSch-2 and SchON were developed by Dmitri Grigorowitsch and the reconnaissance aircraft LR by Sergei Kotscherigin .

Technical specifications

Three-sided view

Parameter	R-5 (1st series)	PR-5 (passenger aircraft)
Constructor (s)	Nikolai Polikarpov
Year of construction (s)	1931-1934	1936
crew	2 (pilot / observer)	1 pilot, 4 passengers
span	15.50 m above, 12.00 m below
length	10.56 m
height	3.60 m
Wing area	50.2 m²
drive	a water-cooled in- line engine (license BMW VI)
Type	M-17b	M-17F
power	500 kW (680 PS)	526 kW (715 hp)
Top speed	210 km / h near the ground 228 km / h at 3000 m altitude	233 km / h near the ground, 216 km / h at an altitude of 3000 m
Rise time	2.1 min at 1000 m altitude 17 min at 5000 m altitude
Service ceiling	6400 m	6350 m
Range	maximum 800 km	maximum 1350 km
Empty mass	2152 kg
Takeoff mass	normal 2955 kg maximum 3247 kg	maximum 3242 kg
Armament	a rigid 7.62 mm MG PW-1 above the engine one or two movable 7.62 mm MG DA on mount in the observer stand 256–500 kg bombs at outstations under the wings	unarmed

gallery

• 

  ARK-5 for polar regions

• 

  Passenger version PR-5 in use in the Arctic

literature

• Rainer Göpfert: Polikarpow R-5 . In: Fliegerrevue . No. 09/2014 . PPVMedien, Bergkirchen, S. 52-55 .
• Wilfried Copenhagen : Soviet bomb planes . Transpress, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-344-00391-7 , pp. 116-119 .
• Wadim B. Schawrow : Airplane constructions in the years of socialist industrialization (3) . In: Wolfgang Sellenthin (Ed.): Fliegerkalender der DDR 1981 . Military Publishing House of the GDR, Berlin 1980, p. 193-195 .

Web links

Commons : Polikarpow R-5  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• History and dates of R-5 , R-5T , R-5Sch and PR-5 (Russian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ulf Gerber: The great book of Soviet aviation 1920–1990. Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza 2019, ISBN 978-3-95966-403-5 , p. 6075
2. ↑ Rainer Göpfert: invasion of Poland - air forces of the Red Army in Poland 1939. In: FLiEGERREVUE X . No. 37, PPV Medien 2012, p. 57.
3. ^ Rainer Göpfert: Soviet civil aviation before and during the Second World War. Part 1. In: Fliegerrevue X. No. 56, p. 36/37.
4. ^ Ulrich Unger: Adventure of Soviet Aviators . Military Publishing House of the GDR, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-327-00306-8 , p. 173 .