In tsarist Russia, with its admiration for the West, it was difficult to break through the scientific thought of a Russian designer. Most of the aircraft fleet in pre-revolutionary Russia consisted of aircraft of foreign brands. In addition, the aircraft coming from the Allies, as a rule, did not differ in quality. Here are some facts announced on July 24, 1915 at a meeting of the Aviation Committee of the Black Sea Fleet: “When unpacking the boxes with Curtiss's seaplane, it was found that the boat was already in use and was being repaired before being sent. The side floats are of the old type, and the motor is not new … When opening the boxes with the Aeromarine, it was found that the planes of the devices are old and from a land vehicle. The tail is poorly reinforced … The Kirchham motor is not suitable for this car: the radiator does not fit, there is no place for attaching an additional oil tank, the bolts for fastening are not of the right size. " The resolution of the Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Eberhard, was as follows: "To urgently inform the Naval General Staff about such a criminal supply … the devices should not be accepted and no one should fly on them."
But, fortunately for the Naval Department, hydroaviation was one of the few areas of aviation in those years where the design and construction of domestic machines was carried out on a large scale. And it was in seaplane aviation that domestic designers were able to create advanced, at that time, machines that surpassed foreign models and soon ousted the latter from the naval aviation of Russia. The most famous seaplane designer at that time was Dmitry Pavlovich Grigorovich. Back in the thirties, he was surrounded by well-deserved fame and respect, but then, despite his huge contribution to Russian aviation, he was consigned to oblivion.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the passion for aviation was fashionable. Grigorovich, a student of the Kiev Polytechnic Institute, did not escape this hobby. Having procured an engine with a capacity of only 25 horsepower, he began to build his first aircraft, the G-1. For the sake of lightness, bamboo was chosen as the main material. The construction lasted for almost two years. The individual parts were made in the room, and the plane was assembled in the shed. But the plane remained unfinished: the designer felt that the scheme of the plane, which had not yet appeared in time, was outdated, and the project of a new plane had already matured. But then difficulties arose with money, since Grigorovich had exhausted his meager student funds. His first experiments in design served as a good school not only in engineering and technical, but also in life: Grigorovich realized that without financial support, without public interest in the construction of domestic aircraft, their design and construction are impossible. The promotion of aeronautics is the goal that Grigorovich sets for himself at the first stage.
In 1910 he graduated from the institute and in 1911 he moved from Kiev to St. Petersburg, where he became a journalist and publisher of the journal "Bulletin of Aeronautics". But journalistic activity could not fully satisfy the energetic nature of Grigorovich. He was in the prime of his creative and physical strength, and had already tasted the joy of creating an airplane. In the nature of this man, intellect and enormous physical strength were successfully combined. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, he had an athletic build and could freely cross himself with a two-pound weight. Grigorovich possessed a rare engineering flair, knew many languages and read foreign aviation magazines fluently.
At the beginning of 1913, two St. Petersburg industrialists, S. S. Shchetinin and M. A. Shcherbakov, opened an aircraft plant. Grigorovich entered their plant as a manager. And then the case forced D. P. Grigorovich to engage in the construction of a seaplane. In the summer of 1913, the pilot of the Baltic Fleet Aviation D. N. Aleksandrov crashed the French flying boat Donne-Leveque. To avoid punishment for the accident, Aleksandrov, after unsuccessful appeals to other plants, came to the Shchetinin plant. DP Grigorovich became interested in the plane, persuaded Shchetinin to repair Donne-Leveque and at the same time study its design in order to launch the construction of flying boats at the plant. While repairing the boat, Grigorovich reconstructed it and at the same time developed the blueprints for his M-1 (Sea-First) flying boat with a 50 hp Gnome engine. In the fall of 1913, the M-1 two-seater flying boat was ready and made its maiden flight.
Flying boat M-1
In 1913-1915, Grigorovich creates three more types of flying boats M-2, M-3, M-4. The boats M-3, M-4 had other names: Shch-3, Shch-4 (Shchetinin-third and fourth). These boats were equipped with 80 and 100 horsepower engines. In terms of their flight characteristics, they differed little from the M-1. At the same time, the M-4 submarine had a number of design improvements and was produced in four copies.
As a result of work on the first four types of flying boats, Grigorovich gained some experience and developed the most perfect forms of the boat's hull, the design of the biplane box and the entire scheme of the aircraft. All this was embodied in the very successful M-5 flying boat, produced at the Shchetinin plant in the spring of 1915. Already on April 12 of the same year, the submarine performed its first combat flight, which confirmed its high performance data. The M-5 submarine was mass-produced until 1923; in total, almost 300 aircraft were manufactured. Thus, the M-5 became the most popular and popular flying boat of the early 20th century. In this flying boat, Grigorovich, with his design instinct, managed to find the perfect combination between excellent seaworthiness and high flight performance. A small and seemingly fragile boat made it possible to take off and land at wave heights of up to half a meter. The well-chosen bottom profile did not cause the effect of "sticking" and made it easy to detach from the water surface. The M-5 was landing at a speed of only 70 km / h, while the "Gnom-Monosupap" engine with a capacity of 100 hp. accelerated a two-seater plane to quite decent 105 km / h. The good flight and operational qualities of the M-5 allowed it to be in the series for a long time and remain in service as a naval reconnaissance officer. Since 1916, the boats were transferred to training machines and in this capacity they continued their service. A sufficiently high margin of safety and ease of control were perfect for a training aircraft. There is no doubt that successful design solutions put the M-5 submarine among the outstanding aircraft of its time.
Flying boat M-5
Until the end of 1915, D. P. Grigorovich developed and built experimental seaplanes M-6, M-7, M-8. But the most successful was the M-9 flying boat, built in December 1915. Flight tests of the M-9, which lasted only 16 days, showed its high flight, tactical and seaworthiness qualities. This boat could carry out reconnaissance, patrolling and bombing. The M-9 became the world's first flying boat equipped with a radio station and an automatic 37 mm cannon. The aircraft turned out to be reliable in operation, maneuverable and easy to fly. On September 17, 1916, Lieutenant Ya. I. Nagursky performed two Nesterov loops on the M-9. The flight was registered as a world record. At the same time, there was also a passenger on board. The simplicity and high aerobatic qualities of the M-9 are evidenced by the fact that A. Prokofiev-Seversky, who had a prosthesis instead of his left leg, also flew on it. Therefore, it is not surprising that as soon as they received the drawings of the M-9 seaplane from the Russian government, the Allies in the Entente immediately launched it into production. In 1916, for his contribution to Russian aviation, D. P. Grigorovich was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, IV degree with the motto: "Benefit. Honor. Glory."
Flying boat M-9
After the release of M-9, D. P. Grigorovich at the Shchetinin plant creates boats M-11, M-12, M-16, "Special-purpose hydroaeroplane" (GASN) and, "Sea cruiser" (MK-1). Many of these machines were original and were the first representatives of their class in the world.
The M-11 became the world's first seaplane fighter. It was a very small flying boat equipped with a 100 horsepower engine. To protect the pilot and the main units, Grigorovich used armor with steel sheets of 4-6 mm. The first copy was built in July 1916, and a total of 61 aircraft were produced. The M-12 flying boat was also made, which was a two-seater version of the M-11. Accommodation of the second crew member was carried out by canceling the reservation. An interesting fact: the tests of the M-11 were carried out by warrant officer Alexander Prokofiev-Seversky, who later left for the United States and founded the Seversky company there (better known as Republic).
Seaplane-fighter M-11
Unfortunately, the engine on the jet fighter was low-power, which, together with the additional armor weight, made the fighter ineffective by 1917. Here are the lines from the report on the test of the German fighter "Albatross": "The Shchetinin M-11 fighter with the Monosupap engine has a very insignificant advantage in speed, which does not give it the ability to freely maneuver, due to which the attack is already significantly constrained …"
GASN was the world's first seaplane torpedo bomber. It was a fairly large float biplane equipped with two 220 hp engines. (originally planned to use 300 hp engines). This aircraft was intended for torpedo attacks. For which he was armed with two 450-kilogram torpedoes suspended under the fuselage. The naval department highly appreciated the need to have a torpedo aircraft in the fleet. This led to the fact that, even at the design stage, the Shchetinin plant was given an order for the manufacture of 10 serial flying boats. It should be noted that torpedo bombers of any type at that time belonged to the models of the highest secrecy, therefore the letter designation was assigned to GASN - Type K. During the tests, the boat's good seaworthiness was noted: the condition had no effect. The water qualities of this apparatus and its controllability turned out to be excellent … If you draw two lines of floats on the descent, then, using the motors, you can accurately reach them even with a crosswind. However, due to the political events of 1917, the development of the boat was suspended.
GACH torpedo bomber
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