Florov 4302

Purpose: Rocket-propelled aircraft for aerodynamic research.

Design Bureau: Ilya Florentyevich Florov (1908-83) had a long career at several OKBs and State organizations, some of his products being biplane fighters designed with A A Borovkov. In 1943 he headed a design cell in NIl-WS (air force state test institute).

In 1943 Florov was assigned the task of creat­ing a small rocket-engined aircraft to test wing profiles, flight-control systems and other features. At this time published German pa­pers on swept wings (1935) had not been studied. Three examples of No 4302 were funded, and Nil pilots A F Pakhomov and I F Yakubov were assigned to the programme. The No 1 aircraft was not fitted with an engine, and made 46 flights from late 1946, on each occasion being towed to about 5,000m (16,400ft) by a Tu-2. The No 2 was flown under power, the first take-off (by Pakhomov) being in August 1947. In the same month the programme was terminated, funds being transferred to the MiG I-270. At this time the No 3 aircraft had for some time been com­plete but waiting for its RD-2M-3 engine.

The 4302 was a small aircraft with a fuse­lage dictated by the size of cockpit and pro­
pellant tanks. Construction was entirely light – alloy stressed skin, with a very good surface finish. The untapered wings had a 13-per-cent laminar CAHI (TsAGI) profile devised by G P Svishchev. They were made as one unit attached above the fuselage, with down – turned tips. On each trailing edge were three sections of slotted flap which were also oper­ated in opposition for lateral control. The tail comprised a fixed fin and tailplane, with fixed endplate fins, and manually driven rudder and elevators with inset hinges and mass bal­ances. The pilot had a small pressurized cockpit in the nose with an upward-hinged canopy. The No 1 aircraft was completed with conventional fixed landing gear (using some La-5FN parts), for slow-speed glider flights. The Nos 2 and 3 were designed to take off from a tricycle-gear trolley and land on a cen­treline skid and tailwheel. The No 2 was fitted with a liquid rocket by A M Isayev assisted by L S Dushkin rated at 1,100kg (2,425 Ib) at sea level. In the rear fuselage was a large tank for red fuming nitric acid made of 3mm Enerzh 18-8 stainless, wrapped with OVS wire to withstand gas feed pressure. Behind was the tank ofpetrol (gasoline). Later, in 1947 a more powerful 1,140kg (2,513 Ib) Dushkin engine was fitted. The No 3 aircraft was to have been
fitted with an RD-2M-3 engine developed by Dushkin and V P Glushko, with main and cruise chambers with sea-level ratings of 1,450 and 400kg (3,197 and 882 Ib). In this condition it was to have been designated No 4303. One report says that an RD-2M or RD – 2M-3 was retrofitted to No 2, but there is no record of it flying with this engine.

These aircraft appear to have left no record of aerodynamic achievement.

Above right: 4302 No 2 in take-off configuration.

Left: 4302 No 2 after landing.