Gribovsky G-23

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Gribovsky G-23 Komsomolyets 2
Role Two seat experimental sports aircraft
National origin USSR
Designer Vladislav Gribovsky
First flight February 1937
Number built 2

The Gribovsky G-23 Komsomolyets 2 (Russian : Грибовский Г-23 Комсомолец 2) was a two-seat, single aircraft originally intended to explore the potential of a car-derived, water cooled inline engine for light aviation. It was built in the USSR in the 1930s. A second example was fitted with two different engines of greater power.

Russian language East Slavic language

Russian is an East Slavic language, which is official in the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as being widely used throughout Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, the Caucasus and Central Asia. It was the de facto language of the Soviet Union until its dissolution on 25 December 1991. Although, nowadays, nearly three decades after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russian is used in official capacity or in public life in all the post-Soviet nation-states, as well as in Israel and Mongolia, the rise of state-specific varieties of this language tends to be strongly denied in Russia, in line with the Russian World ideology.

Contents

Design and development

The Komsomolyets took its name from that of the Young Communists youth organisation Komsomol. It was designed to test the suitability of the GAZ-M-60 engine for light aircraft use. The M-60 was developed from the Ford derived engine used in the GAZ-M1 motor-car and was a 48 kW (65 hp) water-cooled, upright four cylinder unit and as a result the G-23 had a radiator protruding beneath its nose and a low set propeller. [1] [2]

Komsomol youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it was officially independent and referred to as "the helper and the reserve of the CPSU".

GAZ-M1 russian car

The GAZ M1 (“Эмка“/”Emka”) was a passenger car produced by the Soviet automaker GAZ between 1936 and 1943, at their plant in Gorky.

Radiator (engine cooling) heat-exchanging component of liquid cooled engines

Radiators are heat exchangers used for cooling internal combustion engines, mainly in automobiles but also in piston-engined aircraft, railway locomotives, motorcycles, stationary generating plant or any similar use of such an engine.

Apart from its nose and its extra tandem seat, the G-23 had much in common with the single seat Gribovsky G-22. Both were low wing cantilever monoplanes with flat sided fuselages and long dorsal headrest fairings. They also shared similar elliptical vertical tails and fixed tail skid undercarriages, with each main wheel on a single leg and enclosed in a fairing. However, the G-23 was significantly larger, with a 25% greater span and 50% more wing area. The extra seat meant it was also longer. [1]

Tandem arrangement in which people, machines, or animals are in line behind one another facing forward

Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction.

The Gribovsky G-22 was a low powered, single seat sports cantilever monoplane, designed and built in the USSR in the mid-1930s. It set at least one class record and flew from 1936 to at least 1940, though only one was completed.

Cantilever beam anchored at only one end

A cantilever is a rigid structural element, such as a beam or a plate, anchored at one end to a support from which it protrudes; this connection could also be perpendicular to a flat, vertical surface such as a wall. Cantilevers can also be constructed with trusses or slabs. When subjected to a structural load, the cantilever carries the load to the support where it is forced against by a moment and shear stress.

The G-23 was completed in February 1937 and made its first flight soon after. Tests showed that though it was reasonably quick, with a maximum speed of 150 km/h (93 mph), its rate of climb was extremely low. It took 19 minutes to reach 1,000 m (3,300 ft) and about 40 minutes more to double that altitude. Despite this, it performed well in the summer of 1937 when it completed an out-and-return race from Moscow to Sebastopol, an overall distance of 2,584 km (1,606 mi), in a flight time of 21 hours. With two seats and standard fuel capacity, the G-23 had a range of 450 km (280 mi) but for this flight it was configured as a single-seater, with the forward cockpit replaced by extra tankage and faired over. [1]

Moscow Capital city of Russia

Moscow is the capital and most populous city of Russia, with 13.2 million residents within the city limits, 17 million within the urban area and 20 million within the metropolitan area. Moscow is one of Russia's federal cities.

Sevastopol Place in City with special status, Disputed:

Sevastopol is the largest city on the Crimean Peninsula and a major Black Sea port. The city is administered as a federal city of the Russian Federation following Crimea's annexation by Russia in 2014, though Ukraine and most of the UN member countries continue to regard Sevastopol as a city with special status within Ukraine.

The performance of the second machine was greatly improved by the replacement of the heavy, water cooled, M-60 engine with a M-11Ye, a 112 kW (150 hp), five cylinder radial engine. It flew in 1938 and was designated the G-23bis. The new engine improved the climb rate by a factor of about twelve, the ceiling by a factor over 3 and the maximum speed by 20%. Late in 1938 this airframe was re-engined with a 63 kW (85 hp) GAZ-11, becoming known as the G-23bis-GAZ. [1]

Radial engine reciprocating engine with cylinders arranged radially from a single crankshaft

The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is called a "star engine" in some languages. The radial configuration was commonly used for aircraft engines before gas turbine engines became predominant.

Variants

G-23
Flown in 1937, powered by GAZ-M-60 water-cooled 4-cylinder inline engine.
G-23bis
Flown in 1938, powered by a M-11Ye five-cylinder radial engine.
G-23bis-GAZ
Flown in late 1938, powered by GAZ-11 engine.

Specifications (Gribovsky G-23bis)

Data from Gunston 1995, p.80 [1]

General characteristics

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 179 km/h (111 mph; 97 kn)
  • Service ceiling: 7,985 m (26,198 ft)
  • Time to altitude: 1.5 min to 1,000 m (3,280 ft)

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Gunston, Bill (1995). The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875-1995. London: Osprey (Reed Consumer Books Ltd). p. 80. ISBN   1 85532 405 9.
  2. 1 2 Gunston (1995). The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875-1995. pp. XX–XXI.


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