Tupolev ANT-9
| ANT-9 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Early production ANT-9 with three engines | |
| Role | Airliner |
| National origin | Soviet Union |
| Manufacturer | Tupolev |
| First flight | 5 May 1929 |
| Introduction | 1931 |
| Retired | 1945 |
| Primary user | Aeroflot |
| Number built | ~100 |
| Developed into | Tupolev ANT-14 |
The Tupolev ANT-9 (Russian: Туполев АНТ-9) was a Soviet passenger aircraft of the 1930s. It was developed as a reaction to the demand for a domestic airliner. At this time Deruluft, one of the forerunners of Aeroflot, only flew with foreign models, which were mainly German or Dutch.
Design work began in December 1927. The first prototype, named Krylia Sovietov (wing of the Soviets) used three French Gnome-Rhone Titan radial engines. It was presented to the public on 1 May 1929 at Red Square and it went to the national flight testing, which was completed in June. In the first series 12 aircraft were built. In production, the Titan engines were replaced with M-26 engines, but these proved too unreliable and were replaced with imported Wright Whirlwind engines. Two of these airplanes were used with Deruluft starting from 1933 on the Berlin-Moscow service. Mikhail Gromov accomplished a European round flight on the route Moscow – Travemünde – Berlin – Paris – Rome – Marseille – London – Paris – Berlin – Warsaw – Moscow with the Krylia Sovietov, which lasted from 10 July to 8 August 1929 and generated considerable publicity. It carried eight passengers over a distance of 9,037 km (5,615 mi), in 53 flying hours with an average speed of 177 km/h (110 mph).
In September 1930 testing of the Wright-powered version of the ANT-9 was completed. A few were used as executive transports for the Soviet Air Forces. A military variant with standard and retractable turrets was under construction, but was abandoned before trials began. An ambulance version was studied and considered, but never built. In 1932 GVF engineer Sergei Ivanovich Komarov proposed a modification of the ANT-9 wing to accommodate two M-17 engines, similar to what was done on the R-6. Production began in 1933 as the PS-9 (пассажирский самолёт, passazhirskiy samolot = passenger airplane). The number of built aircraft amounted to about 70 machines. Up to the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union they served as passenger or staff airplanes mainly on routes in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Afterwards they were used until 1943 as transportation and medical airplanes. One PS-9 was modified into a propaganda aircraft named Krokodil (Crocodile) with a reptile-like plywood nose.
Operators
Military Operators
Civil Operators
Accidents and incidents
- On December 6, 1936, a Deruluft ANT-9, registration CCCP-D311, crashed near Moscow due to pilot error, killing nine of 14 on board.
Specifications (PS-9)
Data from The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875–1995[1]
General characteristics
- Crew: 2
- Capacity: 9 passengers
- Length: 17.01 m (55 ft 9⅔ in)
- Wingspan: 23.85 m (78 ft 10 in)
- Height: 5 m[2] (16 ft 4¾ in)
- Wing area: 84.0 m² (904 ft²)
- Empty weight: 4,400 kg (9,700 lb)
- Loaded weight: 6,200 kg (13,668 lb)
- Powerplant: 2 × Mikulin M-17 water-cooled V-12, 373 kW (500 hp) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 215 km/h (117 kn, 134 mph)
- Cruise speed: 180 km/h (97 kn, 112 mph)
- Range: 700 km (378 nm, 435 mi)
- Service ceiling: 5,100 m (16,732 ft)
- Rate of climb: 2.8 m/s (550 ft/min)
- Wing loading: 73.8 kg/m² (15.1 lb/ft²)
- Power/mass: 0.12 kW/kg (0.073 hp/lb)
See also
Notes
References
- Duffy, Paul and Andrei Kandalov. Tupolev: The Man and His Aircraft. Shrewsbury, UK:Airlife Publishing, 1996. ISBN 1-85310-728-X.
- Gunston, Bill. The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875–1995. London:Osprey, 1995. ISBN 1-85532-405-9.
External links
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