Beriev Be-8

The Beriev Be -8 (Russian Бериев Бе -8, NATO reporting name Mole ) was a Soviet amphibious aircraft.

History

The decision to build this multi -purpose aircraft which fell on 11 March 1947. Purpose as both the passenger, freight and the transportation of casualties were provided. There was the possibility to mount cameras to document ice movements and search of fish. Ultimately, the machine should be so easy to fly that she could not find it as a trainer use. Three months later there was a dummy.

The machine was designed as Parasolhochdecker, where the wing was mounted on a central support and some struts to the hull. It had a retractable tail wheel landing gear. The main landing gear was retracted laterally into the fuselage.

The empennage was performed conventionally, but the tailplane is mounted approximately in the middle of the vertical tail to make it stay out of the spray area. The engine is located centrally in the high-altitude airfoil. The side of the airfoil support floats are attached. The aircraft is made entirely of metal. An armament was not provided.

The closed cockpit, which had a double tax, and the passenger compartment was heated by engine exhaust. The hot air is also used to supply the de-icing system. All rudders were cable operated, except the flaps. They were the first prototypes moved electrically, the second hydraulic.

First swimming attempts have already been held in November 1947 and required minor modifications to the fuselage structure.

The first flight took place on December 3, 1947 instead of from the water, on 11 February 1948, the machine was launched for the first time from the country. The machine performed well and was to fly and operate than simply classified.

As part of the flight demonstration in 1951 in Tushino the aircraft to the public was presented. However, there was no mass production, as the Soviet Air Force primarily for combat aircraft was interested at the time and therefore was not interested in the project. Thus, only two specimens were prepared for testing.

One of the prototypes was completed in 1955 tentatively fitted as part of a test series of ZAGI with underwater wings like a hydrofoil. This shortened the takeoff distance significantly in the water and also reduced the body burden significantly. However, since it was not possible to find an effective mechanism that made ​​it possible to collapse the underwater wings, these experiments were not pursued. The additional land had the air resistance is very much increased.

Specifications

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