Sukhoi Su-1

Su-1/Su-3

Picture - Su-1

Role: High-altitude fighter
Manufacturer: Sukhoi
Designed by: Pavel Sukhoi
First flight: 15 June 1940
Status: Prototype
Primary user: Soviet Air Force
Number built: one Su-1, one Su-3

Sukhoi Su-1 or I-330 (Russian: Сухой Су-1) was a prototype Soviet high-altitude fighter aircraft built at the beginning of World War II. A revised version, designated Su-3 (I-360), was also built.

Development

In 1939, Sukhoi was tasked with designing a high-altitude fighter, the resulting Su-1 was a conventional monoplane with a streamlined wooden semi-monocoque fuselage, low-set all-metal wing made of duralumin and un-pressurized cockpit. The key feature of the aircraft was a pair of TK-2 turbochargers driven by exhaust gases from the Klimov M-105P engine. The prototype was completed in May 1940, flying for the first time, on 15 June 1940, with A.P. Chernyavsky at the controls, undergoing limited flight testing until April 1941, reaching a top speed of 641 km/h (345 kn, 400 mph) at 10,000 m (32,810 ft). However, the turbochargers proved unreliable and without them the aircraft was inferior to the Yakovlev Yak-1.

Su-3

The second Su-1 prototype, built as the Su-3, differed in having a revised wing section with wing area reduced to 17 m� (183 ft�). Completed in 1941, the Su-3 demonstrated good performance but suffered from continuing problems with the TK-2 turbochargers. Further development was cancelled when production of reliable TK-2 turbo-chargers was delayed.

Operators

Soviet Union

Soviet Air Force

Specifications (Su-1)

Data from

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 8.42 m (27 ft 8 in)
Wingspan: 11.50 m (37 ft 9 in)
Height: 2.71 m (8 ft 11 in)
Wing area: 19 m� (205 ft�)
Empty weight: 2495 kg (5,500 lb)
Loaded weight: 2875 kg (6,340 lb)
Powerplant: 1x� Klimov M-105P liquid-cooled twin-turbocharged V12 engine, 820 kW (1,100 hp)

Performance

Maximum speed: 640 km/h (345 kn, 400 mph) at 10,000 m (32,810 ft)
Range: 720 km (390 nmi, 445 mi)
Service ceiling: 12,500 m (41,010 ft)
Rate of climb: 10.33 min to 10,000 m (32,810 ft)

Armament

1 x� 20 mm (0.79 in) ShVAK cannon
2 x� 7.62 mm (0.30 in) ShKAS machine guns

Comparable aircraft

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-1

Green, W; Swanborough, G (2001). The Great Book of Fighters. MBI Publishing. ISBN 0760311943.
"Sukhoi Su-1, 3". Sukhoi Company Museum. http://www.sukhoi.org/eng/planes/museum/su1_3/. Retrieved 2007-01-14.
Green, W; Swanborough, G (2001). The Great Book of Fighters. MBI Publishing. ISBN 0760311943.
Antonov,Vladimir & Gordon, Yefim & others. OKB Sukhoi”. Leicester. Midland. 1996. ISBN 1 85780 0125

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Source: WikiPedia