The Grigorovich MK-1 (MK - ''Morskoi Kreiser'' - sea cruiser) was a large
trimotor
A trimotor is a propeller-driven aircraft powered by three internal combustion engines, characteristically one on the nose and one on each wing. A compromise between complexity and safety, such a configuration was typically a result of the limit ...
floatplane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...
, built and tested in
Imperial Russia
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* ...
in 1916.
Design and development
Grigorovich responded to a requirement for a reconnaissance-bomber, for use in the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...
and
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
, issued by the
Imperial Russian Navy
The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until being dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution and the declaration of ...
central headquarters. The resulting large seaplane following the layout of the
Sikorsky Ilya Muromets
The Sikorsky ''Ilya Muromets'' (; versions S-22, S-23, S-24, S-25, S-26 and S-27) was a class of Russian pre-World War I large four-engine commercial airliners and military heavy bombers used during World War I by the Russian Empire. The air ...
, with a large glazed cabin sitting atop a long slender fuselage. The fuselage and large wings were mounted on a large central float, which also housed a large gunners cockpit housing two gunners. The wings, mounted with flexible bungee joints allowing up to of movement, also carried wing-tip floats for stability on the water. Two
Renault 12E V-12 water-cooled engines were mounted in strut-supported nacelles between the upper and lower mainplanes. A third engine was added to the centre section of the upper mainplane, to address perceived centre-of-gravity problems and increase the power available; initially this was to have been a
Sunbeam Crusader
The Sunbeam Crusader, originally known as the Sunbeam 150 hp, Sunbeam 110 hp or Sunbeam 100 hp (variations on the engine may also have been referred to as Sunbeam 120 hp or Sunbeam 135 hp), was an early British, side-va ...
, later replaced by a
Hispano-Suiza 8A
The Hispano-Suiza 8 is a water-cooled V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914 that went on to become the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original ...
before flight trials commenced.
[
The sole MK-1 was readied for flight trials in mid-November 1916 but nosed over and sank during taxy trials before the first flight.]
Specifications (MK-1)
References
Bibliography
*
External links
Russian Aviation Museum clone
{{Grigorovich aircraft
MK-1
Flying boats
Biplanes