The Kamov Ka-8 "Иркутянин", (''Irkutyanin'' - from

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

), was a small, single-seat

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

that first flew in 1947. It was a precursor of the Ka-10. The Ka-8 was powered by a 27 hp M-76 engine, boosted to 45 hp by using alcohol for fuel. It was derived from a previous Kamov design, the KA-17.

Description

Like the KA-17 design, the KA-8 featured twin coaxial, contra-rotating rotors, which meant that a tail rotor wasn't needed. While Kamov was famous at the time for his

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), gyroscope, gyrocopter or gyroplane, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. A gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-d ...

s, the Soviet government was more interested in helicopters so he designed the KA-8 as a flying motorcycle (vozdushnii mototsikl). The

NACA The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency that was founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its ...

-230 blades were laminate wood covered by fabric and attached to a metal hub. The drag and flap hinges were driven by superimposed swash plates that the pilot directly controlled. The engine and fuel tank were located at the front, a tail fin (later changed to a rudder) was installed at the rear, and pontoons were used for landing. The frame was made from welded steel tubing. The original handlebar controls were replaced with vertical collective and cyclic levers and the pontoons were narrowed after being flown and evaluated by Mikhail Gurov in 1947.

Specifications

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Apostolo, Giorgio. ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Helicopters''. New York: Bonanza Books, 1984. . {{Kamov aircraft Kamov aircraft 1940s Soviet military utility aircraft Ka-08 Coaxial rotor helicopters Single-engined piston helicopters Floatplanes