The RP-318 or RP-318-1 was

USSR 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 ...

's first

rocket-powered aircraft A rocket-powered aircraft or rocket plane is an aircraft that uses a rocket engine for propulsion, sometimes in addition to airbreathing jet engines. Rocket planes can achieve much higher speeds than similarly sized jet aircraft, but typicall ...

or Rocket Glider (Rocketny Planer or

Raketoplan A rocket-powered aircraft or rocket plane is an aircraft that uses a rocket engine for propulsion, sometimes in addition to airbreathing jet engines. Rocket planes can achieve much higher speeds than similarly sized jet aircraft, but typically ...

) which "RP" stands for in Russian language. Beginning in early 1936, it was first known as RP-218-1 or "Objekt 218" before it was renamed to RP-318-1 in 1938 due to inner reforms of the Rocket Science And Research Institute. Built at the

Reactive Scientific Research Institute Reactive Scientific Research Institute (commonly known by the joint initialism RNII; ) was one of the first Soviet research and development institutions to focus on rocket technology. RNII developed the Katyusha rocket launcher and its researc ...

in 1936 by

Sergei Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (14 January 1966) was the lead Soviet Aerospace engineering, rocket engineer and spacecraft designer during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. He invented the R-7 Sem ...

as an adaptation of his SK-9 glider, the RP-318 was originally designed as a flying laboratory to test rocket engines and ORM-65 designed by

Valentin Glushko Valentin Petrovich Glushko (; ; born 2 September 1908 – 10 January 1989) was a Soviet engineer who was program manager of the Soviet space program from 1974 until 1989. Glushko served as a main designer of rocket engines in the Soviet progra ...

was the one selected to be used. In 1938, when both Korolev and Glushko were arrested in suspicion of Anti-Soviet activity, development of the RP-318-1 was continued by Alexei Scherbakov ( Щербаков, Алексей Яковлевич) and Arvid Pallo ( Палло, Арвид Владимирович), culminating in the first powered flight on Feb. 28, 1940.

Test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testin ...

V. P. Fedorov ( Владимир Павлович Фёдоров) was towed to 2,600 m and cast off at 80 km/h before firing the

rocket engine A rocket engine is a reaction engine, producing thrust in accordance with Newton's third law by ejecting reaction mass rearward, usually a high-speed Jet (fluid), jet of high-temperature gas produced by the combustion of rocket propellants stor ...

and accelerating the aircraft to 140 km/h and an altitude of 2,900 m. In all, the RP-318 flew nine times before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

ended its development.

Specifications

References

* "History of aircraft construction in the USSR", Vol.2 pp123-125 Rocket-powered aircraft Sergei Korolev 1940s Soviet aircraft {{aero-1930s-stub