The Sukhoi Su-5 or I-107 was a

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 ...

mixed-power (propeller and

motorjet A motorjet is a rudimentary type of jet engine which is sometimes referred to as ''thermojet'', a term now commonly used to describe a particular and completely unrelated pulsejet design. Design At the heart the motorjet is an ordinary pist ...

) prototype fighter aircraft built toward the end of

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 ...

Development

The appearance of the German

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...

-powered

Messerschmitt Me 262 The Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed (German for "Swallow") in fighter versions, or ("Storm Bird") in fighter-bomber versions, is a fighter aircraft and fighter-bomber that was designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Messers ...

near the end of World War II prompted the Soviet Union to develop faster fighter aircraft. Since the USSR lacked a production-ready turbojet engine, development efforts were directed toward mixed-power aircraft utilizing a conventional piston engine-driven propeller for the majority of propulsion with a small rocket or jet engine for bursts of speed. The Su-5 (initially I-107) and the conceptually similar Mikoyan-Gurevich I-250 were designed in 1944. The aircraft first flew on 6 April 1945 and underwent limited flight testing. It was subsequently fitted with a

laminar flow Laminar flow () is the property of fluid particles in fluid dynamics to follow smooth paths in layers, with each layer moving smoothly past the adjacent layers with little or no mixing. At low velocities, the fluid tends to flow without lateral m ...

wing and attained 793 km/h (428 kn, 493 mph) at 4,350 m (14,270 ft) with the motorjet functioning. On 15 June 1945, the

Klimov VK-107 The Klimov VK-107 was a V-12 liquid-cooled piston aircraft engine used by Soviet Union, Soviet aircraft during World War II. Development The VK-107 was developed from the Klimov M-105, M-105 and Klimov VK-106, VK-106. To achieve a greater power ...

A piston engine was damaged beyond repair in flight. Following acquisition of another VK-107A, flight testing continued until 18 October when the engine reached the end of its service life. No further VK-107As could be procured and the project was canceled. The Su-5 was a conventional

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

of all-metal construction. The

Kholshchevnikov VRDK The Kholshchevnikov VRDK (Vozdushno-Reaktivniy Dopolnitelniy Kompressor) ''(Russian: "Jet-Propelled Auxiliary Compressor”)'', or E-3020, was a motorjet developed in the Soviet Union during World War II. The VRDK was designed to give fighter ai ...

motorjet in the rear of the fuselage was powered by a driveshaft from the VK-107 piston engine and could provide an additional 100 km/h (54 kn, 62 mph) of speed for three minutes.

Specifications (Su-5)

References

{{Sukhoi aircraft Mixed-power aircraft Motorjet-powered aircraft 1940s Soviet fighter aircraft Su-05 Abandoned military aircraft projects of the Soviet Union Aircraft first flown in 1945

Development

Specifications (Su-5)

See also

References