The Tairov Ta-3 was a twin-engined single-seat

heavy fighter A heavy fighter is an historic category of fighter aircraft produced in the 1930s and 1940s, designed to carry heavier weapons or operate at longer ranges than light fighter aircraft. To achieve performance, most heavy fighters were twin-engine ...

designed and produced in the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

in the

Soviet Union 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 ...

from 1939. The Ta-3 was envisioned to serve primarily as an

escort fighter The escort fighter was a concept for a fighter aircraft designed to escort bombers to and from their targets. An escort fighter needed range long enough to reach the target, loiter over it for the duration of the raid to defend the bombers, a ...

. Competing contemporaneous designs in the USSR included the Grushin Gr-1,

Mikoyan-Gurevich DIS The Mikoyan-Gurevich DIS (/ ''Dalnij Istrebitel' Soprovozhdenya'' – "long-range escort fighter") was a prototype Soviet heavy fighter of World War II, envisioned to serve primarily in the escort fighter role. The service designation MiG-5 was ...

and

Polikarpov TIS The Polikarpov TIS was a heavily armed Soviet heavy fighter designed during the early 1940s. Competing contemporaneous designs in the USSR included the Grushin Gr-1, Mikoyan-Gurevich DIS and Tairov Ta-3. Only two prototypes were built becaus ...

Development

Tairov designed and built the OKO-6 to a

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

requirement for a twin-engined escort fighter to escort and protect bombers on long range missions. Competing proposals included the Grushin Gr-1, MiG DIS and

. The aircraft was a single-seat monoplane of mixed construction; with wing spars of 30KhGSA (30ХГСА) steel, D1 aluminium alloy ribs, flush riveted skin, and elektron magnesium alloy leading edges; the fuselage was largely of flush-riveted D1 aluminium alloy built as a semi-monocoque shell with a wooden tail section. Armour was provided fore and aft of the compact cockpit, and the heavy armament was grouped around the nose of the aircraft, with two 12.7mm BS machine guns in the upper nose and four

ShVAK The ShVAK (, "Shpitalny-Vladimirov Aviation Large-calibre") was a 20 mm autocannon used by the Soviet Union during World War II. It was designed by Boris Shpitalniy and Semyon Vladimirov and entered production in 1936. ShVAK were installed in ma ...

cannons in the lower forward fuselage. The engines were housed in large underwing nacelles and drove counter-rotating propellers to eliminate torque effect with throttle movement. First flown by Yu. K. Stankevich on 31 December 1939, the first aircraft was also tested by LII until the summer of 1940 when one of the engines threw a connecting-rod. The directional stability was found to be unsatisfactory so the second prototype (OKO-6bis) was built with a much longer rear fuselage, twin fins on the tips of a longer span tailplane as well as more powerful engines with LH rotation. The third prototype was initially called OKO-6bis, changed to Ta-3, was flown by Stankevich in May 1941 with M-89 engines, one AM-37 37mm cannon and two ShVAK 20mm cannons. The fourth airframe which was to be the Ta-3bis with M-82 engines was abandoned due to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

invasion, and further work on the Ta-3 was halted when Tairov was killed in an airline crash, traveling between

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and Kuybyshev, in December 1941.

Variants

* OKO-6 – initial prototype with M-88 engines, short fuselage and single fin and rudder. Armament:-2 x 12.7mm BS machine-guns and 4 x 20mm

cannon in the forward fuselage. * OKO-6bis – second prototype with lengthened fuselage, twin fins and M-88R engines. Armament:- 2 x 7.62mm

ShKAS The ShKAS (Shpitalny-Komaritski Aviatsionny Skorostrelny, Shpitalny-Komaritski rapid fire for aircraft; Russian: ШКАС - Шпитального-Комарицкого Авиационный Скорострельный) is a 7.62 mm calibre ...

machine-guns and 4 x 20mm ShVAK cannon in the forward fuselage. * Ta-3 – third prototype renamed from OKO-6bis, with M-89 engines and increased span wings. Armament:- 1x 37mm AM-37 cannon and 2 x 20mm ShVAK cannon in the forward fuselage. * Ta-3bis – uncompleted fourth prototype, with Shvetsov M-82 engines, abandoned with the German invasion of Ukraine. Armament:- 1x 37mm AM-37 cannon and 2 x 20mm ShVAK cannon in the forward fuselage.

Specifications (Ta-3)

References

* Gunston, Bill. “The Osprey Encyclopaedia of Russian Aircraft 1875–1995”. London, Osprey. 1995. {{refend 1930s Soviet fighter aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1939 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft with retractable conventional landing gear Ta-3

Development

Variants

Specifications (Ta-3)

See also

References