Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky - creator of the first Russian aircraft
The path to realizing the dream of human flight in the air was extremely difficult. Only thanks to the efforts of many outstanding scientists and engineers of the 19th and 20th centuries, human flight in a heavier-than-air aircraft turned from a dream that excited minds for many centuries into a practical reality, and has now even become an everyday matter.
Our outstanding compatriot, wonderful scientist and engineer Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky built the first aircraft in Russia with steam engines and propellers specially made to his order. For more than 30 years, without the necessary material and moral support, A. F. Mozhaisky conducted research - he studied the aerodynamics and dynamics of models of the future aircraft using the test cart he created, developed designs for the device itself and propellers for it, and finally built, tested and continuously improved Russia's first aircraft.
<Я желал быть полезным своему Отечеству>, - wrote A.F. Mozhaisky in one of the memos. His life was a feat of a man of great courage and citizenship.
A. F. Mozhaisky was born on March 9 (21), 1825. After graduating from the Naval Cadet Corps from 1841 to 1862, he served in the navy, participated in a frigate’s circumnavigation of the world<Диана>. In 1882 he retired with the rank of major general (since 1886 - rear admiral).
A.F. Mozhaisky died in 1890 in St. Petersburg. Having set himself the goal of creating an airplane, A.F. Mozhaisky was forced to look for an answer to a number of problematic questions for science and technology of the mid-19th century, which form the basis of the layout and properties of a heavier-than-air aircraft: how should the lifting force necessary for balancing be created? the weight of the aircraft, how to optimally determine the wing area and choose its shape, how to provide the required thrust of the propellers and create an engine of acceptable weight, how to ensure the stability and controllability of the aircraft?
A few decades later, thanks to the work of outstanding mechanical scientists, the invention and vigorous improvement of the internal combustion engine, and the creation of wind tunnels, which made it possible to accumulate extensive experimental materials, aircraft designers were able to obtain reliable answers to these and other questions, performing a huge amount of research together with scientists. A.F. Mozhaisky was deprived of all these opportunities; Infinitely passionate and devoted to his idea, he independently carried out numerous experimental studies, designed and built the aircraft himself, propellers, and searched for suitable engines.
The wide erudition of A. F. Mozhaisky, his rich experience as a sailor who sailed on sailing and propeller ships, observation of the flight of birds, his many years of systematic experiments with flying models and models of propellers on a trolley, experiments with a kite glider, as well as the study of research materials his predecessors helped him create a rational layout of a monoplane aircraft with steam engines rotating propellers.
<Привилегия, выданная из Департамента торговли и мануфактур капитану 1-го ранга А. Ф. Можайскому, на воздухолетательный снаряд>November 3, 1881 - the first patent in Russia for an aircraft - this most complete document that has reached us indicates that Mozhaisky used the layout of a monoplane aircraft, the main elements of which, even after many decades, remained traditional, widely used in aircraft construction practice.
The predecessors of A.F. Mozhaisky, primarily Keighley and Henson with Stringfellow, du Temple, Penaud, had important achievements in the study of flying models, stability issues and in the development of many aircraft layouts. However, the results of the research and development they carried out were mainly qualitative in nature and could not be used by Mozhaisky as the basis for engineering calculations. Moreover, during these years the very idea of an airplane, the principle of creating lift, were still so far from general recognition that one of the commissions of the Military Engineering Directorate, which examined the project of A.F. Mozhaisky on June 15, 1878, even recommended that the inventor turn to<подвижным>wings, i.e., in principle, redo the entire project.
Somewhat earlier, in January 1877, another commission, in which outstanding scientists D.I. Mendeleev and N.P. Petrov took part, who positively assessed the work of A.F. Mozhaisky, wrote in its conclusion on his proposal:<... по неимению некоторых существенных данных, не выработанных еще наукою, комиссия не может утвердительно сказать, осуществим ли на деле или нет проект г. Можайского. В то же время комиссия находит, что г. Можайский в основание своего проекта принял положения, признаваемые ныне за наиболее верные и способные повести к благоприятным конечным результатам...>.
Deeply convinced of the correctness of the ideas put forward and the rationality of the project he proposed, A. F. Mozhaisky in 1881-83. He built his own plane on the Krasnoselskoye military field near St. Petersburg. The plane had a fuselage with wooden ribs covered with fabric. Attached to the sides of the fuselage were rectangular wings, slightly curved with their convex upwards. The entire wing and tail were covered with thin silk material impregnated with varnish. The wing bindings are wooden (pine). The device stood on stands with wheels (chassis). The plane was equipped with two steam engines with a power of 20 and 10 hp. s, built in England by<Арбекер>commissioned by A.F. Mozhaisky. From a comparison of the entire set of available archival documents and testimonies of contemporaries, we can conclude that in 1883-85. the designer was fine-tuning his apparatus during ground tests, and in the second half of July 1885 he attempted flight tests, which ended in an accident. Subsequently, considering that the power of his steam engines was insufficient for<определившегося веса самолета>, A.F. Mozhaisky ordered two duplicates of his 20-horsepower steam engine from the Obukhov plant, intending to increase the power of the power plant to 60 hp. With.
The fate of A. F. Mozhaisky’s personal archive, calculations, drawings and other design materials remains unknown.
A.F. Mozhaisky, a selfless, outstanding scientist and engineer devoted to his idea, having built the first monoplane aircraft in Russia with a steam engine and propellers, was far ahead of the capabilities of technology and science in his plans.
At the turn of the 20th century, many mechanical scientists turned to studying the leading problems raised by the creation of a new type of aircraft.
In 1893-96. The famous scientist-engineer O. Lilienthal successfully flew on gliders designed and built by him.
In 1897 N. E. Zhukovsky presented his work<О наивыгоднейшем угле наклона аэроплана>, in which he showed how to determine the optimal angle of attack of an aircraft to perform the most economical flight.
In 1905, N. E. Zhukovsky revealed the mechanism of the emergence of lifting force and derived a theorem that quantifies it in his famous work<О присоединенных вихрях>.
The works of N. E. Zhukovsky, S. A. Chaplygin, L. Prandtl and many other mechanical scientists on the theories of the wing, propeller, boundary layer (1904, 1905, 1910) were of decisive importance for the entire subsequent development of aviation science and technology. ). These studies laid the foundations of aerodynamics as a science.
Of great importance for aviation science and practice was the creation of wind tunnels - this most important device, now used all over the world to experimentally determine the basic aerodynamic characteristics of future aircraft by testing their models.
Only 20 years after the feat of A.F. Mozhaisky, the minimum necessary scientific data on aerodynamics, flight dynamics and stability were accumulated. Thanks to the progress of technology, lightweight internal combustion engines, so necessary for aircraft construction, have been created. On December 17, 1903, in the USA, the Wright brothers accomplished their feat - a plane with a man on board was lifted into the air.
Russian designers, continuing the work to which A.F. Mozhaisky devoted more than 30 years of his life, worked hard to create domestic aircraft designs.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the first Russian original aircraft designs with fairly high flight characteristics appeared in Russia: military<бимонопланы>Y. M. Gakkel (1911-12); fighters of I. I. Sikorsky (1911-13); the first-born of heavy aviation - four-engine bombers of the Russian-Baltic plant<Русский витязь>(1913),<Илья Муромец>(1913-1914);<летающие лодки>designs by D. P. Grigorovich (1915). However, only the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution opened up truly broad opportunities for the development of aviation in our country.
The contribution of A.F. Mozhaisky, the first designer of the domestic aircraft industry, is significant and historically important.
Biography
Childhood and youth
Alexander Mozhaisky was born on March 9 (21) in the family of a hereditary sailor, lieutenant, and future admiral of the Russian fleet Fyodor Timofeevich Mozhaisky. His mother was the daughter of a Revel merchant, Yulia Ionovna Linderman. The godfather of Alexander Mozhaisky was the commander of the Rochensalm port, Captain-Commander Ivan Grigorievich Stepanov. From January 8 (old style) 1841, Alexander Mozhaisky studied at the Naval Cadet Corps. December 30 (old style) 1842, was promoted to midshipman.
Service in the Russian Imperial Navy 1841-1862
Beginning of service in the navy
After seven years of sailing on various ships in the Baltic and White Seas, Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky in 1849 received the rank of lieutenant. From to 1852 he continued to serve in the Baltic.
Participation in an expedition to Japan
During his stay in Japan, Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky made many drawings, including watercolors, at least some of which, according to some authors, have ethnographic and historical value. Mozhaisky later decorated his home with various items of Japanese origin, including a Japanese samurai costume with weapons, as well as landscapes of Japan.
Participation in the Khiva expedition
Service on the ship "Eagle" and command of the clipper "Vsadnik"
Upon returning from the expedition, Mozhaisky was appointed senior officer of the 84-gun screw battleship Orel. Contemporaries noted that, while in this position, he managed to achieve exceptionally high training and coherence from the Eagle team, using, however, very harsh and even cruel methods for this.
Civil service 1862-1879
In 1867, Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky took part in the 1st All-Russian Ethnographic Exhibition as a representative ( deputy) Vologda province.
In the process of farming on the Voronovitsa estate, A.F. Mozhaisky repeatedly had conflicts with the local peasant population and servants, as well as with the local (Polish) administration. In particular, a number of complaints were filed against him to the judicial authorities by servants about insult and beating. One of the complainants withdrew his complaint during the proceedings. In another case, the Criminal Chamber stopped " based on unproven accusations"The case of A.F. Mozhaisky beating and insulting a young woman (also one of the servants on the estate). Mozhaisky himself characterized the accusations brought against him as fabrications of people hostile to the Russians.
According to some reports, experiments in the field of aviation conducted by Mozhaisky while living in Voronovitsa increased the hostility of local peasants towards him, who believed that he had contacted evil spirits, which allegedly “ carries him through the air in a trough" Fearing the evil eye, young peasant women turned away when they met him and covered their faces with their hands.
In the fall of 1876, Mozhaisky moved to St. Petersburg in order to promote his flying machine project.
Service in the Russian Imperial Navy 1879-1882
Personal life
Works in the field of aviation
Experimental studies
In 1856, influenced by observing the flight of birds, Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky thought about the idea of creating an aircraft based on the aerodynamic principle. While living in the Kotelnikovo estate, Mozhaisky began to scientifically study the flight of birds, as well as their anatomy as it relates to flight. He shot the birds himself and also bought killed birds from the local population. For each shot bird, a card was created containing the bird’s flight altitude, its geometric parameters and weight.
While living on the Voronovitsa estate (1869-1876), while continuing to study birds, Mozhaisky began making models of aircraft (kites), which he launched from Kumovaya Mountain. The load-bearing surfaces of the first models were made using bird feathers. Then the inventor, realizing the impracticality of this approach, began to use other materials for sheathing, in particular, rabbit skins.
Two publications in 1877 and 1878 report that Mozhaisky managed to make a kite capable of lifting a person when towed by horse traction. According to these reports, Mozhaisky made two or three flights on such an aircraft. It is believed that during one of them he injured his leg. According to eyewitnesses (the servants of the Voronovitsa estate and local peasants), Mozhaisky’s kite glider was preserved in the estate even after his death, and Alexander Fedorovich’s nephew N.N. Mozhaisky sometimes also flew on it. According to the descriptions of these witnesses, Mozhaisky’s glider, in addition to the wing, had a boat-shaped fuselage and a four-wheeled landing gear. The flight altitude was about two meters (“ to the fathom») .
Beginning in the autumn of 1876, Mozhaisky conducted public experiments with flying models of aircraft in St. Petersburg, in particular, in the arena of the Bereitorsky cavalry school. Models were equipped with a spring motor or a motor based on a rubber cord. One of the models demonstrated the ability to take off after a takeoff run on its own landing gear, perform fairly stable flight at speeds of up to 5.2 m/s (17 ft/s), and also fly with a payload (a naval officer's cutlass).
In addition, while working on the aircraft project, Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky conducted aerodynamic experiments using a special aerodynamic bogie. A trolley with a plate attached to it at a certain angle was given translational motion, and the components of the aerodynamic force acting on the plate, that is, lift and drag, were measured using special scales.
Construction of the first full-scale aircraft in Russia
A.F. Mozhaisky tried to repair the aircraft and modernize the power plant, increasing its power, but due to lack of funds he did not have time to do this before his death in 1890. After the death of A.F. Mozhaisky, his sons tried to sell the plane to the government, but were refused. In May 1891, they were ordered to remove the device from the military field. The further fate of Mozhaisky’s plane is not exactly known. According to academician A. N. Krylov, it was sold at auction. Steam engines removed from Mozhaisky's plane in 1885 were stored at the Baltic Shipyard, where they were later destroyed by fire.
Awards
Mozhaisky in culture
The fantastically rethought story of the creation of Mozhaisky’s aircraft forms the plot basis of Victor Pelevin’s novel “The Lamp of Methuselah” (2016).
Memory of A.F. Mozhaisky
- In 1955, the Leningrad Air Force Academy of the Red Army was named after Mozhaisky. Nowadays it is the A.F. Mozhaisky Military Space Academy in St. Petersburg.
- The village of Mozhaiskoye in the Vologda region, which is located on the site of the village of Kotelnikovo, is named in honor of Mozhaisky. The Historical and Memorial House-Museum of A.F. Mozhaisky has been opened in the village.
- Museum of Aviation and Cosmonautics Pioneers named after A.F. Mozhaisky (Krasnoe Selo, St. Petersburg).
- Museum of the History of Aviation and Cosmonautics named after A.F. Mozhaisky in the village of Voronovitsa (Vinnitsa region).
- A monument to A.F. Mozhaisky was erected in Krasnoe Selo.
- Streets in the cities of Vologda, Kazan, Krasnoyarsk, Stavropol, Tver, Ulyanovsk, Cherkassy, Ussuriysk and in a number of other cities of the former USSR are named after Mozhaisky.
- A passage and a square in the city of Kirov are named after Mozhaisky. A monument to the AN-8 aircraft is installed on the square.
- Mozhaisky’s formula is the name he derived
Airplane capable raise to the air person - This now commonplace A 140 years ago about the design aeronautics cars, even from scientists, and think not many people who could. First news of the creation airplane refer to 40th years 19th centuries. Project Englishman William Handson dated 1843 year, but the project is still remained a project on paper. Frenchman Felix Du Temple yet built your plane, but test his I didn't dare. The first one who decided try to get up V sky became Russian hereditary nautical Officer, inventor and researcher at that time maritime officers were among the most literate officers. First in the world tried and tested the plane was created in Russia, and the creator, at the time of this outlandish aeronautical apparatus, became He built first V world airplane contrary to everyone church bans patriarchal Russia, overtaking by whole 20 years American brothers Wright, which was attributed invention of the airplane.
Was born March 9, 1825 years in the city Rochensalm, today it is a city Kotka V Finland. Father family was hereditary sailor admiral Russian fleet Fyodor Timofeevich Mozhaisky. First child in the family predicted brilliant career naval officer When did you turn 10 years old, his parents brought him to Saint Petersburg and sent me to study at naval cadet corps, which he graduated from January 19, 1841 years, having received specialties skipper And ship designer.
After the cadet corps Mozhaisky 2 went to the military sailing ships on Baltic navy. Everything was going towards the fact that he would follow in the footsteps father and will continue the family dynasty of a naval officer. While serving on Baltic navy Mozhaisky changed several ships such as, "Melpomene", "Olga", "Alexander Nevsky". Large gave part of his life naval service. Behind 7 years he visited Baltic, White, Barents, Norwegian, Northern seas. He is in naval service multiplied their knowledge, practical experience And steeled his will young sailor. But progress does not stand still and Alexander Fedorovich witnessed transition from ordinary sailing ships to steam ships .
IN 1852 received direction to one of the first Russian military ships with a telling name "Diligent"! During the trip to "Diligent" lasting about 1st year He got acquainted With engine this ship, which was at that time the result of the development of technology on the 19th century, which determined all further development transport, industry and military shipbuilding. To end 19th century STEAM the engine was ONLY TYPE engine that could be used on airplane.
WITH 1853 By 1855th participated in distant sea voyage from Kronstadt before Japan on a frigate "Diana" as senior sea officer. On this trip to the coast Japan frigate "Diana" was caught strong earthquake. The ship hit tsunami, was too strong damaged And sank. However team luckily the ship succeeded save yourself! After that team Russian sailors asked for permission buy materials And hire carpenters, to build small wooden schooner and sail on it Homeland. The schooner was built according to Mozhaisky's drawings. Bye Japanese built this schooner team sunken "Diana" including spending time in Japan.
During this forced finding V Japan, Mozhaisky saw the local population launch into the sky KITES. By this time kites of course they already were known and in Russia and in Europe. And the great Russian scientist Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov used kites during design lightning rods. But idea run on MAN's kite, first came to mind exactly Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky! Exactly at 1855 year Mozhaisky came thought purposefully create an apparatus heavier than air capable lift a man to the air ! IN 1863 year was forced to leave resignation in connection with reduction in numbers fleet after Crimean war.
WITH 1869 By 1876th of the year Mozhaisky lived in the village Vorovnitsa, Podolskaya province located in 20 kilometers from the modern Vinnytsia. He is there absorbed its partly reckless and fantastic idea create aircraft did all sorts of things calculations And experiments. As a result, in September 1876 year he built THE FIRST FLYING MODEL OF AN AIRPLANE. By the way, German glider pilot and researcher Otto Lilienthal created a flying machine 17 years Later Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky.
In the autumn of 1876 year on a cloudy day in St. Petersburg on Manege gathered thousands people who want to see miracle. Mozhaisky presented for review mine small flying device with its own spring motor. Airplane easily moved and took off! In the newspaper issue "Kronstadt Bulletin" from January 12, 1877 year the article was published : « The inventor is very right solved a long-standing issue aeronautics. The device using its propulsion projectiles Not only flies, runs on the ground, but also maybe swim. Speed flight of the device amazing. He not afraid neither heaviness, neither wind and is capable of flying in any direction." In addition, the model raised to the air cargo, in which he acted sea dirk.
After successful tests first models, in 1877 year contacted the War Ministry with proposal build full size airplane. In a year got money on preliminary experiments and began designing the apparatus in natural size. When were the workers made? blueprints and additional calculations were carried out, Mozhaisky to protect yourself from some businessmen, aspiring assign someone else's invention or sell his abroad, decided patent own invention. received "Privilege" to create aeronautical projectile. At that time it was called aircraft. "Privilege" at that time there was analogue modern patent for an invention. PATENT was issued November 3, 1881 of the year. It was first V world patent on airplane. He was extradited Russian inventor, maritime officer captain first rank Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky.
After successful tests in Manege invention Mozhaisky received support military department, but NOT COMPLETE. Military the department has determined PLACE for the construction of an aircraft military field Krasnoye Selo under St. Petersburg, but highlight MONEY on THE BUILDING ITSELF aircraft completely REFUSED. Because of lack of money on final parts of the project Mozhaisky found himself on the verge despair. To fulfill your cherished dreams Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky sold And pawned all your property, even wedding rings and wrist watch, canteens spoons And uniform frock coat On proceeds from sale personal things money started directly build an airplane.
Summer of 1883 years old the plane was built. It had the following dimensions – length 23 meters, wingspan 22.8 meters. The weight of the apparatus was 57 poods, which was approximately equal to 934th kg. Mozhaisky named the plane "Firebird". The plane was MONOPLANE. IN "Privilege" it was specifically stated that wings devices remain STILL. He had to move with the help 3 air screws, which were spinning steam by car. Nautical Officer Mozhaisky Wonderful knew the principle actions marine propeller. These knowledge he also used it when calculating air propeller In the air the device was supposed to controlled by the tail. Fuselage looked like boat. Actually that's what it was called "boat". The boat housed people, steam engines And cargo. To move along earth the plane had 4 wheel chassis.
Attended the tests military and representatives Russian Technical Society. Himself Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky fly on his plane not allowed because it was believed that at age 57 years the body can can't stand it such loads. Managed by plane Mozhaisky's assistant mechanic Ivan Golubev. Unfortunately, to tell you how the flight went, definitely impossible. Military the department demanded complete secrecy That's why documents recording a fact there is no first flight. Next in some sources at the end 19th beginning 20th century first flight described like this. Airplane took off, flew by near 10 meters by straight, then became sit down and upon landing damaged the wing and Suffered not, only the plane, but also pilot.
However, despite the breakdown, tests were recognized successful because the device Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky By WITH ONE DATA really took off! In view of hard landing And pilot injuries head of the commission military department stated that the design such devices - this business English And French And refused continue to engage promotion of aircraft devices . After that April 1, 1890 died and first V world plane stood in the barn in Krasnoye Selo, was collapsing and was completely lost after 1917 of the year . Thus ended the story of how even the most apparent at first sight extravagant ideas may actually turn out to be FORward-thinking And PROGRESSIVE!!!
Model of the aircraft of Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky Scale - 1 to 30
By MODERN data flight on an airplane Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky IMPOSSIBLE. The point is that in the end 1970s years 20th century in TsAGI a smaller one was built model airplane Mozhaisky. The model was TESTED V wind tunnel. As a result of these tests were received calculations, which exactly found it impossible produce horizontal flight by plane Mozhaisky because of INSUFFICIENT TRACTION. Let's explain here. Considering geometric dimensions And weight aircraft (see above) then available power engine – no more than 30 horsepower, it was definitely not enough For flight on the device Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky. Weak engines those years they didn't allow to him implement your dream. Also aerodynamics there was a plane Not at all capable of lifting car into the air. CONTRIBUTION Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky V World aviation INCREASED! Mozhaisky recognized THE FIRST RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT CONSTRUCTOR! He succeeded build and bring to flight tests apparatus HEavier THAN AIR which we now call AIRPLANE! Having dared, he CHALLENGED THE TIME And ALERT HIM!!!
For the first time in the world, a man managed to rise into the air on a heavier-than-air gliding projectile. The great Russian inventor was aware that this was not only his personal, but also a national championship.
The great Russian inventor Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky (1825-1890) wrote about himself: “...I wanted to be useful to my Fatherland...”
At first he had white envy of... birds. Russian naval officer Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky observed their flight as a natural scientist and artist, sketched, studied, calculated... But he did not stop at “academically dispassionate natural science observations.” On the “simplest flyer” (a giant kite, or a controlled towed glider), Mozhaisky repeatedly took to the air in 1873-1876 and, according to the testimony of many contemporary eyewitnesses, flew quickly and... “with great comfort.”
For the first time in the world, a man managed to rise into the air on a heavier-than-air gliding projectile. The great Russian inventor was aware that this was not only his personal, but also a national championship. Only many years after the calculations and drawings of Alexander Fedorovich, stolen by foreign spies, and Russian newspapers with descriptions of his flights fell into the hands of experienced engineers abroad, similar experiments began to be carried out in foreign countries (in France - Mayo in 1886, in England - Baden Pauls in 1888, even later - Hargrave in Australia and Otto Lilienthal in Germany). The French designer Tatin, the British businessman Hiram Maxim, and the American self-taught Wright brothers “borrowed” a lot from Mozhaisky.
Airplane A.F. Mozhaisky “hatched” from his glider at first glance as naturally as a chicken from an egg. But the aviation “egg” had a shell armored with a great variety of all sorts of difficulties. After all, one hundred and twenty years ago there was neither aerodynamics, developed at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries by the father of Russian aviation, Nikolai Egorovich Zhukovsky, nor gas dynamics, created at the same time by Sergei Alekseevich Chaplygin. Mozhaisky had to do the work of many scientists, engineers and even workers alone. And Alexander Fedorovich brilliantly coped with this truly titanic work, accomplishing an unprecedented scientific and technical feat.
The airplane of Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky, the constructive development of which the inventor completed in 1877, had all five main parts of a modern aircraft. It was an amphibious monoplane with a waterproof boat-like hull, a take-off and landing device, a tail unit and movable roll and yaw rudders to control flight in the air. The Wright brothers' airplane, built in 1903 by men using Mozhaisky's aerodynamic calculations, was a biplane of truss (lattice) design, copied from the gliders of the Russian engineer S.S. Nezhdanovsky. It had neither a body, nor a takeoff and landing device (takeoff was carried out using a primitive catapult), nor steering control (except for the tail). And finally, Mozhaisky's plane had - along with two pushers - a main pulling propeller located in front, while the Wright brothers' airplane had only two pusher propellers located behind the wings. The vast majority of modern propeller-driven aircraft have pull propellers.
Mozhaisky's genius was decades ahead of his era. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the commission chaired by Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, when considering Alexander Fedorovich’s project in January 1877, admitted: “... Mr. Mozhaisky, as the basis for his project, adopted provisions that are now recognized as the most correct and capable of leading to favorable final results.. ." (Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky, creator of the first aircraft. Collection of documents. - M., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1955, p. 22.)
But after such a favorable conclusion of the competent expert commission of the Main Engineering Directorate of the Military Ministry, hired foreign intelligence agents intervened in the matter - as often happened in pre-revolutionary Russia, warmed up under the wing of the royal court, “stuffed” with German barons and other foreign adventurers. Inspired by her behind-the-scenes efforts, the second commission, led by a certain Herman Pauker, who was not without reason suspected of pro-German espionage, rejected Mozhaisky’s project under the most absurd pretext of “the obvious disagreement of his views with the opinions of foreign authorities, who recommend blindly imitating nature... and pin their hopes only on devices with flapping wings..." Alexander Fedorovich’s hopes for material assistance from the tsarist government (even the most modest!) collapsed like a house of cards.
Not wanting to give up on realizing his cherished dream, he sold or pawned everything that had value (even wristwatches, wedding rings, tablespoons and a uniform frock coat!). By the summer of 1881, all the parts and instruments of his aircraft and the steam engines he designed, “amazing in their strength and lightness,” were ready. All that remained was to assemble the airplane and test it in the air, but Mozhaisky had no more money. Then Alexander Fedorovich, reluctantly, again turned to those in power, in particular, to the Minister of the Imperial Court, Count I.I. Vorontsov-Dashkov. In a memo addressed to the latter, Mozhaisky (speaking of himself according to the then clerical rules in the third person) indicated that he, “wholly devoted himself to resolving the issue of aeronautics, spent all his resources on this even now, when all that remains is to assemble the apparatus and make final tests, he does not have any financial resources for this, why, in view of the enormous significance that the apparatus can have in military affairs if successful, Mozhaisky dares to ask Your Excellency to request him from the government 5,000 rubles for assembling the apparatus and experiments on it.” (Ibid., p. 80.)
Vorontsov-Dashkov presented a memo from Captain 1st Rank A.F. Mozhaisky “for the benefit of” Alexander III. The autocrat demanded a certificate and documents. He was immediately sent a copy of Mozhaisky’s letter to Lieutenant General K.Ya. Zverev dated July 8, 1878 with a protest against the incorrect decision of the Pauker Commission.
And Adjutant General von Kaufmann and Major General Walberg presented the emperor with a rigged “report on the Main Engineering Directorate” dated July 4, 1881, in which Mozhaisky’s project was rejected for the second time on the basis of the decision of the Pauker Commission, already refuted by the inventor, and “verbally reported”:
It is dangerous, Your Majesty, to build a heavier-than-air aircraft in Russia using government funds. What if some evil revolutionary uses it and attacks your sacred person from heaven?!
The last “loyal words”, flatteringly and cunningly spoken by the court barons, finally convinced the tsar of the uselessness of the daring sailor’s airplane, and Adjutant General Bankovsky, under his dictation, wrote down: “It has been ordered to reject the requests of Captain 1st Rank Mozhaisky.”
Nevertheless, A.F. On November 3, 1881, Mozhaisky, who received a privilege (patent) “for an aerial projectile” from the Department of Trade and Manufacture, nevertheless assembled and tested his aircraft, which he called the “Firebird”. The famous hero of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 and the Central Asian campaigns M.D. helped him financially. Skobelev, shortly after the construction of Mozhaisky’s airplane, was poisoned for freethinking and great love for Russia on the orders of the German Chancellor Bismarck and the leader of the counter-revolutionary “Holy Squad,” banker Gunzburg.
In the summer of 1882 (apparently July 20), the Firebird took off. This was the world's first manned airplane flight. And although the plane, having flown several hundred meters, crashed, colliding with a high pole, and although Mozhaisky himself, who died in poverty on the night of March 20, 1890, did not see his brainchild in the second flight, the flaming feathers of his “Firebird” and Now they burn like guiding beacons on the creative path of every domestic aircraft designer, every driver of winged aircraft!
Only under Soviet power was the historical truth finally restored, Russian national and Russian state primacy was proven and confirmed not only in the invention of the airplane (airplane), but also in the creation of the world's first airplane to take off. In 1955, a collection of documents “Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky, creator of the first airplane” was published, prepared for publication by the Institute of the History of Natural Science and Technology of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In the same 1955, the second, corrected and expanded edition of the monograph by N. Cheremnykh and I. Shipilov “A.F. Mozhaisky is the creator of the world’s first airplane,” in which the memories of an old-timer in the city of Krasnoye Selo, Pyotr Vasilyevich Naumov, were seen: “I saw the first takeoff of Mozhaisky’s airplane.” This memoir sketch was first published on April 3, 1949 in No. 40 (649) of the Iskra newspaper, the organ of the Krasnoselsky district committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Executive Committee of the Krasnoselsky district Council of Workers' Deputies of the Leningrad Region, but N. Cheremnykh and I. Shipilov reprinted it in their book, made precious evidence of the world's first airplane flight available to hundreds of thousands of readers: “Many years have passed since I was a boy and with my fellow peers frolicked through the streets, showing an exciting interest in everything.
My father came home from work and said that near the camps, not far from Krasnoye Selo, some wonderful machine was making noise.
And so I, with a group of boys, ran towards the military field. There we saw many people gathered. There were military and civilians here. A wonderful car with large wings, similar to a bird, stood on a wooden floor. People in nautical clothing were fussing around her. Everyone was waiting for something unusual to happen.
A strange bird with huge wings suddenly made a loud noise, some crosses spun in front of it, and it moved from its place, ran along the wooden flooring, and then took off from the ground and rose into the air.
There was no end to the surprise. Everyone screamed enthusiastically, but most of all the boys. Later, when I grew up, my father told me what kind of machine it was that flew like a bird, and who made it. This wonderful machine was the first airplane in the world; it was invented by the Russian sailor A.F. Mozhaisky. He spent a long time building the airplane, but the tsarist government did not support him. He was forced to sell half of the dacha and use his own money to finish the job he started.
In the 42nd year of my life, I was drafted into the ranks of the tsarist army. Taking part in battles with the Germans in the First World War, I saw how the ideas of the Russian inventor were brought to life. Russian planes raided German positions, causing panic among the enemies with their appearance.
I have heard that the Americans claim that they were the first to build an airplane in the world. A complete lie! The American inventors became known no less than twenty years later, after Mozhaisky’s plane was built. Apparently, this is not the first time that gentlemen from America have appropriated the primacy of Russian inventors.” (A.F. Mozhaisky is the creator of the world’s first aircraft. Second edition, corrected and expanded. - M., Military Publishing House of the USSR Ministry of Defense, 1955, p. 150).
V.N. PRSHCHEPENKO,
Member of the Russian People's Academy of Sciences
Introduction
On November 1881, inventor Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky received the privilege of an aeronautical projectile from the Department of Trade and Manufactures.
Reviews in the press, statements by scientists and specialists forced the highest spheres to return to A.F.’s project. Mozhaisky. In particular, Admiral General Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich became interested in this whole matter, got acquainted with it and ordered A.F. to be sent. Mozhaisky in the USA to order engines there. He was given 2,500 rubles, but at the same time they told him not to expect any more benefits from any departments.
Initially, the designer intended to use internal combustion engines. But, as it turned out, there were no such engines with sufficient power. In addition, they were heavy and unreliable. Then he himself designed steam engines and ordered them from an English company. The larger engine developed 20 hp, the smaller one - 10 hp. The engines were assembled in May 1881. They were distinguished by their extremely low specific weight for that time - up to 6.4 kg per 1 hp.
On November 1881, Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky received the privilege for an aeronautical projectile from the Department of Trade and Manufactures (the corresponding petition was sent to him on June 4, 1880). In the same 1881, he began assembling an aircraft on the Krasnoselskoye field near St. Petersburg.
I chose this topic because the idea of creating a heavier-than-air aircraft appeared to Mozhaisky back in 1855, when he began to conduct careful observations of the flights of birds and kites. In 1872, after a series of painstaking studies and experiments, Mozhaisky established the relationship between lift and drag at various angles of attack and thoroughly illuminated the issue of bird flight. Testing his conclusions and observations in practice, Mozhaisky carried out experiments in two directions: on the one hand, he worked on propellers that were supposed to create thrust for the aircraft in the air, on the other, on aircraft models. Mozhaisky made a large number of various calculations, studies and experiments, as a result of which in September 1876 he built the first flying model of an aircraft. To build a life-size aircraft, Mozhaisky had to go through a difficult journey. And thanks to the help of like-minded friends, people loyal to their homeland, thanks to Mozhaisky’s dedication, his titanic work and perseverance, the tests of the first aircraft did take place.
Mozhaisky’s contribution to Russian aircraft engineering science is invaluable.
The purpose of the essay is to study the historical heritage of A.F. Mozhaisky: rear admiral, inventor and aircraft manufacturer.
The tasks were:
Studying the biography of Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky
Russian sailor A.F. Mozhaisky
Mozhaisky's first Russian aircraft
Studying the heritage of A.F. Mozhaisky
1. Biography of Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky
Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky was a hereditary naval officer. His father, Fyodor Timofeevich, retired at one time with the rank of full admiral. Alexander Fedorovich himself rose to the rank of rear admiral, but when he first decided to build an aeronautical projectile, he had the rank of lieutenant commander.
In that same year, 1860, he, the captain of the clipper “Vsadnik”, due to the forced reduction of the fleet, was dismissed from naval service and appointed to the post of candidate peace mediator for the Gryazovets district of the Vologda province. Here, in this district, he settled in the village of Kotelnikovo, now called Mozhaiskoe.
Mozhaisky had a lot of time, and he began to think about how to create an aeronautical apparatus. The theory of flight of a heavier-than-air apparatus, later created by Zhukovsky, did not yet exist, and everything had to be determined empirically. Mozhaisky based his design on what he happened to encounter in Japan.
A strong earthquake in 1855 caught the Russian frigate Diana off the coast of Japan, of which Mozhaisky then served as senior officer. The Diana was broken by a giant tsunami wave and sank. The team managed to escape. Russian sailors asked to be allowed to purchase materials and hire carpenters to build a small schooner to return to their homeland. In gratitude for the help, the ship was later donated to Japan.
During his stay in Japan, Mozhaisky saw how the local population flew kites. Of course, kites, invented in China in the 2nd century BC, were already known both here and in Europe by that time, and our great Lomonosov used kites in the construction of lightning rods. But it was Mozhaisky who first came up with the idea that a person could be launched on a kite.
Before starting construction of his aircraft, Mozhaisky conducted a series of tests with kites pulled by a team of horses. Based on the results of these tests, the dimensions of the aircraft were chosen, which should provide it with sufficient lifting force.
Moreover, Mozhaisky himself repeatedly took to the air on such kites, thus becoming the first person to take off from the ground in a heavier-than-air aircraft. So to say that Mozhaisky himself did not fly at all is not entirely correct. Even though he was on a kite, Mozhaisky still flew.
The result of the tests was the famous formula, later called the Mozhaisky formula:
However, Mozhaisky set out to create a device suitable for independent flight, and the next stage, preceding a human flight on such a device, was the construction of a working model.
And so, on one cloudy autumn day in 1876, an audience gathered in the St. Petersburg arena, very far from horse riding. Under the gaze of a thousand eyes, Mozhaisky walked up to a long table and lowered some strange structure mounted on wheels onto it. It moved easily, ran to the edge of the table and, gaining height, flew into the air.
It was the first, albeit unmanned, heavier-than-air vehicle driven by its own engine - a four-bladed propeller driven by a spring was mounted in the nose of the flying machine. Behind the stern of the device there were rudders - vertical and horizontal.
The newspaper “Kronstadt Bulletin” in its issue of January 12, 1877 enthusiastically wrote: “The inventor very correctly solved the long-standing issue of aeronautics. With the help of its propulsion projectiles, the device not only flies and runs on the ground, but can also swim. The speed of flight of the device is amazing; he is not afraid of either gravity or wind and is able to fly in any direction.”
After these successful experiments, Mozhaisky began developing a project for a large aircraft. In January 1877, by order of the Minister of War, Count Milyutin, a commission of scientific specialists was formed to review the project.
The commission, which included D.I. Mendeleev, approved the Mozhaisky aircraft project and filed a petition for the release of the necessary funds for further research work.
Airplane model A.F. Mozhaisky, State Polytechnic Museum (Moscow)
Mozhaisky made all the required calculations and, having substantiated the possibility and necessity of building a life-size airplane, submitted a report on this issue to the Main Engineering Directorate - A second commission was appointed, this time consisting of Germans: Generals Pauker and Geria, Colonel Vandenberg and others, who, unexpectedly for the inventor, noted that his project was made on completely incomprehensible to the members of the commission “on different grounds” than the commission would like. Lieutenant General Pauker himself believed that Mozhaisky’s apparatus was not suitable for the military department for the reason that it did not flap its wings and could not take off and land vertically.
However, Mozhaisky himself, despite all the obstacles and obstacles, continues to work on his invention. Having turned to Admiral Lesovsky for help, Mozhaisky receives material support from the Naval Ministry.
In return, the ministry demanded his return to naval service, although he was awarded the rank of captain of the first rank.
On the advice of Admiral Lesovsky, Mozhaisky goes to America to order steam engines of his own design, necessary for his aircraft. However, for the American company Horesgoff, the technical requirements for the manufacture of steam engines turned out to be too stringent. The company asked Mozhaisky to leave the drawings of the steam engine for a long time in order to think about how to build such a machine. The Russian inventor refused to do this, believing that the cunning Americans would make such a machine without his knowledge and sell it to others. On the way back home, Mozhaisky handed over his order to the English company Arbecker-Hamkens.
As one might expect, the production of steam engines abroad led to the disclosure of the secret. In the magazine "Engineering" for May 1881, drawings were published and a description of Mozhaisky's steam engines was given, and the main characteristics of the engine were given. At the same time, the editors especially emphasized that the machines were built “for Captain Mozhaisky from the Russian Imperial Navy, who intends to use them for flying machines.”
This is how the pilot and artist Konstantin Artseulov depicted the flight of Mozhaisky’s plane.
The Mozhaisky monoplane was built in 1880-82 on the Krasnoselsky military field near the camp of the Nikolaev Cavalry School and was ready by mid-July 1882.
Mozhaisky's aeronautical projectile had all five main parts of a modern aircraft: a power plant (steam engines and propellers), a fuselage, a fixed wing (monoplane), a tail unit (stabilizer, elevators and fin) and landing gear, and in the airplane the Wright brothers, who are credited with the invention airplane, there were only two parts of a modern airplane (the power plant and the wing).
The aircraft was tested on July 20, 1882 under the control of mechanic Ivan Golubel. After taking off from a special inclined platform, the plane took off and, at a speed of about 45 km/h, flew in a straight line over a field of about a hundred fathoms . Then the plane suddenly began to roll and hit the ground with its wing, and the wing broke.
No one dared to deny the fact of the flight in those days, but the fact of the accident and breakdown cooled the military’s interest in Mozhaisky’s invention, and Russia lost its aviation priority.
Now they write that with such power of steam engines, Mozhaisky’s plane could not only take off, but even simply carry out horizontal flight. Yes, indeed, the device itself was not able to take off with the help of English engines. Therefore, an inclined platform was built for takeoff. The Wright brothers, as you know, also used a catapult to take off. With the help of this platform, Mozhaisky’s plane was accelerated to takeoff speed, and then something happened that current theorists did not take into account - the plane flew using the screen effect. After all, if the flight altitude does not exceed the length of the wing chord, a dynamic air cushion is created between the wing and the surface of the earth or water, and significantly less power is required to fly using it.
Mozhaisky’s apparatus, as is known, had a 14.2-meter chord, and since, having tilted, it touched the ground with its wing, it therefore flew at an altitude of less than half the wingspan. The wingspan is also known. It was 22.8 meters. Consequently, the aeronautical projectile flew at an altitude of no more than 11.4 meters, which in no way exceeds the chord of the wing. Thus, Mozhaisky’s device became, among other things, the world’s first ekranoplan.
The talented Russian designer undoubtedly took precedence in the invention of the apparatus that “conquered the air,” designed and built by him on the basis of the elementary theory of flight he himself created, which was completely scientifically substantiated for that time. Many points expressed at one time by A.F. Mozhaisky, were later confirmed and developed by the father of Russian aviation, Professor Zhukovsky.
2. Russian sailor A.F. Mozhaisky
sailor Mozhaisk aircraft aircraft manufacturer
During the years of training A.F. Mozhaisky, the director of the Naval Cadet Corps was an outstanding Russian navigator, honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences I.F. Kruzenshtern, who, by the way, himself graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps. I.F. Kruzenshtern attracted the greatest scientists to teach in the building: M.V. Ostrogradsky, V.Ya. Bunyakovsky, E. X. Lenz and others, raised teaching in the building to great heights. Having graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps, A.F. Mozhaisky, at the age of 16 in January 1841, “entered service in the Baltic Fleet” as a midshipman.
In the Navy A.F. Mozhaisky spent most of his working life. In 1849, after passing the exam, he was promoted to lieutenant, and 10 years later to lieutenant commander. Over the years, the young naval officer completed many campaigns, sailed on the sailing frigates “Melpomene” and “Olga”, on the schooners “Rainbow” and “Meteor”, on the ships “Ingermanland” and “Memory of Azov”, on the steamships “Threatening”, “ Diligent" and "Brave". At the beginning of October 1853 A.F. Mozhaisky set off on the 52-gun frigate Diana on an almost year-and-a-half voyage around the world.
Leaving Kronstadt, "Diana" headed to Copenhagen, and from there, through the German Sea, it entered the Atlantic Ocean, crossed it and arrived in Rio de Janeiro. Next, “Diana” rounded Cape Horn, entered the Pacific Ocean and crossed it from south to north, passed the Matemai, Sangarsky, Tatarsky, Konstantinovsky straits, sailed in the Sea of Japan and visited a number of ports in Japan. In January 1855, off the coast of Japan, as a result of an earthquake, the frigate was wrecked and sank. A.F. Mozhaisky returned to Russia in a commercial brig, sailed for some time as the commander of the flotilla of the Amur Estuary, and then returned to the Baltic Sea, where he continued to serve on the steamships “Smely” and “Gremyashchiy”.
These years turned out to be very fruitful for the future activities of A.F. Mozhaisky, giving him, in particular, a thorough knowledge of the theory and practice of steam engines. In 1858 A.F. Mozhaisky received an unexpected order to take part in an expedition to Khiva. In the track record of A.F. Mozhaisky gives a brief but comprehensive chronology of this difficult and interesting expedition: “In 1858, under the command of the aide-de-camp Colonel Ignatiev, he set out from Orenburg on a mission on May 15 and followed through the Kyrgyz steppe through the large Emben fortification to the Issel Chagykh tract and further along the western bank the Aral Sea to the Aksuat tract, where the mission arrived on June 20; 21 missions moved to the Ai-Busar Bay to the Urge tract, from where they crossed Ai-Busho on June 25 and entered the Khiva limits; from 27 to 28 traffic in the city of Kungrad; 30 was sent by aide-de-camp Ignatiev on a Khiva boat along the Taldyn branch of the Amu Darya to its mouth to meet the Aral flotilla, but, not finding it there, returned to Kungrad and remained on the steamer "Perevsky" from July 9 to 20; On July 21, he set off on Khiva boats with gift items up the Amu Darya and the Polval-Ato Canal from the city of Kungrad to Khiva, where he arrived on August 1 and stayed until August 30; On August 31 he set out on a mission from Khiva; On September 1, 2 and 3, the mission crossed the Darya near the city of Zhanki, then went along the right bank of the Amu Darya to the border of the Bukhara Khanate, to the Kukeropli tract, where they arrived on September 9; from September 10 to 22, the mission went from the Kukeropli tract in the Bukhara borders through the sands of Kizykh-Kush and the city of Kara-Kul to the city of Bukhara.
From Bukhara, the mission set off on the return journey on October 31 and, having passed the Bukhara Mountains, the sands of Kizykh-Kush, Yaly-Darya and Kuzan-Darya, arrived at Fort No. 1 along the Syr-Darya River on November 22; the mission set out from Fort No. 1 on December 1 and, passing through the Ural fortification and the Karabutsky fort, arrived at the Orsk fortress on December 27, and on January 10 in Orenburg.”
The expedition was tasked with conducting extensive geographical research in the Aral-Caspian Lowland, the program of which also included studying the Aral Sea and the Amu Darya basin. To carry out this work, a well-educated and energetic sailor was needed. A.F. was such a person. Mozhaisky. He did an excellent job with the task assigned to him. “For excellent, diligent service and labor rendered during the expedition to Khiva,” he was awarded the Order of Vladimir, 4th degree. By the way, this was not the first award. Before this, he had already been awarded the Order of Stanislav, 2nd degree, a bronze medal on the St. Andrew's ribbon and two diamond rings.
In 1860 A.F. Mozhaisky was sent to Finland, to the city of Bjorneborg located on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia, as the Finnish city of Pori was then called in the Swedish manner. In this small but industrialized center there were shipyards where the screw clipper "Horseman" was built. A.F. Mozhaisky, as an experienced naval officer who knew steam engine power plants well, had to supervise the installation of the steam engine and all the ship's mechanisms. This work, impeccably performed by A.F. Mozhaisky turned out to be a good school for him.
Now his knowledge of steam engines, previously limited mainly to operational issues, has expanded significantly. He studied their design more thoroughly, mastered the techniques of assembly, adjustment and regulation. Appointed commander of the Horseman, he was not only a first-class officer, but also an excellent engineer, a specialist in the field of steam engines.
In 1862 A.F. Mozhaisky was temporarily dismissed from the navy. He received a long leave due to the reduction of fleet personnel, which Russia was forced to carry out after the defeat in the Crimean War. A.F. Mozhaisky was appointed “candidate for the mediator of the 2nd section of the Gryazovets district of the Vologda province,” whose duty was to introduce the “Regulations of February 1861.”
In the Vologda province A.F. Mozhaisky married the young landowner Lyubov Dmitrievna Kuzmina, who in 1863 gave birth to a son, Alexander, and in 1865, Nikolai. Following the birth of her second son, Lyubov Dmitrievna died. During this period A.F. Mozhaisky began his preparatory work for the creation of the aircraft. At one time, he observed the flight of birds a lot, saw how they scatter, take off, soar, glide, and land. All this gave him rich food for thought. Having studied special literature on bird flight, A.F. Mozhaisky began creating his first aircraft. It was an ordinary kite, the kind guys fly. Only the size of the kite was different. A.F. Mozhaisky kept increasing them, and eventually made a kite, on which he twice managed to rise and fly.
From these flights A.F. Mozhaisky concluded that a fixed (non-flapping) wing has great potential as a source of lift. This conclusion had far-reaching consequences and made it possible to move on to the next stage, to the development of a heavier-than-air aircraft with a propeller, i.e. airplane. In those years, in various countries, including Russia, the question of the possibility of controlled flights on heavier-than-air vehicles was hotly discussed; many, even prominent scientists, denied this possibility - this idea was too bold. But in 1870, the famous Russian scientist Academician M.A. Rykachev conducted experiments to determine the lifting force of a propeller rotated in the air. The results were published in the “Marine Collection” in 1871. From these experiments it irrefutably followed that it was possible to support a car in the air with the help of a screw driven by the same machine.
A.F. Mozhaisky decisively and irrevocably makes his choice: the future of aviation belongs to the airplane. We need to create it.
. Mozhaisky's first Russian aircraft
Many publications of the Soviet era claim that it was not the Wright brothers who succeeded in creating the first aircraft, but a retired Russian sailor, Rear Admiral A.F. Mozhaisky. In fact, today attempts to present Mozhaisky’s aircraft as the first among devices of this kind seem very controversial.
Conducting his experiments since 1856, Mozhaisky in 1876 began the detailed development of the design of his life-size flying machine.
Since the construction of such an aircraft required considerable funds. Mozhaisky repeatedly appeals to the War Ministry and directly to Alexander III for help. But support was provided only in a few cases.
For the first time (at the end of 1876), he was allocated 3 thousand rubles by a commission chaired by D.I. Mendeleev. The commission’s conclusion stated that the inventor “based his project on principles that are now recognized as the most correct and capable of leading to favorable final results.”
In the same 1877, the inventor compiled a “Program of Experiments on Aircraft Models.” Very notable in it was the clause about testing the actions of special “small areas on the back of the wings.” Probably, the inventor considered it necessary to install ailerons on the aircraft, or, in other words, lateral stability and controllability of the aircraft.
No information was found on the implementation of this idea on a full-scale apparatus.
November 1881 The Department of Trade and Manufactures issued Mozhaisky the first patent in Russia for an aircraft. From the attached description and drawings it followed that “the aerial projectile consists of the following main parts: wings, a boat placed between them, a tail, a cart with wheels on which the entire projectile is placed; machines for turning propellers and masts to strengthen the wings. The wings of the projectile are made motionless. The tail consists of horizontal and vertical planes... The boat is used to accommodate machines, materials for them, cargo and people. A cart with wheels... serves to run the flying projectile along the ground before it rises...".
Thus, in modern terms, the first Russian aircraft was a braced monoplane with a low aspect ratio wing, two pushing and one pulling propellers, and a boat-shaped fuselage.
The main problem for Mozhaisky was the engines. The Brayton internal combustion engine, which was demonstrated at that time in America, which first interested him, did not live up to expectations: it was difficult to start, was unreliable and much more massive than steam engines. Therefore, Mozhaisky gave an order for the production of two steam engines in England according to the project he developed (and also received funds for this in the amount of 2,500 rubles).
These were two-cylinder vertical steam engines of lightweight compound construction. One of the cars developed a power of 20 hp. at 300 rpm. Her weight was 47.6 kg. Another car had a power of 10 hp. at 450 rpm. Her weight was 28.6 kg. Steam was supplied to the machines from a once-through boiler weighing 64.5 kg. The fuel was kerosene.
The crankshafts and piston rods of the machines were made hollow to reduce weight. Having received the cars, Mozhaisky began assembling the aircraft. Moreover, the design was already different from that stated in the “privilege”. Thus, the main material was not steel plates, but pine bars of angular section. He moved the screws from the rear edges of the wing into slots closer to the leading edge, which made it possible to increase their diameter. He also moved the 20-horsepower car forward. This changed the plane's alignment, making it more forward.
The painting “Takeoff of an airplane”, built by A.F. Mozhaisky, committed on July 20, 1882 in Krasnoe Selo near St. Petersburg two decades before the Wright brothers’ flight; in the oval there is a portrait of A.F. Mozhaisky, presented at the exhibition dedicated to the creator of the world's first aircraft, sailor Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky, at the Central House-Museum of Aviation and Air Defense named after. M.V. Frunze. 1949, Moscow.
Mozhaisky conducted ground tests of the aircraft for several years, starting in 1882, fortunately the military department allocated an area near St. Petersburg for these purposes “for conducting experiments.”
The opinion is often expressed that the flight of Mozhaisky’s plane occurred on July 20, 1882. However, this date is not confirmed by direct evidence.
It is more likely to assume that the flight occurred in the summer of 1883, or even in the summer of 1885. By this time, Alexander Fedorovich himself asked to create a commission of members of the Russian Technical Society. Such a commission chaired by M.A. Rykacheva was getting ready. She got acquainted with the plane and in the decision signed on February 22, 1883, noted that Mozhaisky’s first Russian plane was “almost ready.” At the same time, she pointed out the insufficient power of the power plant on the aircraft and “recommended that the ratio of lift to drag force be taken equal to 3.7, instead of 9.6 (as stated by the inventor), and therefore the required engine power was determined at 75 horsepower, and not 30.” Purges at TsAGI showed that the commission of M.A. Rykacheva assessed the characteristics of the “device” much more realistically than the author of the project himself.
In July (it has not yet been established exactly what year. Research indicates the period of time from 1882 to 1885), Mozhaisky tried to lift the plane into the air, in the presence of representatives of the military department and the Russian Technical Society. Piloted by mechanic I.N. Golubev. During the takeoff run on horizontal wooden rails, the plane tilted and broke its wing. However, claims still periodically appear that Mozhaisky’s first plane took off from the ground. Reports of this kind first appeared in a newspaper in 1909, were repeated in an article about Mozhaisky in the Military Encyclopedia of 1916, and then widely put into circulation in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
The opinion about the completed flight of the aircraft was also formed thanks to eyewitness accounts found by various authors in the archives. There is also a hypothesis about a flight that could have been carried out under the weather conditions that existed on July 20. But since the exact date of the flight has not yet been established, all this information should be considered only hypothetical.
Tests of the aircraft model carried out in 1979-1981. at TsAGI, they showed that the first plane was, in principle, unable to take off - there was not enough thrust. It should be noted that after the first unsuccessful experiments, Mozhaisky ordered more powerful engines from the Obukhov Steel Plant. With these new engines, according to the TsAGI conclusion made in 1982, the power would be quite sufficient for takeoff. Both new Mozhaisky engines were ready only at the beginning of 1890. They, along with the first two vehicles removed from the aircraft after its testing, were transported to the Baltic Plant, where they were stored in a warehouse. However, Mozhaisky failed to install new, more powerful machines and test them - he died in March 1890.
After the death of the inventor, his plane stood in the open air in Krasnoe Selo for many years and, after the military department refused to buy it, it was subsequently dismantled and transported to the Mozhaisky estate near Vologda.
4. Legacy of A.F. Mozhaisky
March marked the 190th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky, rear admiral, navigator, Russian researcher and inventor in the field of aircraft creation, reports the press service of the Russian Space Forces.
For the first time he designed an aircraft with a fixed wing relative to the body, the power plant of the aircraft was two steam engines. He was the first to abandon the idea of creating machines with flapping wings. And 130 years later, in March 1955, the “main forge of military space personnel” was named after A.F. Mozhaisky.
The academy began its almost three-hundred-year journey in 1712, when by decree of Peter I the Engineering School was created, which became the first military educational institution in Russia with a complete cycle of engineering education.
The Academy today is one of the largest military educational institutions of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, which trains officers with higher military-special education for the Space Forces, other branches and branches of the Armed Forces in 30 specialties. The “main space university” is headed by Doctor of Technical Sciences, Lieutenant General Alexander Kovalev, a veteran of the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The successful solution of the problems facing the Academy is facilitated by its highly professional teaching staff. The Academy employs 40 honored scientists of the Russian Federation, more than 20 employees are full members or corresponding members of international academies and academies of the Russian Federation. In total, more than 80 doctors and 600 candidates of science, more than 70 professors, over 300 associate professors and 80 senior researchers participate in the educational process. Among them, generals and officers V.A. who went through the cosmodrome school. Bulukov, V.V. Gladchenko, E.M. Rudoy, P.A. Sechkin. A.L. Yakovlev and many others, passing on their experience to the next generation of space forces. The 32 scientific schools and 13 permanent scientific and technical seminars created here provide a powerful support for the training of highly qualified personnel.
The most significant technical achievement of the Academy in recent years has been the creation of its own orbital constellation of small spacecraft (SSV) “Mozhaets”. It made it possible to significantly increase the efficiency of the educational process and military-scientific work. Currently, the first grouping of scientific and educational spacecraft of an educational institution in Russian history consists of two Academy devices launched into low-Earth orbit from the Plesetsk cosmodrome. These are small spacecraft “Mozhaets-3”, launched on November 28, 2002, and “Mozhaets-4” (launched on September 27, 2003). Both launches were carried out by combat crews from the cosmodrome.
In January of this year The Cosmos-3M launch vehicle from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, in honor of the 250th anniversary of Moscow State University, launched the scientific and educational spacecraft Universitetsky - Tatyana, on board of which the equipment of the Research Institute of Nuclear Physics of Moscow State University was installed and is successfully operating. .IN. Lomonosov and equipment of the VKA named after A.F. Mozhaisky.
To expand the constellation, it is planned to launch two more devices of this series in 2005: Mozhaets-5 and the MSTU satellite. Bauman "Bauman".
It is known that one of the most promising ways of training cadets to act in conditions as close as possible to the practice of military operations is the use of training systems and complexes. Such a collective simulator is the spacecraft control training complex. Its creation became one of the most important scientific results of recent years, which were embodied in the educational process of the academy. This complex was born as a result of the search for new ways to organize all types of classes that would improve the efficiency of training cadets for their job assignments. The control complex includes a training and research center for spacecraft control, located on the territory of the academy, and a separate training and research command and measurement complex located in a suburban training center.
With the direct participation of cadets, the necessary technical equipment was deployed and methodological, information and software was developed, which forms the basis of automated workstations for supervisors and duty crew engineers.
Classes at the facilities of the control complex allow, during practices, internships, tactical and special training and exercises, to instill in future officers the skills to solve problems of controlling spacecraft in conditions as close as possible to real ones. During classes, cadets exchange information about the state of ground facilities and on-board systems of real spacecraft, and generate command and program information intended for transmission on board.
One of the productive forms of training at the facilities of the complex was the conduct of training duty by senior cadets. During the existence of the complex, cadets prepared and conducted over 250 sessions of small spacecraft control, received and processed a large amount of scientific, navigation and telemetric information. This information is used in course and diploma design, in the preparation of competitive works, in inventive and rationalization work.
The experience of training duty showed an undoubted improvement in the quality of professional training of specialists. The performance of final year cadets in their major disciplines has increased. The interest in the specialty and the performance of junior cadets have increased. Feedback from the troops confirms that the level of professional training of graduates who went through training duty meets the requirements, and the commissioning time for graduates in those positions that were “worked out” during training duty has been reduced.
"Mozhaika" is the only university that has participated and received diplomas in four international aviation and space salons. At exhibitions of national economic achievements, the novelty and quality of developments were awarded with 185 medals and 485 diplomas.
VKA scientists have made 2 scientific discoveries, submitted more than 19,000 applications for inventions, received more than 7,000 copyright certificates and patents, and introduced more than 55,000 innovation proposals in the military, industry and in the educational process.
A number of academy graduates now occupy leadership positions in the Space Forces, as well as in government and administrative authorities. Among them: Colonel General Vladimir Popovkin - commander of the Space Forces, a graduate of the 1st Faculty of the Academy, Lieutenant General Leonid Baranov heads the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the first cosmonaut of the Space Forces - Hero of Russia, Colonel Yuri Shargin. And Reserve Lieutenant General Boris Kalinichev heads the government of the Stavropol Territory.
To commemorate the anniversary, a commemorative medal was established at the academy, which was awarded to representatives of the command and teaching staff during a solemn meeting of the university’s personnel and veterans. In addition, the Russian Ministry of Defense Medal “For Military Valor”, II degree, was awarded to cadet Anatoly Tuchkov, who showed courage and dedication in detaining an armed criminal.
Conclusion
The Americans Wright brothers made their flight in December 1903. It is believed that the history of aviation began from that day. But the world's first aircraft was built and tested by Russian designer A.F. Mozhaisky twenty years earlier. A.F. Mozhaisky was born on March 9, 1825 in the family of a hereditary sailor, graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps in 1841 and sailed the Baltic and White Seas. In 1863 he was dismissed due to a forced reduction in the size of the fleet after the Crimean War, but in 1879 he again enlisted in military service with the rank of captain 1st rank and was sent to the Naval Cadet Corps. In July 1882, Mozhaisky was awarded the rank of major general. Mozhaisky was later awarded the rank of rear admiral. Mozhaisky had been working on the project of a heavier-than-air aircraft since 1876.
It all started when he began to carefully observe the flights of birds and kites. Having carried out a large number of calculations, research and experiments, in September 1876 Mozhaisky built the first flying model of an aircraft. He was advised by major Russian scientists. Mozhaisky discovered one of the laws of aerodynamics: for the possibility of flight, “there is a certain relationship between gravity, speed and the size of the plane.”
At the beginning of 1877, Mozhaisky turned to the aeronautical commission of the War Ministry with a request to allocate him the necessary funds for further experiments. To consider Mozhaisky’s project, a special commission was formed, which included the largest representatives of Russian science and technology. Thanks to the support of D.I. Mendeleev, it was decided to give the inventor 3,000 rubles for further work. Mozhaisky received only part of the promised amount, but built a new model of the aircraft. In the spring of 1878, he turned to the Main Engineering Directorate with a request to allocate about 19 thousand rubles for the construction of an airplane. The commission was presented with detailed drawings of the aircraft, calculations and an explanatory note. The aircraft, according to Mozhaisky’s plan, was intended for bombing and reconnaissance flights. The commission included foreigners; the commission doubted the usefulness of Mozhaisky’s project and refused to allocate money.
Mozhaisky continued to work on his apparatus with money from private individuals who understood the significance of these experiments, and in 1881 he patented it. It was a patent (as it was called, a privilege) for the world's first aircraft. Several times Mozhaisky appealed to the government for financial assistance, but he was refused. And yet, in the summer of 1882, the device was ready for testing. Tests of Mozhaisky's aircraft were carried out in great secrecy in Krasnoye Selo near St. Petersburg on July 20, 1882. The aircraft, having gained the required speed, took off, flew for a few seconds and landed, while the wing was damaged. The possibility of human flight in a heavier-than-air apparatus was practically proven. Invention by A.F. Mozhaisky was declared a military secret, but the inventor still did not receive any help. Mozhaisky worked on improving his apparatus until his last days.
After the death of the inventor, his plane stood for many years, collapsing, in the open air in Krasnoe Selo, and then was transported to the Mozhaisky estate near Vologda. The barn in which the plane was parked burned down, and the relic car perished in the fire. The name of Mozhaisky was forgotten in Tsarist Russia, and only Soviet historians remembered him.
A.F. Mozhaisky was buried in St. Petersburg at the Smolensk cemetery (you need to walk along the Kazan path to its intersection with Blagoveshchenskaya and, standing with your back to the church, take 50 steps to the right).
After the death of the inventor, his plane stood in the open air in Krasnoe Selo for many years and, after the military department refused to buy it, it was subsequently dismantled and transported to the Mozhaisky estate near Vologda.
And if in France Ader’s Avion III (an airplane with folding wings built in 1897) was preserved as a relic, Russian officials, under pressure from foreigners, did everything to ensure that not a trace remained of Mozhaisky’s invention. Even the name of the inventor turned out to be unnoticed and unrecognized in Tsarist Russia.
Based on the experiments of A.F. Mozhaisky, Russian design engineers created the Russian Knight heavy aircraft in 1913 at the Baltic Plant in St. Petersburg. Following it in 1914, a series of aircraft of the Ilya Muromets type with an improved design was built. It was the world's first heavy multi-engine bomber with engines located in the wing. The giant aircraft “Svyatogor”, designed in 1915 by designer V.A., turned out to be exceptional in its qualities. Slesarev.
Our people sacredly preserve the memory of A.F. Mozhaisk - the founder of aviation. His name is written on the pages of history next to the names of the most talented people in our country who have won the priority of national thought in various fields of science and technology.
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