MANUFACTURER: Kharkov Aviation Institute KhAI-2
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Experimental Jet Fighter
A low-wing experimental jet aeroplane project. The airframe began as a glider from a P.P. Postschev design. It was to have been fitted with a Lyulka experimental jet engine.
After A.M. Lyulka's first involvement in the maintenance of a gas turbine auxiliary engine in 1936, his second was more significant. The second was a two years later which was a project with a turbojet called the RTD-1 which was his first domestic jet engine turbine aircraft with take-off thrust of 50 kg for fighter aircraft KhAI-2, with an estimated flight speed of 900 km/h. This pioneering turbine work led to the PT-1 engine.
This type is believed never to have flown.
DETAILED SPECIFICATION:
ENGINE: 1 x Lyulka RTD-1 (50 kg st)
WING SPAN: 7.7 m
LENGTH: 6.7 m
MAXIMUM SPEED: 900 km/h
PROJECT START: 1938
NB: This project is not the same as the KhAI No.2 project. There was also an experimental missile project from the late 1930's which was wind-tunnel tested at KhAI and described as the KhAI No.2.
SOURCES:
Aircraft of the Ukraine, Savin V.S. (Osmnova 1995)