Hello Ed,
No further information on the impact of the Italian experience, I have not found and archivist of Sukhoi DB. V.Proklov’s (except as an obvious principle of similarity with CC-2).
Kept only the general form of the aircraft and layout scheme VRD, as it was in fact, we can only presuppose.
I personally, as well as the author of the article N. Valuev is inclined to the first question.
On denying influence from outside sources, I did not write.
Believe me I do not have and had no desire to participate in a "tug of war" to the same nothing new since 1910, after the precedent of the Great underrated Romanian Henri Coanda not (unfortunately most of the "Coanda effect," said outside the context of aviation, for example when a shed liquid from the kettle) ))
Matter of pride - applies only to the enthusiast, devotee of science, such as A.Lyul'ka, I.Merkulov, etc. Overall, the program development of jet aircraft in the Soviet Union (primarily turbojet engines, as undoubtedly the most promising) in the first half of the 40's had failed because of apparent underestimation by management of the aviation industry prospects for jet aircraft.
What kind of pride we talking about?
Well, if you still remember that Russia - the native land of elephants (a phrase from a joke)). Then the first who suggested the idea to use moto-compressor engine/ "motorjet" was a Russian engineer Gorokhov(1909). But this is only a theory, but in the history of the first practices are ...
H. Coanda - 16 december 1910 (short takeoff)
He-178 E.Heinkel 's - 27 August 1939 with piloted E. Warsitz
Caproni Campini N.1 by S. Campini - 27 (17?) August 1940 with piloted M. De Bernardi etc.
Sorry for the cost of auto-translation.
Regards, Anatoly.
