M-15 Jet Biplane - Chem/Bio Weapon?

[LowObservable]

Some years ago, I was on an aviation forum that included a guy who claimed to be (and checked out as) a former spook.

The subject of the weird PZL M-15 Belphegor jet biplane came up, and he was quite certain that it was intended as a chemical warfare platform, with engine exhaust being used to activate binary compounds.

He was a little bit on the crazy side, but the story has bugged me since for a number of reasons.

1 - The Russians - it's generally agreed that the aircraft was commissioned by Russia - had perfectly good turboprop engines and must have realized that a jet cropduster was a phenomenally dumb idea.

2 - The brute had a three-person cabin, which makes no sense for a cropduster.

3 - Most accounts say that 100-150 or more aircraft were built. Where the hell are they? Even minor types like An-8s have shown up in the last 20 years.

Anyone know anything?

 

[flateric]

Seems to be absolute BS. As Russian proverb say, 'Fear has big eyes'. I cant't imagine two things more uncompatible than M-15 and battlefield, apart of enemy soldiers would be dying of laugh. No single document says of supposed use of M-15 as chem weapons carrier.
Of 175 built, most were scrapped. Two left in Russian museums (Monino and Ulyanovsk), two in Poland museums and one in Hungary.

 

[AeroFranz]

hmm...have to check my old books for a complete answer, but some of the seemingly weird characteristics do check out for an Ag plane.

I believe the jet powerplant was chosen because the bleed air could be used for dispersion of the chemicals and for the environmental control system.

The crew of three is needed because having a mechanic and/or a loader onboard means you don't have to go back to your main operating airstrip to refuel/reload chemicals. Instead you can land at semi-prepared strips closer to the fields requiring treatment, where trucks can provide fuel and chemicals. This way you eliminate the time consuming and non-productive to- and fro- legs.
I believe the Transavia Airtruk (the airplane went through several owners/designations) has room for several additional crewmembers. This comes handy in the case of the evacuation of savage children in the post-apocalyptic Australian outback (see Mad Max III - Beyond Thunderdome). See link below for pictures of both Airtruk and Belphegor.

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6845.0


The whole binary compound deal might have been caused by the presence of two chemical hoppers in the wings in lieu of interplane struts. I guess if I were to see something like this for the first time and tried to make sense of it (and suffered from cold war paranoia), I too would come up with explanations such as chemical warfare.

 

[taildragger]

I recall hearing the chemical warfare platform theory during the 80's.
The only rational I can think of for the beast as a cropduster or WMD platform is the large coverage area made possible by the craft's superior capacity and transit speeds (compared with the typical ag plane). In the military role, these traits would allow chemical agents to be kept far in the rear and tightly controlled. In the ag role, I can see how a system built around big, centrally controlled state farms would value a big, centrally controlled cropduster.
I wouldn't think that using bleed air to enhance dispersal would drive the choice of a turbofan - bleed air could be available from a turboprop also.

 

[Petrus]

As for the chemical warfare theory I must confess that I've never encountered such an idea in Polish sources. What is commonly known about origins of the Belphegor (as the M-15 was called informally) is that in economical circumstances of the very early 1970s a jet agricultural airplane seemed to Russians cheaper in exploatation and more practical than any other solution. The idea behind the design was that in the USSR jet fuel was at those times really cheap, 4 kopeks (kopeykas, 1/100 of one ruble) per litre when a price of a litre of mineral water was 10 kopeks. And the jet fuel was available in quantity at military airfields, from which the M-15 was to be operated - the jet fuel, i.e. kerosine but not petrol (or gasoline) necessary for piston engines. Of course turboprop engines used the same kind of fuel that jet engines, which makes the reasoning pointless - but I refer here information on the M-15 that is available in Polish sources.

It's worth noting that it was intented to build three thousand M-15s, from which only 164 series examples were actually built before the program was terminated.

As I've already said I didn't find any sign of the chemical warfare version of the M-15 but there were actually many of projected but never built versions of it - below you may see as follows: passenger, cargo, floatplane and two variants - passenger and cargo - with nacelles.

Best regards,
Piotr

 

[AeroFranz]

From AWST 11/20/1978, article titled "Soviets limit M-15 primarily to testing"

"A lockheed Georgia study conducted for NASA to determine the best agricultural aircraft configuration for use over large fields resulted in a design nearly identical tp that of the M-15, although Lockheed found that a turboprop would be more efficient and less costly than the turbofan used on the M-15" (This is available somewhere on the NTRS; I remember seeing a copy)

"Soviets doubts over the widespread use of the M-15 centered on its ability to do amore efficient job than the An-2. Lockheed study data show the M-15 is effective from an aerodynamic and load carrying standpoint, but its turbofan can be very expensive to operate when compared with a turboprop"

"The rationale for selecting the jet engine in the first place centered on:
-Aviation Kerosene - it is cheaper than avgas in the USSR
-Vibration levels - The jet is easier on the pilot and airframe than propeller propulsion.
-Maintenance - The jet is viewed simpler to maintain"

 

[flateric]

from memories of one M-15 pilot, An-2 crews were sending for refueler truck every five days on a seazon, M-15 ones - once a three days

 

[paralay]

In 1996 I was on the laboratory of the central design office on the ships on underwater wings (ЦКБ СПК R.Alekseeva's name) on the river Trotsa. In territory laid 10 - 20 not painted fuselages from М-15

http://maps.google.ru/maps?hl=ru&ie=UTF8&ll=56.704694,43.206756&spn=0.002668,0.00824&t=h&z=18

 

[hesham]

And from Flieger Revue 1/1979.

 

[Avimimus]

It is hard to see this being more effective than rocket artillery (it is certainly easier to intercept). So Cold War paranoia seems likely.

That said, it was, of course, intended to deliver chemical weapons against other species.


Interesting to see all of the other proposed variants.

 

[hesham]

Thank you Avimimus.

 

[bigvlada]

What was the intended role for the agricultural jet floatplane aircraft?

 

[J.A.W.]

Any documentation in existence for evidence of proposed use as post nuke fall out treatment delivery?

Or as stultification chemicals/drug aerosol delivery for internal security forces programs?

 

[Avimimus]

Thank you Hesham ;D

What was the intended role for the agricultural jet floatplane aircraft?

My guess is that it would be used for landing closer to fields - allowing refuelling and reloading of chemicals without having to fly back to a supporting airfield. Either that or it is for use as a Bush plane. Either way, In Canada we around three million lakes - so I can definitely see the attraction.

 

[ADVANCEDBOY]

I don` kow about this airplane but aerosol delivery program, for example for solar dimming/geoengineering is applicable to vast diversity of jet airplanes. Not to be confused with silver iodine spraying for cloudseeding . I can not post all patents for aerosol spraying methods, as there are more than 300 patents directly related to this. But having talked to some closely related people, the delivery is activated via ballast tanks in wings. In many cases hollowed static wicks are used to disperse trimethilaluminium, barium salts and strontium. Surprisingly commercial jet pilots don`t even know about it in most cases, as the delivery of Welsbach materials is activated via GPS and complex geo-weather programmes. The original purpose was to dim solar corona as viewed from the largest populated areas. You don`t have to believe me, actually forget what I just said

 

[Richard N]

Thank you Hesham ;D

What was the intended role for the agricultural jet floatplane aircraft?

My guess is that it would be used for landing closer to fields - allowing refuelling and reloading of chemicals without having to fly back to a supporting airfield. Either that or it is for use as a Bush plane. Either way, In Canada we around three million lakes - so I can definitely see the attraction.

Floatplanes and other aircraft with water landing capability can land in places where there are no airfields like forests with lakes and along coastlines and bays. The best of both worlds is to have amphibious capability with landing gear that retracts into the floats. Another M-15 version is shown with skis for dealing with snow. With the versions proposed, it could have joined the family of Bushplanes that have to be able to operate from land, water, and snow to be able to work in places like like Canada and Alaska.