Shcherbakov SP Stratospheric Glider

[hesham]

Hi,

the Shcherbakov SP was a stratospheric glider Project of 1937,span in neighbourhood of 30 m,it was single-
seat GK (pressure cabin) and intended to be towed by high-performance aircraft to max height and the soar
to still-greater altitudes,it was intended to operate height 15 km (49,200 ft).

 

[VictorXL188]

I suspect that this was developed as a result of the in flight refuelling tests carried out in the 1930s with the Gribovski gliders. Shcherybakov who was an engineer with Gribovski, in 1936 had fitted a pressure cabin, to a G-14. This was due to experiments at high-altitude flights in an unpressurized glider cockpit were far from comfortable for pilots. flights, which could greatly facilitate the pilot's work in a rarefied atmosphere. The cockpit consisted of an elastic cocoon made from a rubberized fabric in the shape of the figure of a seated pilot. From above it was sealed with a metal cap with portholes. The pilot dashboard was located outside the cockpit, in the front of the fuselage. It is not known for certain whether the high-altitude" G-14 was a newly built vehicle, or whether it was remade from a production G-14 glider. I have not yet found any pictures of this machine, but who knows it may appear one day!

 

[hesham]

That was not true,

The Gribovski G-14GK was actually built and flown in 1936,but this Project was from 1937,and in the
book; The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft,they explained his early activities,and this was a
new Project,maybe based on G-14,but was not the same.

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/gribovskiy-aircraft.10105/#post-262387

 

[Apophenia]

On page 31 of his Flight Tests of the Ramjet on Aircraft Designed by N.N. Polikarpov in 1939-1940, A.Ya. Shcherbakov briefly mentions a 1935 "proposition of launching a high-altitude towed glider, which in principle permitted piloted flights into the stratosphere to altitudes of 30 km and more." An OSK was set up near Moscow (at the Aviakhim factory, later GAZ 1) to investigate various solutions to stratospheric aircraft.

Another source mentions Shcherbakov as having "successfully carried out work on high-altitude towing of gliders in the stratosphere using the so-called aeropod". I assume that to be аэропод but I'm not sure what this means. Still, the quote implies that the towed glider scheme may have at least been trialled.

 

[borovik]

"... the most outstanding flight was on June 30, 1937, when the R-Z towing aircraft, controlled by test pilot P.E. Loginov, raised the G-9 glider with pilot-glider V.P. Fedorov to the borders of the stratosphere to a height of 12105 m. The pilots were equipped with oxygen masks, dressed in fur overalls. After returning from this flight, pilot V.P. Fedorov said that he could still gain altitude, but that even the smallest efforts spent on the control of the airframe greatly bothered him. The question was raised about creating a pressurized cockpit on a glider. A soft version of such a cabin was installed on the G-14 glider and tested in 1936. It was the first pressurized cabin in the USSR."
A.P. Krasilshchikov, Gliders of the USSR.
additional information from the book Dmitry Sobolev - Experimental Aircraft of Russia. 1912-1941 :
https://arsenal-info.ru/b/book/3810841708/14

 

[hesham]

The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft

From the book,

to explain what was it,a Project in 1937.