Two-fuselage MiG-15 figther-bomber project (Bulgaria)

[Silencer1]

Hi!

Found this sketch in Polish magazine Lotnictwo 4-2010.
There was an article on Bulgarian pilot and designer Dymitr Atanasow.
This is one of the preliminary sketches in order to design fighter-bomber MiG-15 version.
Interesting idea

 

[Gridlock]

"Committee says bank left"

Cool design, if a little.. wasteful?

 

[Matej]

Exactly. Easy to manufacture in war time, but wasteful in general.

 

[boxkite]

Hi!

Found this sketch in Polish magazine Lotnictwo 4-2010.
...

Issue 4-2010? Could it be an April Fool's joke? Any confirmations from other side?

 

[klaud3]

I have this magazine - the idea was quite reasonable, at least based on text. In late 50s Bulgarian AF had a number of MiG-15s with some 30% flying hours used, but no longer considered to be 1st line fighters because of technology progress. So they decided to convert them into fighter-bombers with 1500 kg bombload and maintained performance, esp. range and take-off/landing. Achieving this appeared to be impossible with 'normal' MiG-15, so Atanasow designed 'double' one. Calculated performance figures were even better than required by AF, so some armour could be installed.
Eventually training-fighters appeared more urgent need, and MiG-15s were converted into 2-seaters.

Rgds, K.

 

[Tophe]

Performances for this twin-fuselage aircraft were probably far above the MiG15's: triple thrust, less than double weight and less than double drag. Good design (I would enjoy it as much if it were an April foos' day joke). ;D

 

[Petrus]

An airplane with two or twin fuselages was indeed rather an unusual arrangement. If I am not mistaken only the He-111Z and the F-82 Twin Mustang, both propeller-driven aircraft, saw service in significant numbers. This cannot be however an argument for the info on the Bulgarian twin-MiG-15 was an April Fools' Day joke (there is a custom in the Polish media that when a magazine publishes a 1st April's joke it will in the next issue give an explanation of the fact; the following issues of the "Lotnictwo" magazine contain no such a statement).

Interestingly a similar design was being projected in France in the early 1950s. It was the "Twin Ouragan", a version of the famous fighter with two fuselages, which was to be a flying test-bed for the SNECNA Vulcain jet engine mounted under the wing between the fuselages. The aircraft's wing-span was to be 21.8 m. Naturally it never went beyond the drawing board.

Best regards,
Piotr

 

[fightingirish]

What is that obstacle (pod, bomb or engine) on the mid wing between the 2 fuselages?

 

[Matej]

Based on what Tophe said (triple thrust) it should be the third engine.

 

[Stargazer]

I still don't trust this would-be Bulgarian MiG zwilling. April fool articles used to happen every year in magazines like Le Fanatique de l'Aviation (now Le Fana) at a time when they still had a sense of humour (Klagenfurt Kf 255, North American Exo-7...) But I believe there still must be magazines willing to do it elsewhere... What we need here is someone 1°) who reads Bulgarian fluently and 2°) has the May issue to check if the article was an elaborate hoax or not.

 

[lancer21]

I still don't trust this would-be Bulgarian MiG zwilling. April fool articles used to happen every year in magazines like Le Fanatique de l'Aviation (now Le Fana) at a time when they still had a sense of humour (Klagenfurt Kf 255, North American Exo-7...) But I believe there still must be magazines willing to do it elsewhere... What we need here is someone 1°) who reads Bulgarian fluently and 2°) has the May issue to check if the article was an elaborate hoax or not.

Kf-255 is a hoax??? You meen that canard interceptor thing , rocket powered , and the pilot prone ? Jesus, i lived half my bloody life not knowing that ...

 

[Stargazer]

I still don't trust this would-be Bulgarian MiG zwilling. April fool articles used to happen every year in magazines like Le Fanatique de l'Aviation (now Le Fana) at a time when they still had a sense of humour (Klagenfurt Kf 255, North American Exo-7...) But I believe there still must be magazines willing to do it elsewhere... What we need here is someone 1°) who reads Bulgarian fluently and 2°) has the May issue to check if the article was an elaborate hoax or not.

Kf-255 is a hoax??? You meen that canard interceptor thing , rocket powered , and the pilot prone ? Jesus, i lived half my bloody life not knowing that ...

Absolutely. Klagenfurt Kf 255 was indeed a hoax, and you can find evidence of this here (#43 page 2):
http://dominique.mahieu.pagesperso-orange.fr/index/fana/ig.pdf

Also listed there were the Kawa Sori (#89 page 42), Suzuki 18 Shi MXS 12 (#113 page 20), floatplane T-6 "Exo-Seven" (#125 page 58) and the Monaco Airways Lysander (#173 page 40).

 

[piko1]

Пълен майтап Bulgarian MiG-15 zwiling a very nice Hoax ;D but any way i will make a research and will report as soon as possible

 

[flateric]

I thought of it at the moment I saw that it was April's issue of Lotnictwo

 

[Silencer1]

The article contains a number of photos, demonstrating other Atanasov' activities - mainly regarding to minor modification of MiG-15 and MiG-17 in order to increse carrying capcity of bombs and other combat loads, as well as re-engining of small piston aircraft. Twin-MiG-15 is a sole of the illustration, which could be treated as improbable. Anyway - I could send a scan of article to anyone, who want and new Polish well

I just check Lotnictvo No. 5 - and there is no sign of of any editorial comments on Atanasov' article.

P.S. I think, that attempt to combine two subsonic aircraft' fuselage with a means of straight wing and orizontal stabilizer couln't lead to any success - and with the the abilities of Bulgarian aeronautical industry of the moment.

 

[piko1]

the illustration of the 15UTI is interesting Dimitar Iv. Atanasov is the father of that conversion
at the point of 70's there were still Bulgarian aviation industry ( Dar Bojurishte for instance ) and it was able to made that kind of conversion i have the feeling that this will not be hoax after all


Ps. Silencer i'm interested in the article it wold be great if you can send me it thanks

 

[piko1]

sorry to disappoint all here the project is legit and 100% real the original article is from Krile magazine issue 1 from January 2009

 

[Jemiba]

Perhaps you could post at least some parts of the article to be checked by other native
speakers ? I real, we'll of course remove it from the list.

 

[piko1]

i will check with the publisher and post whatever i can some of the photos from the article can be found here and they are the same as in Lotnictwo
http://www.airgroup2000.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4555&start=15

 

[piko1]

just got the confirmation from Airgroup2000 it is indeed a copy of this article from Krile the problem is that i dont own a copy of this issue atm so it will take time till i can get a scan from one and find larger drawing

 

[hesham]

Hi Piko1,


I hope to know the fact of this aircraft quickly.

 

[Jemiba]

Have just tried to use a translator after OCR processing, but the result was ..... :-\
But I think, it's the confirmation, that it was a "real" project. Perhaps we can get
a translation, or bettre, of course a scan of a source, then we can move it from
the "fake list" .