FIRST STEPS TOWARD SPACE - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 10 101
FIGURE 13.—The experimental RP-318-1 rocket-propelled aircraft designed by S.P. Korolyev was
created by modifying the two-seater SK-9 airframe with installation of ORM-65 engine containing
a fuel system. The fuel supply on the RPA provided 100 sec of continuous engine
operation with thrust of 150 kg. Fuel was delivered to the engine with compressed air, having
entered from tanks, via a pressure-reducing valve. The engine, mounted on a frame in the tail
of the fuselage, was covered with a metal jacket to protect the tail unit from flame. During
firing tests, maximal duration of continuous engine operation reached 230 sec.
Specifications of the rocket-propelled aircraft were: Wing span 17.0 m, length 7.44 m, midsection
of fuselage 0.75 m 2 , supporting area of wing 7.85 m 2 , initial flight weight 700 kg, fuel
weight 75 kg. Flight tests of the RPA were run in 1940 by Pilot Fedorov; a modified ORM-65
(RDL-150-1) engine was mounted in the airframe.
The ground-based firing tests of the RPA with the ORM-65-1 and ORM-65-2 were conducted
from December 1937 to April 1938; after this the engines were transferred to the 212
winged rocket. Twenty-one launchings were made with the ORM-65-1 engine (total running
time 18 min 43 sec); with the ORM-65 No. 2, 9 launchings lasting for 13 min 37 sec were made.
With the ORM-65-1 engine 21 launchings were made (total running time 18 min 43 sec) and
with the ORM-65-2, 9 launchings (running time 13 min 37 sec).
Fuel 3*w
Oxygen •-*•
Water
ion along AA