FIRST STEPS TOWARD SPACE - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 10 171
Lithium
[Al2] powder
heat
content
(cal/1)
10000 -
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
o°c
^.^£20°C
^50°C
200 400 600. P(abs
atm")
Cast magnesium
Gasoline, kerosene
•Benzine
Phosphorus
Ethylene
blue gas
oil gas
Methane
lighting gas
hydrogen
FIGURE 4.—Calorific content per liter of fuel at various pressures.
As the work procedure has shown, our choice of
propellant was a good one. At the same time, we
also decided to use "solid benzene" as a propellant.
Therefore the ramjet engine intended for the operation
on an artillery projectiles was designed with
due regard to the possibility of using both phosphorus
and benzene.
To prepare a ramjet engine model for free flight
testing, a special mobile test stand was constructed
in which the rotating combustion chamber of a jet
engine was installed and on 12 July 1933, at one of
the proving grounds near Moscow, the first test of
the phosphorus-operated combustion chamber in
the rotating ramjet engine was carried out. The
aim of the first test was to investigate the properties
of phosphorus as a propellant for a jet engine, and
in particular for an engine installed on an artillery
projectile.
The whole second half of 1933 was devoted to the
preparation of the ramjet engine to the flight tests.
Owing to the harmonious and cohesive work of
a small group of the third team of GIRD, all the
bench tests and preparatory work that had been set
by the program to pave the way for the beginning
of flight tests were effected in a short period of time,
and in autumn 1933 the ramjet engines were given
their first flight tests.
The ramjet engine models had the contour of a
long-range shell of a 76-mm (3-in.) cannon (Figure
5). The internal part of a ramjet engine comprised
an entry channel, a combustion chamber and a nozzle.
The propellant grain was placed directly in the
combustion chamber. In order to prevent the penetration
of combustion gases into the internal cavity
of the engine, the exit nozzle was plugged with a
metal stopper (part 4 in Figure 6) prior to firing the
cannon. After the ramjet engine had cleared the
cannon channel, the plug would detach from the
projectile and fall near the cannon.
Direction of flight
a
FIGURE 5.—Ramjet engine under study: a, Plan view; b, design;
c, rear part of missile, with plug.
1, ogival part (nose) 5, nozzle
2, fuel cap 6, cavity for payload
3, shell body 7, intake channel
4, plug 8, air inlet