FIRST STEPS TOWARD SPACE - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

254 SMITHSONIAN ANNALS OF FLIGHT
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theoretical curve
Tests on 10 March
Tests on 8-9 Ma re h\
10 , 13
Time in seconds
FIGURE 7.—Takeoff performance of 216 rocket on catapult.
apparent autopilot failure. The second rocket, moving
along an ascending straight-line trajectory,
reached an altitude of about 500 m and then fell off
on the right wing with the motor still running.
Even before tests of the 06/111-216 rocket were
completed, the decision was made to start designing
a 212 winged rocket of greater efficiency with threeaxis
GPS-3 autopilots and an ORM-65 nitric acidkerosene
motor. Provision was made for rocket
recovery by means of a parachute. This work was
headed by S. P. Korolyev.
Figure 8a shows the 212 rocket, the main design
characteristics of which were: takeoff weight, up to
230 kg; wing area, 1.7 m 2 ; thrust of liquid-propellant
engine, 150 kg; and maximum speed in horizontal
flight, 280 m/sec. Figure 8b shows the GPS-3
autopilot mounted in the body compartment.
Several hundred preliminary tests of both the
propellant supply system and the control system
were carried out. In contrast to the operations with
the 216 rocket, static firing of engine with the onboard
supply system was performed. Accelerographs
and other measuring instruments were also used.
Test flights of the full-scale rocket were not made
until 1939. Two rockets were tested, and in each all
the systems of rocket engine, boost, and takeoff were
activated normally. However, the designed ascent
trajectory was achieved only in the initial part of
the flight path. In the first case, the parachute was
prematurely opened at an altitude of about 250 m
and in the second, stability of the flight was disturbed.
No further experiments of the 212 rocket
were made.
FIGURE 8.—a, Winged rocket 212 (1934-39); b, gyroscopic
autopilot GPS-3 for 212 rocket.
Solid-propellant winged rockets were developed
at RNII under the guidance of M. P. Dryazgov. Initially,
the rockets were thought to be a simple and
cheap means for carrying out experiments on a
large scale to solve the problems of control and
stability of liquid-propellant winged rockets (model
48).
Very soon, however, the rockets proved to be of
special interest as antiaircraft rockets (model 217).
At the same time we considered the fact that by
1936-37 the means of radio guidance and homing
of flight vehicles were being developed in the
Soviet Union.
Variants of rockets, types 48 and 217 are shown in
Figure 9, and a 217/11 rocket in the launching position
in Figure 10. It can be seen that by that time,
RNII was developing symmetric four-wing configurations
providing good airborne maneuverability
of rockets. Aircraft-type configurations were also de-