Top speed 860 km/h Length 20 m Manufacturer Junkers | Wingspan 19 m First flight May 23, 1947 Designer Brunolf Baade | |
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The OKB-1/Junkers EF-131 was a jet bomber produced in Germany and the USSR from 1944.
Contents
Development
The EF-131 was, in essence, a hybrid airframe built from the components of the Junkers Ju 287 V2 and V3, the second and third prototypes (V – Versuchs – test/research/prototype) of the Luftwaffe's radical forward-swept-wing jet bomber. The V2 was nearly complete at the time of its capture by Soviet forces in 1945, and was taken into Red Air Force hands under military intelligence supervision along with the skeletal airframe of the barely-started V3. The V3 was to have been the first 287 to be made to pre-production model specifications, and the eventual EF-131 was almost identical to it in terms of overall design. The airplane was completed and briefly test flown, in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, before being dismantled and transported to GOZ-1, (Gosudarstvenny Optniy Zavod – state experimental plant), at Dubna near Moscow. OKB-1 at GOZ-1 was formed with Dr. Brunolf Baade as the chief designer, and a very talented team of German engineers seconded by the Soviet government. Extreme pressure was applied to get the aircraft ready to appear in the 1947 Aviation Day fly-past at Tushino airfield, but several factors combined to prevent the EF-131 from appearing.
Flight testing in the USSR began on 23 May 1947, at the LII airfield, after the airframe had been strengthened to meet the requirements of a TsAGI(Tsentralniy Aerodinamicheskiy i Gidrodinamicheskiy Institut- central aerodynamics and hydrodynamics institute) structural survey, which revealed major weaknesses of the airframe. The first flight resulted in the port undercarriage collapsing due to a bolt failure, subsequent flight tests revealed major deficiencies such as nosewheel shimmy and tail surface vibration. Rectification of the defects caused many delays but the worst delays were caused by bureaucracy when it was decreed that foreign workers could not work at the LII airfield.
The aircraft sat at LII over the winter but the harsh conditions caused the deterioration of rubber components and wiring, which required lengthy repairs. Preparations for resuming flight tests were almost complete in June 1948 when Ministry of Aircraft Industry Order No. 440 ordered that further work on the EF-131 be discontinued, termination of the programme being confirmed by resolution No.3206-1301 issued on 23 August 1948. The EF-131 had become obsolete as newer Soviet-built engines with better performance became available. The airframe of the second prototype was used for the 140 programme.
Specifications (EF-131)
Data from Gordon, Yefim. "Early Soviet Jet Bombers". Hinkley, Midland. 2004. ISBN 1-85780-181-4
General characteristics
Performance
Armament