Schetinin PP4

[stevehed]

For the last BM Whif GB I constructed the Vickers Paralyser. This was a WW1 tri-motor design. It was very basically a modified Vickers Vimy fuselage, allied to Handley Page 0/400 wings and a lattice tail made from brass rod. Having built it I was left with an 0/400 fuselage and Vimy wings and engines. As one GB ended another started on the ATF and I had in mind a Caproni based design but I was having trouble blending the Vimy engines into the booms I had in mind. This train of thought also put me in breach of ATF's 51% Airfix ruling and the project looked stillborn. But MZ came to the rescue with a sell off of Airfix WW1 kits and a couple of very cheap Bristol Fighters resurrected the grand design. To sum up, the 0/400 fuselage was cut in half with the forward section becoming the main fuselage. The rear section was halved longitudinally with the halves becoming the bases and plastic card was used to build up the upper halves. The tail unit was built around the lower wings from an Airfix 504. The engine compartments of the Bristol Fighters were cut off and joined to the booms. Not as wasteful as it sounds as the remainder are all destined for future projects. Two radial engines left over from Emhar Anasals were added and the cowlings were scratched. Bombs from the spares, gun rings from wire and the guns from the Vimy kit not forgetting two rather crude engines from scrap plastic as this baby had four engines. I always crew up and have a selection in the spares. Here's the back story.

A Russian Military Mission to the UK in 1915 included two naval officers, Lt Igor Petrov and Lt Ivan Popalov. They were both aviators and talented engineers and their task was to familiarise themselves with developments within the Uk aero industry. Their hosts placed few restrictions upon them and Petrov and Popalov were present at several of the Handley Page 0/100 test flights in early 1916. Very impressed they were also allowed access to the HP manufacturing facilities and took a keen interest in the practical and technical issues that arose during the building of such large aircraft. P and P returned to Russia in March.

They were aware that current manufacture of the Ilya Murometz heavy bomber was insufficient to meet the needs of the IRAS and IRN P and P were keen to convince the authorities that they could design and build an aircraft similar to the 0/100 that could complement, and at best better, the Sikorsky bomber. The navy hierarchy were keen and the pair were assigned to Schetinin, a company building Grigorovich seaplanes as well as French Voisin pusher bombers under licence. Plans were quickly produced that bore an uncanny resemblance to the 0/100. However, reality soon made it's presence felt. The 0/100 owed it's performance to the pair of 250hp Rolls Royce Eagle engines that had only recently become available. Such an engine, or anything similar, was unavailable in Russia. In fact, most of 1915-16 was known in Russia as the Engine Famine, a time of critical shortages of aero engines. Many of those that were available in quantity were low powered and often poor quality local copies. By mid 1916 the most powerful engines available in any number were the RBVZ-6, a Russian built improvement of the early German Argus fitted to the Ilya Murometz and the Salmson radial used by the Voisin pushers. Both were rated at 150hp.

Two 150hp engines were insufficient for P and P's needs so a radical redesign was suggested. Schetinin had radial engines available from the Voisin production lines so it was decided to to mount two tractors mid wing while a third could be added as a pusher unit if the fuselage was substantially reduced in length. The tail unit and elevators were to be supported on a lattice work similar to the Voisin. But the designers decided that three engines would not be capable of matching, let alone bettering, the Ilya Murometz so work was halted at the end of May. But salvation was at hand and the research department at Schetinin revealed a gearbox that had been successfully running two Russian built Mercedes 100hp engines for 10 hours at a time for several weeks. Quickly incorporated into the pusher position the aircraft flew two weeks later. With a top speed of 65mph it failed to match the Murometz performance but was a valuable test bed. But P and P had begun another redesign. The navy had tired of waiting for RBVZ to supply IM to undertake long range recces of the Baltic sealanes and had shown increased interest in P and P's work. They had also secured some of RBVZ'z 150hp modified Argus engines. Schetinin proved they could be operated with the new gearbox and in August the PP4 took off for the first time. Defensive capabilities had been criticised in the earlier versions so twin booms incorporating a gunner's position had been added and another gunner now covered the lower tail. Coupled with two 150hp radials the type made 80mph. Two aircraft were initially constructed and operated by the IRN from Sept / Nov respectively. They proved to have docile handling qualities and carried out successful missions against enemy U boats and shipping and night bombing raids. Neither survived the war. In mid 1917 one aircraft crashed into the sea in heavy fog and the other received a direct hit during a German bombing raid and was blown to pieces. No further aircraft were produced because, in common with most of Russian aero industry, the Schetinin works fell victim to Bolshevik agitators. The PP4 production facility was never built and all other work was severely curtailed, eventually ceasing, during 1917.

Pictures to follow as I haven't worked out how to save this so I can come back to it and work on it later.

Regards,

Steve

Edited February 23, 2014 by stevehed

[stevehed]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so the build thread may fill in the gaps better than I can.

http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=413&t=36180

Regards, Steve

Edited February 24, 2014 by stevehed

[HOUSTON]

Fantabulous work.

Very comprehensive background read too.thanks.

[Mitch K]

This looks like something out of Dastardly and Muttley! I love it! I think you should build a scale Dastardly, Muttley, Klunk and Zilly to crew her.

[stevehed]

Muttley is in Dick's " office" making the bacon sandwiches. Gets very cold over the Baltic.

Regards, Steve