Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270

I-270 Zh-1
Role	Interceptor
Manufacturer	Mikoyan-Gurevich
First flight	December 1946 (unpowered)
Status	Cancelled
Primary user	Soviet Air Force
Number built	2
Developed from	Messerschmitt Me 263

The Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270 (Design Ж ("Zh") under Mikoyan-Gurevich's in-house designation sequence, USAF designation "Type 12") was a response to a Soviet Air Force requirement in 1945 for a rocket-powered interceptor aircraft for the point-defence role. In concept and basic configuration, it was strongly reminiscent of the Soviet Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1,^[1] and is generally regarded as a further development of that design. Only two prototypes were built, both of which were destroyed in crashes, leading to the cancellation of the project.

Model of I-270

In the early stages of World War II (1942), a complete prototype BI-1 (also known as The Devil's Broomstick), made its first several flights. The I-270 shared the BI-1's simple, tapered fuselage, bubble canopy, wing design, and dual-chambered bipropellant rocket motor. On the other hand, it was considerably larger than the BI-1 and featured short, reinforced wings (of the RP-218) and a raised T-tail which (planes such as Tupolev ANT-8 proved) offered better landing control than the BI-1's more traditional fighter layout. While there seems little doubt that the BI-1 influenced the design of the I-270, the latter appears far from a direct descendant of the former.

Soviet tradition of rocketry starting from the early work of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and carried through by men like Sergei Korolev made rocket fighters a reality. The RD-2M engine, designed by Leonid Dushkin was dual-combustion-chamber version of the engine used for the 1941 BI-1 rocket plane. That in turn had followed from a tradition dating back to Sergey Korolev's work on project "06" in the early 1930s and the RP-318 rocket plane designed in 1936.

The first gliding trials commenced in December 1946, with the first prototype towed into the air behind a Tupolev Tu-2, ballast loaded in place of an engine. The second prototype began powered tests early in 1947, but was damaged beyond repair making a hard landing. Shortly afterwards, the first prototype was also destroyed in a landing accident. By this stage, turbojet technology was at a far more advanced stage than it had been at the outset of the project, and surface-to-air missiles had replaced the need for point-defence interceptors. Under these circumstances, the Air Force decided to cancel the project.

Operators

 Soviet Union

• Soviet Air Force

Specifications (I-270)

Data from MiG:50 Years of Secret Aircraft Design^[2]

General characteristics

• Crew: one, pilot
• Length: 8.92 m (29 ft 3 in)
• Wingspan: 7.75 m (25 ft 5 in)
• Height: 3.08 m (10 ft 1⅓ in)
• Wing area: 12 m² (129 ft²)
• Empty weight: 1,546 kg (3,407 lb)
• Loaded weight: 4,120 kg (9,080 lb)
• Powerplant: 1× Dushkin-Glushko RD-2 M-3V rocket, 14.2 kN (3,190 lbf) 14.2 kN

Performance

• Maximum speed: 505 knots, 581 mph (936 km/h) at 15,000 m (49,200 ft)
• Service ceiling: 17,000 m (55,760 ft)
• Climb to 15,000 m (49,200 ft): 3.03 min

Armament

• Guns: 2 × 23 mm (0.90 in) Nudelman NS-23 cannon

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 (1932-1945 project)

References

1. ^ http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/Research/Bereznyak-Isayev/BI/index.php
2. ^ Belyakov and Marmain 1994, pp. 110, 112.

• Belyakov, R. A. and J. Marmain. MiG: Fifty Years of Secret Aircraft Design. Shrewsbury, UK:Airlife Publishing, 1994. ISBN 1 85310 488 4.