Test pilot Robert C. Chilton with the North American Aviation prototype NA-73X, NX19998. (North American Aviation, Inc.)
3 April 1941: North American Aviation test pilot Robert Creed Chilton takes his first flight—a one hour familiarization—in the company’s prototype of a new fighter for the Royal Air Force, the NA-73X, NX19998, at Mines Field. (Mines would later become Los Angeles International Airport, LAX.)
The airplane had first been flown by free-lance test pilot Vance Breese, 26 October 1940, and he had flown it several times. North American’s Chief Test Pilot, Paul Baird Balfour, on his first flight in NX19998, ran out of fuel and crash landed in a plowed field 150 yards (137 meters) west of the airfield, 20 November 1940. The prototype had flown just 3 hours, 20 minutes.
The NA-73X was repaired and Bob Chilton was assigned to complete the testing program. The airplane would become the legendary P-51 Mustang, and Chilton would continue to conduct the majority of flight testing on its improvements and modifications.
Test pilot Robert C. Chilton stands on the wing of a North American Aviation P-51B Mustang. (North American Aviation, Inc.)
Robert Creed Chilton was born 6 February 1912 at Eugene, Oregon, the third of five children of Leo Wesley Chilton, a physician, and Edith Gertrude Gray. He attended Boise High School in Idaho, graduating in 1931. Chilton participated in football, track and basketball, and also competed in the state music contest. After high school, Chilton attended the University of Oregon where he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity (ΣΧ). He was also a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC).
Bob Chilton enlisted as an Aviation Cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps, 25 June 1937. He was trained as a fighter pilot at Randolph Field and Kelly Field in Texas, and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1938. Lieutenant Chilton was assigned to fly the Curtiss P-36 Hawk with the 79th Pursuit Squadron, 20th Pursuit Group, at Barksdale Field, Louisiana. Because of a medical condition, he was released from active duty, 1 April 1939.
At some time prior to 1940, Bob Chilton, married his first wife, Catherine. They lived in Santa Maria, California, where he worked as a pilot at the local airport.
In January 1941, Chilton went to work as a production test pilot for North American Aviation, Inc., Inglewood, California. After just a few months, he was assigned to the NA-73X.
Chilton married his second wife, Betty W. Shoemaker, 15 November 1951.
On 10 April 1952, Bob Chilton returned to active duty with the U.S. Air Force, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He served as Chief of the Repulic F-84 and F-105 Weapons System Project Office, Air Material Command, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, until 9 March 1957.
From 1958, Chilton was a vice president for Horkey-Moore Associates, an engineering research and development company in Torrance, California, founded by former North American aerodynamacist Edward J. Horkey. In 1961, he followed Horkey to the Space Equipment Corporation, parent company of Thompson Industries and Kerr Products, also located in Torrance. Chilton served as corporate secretary and contracts administrator.
Chilton married his third wife, Wilhelmina E. Redding (Billie E. Johnson) at Los Angeles, 26 July 1964. They divorced in 1972.
In 1965, Bob Chilton returned to North American Aviation as a flight test program manager. He retired in 1977.
Robert Creed Chilton died at Eugene, Oregon, 31 December 1994, at the age of 82 years.
Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom with scale model of Gemini/Titan II launch vehicle. (NASA)Virgil Ivan Grissom (1944 Gold and Blue)
3 April 1926: Virgil Ivan Grissom was born at Mitchell, Indiana, the second of five children of Dennis David Grissom, an electrician, and Cecile King Grissom. “Gus” Grissom attended Mitchell High School, graduating in 1944. He was a member of the Hi-Y Club, the Camera Club, and the Signal Club.
Upon graduation from high school. Virgil I. Grissom enlisted as an aviation cadet in the Air Corps, United States Army, at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Lawrence, Indiana, 9 August 1944. He was assigned to basic flight training at Sheppard Field, Texas, but the War came to an end before he could graduate as a pilot. Then reassigned as a clerk, he requested to be discharged from the Air Corps, which he was in November 1945.
Grissom married Miss Betty Lavonne Moore at Mitchell, Indiana, 6 July 1945. They wood have two sons, Scott and Mark. (In Korea, Grissom named his F-86 Scotty after his first son.)
After the war, Grissom enrolled at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana, and in 1950, graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.
He then re-joined the U.S. Air Force in 1950 and was trained at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, and Williams Air Base, Arizona, where he specialized as a fighter pilot. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant, U.S. Air Force, in March 1952.
Lieutenant Grissom was assigned to he 334th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing, based at Kenpo Air Base (K-14), in the Republic of South Korea. He flew 100 combat missions in the North American Aviation F-86 Sabre. Grissom was promoted to first lieutenant, 11 March 1952. he requested to fly another 25 combat missions, but that was declined and he returned to the United States. Lieutenant Grissom was then assigned as a flight instructor at Bryan Air Force Base, Texas.
Grissom attended a one year program at the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, and earned a second bachelor’s degree in aircraft engineering. He was then sent to the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California (Class 56D). After completion, he was assigned as a fighter test pilot back at Wright-Patterson.
One of 508 pilots who were considered by NASA for Project Mercury, Gus Grissom was in the group of 110 that were asked to attend secret meetings for further evaluation. From that group, 32 went on with the selection process and finally 18 were recommended for the program. Grissom was one of the seven selected.
Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7) launch at Pad 5, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, 12 20 36 UTC, 21 July 1961. (NASA)
Major Grissom was the second American to “ride the rocket” aboard Mercury-Redstone 4. He named his space capsule Liberty Bell 7. The spacecraft reached a maximum altitude of 102.8 nautical miles (118.3 statute miles, 190.4 kilometers) and traveled 262.5 nautical miles (302.1 statute miles, 486.2 kilometers) down range. During the 15 minute, 37 second, flight, Grissom was weightless for 5:00 minutes.
Next he orbited Earth as commander of Gemini III along with fellow astronaut John Young. He was back-up commander for Gemini VI-A, then went on to the Apollo Program.
The flight crew of Gemini III, John W. Young and Virgil I. Grissom. (NASA)
Gus Grissom was selected as the commander for Apollo I in January 1968. This was to be the first manned flight of the Apollo spacecraft. Ed White and Roger Chaffee were the other members of the flight crew.
As commander of AS-204 (Apollo I), LCOL Virgil I. Grissom, USAF was killed along with Ed White and Roger Chafee during a test on the launchpad, 27 January 1967.
The crew of Apollo 1. Left to right, Lieutenant Colonel Virgil I. Grissom, United States Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Edward H. White II, United States Air Force, and Lieutenant Commander Roger B. Chaffee, United States Navy. (NASA)
Gus Grissom was an Air Force Command Astronaut with over 4,600 hours flight time. He was the first American astronaut to fly into space twice, and logged 5 hours, 7 minutes of space flight. For his military service, Grissom was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross; the Air Medal with one bronze oak leaf cluster (two awards); the American Campaign medal; the World War II Victory Medal; teh Korean Service Medal; the United Nations Korea medal, and the Korean War Service Medal of the Republic of South Korea. For his NASA service, he was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor (posthumous); the NASA Distinguished Service Medal (two awards); and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.
Had he lived, it is very possible that Grissom would have commanded the first Apollo mission to land on The Moon.
The remains of Lieutenant Colonel Virgil Ivan Grissom, United States Air Force, NASA Astronaut, are buried at the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.
The first prototype Mitsubishi A6M1 Type 0, c/n 201. (Mitsubishi Kokuki K.K.)
1 April 1939: Mitsubishi Kokuki K.K. (Mitsubishi Aircraft Company) Chief Test Pilot Katsuzo Shima made the first flight of the prototype Mitsubishi A6M1 Navy Type 0 ¹ fighter at the Kagamigahara air field (now, Gifu Airbase).
Completed about ten days earlier, at the Mitsubishi Aircraft Company factory at Nagoya on the island of Honshu, the prototype fighter had been disassembled so that it could be transported by road approximately 22 miles (36 kilometers) to the airfield.
Beginning late in the afternoon with taxi tests and a brief “hop” to check control response, at 5:30 p.m., Shima took off on what would be a successful test flight.
The prototype S12, serial number 201, had been designed in response to an Imperial Japanese Navy requirement for a new, light-weight fighter for operation from aircraft carriers. The design team was led by Dr. Jiro Horikoshi, an engineering graduate from the Aviation Laboratory at the University of Tokyo.
The design team for the Mitsubishi A6M1 Type Zero. Dr. Jiro Horikoshi is at the center. His assistant, Yoshitoshi Sone, is at the left. (Mitsubishi Kokuki K.K.)
The Type 0 (best known as the “Zero”) was a single-place, single-engine, low-wing monoplane with retractable landing gear. It was of very light construction, being primarily built of a special aluminum alloy, although its control surfaces were fabric covered. The empty weight of the first prototype was just 1,565.9 kilograms (3,452.2 pounds). Its test weight on 1 April was 1,928 kilograms (4,251 pounds).
The two prototype A6M1s were powered by an air-cooled, supercharged, 28.017 liter (1,709.7 cubic inch displacement) Mitsubishi MK2C Zuisen 13, a two-row, fourteen cylinder radial engine, rated at 780 horsepower for takeoff. The engine initially drove a two-bladed variable pitch propeller, but during testing this was replaced by a three-bladed Sumitomo constant-speed propeller, which was manufactured under license from Hamilton Standard.
The combination of very light weight and relatively low power made the Zero very maneuverable and capable of long distance flights.
After the success of the A6M1’s initial flight tests, a second prototype, c/n 202, was built and testing continued. In September 1939 the Japanese Navy accepted the new fighter, the Rei Shiki Sento Ki, or “Rei-Sen,” and it was ordered into production with few changes.
A Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 “Zero” fighter takes off from an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
The first production model was the A6M2 Type 0 Model 21. The Mitsubishi engine was replaced by a more powerful Nakajima NK1C Sakae 12. The fighter’s wing tips could be folded upward for a slight improvement in storage aboard aircraft carriers.
Sources vary on the exact dimensions of the Zero fighters. The National Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola, Florida, which has an A6M2 in its collection, gives the airplane’s length as 29 feet, 8.6 inches (9.058 meters). The wingspan is 39 feet, 4.5 inches (12.002 meters), and the height is 10 feet, 0 inches (3.048 meters). It has an empty weight of 1,680 kilograms (3,704 pounds), and loaded weight of 2,796 kilograms (6,164 pounds), about half the weight of its rivals, the Chance Vought F4U Corsair and Grumman F6F Hellcat.
Petty Officer 1st Class Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, a leading fighter ace of the Imperial Japanese Navy, flying a Mitsubishi A6M3 Type 0 Model 22 in the Solomon Islands, May 1943. (Imperial Japanese Navy)
The A6M2 Type 0 was powered by an air-cooled, supercharged, 27.874 liter (1,700.962 cubic inch) Nakajima Hikoki K.K. NK1C Sakae 12, a two-row, fourteen-cylinder radial engine which was rated at 925 horsepower, and drove a three-bladed Sumitomo constant-speed propeller through a 1.71:1 gear reduction.
The Model 21 had a cruise speed of 207 miles per hour (333 kilometers per hour). Its maximum speed was 277 miles per hour (446 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level and 335 miles per hour (539 kilometers per hour) at 16,000 feet (4,877 meters). The service ceiling was 37,000 feet (11,278 meters) and maximum range, 1,175 miles (1,891 kilometers).
The A6M2’s armament was manufactured by Dai Nihon Heiki K.K. Two Type 97 7.7 mm (.303-caliber) machine guns were mounted on the forward upper fuselage, synchronized and firing through the propeller arc. These were licensed versions of the Vickers Type E .303 machine gun. There were 600 rounds of ammunition per gun. A Type 99 20 mm autocannon was mounted in each wing with 100 shells per gun. The Type 99 was a licensed version of the Oerlikon FF autocannon.
The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was one of the most successful fighters of World War II. Although its light construction made it vulnerable to the heavy machine guns of American fighters, in skilled hands, the highly maneuverable Zero was a deadly opponent.
The Mitsubishi A6M Type 0 was produced from 1940 through 1945. 10,939 Zeros were built. At the end of World War II, almost all of the surviving fighters were destroyed and only a very few remain.
An A6M2 was captured near Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands in June 1942. Known as the “Akutan Zero,” the fighter was extensively tested by the U.S. Navy and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) at NAS Anacostia. Under extreme secrecy, the airplane was also tested in the Full Scale Wind Tunnel at NACA’s Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory at Hampton, Virginia.
Lieutenant Commander Eddie Sanders, United States Navy, taxis a captured Mitsubishi A6M2 Navy Type 0 Model 21 “Zero” at NAS San Diego, California, circa September 1942. (U.S. Navy)Mitsubishi A6M2 Navy Type 0 Model 21 fighter at NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, 8 March 1943. (NASA)Mitsubishi A6M2 Navy Type 0 Model 21 fighter at NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, 8 March 1943. (NASA)A captured Mitsubishi A6M2 Navy Type 0 Model 21 fighter during flight testing in the United States, circa 1942–1943. (U.S. Navy)Mitsubishi A6M2 Navy Type 0 Model 21 (U.S. Navy)
¹ The 0 (the numeral zero) in the fighter’s type designation refers to the the final digit of the year 2600 of the Imperial Japanese Calendar, which was 1940 AD by the Gregorian calendar. This gave the A6M2 its most common identification, simply, “the Zero.”
Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1 WNr. 111711 (U.S. Air Force)
31 March 1945: Messerschmitt Aktiengesellschaft test pilot and technical inspector Hans Fay (1888–1959) defected to the Allies at Frankfurt/Rhein-Main Airfield, Frankfurt, Germany.
He brought with him a brand-new Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1 twin-engine jet fighter.
Fay had been waiting for an opportunity to bring an Me 262 to the Americans, but feared reprisals against his parents. When he learned that the U.S. Army controlled their town, he felt that it was safe to go ahead with his plan.
On 31 March, Fay was ordered to fly one of twenty-two new fighters from the Me 262 assembly factory at Schwäbisch-Hall to a safer location at Neuburg an der Donau, as they were in danger of being captured by advancing Allied forces. His airplane was unpainted other than low visibility Balkenkreuz markings on the wings and fuselage, and standard Luftwaffe markings on the vertical fin. Fay was the fourth to take off, but instead of heading east-southeast toward Neuburg, he flew north-northwest to Frankfurt, arriving there at 1:45 p.m.
Hans Fay’s Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1 at Frankfurt Airfield. (U.S. Air Force)
The Messerchmitt Me 262 Schwalbe was the first production jet fighter. It was a single-place, twin-engine airplane with the engines placed in nacelles under the wings. It was 10.6 meters (34 feet, 9.3 inches) long with a wingspan of 12.51 meters (41 feet, 5.2 inches) and overall height of 3.85 meters (12 feet, 7.6 inches). According to Fay, the fighter’s empty weight was 3,760 kilograms (8,289 pounds) and the maximum gross weight was 7,100 kilograms (15,653 pounds) at engine start.¹
The Me-262 wings had 6° dihedral. The leading edges were swept aft to 20°, while the trailing edges of the inner panels swept forward 8½° to the engine nacelle, then outboard of the engines, aft 5°. The purpose of the sweep was to keep the airplane’s aerodynamic center close to the center of gravity, a technique first applied to the Douglas DC-2. The total wing area was 21.7 square meters (233.6 square feet).
Messerschmitt Me 262A-1 WNr. 111711 at Frankfurt Airfield. (U.S. Air Force)
The Me 262 A-1 was powered by two Junkers Jumo TL 109.004 B-1 turbojet engines. The 004 was an axial-flow turbojet with an 8-stage compressor section, six combustion chambers, and single-stage turbine. The 004 engine case was made of magnesium for light weight, but this made it vulnerable to engine fires. The engine was designed to run on diesel fuel, but could also burn gasoline or, more commonly, a synthetic fuel produced from coal, called J2. The engine was first run in 1940, but was not ready for production until 1944. An estimated 8,000 engines were built. The 004 B-1 idled at 3,800 r.p.m., and produced 1,984 pounds of thrust (8.825 kilonewtons) at 8,700 r.p.m. The engine was 2 feet, 10 inches (0.864 meters) in diameter, 12 feet, 8 inches (3.861 meters) long, and weighed 1,669 pounds (757 kilograms).
24 March 1946: The Jumo 004 was tested at the NACA Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory, Cleveland, Ohio. The axial-flow compressor section is visible. (NASA)
During interrogation, Hans Fay said that for acceptance, the production Me 262 was required to maintain a minimum of 830 kilometers per hour (515 miles per hour) in level flight, and 950 kilometers per hour (590 miles per hour) in a 30° dive. The fighter’s cruise speed was 750 kilometers per hour (466 miles per hour).
A number of factors influenced the Me 262’s maximum range, but Fay estimated that the maximum endurance was 1 hour, 30 minutes. U.S. Air Force testing establish the range as 650 miles (1,046 kilometers) and service ceiling at 38,000 feet (11,582 meters).
Lt. Walter J. McAuley, Jr.
The Me 262 A-1 was armed with four Rheinmetall-Borsig MK 108 30 mm autocannons with a total of 360 rounds of ammunition. (The Me 262 A-2 had just two autocannons with 160 rounds.) It could also be armed with twenty-four R4M Orkan 55 mm air-to-air rockets. Two bomb racks under the fuselage could each be loaded with a 500 kilogram (1,102 pounds) bomb.
1,430 Me 262s were produced. They entered service during the summer of 1944. Luftwaffe pilots claimed 542 Allied airplanes shot down with the Me 262.
Hans Fay’s Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1, WNr. 111711, was transported to the United States and was tested at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio.
711 was lost during a test flight, 20 August 1946, when one of its engines caught fire. The test pilot, Lieutenant Walter J. “Mac” McAuley, Jr., U.S. Army Air Corps, safely bailed out. The Me 262 crashed 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) east of Lumberton, Ohio, and was completely destroyed.
Messerschmitt Me 262A-1 Schwalbe WNr. 111711. (U.S. Air Force)
Walter J. McAuley, Jr.,² was born 10 March 1917 at Fort Worth, Texas. He was the fourth child of Walter J. McAuley and Lola Mahaffey McAuley. Walter attended Texas A&M College at College Station, Texas. While there, he also worked as a mechanic. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree in 1941.
McAuley had brown hair, blue eyes, was 5 feet, 9 inches (1.75 meters) tall and weighed 160 pounds (75.6 kilograms).
McAuley enlisted as a seaman, second class, United States Naval Reserve, and served from 11 April to 3 December 1941. He transferred to the U.S. Army as a private, Air Corps Enlisted Reserve Corps (A.C.E.R.C.), 2 May 1942. Private McAuley was accepted as an aviation cadet, Air Corps, 18 October 1942.
Aviation Cadet McAuley was commissioned as a second lieutenant, Army of the United States (A.U.S.), 29 July 1943, and placed on active duty. He was promoted to first lieutenant, A.U.S., one year later, 1 August 1944.
Lieutenant McAuley was promoted to captain, Air-Reserve, 30 July 1947. On 10 July 1947, he received a permanent commission as a first lieutenant, Air Corps, United States Army. His date of rank was retroactive to 10 March 1945.
After the establishment of the United States Air Force, Lieutenant McAuley was transferred to the new service. He was number 6,626 on the register of Air Force first lieutenants.
McCauley rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was released from duty 31 December 1962.
Walter J. McAuley Jr., married Miss Mary Elizabeth Sloss, 8 May 1943. They divorced 25 March 1969. He then married Lillian R. Zwickl, 3 April 1969. They also divorced, 10 September 1971.
Lieutenant Colonel McAuley died 11 March 1985. He was buried at Greenwood Memorial Park, Fort Worth, Texas.
Messerschmitt Me 262A-1 WNr. 111711 at Wright Field. (U.S. Air Force)
¹ A technical report from RAE Farnborough gave the empty weight of the Me 262 as 11,120 pounds (5,044 kilograms). Its “all up weight,” less ammunition, was 14,730 pounds (6,681 kilograms).
27 March 1943: Test pilot Captain Grigory Yakovlevich Bakhchivandzhi (Григорий Яковлевич Бахчиванджи) fired the rocket engine of his ski-equipped number three protototype Bolkhovitinov BI and accelerated across the ice-covered Lake Bilimbay near Koltsovo airport at Sverdlovsk, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (now Koltsovo International Airport (SVX), Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation).
The tiny airplane quickly became airborne and Bakhchivandzhi climbed to 2,000 meters (6,562 feet), leveled off, then continued to accelerate in level flight. The rocket engine burned for 78 seconds before its fuel supply was exhausted. Various estimates are that the BI-3 reached a speed of 750 to 900 kilometers per hour (405 knots/466 miles per hour to 486 knots/559 miles per hour).
Suddenly the BI-3 pitched downward into a 50° dive. Without ever pulling out, it crashed into the frozen surface of the lake, about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) south of the airfield. The BI-3 was destroyed and Grigory Bakhchivandzhi was killed.
Speculation at the time was the when the rocket engine shut down, the sudden deceleration threw Bakhchivandzhi forward and he struck his head on the gun sight, knocking him unconscious. Years later, wind tunnel testing revealed that at high speed, the Bolkhovitinov BI had a tendency to pitch downward. The elevators could not apply enough force to counteract this. Today, this is known as “Mach tuck.” At transonic speeds, shockwaves form on the wings and push the center of pressure aft.
BI-3 was the third of six prototypes for a rocket-powered close range fighter—a Blizhniy Istrebitel’ (Ближний Истребитель), hence its designation “BI.” It was designed by Aleksandr Yakovlevich Bereznyak (Александр Яковлевич Березняк) and Alexey Mikhailovich Isaev (Алексе́й Миха́йлович Иса́ев), of the experimental design bureau OKB-293, headed by Viktor Fyodorovich Bolkhovitinov (Виктор Фёдорович Болховитинов).
The first prototype, BI-1, made its first flight 15 March 1942, flown by Bakhchivandzhi. The 27 March 1943 flight was the eighth for the series and fourth for BI-3. It was Bakhchivandzhi‘s seventh flight in the type.
Grigory Yakovlevich Bakhchivandzhi climbs into the cockpit of BI-2, circa 1942.
The Bolkhovitinov BI ¹ was a series of seven small low-wing monoplanes with conventional retractable landing gear. They was flown by a single pilot. The airplane was built of 2 millimeter (0.8 inch) plywood covered with fabric. It was 6.400 meters (21 feet) long with a wingspan of 6.600 meters (21 feet, 7.8 inches) and height of 2.06 meters (6 feet, 11 inches).² The total wing area was 7.00 square meters (75.35 square feet). The airplane had an empty weight of 790 kilograms (1,742 pounds) and maximum takeoff weight of 1,683 kilograms (3,710 pounds). The normal wheeled main landing gear could be equipped with skis for operation on snow or ice.
Bolkhovitinov BI cutaway and three-view illustration with dimensions.
The fighter was powered by a throttleable Dushkin D-1-A-1100 rocket engine, designed by Leonid Stepanovich Dushkin (Леонид Степанович Душкин). It was fueled by kerosene and red fuming nitric acid (RFNA). The mixture was ignited by a glow plug. The D-1-A-1100 could produce a maximum thrust of 10.79 kilonewtons (7,958 pound-feet).
Dushkin D-1-A-11000 rocket engine
During flight testing, BI-3 had reached a maximum altitude of 4,000 meters (13,123 feet), and a maximum rate of climb of 83 meters per second (16,339 feet per minute).
The BI was armed with two 20 millimeter ShVAK autocannon mounted in the nose with 45 rounds of ammunition per gun. The cannon fired a 20 mm × 99 mm rimmed cartridge. The explosive projectile weighed from 91.0 to 99.0 grams, depending on type, and had a muzzle velocity of 750 to 790 meters per second (2,461 to 2,592 feet per second). The rate of fire could be selected, ranging from 550 to 800 rounds per minute. The BI could also carry ten 2.5 kilogram (5.5 pound) bomblets to be dropped on enemy bomber formations.
Only seven BIs were built. Following the crash of BI-3, a planned production of 40 to 50 operational interceptors based on the configuration of BI-4 was cancelled.
Grigory Yakovlevich Bakhchivandzhi was born 20 February 1908 in the village of Brinkovskaya, Temryuksky district, province of Kuban, Russian Empire. He was the son of Yakov Ivanovich Bakhchivandzhi, a mechanical engineer working in a steam plant, and Maria Evtikhievna Grechanaya. His mother died when he was six years old. Grigory and his brothers were raised by an aunt, Agnes Stepanova.
Bakhchivandzhi received only seven years of education in his village before going to work in a foundry at the age of 17 years. Later he was employed as an assistant locomotive engineer (driver).
In 1927 Bakhchivandzhi joined the Communist Youth League. In 1928 he worked at the Mariupol Metallurgical Plant (the Illich Iron & Steel Works, Mariupol, Ukraine).
Bakhchivandzhi joined the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army in 1931. In 1932, he became a member of the Bolshevik Communist Party. He graduated from the Aviation Technical School in 1933, and the Orenburg Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots in 1934. He began flight testing at the Air Force Research Institute in 1935.
During the Great Patriotic War he flew with the 402nd Special Fighter Aviation Regiment in the Defense of Moscow. From 1 July to 10 August 1941, Bakhchivandzhi flew 65 combat missions in the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 (which he had previously flown as a test pilot) and is credited with shooting down five enemy aircraft (3 shared with other pilots).³ He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1941.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3, circa 1941–42. (Charles M. Daniels Collection, San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives, Catalog #: 15_002209)
Captain Bakhchivandzhi was awarded the Order of Lenin 17 October 1942 for his courage as the squadron commander. (He was nominated for Hero of the Soviet Union, but because of a “failure to comply with formalities,” this was not awarded.)
His remains are buried in a cemetery in the village of Maly istok, near the Koltsovo airport.
It is reported that Cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, the first human in space, said, “Without the flights of Grigory Bakhchivandzhi, there might not have been April 12, 1961.”
On 28 April 1973, thirty years after his death, Bakhchivandzhi was named Hero of the Soviet Union. He was posthumously awarded a second Order of Lenin.
Memorial to Grigory Yakovlevich Bakhchivandzhi at Brinkovskaya, his hometown. (airforce.ru)
¹ Also known as the Bereznyak-Isayev BI
² Most sources give the wingspan of BI-1 as 6.48 meters (21 feet, 3.1 inches). BI-5, BI-6 and BI-7 were 6.940 meters (22 feet, 9.2 inches) long, with a wingspan of 6.615 meters (21 feet, 8.4 inches) and height of 2.500 meters (8 feet, 2.4 inches). The wing area was 7.04 square meters (75.78 square feet).
³ 4 July 1941, Dornier Do 217; 5 July, Junkers Ju 88; 7 July, Junkers Ju 88 (shared credit with Captain A.G. Proshakov); 10 July, Heinkel He 126 (shared with Lieutenant K. F. Kozhevnikov; 2 August, Junkers Ju-88 (shared credit with P. Kh. Ananekov and Zharov). (Other sources say that Bakhchivandzhi shot down two Dornier Do 215s on 4 July. During that air battle, the engine of his MiG-3 failed, and he made a perfect engine-off landing. The fighter was riddled with bullets and Bakhchivandzhi’s silk scarf had been penetrated by a bullet. The same source also credits him with a Henschel Hs 126 reconnaissance airplane, and Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Me 110 fighters, though the dates of these victories is not stated.)
