Aeronautics Collection (#76)

Tu-144, the first supersonic jet, 1969
First supersonic jet, the Tupolev Tu-144, in flight over Russia in June 1969, being escorted by a MiG-21 fighter jet (lower left)

Flying machine

Supermarine Spitfire, 1940
Supermarine Spitfire. This model of the Supermarine Spitfire plane has been inverted and suspended inside a wind tunnel for aerodynamic testing

Antonov and his glider, 1923
Antonov and his glider. Soviet aircraft designer Oleg Antonov (1906-1984, pilot) preparing for the test flight of his first glider in August 1923. Antonov was only 17 at the time

Lindberghs heros welcome, Croydon, 1927
Lindberghs heros welcome, Croydon, London, 1927. Charles Lindbergh (1902-1974, on balcony at upper right) made the first solo transatlantic flight

First Soviet rocket aeroplane, the BI-1, on display struts at a museum. Developed by the Soviet Union, the full name of the design is the Bereznyak-Isayev (BI-1), after its designers

Lindberghs Spirit of St Louis airplane on a test flight before his transatlantic voyage. The Spirit of St Louis was designed by Ryan Airlines and built in San Diego

Parachute descent

Early Soviet autogyro, 1932
Early Soviet autogyro taking off on a test flight on 10 October 1932. An autogyro takes off like an aeroplane, relying on its forward motion to rotate the rotor blades and provide upwards lift

Robotic helicopter with an onboard computer (metal box, lower centre) for its autopilot program. The leads link to servo-mechanisms that the computer uses to fly the helicopter

Mach 2. 5 wind tunnel
Mach 2.5 wind tunnel. Observation window showing the inside of a high-speed wind tunnel. This is the Mach 2.5 wind tunnel

Delta wing aerodynamics. Vortices (right) seen streaming off a delta wing (left) during a water tunnel test. Air bubbles were used to visualise the flow pattern

Delta wing in a wind tunnel, 1964
Delta wing being inspected by a researcher in a wind tunnel. A delta wing is a triangular wing used on high-speed aircraft

Aerodynamics experiment. Researcher adjusting aeronautical equipment being used in a physics experiment. Photographed in the Aerodynamics Division of the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, UK

Wind tunnel nozzle, 1953
Wind tunnel nozzle. This is an adjustable nozzle for a supersonic wind tunnel. The nozzle width can be changed to alter the speed of the wind flowing through the tunnel

Tupolev R-6, Soviet 1930s bomber. This two-engined medium bomber had its first flight in 1929. It entered service with the Russian Air Force in 1932, but by 1936 was in use only for transport

Ilyushin DB-3, Soviet WW2 bomber
Ilyushin DB-3, Soviet World War II bomber. This long-range bomber was built by the aircraft design bureau led by Soviet aviation engineer Sergei Ilyushin (1894-1977)

Ilyushin Il-4, Soviet WW2 bomber
Ilyushin Il-4, Soviet World War II bomber. This long-range bomber was built by the aircraft design bureau led by Soviet aviation engineer Sergei Ilyushin (1894-1977)

Soviet ANT-6 bomber, 1930
Soviet ANT-6 bomber, on skis, in 1930. This long-range bomber was built by the aircraft design bureau led by Soviet aviation engineer Andrei Tupolev (1888-1972)

Tupolev TB-1P, Soviet seaplane, 1925
Tupolev TB-1P, Soviet seaplane, in 1925. This version of the TB-1 heavy bomber was designed to take off from and land on water

Russky Vityaz, Russian biplane, 1913
Russky Vityaz, Russian biplane. This multi-engined aeroplane, the first 4-engine plane in the world, was built in 1913 by the Russian aviation engineer Igor Sikorsky (1889-1972)

USSR-1 high-altitude balloon, 1933
USSR-1 high-altitude balloon, after take-off. This Soviet balloon set a world record altitude in October 1933, reaching the stratosphere and a height of 18, 514 metres

Polikarpov I-15, Soviet fighter, 1935
Polikarpov I-15, Soviet fighter, in flight. This fighter plane was in use from 1934 to 1941. It was built by the aircraft design bureau led by the Soviet aircraft engineer Nikolai Polikarpov

Petlyakov Pe-8, Soviet WW2 bomber
Petlyakov Pe-8, Soviet World War II bomber. This aircraft was built by the aircraft design bureau led by the Soviet aircraft engineer Vladimir Petlyakov (1891-1942)

Soviet glider Rabfakovets, 1920s. This glider was designed and built by the the Soviet aviation engineer Sergei Ilyushin (1894-1977) in the 1920s

Soviet N-209 transpolar flight, 1937
Soviet N-209 transpolar flight taking off, on 12th August 1937. Earlier in the year, several successful transpolar flights had been made from the USSR to the USA

Kamovs Ka-8 helicopter, 1946
Kamovs Ka-8 helicopter. This helicopter was designed by the Soviet aviation engineer Nikolai Kamov (1902-1972). Kamov built his first autogyro in 1929, and this led to his later helicopter designs

Soviet ANT-25 transpolar aircraft, 1937
Soviet ANT-25 transpolar aircraft. This is the aircraft in which a Soviet crew carried out the first transpolar flight over the Arctic, from 17-20th June 1937

Barrage balloon over Moscow, 1942
Barrage balloon over Moscow, USSR, in 1942, during World War II. War broke out between Germany and the USSR in June 1941, when Germany invaded the USSR

Soviet transpolar flight crew, USA, 1937
Soviet transpolar flight crew, in Los Angeles, USA, in July 1937. From left to right, the three Soviet pilots are: Andrei Yumashev, Sergei Danilin and Mikhail Gromov

Soviet US-4 glider, 1966
Soviet US-4 glider. This glider, or sailplane, was designed by the Soviet aircraft engineer Oleg Antonov (1906-1984). Eleven of these aircraft were built in the USSR in 1935

Otto Lilienthal testing a glider, 1890s
Lilienthal testing a glider in Germany in the 1890s. Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896) was a German aviation pioneer, who became known as the " Glider King" for his many experiments with gliders

Soviet N-209 transpolar flight crew, 1937
Soviet N-209 transpolar flight crew, before their fatal flight on 12th August 1937. They flew a modified DB-A aircraft (background) from Moscow over the Arctic towards Alaska

Chelyuskin search and rescue, 1934
Chelyuskin search and rescue in 1934. Aeroplane after landing in Provideniya Bay in the far north-east of Russia, to rescue the crew and passengers on the ship Chelyuskin

Soviet Pe-2 bomber and crew, 1942
Soviet Pe-2 bomber and crew. Soviet pilots preparing for a flight in a Pe-2 bomber during World War II. This bomber was built by the design bureau led by Soviet aviation engineer Vladimir Petlyakov

Tupolev and his glider, 1910
Tupolev and his glider. Russian aircraft pioneer and designer Andrei Tupolev (1888-1972) flying in a glider in Lefortovo Park, Moscow, Russia, in 1910

Hot air balloons in flight

SpaceShipOne re-entry
SpaceShipOne private spacecraft. Image 3 of 3. Computer artwork of SpaceShipOne re-entering the Earths atmosphere. The design allows the wings to pivot, forming the correct alignment

SpaceShipOne above Earth
SpaceShipOne private spacecraft. Image 2 of 3. Computer artwork of SpaceShipOne above Earth. The Milky Way is seen across top

SpaceShipOne firing rocket
SpaceShipOne private spacecraft. Image 1 of 3. Computer artwork of SpaceShipOne firing its rocket engine. The Moon is at upper left

Buran space shuttle and carrier, 1989
Buran space shuttle being transported by its Antonov An-225 carrier aircraft. The Buran space shuttle was a reusable Soviet spacecraft, similar in design to the Space Shuttles used by NASA

Alexei Tupolev, Soviet aircraft designer
Alexei Andreyevich Tupolev (1925-2001), Soviet aircraft designer, holding a model of a Soviet supersonic aircraft. Tupolev, the son of the famous aircraft pioneer Andrei Tupolev

Sergei Vernov, Soviet physicist
Sergei Nikolaevich Vernov (1910-1982), Soviet physicist. Vernov pioneered cosmic rays experiments in the stratosphere using radio balloons carrying specially designed equipment

Sergey Ilyushin, Soviet aircraft designer
Sergey Vladimirovich Ilyushin (1894-1977), Soviet aircraft designer. From 1926, Ilyushin founded an aircraft design company named after him

Nikolai Zhukovsky, Russian engineer
Nikolai Yegorovich Zhukovsky (1847-1921), Russian engineer. Also known as Joukowsky, he pioneered the study of air and fluid flow, which was crucial to a proper understanding of powered flight

Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, inventor
Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917), German inventor of the airship. Von Zeppelin conceived the idea of confining the hot air balloon, first developed in 1783

Vladimir Petlyakov, aircraft designer
Vladimir Mikhailovich Petlyakov (1891-1942), Soviet aircraft designer. Petlyakov studied under Nikolai Zhukovsky, the founder of modern aerodynamics and hydrodynamics

Ivan Kleimenov, Soviet scientist
Ivan Kleimenov (1898-1938), Soviet rocket scientist and aerodynamics engineer. Kleimenov led RNII, the Soviet jet-propulsion research laboratory

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