Stamper, 1995

• George Stamper. 1995. The Sikorsky S-16 and Russian Aviation During the Great War. Masters thesis, University of Georgia. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA302760.pdf

Notes

• Abbreviations (p.vii): Avia-Balt = Aeronautical Section, R-BVZ, Petrograd ; CMTD = Central Military Technical Dept of the War Ministry; EVK = Squadron of Flying Ships; IM = Ilya Muromets (aircraft); IRAC=Imperial All-Russian Aero-Club; IRAF = Imperial Russian Air Force ; IRN = Imperial Russian Navy ; R-BVZ = Russ-Baltic Rolling Stock Factory, Riga ; "S" aircraft = Prefix designating Sikorsky-built aeroplanes ; Stavka = Russian High Command during WWI; TO's = Tables of Organization of the Russian Army; TsGVIA = Central State Military History Archive, in Moscow
• Counts of aircraft manufactured from 1914-18: FR 52,000; GB 43,000 ; DE: 48,000; RU: 4600 (p1, citing Morrow, 1993)
• Cites detailed works of Von Hardesty, Carl Bobrow, and Scott W. Palmer on Russian aircraft (p2)
• Hardesty edited Riaboff's memoir of being a pilot in WWI. (p3)
• Important Russian aircraft designers included Sikorsky, M. Lebedev, and K. P. Grigorovich. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich established a trusteeship for the advancement of aviation in Russia in 1909. (p3)
• Proponents of military aviation included Hermann von der Leith-Thomsen in German and Ferdinand Ferber in France.
• Russia's military aces included I. A. Orlov and E. N. Kruten.
• Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich was chairman of the Committee for the Strengthening of the Naval Fleet by Voluntary Contributions, which was launched at the end of the Russo-Japanese was and intended to support construction of torpedo boats. He had authority over nearly 2m of roubles of public funds for this purpose. (p5)
• He was vacationing in France when Blériot flew over the Channel in July 1909, and determined to spend it toward an air fleet. He asked newspaper editors and/or supporters of the public fund about it, and some supported him in this, and there was official opposition too. (p5-6, skipping some interesting names and details here)
• Selected Russian offers were to be sent for pilot training to Blériot and the Voisin brothers
• As of 1908, the part of the Russian War Ministry that was in charge of LTA craft was a subunit of the Main Engineering Directorate called the Electric Service Section (p6)
• Grant Duke AM was instrumental in arranging military aircraft competitions and other aviation exhibitions (p7)
• Vasili Korn had pushed for public support for aviation in letters to newspapers. In 1908 he founded IRAC. Publications by Korn in Vozdukhoplavatel are cited here.
• The IRAC had branches in many Russian cities. It sponsored aviation events, trained pilots and encouraged public support.
• Story from Palmer of First Aviation week in fall 1910 and Matsievich's crash and heroic depiction.
• In 1911 Vasil'yev won the 400-mile air craft from St. P over the rugged forests to Moscow's Khodinskoye field. (p8)
• Selecting from p9-10:

Nicholas Zhukovskiy, known as the "Father of Russian Aeronautics," built the first wind tunnel in 1902, which was designed with the help of Konstantin Tsiolkovskiy, the great Russian astrophysicist and aeronautical engineer. (Another source says he built a wind tunnel in 1891: see Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky)

[In 1904] Zhukovskiy founded the world's first Institute of Aerodynamics at Kuchino. (citing Bobrow, p18.)

Stephen Dzevetskiy accomplished important pioneering work with propellers, ...

in 1910, Luka Shkolin invented a gear mechanism to vary the pitch of propeller blades.

[P]rolific early designer[] Joseph Hackel constructed many successful aircraft and was first to fly a strut-braced monoplane.

In 1912, I. I. Steglau pioneered the use of plywood instead of cloth for aircraft wings and fuselages and employed welded steel tubing to strengthen aircraft critical joints--techniques that became important to improve the ruggedness and survivability of military aircraft.

. . . designer D. P. Grigorovich, became famous for his flying boats

. . . in 1917, E. I. Kasyanenko invented variable-incidence wings-another first in aviation. (Bobrow, p18-20)

The Russian aeronautical industry also began relatively early. . . . [M]any of its factories-including the Moscow Duks aircraft works (established 1910) and the Moscow Gnome-Rhone engine assembly plant (established 1911) were [owned by] French firms . . .

Native firms included the J. Möller Company in St. Petersburg and the Kalep engine company in Riga. [By] as 1910 Russia produced . . . aero-engines: the Kalep 25 horsepower and the Stephen Grizodubov 40 horsepower. (Citing Jones p. 19 and Bobrow p. 20)

• p10: section on Sikorsky begins

[In 1912] Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky assumed his role as the most creative Russian aircraft designer. Sikorsky, the son of a distinguished psychology professor and graduate of the Kiev Polytechnic Institute, had been interested in aviation for several years. He had studied in France and experimented with both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. Blessed with a sizable bank account and a generous sister, Olga Ivanovna, Sikorsky was able to finance the design and construction of several "S" series aircraft. In 1910 his second aircraft, the BIS No. 2, became the third aircraft of native design to fly in Russia. One year later he earned his Russian pilot license flying his own S-5 aircraft, powered by a German 50 horsepower Argus water-cooled, in-line engine. He also set four Russian records in the S-5, flying to an altitude of 500 meters (1,640 feet) at 125 kilometers per hour (77.5 miles per hour) for 85 kilometers (52.7 miles) during a 52 minute flight. (Citing Alexander p241, Bobrow p21, and Finne p33)

• Stamper cited these works and many others:
• Bobrow, Carl. "The Beginnings of Air Power: Russia's Long Range Strategic Reconnaissance and Bomber Squadron 1914-1917." Bulletin of the Russian Aviation Research Group of Air-Britain 31,112 (December 1992): pp18-29.
• Bobrow, Carl. "Early Aviation in Russia." W. W. I Aero 114 (April 1987): pp18-29.
• Bobrow, Carl. "A Technical Overview of the Evolution of the Grand and the Il'ya Muromets." W. W. I Aero 127 (February 1990): pp40-55.
• Finne, K. N. Igor Sikorskv: The Russian Years. Edited by Carl Bobrow and Von Hardesty. Translated and adapted by Von Hardesty. Washington, D. C: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1987.
• Jones, David R. "The Birth of the Russian Air Weapon 1909-1914." Aerospace Historian, Fall, September 1974, 169-171.
• Palmer, 1995
• Riaboff, Alexander. Gatchina Days: Reminiscences of a Russian Pilot. Edited by Von Hardesty. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1986.

Original title	The Sikorsky S-16 and Russian Aviation During the Great War
Simple title	The Sikorsky S-16 and Russian Aviation During the Great War
Authors	George Stamper
Date	1995
Countries	RU
Languages	en
Keywords	Sikorsky, S-16, WWI, Russia, Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky, Carl Bobrow, Alexander Riaboff, I. I. Steglau
Journal	University of Georgia, DTIC
Related to aircraft?	1
Page count	88
Word count
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