The Russian Storch!!!!

[Michel Lemieux]

The Russian Storch!!!!

You learn something new everyday!!!!!

The OKA-38 Aist (Stork) was a Soviet version of the Fieseler Storch, designed by Oleg K. Antonov using a German example as a template. Stalin was given a Storch in the summer of 1939 after the signing of the German-Soviet non-aggression pact, and was so impressed with the aircraft that he ordered Oleg K. Antonov to produce an un-licensed copy of the aircraft. The resulting aircraft was powered by the MV-6 engine, itself an un-licensed copy of a 220hp Renault six-cylinder inline engine.

A number of prototypes were completed and test flown in 1940, and the OKA-38 was adopted for production as the ShS (Shtabnyi-samolyet or staff aircraft in some sources, Shtabnoy-Sviasnoy or staff and liaison aircraft in others), and a factory was built on the Baltic, but the site was overrun by the Germans in the summer of 1941 after production had begun but before the first aircraft had been co

https://soldat.pro/en/2018/07/11/oka-38-aist/

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/antonovs-oka-38-%C2%AB-aist-%C2%BB-a-soviet-copy-of-the-fieseler-%C2%AB-storch-%C2%BB.19292/

[lucky52]

Interesting.I think I saw a show where the Russians copied the B-29,the Whittle jet engine, and the space shuttle.I don't remember the channel.

[martin_sam_2000]

Interesting.I think I saw a show where the Russians copied the B-29,the Whittle jet engine, and the space shuttle.I don't remember the channel.

The Tu-4 was a direct , unlicensed copy of the B-29. Legend is they even copied battle damage repairs, but that can be taken with a grain of salt.

The whittle engine was copied after the British gave them an example. Pretty sire thats the engine they used in the Mig-15.

Buran is more of a knock off space shuttle. Kinda looks close if you squint, but there are major differences.

Sean

[junkman9096]

I've always felt the Buran was the result of two separate countries attempting to fill a similar set of requirements and coming up with similar solutions.

[Neal Nurmi]

I believe the MIG-15 used a copy of the Rolls Royce (I think) Nene. One of Britain's truly dumb moves was selling the Russians a few examples, which they faithfully copied. Korea might have been different had that not happened. My understanding is that the Russians had nothing comparable at the time they got the British technology.

I may have all this wrong -- it's been a while since I read this stuff. I don't mean to single out the Brits, either -- after all, it was America who gave the Russians the atomic bomb...

[Scott Rose]

Nice! I love learning about aircraft I've never heard of!

[lucky52]

On that show I saw they said the Brits invited the Russians over to see their jet engine plant.The Brits later found out that the Russians wore shoes with special soles that were somewhat sticky in order to pick up metal shavings in order to better study the types of metal being used in the engine.Whether any of that is true is anybodys guess.

[LysanderUK]

Rolls-Royce sold a surprisingly large number of Nene engines to the Soviets, some estimates say more than fifty. It's thought that some of the early Mig-15's flew with Nenes rather than copies.

Why did the UK Govt sell Nenes to USSR? The story goes that certain "experts" truly thought the USSR incapable of copying the engine, that the UK Govt wanted to keep relations with Moscow relatively civil, and finally that Managing Director of RR at the time (Ernest Hives) had communist sympathies. There was an eye-opening article in Air Enthusiast a number of years ago, true to form I can't find my copy just at the moment.

[dhfan]

Another opinion is that the Nenes to the USSR was the 'fault' of Sir Stafford Cripps, a Minister in the post-war Labour government.
He was I understand, extremely left-wing, teetotal and I think vegetarian. The other thing about him was he was a deeply honourable man and didn't understand that not everybody else was.
I gather he was told it wasn't a good idea to sell the engines to Russia, but being left-wing he wanted to help them and didn't believe that somebody would be so underhand as to copy them without a licence.

Hives having communist sympathies? I've heard it all now...

[JohnB]

On that show I saw they said the Brits invited the Russians over to see their jet engine plant.The Brits later found out that the Russians wore shoes with special soles that were somewhat sticky in order to pick up metal shavings in order to better study the types of metal being used in the engine.Whether any of that is true is anybodys guess.

I have heard the same story...only it was the Americans picking up the pieces!

The Gene was used in a couple of UK jets, the Supermarine Attacker and Hawked Sea Hawk as well as some Vampires.

It did find success in America a licensed version powering the Grumman Panther. It was also used in Canadian T-33s.

And on the subject of USSR thievery, even though they were out allies, they didn't have a license for DC-3 production, whereas our enemy, Japan, did.

[dhfan]

AFAIK, the Nene wasn't used in any "real" Vampires but was used in a French licence-built version called the Mistral. This had a couple of extra air intakes on top of the fuselage pod, called elephant's ears, to feed the double-sided compressor.

This is based on memory of a Heller plastic kit that's been stashed away in a cupboard for the last 40 years but I'm fairly confident the basics are right, if not the exact details.

[Archer]

And on the subject of USSR thievery, even though they were out allies, they didn't have a license for DC-3 production, whereas our enemy, Japan, did.

I have always understood that they did license the DC-3. From Wikipedia:

A production license was awarded to the government of the USSR on 15 July 1936. Lisunov spent two years at the Douglas Aircraft Company, between November 1936 and April 1939 translating the design.

[JohnB]

Thanks for the correction, I was misinformed.