Engels MI

The Engels MI was a Russian floatplane/fighter developed in 1916. It was a parasol cantilever flying boat with a V-Section hull, and downswept wingtips incorporating flotation chambers.

Engels MI
Role fighter
Designer Y.R. Engels
First flight 1916
Introduction 1920
Retired 1920
Primary users Soviet Air Force
Imperial Russian Air Service
Number built 4

Production history

In 1916 the Russian government expressed a need for a flying counter-float-plane against the German Albatros W 4. Y.E. Engels came up with the Engels MI, and after initial testing an order for 50 was placed on 27 April 1917. Only three were produced by October 1917, and as a result production quietly stopped.

Operational history

One aircraft survived the Russian Revolution, and was delivered to the Naval Aviation School at Nizhny Novgorod in 1920.

List of operators
 Russian Empire
 Soviet Union

Specifications

Data from The Complete Book of Fighters[1]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1
  • Length: 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)
  • Wingspan: 9 m (29 ft 6 in)
  • Wing area: 14.2 m2 (153 sq ft)
  • Empty weight: 385 kg (849 lb)
  • Gross weight: 555 kg (1,224 lb)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Gnome Monosoupape 9 Type B-2 9-cylinder air-cooled rotary piston engine, 75 kW (101 hp)
  • Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch pusher propeller

Performance

  • Wing loading: 39.2 kg/m2 (8.0 lb/sq ft)
  • Power/mass: 0.18 hp/kg

Armament

  • Guns: 1 x fixed forward firing 7.62mm Maxim gun

References
  1. Green, William; Swanborough, Gordon (1994). The Complete Book of Fighters. London: Salamander. p. 193. ISBN 1-85833-777-1.
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