Airplane «Voisin of Ivanov»: a documentary history of modernization, production and service

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15421/272024

Abstract

During the First World War, the aviation industry of the Russian Empire mainly produced copies of French aircraft of various types. Thanks to this, it was possible to save significantly on design and engineering work, introducing already tested models of aircraft into production and troops. However, on the other hand, there was an inevitable lag: modern aircraft at the time of their appearance on the Western Front, had become obsolete by the time of the establishment of their production in the factories of the Russian Empire. To this should be added the chronic disruption of contract terms, which were, rather, not the exception but the rule. As a result, air units at the front received physically new, but morally obsolete aircraft, unable to withstand the best equipment of the enemy in battle. An attempt to find a solution to this problem was the modernization of licensed aircraft, which was carried out by frontline aviators without any consent of the manufacturers. Lieutenant Petro Ivanov, a pilot of the 26th Corps Air Detachment, achieved the most success. Modified according to his project, «Voisin» was even introduced into serial production.

«Voisins of Ivanov» were produced by Anatra at its plant in Odessa. Production of these aircraft began in September 1916, and a total of one hundred copies were made. The «Voisins of Ivanov» entered the front lines at the end of 1916. The experience of using them in combat actions was not very successful. The advantage in some parameters demonstrated by the prototype during the tests was not confirmed during the service at the front.

The attempt of amateur aircraft designer Peter Ivanov in 1916 to modernize the reconnaissance aircraft «Voisin» can not be considered successful. On the one hand, the solutions proposed by Ivanov allowed to somewhat improve the flight characteristics of the aircraft (speed and lift). However, the maneuverability of the aircraft and its operational characteristics deteriorated. In addition, the amount of changes made by the designer was so significant that it actually led to the creation of a new aircraft. As a result, the conversion of «Voisins» into a new version was impractical. The introduction of «Voisin of Ivanov» into production at the Anatra plant led to significant expenditures of time and material resources. The experience of operating the «Voisin of Ivanov» aircraft at the front showed that for 1917 their characteristics were too low. They were inferior even to the unmodernized «Voisins».

Published

2021-01-05