Engineering:Engels MI

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

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.

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

• Imperial Russian Air Service

Soviet Union

• Soviet Air Force

Specifications

Data from The Complete Book of Fighters

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