SAM-13

Two engines "Renault" 220 liters. with. were located in the nose and rear of the fuselage according to the "push-pull" scheme, the tail was replaced by a two-beam scheme ("frame"). The plane was made very purely aerodynamically, the wing area is only 9.0 m². As a result, an exceptionally low resistance was achieved, the same as for the SAM-12 single-seat training fighter with a single Renault engine of 220 liters. with. Armed with four “ UltraShKAS ” machine guns that had a rate of 50 shots / sec each (the most rapid-firing single-barreled machine guns ever produced), the total fire performance was 200 bullets per second, each weighing ~ 9.6 g. The maximum speed at the ground was measured only with the issued nose strut and chassis ranged from 520 to 560 km / h ^[1] . High altitude motor, estimated speed at a height of approx. 5 km - 700 km / h. On tests in a wind tunnel received 680 km / h for height. Full weight - 1183 kg. Estimated range of 850 km. For the aircraft is characterized by high weight returns - about 36%.

Passed factory tests in the spring of 1940 , state and others were not, because the Deputy People's Commissar of the aviation industry A. S. Yakovlev "let them down on the brakes," because in this case his Yak-1 type fighters with a maximum speed of 100 km / h lower than that of the tiny CAM-13 would look not quite meeting the conditions of the time. Apparently, this is the fastest and cheapest of the fighters created before 1942 available for mass production.

A. S. Moskalev writes in his memoirs: ^[1]

Interestingly, the layout of the CAM-13 was similar to the layout of the Fokker D-23 aircraft. The main difference was in the more powerful engines of the D-23. Airplanes were developed at about the same time, and unfortunately, the layout and design data of the D-23, whose mock-up was shown in 1938 at the Paris exhibition, did not reach me and I found out about the D-23 during the war and was surprised coincidence design ideas.

A common problem with airplanes with push-and-pull engines was that the air flow from the stern propeller reduced controllability — colliding airflows from the bow and stern engines collided and the efficiency of the tail unit dropped sharply. Since the “frame” scheme was applied on the SAM-13, both engines are on the same side of the tail, and this problem did not arise. ^[2] (about Do-335 Pfeil).

The key to the fate of the aircraft scene in the office of the Deputy People's Commissar of the aviation industry for the new technology A. S. Yakovlev describes in his memoirs A. S. Moskalev: ^[1]

“Hello. Can?"

"Please, sit down!" And immediately

“You just do not take offense at me, I have nothing to do with it, your plane was removed from further tests. That is the decision of the government. ”

I take myself in hand and, if possible, calmly say: “But, Alexander Sergeevich, the draft of this decision is yours. So you reported ... "

"Yes I!"

“But what are some of the reasons?”

The answer is - “I think you will agree with this decision. The war is close, the planes need well-armed. Can you install guns on your plane? No, you can't, and without guns we don't need modern fighters. ”

I agree, I answer, it was difficult to install four machine guns on this plane, but it’s necessary to finish the tests in the air. The scheme SAM-13 was very interesting. You also reported on his LTH. After all, the scheme needs to be checked to the end, and maybe a fighter is suitable as a combat one. In terms of speed, it will probably beat many modern fighters, and its cost is small ... In the end, such a scheme can be used with more powerful engines, etc.

“We will not change the decisions, in fact we know everything about the SAM-13. LTH are not bad, I don’t argue, but why should we waste time and money on additional flights? We have neither the time nor the ability to do little good things. ”

He paused for a moment, then continued: “Well, that’s probably all. I do not advise to complain. I do not think that you would have any benefit from this, but you can be a mess

It is interesting to compare the parameters of the 1940 CAM-13 with the parameters of the Foker D.XXIII ( Fokker D.XXIII ), whose tests began in 1939.

• http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/moskalev_as/index.html
• https://web.archive.org/web/20120415171733/http://base13.glasnet.ru/text/shavrov2/1-26.htm#13
• http://airwiki.org/enc/fww2/do335.html ).