LL
Aircraft · Russia
Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.
Russian manned rocketplane. Flown 1945. The LL was a transonic aerodynamic test bed authorized by LII in September 1945. Three were built: the LL-1 with a straight wing; LL-2 with a conventional swept wing; and LL-3 with a forward swept wing.
The LL was towed to a 6 km release altitude by a Tu-2 aircraft. After being cast off, it would fire its Kartukov PRD-1500 solid rocket engine and accelerate to the edge of the sound barrier, with a camera photographing air flow on the tufted wing. The LL-2 was not finished because contemporary fighter programs were already providing data on swept wing configurations. But in 1946 to 1948 the LL-1 flew 30 times and the LL-3 100 times, with test pilots M Ivanov, Amet-Khan Sultan, Anokhin, and Rybko at the controls.
Crew Size: 1.
Related
- Family
- Rocketplane, Suborbital
- Country
- Russia
- Propellants
- Solid
- Agency
- Tsybin bureau, TsNIIMash
- Bibliography
- 301
Chronology
1 event
1945 September
- LL rocket-powered transonic aerodynamic testbed authorised. - . Nation: Russia. Spacecraft Bus: Russian Rocket Fighters. Spacecraft: LL. In 1946 to 1948 the LL-1 flew 30 times and the LL-3 100 times, with test pilots M Ivanov, Amet-Khan Sultan, Anokhin, and Rybko at the controls..