Russian CP-1 (oz7845)

About this Plan

Russian CP-1. Radio control sport scale model for Estes rocket power. Subject is the Russian WWII experimental rocket-powered interceptor the Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1.

Quote: "World War II Rocket Powered Interceptor. Russian CP-1 by Bob Wallace.

One of the least known, yet truly remarkable interceptor designs to emerge from World War II, was the Russian CP-1 rocket interceptor. (Its actual Russian designation was 'funny B', 'back-wards N'-1, as it appears on the plan sheet.As both of these characters are unique to the Russian alphabet, I have been told that CP-1 is the best English translation. Hopefully, this is correct).

So little has ever been mentioned or published about this unique rocket interceptor, that many World War II aviation buffs are not even aware of its existence. In contrast, the German rocket and jet propelled designs of World War II were photographed and written about quite extensively.

In 1993, it was my good fortune to accompany a group of American aeromodelers from the Sport Flyers Association (SFA), on an aviation oriented tour of Russia and Ukraine, and to prepare an article about it for RCM, which subsequently appeared in the December 1993 issue. A part of this tour included a visit to the Russian Air Force Museum, which is located about 15 miles outside of Moscow. There, much to my amazement sat a CP-1 fighter, plus a spare rocket engine mounted on a display pedestal!

One of the best features of the Russian Air Force Museum is that there are no spectator or visitor barriers, in either the vast outdoor display area or the Museum itself. You can walk right up to any aircraft, and look, touch, and photograph it to your heart's content. I was to learn later that while six versions or variations of the CP-1 were built and flown, that the one on display is the only one that survived.

The CP-1 was conceived in 1941 by a branch of the Russian Scientific Institution known as NEE-3, in their Moscow facility. With the outbreak of hostilities between Russia and Germany, the highly secret CP-1 project was rapidly relocated to a site in the Ural Mountains of Siberia.

Constructed primarily of wood, the prototype CP-1 was first flown in May of 1942. The first flight was made using only a 50% capacity fuel load with the projected air-speed being 560 mph. However, the top speed attained on this maiden flight was only 497 mph and the subsequent dead stick landing approach was made too high and fast, and the CP- 1 ran off the end of the runway, wiping out its landing gear. Additional test flights were successful, but on the seventh, the test pilot lost control during high speed maneuvers and was killed in the resultant crash. Six versions or varia-tions of the CP-1 were built and several were equipped with skis. Like the other rocket fighters of World War II, the CP-1 had a very limited powered flight duration. Its rocket engine, which was designated D-1A, employed a fuel mixture of nitric acid and kerosene mixed at a 4:1 ratio.

The CP-1's instrument panel was very basic, and the aircraft had no electrical system or radio. The retractable landing gear was manually operated. The CP-1 had a wingspan of only 21 ft 3 in. Its empty weight was 2094 lbs and fully loaded it weighed 2645 lbs. Armament consisted of two 20mm machine guns. The maximum speed attained by the CP-1 was 603 mph, which was quite remarkable, considering that it was accomplished in 1942.

Why the further development of rocket fighter technology was not pursued during World War II by the Russians is unknown.

The thought of constructing an R/C model of the CP-1 was most intriguing, and thanks to several of my Russian aeromodeling friends, I have been able to obtain a surprising amount of scale documentation and data for this rare and unique aircraft. I have a variety of 3-views of the CP-1 variations, cockpit details, and several pages of written information (all in Russian).

For my R/C version of the CP-1 rocket interceptor, I decided that the most practical and realistic power source would be to use the Estes solid propellant type of rocket engines that are readily available in most hobby shops. The intent was to use Estes D11-P engines for the initial test flights, and then to use the more powerful E15-P engines for higher performance flights. The physical size of these rocket engines (both are the same diameter) would determine the scale dimension of my model.

The other criteria established were that the model would be a semi or fun scale-type that would also he easy to build and fly, with no special materials or skills being required. My CP-1 has a wingspan of 32-1/2 in and 174 sq in of wing area, the overall fuselage length is 26 in.

As the CP-1 employed a double tapering wing, the use of a balsa sheeted foam core type wing was selected. The tail surfaces are solid sheet balsa and the fuselage is essentially of box-type construction..."

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, text and pics.

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