R-3, ANT-3, 'Proletarij' by A.N.Tupolev

28k b/w "History of aircraft construction in the USSR" by V.B.Shavrov, Vol.1 p.369

ll-metal biplane reconnaissater. ANT-3 inherited fuselage of ANT-2 - triangular section, narrow and deep. It allowed gunner to operate his gun while staying on feet. Upper wing was almost flush with fuselage.

Aircraft was ordered in the beginning of 1924, and in four months (April 1924) project was ready. Powered by 400hp (Liberty), aircraft was built in July 1925 and flown through factory trials in August by I.I.Phillipov. State trials ant NOA lasted until April 1926 (pilot M.M.Gromov and observer V.S.Vakhmistrov). Some secondary shortcomings were mentioned, but no final conclusion came out.

Nonetheless since December 1925 the pre-series ANT-3 was under assembly at GAZ-5 factory, as well as few ANT-3 for advertisement (or propaganda?) flights over Europe. Following recommendations of M.M.Gromov, 450hp 'Napier Lion' engines were installed on those aircraft. N-shaped wing struts were replaced by K-shaped. Overall performance was substantially improved (see table).

In August 30 - September 2 1926 on one of those aircraft (named "Proletarij") M.M.Gromov with mechanic E.V.Radzevich performed flight Moscow - Berlin - Paris - Vienna - Prague - Warsaw - Moscow, covering 7150km in 34h 15min of flight time.

Despite R-3 with Napier Lion engine fulfilled all requirements to reconnaissater aircraft, id did not enter production. 'Napier Lion' was too expensive. In November 1925 work started on series R-3 modification for M-5 engine, but this story may be found on a different page.

Predecessors	Modifications		Developments
ANT-2	R-3 with M-5 engine	R-3LD	ANT-10 R-7	ANT-5

References	Links
"History of aircraft construction in the USSR" by V.B.Shavrov, Vol.1 p.368;	ANT-3 at the Virtual Aircraft Museum ANT-3, Tupolev R-3, Tupolev

Technical data

Type

R-3 prototype

R-3 pre-production

R-3 'Proletarij'

Function

Reconnaissater

Advertisement Propaganda

Year

1925

1926

Crew

Engines

1*400hp Liberty

1*450hp Napier Lion

Length

9.4m

Wingspan

13m

Wing area

37m²

Empty weight

1335kg

1390kg

1412kg

Loaded weight

2085kg

2144kg

2173kg (2400kg)

Wing load

56.4kg/m²

58.0kg/m²

63.2kg/m²

Power load

5.21kg/hp

4.76kg/hp

4.83kg/hp

Speed at 0m

207km/h

218km/h

226km/h

Speed at m

175km/h

136km/h

?km/h

Landing Speed

85km/h

Landing Roll

180m 14sec

14sec

19sec

Takeoff Roll

200m 15sec

13sec

160m 10sec

Turn time

27sec

Ceiling

4400m

4310m

5110m

Climb

1000m

4.7min

4.6min

3.4min

2000m

10.3min

9.5min

7.2min

3000m

18.3min

15.9min

11.5min

4000m

33.5min

27.6min

17.3min

5000m

31.2min

Armament

Guns

2*mg

Bombs

200kg

Created January 25, 1996
Modified August 28, 1998
by Alexandre Savine;

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