1934 Tupolev ANT-27 Sevastopol crash

1934 Tupolev ANT-27 crash

A Tupolev ANT-27 (Tupolev MTB-1)
Accident
Date	15 April 1934 (1934-04-15)
Summary	Collision with waves during takeoff
Site	Soviet Union near Kuglaya Bay, Sevastopol (CrASSR, RSFSR, USSR)
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Tupolev ANT-27
Operator	RSFSR TsAGI
Flight origin	Crimean ASSR Kuglaya Bay, Sevastopol
Destination	Crimean ASSR Kuglaya Bay, Sevastopol
Fatalities	4

The 1934 Tupolev ANT-27 Sevastopol crash was an aviation accident that occurred on Monday, April 15, 1934 in the bay of Sevastopol with the ANT-27 (prototype of the MDR-4), resulting in the deaths of four people. Some sources indicated that the crash occurred on April 16 near Taganrog, where the production of MDR-4 aircraft was later established, and the number of casualties ranged from three to five people.

Aircraft

The aircraft was an improved version of the flying boat project MDR-3. In the design bureau itself, the new aircraft was designated ANT-27, while the military assigned the project the designation MDR-4. For a number of reasons, the construction of the first prototype was delayed by 4 months. On March 7, 1934, the ANT-27 was completed, and three days later, it was delivered in disassembled form to Sevastopol for testing. On April 8, the aircraft made its first flight. It was piloted by the pilot T. V. Ryabenko.

Crash

On April 15 (according to other sources, on April 16), the ANT-27 was scheduled to conduct another test flight. It is worth noting that pilots often flew on heavy German-made flying boats Dornier Wal, which due to their flat bottoms had difficulty taking off from the water's surface. Therefore, when taking off in such machines, the crews used longitudinal rocking, believing that this would facilitate takeoff. On the ANT-27, such a technique was unnecessary due to its more keel-like bottom; however, the pilots habitually used rocking on it as well. It was noted that this aircraft reacted somewhat differently compared to the German flying boats. To understand this strange behavior, the designer Andrey Tupolev was even summoned from Moscow, who witnessed the subsequent incident.

Tupolev went ahead in a boat to the start of the takeoff to get a closer look at the aircraft's transition to the "step" Redan. The aircraft began its takeoff, and when Tupolev saw that the pilots began applying the rocking technique, he tried to warn them by waving his hands not to do so. However, the crew did not notice this, and after accelerating in Kuglaya Bay on calm water to high speed, the ANT-27 moved out of the bay into the open sea, where there were high waves at that moment. Striking the first wave, the aircraft lifted into the air, then lowered its nose and crashed into the second wave. The struts of the central power unit could not withstand the impact and collapsed, causing the heavy engine to fall onto the cockpit. The incident resulted in the deaths of the head of the naval brigade KOSOS I. I. Pogossky, engineers G. S. Noskov and K. K. Sinelnikov, as well as the second pilot A. A. Volynsky. The sources differ on who was piloting the aircraft at that moment. According to some sources, it was the deceased Volynsky. Other sources indicate that T. V. Ryabenko and D. N. Ilyinsky were also on board and piloted the aircraft, surviving the crash.

Aftermath

After the crash, the name Pogossky was given to brigade No. 2, headed by A. P. Golubkov. The aircraft of this type produced later in the Tupolev design bureau were designated ANT-27bis. A total of 16 such machines were produced.