Russian Triplane

[Breguet]

Anyone know anything about this sopwith triplane at Monino in Russia? And what on earth is the biplane beyond it?

[rammjaeger]

For the first question this page by St. Lawson could be of some value

http://www.us-aircraft.com/images/mo...laneN.5486.htm

[Varese2002]

The picture thumbnail is a small one, so that makes identification more difficult . If I am right I see two biplanes, a Voisin Type and the Sikorsky Ilja Murometz which they have as a replica in the Monino museum.

About the Sopwith I remember having read about the story how it came there. Will have to find the right book or magazine which contains the story. By the way it is an original (no replica).

Varese

[Breguet]

It is indeed an Murometz and here is another picture of it. What are the tubes between the upper centre section and the fuselage?

[FlyXwire]

Breguet,

Those are the gravity-feed fuel tanks. There were a number of configuartions for these tank mountings; one tank directly over each engine (four total.....between the upper wing and the engine), four tanks above the center section and below the top wing, or two tanks above the center section (as in the photo), and also a version that had two tanks above the top wing near the center of the aircraft.

[TomVrille]

There is a good detailed drawing of the Muromets configuration shown in the photo in the book The Imperial Russian Air Service by Durkota, Darcey, and Kulikov. As noted in the previous post, the tubes are the front of the fuel tanks. It isn't obvious in the photo, but the tanks slant downward noticeably from front to back.

[agblume]

For those interested in the Il'ya Muromets please check out Harry Woodman's Il'ya Muromets Type Veh - Classics of WW1 Aviation No.3 published by Windsock, Int. in 2000. Also Marat Khairulin's Il'ya Muromets (Armada 8) published in Moscow in 1998 by M-Khobby, and Icare No.184 - 1914-1917 Les Ilya Muromets au combat, by Vadum Mikheev and Harry Woodman (2003) Cheers, agblume

[Varese2002]

A very fine piece about the Ilya Murometz is in the French language magazine Icare No.184 Les Ilya Mouromets au combat. This very big article is a translation from the Russian into French of the journal a pilot of an Ilya Mourometz : Sergueï Nikolayevitch Nicolsky [ 1885 - 1963 ]. It is a fascinating account, illustrated with the most fabulous and sharp printed photos of the machine I have ever seen. Purchase it, or better still if you cannot read French learn it to understand the text.

Another article in the same Icare is by Vadim Rostislavovitch Mikheev (professor in the history of science at the Academy of Science in Russia) about the historical significance of the Ilya Murometz. Again very fine and sharp photos, perhaps never seen till now in the west.

There is an excellent booklet in Russian with hosts of photos printed on not really good paper, so they do not come about very fine. This book is in series called Armada and is No.8. I got mine via internet in a Russian bookshop somewhere.

I see AGBlume already mentioned these works, so this is two times the same

Varese

[StephenLawson]

Originally Posted by rammjaeger

For the first question this page by St. Lawson could be of some value...

Many thanks for your kind words rammjaeger. Yes, I have a very nice shot concerning N5486 in Monino as it was displayed in recent years. It and a bit of history on the my build and the schemes used by the real bird can be found on my website. Lots of modifications have been made to it.
N5486 CD version
N5486 Download version

[Varese2002]

About the Sopwith Triplane in the Monino Museum in Moscow I found a refernce in J.M.Bruce Warplanes of the first World War Volume 2, 1968, pp. 137-138.

On 4th may 1917 N5486 left the R.N.A.S. depot at the White City, destined for Russia. It was flown on the eastern front, and by the winter of 1917-18 it had been fitted with skis in place of its wheels.

There is a small photograph of the Triplane on skis in the snow.

Varese