Kubulius Ku-3
| Kubulius Ku-3 | |
|---|---|
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| Role | Fighter |
| National origin | Silua |
| Manufacturer | Cheppali |
| Designer | Vaida and Iruna Cibaite |
| First flight | 1939 |
| Introduction | 1940 |
| Retired | 1950 |
| Status | Retired |
| Primary user | Siluan Air Force |
| Produced | 1940-1948 |
| Number built | 6,955 |
| Developed into | Kubulius Ku-13 |
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The Kubulius Ku-3 was a family of Siluan light fighter aircraft of the 1940s. The Ku-3 was produced in large numbers and was exported throughout Tyran DevelopmentDevelopmentThe original specification that led to the Ku-3 series was offered in 1936 in order to quickly raise the number of modern aircraft in Siluan service, by supplying a "light fighter" of simple construction that could be built rapidly in large numbers. The contract originally resulted in three designs, the N.O.G. 52, the Talin Ta-17 and the Ku-00. Prototypes of all three were ordered. Because Military Order 13478-93X which diverted all metal to the army and navy, the Ku-00 was all wooden in construction, using plywood over stringers in a semi-monocoque construction. The layout was conventional, a low-wing monoplane. Armament consisted of a 20mm Tanin MG 32 cannon firing through the propeller hub, and four 7.5mm Mogh MG 30 drum-fed machine guns, two in each wing. The design was supposed to be powered by the Kavu Dc 31 flat-12 air-cooled inline engine, but this ran into development problems. The prototype was then fitted with a Ravumo Varikliai12Xcrs instead, and flew in this form in October 1938. In order to find some solution to the engine problem, the Ku-1 was to use the 632 kW (860 hp) Ravumo Varikliai12Y-31and the Ku-2 the Gilbert V-1710C-15. The Ku-1 flew in 1939 and proved to have excellent performance. The prototype Ku-2 was completed in 1940. The Ku-3 was a modified version of the Ku-1 using the same 12Y-31, and first flew on April 25, 1939. It had a surprisingly good performance of 560 km/h (348mph), and was ordered into production with a contract for 220 aircraft in September, later raised to 1,000. Production did not take long to start and progressed quickly Further developments continued while the Ku-3 production started. The Ku-4 mounted the newer 688 kW (935 hp) 12Y-45, the Ku-6 used the 735 kW (1,000 hp) 12Y-51 originally intended for the Ku-5, and introduced a new streamlined radiator. Single prototypes of all three were built and flown in early 1940. The Ku-7 was an extended-range version of the Ku-6, while the Ku-8 was to have used the 12Y-77, but neither was built. The last in the series was the Ku-9, originally powered by the new 882 kW(1,200 hp) 12Y-89 using an extension shaft on the propeller to streamline the nose profile, giving the plane an excellent speed of 625 km/h (388 mph) even when loaded down with two more machine guns. The actual production version was the Ku-9 N1M, powered by the new 1177 kW (1,600hp) Ravumo Va rikliai 12Z-17, using the streamlined radiator intake design from the Ku-6. With the development of the Ku-9 N1M, 500 of the original Ku-3 order were changed to the Ku-9 N1M with additional 1,000 Ku-9 N1Ms ordered and production began in June of 1940. Operational HistoryVariantsOperatorsSpecifications (Ku-9 N3M)General characteristics
Performance
Armament
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