NIAI RK-1: The Soviet Telescoping Wing Fighter

In this video, we discuss the NIAI RK-1, an experimental fighter with variable, telescoping wings. We discuss the evolution of the RK-1 and its predecessors, the RK and the RK-800. We also take a guess at how the RK-1 would have performed and what its eventual fate would have been if it had entered production.

[@eivindlunde7772]

Soviet airplanes from the 1930s are some of the most interesting and coolest planes ever created, and this is certainly one of them. But in addition to worries about fuel capacity and armament, I do also wonder how well these thin, high aspect, wings would handle G forces in combat.

[@johnedwards3621]

The USSR had full access to MIT in the 1930's.

[@pencilpauli9442]

May have been an intriguing concept for a civilian aircraft, but what would the landing be like if the retracted wings got damaged in combat and were unable to deploy? Fascinated video, thanks.

[@pencilpauli9442]

​@@autogyro333 Well that is the point isn't it, because a civilian aircraft wouldn't, under normal circumstances be subjected to battle damage. Therefore the concept would have been intriguing for a civilian aircraft. But it was designed to be a combat aircraft which would have been subjected to battle damage.

[@jtjames79]

I want to use this to make a flying e-bike.

[@mikeholland1031]

​@@autogyro333 well it was supposed to be adopted for military use eventually so its a valid point. Any aircraft can have damage in flight or hydraulic failure so its a valid point for that too.

[@nikolairomanov4496]

Just have to land faster essentially. It would be uncomfortable at best and extremely dangerous at worst

[@shenzhong2942]

you could ask this about any design. what would happen if the flaps on a plane were destroyed? or the gears?

[@lesliereissner4711]

Yesterday I was out for a bike ride here in Ottawa and looped around the Rockcliffe Airport, then later in the day at home I discovered this very interesting channel, all of the content appealing to this Total Airplane Person. But I was very surprised to see the photo of the Cessna 172 at 0:12 as only two hours before I had actually seen this very airplane taxying out for takeoff!

[@MeyerBen27]

2:00 "mack 10" a plane with a name so dope and 90 years ahead of it's time.😊

[@ThreenaddiesRexMegistus]

Great video! No idea this had existed.

[@ronaldannas1935]

You should also showcase their other projects in variable wings. The bi-planes that could change to mono-plane in flight.

[@captnsharkhorse]

sounds like a star ward xwing lol

[@allangibson8494]

The first variable sweep wing was fitted to the Messerschmitt P.1101 in 1944. Bell Aircraft developed it further in the X-5.

[@Reddsoldier]

The Westland Pterodactyl of 1931 predates it by 13 years and to top it off was also a tailless swept wing design too. Nazi "science" < British "man in shed engineering". Sure the sweep wasn't as dramatic, but sweep wing is sweep wing.

[@joonaskanerva3060]

The original comment considered variable sweep wings, meaning wings with adjustable sweep. As far as I know the P.1101 was the first aircraft to feature a wing with built in capabilities for changing sweep and the x-5 was the first aircraft to be capable of varying wing sweep mid flight. The discussion about swept wings is another one altogether with multiple aircraft exhibiting swept wings existing before ww2

[@gregedwards5608]

I have seen this concept in radio control gliders

[@jtjames79]

I'm seriously considering using this to make a flying e-bike.

[@blu5021]

@@jtjames79 wh- why tho, ebikes are insanely heavy. A large scooter would work better, you can place the wings below

[@jtjames79]

@@blu5021 E-bike because you don't need a license. They are like the ultralights of ground vehicles. The government doesn't care unless you really mess up. Recombinant, because aerodynamics. Carbon fiber, because it's easier than fiberglass these days. Just need some big plastic bags and a vacuum sealer. And I would separate the bike and the wings. The wing should be able to fold up into a trailer, the e-bike can pull. Most of the batteries would be part of the trailer. So the trailer can be unhooked and charged at any electric car charging station. So half the wing box is the trailer, the other half is the bottom of the recombinant e-bike. I imagine that if you put out the wings, you can either clamp or unclamp the bike. Thin film solar is also getting really good, solar on the top of the wings means it can charge itself. Oh and I'm imagining it as a float plane. Why? Because I live in Hawaii, and just because it's possible for the lulz. Leaving out of a lot more details that I've already thought about, but KZbin only accepts so many characters. Like I have some drawings on how to use the wings as a sail and center board. Imagine flying kayak, with wheels, and wings. Or a very small not very efficient sailing boat. Or e-bike with or without trailer. Ultimate freedom of movement machine. And even if you run out of electricity you can pedal or sail.

[@chiriematthieu]

Hi, there is two survivor racing plane using similar systems in a small museum in france near Le Mans. Althought they are not in flying order and sevrall part missing, restoration work has been done. Document about them also survived. One of the issue with the single wing design was that the propeler thrust tend to bend the folding wing section sending the plane in a spin. This resulted in the crash on one of those two racer.

[@JanetDavies-me4cx]

The Fairy Firefly that entered service with the Royal Navy toward the end of WW2 had extending wings, they extended rearwards to increase area then folded down some to increase lift and then down more to increase drag. Called Youngman flaps they can be seen on most airliners today.

[@RonanFighterPilot]

1:09 dont forget the panavia tornado

[@cartmanrlsusall]

Landing flaps only more complicated

[@wolfgangroth1684]

In the early 70ies several variable geometry concepts have been explored for sailplanes in Germany. The "Akademische Fliegergruppe Stuttgart" built the prototype FS29 with telescopic wings with a variable wing span between 13.3 and 19m. The intention was to use a high aspect ratio wing for thermalling thus having low induced drag at high lift coefficients. For high speed cruise the wing area would be reduced thus reducing profile drag at low lift coefficient. Operation of the telescopic mechanism was purely mechanical and needed considerable pilot effort. To reach the required stiffness to prevent jamming of the telescopic wing it was one of the first application of carbon fibres in major aeroplane components. Today the aircraft can be seen in the aerospace part of "Deutsches Museum" in Oberschleissheim in southern Germany. I had the opportunity to fly this sailplane myself once and it hab some quite unique characteristics.

[@PvtPartzz]

I figured the best use case for a telescoping wing would have been the space saving aspect for use on aircraft carriers and was surprised to see the military design concept still had non-retractable parts of the wings which totally trashed the space-savings aspect.

[@circleofsorrow4583]

Your voiceover audio is excellent. Do you mind sharing what mic you use? Great video btw! Thanks for uploading 👍

[@WildBillCox13]

This was a design prerogative being pursued by other nations as well. The British tried a disposable wing, which would be jettisoned at altitude. Germany used detachable JATO/RATO pods. The whole interest lay in getting to altitude quick enough to defend a location. In general, the concept is called the Point Defense Interceptor. Its impetus declined markedly as borders extended and RaDAR and other early warning systems became dependable and of suitably long range. The last gasp of the idea when based around a manned interceptor was the initial proposal for what later became the F-104. Other war era ideas in trope led to the Me163, the Ba-349, the La-7R, the BI-1, and J2M. Its ultimate iteration was the surface to air missile.

[@robertkalinic335]

I wouldn't necessarily say those wings would be removed, tests were fine but since it didnt fly its hard to say if they have significant benefit. There is plenty of working german, american and british propeller designs that brought unusual but promising features and they all became obsolete 5 minutes after passing all tests by no fault of their own because jets.

[@chrismartin3197]

The telescoping wing taking up space in the fuselage is one issue - also think of everything that couldn’t be stored in the wing (landing gear, fuel, ammo…)

[@MeyerBen27]

Gonna rewind the first 4 minutes of this video for the third time so I can try to understand it all, also I keep feeling the need to drop comments about the Makhonine Mak-10 plane lol gonna like and sub now too, _REWIND SELECTAH_

[@MeyerBen27]

Man google images search results for "Makhonine Mak-10" is astonishing, looks huge in the picture with the man standing in front of it. Wild looking and super complex looking for it's time!!!

[@drlong08]

We have a variation of this on all commercial airliners, except the 'telescopic' features are in the leading edge and trailing edges.

[@stacosaurus]

Sucks at VERY unique Soviet vehicles just always got cancelled, like imagine if Russia had the KV-VI but in modern day with a relatively same thing.

[@davestambaugh7282]

The Dayton Wright racer was the first to have both flaps and leading edge slats. It also was first in retractable landing gear and monococh fuselage.

[@desertblbuesman]

Could have this headed toward a possible canard with no tail fins? I wonder how many designers had those ideas back then that were cut short from the arrival of war.

[@zJoriz]

That takeoff distance & time comparison isn't quite fair... it would've been if they made one without the weight and drag of the telescopic system installed and *then* compared it to the extended telescoping wings. Like you said, the system added lots of weight and complexity. I also have to wonder where the landing gear would've stowed into. Couldn't have been the wings!

[@Flies2FLL]

This seems like something Garage 54 would cook up.....

[@Iowa599]

How did the twin-wing/collapsed thing perform, specifically drag?

[@FlyingProbe]

I tried to fly it but it was Stalin way to aggressively...

[@neves5083]

But, if the telescopic aspect of the fighter is removed in the production version, what is the point of producing it? (That's probably the point he made i know) they would just give normal wings for it? What you think?

[@Tiagomottadmello]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@osmacar5331]

bigger insult is propeller aircraft (in military action) only existed for 36 years before being replaced by jet engines, which where invented (but unable to power themselves) in the mid 1920's ish

[@ZedNinetySix_]

Surely weight would be a big factor here

[@tylergehring7879]

What's the name of that French plane at 2:09 ?

[@chrismartin3197]

Makhonine Mak-10

[@TeenWithACarrotIDK]

He said it just 2 seconds earlier.

[@nuttyDesignAndFab]

weight has very little to do with a plane's top speed. HP, frontal area and aerodynamic efficiency are much more important. It's possible the front wing would cause turbulent air for the rear one and hamper performance IMO.

[@johnpotter4750]

Not a lot of room for fuel, guns, ammo, retrac. wings, retrac wheels?, all 🤩surrounding the cockpit (centre C ! + thin wing)

[@dantejones1480]

?! As if the Polymorph Nikitin-Schyevchyenko fighter wasn't enough...

[@ThomasRonnberg]

This could double as a submarine

[@Riccardo_Silva]

Geez! If the engineers' saying which goes "if it looks good, it is good" is right, as so often proved, these ugly conthrivances MUST be bad ideas!

[@joostprins3381]

Stalin didn’t have a favorite plane, he hated flying and then I’m understating.

[@chriswandatownley1]

F-111 maybe?

[@LordDustinDeWynd]

NASA's scissor wing?

[@johnwhauserman]

You forgot the F-111.

[@flugplatz8719]

FLAPS

[@grahamkearnon6682]

Can't believe you didnt mention the pan european swing wing fighter bomber with actual war service the Tornardo still in service with the Germans as an example.

[@cartmanrlsusall]

Lots of filler for such a simple concept

[@TeenWithACarrotIDK]

Huh

[@cartmanrlsusall]

@@TeenWithACarrotIDK the video is kind of drawn out

[@scottthewaterwarrior]

Just displace the pilot, no value lost there!