The Belyaev DB-LK; How Many Ideas Can A Designer Sandwich Into an Aircraft?

[@MrAlwaysBlue]

Got to hand it to you. Thought I knew my WWII planes, but you keep coming up with surprises.

[@TheTriumfAnt]

My thoughts exactly.

[@KitKabinet]

Scale modelers be like; 'Let's see what parts I have left in the spares box'.

[@RedViking2020]

Ha ha

[@mortenBP]

Right on. This is the fuselage of 2 Buffalos, the wings of a Hampden and the tail of a Barracuda. Plus some parts from a couple of FW189.

[@justfly7730]

Exactly

[@garynew9637]

Haha

[@randycampbell6307]

Ok, the first shot of the aircraft damaged in the snow: I could tells this aircraft likely had problems because I was immdiatly struck by the question/idea, "Why would anyone build a twin-Brewster Buffalo?" :)

[@dorkf1sh]

Lol, Twin Buffalo. I like that. I need to kit-bash one now

[@randycampbell6307]

@@dorkf1sh Pics or it didn't happen, and I really, REALLY want it to 'happen' :)

[@josephking6515]

_Why would anyone build a twin-Brewster Buffalo?_ Easy answer. They wanted something *twice* as bad. 🥴

[@randycampbell6307]

@@josephking6515 this needs to be a WIF or April Fools thing, it really does :)

[@TheSlaughtermatic]

I bet that if they just lengthened the engine pods and moved the cockpits forward of the leading edge of the wing a little that would have solved alot of their problems and made the thing look even weirder.

[@comethiburs2326]

also, long exshaust pipes going underneath the leading edge, so it doesnt become a carbon monoxyde hasard...

[@Sacto1654]

Interestingly, the BV 141 you showed early in the video actually worked quite well. The only reason it didn’t enter service was it used the BMW 801 engine, which was desperately needed for the Fw 190 fighter instead.

[@Zoydian]

It's very sobering to realize how many airplanes there are that I never heard of before.... Thanks so much for your interesting and educating video's! ♥

[@tigerpjm]

And we all know that if there's one thing a Russian won't tolerate, it's sobering.

[@Tree_Dee]

Ah, the elder Bridges. COMPLETELY under rated comic performer. Before there was "The Dude," there was "The Lloyd." Funny looking airplane too. Should have its own movie.

[@vaclav_fejt]

He was also good in High Noon, albeit that was a serious role.

[@duaneharnes]

Wow the wing was very futuristic, in a Pond Racer kind of way.

[@jonwatkins254]

The Hawker Tempest required the pilot to go on oxygen before starting the engine, and use it for the entire flight due to carbon monoxide in the cockpit. Some other aircraft required oxygen continuously due to ether containing hydraulic fluids seeping into cockpit area.

[@barryervin8536]

That was the Typhoon that had the problem with CO in the cockpit and required full time oxygen. I think that was fixed with the Tempest? I've never read anything about the Tempest having the same problem, but it may have.

[@WildBillCox13]

Liked and shared. With better engines . . . a frequent lament. The failure of the M37 engine spelt doom for at least three major Red Air Force design trends. And it wasn't just the Red Air Force so affected. Remember the USAAF's XP54 and XP55? In fact, my favorite "what if" is giving the Westland Whirlwind a pair of proper Merlins, instead of those troublesome Peregrines. Soviet heavy fighter programs were largely dependent on engines which did not please. The Polikarpov TIS and the MiG DIS are excellent exemplars.

[@chrismartin3197]

That is one cool looking bird looks like the landing gear are where the bomb bay should be

[@bigblue6917]

It looks like some sort of prehistoric bat. Or something designed on a Friday afternoon when the liquid lunch was decidedly more liquid then usual. Still. It would have been interesting to see it over Berlin in 1944.

[@terraflow__bryanburdo4547]

It was mutated from bats in a nearby wet market.

[@casinodelonge]

For some reason, my laptop hates loading some of your videos sometimes! The wheel of eternity just keeps spinning, but the advert saying I was too fat played just fine!!

[@EdNashsMilitaryMatters]

I have deep suspicions on how youtube ads will run on a fragment of wifi you pick up on a rusty coat hanger, but the vids dont work ..

[@casinodelonge]

@@EdNashsMilitaryMatters to be fair, I am too fat.

[@whiskeytangosierra6]

Now, that right there is the result of some deep research. Thanks for expanding the knowledge base.

[@rojaunjames747]

amazing video the weirdness of each aircraft increases per episode

[@EdNashsMilitaryMatters]

I may have to do some normal ones soon. Scrambles the brain :)

[@StudeSteve62]

@@EdNashsMilitaryMatters Do a series on gorgeous stuff that didn't make it. Heinkel 100D or Arsenal VG33 come to mind... I'm a real nerd on 40s era airplanes. But you keep blindsiding me. This Soviet beast was absolutely new to me...

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@@EdNashsMilitaryMatters >>> You say _"Scrambles the brain"_ like it is a BAD THING...😊

[@TheCraftedMine]

That's awesome! Thank you so much for covering that plane!

[@EdNashsMilitaryMatters]

;)

[@kikufutaba524]

I hope someday you do one on the Sterling Bomber. I know it suffered from pre-war requirements about getting into a hanger, but to me, it is beautiful aircraft

[@EdNashsMilitaryMatters]

I do have the Sterling on the list. Manchester is in front of it though ;)

[@waynebrinker8095]

Years ago, at a local museum www.canadianflight.org/ I spoke with a man who was on Short Stirlings for much of the war. I made a comment regarding its poor performance and effectiveness. ....Oh My! THIS 50 y/o punk, who'd never been to war, had just heaped scorn upon the beloved heavyweight that had wreaked havoc over the continent, then carried his crew and him safely home....over twenty times. Yeah...sorry about that...my mistake.

[@richardclowes6123]

A most interesting video about a plane that to me looked more like a bat. Just loved the addition of the glue sniffing bits . . . really funny !!!! Let's have more comedy as it takes you by surprise and gives a good chuckle. Excellent.

[@williamroberts8470]

Awesome. I love that dudes gliders.

[@RedXlV]

I know there were instances of the Soviets sending prototype tanks and SPGs like the Object 220 (popularly called "KV-220"), SU-14, and SU-100Y into battle due their desperation at the beginning of the German invasion.. It's kind of surprising that the same wasn't done with prototype aircraft like the DB-LK. Even if it was inferior to other Soviet bombers, it's still an extra plane beyond what was already in service.

[@rikvanderzanden2834]

Just finished your book Desert Sniper. Cannot recommend it enough. If you enjoy this channel you'll certainly love it.

[@EdNashsMilitaryMatters]

Thanks man. Glad you enjoyed the book.

[@WildBillCox13]

Contrast this most interesting aircraft with the later USAAF P82 "Twin Mustang".

[@Justanotherconsumer]

Apparently pilots had to get over the impression that they were about to crash into another airplane flying in formation.

[@scullystie4389]

This looks like something out of Crimson Skies, I love it

[@mikestanmore2614]

It's hard to believe such a beautiful aircraft had any flaws...

[@willlasdf123]

Bruh the End of Ze World clip. What a quality throw back!

[@ian_b]

The asymmetry in cross section (I think that's the right term) of the nacelles really seals the deal design-wise for me. I love how the canopies "lean in" to the centre.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

No, not asymmetry. From the front it has reflection symmetry in the vertical plane along the centre line.

[@ian_b]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 I meant a line of symmetry through the individual nacelle. I admit I'm not very good with getting the terminology right.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@@ian_b if you only consider the nacelles then, yes there is no symmetry there. But most of the time we look at the airframe as a whole.

[@ian_b]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 But I wasn't, and I was just commenting on how I liked it aesthetically. I didn't know how to more clearly express what I meant. I'm sorry for my inexactitude.

[@davidjones332]

First rule of aeronautical design. If you have to start piling in lead ballast, you need to go back to the drawing board.

[@walterpleyer261]

This looks like the granddaddy of the Klingon Bird of prey

[@johndavey72]

Ed. You really do find the odd balls . Another one l've not heard of ! Thanks

[@slebetman]

Belyayev designed one of the most interesting gliders I've ever seen - the BP-2 and BP-3. Both looks similar to the DB-LK

[@larsrons7937]

Very interesting video. I am rather new to this channel and Ed Nash you really amaze me, how do you come upon so much information on such odd and rare aircraft? I really came to love your videos for being seemingly very well researched, and good to deliver the facts in a short and comprehensive way. After watching the first 15-20 videos I am looking forward to watching the next ones. Thanks for sharing.

[@EdNashsMilitaryMatters]

Thank you and welcome aboard:)

[@pizzagogo6151]

Thanks really interesting- reminds me a of an aerial version of Russian multi-turret tanks from the same era. Soviet designers just seemed to love adding extra guns to stuff 😁.

[@terraflow__bryanburdo4547]

I would not be surprised to see the bombs mounted on top of the wing.

[@vinnyganzano1930]

There were some truly innovative and imaginative aircraft concepts studied during WW2. It may be fortunate that most didn't reach production, fortunate for the people who would have been crews.

[@arno-luyendijk4798]

I must confess that it reminds me of a Fokker G-1 with twin bodies with engines on them. You got to hand it: the shape is almost identical.

[@eftalanquest]

you should do a video about the Kyushu J7W1 Shinden

[@StudeSteve62]

Oooooo. Yeah. (That thing was intended to be developed into a jet...)

[@martentrudeau6948]

For sure it was a interesting looking fighter concept.

[@lebaillidessavoies3889]

No , not weird enough...

[@tmseh]

A great spotter plane if they utilized it in that capacity. It could also have been an awesome small troop/airborne transport.

[@rebeccaforrest2315]

Very interesting thanks

[@dmain6735]

This awesome. I saw a picture of this bird in a book 20 odd years ago, there wasn't much info in it. I still think it's cool.

[@toboldlygosmodelworks1973]

I don't know about the designer sniffing glue, he was probably high on cellulose thinners and let his kids design the plane...

[@maxdevlin4349]

I think I peed a little laughing when you added the Lloyd Bridges meme... The pic of him hanging upside down in the Airplane! scene used to be my FB profile pic. I have been trying to buy your books in audio format in the states while waiting for eye surgery, but not available in the US last time I checked, makes zed sense WTF Amazon? I heard about you via Ian from Forgotten Weapons and am glad I subscribed. Keep up the good work and I will spread the word!

[@tigerpjm]

2:20 Mussolini looks like he wasn't too keen on the ergonomics of that gunner position. Another fine presentation Nedash, although I'm starting to feel like the world might be better off if some of these cursed birds remained Forgotten Aircraft.

[@RedViking2020]

A contender for the new Batmobileski me thinks Ed matey!!!!

[@benx6264]

I swear, if I was rich, like really rich, I'd commission people to build some of these weird far out old designs just to see if modern powerplants and construction could make them work.

[@raypurchase801]

Dick Dastardly flew something like this whilst chasing the Yankee Doodle Pigeon.

[@billymule961]

It looks like it would perform better flying in reverse.

[@billymule961]

@CALLER ID I was joking about it's outlandish appearance, that's all. I didn't think anyone would take it seriously.

[@Dave5843-d9m]

To be fair it probably would do better in reverse.

[@sailor5026]

Always interesting. Thank you.

[@StuSaville]

Just when I thought the aircraft featured on this channel couldn't get any weirder! I'm beginning to suspect that Ed is pranking us with mad photoshop skills...

[@mpetersen6]

The Soviet Union goes full Crimskinzy Skies

[@raven-wf9so]

That is an amazing design it’s a flying work of art 😄, nice vid 👍

[@McRocket]

You've done it again, Ed. An aircraft I have never even heard of (to my knowledge). Thanks and cheers! Btw - liked the humor. ☮

[@declanoleary1]

As ever, enlightened, keep up the great work.

[@simonmcowan6874]

Love it, really enjoy your posts, love your style of humour too, where do you get this stuff from, it must take a while to go through pictures to find weird stuff and then research it, anyway keep going please. You could grow tomatoes in the glazed ends!

[@gerrycarmichael1391]

Good God that's a short coupled bastard. Must have done one hell of a V1 victory roll on an engine failure.

[@allangibson2408]

Very similar aircraft were built in the US in the 1930’s as cargo and passenger aircraft.

[@danielkemp4860]

Clearly Rutan took a lot of inspiration when designing the Pond Racer! Wing tips especially...

[@Justanotherconsumer]

The central fuselage (such as it is) is reminiscent of Vought’s flying flapjack.

[@bigdmac33]

Conceived on the back of a Wodka label!!

[@damianococurullo1416]

Ed have you ever considered doing a video on the M. C. 72 ? Its pretty interesting for a 30s design

[@johnnoble01]

Those wings just scream out tip stall! 🤔

[@mwrkhan]

How do you access these obscure archival designs?

[@mikepette4422]

like warthunder and World of tanks he just makes stuff up ;)

[@robdgaming]

Love crazy aircraft. What's the one in British markings in the opening shot? Yes, I'll search your channel and see if it pops up.

[@EdNashsMilitaryMatters]

That is a Miles MB.39B...and I haven't gotten around to doing it yet! Apologies, another one that is on a rather long list :)

[@cdfe3388]

Looks like something you’d fly in Crimson Skies!

[@zJoriz]

What's that thing in the opening shot of this video? That thing looks awesome!

[@yes_head]

One wonders what Jack Northrop could have done with this design.

[@Vikingdescendent]

Nothing!...

[@Dave5843-d9m]

Jack was too busy perfecting the Horten flying wing.

[@ianbrown9108]

Absolutely fascinating

[@CodyDockerty]

Thank you for the End of Ze World clip... I am old...

[@mjf1036]

Great story and video Ed. Crap airplane though forward thinking. Watch out for those pesky stumps popping up on runways.

[@deezynar]

The handling will be improved by lengthening the nacelles and sweeping the wings back. Move the cockpits forwards as as the nacelles are lengthened and that will give the pilot a better view. Judging a plane when it uses engines that it wasn't designed for is stupid. The exhaust leaking into the fuselage is also stupid, I don't know if this layout would have been a good plane with the modifications I suggest, but it wouldn't have been as bad.

[@coreyandnathanielchartier3749]

This looks like the kind of project that could get it's designer hanged as a 'Enemy of the State".

[@Bearthedancingman]

I've always loved the look Of this aircraft. But it definitely needed more development to get the idea to full potential. Bigger engines, larger nacelles for more crew space and better balancing/maybe a wing planform alteration and they could've gotten the idea to work. But the main issue I see is that it doesn't have a real advantage in any way over a regular twin engine plane except having less frontal area. If they went the other way and made the thing smaller and lighter it might have been an interesting long range fighter. But no matter what they did it needed lots of redesign and development before it would be a good airplane. Novel ideas often die in infancy like this one because either the technology or the financing or the political support didn't exist to see the development through to fruition.

[@SanderAnderon]

truly a Miyazaki-like flight of fancy

[@mrtrailesafety]

“...added lead ballast” Damn.

[@57thStIncident]

Something you always want to hear in relation to aircraft engineering

[@jacksavage4098]

Strange looking bird.

[@reecedawson6113]

Every video a new plane I’ve never seen

[@danmcdonald9117]

Great original video!

[@hobbyhermit66]

It would make an interesting model. It has kind of a steampunk look about it.

[@GARDENER42]

Note that wearing a gas mask due to exhaust fumes would have been futile, as it wouldn't block carbon monoxide. Most likely a mistranslation of oxygen mask. The Hawker Typhoon has similar issues & several pilots were killed before it became mandatory for them to wear their oxygen mask from engine start to shut down.

[@PORRRIDGE_GUN]

CO and O2 are an explosive mix I believe. Just what you don't want in a warplane.

[@F40PH-2CAT]

How many aircraft designs were ruined just by the failure of its intended engine? cough Westland Whirlwind cough (I know this one isn't on that list)

[@jugflyer8739]

I wanted to buy your book, but it does not appear to be available as a kindle book in the US. :(

[@EdNashsMilitaryMatters]

No, I'm afraid it seems that licensing only allows it to be sold on kindle in uk :(

[@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe]

Should have gone with that Comet thing the Luftwaffe threw into air. Please a video on Soviet aircraft power plants. We're any successful?

[@billsmith5166]

That's some wicked glazing!

[@thewatcher5271]

Way To Go Ed! Not Your Usual "What Could've Been" But Interesting All The Same. Maybe Belyaev Was Sniffing A Little Glue Along The Way!?!

[@billgalactica2982]

Ha ha!! Airplane reference! Excellent!

[@StudeSteve62]

"Flaws in the design"? Who'd guess... Dive bomber...? Yikes. (Unless of course it were operating with Japan circa summer 1945. That might have worked, after a fashion.) Conversion trainer/long range escort potential with that layout. But, well, P-82...😁

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

As everybody who watch YT know only the Hortens did flying wings..... Another nail in the coffin of that myth.

[@brentkeller3826]

Always referred to this thing as a Dybbuk

[@samaguirre3283]

Can you do a vid on the XF5U Flying Flapjack

[@mr-rk394]

"Damn Viktor, drinking vodka while working again?"

[@johnreep263]

More like, "I picked the wrong day to stop drinking vodka while working!"

[@johnladuke6475]

It's Soviet Russia. Things like this happen when you're not drinking *enough* vodka at work.

[@aquilarossa5191]

I worked at sea for 12 years with a lot of ex Soviet crew. Elena would not like your comment and most would not mess with her, even though she is little and skinny, she is very fiery and can destroy people with logic. I remember her getting angry in the mess saying "West thinks Russia is just vodka and Cossack dancing. We are much more than that". They find the stereotype insulting in other words. They were very professional crew just like the Norwegians who hired them. What surprised me most is they were really defensive about the USSR and Russia, even though in Elena's case she said she was Ukrainian*. They talked about the USSR like it was the good old days. They treasured their old Soviet passports. 1990s and early 2000s were really hard times there, which I guess partly explains that. Most of them were from Sevastopol in the Crimea. Ex military from the naval base usually who went fishing after the USSR broke up in 1991. Our ship was built in Norway for the USSR and then bought by us. Really nice ship. Sea Hunter 1. *Ukr's Pro Russian side since the troubles, i.e., Russian orthodox culture instead of catholic like in the western part of that country. I kept in touch with several of them. They were for joining Russia and people in the east tend to be angry at Russia for not annexing them too (Donbas etc). They never wanted to be in Ukraine in the first place. It did not ever exist as a country before 1991. It is just lines on a map, not a single people with a unified national identity etc. The perfect recipe for a civil war. Some look west for their ethnic cultural roots, some look east etc (the epicentre of the pro western side is in the west of the country and was not a part of the old Russian Empire). Then there are the ones caught in the middle and just look to how they will put food on the table etc. There is also the political and economic factors. The east has very close ties with Russia and wants to keep them. They also prefer things like how Russia tends to nationalize industry and pays better pensions etc. They are very wary of the West's free market after seeing what western economic reformers did to Russia immediately after the USSR split up when Yeltsin was in power. They closed most of the factories and turned it into a giant Rust Belt, but even worse. People starved and froze to death. The death toll is not agreed yet, but it was very high if you count illness due to that era's poverty etc. They do not want to be like America with hordes of homeless and millions of medical bankruptcies etc. Long comment for what was just a silly joke. Whatever. Somebody might learn something.

[@johnladuke6475]

@@aquilarossa5191 I appreciate the learning, and hope your friends are safe in a chaotic land, no matter the politics involved. But as long as you're okay with silly jokes, let's remember that Yeltsin was the drunk guy at world summits and those rust belt places sometimes literally paid wages in vodka. That's got to be worth a chuckle to a sailor, your industry used to get paid in rum.

[@elennapointer701]

Looks like the closest anyone in the world ever came to actually building that weird flying wing plane in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[@CrusaderSports250]

That plane looks perfectly acceptable by comparison, often wondered if anyone has built an RC version, be good to see!!☺.

[@iffracem]

"if it looks right, it'll fly right" Ahem......

[@stretch3281]

"Stressed skin".... i should think positively traumatised after being applied to that airframe.

[@fatdad64able]

A deadbirth that reminds me of the Airacuda.

[@MililaniJag]

Verrrry interesting!

[@yenchey3270]

- I dunno, man... Do you even believe it'll fly? - Yes. I Belyaev.

[@airplayn]

Check out the Belyayev Babochka, a fighter version with similar design features. Considering the purges of so many officers and designers by Stalin at that time it's a wonder Belyayev's failures didn't result with him in a Gulag or being executed for "sabotage"?!

[@EdNashsMilitaryMatters]

Oooo! Thanks! I'll have a look.

[@airplayn]

@@EdNashsMilitaryMatters how did you like my Taylorcraft video? kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6i1fIagia5qetE

[@patrickradcliffe3837]

This thing screams reconnaissance aircraft.

[@verzekeringsadviseur]

Looking at this plane gives me a headache

[@brickybricksku3182]

I- I thought I had a stroke when I saw it, though I'm pretty sure rhe designers did

[@jasonshull3106]

This Works! Great video love it,thanks from JDS in AZ usa.......do you know where I can get a 1/72 scale model of this aircraft. Ha ha ha