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Belyayev DB-LK


Long-Range Bomber Prototype


Soviet Union | 1939



"The Belyayev DB-LK was an interesting Soviet long-range bomber design of the pre-World War 2 period - one example being built and flown."

Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one aircraft design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the Belyayev DB-LK Long-Range Bomber Prototype.
2 x Tumansky M-88 air-cooled radial piston engines developing 950 to 1,000 horsepower driving three-bladed propeller units.
Propulsion
326 mph
525 kph | 283 kts
Max Speed
27,887 ft
8,500 m | 5 miles
Service Ceiling
1,802 miles
2,900 km | 1,566 nm
Operational Range
1,210 ft/min
369 m/min
Rate-of-Climb
Structure
The nose-to-tail, wingtip-to-wingtip physical qualities of the Belyayev DB-LK Long-Range Bomber Prototype.
4
(MANNED)
Crew
32.1 ft
9.78 m
O/A Length
70.9 ft
(21.60 m)
O/A Width
12.0 ft
(3.65 m)
O/A Height
13,239 lb
(6,005 kg)
Empty Weight
23,534 lb
(10,675 kg)
MTOW
Armament
Available supported armament and special-mission equipment featured in the design of the Belyayev DB-LK Long-Range Bomber Prototype provided across 12 hardpoints.
PROPOSED, STANDARD:
2 x 7.62mm ShKAS machine guns in fixed, forward-firing mountings at center wing section.
2 x 7.62mm ShKAS machine guns in rear-facing emplacements at end of port side fuselage boom.
2 x 7.62mm ShKAS machine guns in rear-facing emplacements at end of starboard side fuselage boom.

PROPOSED, OPTIONAL:
Up to 24 x Conventional drop bombs.


X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Hardpoints Key:


Centerline
Wingroot(L)
Wingroot(R)
Wing
Wingtip
Internal
Not Used
Variants
Notable series variants as part of the Belyayev DB-LK family line.
Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 02/21/2022 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

The Belyayev DB-LK ("Bomber - Long range") was a pre-World War 2 aircraft design of the Soviet Union conceived of for the long-range bomber role. It emerged prior to the fighting in 1939 and saw its first-flight the following year with flight trials undertaken thereafter. Despite its relatively positive showing (save for a few bumps including a collapsed landing gear and ongoing issues related to its awkward center-of-gravity), the aircraft was not ordered by the Soviet Air Force.

Design of this entry fell to one Viktor Nikolayevich Belyayev who arrived with an extensive aeronautics engineering history with players such as Aeroflot and Tupolev. Utilizing his experience garnered through development of gliders, flying wings, and twin-boom concepts, he forged the DB-LK which incorporated embedded fuselage booms and a near-all-flying-wing design planform - a vertical tail fin mounting the horizontal planes kept it from being a true flying wing. Each boom housed not only a powerplant with tractor propellers but also the crew compartments. The mainplane ran through the design and tapered at the tips. Light alloy stressed skinning was used in the construction of the aircraft while sheet aluminum alloy covered the wing members. A "tail-dragger" undercarriage (retractable) was featured with main legs set under each boom and a tailwheel supporting the tail unit.

Aft of the two traditional cockpit positions there were glazed, aft-facing cones set at the extreme ends of the fuselage booms to house specialists covering radio and gunner roles (for a total crew count of four). Due to the placement of the cockpits, the primary pilot would have had an offset position from centerline (some nine feet from the point), making take-off and landings somewhat of a challenge.

The aircraft was powered by the relatively new Tumansky M-88 air-cooled radial piston engine and each of the two units were rated at 950 to 1,000 horsepower and these were used to drive three-bladed propeller units.

As built, the aircraft had a running length of 32 feet, a wingspan of 70.10 feet and a height of 11.11 feet. Empty weight was 13,236lb and gross weight reached 23,528lb.

During testing, the aircraft managed speeds of 303 miles-per-hour and ranged out to 1,800 miles while having a service ceiling of 27,890 feet. Its primary operating domain would have been around 20,000 feet. Rate-of-climb was 1,210 feet-per-minute. Despite these rather promising figures, the unorthodox design was not furthered beyond the single, flyable prototype.

In its finalized form, the operational-ready bomber would have been outfitted with a pair of 7.62mm Medium Machine Guns (MMGs) in fixed, forward-firing mountings at the wing center section and defensive-minded 4 x 7.62mm ShKAS machine guns at each fuselage boom end (two guns to a gunner position). Bombs would have been carried externally, set under the wing center section, with multiple hardpoints intended to carry up to twenty-four total conventional drop bombs depending on bomb weight/type.

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Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the Belyayev DB-LK. Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national aircraft listing.

Total Production: 1 Units

Contractor(s): Belyayev - Soviet Union
National flag of the Soviet Union

[ Soviet Union (tested) ]
1 / 1
Image of the Belyayev DB-LK
Image from the Public Domain.

Going Further...
The Belyayev DB-LK Long-Range Bomber Prototype appears in the following collections:
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