The link provided here will take you to an edited computer-generated English translation of a 100 page Russian-language book published in 1954 by DOSAAF, a para-military State-run organization responsible among other things for encouraging Russian youth to gain technical skills and aeronautical insights through participation in aeromodelling. The idea was that such experience might constitute an appropriate preparation for later service to the State as pilots, aircraft designers, aircraft technicians and the like. Alternatively, the participants might develop into successful Soviet representatives at International model aircraft competitions, thereby enhancing Soviet prestige.
The author of the book was A. V. Filipichev, one of the most prominent Russian model engine designers of the early post-WW2 period. He worked at the Central Aircraft Modelling Laboratory (CAML) in Moscow, where many of the pioneering Russian designs were developed. A significant number of the engines featured in this book were designed by Filipichev himself.
The text presented here is taken from the 1954 second edition of a book by the same author which first appeared in 1951. It is unique in that it provides the most complete available documentation of the state of Russian model engine design thinking and manufacturing as of the 1940’s and early 1950’s. It is particularly valuable as a historical reference for the light that it throws upon Russian model engines from the early post-WW2 era. Many of the designs covered are described and illustrated in no other reference of which I am aware and hence would be completely lost today if it were not for this book.
Detailed instructions and plans were provided for building the 1.8 cc CAML-50 diesel and the 10 cc F-4 “Bumlebee” spark ignition model, along with details of a number of other then-current or then-recent Russian designs. Perhaps reflecting the limited availability of such accessories in the USSR during the Iron Curtain era, the book also provides detailed instructions on how to make one’s own spark ignition coils, spark plugs, glow plugs and other engine-related accessories. Those sections have been omitted from this translation since they are of little historical or technical significance today. In addition, most of the numerical formulae, tables and charts as well as some of the images confused the OCR (optical character reader), hence not scanning clearly and having to be omitted.
Regardless, I hope that you find something of interest in these pages.
