The first Russian aircraft designer was Alexander Mozhaisky. His airplane, a monoplane, with two light steam engines was tested on August I, 1882. With the first Russian pilot, I.N. Golubev the

Early years of aviation

The first Russian aircraft designer was Alexander Mozhaisky. His airplane, a monoplane, with two light steam engines was tested on August I, 1882. With the first Russian pilot, I.N. Golubev the plane rose into the air and flew a distance of 200 meters before it landed.

At that time the same work was being conducted by a German inventor Otto Lilienthal. In 1891 he made his flight in a glider covering 35 meters. In 1903 two Americans, the brothers Wright, built their aeroplane. It flew only 32 meters but it was the first aeroplane with an internal combustion engin e that was a big step forward.

In the following years aviation made big advances. In 1908 Henry Farman, in France, made a flight of one kilometer. A year later Bleriot crossed the English Channel.

In 1913 the Russian designer Igor Sikorsky built the world's first multiengined heavy aircraft. That same year the Russian pilot Nesterov executed the first loop. Another Russian pilot, Artseulov, in 1916 proved that a pilot can take his plane out of a corkscrew.

At the beginning of the 20-th century the dirigible was invented by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. His famous " Graf Zeppelin" in 1929 began a cruise which took 21 days 8 hours and 26 minutes to circle the world.

An outstanding event in the history of aviation took place in Petersburg in 1913. That year a heavy multiengined aeroplane “Russky Vityaz’’ was constructed. Its top speed was over 90 km/hr.

Among the pioneers of aviation are the names of aircraft designers Tupolev, Polikarpov, Sukhoi, Arkhangelsky, Ilyushin, Yakovlev and others; the pilots Vodopyanov, Doronin, Kamanin, Lyapidevsky and some others - the first Heroes of the Soviet Union who were awarded this title for saving the passengers and the crew after ice-breaker Chelyuskin had been crashed by ice. In 1937 the world applauded the non-stop flight by Chkalov and his crew to the USA via the North Pole on the ANT-23.

The air captured the imagination of all. It was the efforts of men of many countries who pioneered civil aviation, who brought it to the art that we know today, and who now help its rapidly developing growth.

monoplane - моноплан

steam engines - паровой двигатель небольшого рабочего объёма

rise - подняться

conduct - проводить

glider – планер

cover - покрывать, преодолевать

aeroplane - аэроплан

internal combustion engine - двигатель внутреннего сгорания

step forward - шаг вперед

cross - пересечь

multiengined - многомоторный

execute - осуществлять

loop - мёртвая петля

corkscrew - крутая спираль; штопор

dirigible - дирижабль

top speed - максимальная, предельная скорость

ice-breaker - ледокол

non-stop - беспосадочный

crew – экипаж

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