Beriev R-1

The Beriev R-1, known in house as product R, was the first Soviet turbojet-powered flying boat. Design work answered a Soviet Navy request made at the end of World War II: Beriev began in-house design in May 1947, starting from the wing of the Be-6, before the official specification was issued in June 1948. That specification called for a radar-equipped three-man aircraft with a speed of 800 km/h, a range of 2,000 to 2,500 kilometres, 2,000 kg of bombs and four 20 mm cannon. A mock-up was finished by 10 June 1950 with Klimov VK-1 engines in place of the originally planned Rolls-Royce Nene. The first prototype, completed in November 1951, suffered severe vibration and hydrodynamic instability at 165 km/h and was nearly destroyed, and after much modification it crash landed on 3 October 1953. Testing continued to 1956, but after another crash in February 1956 the aircraft was never repaired and was scrapped. What Beriev learned from the R-1 went into the Be-10.