Anatra Khioni 4

[stevehed]

Hi,
    Always liked the look of this aircraft. Basically two Anasal fuselages and two engines with a pulpit attached to the centre of the top wing. Intended to complement the Ilya Mouremetz of the EVK. An order for 50 made in late 1917. Believe a few were completed after the November Revolution for the Bolsheviks. Can anyone provide any further information on this aircraft. Posted a question on the Aerodrome a while ago asking how bomb aiming would have been accomplished and no one replied. Remaining ever hopeful.

Regards, Steve
   

[John Thompson]

Hi Steve! Welcome aboard!

How was bomb aiming accomplished? Probably with a great deal of optimism...

You've probably seen this:
http://www.ctrl-c.liu.se/misc/ram/anatra-vk.html

However, from a quick look at Gunston's "Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft from 1875 to 1995", it seems that this might not be exactly the aircraft you're referring to, even though it's probably very similar! In his brief description of the Khioni No.4, Gunston refers to it as an "improved VKh", and then says, "not same aircraft as 'Anatra-Khioni No.4'". Trying to relate his descriptions of these aircraft, it seems that maybe the main difference was the engines; the Anatra-Khioni No.4 (also called the VKh Anadva) was powered by two 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape rotaries, while the Khioni No.4 had two 160 hp Salmson P9 watercooled radials. To add to the confusion (in my mind, at least), the Khioni No.4 was dimensionally the same as the VKh Anasalya, also called the Anadva-Salmson (two 140 hp Salmson M9 radials)! So, the lineage of these aircraft seems to have been:
Anatra-Khioni No.4/VKh Anadva  >  VKh Anasalya/Anadva-Salmson  >  Khioni No.4

<gasp!> Anyway, apparently all three versions had a crew of five - two pilots, one in each fuselage with dual controls, two rear gunners (one navigator/bombardier, one observer), and a third gunner perched in the upper nacelle or pulpit. This description is quoted from the section on the Anatra-Khioni No.4; perhaps it sheds some light on the bomb-aiming question?

I hope I've contributed at least a small amount on this topic; Heaven knows, this post now contains 100% of everything I know about these aircraft, so it was good for me, anyway! Maybe someone else will pop up with something better, I hope (there's probably a detailed, 500-page monograph dedicated to the Anatra/Khioni aircraft series, somewhere...)!

John

[stevehed]

Hi John,
            Finally got here. My own fault, I think I misread the small print. Thanks for the link but you're right, it's the one I've already got and the source of most of my knowledge. The bomb aiming question came about because of the two fuselages which contain 4/5 of the crew. To my mind the logical place to aim from is along the centreline or in this case the pulpit. But if so, how do you communicate with the pilot. I've read somewhere that the Ilya Mouremetz had a very good bomb sight but it would be of little use if the plane cannot be directed onto the target. The German R planes possessed various internal equipment including telegraphic and voice communication equipment (Windsock 95) so I wondered if the Russian aviation industry had undertaken similar research on behalf of the EVK and later DVK. Just a little worm that keeps niggling but it would be interesting if anyone had any information on the technology available at the time.

Cheers,
          Steve.

[TISO]

Anatra Anadva type VH:
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/bww1/anadva.html

[stevehed]

Thanks Tiso,
                 Much appreciated.

Regards, Steve