**Abstract**

This chapter is a brief description of aircraft designer Robert Bartini and his role in the development of the military, passenger, and transport aviation. Robert Bartini was educated in Austria-Hungary and Italy, and graduated from Milan Polytechnic Institute. In 1923, he fled Italy to escape Fascism and emigrated in the Soviet Union. After the First World War, the young Soviet Union (USSR) desperately needed new engineers and scientists who would provide the new country with development of modern industry and transportation. At that time, Western European countries had knowledge and experiences, especially in the field of aviation. In addition, the chapter presents Bartini's vision of the sustainable intercontinental and continental high-speed transport, which was the focus in the last years of his work and creation. The term "red wings" in the title of the article is related to his work in the "red" Soviet Union. In Russia, Robert Bartini is very popular as a researcher and developer. There are many books about him in Russian and Italian language, but not in English. Thus, his work is still quite unknown in the West. He was born in Kanjiza (today Serbia) in 1897 and spent his youth in Fiume (Rijeka, today Croatia).

**Keywords:** Bartini, air transport, aviation, development of aircraft, ekranoplan, ground effect, WIG crafts, Rijeka, Soviet Union

### **1. Introduction**

During the cold war, the superpowers, the United States (USA) and the Soviet Union (USSR), wanted to demonstrate their achievements in the development of military technique and technology. Furthermore, both superpowers wanted to show their best in the field of engineering and technology for military and civil purposes. This competition reflected the conquest of space and the field of aviation, where the former Soviet Union wanted to be presented abroad in the best light. However, the knowledge in this area could not be obtained in a short time, so it was necessary to invest years and years into the development and testing and learning from mistakes. Due to the lack of prior knowledge, both superpowers were hungry for scientists and researchers, mainly from Europe, that contributed an important part in the development of space technology and aviation. Most of the necessary knowledge and human resource superpowers were gained after the Second World War. However, many scientists fled from the unstable pre-war Europe to the United States before the war, rather than the Soviet Union.

After the First World War, the Soviet Union wanted quicker progress in the field of aviation because of the country's vast size. The most famous pioneers in space transportation (Tsiolkovsky) and builders of large airplanes (Sikorsky, Tupolev) came from Russia, but knowledge in Western Europe in the field of aerodynamics made great progress, especially Italy which at that time possessed a superior knowledge in aerodynamics, which was rewarded with a world speed record in aviation in the years 1927–1929 and 1933–1934. Therefore, it is not surprising that Robert Bartini immigrated to Russia in 1923. He was a young Italian aviation engineer and communist proving his skills in the fields of aviation in the next 50 years in the Soviet Union. This case shows a classic transfer of knowledge in the new young Soviet Republic.

segment of the route. In the Red Army, Bartini reached the rank of a brigadier

*Red Wings Proposed by Robert Bartini for Sustainable Aviation*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85032*

Bartini returned to Moscow and worked as a chief designer of his projects in seaplane design bureaus at facilities No. 22 and 39 until August 1930. He was dismissed from the design bureau due to his critical letter to Stalin, but the Air Forces authorities organized a small design bureau for him at facility No. 22. In this office, he began to design a new aircraft, Stal-6 (Steel-6) with an incredible clean contour (**Figure 1**). "I saw an airplane like a beautiful naked girl," said the former test pilot a half century later, when he saw the "top secret" aircraft for the first time [2]. The "Stal-6" aircraft was a monoplane configuration fighter airplane with inventive solutions: full retraction of bicycle landing wheel, a closed cockpit with a transmission gear in elevator control linkage, and an engine evaporative cooling system with cooler-wing tips. The structure and aerodynamics of this aircraft permitted the speed of 420 km/h in 1933 [5] which was 150 km/h more than the best fighters in the Soviet Union at the time. The aircraft had V-12 engine with 630 hp., and it was made of stainless steel "enerzh 6." Two years later (1935), Bartini designed the "Steel-8" fighter reaching the speed of 630 km/h, but it was not selected for the proposed Soviet fighter. If the Soviet Union had chosen this plane for further development, then they would have had a superior fighter for defending

In 1934, Bartini began developing the Stal-7 aircraft, which was a twin-engine passenger aircraft, exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1936. In 1939, the aircraft reached a new world record for a distance of 5000 km; it was flying over 5068 km with an average speed 405 km/h. The top speed of this aircraft was 450 km/h. In fact, Bartini's knowledge of aerodynamics was most evident in the development of this airplane. Its special shape increased the pressure under a fuselage, thus enabling additional lift. In this way, the airplane consumed less fuel at higher speeds, which at those times contributed to sustainable aviation. The Stal-7 was ready for the flight around the world, which was prevented by the arrest of the chief designer Bartini. They imprisoned him in 1938 and accused of being Mussolini's agent and participating in the burning of building No. 240, where the aircraft Stal-7 was placed. First, he was sentenced to death and imprisoned in the disreputable NKVD prison. When his plane reached a world record, Stalin "personally" took care that Bartini's sentence was reduced to standard 10 years in prison. Bartini was transferred to secret research and development camp KB (sharaskas) in different towns: Moscow, Omsk, Kazan, and Taganrog. At that time, the Stal-7 aircraft was one of the greatest secrets of the Soviet Union, leaving behind only one short film clip and some photos. Under the leadership of V. Ermolajev and advice of Bartini, the plane began to transform into the long-range Yer-2 bomber, resulting in about 400 Yer-2 aircrafts. During the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, the aircraft was intended for attacks on Britain and France and their bases in the Middle East. Instead, the Yer-2 aircrafts

*Aircraft Bartini Stal-6 (Steel 6). Source: http://en.valka.cz/topic/view/102660/Bartini-Stal-6, web source:*

(Brigadier General).

**Figure 1.**

**195**

*October 18, 2017.*

"mother Russia" from the Germans by 1941.

His solutions, gained with better knowledge of aerodynamics, have contributed to higher aircraft speed and lower energy or fuel consumption, and at the same time, a longer range of aircrafts was reached. In the historical context, his work has led to the improvement in the sustainability of aviation.
