The #轰-6 bomber#, as the only long-range bomber currently in service on the mainland, not only undertakes the heavy task of defending the homeland and defending the country, but also makes great contributions to promoting the development of the mainland's aviation! In a CCTV documentary commemorating the 65 th anniversary of the founding of the China Test Flight Institute, the mainland's first "air test bench" of an aero engine modified from the H-6 was publicly reported for the first time. So, why did the test flight institute use the H-6 to be converted into an "air test stand" for aero engines? And what dangerous moments did it experience?
In fact, the China Pilot Test Institute not only undertakes the test flight work of various types of aircraft in the mainland, but also sets up an engine research laboratory as early as the beginning of the establishment of the institute, and gradually builds a series of ground engine test facilities, including test benches, thrust benches, test benches, etc., which can carry out a large number of engine ground simulation tests and special tests. At that time, the mainland could carry out 12 tests on the engine, such as icing, bird swallowing, sand swallowing, water swallowing, smoke swallowing, and high and low temperature starting. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it provided important technical support for the imitation and development of aero engines in the mainland.
However, after entering the 60s, when the mainland was exploring the development and production of the core component of the aircraft "engine", due to the large technological gap in the technological level and material science, the work of the new engine was very unstable. However, simple ground tests often cannot fully reflect the actual situation in the air, so the smooth progress of the research and development work is seriously hindered. Under such circumstances, in 1963, Cai Huangqiao and He Yuanzhang of the Test Flight Institute proposed to convert the H-6 bomber into an "air test bench" for high-altitude testing of new engines.
After this suggestion was adopted, a H-6 with the number "086" entered the modification workshop of the test flight institute. Since the H-6 has a huge bomb bay, the test bench for the air engine was installed here after it was converted into a retractable pod. The pod of the "086" air test platform is 1.2 meters wide, 13.2 meters long and 1.32 meters high, which can fully enter the bomb bay when folded, and will not add additional drag to the flight.
There are two sets of adjustable connection brackets at the front and rear of the pod, which are hydraulically driven, and there are various control wires in the middle of the H-6 bomb bay to connect with the pod. The "086" also added a set of control systems to the H-6 cockpit, such as the pod throttle joystick, hydraulic pressure and fuel supply devices. At the front of the pod there is a fairing ring that adjusts the engine intake changes, simulating the engine intake conditions of the aircraft in various pitch and yaw states. The tail of the pod is a tail nozzle with variable geometric diameter, which can fully simulate the real state of the engine in flight.
In addition, in order to prevent unforeseen dangers such as the engine not being able to shut down or misfire, the aircraft is equipped with an emergency delivery system to ensure the safety of the pilot and the aircraft, considering that the engine is not working properly. It can be said that the successful modification of the "086" engine "air test bench" modified by the H-6 bomber has enabled the mainland to carry out many key tests that used to require many ground tests and theoretical calculations, but now it can be solved through only a few aerial tests, which has greatly promoted the improvement of the design and manufacturing level of continental aviation power.
In the summer of 1968, the "086" air test stand, which had been modified for many years, made its first flight after modification, carrying a mock-up of a physical pod with it. In the 70s, the mainland modified and upgraded the original ordinary aerial test bench into an advanced aerial test bench that can be rotated at multiple angles. After that, when the flight test institute conducts high-altitude engine tests, it can carry out various tests on the engine with variable position and variable wind section without changing the flight attitude of the mother aircraft. This not only improves the authenticity of the test, but also reduces the flight risk of the parent aircraft.
Since the "086" air test bench was officially put into use at the end of the 60s, the aircraft has experienced more than 30 years of test flight career, and has undertaken many important types of engine air test flights, such as WP-5, WP-6, WP-7, WP-8, WP-11, WP-13, WP-14 and WS-11, WEJ-11 and other domestic engines, not only for the finalization of domestic fighters and equipment troops have made great contributions, but also bear great test risks!
In April 1990, after completing the aerial test of the new domestic rocket engine at 6000-9000 meters, the "086" air test bench was about to take back the pod when the plane suddenly and violently deflected to the left with a slope of about 15. In the end, after overcoming unimaginable difficulties in the air, the "086" finally made a successful forced landing with a large left and right swing. Later, it was found that the accident was caused by the deformation of the pod pylons due to the high temperature tail flame of the rocket engine, and the extrusion caused the failure of the aileron control system, so that the lateral stability of the aircraft could not be corrected.
In October 1992, when the "086" air test bench was conducting a test of a domestically produced turbofan engine, the engine fan blades broke under high-speed rotation! At that time, the broken blades damaged the hydraulic control mechanism of the aircraft's right landing gear, causing the landing gear to be unable to be retracted and released normally. But in order to save this hard-won and precious engine, the crew finally took the risk of making a 2-point landing with only the left landing gear and the nose landing gear, and finally saved the test engine intact at the cost of damaging the right wing!
In the mid-90s, with the continuous development of computer technology, Continental was able to simulate the aerial test of the engine in the laboratory through simulation technology, which could not only save the high cost of actual tests, but also make it easier to find technical defects and improvement methods. After that, the mainland began to follow the development of international technology and began to build a ground high-altitude simulation test bench that can perfectly restore various high-altitude environments.
Therefore, the "086" air test bench, which was converted from the H-6 bomber, also completed its historical mission and stopped its test flight career. Now the aircraft has been parked on the apron of the China Flight Test Research Institute, has been painted new, and other models of the test flight institute have made great contributions to the development of China's aviation, and accept the admiration of the latecomers!