Aircraft: Grigorovich M-15

Russia
patrol flying boat

The birth of naval aviation came easier than the birth of the army aviation Aircraft long range possibilities were noticed by the navy high command, already before the outbreak of the war. The breakthrough in artillery, lasting since the 1860's, increased the fire range up to 20,000 metres, and the development in the ship?s construction increased the speed up to 25 knots. When artillery fired behind the observer's sight range, for spotting the fast moving targets, first, the airship (costly and onerous in exploitation) and then ,the aircraft appeared to be very useful.
Since 1911, the Russian Imperial Navy utilised the French seaplanes (i.e. Farman, Borel and Lavaque). Its overhaul took place at the S.S. Shtchetinin & M.A. Shtcherbakov Works in St. Petersburg, led from 1913, by Dmitri Pavlovich Grigorovich - who designed, based on French originals, the successful M.1 aircraft with the boat-like fuselage in the same year. This gave birth to the all family of the light flying boats, which has proved true in the First World War fights. The Russian Imperial Navy's High Command ordered a long reconnaissance heavy machine. This order Grigorovich realised in December 1915, building the M-9 type. Its value however was decreased by the licence built Salmson-Unne radial engine. The developed M-9 version - 1916 built, M-15, was powered by the formidable Hispano-Suiza V8 engine. Only 80 M-15 machines were built.
The R II C 262 Grigorovich M-15, built in 1917, reached the fortress flight in Arensburg on the Ozilia (Saarema) island in the fortified Moosund archipelago, which defended the entrance into Riga bay. These islands were captured by the Germans, from the 10th to the 24th October 1917, coded "Operation Albion". The result was 20130 P.O.W's , 141 cannons and 10 aircraft captured - among them, the mentioned above flying boat. Tested in the Seaplanes Test Flight in Warnemunde, it eventually reached the German Aeronautical Collection in Berlin. Left over, along with the other wrecks on Poland's occupied territory, found in 1945 - in 1964 was moved over to the newly created Krakow's Museum as the only one, more or less completed however destroyed, First World War exhibit. The restoration was undertaken by the end of the Seventies and was continued in the years 1991 - 1993.
The M-15 Grigorovich, is a long range flying boat biplane with the wing canopy placed over the fuselage, the pusher propeller and the empennage placed on a pylon, in the propeller's air stream, which increased the steering efficiency. The semi- monocoque wooden construction is covered with the stressed plywood skin attached to the open work formers. The wooden wings and empennage construction, are covered with fabric. Under the lower wing are stabilising floats. The M-15 is a unique world copy.

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