mike1204, e-mail, 15.05.2012 13:30 The Grigorovich M-9 (ShCh M-9, or Shchetinin M-9) was an evolutionary biplane flying-boat, developed from the M-5. The first M-9 was ready in 1915 and its maiden flight was carried out on 9 January 1916 at Baku. On 17 September that year the test pilot, Jan Nag�rski, became the first to make a loop with a flying-boat. During the Russian Civil War, M-9s participated in the air defence of Baku, dropping approximately 6,000 kg of bombs and 160 kg of anti-personnel 'arrows'. The aircraft also carried out photo-reconnaissance, artillery spotting duties, as well as air combat sorties. The M-9 was also used for the first experiments on sea-shelf studies, participating in the discovery of new oil fields near Baku. Nine M-9s were captured by Finland during the Russian Civil War, one of which was flown by a Russian officer to Antrea on 10 April 1918. It was sunk the following day during type evaluation. Eight more were captured at �land and Turku. These aircraft were used by the Finnish Air Force until 1922. reply |
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