Beriev’s Jet Flying Boats

By Chris Banyai-Riepl

The Russians have always had a penchant for experimentation in aviation, and working on themes long abandoned by Western nations. Such is the case of jet flying boats. While the US basically gave up on the idea after the Seamaster, the Russians continued exploring the concept, with Beriev leading the way. Today, the only large jet-powered flying boats are Beriev’s designs, covering such varied uses as firebombers and maritime ASW. Flying boats with the Beriev name go way back to the 1930s, when the designer created several useful piston-powered designs. After the Second World War, Beriev continued designing seaplanes, with the powerplant shifting from pistons to turbines. The turboprop Be-12 became a popular ASW platform for the Soviet Navy and the constant exploration into seaplanes made Beriev the world leader in flying boats today.

This book covers the jet-powered flying boats of Beriev, which are some of the more interesting aircraft to fly. The earliest jet design looked very similar to the post-war Be-6, replacing the radial engines with Soviet copies of the Rolls Royce Nene engine. The resultant R-1 flying boat was mainly an experimental design, never entering production. That didn’t happen until the Be-10, a twin-engined swept wing flying boat with a wingspan of nearly 100 feet. The shoulder-mounted engines and sharp anhedral of the wings, ending in tip floats, gave the Be-10 a distinctive appearance. First flown on June 20, 1956, the Be-10 operated for a few years before advances in shipborne air-to-air missiles and anti-shipping cruise missiles nullified its advantages. By1968 all were removed from inventory and scrapped, with not one surviving.

Beriev did not give up on the idea of jet-powered flying boats, though, and while the Be-12 became the main ASW flying boat of the Soviet Union, the OKB continued advancing the concept. This led to the design of the very impressive A-40 in the 1970s. Performance was a key issue with this design, as was capability. The A40 was designed to operate in 7ft seas, and by designing the fuselage to have minimum drag, the performance was much better over the Be-12. As Beriev was actively involved in other projects, the A-40 took a back seat, and the first prototype did not roll out until 1986. Its first flight was a mistake, occurring during high-speed taxi tests on December 8, 1986. Although this flight was not purposefully done by the pilot, he was nonetheless punished for the act and forced to give up his position as test pilot. Like the pilot, although successful in its tests, the A-40 suffered with the collapse of the Soviet Union and its future production is in doubt. As the current fleet of ASW aircraft increases in age, though, there is hope that this formidable aircraft will be resurrected and placed in full production.

The final aircraft covered in this book is the Be-200, the little brother of the A-40. While developing the A-40, Beriev saw the potential for a civil variant of that aircraft. This led to the creation of the Be-200, which looks very much like a shrunk version of the A-40. This aircraft, which first flew in 1998, was designed to wear multiple hats, with firefighting being the main focus. In 1999, the Be-200 impressed the crowds at the Paris Air Show, demonstrating its firefighting capability by dropping its 13,000lb water load on several occasions. The future is bright for this new aircraft, with many nations expressing interest in the Be-200. I am sure it will not be long before we see quite a few of these replacing antiquated warbird-based firebombers around the world.

The last chapter of this book examines some of the other seaborne projects garnering attention at Beriev, including supersonic sea-based aircraft. Throughout the book, the text is well written and amply illustrated with clear photographs. A section of color photos, along with some nicely drawn scale drawings, complete this title, making it a very thorough reference on Beriev’s jet flying boats. My thanks to Specialty Press for the review copy.