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Aerowagon

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Аэроваго́н
ManufacturerValerian Ivanovich Abakovsky
Built atRussia
Constructed1917
Scrapped1921
Number built1
Specifications
Prime mover(s)Aircraft engine

The Aerowagon or Aeromotowagon (Template:Lang-ru) was an experimental high-speed railcar fitted with an aircraft engine and propeller traction invented by Valerian Abakovsky, a Soviet engineer from Latvia. It produced speeds of up to 140 kilometres per hour (87 miles per hour). The Aerowagon was originally intended to carry Soviet officials.

Crash incident

On 24 July 1921, a group of delegates to the First Congress of the Profintern,[1] led by Fyodor Sergeyev, took the Aerowagon from Moscow to the Tula collieries to test it. Abakovsky was also on board. Although they successfully arrived in Tula, on the return route to Moscow the Aerowagon derailed at high speed near Serpukhov,[1] killing six of the 22 people on board. A seventh man later died of his injuries.[2]

Deaths

Red Square Mass Grave No. 13, where also the Aerowagon crash victims Konstantinov, Abakovsky and Freeman are buried.

The following people died as a result of the accident:

The seven men killed at the time of the crash lay in state at the House of the Unions, after which they were buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.[2][3] Sergeyev is buried in Mass Grave No. 12, Konstantinov, Abakovsky and Freeman are buried in Mass Grave No. 13, while Strupat, Helbrich and Hewlett are buried in Mass Grave No. 14.

Legacy

The Aerowagon was a precursor to the German Schienenzeppelin railcar, the American M-497 Black Beetle railcar and the Soviet turbojet train, all three of them being experimental vehicles featuring the combination of railcar and aircraft engine.

References

  1. ^ a b The Communist International, organ of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, no.19, [1921]
  2. ^ a b Letters from Tom Mann to Elsie Mann, Moscow, 26 and 30 July 1921; archives of Tom Mann, Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick, document references: MSS.334/3/6/5-6.
  3. ^ "КРАСНАЯ ПЛОЩАДЬ - это... Что такое КРАСНАЯ ПЛОЩАДЬ?". academic.ru. Retrieved 29 November 2017.

Bibliography

  • Alexey Abramov / Алексей Абрамов, By the Kremlin Wall / У кремлёвской стены, Moscow / Москва́, Politizdat / Политиздат, 1978, pp./стр. 399 (in Russian)