World War II has proved that jet aircraft is the main direction of the development of aviation science and technology in the future, the Soviet Union on the one hand to study jet fighters, bombers, but also considering the development of jet seaplanes, the Belyev Design Bureau in May 1947 to carry out research and development work, at that time it was the Navy put forward this demand, hoping to obtain a modern jet military aircraft, used to carry out maritime reconnaissance, bombing and other tasks, the Belyev Design Bureau designed this aircraft is the Belyev R-1.
The military requires that the new seaplane should reach a level flight speed of 750,800 kilometers at an altitude of 5,000 meters, reach a ceiling of 12,000 meters, and have a maximum range of 2,000 kilometers. Under Beryev's leadership, two designs were proposed, one with a straight gull wing and the other with a shoulder wing, and soon they chose the former, because the engine compartment could be mounted in the bend of the gullwing, which would raise the engine bay and reduce the negative impact of waves on the engine.
According to the requirements, the design bureau was supposed to deliver the R-1 prototype in 1949, but due to the lack of manpower in the design bureau, the development work was delayed, and only the prototype was completed in 1949, and the construction of the prototype began in June 1950, and the test flight was prepared in November of the following year, during which the military proposed some changes to the aircraft standards.
The R-1 is an all-metal aircraft with an empty weight of nearly 12,500 kg, and its fuselage is partially borrowed from the Be-6 seaplane, and the fuselage has multiple compartments to ensure that it remains buoyant even after two of the compartments are flooded, and the overall length of the aircraft is 199 meters, wingspan 20 meters, but its tail part is different from the other -6, using a large size of the single vertical tail, the horizontal tail and the vertical tail are cross-shaped, the wing is close to the wingtip below the deflectable pontoon, after liftoff, it can be deflected to both sides 90 ° at the wingtip, which can reduce the flight resistance.
The machine was originally planned to install 2 RD-45 centrifugal jet engines, which were copied from the British, and later changed to an improved version of the RD-45, the VK-1, which was the first mass-produced jet engine in the USSR, which had a maximum thrust of 265kn。According to calculations, the R-1 can reach a maximum flight speed of 800 kilometers at an altitude of 5,000 meters, a practical ceiling of 11,500 meters, and a maximum range of less than 2,000 kilometers, although the design team promised to solve these problems in the future.
The R-1 is equipped with a crew of 3 people: pilot, navigator and radioman, with two NR-23 23 mm guns fixed in the nose with 100 rounds of ammunition each, and two NS-23 23 23 mm guns in the tail turret with 200 rounds each. The R-1 could carry about 1000 kg of bombs under the wings, the military required that it could carry 2 AMD-500 mines, each weighing 500 kg, and the bombing mission was carried out by the navigator, who carried out bombing aiming through the OPB-5SN sight in the cabin.
In addition, the aircraft also carried some special marine equipment, such as bottom anchors, floating anchors, anchor winches, pumping pumps, etc., and the ship was equipped with 3 life jackets, as well as a LAS-3 inflatable boat, which is a common equipment for seaplanes.
Although the Soviet Union conducted 56 test flights of the prototype, it did not reach the maximum design speed, because once the flight speed was increased, longitudinal instability would occur, and the design team remedied it by improving the elevator and other measures, but with little effect, the Navy began to doubt the feasibility of this project, and after discussion, it was decided that the R-1 could continue to be tested, but it was later turned into a test machine for testing new technologies, and it was damaged in February 1956. Although the R-1 was not successful, the USSR acquired a lot of technology from it, and the later Be-10 seaplanes benefited from this.