Jet Propulsion.

Collection of essays by Russian pioneers on the dynamics of rockets. Only 3,000 published copies. Reaktivnoe dvizhenie is “Collection No. 1” of the Reactive Group of the Military-Scientific Committee of Osoaviakhim, the Soviet civil-defense and aviation society, edited by A. A. Butler, A. A. Verner, P. S. Dubensky, I. A. Merkulov, M. K. Tikhonravov, and A. G. Kostikov. The editors’ foreword, dated 5 February 1935, traces the problem from Kibalchich in 1881 through Tsiolkovsky, notes that Goddard and Esnault-Pelterie were working for foreign military ministries, and promises later issues on heat engineering, materials, fuels, and construction.

The ten articles, with starting pages, are: V. A. Davydov, “Paths of aviation development and jet propulsion” (5); L. S. Dushkin, “Fundamentals of the general theory of jet propulsion” (20); Prof. V. P. Vetchinkin, “Vertical motion of rockets” (37); M. K. Tikhonravov, “Stability of a rocket in flight” (53); I. A. Merkulov, “Construction of trajectories of jet vehicles with an initial velocity” (64); F. Frankl, “Vortex motion and flow around bodies in plane-parallel supersonic flow” (82); Vetchinkin again, “Some problems in the dynamics of the jet aircraft” (95); E. S. Shchetinkov, “Application of oxygen jet engines to aircraft” (131); and two articles by V. I. Dudakov on calculating the takeoff run of an aircraft with starting rockets (141) and on braking its landing run with rockets (149).

Dushkin concludes that spaceflight is not yet technically feasible because of the mass ratio, suggesting staged rockets or far higher exhaust velocities as ways out, and sees the stratosphere as the near-term field for jet engines (p. 36). Printed 3,000 copies, approved for press 16 July 1935.