Sukhoi Su - 9 ( 1946 ) The Sukhoi Su - 9 , or Samolyet K ( ) , ( USAF / DOD designation : Type 8 ) , was an early jet fighter built in the Soviet Union shortly after World War II . The design began in 1944 and was intended to use Soviet - designed turbojet engines . The design was heavily influenced by captured German jet fighters and it was subsequently redesigned to use a Soviet copy of a German turbojet . The Su - 9 was slower than competing Soviet aircraft and it was cancelled as a result . A modified version with different engines and a revised wing became the Su - 11 ( " Samolyet KL " ) , but this was did not enter production either . The Su - 13 ( " Samolyet KT " ) was a proposal to re - engine the aircraft with Soviet copies of the Rolls - Royce Derwent turbojet as well as to modify it for night fighting , but neither proposal was accepted . Design and development . Su - 9 . In 1944 , the Sukhoi design bureau ( OKB ) began designing a twin - engined fighter powered by two Lyulka TR - 1 turbojets , known internally as the Samolyet or Izdeliye ( item or product ) K . The ultimate design was very probably influenced by a captured Messerschmitt Me 262 , but the Su - 9 was not a copy of the German aircraft . The Su - 9 had an oval cross - section , all - metal stressed skin monocoque fuselage that housed a single cockpit . The pilot was protected by armor plates to his front , an armored seat back and a bulletproof windscreen for the bubble canopy . He was provided with an ejection seat , copied from that used in the Heinkel He 162 . The aircraft carried a total of of fuel in two bladder tanks , one each ahead and behind the pilot . The low - mounted , straight wing had a single - spar and a slight dihedral of 4°20 ' . The outer flaps were split and could act as air brakes . The Su - 9 was the first Soviet aircraft to use hydraulic powered controls . A Soviet copy of the Junkers Jumo 004 B turbojet , known as the RD - 10 , was hung under each wing in a streamlined nacelle . The aircraft had a tricycle undercarriage that retracted into the fuselage . The Su - 9 was designed with a very high wing loading which increased the aircraft ' s speed and reduced its dimensions . This consequently increased the take - off and landing speeds so it was equipped with a provision for two JATO bottles ( 11 . 27 kN ( 530 lbf ) thrust for 8 seconds ) mounted on the sides of the fuselage . These reduced the take - off distance by nearly 50 percent and a braking parachute was fitted to reduce the landing distance . The nose housed the armament of one Nudelman N - 37 autocannon and two Nudelman - Suranov NS - 23 autocannon . The N - 37 could be replaced by a Nudelman N - 45 . The aircraft carried 100 rounds for each NS - 23 and 40 rounds for the N - 37 . Two FAB - 250 high explosive bombs could be carried underneath the forward fuselage , but the N - 37 had to be dismounted to do so . As the TR - 1 engines originally intended for the Su - 9 were not yet ready for flight testing in late 1945 , Pavel Sukhoi suggested substituting a pair of Jumo 004 engines and this was approved on 15 December . The full - scale mockup was found to be acceptable on 16 February 1946 and the Council of People ' s Commissars issued an order on 26 February that the manufacturer ' s flight testing was to begin on 1 November . This goal was not met because the OKB was heavily committed to other projects like the trainer version of the Tupolev Tu - 2 bomber , inexperience with JATO units , and late delivery of RD - 10 engines . The first prototype was completed in mid - October and made its first flight on 13 November . The test pilots found the aircraft easy to fly , but the control forces were very high at speed and it lacked enough directional stability . Enlarging the vertical stabilizer cured this last problem and hydraulic boosters were fitted for the control system . The aircraft was revealed to the general public on 3 August 1947 at a flypast at Moscow ' s Tushino Airfield and the aircraft began its state acceptance trials three days later . Flight testing was completed by 25 May 1948 after 136 flights had been completed . It demonstrated a top speed of at an altitude of and an endurance of one hour and 44 minutes . It had very docile handling qualities with one engine inoperative . The aircraft was recommended for production , but it was significantly slower than the Mikoyan - Gurevich MiG - 9 and Yakovlev Yak - 15 . The government declined to do so and the program was terminated . A two - seat trainer version , the Su - 9UT , was planned during 1946 , but it too was cancelled . The cockpit for the student would have been positioned ahead of the instructor ' s cockpit and each would have had a separate canopy . The armament would have been reduced to a pair of Berezin B - 20 autocannon , each with a hundred rounds of ammunition . The armor would have been removed to save weight . Su - 11 . Another prototype was begun in 1946 , but this aircraft was intended to use the Yakovlev - designed version of the afterburning RD - 10F engine . However , wind tunnel testing of the Su - 9 in September revealed that drag could be reduced if the engine nacelles were mounted in the wing rather than underneath it , and the wing tips were redesigned to use a different airfoil that significantly reduced Mach tuck . These changes required that the entire wing be redesigned ; the wing spar was bent into an inverted U to accommodate the engines and slotted flaps replaced the simple flaps previously used . The tailplane was given a 5° dihedral to move it out of the engine exhaust . Before the prototype was finished , Sukhoi was ordered to use the Lyulka TR - 1 turbojets originally intended for the Su - 9 . This aircraft was designated the Su - 11 and was called Samolyet KL by the OKB . Each TR - 1 developed only 12 . 7 kN ( 2 , 865 lbf ) thrust each , rather than the 15 kN ( 3300 lbf ) required . The aircraft made its first flight on 28 May 1947 and also participated in the flypast at Tushino in August . It had a maximum speed of at sea level , but flight testing revealed that it lacked longitudinal stability at high speeds . Modifications of the wing / nacelle fillet s and lengthening the engine nacelles failed to cure these problems . Coupled with the unavailability of mature TR - 1 engines , these problems caused the program to be cancelled . Su - 13 . The Su - 13 , ( Samolyet KT ) , was the final attempt to further increase performance of the basic Su - 9 design , using wing sections reduced from 11 % to 9 % thickness / chord ratio and swept tailplanes . The aircraft was also fitted with a pair of Klimov RD - 500 ( unlicensed copies of the Rolls - Royce Derwent ) engines with 15 . 6 kN ( 3 , 500 lbf ) thrust each . The armament was changed to three 37 mm Nudelman N - 37 cannon , while drop tanks could be fitted underneath the wingtips . A night fighter version with a Torii radar was also proposed , but this required major structural changes to accommodate the radar . Neither version made it off the drawing board .