Russia Pilot FDC

Russia FDC
Name: The 100th Anniversary of Birth of Grigory Yakovlevich Bakhchivandzhi
Date of Issue: 16 February 2009

The chief test pilot of the BI program was Capt. Grigory Yakovlevich Bakhchivandzhi (Russian: Григорий Яковлевич Бахчиванджи; 20.02.1909 - 27.03.1943) - a pilot since 1933, credited with 5 air-to-air kills against Luftwaffe aircraft in 1941. Capt. Bakhchivandzhi was a test pilot of the Scientific Research Institute of the Soviet Air Force (NII VVS).

Additional flights of BI prototypes took place on 10 January 1943. The aircraft was piloted by Bakhchivandzhi and reached a maximum speed of 400 km/h at an altitude of 1110 m. Next flight took place on 10 February 1943, when a BI prototype, piloted by Gruzdev (later trained as a cosmonaut), reached a maximum speed of 675 km/h at an altitude of 2190 m. The BI was flown four more times in March of 1943 (on March 11, 14, 21, 27) by Capt. Bakhchivandzhi. During flights on March 11 and 14 the BI was tested at an altitude of 4000 m. On March 27, 1943 the BI-2 prototype reached a maximum speed of 990 km/h (unofficial world speed record) during a low-altitude flight. The aircraft crashed during landing.