Костиковский когти

Project 302 was a mid-War Soviet mixed-power fighter/interceptor concept that would have used a liquid fuel rocket for take-off and ramjet engines for flight.

Originally designed by Mikhail Tikhonravov over a two year period, the project was later taken over by the politicaly motivated AG Kostikov, credited by some as the father of the Katyusha, the mobile, repeating rocket weapon system. Tikhonravov would be later become infamous for coining and popularizing the term Cosmonaut, both inside and outside the Soviet Union.

In November 1942, Kostikov presented Tikhonravov's design concept to Joseph Stalin (some sources claimed he passed the project as his own) and was appointed chief designer and given funding to build two prototypes. Two air-frames were eventually built, one was used for static ground tests, while the other would fly, as a towed glider, in August 1943.

Despite the promising performance numbers of the air tunnel and glider results, the ram jet engine tests were falling short of expectations and the calculated flight time of an all rocket version was too short to be considered an effective option. The project as a whole was falling beyond schedule.

In in early 1943, the delays in the project were investigated by a commission, headed by Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev and the following February, Kostikov was found to be fully at fault, removed and imprisoned.

Later, Semyon Alekseyev would rediscover the design and research data of the Kostikov 302 and combined it with captured German engineering findings, creating the Alekseyev I-211 and I-215 fighters.

In World of Warplanes, the Kostikov 302 is a premium, tier VII Soviet Fighter, with an exceptional climb rate, thanks to it's tail-rocket engine. The ram jet engines are capable of getting the aircraft up to speed quickly, but require some time to cool down. The nose mounted cannons should be fired in short bursts, due to accuracy and heat issues. Avoid taking damage as much as possible, since the 302 isn't very durable in combat and relies on speed as it's main strength.

Here is a video that tried to cover all of these points, both the good and the bad ones....