The Makhonine MAK-10 Was Wanted By The Luftwaffe (Even If It Wasn't Very Good)

Not A Pound For Air To Ground
Not A Pound For Air To Ground
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Published 2024-06-18
The Makhonine MAK-10 was a curious, yet brilliant aircraft. It featured a sliding wing that increased the size of the aerofoil for take off and landing, and decreased it for high speed flight. Although its size and the low power of its engine made performance less than impressive, it still demonstrated the potential of variable geometry wings more than 20 years before the idea became mainstream.

As far as I know, there are no books on the Mak-10. This video is therefore a collection of information found on the internet. Interesting sources:

Foundational information: www-airwar-ru.translate.goog/enc/xplane/mak10.html

Typically excellent Secret Projects Forum post on Gourdou Leseurre variable span concepts: www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/gourdou-leseurre-…
All Comments (21)
  • @JTA1961
    He was definitely winging it...but ima let it slide
  • @Scott11078
    For the first split second after seeing Mac 10. "Wow never thought forgotten weapons would cover that one..." Then immediately "Oh it's our favorite forgotten aviation guy...."
  • @maxsmodels
    OKAY, I have theorized a telescoping wing for decades. I had no idea someone had actually done it. Amazing. Great work NAPFG.
  • @zenlizard1850
    How far down the aviation rabbit-hole did you have to go to find this one? Splendid job!
  • @MM22966
    Nice. Never heard of this guy. He's like a French Sikorsky who always had not quite enough luck.
  • @mitchelloates9406
    I believe they missed the mark, by concentrating on speed and combat aircraft. A developed design, with similar gliding abilities, could have made an excellent long range recon and maritime patrol aircraft, and would have been of extreme interest to the major navies of the time. Also, the short takeoff abilities and potential cargo carrying capacity, would have been highly prized in remote areas like the Alaskan Bush country. In essence, with the sliding wing, he was trying to achieve what was later done with swing-wing aircraft such as the F-111, the F-14, MIG-23, and others.
  • @LeCharles07
    The swing wing of the interwar period. Amazing. Thanks for sharing this gem with us.
  • @gort8203
    When I was in middle school my study hall notebook contained sketches of airplane designs with telescoping wings. I was wondering why nobody had tried it. Now I know.
  • @Matt_The_Hugenot
    As a concept demonstrator this is pretty good. Potentially useful for operating of short improvised runways.
  • @artcamp7
    A career of what ifs and maybes. That's my epithet
  • @marktuffield6519
    What a fascinating concept and something I had not heard about before, really well done 🙂
  • @shengyi1701
    Maverick would love this plane for the US Navy! MAK 10 huh? Let’s give them MAK 10!
  • @MartinSheckelstorm
    You made I video I never expected to see. Great work my man 👏👏👏
  • @scroggins100
    Amazing, I suppose the next one was swing wing! Love your work by the way. Thanks for your efforts