The BICh-7 was a tailless sport/touring aircraft designed and built in the USSR from 1929.
Chyeranovskii designed an enlarged BICh-3, at approximately 1.5 scale, with tandem open cockpits, underslung elevons (à la Junkers) centreline mono-wheel, wing-tip rudders with skids with no tail. Flight testing commenced in 1929 but was soon halted due to the very poor handling characteristics which rendered the BICh-7 almost impossible to take off. The BICh-7 was completely rebuilt as the BICh-7A, modifications included: enclosed tandem cockpits, a conventional style tail-skid undercarriage, and a fin with rudder faired into the rear of the cockpit nacelle. Flight tests resumed, in 1932, with much improved handling other than excessive speed loss when turning and engine vibration. The speed loss was attributed to interference between the large elevons and the rudder and was alleviated by adding breaker strips to the elevons and setting them at a lower incidence.
Data from Gunston, Bill. "The Osprey Encyclopaedia of Russian Aircraft 1875 – 1995". London, Osprey. 1995. ISBN 1-85532-405-9
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