acceptance trials along with the first production aircraft. Anticipating that any deficiencies could be rectified during production or by modification, production of 27 examples for service with Soviet Naval Aviation (AV-MF) was authorised from 1958 to 1961. The Be-10 is an all-metal high-wing monoplane with the engines located beneath the wing roots and with splayed-out tailpipes. To minimize the risk of water ingestion, the engine air intakes are located on the forward fuselage section with spray fences on either side of the bow protecting the engines from water ingestion. The streamlined hull was fitted with a shallow single-step, sea rudder under the rear fuselage, 50° swept wings with marked anhedral and balance floats attached by short pylons at the wing-tips. Conventional swept-back stressed skin construction tail surfaces were a 35° sweptback fin and 40° swept tail-planes just above the rear fuselage. Control surfaces were Ailerons on each wing, a rudder on the fin and elevators on the tail-planes. The fuselage was a two step design with a high length to beam ratio to improve rough water handling, v-section planing bottom, two steps and was divided into nine water-tight compartments the forward and rear compartments being pressurised. Engine nacelles for the Lyul'ka AL-7F engines were attached to the fuselage sides under the wing centre-section. The original design showed some weaknesses in the seaworthiness and had to be modified; after modification the Be-10 was seaworthy up to a wave height of 1.2 meters (4 feet) and able to fly with wind speeds up to (57.6 km/hr; 36 mph) from water or land. Operational history Operational use of the Be-10 began when the 2nd Squadron of the 977th Independent Naval Long-range Reconnaissance Air Regiment (977th OMDRAP) started replacing its Beriev Be-6 flying boats with Be-10 aircraft. This squadron and the 1st Squadron of the 977th OMDRAP became the only operators of the Be-10, operating from a naval base at Lake Donuzlav on the Crimean peninsula The first public appearance of the Be-10 was when four aircraft flew over the 1961 Aviation Day air display at Tushino, giving the impression that the Be-10 was already in service. However, the Be-10 proved to be difficult to fly and there were several accidents. The Be-10 suffered from metal fatigue due to the stress on the airframe from the high-speed takeoffs and landings, together with corrosion. The Be-10 was removed from service in 1968, and was replaced