Domestic aircraft designer. Famous aircraft designers
Armament and military equipment known since ancient times. During the existence of mankind, hundreds of thousands of samples have been developed - from a stone ax to an intercontinental missile. A huge role in the creation of weapons belongs to domestic designers.
First in Rus' firearms(both manual and artillery) were called the same - pishchal. A significant difference in the design of hand and artillery arquebuses arose with the advent of matchlocks at the end of the 15th century. Since the 16th century, hand-held arquebuses with a wheel-flint fuse have been known, which were in service with Russian troops until the 18th century.
In 1856 in Russia rifle received the official name - rifle. In the same year, the first Russian six-line (15.24 mm) rifle was adopted. But practice has shown the advantages of small-caliber rifles. Therefore, in 1868, a small-caliber rifle was adopted by the Russian army. It was developed by Russian military engineers A.P. Gorlov and K.I. Ginius with the assistance of the American Colonel X. Berdan. In America, the Berdanka was rightly called the “Russian rifle.”
The patriarchs of the domestic shooting business were S.I. Mosin, N.M. Filatov, V.G. Fedorov. It was they who trained such famous gunsmith designers as P.M. Goryunov, V.A. Degtyarev, M.T. Kalashnikov, Ya.U. Roshchepey, S.G. Simonov, F.V. Tokarev, G.S. Shpagin et al.
Sergei Ivanovich Mosin
The author of the famous three-line rifle of the 1891 model was Sergei Ivanovich Mosin. For the creation of a rifle, distinguished by excellent tactical and technical characteristics, Mosin was awarded the Great Mikhailovsky Prize - the most prestigious award for inventions in the field of artillery and weapons. For Russian inventors, the Mosin three-line rifle became the foundation for research in the field of automatic small arms.
One of the talented creators of domestic weapons, Ya.U. Roshchepey made the first sample of a rifle “from which you can shoot automatically.”
The modernized Mosin rifle was put into service in 1930. On its basis, the designers developed a sniper version and a carbine, which had the same design principles as the 1891/1930 model rifle. It was only in 1944 that production of the Mosin rifle was discontinued. Thus, more than 50 years passed from the first sample manufactured at the Tula Arms Factory on April 16, 1891 to the last. No small arms system in the world has known such longevity.
But the life of the three-ruler did not end there either. After the Great Patriotic War, designers of sporting weapons, using the excellent tactical and technical capabilities of the three-line rifle, created the MTs-12 small-caliber rifle and the MTs-13 arbitrary 7.62 mm rifle. These models have become one of the world's best models and allowed our athletes to win the highest awards at Olympic Games, world championships and other major competitions.
Vladimir Grigorievich Fedorov
An outstanding developer of domestic automatic weapons was V.G. Fedorov. In the spring of 1911, Fedorov's automatic rifle passed the first test, and in the summer of 1912 it passed field tests. At the same time, the F.V. rifle, which performed well, was tested. Tokarev. Along with domestic systems, eight foreign samples were also tested, but none of them were assessed positively. This was a great victory for the Russian school of machine gunsmiths. But with the outbreak of the First World War, by government decision, work on improving automatic rifles was stopped. Only in 1916 was it possible to equip a special unit with machine guns and send it to the front. This was the first submachine gunner unit in the wars. At that time, no army in the world had them. At the end of the war automatic systems Fedorov began to arm aviation.
One of Fedorov’s students and associates was V.A. Degtyarev. In 1927, a machine gun was adopted by the Red Army, which bore the DP mark - “Degtyarev, infantry”. After this, Degtyarev began working on the creation of a domestic machine gun for aviation. In March 1928, the Degtyarev aircraft machine gun was accepted for mass production and replaced the English Lewis machine guns in Soviet aviation.
Degtyarev worked closely with other talented designers - G.S. Shpagin and P.M. Goryunov. The result of their cooperation was a whole series of machine guns. In 1939, a 12.7-mm heavy machine gun of the 1938 model DShK (Degtyarev - Shpagin, large-caliber) entered service. At first it was intended for infantry, but then found application in other branches of the military. Penetrating armor up to 15 mm, the DShK was an effective weapon in the fight against enemy aircraft.
Vasily Alekseevich Degtyarev
When the Great Patriotic War began, Degtyarev was in his seventies. But the designer sought to help front-line soldiers by creating new types of weapons. Since the enemy was strong in tanks, it was extremely necessary effective means fight them.
In a very short time, two prototypes of anti-tank rifles were prepared - Degtyarev and Simonov. The Simonov gun had an advantage in rate of fire, while the Degtyarev gun had an advantage in weight and ease of action. Both guns had good fighting qualities and were put into service.
The cooperation between V.A. developed in a special way. Degtyareva with P.M. Goryunov. The young designer created a machine gun that was superior to the machine gun of the Degtyarev system and was recommended by a special commission for adoption. For Vasily Alekseevich this was a surprise and a serious moral test, but when asked which machine gun to adopt, Degtyarev did not hesitate to answer that the heavy machine gun of the Goryunov system should be adopted. The eminent designer in this case showed true nobility and a truly state-like approach.
In May 1943, a new heavy machine gun was put into service under the name "7.62-mm heavy machine gun of the Goryunov system, model 1943 (SG-43)." Front-line soldiers immediately appreciated the high maneuverability of the weapon, simplicity of design, reliability and reliability, relatively light weight, and simplified preparation for firing compared to the Maxim.
The experience of combat use of the Goryunov heavy machine gun and its remarkable combat qualities attracted the attention of tank weapon designers. Soon the decision was made to use the machine gun on medium tanks and armored personnel carriers.
Premature death did not allow the talented designer to realize many of his plans. State Prize P.M. Goryunov was awarded posthumously.
Fedor Vasilievich Tokarev
F.V. was also a talented and original designer. Tokarev. The “Patriarch of Russian Weapons” successfully competed with foreign designers - Browning, Mauser, Colt, Nagant and others. Tokarev created about 150 different types of weapons. He is one of those who stood at the origins of domestic automatic weapons. Tokarev first became acquainted with automatic weapons in 1907. A year later he was firing automatically from a rifle of his own design. In 1913, the Tokarev rifle passed the next tests, ahead of the best foreign models of Browning and Sjögren.
IN Soviet time Tokarev improved the Maxim 1910 model and designed several types of aircraft machine guns. The designer’s great merit is the creation of the TT pistol in the pre-war years.
But the main achievement in creative life Tokarev is an automatic rifle. In May 1938, Tokarev presented what he considered to be the best of the 17 rifle models he created. As a result of tests, his rifle showed high quality and was adopted for service under the name “7.62-mm self-loading rifle of the Tokarev system, model 1938 (SVT-38).” The designer worked on its creation for 30 years. On the basis of this rifle, in the same year Tokarev developed sniper rifle with an optical sight.
Creation of G.S. Shpagin's famous submachine gun (PPSh-41) was preceded by long work on many automatic weapon systems together with V.G. Fedorov and V.A. Degtyarev. This was an important stage in the development of the future designer. The PPSh had undeniable advantages over existing models. The first batch of machine guns was tested at the front, directly in battle. The results exceeded all expectations. The commanders asked to quickly establish mass production of Shpagin assault rifles.
The simplicity of the design and manufacturing technology of machine guns made it possible already in 1941, when some military factories were dismantled and transferred to the east, to launch their production in small enterprises and even in workshops. The PPSh deprived the enemy of the advantage over our army in automatic small arms.
A.I. made a significant contribution to the improvement of domestic small arms. Sudaev. World famous M.T. Kalashnikov considers the Sudaev submachine gun (PPS) “the best submachine gun of the Second World War.” Not a single sample could compare with it in terms of simplicity of design, reliability, trouble-free operation, and ease of use. Sudaev's weapons were very loved by paratroopers, tank crews, scouts, and skiers. To manufacture PPS, it required half the metal and three times less time than for PPS.
In the forefront of gunsmith designers A.I. Sudaev appeared unexpectedly and quickly. Already at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he developed a project for a simplified anti-aircraft gun, and then began working on the creation of a submachine gun. The officer ensured that he was sent to besieged Leningrad and took part directly there in organizing the production of weapons.
The machine gun of Doctor of Technical Sciences, Lieutenant General Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov (1919) is known throughout the world. It is lightweight, compact, reliable, and elegant.
Senior Sergeant M.T. made his first sample. Kalashnikov was made in the locomotive depot where he worked before the war, and at that time was on leave after being seriously wounded and shell-shocked. At the beginning of the war, Mikhail Timofeevich was a tank driver and saw that the tank driver, having jumped out of the damaged vehicle, no longer participated in the battle. The need to arm tank crews with compact, convenient automatic weapons was obvious.
In the spring of 1942, the prototype was ready. However, the homemade machine gun was rejected “for lack of advantages over existing models.” But the commission noted the extraordinary abilities of the senior sergeant, who set a goal for himself: the machine gun must certainly be much better than all existing models.
Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov
The next tests of the new machines took place in traditionally harsh conditions. One after another, the competitors “left the race”, unable to withstand the most difficult tests. The Kalashnikov assault rifle withstood everything, was recognized as the best and was put into service under the name “7.62-mm Kalashnikov assault rifle, model 1947.” Kalashnikov is also responsible for the design of a 7.62 mm single machine gun chambered for a rifle cartridge (1961). Subsequently, a team of designers under the leadership of Kalashnikov created a number of modifications of automatic small arms. The 7.62 mm modernized assault rifle (AKM), 7.62 mm light machine gun (RPK) and their varieties were adopted for service. In 1974, AK-74 and AKS-74 assault rifles, RPK-74 and RPKS-74 light machine guns chambered for a 5.45 mm cartridge were created. For the first time in world practice, a series of unified models of small arms appeared, identical in principle of operation and a unified automation scheme. The weapon created by Kalashnikov is distinguished by its simplicity of design, high reliability and efficiency; it is used in the armies of more than 50 countries.
Russian artillery also has a remarkable history., the appearance of which is associated with the name of Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy (1350-1389). It was under him that the cannon foundry business was born.
Russian artillery developed quickly and independently. This is confirmed by its numbers. By the end of the 14th century, there were up to 4 thousand artillery pieces in Rus'.
In the middle of the 15th century, under Ivan III, “cannon huts” appeared, and in 1488 - 1489 the Cannon Yard was built in Moscow. In the workshops of the Cannon Yard, Andrei Chokhov in 1586 cast the largest caliber cannon in the world, its weight is 40 tons, caliber is 890 mm. Currently it is located on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin. The cannon yard was rich in the talents of other foundry masters. Entire “cannon” dynasties and schools appeared. On the squeak of 1491 it was cast that it was made by “Yakovlev’s disciples Vanya and Vasyuk.” The gunners Ignatius, Stepan Petrov, Bogdan Pyatoy and others are known for their successes.
At the beginning of the 17th century, Russian craftsmen made a three-inch bronze arquebus with rifling in the bore. It was the world's first rifled weapon, more than 200 years ahead of development artillery equipment in other countries. Other evidence has reached our time that in the Russian artillery of that period there were advanced technical ideas. Foreigners knew about this and sought to obtain samples of Russian weapons.
After the Northern War, the chief of Russian artillery, Ya.V. Bruce wrote to Peter I: “The British fell in love with Siberian cannons... and are asking for one cannon as a sample.”
Andrey Konstantinovich Nartov
The developed industrial base and the talent of domestic designers allowed Peter I to create artillery, which throughout the 18th century remained the most numerous and technically advanced artillery in the world. The famous Russian mechanic A.K. made a great contribution to the development of domestic artillery. Nartov, who in the second quarter of the 18th century created special machines and tools for the production of artillery pieces, was the first in the world to propose an optical sight. However, the most famous invention A.K. Nartov had a 44-barreled circular rapid-fire battery. 44 bronze mortars were placed on a wheel-shaped machine, divided into 8 sectors of 5-6 barrels each. The design made it possible to fire from all mortars in the sector simultaneously. Then the machine was turned, fired from another sector, and at this time reloading could be done from the opposite side.
A major contribution to the development of Russian artillery was made by Pyotr Ivanovich Shuvalov (1710-1762). Under his leadership, Russian artillery officers M. Danilov, M. Zhukov, M. Martynov, I. Meller, M. Rozhnov in 1757-1759. developed several samples of smooth-bore howitzers for firing with flat and mounted fire. These weapons, depicting a mythical beast with a horn in its forehead, were called “unicorns”. Light and maneuverable guns fired buckshot, cannonballs, explosive grenades, incendiary shells at a distance of up to 4 km. After Russia, unicorns were adopted first by France, then by others European countries and remained in service for over 100 years. Russian artillery already in those days accompanied the infantry in battle and fired over their battle formations.
Mikhail Vasilyevich Danilov (1722 - 1790) made a great contribution to the improvement of artillery and pyrotechnics. He invented a 3-pound gun with two barrels, called “twins.” He prepared and published the first Russian artillery course, as well as a manual for the preparation of fireworks and illuminations, in which he gave brief information on the history of pyrotechnics in Russia.
Vladimir Stepanovich Baranovsky
In 1872-1877 artillery engineer V.S. Baranovsky created the first rapid-fire artillery gun and used cartridge loading on it. Unfortunately, the talented designer died tragically during artillery tests. None of the foreign guns could surpass the domestic three-inch gun of the 1902 model, created according to Baranovsky’s ideas by professor of the Mikhailovsky Artillery Academy N.A. Zabudsky.
Russian engineers showed great skill in creating powerful projectiles. Thus, the high-explosive grenade V.I. Rdultovsky appeared in artillery in 1908 and, under the name of the “old high-explosive grenade,” survived until the Great Patriotic War.
Artillery was called the “God of War” during the Great Patriotic War. Soviet designers artillery systems Before the war, they created quite powerful and sophisticated guns and mortars. 76-mm cannon designed by V.G. Hitler's artillery consultant, Professor Wolf, considered Grabin "the best 76-mm gun of the Second World War" and one of "the most ingenious designs in the history of cannon artillery." Under the leadership of Grabin, a 57-mm anti-tank gun, which knew no equal, was created before the war, as well as a powerful 100-mm anti-tank gun. The 152-mm howitzer designed by F.F. was very effective during the war. Petrova.
Vasily Gavrilovich Grabin
In 1943, about half of all artillery weapons of the Red Army were mortars. Many of them were developed under the leadership of B.I. Shavyrina. These are 50-mm company, 82-mm battalion, 120-mm regimental mortars. In October 1944, a 240 mm mortar appeared. In the creation of such powerful mortars, Germany lagged behind the USSR. Only in 1942, using drawings captured from one of the factories in Ukraine, German engineers began production of 122-mm mortars, which were an exact copy Soviet.
From the second half of the 17th century, rockets began to be used in Rus'. At the end of the 17th century, the young Tsar Peter was also involved in the production of rockets. He founded a special “rocket establishment”, where Peter himself manufactured and launched rockets, and came up with compositions of “fire projectiles”. Peter’s signal flare existed in the army for almost a century and a half. In subsequent years, missile technology in Russia is constantly being improved: new missile shells and launchers are being created, and the basics of missile firing are being developed. The initiator of these cases was Alexander Dmitrievich Zasyadko. Zasyadko’s work was successfully continued by Konstantin Ivanovich Konstantinov. Rockets of his design were used in the Crimean (Eastern) War of 1853-1856.
Subsequently, domestic rocket systems were continued in the famous Katyushas and other multiple launch rocket systems. The developers of new design ideas were domestic scientists N.I. Tikhomirov and V.A. Artemyev. Back in 1912 N.I. Tikhomirov proposed using a missile for military ships. Based on the Tikhomirov–Artemyev group and the Moscow study group jet propulsion(GIRD) in 1933 the Jet Research Institute was founded. Already in 1939, rocket weapons were first used in the form of aircraft missiles. In 1938, the institute began to develop a installation designed for 24 projectiles of 132 mm caliber.
On June 21, 1941, literally a day before the start of the Great Patriotic War, ground-based rocket launchers were demonstrated to the Government Commission. After the demonstration, it was decided to immediately mass produce the units and rockets. Less than a month later, on July 14, 1941, the baptism of fire of a new weapon - the famous Katyusha - took place near Orsha. The formidable weapon was used by the battery of captain I.A. Flerov.
After the war, our scientists I.V. Kurchatov, M.B. Keldysh, A.D. Sakharov, Yu.B. Khariton and others created atomic weapons, and long-range bomber divisions were formed to deliver them. Thus ended the US monopoly on this type of weapon.
Born in 1959 Rocket Forces strategic purpose (Strategic Missile Forces). The creators of intercontinental ballistic missiles, liquid jet engines, control devices and complex ground equipment for them were academicians S.P. Korolev, V.P. Glushko, V.N. Chelomey, N.A. Pilyugin, V.P. Makeev, M.F. Reshetnev, V.P. Barmin, A.M. Isaev, M.K. Yangel and others.
Mikhail Kuzmich Yangel
Thanks to their talent and dedication to their work, launch complexes for medium and short-range ballistic missiles, the Proton rocket and the universal space system Energia - Buran were created, intercontinental missiles (R-16, R-7 and R-9) and missiles medium range(R-12, R-14).
A new stage in the technical equipment of the Strategic Missile Forces is associated with the creation and placing on combat duty of the RS-16, RS-18, RS-20 missile systems. In these missile systems Our designers used fundamentally new technical solutions that made it possible to increase the effectiveness of the combat use of missiles and enhance their protection from enemy attacks.
The situation and level of development of military affairs also determined the creation of military space forces. Our scientists and designers have developed a unique military space system that has greatly increased its efficiency various genera troops and types of weapons. Our military satellites are constantly in space, with the help of which reconnaissance, communications and command and control of troops are carried out, the location of ships, aircraft, mobile missile launchers is determined, weapons are aimed at targets, and other tasks are solved.
The history of creation and improvement is very interesting and dynamic. tanks, which began in our country. In May 1915, a tracked vehicle of the Russian designer A. Porokhovshchikov, armed with two machine guns placed in a rotating turret, was tested at the training ground. This is how a fundamentally new type of weapon appeared - the tank. Since then, intense competition in the world has not stopped for the creation of the best armored combat vehicle, increasing its combat properties - firepower, mobility, security.
Mikhail Ilyich Koshkin
Soviet designers M.I. Koshkin, N.A. Kucherenko and A.A. Morozov was created medium tank The T-34, which became the most popular armored vehicle in the world - more than 52 thousand were produced. This is the only car that went through the entire Second World War without significant constructive changes- it was so brilliantly conceived and executed.
American military historian M. Caidin wrote: “The T-34 tank was created by people who were able to see the battlefield of the mid-20th century better than anyone else in the West could.” Since December 1943, an 85-mm cannon was installed on the T-34, and its armor-piercing projectile penetrated 100 mm thick armor from a distance of 1000 meters, and a sub-caliber projectile, from a distance of 500 meters, penetrated 138 mm armor, which made it possible to successfully fight the German "tigers" " and "panthers".
Together with the T-34, our heavy KV and IS tanks, created under the leadership of Zh.Ya., successfully operated against the enemy. Kotin and N.L. Dukhova.
Currently, measures are being taken to replace the currently operating T-72 and T-80 tanks with a unified and more advanced T-90 model. The new vehicle has an optical-electronic suppression system, a complex that allows firing a guided missile on the move at a range of 5 kilometers, and a backup fire control system for the crew commander.
The achievements of domestic scientists and designers in the field of shipbuilding. In the middle of the 19th century, the transition from the construction of wooden sailing ships to steam ships began all over the world, and ships made of metal appeared. The Russian Navy is becoming armored.
History has left us with the names of the most famous shipbuilders who were ahead of their time. Particularly interesting is the fate of Pyotr Akindinovich Titov, who became the chief engineer of the largest shipbuilding company and did not even have a certificate of completion of a rural school. The famous Soviet shipbuilder Academician A.N. Krylov considered himself a student of Titov.
In 1834, when the fleet did not have a single metal ship, a submarine made of metal was built at the Alexander Foundry. Its armament consisted of a pole with a harpoon, a powder mine and four launchers for launching missiles.
In 1904, according to the project of I.G. Bubnov - the famous builder of battleships - construction began submarines. The Akula and Bars boats created by our craftsmen turned out to be more advanced than the submarines of all the countries that fought in the First World War.
Sergey Nikitich Kovalev
An important role in improving domestic submarine fleet played by the Soviet designer, shipbuilder and inventor, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences Sergei Nikitich Kovalev (1919). Since 1955, he worked as the chief designer of the Leningrad Central Design Bureau "Rubin". Kovalev is the author of over 100 scientific papers and many inventions. Under his leadership, nuclear missile-carrying submarines were created, known abroad under the codes "Yankee", "Delta" and "Typhoon".
The Russian fleet was far ahead of foreign fleets in the development of mine weapons. Effective mines were developed by our compatriots I.I. Fitztum, P.L. Schilling, B.S. Yakobson, N.N. Azarov. The anti-submarine depth charge was created by our scientist B.Yu. Averkiev.
In 1913, Russian designer D.P. Grigorovich built the world's first seaplane. Since then in domestic Navy Work was carried out to equip ships as carriers of naval aviation. Air transports created on the Black Sea, which could accommodate up to seven seaplanes, took part in combat operations during the First World War.
A prominent representative of domestic ship designers is Boris Izrailevich Kupensky (1916-1982). He was the chief designer of the Ermine-class patrol ships (1954-1958), the first anti-submarine ships in the Soviet Navy with anti-aircraft missile systems and gas turbine all-mode power plant(1962-1967), the first surface combat ship in the USSR Navy with a nuclear power plant and the lead in the series of nuclear-powered missile cruisers "Kirov" (1968-1982) with powerful strike and anti-aircraft weapons and an almost unlimited cruising range.
In no other area of Russian design thought are there so many famous minds as in aircraft industry. OK. Antonov, A.A. Arkhangelsky, R.L. Bartini, R.A. Belyakov, V.F. Bolkhovitinov, D.P. Grigorovich, M.I. Gurevich, S.V. Ilyushin, N.I. Kamov, S.A Lavochkin, A.I. Mikoyan, M.L. Mil, V.M. Myasishchev, V.M. Petlyakov, I.I. Sikorsky, P.S. Sukhoi, A.A. Tupolev, A.S. Yakovlev and others created models of airplanes and helicopters that were in mass production for many years, and many of the technical solutions they found are still used in the design of modern aircraft.
Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky
The designer A.F. became a true innovator. Mozhaisky, 10-15 years ahead of foreign competitors. Mozhaisky created a working model of the aircraft, which in 1877 was presented to the aeronautics commission. The Russian inventor not only showed in detail the design of the future device, but also demonstrated all the elements of flight: takeoff run, takeoff, flight and landing. Subsequently, Captain Mozhaisky created a life-size aircraft, but the commission gave a negative opinion on Mozhaisky’s airplane and recommended that he abandon the creation of an aircraft with a fixed wing and build it “on the model of birds with flapping wings,” with which the designer did not agree. The first unsuccessful flight tests did not stop the officer, and he persistently improved the airplane until his death (spring 1890).
One of the first Russian aviation designers who glorified domestic science and technology was Ya.M. Gakkel (1874-1945). Between 1908 and 1912 he designed 15 aircraft various types and appointments. At the same time, he continuously improved the quality of the machines and their flight performance.
A landmark event in the history of aviation took place on May 13, 1913 near St. Petersburg. Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (1880-1992) took into the air an unprecedented aircraft of his own design. Its weight was four times that of the largest airplane at that time. In terms of carrying capacity, the new machine could only be compared with the largest airships of that time. This truly revolutionary aircraft was the Russian Knight.
For a long time, people abroad could not believe that the Russian aircraft designer had succeeded in what was considered impossible in the West. In 1912-1914, under the leadership of Sikorsky, the Grand and Ilya Muromets aircraft were also created, which were distinguished long range flight and laid the foundation for multi-engine aviation.
Andrey Nikolaevich Tupolev
Of great importance in the history of aviation was the creation under the leadership of Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev (1888-1972) of the world's largest passenger aircraft ANT-20 "Maxim Gorky" (1934), as well as medium and heavy bombers, torpedo bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Together with N.E. Zhukovsky, he took an active part in the organization of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI). Under his leadership, more than 100 different types of aircraft were designed and built, 70 of which were put into mass production. Aircraft TB-1, TB-3, SB, TB-7, MTB-2, Tu-2 and torpedo boats G-4, G-5 were used during the Great Patriotic War. In the post-war years, under the leadership of Tupolev, a number of aircraft were created for Soviet army and the Navy, civil aviation, including the first Soviet jet bombers Tu-12 (1947), Tu-16; the first jet passenger aircraft Tu-104 (1954); the first turboprop intercontinental passenger airliner Tu-114 (1957) and the subsequent Tu-124, Tu-134, Tu-154, as well as a number of supersonic aircraft, including the passenger Tu-144.
Tupolev trained many aircraft designers, around whom independent design bureaus subsequently formed: V.M. Petlyakova, P.O. Sukhoi, V.M. Myasishcheva, A.A. Arkhangelsky and others.
An outstanding contribution to the development of domestic aviation was made by designers A.S. Yakovlev, S.A. Lavochkin, A.I. Mikoyan, S.V. Ilyushin and G.M. Beriev. In the design bureaus they led, new fighters, bombers, attack aircraft were designed, tested and put into mass production in a very short time, flying boats and ship-borne aircraft were created.
Pavel Osipovich Sukhoi
A talented aircraft designer was Pavel Osipovich Sukhoi (1895-1975). Under his leadership, more than 50 aircraft designs were created, many of which were distinguished by high flight performance and combat characteristics. A multi-purpose aircraft of his design (Su-2) was successfully used during the Great Patriotic War. In 1942-1943, he created the Su-6 armored attack aircraft. Sukhoi is also one of the founders of Soviet jet and supersonic aviation. In the post-war years, the design bureau, under his leadership, developed jet aircraft Su-9, Su-10, Su-15, etc., and in 1955-1956 - supersonic jet aircraft with swept and delta wings (Su-7b, etc.). Aircraft designed by Sukhoi set 2 world altitude records (1959 and 1962) and 2 world speed records on a closed route (1960 and 1962).
In the coming years, the Su-24M front-line bomber will be replaced by the Su-34 multifunctional bomber, which has no analogues in the world. Its main purpose is to hit highly protected point targets at any time of the day and in any weather conditions.
The talent and dedication of our scientists and designers make it possible to have such types of weapons that no other army in the world has. So, only Russia has ekranoplanes. The general designer of the first ekranoplanes is R.E. Alekseev. At the end of the 40s, he created a hydrofoil torpedo boat with a speed unprecedented at that time - 140 km/h and high seaworthiness. The subsequent “Rockets” and “Meteors” were the brainchild of a military scientist.
In the West, ekranoplanes were also designed, but after a number of failures they stopped working. In our country, ekranoplanes were created in various versions: attack, anti-submarine, rescue. The ekranoplan with a displacement of more than 500 tons and a speed of 400-500 km/h was tested by the general designer himself. Unique technique capable not only of landing for military purposes, but also of carrying out peaceful passenger and cargo transportation, and conducting rescue and research work.
The Ka-50 anti-tank helicopter, called the “Black Shark,” also has no analogues. Since 1982, this combat vehicle has won various competitions more than once and amazed specialists at various exhibitions.
The helicopter has powerful weapons. NURS blocks are installed on it, launchers ATGM "Whirlwind" with laser beam guidance, 30 mm caliber cannon with 500 rounds of ammunition. Missiles are launched from 8-10 kilometers, that is, outside the range of enemy air defense. The pilot's ejection seat and preliminary shooting of the helicopter blades ensure the pilot's rescue over the entire range of speeds and altitudes, including zero.
The Russian land has always been rich in talents; we showed the world Mendeleev and Korolev, Popov and Kalashnikov. The list of outstanding domestic military designers can be continued for a very long time. The sword of the Russian army was forged by the labor and intellect of many hundreds and thousands of our compatriots.
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From the very beginning of the existence of the Soviet state, the party and government took every possible care to create the air fleet of the Country of Soviets. Issues of aviation development were the focus of attention of Soviet party and government bodies and were repeatedly considered at party congresses, special sessions and meetings with the participation of senior Soviet party and government officials.
Domestic aircraft manufacturing in the early twenties was based on the modernization and serial production of the best models of foreign-made aircraft. In parallel, work was carried out to create our own designs.
One of the first aircraft built in Soviet times was a modernized version of the English DN-9. Its development was entrusted to N.N. Polikarpov, and the aircraft in various modifications was called R-1. At the same time, based on the English Avro aircraft, a two-seat training aircraft U-1 was produced, intended for flight schools.
Of the domestic aircraft of original design created in the twenties, the AK-1 passenger aircraft by V. L. Alexandrov and V. V. Kalinin should be noted. Two aircraft were designed by pilot V.O. Pisarenko and built in the workshops of the Sevastopol pilot school, where he was an instructor. The design teams led by D. P. Grigorovich and N. N. Polikarpov, who worked on the creation of flying boats, passenger aircraft, and fighter aircraft, were very famous.
During this period, there was a transition in the domestic aircraft industry to the creation of aircraft made of metal. In 1925, the design bureau AGOS (aviation, hydroaviation and experimental construction) was created at TsAGI, headed by A. N. Tupolev. The topics of the AGOS work were very diverse, and teams were formed within the bureau. The engineers who headed them later became famous designers.
Many of the aircraft created at the bureau participated in international exhibitions and long-distance flights. Thus, ANT-3 (R-3) aircraft were used for flights across European capitals and the Far Eastern flight Moscow Tokyo. The heavy metal aircraft TB-1 (ANT-4) flew from Moscow to New York in 1929. Aircraft of this type were built in series and were used only in long-range bomber aircraft, but also in Arctic expeditions. The technical manager of the TB-1 project was designer V. M. Petlyakov. AGOS also designed the ANT-9 passenger aircraft, which made a long-distance flight of 9,037 km.
At the same time, the land aircraft engineering department (OSS), under the leadership of N. N. Polikarpov, built I-3 and DI-2 fighter aircraft. During the same period, the well-known U-2 (Po-2) aircraft was built, which served for about 35 years. One of the very successful was the R-5, created by the land aircraft manufacturing department, which was subsequently produced in various versions - as a reconnaissance aircraft, an attack aircraft, and even as a light bomber.
The department of naval aircraft construction, headed by D.P. Grigorovich, built naval aircraft, mainly reconnaissance aircraft.
Along with combat and passenger vehicles, airplanes and light aircraft were designed for sports organizations, among them the first aircraft of A. S. Yakovlev, called AIR.
In the early thirties, airplanes had the old forms - a biplane design and landing gear that was not retractable in flight. The skin of metal planes was corrugated. At the same time, a reorganization was taking place in the experimental aircraft manufacturing industry, and teams based on aircraft types were created at the Aviarabotnik plant.
Initially, the task to develop the I-5 aircraft was given to A. N. Tupolev, and later N. N. Polikarpov and D. P. Grigorovich were involved in its creation. This aircraft, in various modifications, was in service for almost ten years, and I-15, I-153, I-16 fighters even took part in combat operations initial period Great Patriotic War.
The team of I. I. Pogossky designed seaplanes, in particular the maritime long-range reconnaissance aircraft MDR-3 (later its team was headed by G. M. Beriev, who built seaplanes for naval aviation until the seventies).
A long-range bomber brigade under the leadership of S.V. Ilyushin somewhat later designed the DB-3 aircraft, and then the well-known Il-2 attack aircraft. S. A. Kocherigin’s team spent several years designing an attack aircraft, which, however, was not used. Under the leadership of A. N. Tupolev, heavy bombers were created, including the TB-3 - one of the best and most famous aircraft of this type.
Design bureaus led by A. I. Putilov and R. L. Bartini worked on the creation of all-metal steel aircraft.
The successes achieved in aircraft construction and especially in engine design made it possible to begin creating the ANT-25, a record-breaking flight range aircraft. This aircraft, powered by an M-34R engine designed by A. A. Mikulin, went down in history after its flights from Moscow through North Pole in USA.
By the beginning of the forties, in accordance with the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars “On the reconstruction of existing and construction of new aircraft factories,” several aircraft factories were put into operation, which were intended to produce the latest aircraft. During the same period, a competition was announced for the best design of a fighter aircraft. Talented design engineers S. A. Lavochkin, V. P. Gorbunov, M. I. Gudkov, A. I. Mikoyan, M. I. Gurevich, M. M. Pashinyan, V. M. Petlyakov worked on its creation. N. N. Polikarpov, P. O. Sukhoi, V. K. Tairov, I. F. Florov, V. V. Shevchenko, A. S. Yakovlev, V. P. Yatsenko. As a result of the competition in 1941, LaGG, MiG and Yak aircraft - well-known fighters of the Great Patriotic War period - began to enter service.
Pe-2 dive bombers designed by V. M. Petlyakov played a major role during the war. In 1939 under the leadership of V. M. Petlyakov, the ANT-42 (TB-7) aircraft, built at TsAGI in 1936 and renamed after Petlyakov’s death (1942) as Pe-8, was modified. This aircraft, along with the Su-2 bombers designed by P. O. Sukhoi and Er-2 designed by V. G. Ermolaev R. L. Bartini, was used in long-range aviation. The Er-2 aircraft had a long flight range, especially with the installation of heavy fuel engines (diesels) designed by A.D. Charomsky.
The words of K. E. Tsiolkovsky that the era of propeller airplanes would be followed by the era of jet airplanes turned out to be prophetic. The jet age practically began in the forties. On the initiative of the prominent Soviet military leader M.N. Tukhachevsky, who was at that time Deputy People's Commissar for Armaments, many research institutions working in the field of rocket technology were created.
However, it should be said that achievements in the development of Soviet jet aviation did not come suddenly, by themselves.
Theoretical developments and research carried out in the late twenties made it possible to come close to creating a rocket plane. Such a glider was built by B.I. Cheranovsky for the State Aviation Research Institute, and in 1932 the glider was modified for the experimental engine of one of the founders of domestic rocketry, engineer F.A. Tsander.
In April 1935, S.P. Korolev announced his intention to build a laboratory cruise rocket for human flights at low altitudes using air-rocket engines.
A major role was played by the tests carried out in 1939–1940, when a liquid rocket engine (LPRE) with adjustable thrust was created, installed on a glider designed by S.P. Korolev, later an academician, twice Hero of Socialist Labor. On February 28, 1940, pilot V.P. Fedorov, at an altitude of 2000 m, separated from the towing aircraft in a rocket plane, turned on the rocket engine, flew with the engine running and, after running out of fuel, landed at the airfield.
Security maximum speed the aircraft was every designer's dream. Therefore, jet accelerator units began to be installed on aircraft with piston engines. An example is the Yak-7 WRD aircraft, under the wing of which two ramjet engines were suspended. When they were turned on, the speed increased by 60 × 90 kt/h. The La-7R aircraft used a liquid rocket engine as an accelerator. The increase in speed due to the thrust of the rocket engine was 85 km/h. Powder accelerators were also used to increase flight speed and reduce take-off distance during the take-off run of the aircraft.
Big job was carried out to create a special fighter aircraft with a liquid propellant engine, which was expected to have a high rate of climb and speed with a significant flight duration.
Young designers A. Ya. Bereznyak and L. M. Isaev, under the leadership of V. F. Bolkhovitinov, in August 1941 began designing a combat aircraft with a rocket engine, designed to intercept enemy fighters in the airfield area, on May 15, 1942, a pilot of the State Scientific Research Institute - Air Force Test Institute G. Ya. Bakhchivandzhi, in the presence of designers and a commission, made a successful flight on this jet aircraft.
In the post-war period, new models of fighter aircraft with liquid propellant engines were created and tested in the country. For example, one of these models was controlled by a pilot who was in a prone position in the car.
During the Great Patriotic War, significant work was carried out to improve the flight performance of the Pe-2 aircraft using liquid rocket engines that had adjustable thrust.
However, neither fighters with piston engines and boosters installed on them, nor aircraft with rocket engines have found application in combat aviation practice.
In 1944, in order to increase speeds, it was decided to install a motor-compressor engine on the aircraft of A. I. Mikoyan and P. O. Sukhoi, which would combine the features of piston and jet engines. In 1945, the I-250 (Mikoyan) and Su-5 (Sukhoi) aircraft reached a speed of 814 × 825 km/h.
As directed State Committee The Defense decided to create and build jet aircraft. This work was entrusted to Lavochkin, Mikoyan, Sukhoi and Yakovlev.
As you know, on April 24, 1946, on the same day, the Yak-15 and MiG-9 aircraft took off, which had insufficiently advanced turbojet engines as power plants, and the machines themselves did not fully meet the requirements for aviation. Later, the La-160 was built, the first jet aircraft in our country with a swept wing. Its appearance played a significant role in increasing the speed of fighters, but it was still far from reaching the speed of sound.
The second generation of domestic jet aircraft were more advanced, faster, more reliable aircraft, including the Yak-23, La-15 and especially the MiG-15. As is known, the latter had a powerful engine, three guns and a swept wing, under which, if necessary, additional fuel tanks were suspended. The aircraft fully lived up to the expectations placed on it. As combat experience in Korea showed, it was superior to the American Saber fighter. The training version of this machine also served well, which for a number of years was the main training fighter of our aviation.
For the first time in the USSR, the speed of sound in flight with a decrease was achieved in the new year, 1949, on the experimental aircraft S. A. Lavochkin La-176 by pilot O. V. Sokolovsky. And in 1950, already in horizontal flight, the MiG-17 and Yak-50 aircraft passed the “sound barrier” and, as they descended, reached speeds significantly higher than the sound speed. In September and November 1952, the MiG-19 developed a speed 1.5 times greater than the speed of sound, and was superior in its main characteristics to the Super Saber, which by that time was the main fighter of the US Air Force.
Having overcome the “sound barrier,” aviation continued to master ever greater speeds and flight altitudes. The speed had already reached such values that to further increase it, new solutions to the problem of stability and controllability were required. In addition, aviation came close to the so-called “thermal barrier” (when flying at supersonic speeds, the air temperature in front of the aircraft rises sharply as a result of strong compression, and this heating is transferred to the machine itself). The problem of thermal protection required an urgent solution.
On May 28, 1960, on the T-405 aircraft designed by general designer P. O. Sukhoi, pilot B. Adrianov set an absolute world flight speed record of 2092 km/h along a closed route of 100 km.
As a result, our aviation received an aircraft capable of flying for about 30 minutes at a speed of approximately 3000 km/h. Flights on these aircraft also showed that, thanks to the use of heat-resistant materials and powerful cooling systems, the problem of the “thermal barrier” for these flight speeds had been largely solved.
During the post-war years, excellent passenger and transport aircraft were created in the USSR. Back in 1956, Aeroflot began operating the Tu-104 aircraft, which for the first time in the world began regular passenger transportation, Il-18, Tu-124, Tu-134, An-10 and Yak-40 advanced our Civil Air Fleet by one of the leading places in the world.
New domestic passenger aircraft An-24, Tu-154M, Il-62M and Yak-42 carry out mass air transport within the country and abroad. At the end of the seventies, the supersonic passenger aircraft Tu-144 was created. A new qualitative and quantitative level of passenger transportation was achieved with the introduction into operation of the Il-86 airbus. Military transport aviation received An-22 and Il-76T aircraft, used for transporting military and civil cargo. In 1984, the giant An-124 aircraft began operation, and later the An-225.
Helicopters, which only became a viable and economically viable means of transport only after the Second World War, are now widely used. Soviet aviation designers have created reliable rotary-wing aircraft for various purposes: light Mi-2 and Ka-26, medium Mi-6 and Ka-32 and heavy Mi-26 and others for military and civil aviation.
The successes of the Soviet aviation industry in creating combat aircraft were demonstrated in 1988 at the international aviation exhibition in Farnborough (England), where the MiG-29 air superiority fighter was demonstrated; the same aircraft, Buran and Su-27 were demonstrated in Paris in 1989. Military Literature website: militera.lib.ru
Edition: Ponomarev A. N. Soviet aviation designers. - M.: Voenizdat, 1990.
(1895-1985)
Soviet aircraft engine designer, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1943), major general engineer (1944), Hero of Socialist Labor (1940). Studied at Moscow Higher Technical School, student of N.E. Zhukovsky. From 1923 he worked at the Scientific Automotive Engine Institute (from 1925 chief designer), from 1930 at CIAM, from 1936 at the aircraft engine plant named after. M.V. Frunze. In 1935-55 taught at MVTU and VVIA. In the early 30s under the leadership of Mikulin, the first Soviet liquid-cooled aviation engine M-34 was created, on the basis of which a number of engines of various powers and purposes were subsequently built. Engines of the M-34 (AM-34) type were equipped with the record-breaking ANT-25 aircraft, TB-3 bombers and many other aircraft. The AM-35A engine was installed on MiG-1, MiG-3 fighters, and TB-7 (Pe-8) bombers. During the war, Mikulin led the creation of boosted AM-38F and AM-42 engines for the Il-2 and Il-10 attack aircraft. In 1943-55 Mikulin is the chief designer of the experimental aircraft engine plant No. 30 in Moscow. 
(1892 – 1962)
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Hero of Socialist Labor, USSR State Prize laureate, engineer major general.
V.Ya. Klimov studied at the laboratory of automobile engines, headed by academician E.A. Chukadov.
From 1918 to 1924, he was the head of the laboratory of light engines at NAMI NTO USSR, taught at the Moscow Higher Technical School, the Lomonosov Institute and the Academy of the Air Force.
In 1924, he was sent to Germany for the purchase and acceptance of the BMW-4 engine (in licensed production of the M-17).
From 1928 to 1930 he is on a business trip to France, where he is also purchasing a Jupiter-7 engine from the Gnome-Ron company (in licensed production of the M-22).
From 1931 to 1935, Vladimir Yakovlevich headed the department gasoline engines the newly created IAM (later VIAM) and heads the department of engine design at MAI. In 1935, as the Chief Designer of Plant No. 26 in Rybinsk, he went to France to negotiate the acquisition of a license for the production of the 12-cylinder, V-shaped engine Hispano-Suiza 12 Ybrs, which in the USSR received the designation M-100. The development of this engine - the VK-103, VK-105PF and VK-107A engines were installed on all Yakovlev fighters and on the Petlyakov Pe-2 bomber during the war. At the end of the war, Klimov developed the VK-108 engine, but it never entered mass production. 
(1892 - 1953)
Soviet designer of aircraft engines, Doctor of Technical Sciences (1940), Lieutenant General of the Engineering and Technical Service (1948).
Born January 12 (24), 1892, in the village. Nizhnie Sergi, now Sverdlovsk region. In 1921 he graduated from Moscow Higher Technical School.
In 1925–1926, in collaboration with metallurgist N.V. Okromeshko, he created the five-cylinder radial aircraft engine M-11, which, based on test results, won the competition for an engine for training aircraft and became the first domestic serial air-cooled aircraft engine.
In 1934 he was appointed Chief Designer of the Perm Engine Plant (1934).
In the period from 1934 to 1953, under the leadership of A.D. Shvetsov created a family of air-cooled piston engines, covering the entire era of development of this type of engine, from the five-cylinder M-25 with a power of 625 hp. up to a 28-cylinder ASh-2TK with a power of 4500 hp. Engines of this family were installed on the aircraft of Tupolev, Ilyushin, Lavochkin, Polikarpov, Yakovlev, which made a decisive contribution to gaining air supremacy in the Great Patriotic War. Engines with the ASh brand (Arkady Shvetsov) have served and are still serving with great benefit in peacetime.
In the 30s under the leadership of Shvetsov, the M-22, M-25, M-62, M-63 engines were created for the I-15, I-16 fighters, etc.; in the 40s - a number of piston star-shaped air-cooled engines of successively increasing power of the ASh family: ASh-62IR (for Li-2, An-2 transport aircraft), ASh-82, ASh-82FN (for La-5, La-7 fighters, Tu-bomber 2, passenger aircraft Il-12, Il-14), engines for the M.L. Mil Mi-4 helicopter, etc. Shvetsov created a school of air-cooled engine designers.
Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 2nd–3rd convocations. Hero of Socialist Labor (1942). Laureate of the Stalin Prizes (1942, 1943, 1946, 1948). Awarded 5 orders of Lenin, 3 other orders, as well as medals. Gold medal "Hammer and Sickle", five Orders of Lenin, Order of Suvorov 2nd degree, Order of Kutuzov 1st degree, Order of the Red Banner of Labor, medal "For valiant labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945."
In September 1939, World War II began, in which aviation was used on a scale never before seen. Today we will remember several famous creators of World War II aircraft and talk about their creations.
"It can be seen"
Soviet aircraft designer, Doctor of Technical Sciences (1940), Hero of Socialist Labor (1940) Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov was born in the Oryol province and, following the example of his father, who was a priest, graduated from a theological school and entered the seminary. However, he never became a priest, but graduated from the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute and, under the leadership of the famous designer Igor Sikorsky, participated in the creation of the Ilya Muromets bomber. It was at that time the most powerful aircraft in the world. Later, his I-1 became the world's first monoplane fighter - an aircraft with one rather than two rows of wings.
In 1929, the designer was arrested following a denunciation and sentenced to death on the standard charge of “participation in a counter-revolutionary sabotage organization.” For more than two months, Polikarpov awaited execution. In December of the same year (without canceling or changing the sentence) he was sent to the “Special Design Bureau”, organized in Butyrka prison, and then transferred to the Moscow Aviation Plant No. 39 named after V.R. Menzhinsky. Here, together with D.P. Grigorovich in 1930, he developed the I-5 fighter.
There, in conclusion, he designed the VT-11 aircraft. "VT" stands for "internal prison." At that time, it took two years to create an aircraft; this was a worldwide practice. When the prisoners were gathered, they were told: “You can do it for two years, but you will be released when you do it.” They thought and said: “Six months is enough.” Those at the top were surprised: “Oh, so you have internal reserves? Three months for you to do everything.” A month later the plane was ready.
In 1931, the OGPU board canceled the execution and sentenced Polikarpov to ten years in the camps. But after a successful demonstration of the I-5 aircraft, piloted by Chkalov and Anisimov, to Stalin, Voroshilov, and Ordzhonikidze, it was decided to consider the sentence against Polikarpov suspended...
May 1935. Chkalov brilliantly demonstrated the I-16 to Stalin. He decided to give Polikarpov a ride home. The car was seven-seater. Stalin was on the back seat, the driver and security were in front, and the aircraft designers were seated on the folding seats. The leader says complacently, puffing on his pipe: “Here, Nikolai Nikolaevich, do you know what we have in common?” “I don’t know,” Polikarpov answers. “It’s very simple: you studied at the seminary, and I studied at the seminary - that’s what we have in common. Do you know how we differ?” “No,” Polikarpov responds. “You graduated from seminary, but I didn’t.” Another puff of smoke. Polikarpov calmly blurts out: “It’s obvious, Joseph Vissarionovich.” Stalin frowned, shook his pipe and only managed to squeeze out: “You know your place there.”
And one day the NKVD received a denunciation against Yangel, then still a boy working for Polikarpov. Let us recall that Yangel, along with Korolev, Chelomey and Glushko, is the father of Soviet cosmonautics and rocket science. So, he was accused of being the son of a kulak, and his father was hiding in the taiga... What would almost anyone have done in Polikarpov’s place at that time? And what did Polikarpov do? He gave the young employee leave and sent him to Siberia to collect documents about his father’s innocence.
No less famous is another Polikarpov aircraft - the initial training aircraft U-2 (renamed Po-2 after the death of the designer). Po-2 was built until 1959. The car broke all aviation longevity records. During this time, more than 40 thousand aircraft were produced, and more than 100 thousand pilots were trained for them. All our pilots, without exception, managed to fly the U-2 before the war. During the Great Patriotic War, U-2s were successfully used as reconnaissance aircraft and night bombers. The car was so reliable, economical and easy to drive that it was used both as a passenger and as an ambulance. During the war it was also discovered that the aircraft could be converted into a night bomber. The Germans called it "coffee grinder" or " sewing machine", because several thousand U-2s bombed their positions almost continuously and with great accuracy. During the night the plane made five or six sorties, sometimes more. Silently, with the engine turned off, he sneaked up to enemy trenches, railway stations, columns on the march and dropped a quarter of a ton of explosives and steel on the heads of the fascists. Very often the pilots were girls who fought in women's air regiments. Twenty-three of them were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Polikarpov’s work was interrupted by death, which occurred on July 30, 1944, at the age of 52. At that moment, Polikarpov was working on the creation of the first Soviet jet aircraft. Only in 1956, 12 years after the death of the designer, the Military Collegium Supreme Court The USSR dropped the case against Polikarpov...
After the death of the designer, the territory of OKB-51 passed to Pavel Osipovich Sukhoi, another famous engineer who created more than 50 machine designs during his career. Today, the Sukhoi Design Bureau is one of the leading Russian airlines, whose combat aircraft (for example, the Su-27 and Su-30 multirole fighters) are in service in dozens of countries.
The legendary Messerschmitt
Without a doubt, Wilhelm Emil Messerschmitt was one of the most talented designers in the history of world aviation. Many original projects came out of his hands, embodied in metal, but only two brought him worldwide fame - Bf-109 and Me-262.
In 1909, during the summer holidays, he visited the International Aviation Exhibition with his father. There the boy saw airplanes for the first time and fell in love with aviation for the rest of his life.
One of the designer's most significant developments was the all-metal Messerschmitt Bf-109 escort fighter. In 1934, the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (Bavarian Aircraft Factory) began producing a steel aircraft with a predatory profile, which terrified all of Europe, hence the name. In 1939, the Me-109 set a world speed record. This fighter became the mainstay of German aviation during World War II. During the hostilities, both the French and the British managed to obtain samples of the latest German fighter. But if this was no longer necessary for the first, the British delivered the Bf-109E-3 to their Boscombe Down test center. The tests showed that the leading British fighter at that time, the Hurricane, was inferior to the German in all respects.
The Messerschmitts were responsible for most of the 322 Soviet aircraft shot down on the first day of the war.
Creator of the Black Death
The son of a poor peasant from the Vologda province, Sergei Vladimirovich Ilyushin began working at the age of 15, and during the First World War he became a mechanic at an airfield. He then graduated from the soldier's pilot school of the All-Russian Imperial Aero Club and in the summer of 1917 received a pilot's license. Since then, his life has been forever connected with aviation.
When the October Revolution broke out, Ilyushin did not think long about which side to take. In 1918 he joined the Bolshevik Party, and in 1919 he became a fighter in the Red Army.
In 1921, Ilyushin turned to the command with a request to allow him to enter the Institute of Engineers of the Red Air Fleet. Many doubted - what kind of higher education is there? By that time, Ilyushin was already 27 years old, and had only three years of school behind him. But Ilyushin was distinguished by incredible tenacity and efficiency. Where knowledge was lacking, the mechanic's experience helped. By the end of the 30s, he was already heading the TsAGI design bureau. The main creation of Sergei Vladimirovich is the most popular combat aircraft in history, the famous Il-2 attack aircraft.
"Flying Cobra"
In 1912, aircraft mechanic Lawrence Bell nearly ended airplanes for good when his older brother, stunt pilot Groover Bell, died in a crash. But friends persuaded Lawrence not to bury his talent, and in 1928 the Bell Aircraft company appeared, creating the most famous American fighter of World War II, the P-39 Airacobra.
Fun fact: thanks to deliveries to the USSR and Great Britain and the exploits of the aces of these countries, the Airacobra has the highest rate of individual victories among all American aircraft ever created.
Airacobra - "Airacobra" (but usually just "Airacobra"). This plane cannot be confused with any other. An engine in the middle of the fuselage, an automobile-type cockpit door, a futuristic-looking three-wheeled chassis with a disproportionately long front strut - in fact, all these unusual design solutions had their reasons; they were aimed at increasing the combat and operational efficiency of the vehicle. As already mentioned, the engine was located behind the cockpit. Due to the rearward shift of the center of gravity, the fighter was very maneuverable. The P-39 Airacobra fighter became the most popular and most famous of those delivered to the USSR under Lend-Lease - the same symbol of help from the Western allies as the Studebaker truck, Dodge three-quarters and a can of American stew. "Cobra" was very popular among Soviet pilots, it was appreciated and loved. Many “Stalinist falcons” won the lion’s share of their victories on the Airacobra.
Breakthrough of the "Prototype"
Jiro Horikoshi is a Japanese aircraft designer. He is best known as the designer of the A6M Zero, a very successful World War II fighter.
Jiro Horikoshi was born in 1903 in the village of Fujioka. He studied at Fujioka High School. IN school years became interested in aircraft construction by reading newspaper reports about air battles of the First World War in Europe. Subsequently, Horikoshi entered the Faculty of Technology of the University of Tokyo in the direction of aeronautical engineering. His university study buddies included such subsequently famous Japanese aircraft designers as Hidemasa Kimura and Takeo Doi. After completing his university education, in 1926 Horikoshi got a job as an engineer in the Mitsubishi division that dealt with internal combustion engines. The company owned an aircraft manufacturing plant in Nagoya, where Horikoshi ended up.
In 1937, Horikoshi began working on the Prototype 12 aircraft, which went into production in 1940 as the A6M Zero. The Zero was a carrier-based fighter with a single lifting surface. Until 1942, the Zero was superior to the countries' aircraft anti-Hitler coalition in terms of maneuverability, speed and range, it remained the basis of Japanese naval aviation until the end of World War II.
MUSEUM OF HEROES AS TEACHERS OF LUCK
V. A. Slesarev - the name of this man means little to our contemporaries.
He passed away early... and because of this, today his name is not in one
along with such aircraft designers as, for example, Sikorsky...Tupolev...
But it was he who was Sikorsky’s main competitor at the dawn of aviation...
Vasily Adrianovich Slesarev was born on August 5 (17), 1884 in the village of Slednevo, Markhotkinsky volost, Elninsky district, Smolensk province, in the family of a local merchant Adrian Petrovich Slesarev. Adrian Petrovich was not strong in literacy, but he knew its value and managed to develop deep respect for education. He spared no expense on books, subscribed to newspapers and magazines, loved to see his sons and daughters reading, and managed to give four of them a higher education.
Vasily Slesarev learned to read early. The magazines “Nature and People”, “Knowledge for Everyone”, “World of Adventures”, and the novels of Jules Verne awakened and nourished the boy’s imagination. He dreamed of penetrating the depths of the ocean, of flying on fast airships, of mastering the still unknown forces of nature. He saw the key to realizing these dreams only in technology. All day long he was making something, planing, sawing, adjusting, creating components and parts of fantastic machines, apparatus, instruments.
Adrian Petrovich was sympathetic to his son’s hobbies and, when Vasily was 14 years old, he took him to Moscow and enrolled him in the Komisarovsky Technical School. Vasily Slesarev studied with greed and perseverance. The certificate he received at the end of college showed only A's in all 18 subjects.
Slesarev studied at the Komisarovsky Technical School for six years. When he came to Slednevo for the holidays, Vasily settled in the light of the mezzanine, rising above the roof of his father’s house. With each of his visits, the light became more and more like a kind of laboratory. There was everything in it - a camera, a magic lantern, a spyglass, and even an old phonograph fixed by Vasily. The light was illuminated by an electric light bulb, powered by a homemade galvanic battery, which also powered the bell alarm. One of the first works carried out here by the young researcher was to determine the composition of the glaze for finishing pottery. By mixing various components with lead, Slesarev created his own special recipe preparing the glaze and, applying it to the “gorlacs” (that’s what the Smolensk people still call clay jars for milk), subjected them to firing over a fire.
Vasily also built a lathe, which was powered by a wind turbine installed on the roof. Slesarev made the turbine stator and its rotor from canvas stretched over frames, and the speed of its rotation was regulated by levers directly from the light fixture.
In 1904, Vasily Slesarev entered the first year of the St. Petersburg Electrotechnical Institute.
Due to the active role played by students in the revolutionary struggle of 1905, the authorities temporarily suspended classes in a number of higher educational institutions in the capital. A participant in student protests, Slesarev was forced to leave St. Petersburg for Slednevo. And soon he moved to Germany and entered the Darmstadt Higher Technical School.
During the holidays, he still came to Slednevo and settled in his small laboratory. However, now the scientific profile of this laboratory began to change noticeably, since the student Slesarev was strongly impressed by the successes of the nascent aviation. True, these successes were still very modest, and they were often achieved at the cost of human sacrifice. According to Slesarev, this happened because many aviation enthusiasts replaced the lack of theoretical knowledge with selfless daring and courage. Slesarev admired the pioneers of aviation, but at the same time understood that heroism alone was not enough. He believed that people could create reliable flying machines only when they deeply understood the laws of nature. Of course, this point of view was not original. The idea that the path to creating flying machines should lie through the study of the flight of flying creatures was expressed by Leonardo da Vinci in the middle of the 15th century.
In the 18th century, this idea was developed by the Peruvian de Cardonas, who proposed building wings for humans, similar to the wings of condors, whose flight he observed.
In the 70s of the last century, the Russian doctor N. A. Arendt developed the theory of glider flight. He created this theory thanks to numerous experiments with birds. Arendt presented the results of his research in a number of articles, and in 1888 he published a brochure “On aeronautics based on the principle of bird soaring.”
The works of the French physiologist E. Marey (1830-1904), who studied the flight of birds and insects for many years, are also widely known.
In the 90s of the 19th century, the French engineer K. Ader tried to build flying machines, basing them on the data of his observations of the flight of birds and bats.
The German engineer Otto Lilienthal, the “first martyr of aviation,” as H.G. Wells called him, followed the same path.
The great Russian scientist N. E. Zhukovsky, the founder of modern aerodynamic science, also did a lot of work on the study of bird flight. In October 1891, he spoke at a meeting of the Moscow Mathematical Society with a message “On the soaring of birds,” which contained a critical scientific review and generalization of everything that had been done by that time in the field of flight theory.
It is now difficult to say whether student Slesarev was familiar with the work of his predecessors in the field of studying the flight of representatives of the animal world or whether he independently came to the idea of the need for such research. In any case, he was firmly convinced of the importance of this work.
When settling in Slednev during the holidays, Slesarev often left home with a gun. He returned with the carcasses of killed crows, hawks, swallows, and swifts. He carefully weighed and dissected birds, measured the size of their body, the length of their wings and tail, studied the structure and arrangement of feathers, etc.
With the same tenacity, Slesarev studied insects. A neophyte entomologist, he could spend hours watching the flight of butterflies, beetles, bees, flies, and dragonflies. A whole collection of flying insects appeared in his little room. He compiled comparative tables of their weights, wing measurements, etc.
And then something completely unusual began: the experimenter, armed with scissors, either shortened the wings of large blue-green flies, then made them narrower, then glued prosthetics to his victims from the wings of dead flies and carefully observed how this or that operation affected the character flight of insects.
By gluing dandelion hairs to the body of flies, Slesarev fixed the position of their abdomen, forcing the insects to fly at his discretion in a completely unusual way - now vertically up, now up and back, now up and forward, etc.
However, Slesarev soon became convinced that direct visual perception limited the possibility of comprehensive knowledge of the flight of insects, and that he needed special, sophisticated measuring and recording equipment. He designed and manufactured original instruments that automatically record the amount of energy expended by experimental insects, harnessed by him to a rotary machine (microdynamometer) built from lightweight straws and loaded with the thinnest strips of tissue paper. From glass threads, which he obtained by melting glass tubes over a candle flame, Slesarev made the finest aerodynamic scales. These instruments gave the experimenter the opportunity to determine the power of flying insects and measure the energy expended by them on flight. For example, Slesarev found that a large blue-green fly is capable of developing an energy of about 1 erg in flight, and the highest speed of this fly reaches 20 meters per second.
It turned out to be more difficult to identify the mechanism of insect flight. Slesareva’s sister, Tashkent doctor P.A. Slesareva, recalls how she, as a girl, was more than once present at her brother’s experiments. On his instructions, she glued the thinnest straws to the wings of flies and dragonflies, after which the body of the experimental insect was fixed in a tripod, and the experimenter slowly stretched a sooty paper tape near the flapping wings. The straws glued to the wings scratched marks on the tape, from which Slesarev studied the pattern of movement of the insect's wings. However, such experiments provided only an approximate and insufficiently accurate picture of the phenomenon under study.
Slesarev set out to set up his experiment in such a way that he could see with his own eyes the mechanics of the flight of insects, see what the sequence of movement of their wings and bodies is in various stages of flight, in what plane and at what speed their wings move, etc. For this it was necessary cinematographic equipment. And so Slesarev invented and independently manufactured an ingenious pulse filming installation, which made it possible to capture the movement of insect wings on a continuously moving film strip at a speed of 10 thousand or more pictures per second. The filming was carried out under light produced by a series of spark discharges from a battery of static capacitors (Leyden jars) made from wine bottles.
With the enrichment of the equipment of the Slednevsky laboratory with homemade rapid-recording equipment, the study of insect flight immediately moved forward, and Slesarev was able to come to a number of interesting conclusions that had great scientific, theoretical and applied significance. For example, I drew attention to the fact that the principle of insect flight “can serve as a model for constructing a machine that would immediately rise into the air, without any take-off run.”
Using his equipment, Slesarev showed that all insects flap their wings in a strictly defined plane, oriented relative to the central part of the body; that the flight of an insect is controlled by moving the center of gravity of the insect under the influence of compression or extension of the abdomen; that the leading edge of an insect’s wings is leading, and with each flap the wing rotates 180 degrees around it; that the speed at the ends of the wings of all insects is almost constant (about 8 meters per second), and the number of wing beats is inversely proportional to their length 2.
Slesarev demonstrated the equipment he created for studying the flight of insects in 1909 at the aeronautical exhibition in Frankfurt. This equipment and the results obtained with its help aroused great interest among German engineers and scientists, and Slesarev received a patent in Germany for his film installation a year after the exhibition3.
At the beginning of 1909, Vasily Slesarev graduated from the Darmstadt Higher Technical School, receiving a 1st degree diploma, and upon returning to Russia, wanting to have a Russian engineering diploma, he entered the last year of the Moscow Higher Technical School. The choice of this educational institution was not accidental. In those years, the Moscow Higher Technical School was the center of young aviation science, which was created under the leadership of the “father of Russian aviation” - Professor Nikolai Egorovich Zhukovsky.
Advanced student youth grouped around Zhukovsky. From this student aeronautical circle came such subsequently famous pilots, aircraft designers and figures in aviation science as B. I. Rossiysky, A. N. Tupolev, D. P. Grigorovich, G. M. Musinyants, A. A. Arkhangelsky, V. P. Vetchinkin, B. S. Stechkin, B. N. Yuryev and others. Student Slesarev also became an active member of this circle. He did a lot to equip the circle’s aerodynamic laboratory with equipment and carried out a number of interesting studies in it related to the operation of propellers. Slesarev's report on these studies, as well as on studies of insect flight at the Moscow Society of Natural History Amateurs, was a very notable event.
N. E. Zhukovsky saw in Slesarev “one of the most talented Russian young people, completely devoted to the study of aeronautics”4. What was especially attractive about Slesarev was the ability to not only intuitively propose this or that original solution to a problem, but also to study it theoretically and experimentally, independently find the appropriate constructive form for this solution, equip it with accurate calculations and drawings and, if required, to embody the idea in material with one’s own hands .
One day, Nikolai Egorovich showed Slesarev a letter from the dean of the shipbuilding department of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, Professor Konstantin Petrovich Voklevsky, who informed Zhukovsky that after much trouble he had managed to obtain a state subsidy of 45 thousand rubles for the construction of an aerodynamic laboratory, which would serve as both a training base and basis for research work on aerodynamics. At the end of the letter, Boklevsky asked if Nikolai Yegorovich could recommend to him one of his students who could take up the construction of the laboratory.
How would you, Vasily Adrianovich, think if I recommended you to my colleague Boklevsky? It seems that you will cooperate fruitfully with Konstantin Petrovich. The only loser will be me. But... what can you do: the interests of our common cause are more important than personal sympathies. Is not it?..
And already in the summer of 1910, Slesarev moved from Moscow to the capital.
In the same year, the building allocated for the aerodynamic laboratory was rebuilt under the leadership of Slesarev. Then he energetically began equipping the laboratory with the latest measuring equipment, high-precision aerodynamic balances, etc. Slesarev designed and built for the laboratory a large wind tunnel with a diameter of 2 meters, in which the air flow speed reached 20 meters per second. To straighten the vortices, a grid of thin strips of iron was installed in the pipe and a chamber was built in to slow down the air flow. It was the largest, fastest and most advanced wind tunnel in its design.
Slesarev also made a small wind tunnel with a diameter of 30 centimeters for the laboratory. In this pipe, with the help of a suction fan installed at the end of the working channel, the air flow moved at a speed of up to 50 meters per second.
The laboratory created by Slesarev in its size, wealth and perfection of equipment was much superior to the best aerodynamic laboratory of the famous French engineer Eiffel on the Champ de Mars in Paris at that time.
In addition to teaching students, Slesarev supervised studies of the drag of airplane parts during flight carried out in the laboratory. He proposed the so-called spark observation method, in which an aluminum candle was placed in a wind tunnel in the path of the air flow, producing a sheaf of sparks that moved along with the flow. It turned out that external wires and braces, which were widely used in aircraft construction at that time, caused very high air resistance in flight and that, in connection with this, airplane struts should have a “fish-shaped” cross-section. Slesarev also devotes a lot of effort to improving the body of an airplane and airship, researching various designs of propellers, creating his own method for determining the absolute speed of a flying airplane, and solving a number of issues in aeroballistics.
Slesarev works fruitfully in related fields of aviation science. As you know, lightness and strength are two warring principles, the reconciliation of which is one of the main tasks of designers. Pioneer aircraft designers, in search of the optimal balance between these warring principles, were often forced to grope, which often led to fatal consequences. This prompted Slesarev to take up the development of the fundamentals of aviation materials science. In 1912, he published the first scientific course in aviation materials science in Russian. A number of provisions put forward by Slesar have not lost their significance today.
In an effort to make the results of his work available to wide circles of the scientific and technical community, Slesarev publishes articles in special periodicals, makes public reports and messages at meetings of St. Petersburg and Moscow aeronautical organizations. Of particular interest are the reports Slesarev made at the All-Russian Aeronautical Congresses held in 1911, 1912 and 1914 under the leadership of N. E. Zhukovsky. For example, in April 1914, at the III All-Russian Aeronautical Congress, Slesarev reported on how the world's first four-engine airship, the Ilya Muromets, and its predecessor, the Russian Knight aircraft, were designed and built. All aerodynamic experiments and verification calculations for the creation of these aircraft were carried out under the leadership of Slesarev in the aerodynamic laboratory of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute.
In the summer of 1913, Slesarev was sent abroad. The results of the trip are presented by Slesarev in his report “ Current state aeronautics in Germany and France from scientific, technical and military points of view,” read on October 23, 1913 at a meeting of the VII department of the Russian Technical Society.
Getting acquainted with various designs of German, French and Russian airplanes, Slesarev clearly saw their weak points. In some designs, the inventors’ good knowledge of issues of aerodynamics was clearly visible, but the situation was unimportant in solving issues of a purely design nature; in other airplanes the handwriting of an experienced designer was noticeable, but the solution to problems associated with aerodynamics looked very doubtful. All this led Slesarev to the idea of creating such an airplane, the design of which would harmoniously combine the sum of all the latest achievements of the then aviation science and technology. Such a bold plan could only be realized by a person who stood at the forefront of scientific and technical ideas of his time. Slesarev was precisely such an advanced engineer, scientist and designer.
What followed after Vasily Adrianovich announced his desire to create an ultra-modern airplane cannot but cause amazement: in just a year, Slesarev, without leaving his official duties, Polytechnic Institute, independently, without anyone’s help, developed a project for a giant airship, completing a colossal amount of experimental, theoretical and graphical work, which would be more than enough for an entire design organization.
On the advice of his mother, Slesarev named the giant aircraft he conceived “Svyatogor”.
"Svyatogor" - a biplane combat airship with a deck for a rapid-fire cannon, was supposed to rise to a height of 2500 meters and have a speed of over 100 kilometers per hour. According to calculations, the duration of a continuous flight of the new aircraft reached 30 hours (it is appropriate to recall that the best foreign aircraft of that time, the Farman, could take only 4 hours of fuel, and the Ilya Muromets aircraft could take 6 hours of flight). According to the project, the flight weight of the Svyatogor reached 6,500 kilograms, including 3,200 kilograms of payload (the flight weight of Ilya Muromets was 5,000 kilograms, payload- 1500 kilograms). To get an idea of the size of the Svyatogor, it is enough to say that its design parameters were as follows: length - 21 meters, upper wingspan - 36 meters. “Svyatogor” stood out from other aircraft with the graceful shape of its wings, which in cross-section resembled the wings of such a beautiful flyer as a swift. Slesarev paid special attention to the streamlining of the outer struts and the careful “licking” of all protrusions, which later became one of the indispensable requirements for aircraft designs. In this regard, as noted by Academician S. A. Chaplygin and Professor V. P. Vetchinkin, Slesarev was “far ahead of his time.”
Vasily Adrianovich skillfully designed hollow tubular structures bent from plywood for Svyatogor, which still remain unsurpassed in the optimal ratio of their strength and lightness. For the wooden parts of the airplane, Slesarev preferred to use spruce as a material that gives the least weight for a given strength.
The project envisaged installing two Mercedes engines of 300 horsepower each on the Svyatogor, with them located for ease of simultaneous maintenance in the common engine room of the fuselage, close to the center of gravity of the aircraft (the idea of “such an arrangement of engines was subsequently used by German aircraft designers during construction in 1915 twin-engine Siemens-Schuckert aircraft).
Slesarev, while still working in his Slednevsky laboratory, noticed that the number of beats of an insect’s wings during flight is inversely proportional to their length. When designing Svyatogor, Slesarev took advantage of these conclusions. He designed huge propellers with a diameter of 5.5 meters, giving their blades a shape similar to the shape of dragonfly wings, and the rotation speed of the propellers should not exceed 300 revolutions per minute.
Slesarev’s project was carefully studied by a technical commission of a special committee of the Aeronautical Department of the Main Engineering Directorate. All the designer’s calculations were considered convincing, and the committee unanimously recommended proceeding with the construction of Svyatogor.
The outbreak of the First World War, it would seem, should have accelerated the implementation of Slesarev’s project. After all, the possession of such airplanes as “Svyatogor” promised the Russian military air fleet huge" advantages over military aviation Germany. The St. Petersburg Aviation Plant of V. A. Lebedev undertook to build the first airship “Svyatogor” in three months. This meant that in a short time Russia could have in its arsenal an entire squadron of formidable air heroes.
However, time passed, and Slesarev’s project lay motionless, since War Ministry(headed by General V: A. Sukhomlinov - one of the shareholders of the Russian-Baltic plant, where at that time the Ilya Muromets aircraft were being built, which brought huge profits to shareholders) evaded the allocation of 100 thousand rubles for the construction of Svyatogor.
Only after the aviator M.E. Malynsky (a wealthy Polish landowner), “wishing to serve the motherland in the difficult times of its struggle against the Austro-Germans,” offered to pay all the costs of building the Svyatogor, the military department was forced to transfer the order Lebedev plant. Construction of Svyatogor proceeded extremely slowly, since the plant was overloaded with other military orders.
“Svyatogor” was assembled only by June 22, 1915. Its weight turned out to be one and a half tons more than the design, since representatives of the military department demanded that the plant provide a 10-fold (!) safety margin for all critical components of the Svyatogor.
But the main trouble lay ahead for Slesarev. Since the outbreak of the war excluded the possibility of receiving from hostile Germany the two Mercedes engines envisaged by the project, the officials of the military department did not come up with anything better than to offer Slesar the Maybach engines from the downed German airship Graf Zeppelin. Nothing came of this venture, and it could not have happened, since the engines were too badly damaged.
Only after “fruitless fuss with Maybach engines” did the military authorities decide to order engines for Svyatogor from the French company Renault. The order was completed only by the beginning of 19G6, and the company, deviating from the terms of the order, supplied two engines with a capacity of only 220 horsepower strength and much heavier than expected.
Testing of Svyatogor began in March 1916. During the plane's first 200-meter run across the airfield, the right engine failed. In addition, it turned out that since the aircraft was assembled, some of its parts have become dilapidated and require replacement. To put the engine and plane in order, it was necessary to find an additional 10 thousand rubles. But a specially created commission admitted that “the cost of completing the construction of this apparatus, even the most insignificant government sum, is unacceptable.”
Slesarev energetically protested against such a conclusion and, with the support of Professor Boklevsky, insisted on the appointment of a new commission chaired by N. E. Zhukovsky himself, which, having familiarized itself with Slesarev’s plane, wrote in its minutes dated May 11, 1916: “The commission unanimously came to the conclusion that the flight of Slesarev’s airplane with a full load of 6.5 tons at a speed of 114 km/h is possible, and therefore the completion of the construction of Slesarev’s apparatus is desirable” 6.
Following this, at a meeting held on June 19, 1916, the Zhukovsky commission not only fully confirmed its conclusion of May 11, but also came to the conclusion that when installing on the Svyatogor two engines provided by the designer with a total power of 600 horsepower, the aircraft would be able to with a load of 6.5 tons, show significantly higher flight qualities than provided for by the project, namely: fly at speeds of up to 139 kilometers per hour, gain a height of 500 meters within 4.5 minutes and rise to a “ceiling” of 3200 meters 7 .
Zhukovsky's support allowed Slesarev to resume preparing Svyatogor for testing. However, the work was carried out in a poorly equipped handicraft workshop, since all factories were overloaded with military orders. This had a strong impact on the quality of the manufactured parts, which caused minor breakdowns when the Svyatogor trial was resumed at the airfield. In addition, it should be remembered that airfields in the modern sense of the word did not yet exist in those days, and the running of the Svyatogor was carried out on a poorly leveled field. As a result, during one of the runs across the field, the Svyatogor wheel, due to an unsuccessful sharp turn, fell into a deep drainage ditch, which led to damage to the aircraft. Slesarev’s opponents again took active action. Vasily Adrianovich still managed to insist this time on the need to complete the tests of his brainchild. However, in the context of the increasing devastation of wartime, the matter was again greatly delayed. In addition, the military department did not give money, and Slesarev’s personal funds were already completely exhausted by him8. The revolutionary events that broke out in February 1917 took the question of the fate of “Svyatogor” off the agenda for a long time.
Young Soviet Russia, bleeding, fought an unequal heroic battle against hunger, devastation, counter-revolutionaries and interventionists. In the circumstances of those days, all attempts by Slesarev to attract government and government interest in “Svyatogor” public organizations were obviously doomed to failure. And when he managed to get a reception from influential people, they listened to him carefully and sympathized with him:
Wait a minute, Comrade Slesarev. The time will come... And now, agree with us, there is no time for “Svyatogor”.
And Slesarev waited patiently.
In January 1921, the Council of Labor and Defense, on the instructions of V.I. Lenin, created a commission to develop a program for the development of Soviet aviation and aeronautics. Despite the difficulties the country was experiencing associated with the restoration of the destroyed National economy, The Soviet government allocated 3 million rubles in gold for the development of aviation enterprises.
In May 1921, Slesarev was instructed to prepare materials for resuming the construction of Svyatogor. . Slesarev left for Petrograd. His imagination was already picturing the outlines of a new air battleship, even more powerful, grandiose and more advanced than the Svyatogor. However, these dreams were not destined to come true: on July 10, 1921, an assassin’s bullet ended the life of this wonderful man on the threshold of new glorious deeds in the name of a wonderful future.
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