P.I. Baranov: “I know this is a difficult matter, but our air fleet will be the first in the world”
In September 2017 marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of Peter Ionovich Baranov, whose name is associated with the formation of the Soviet aviation. The son of a water carrier became one of the most effective statesmen of that period. For six and a half years, from December 1924 to June 1931, he led the Air Force of the Red Army, and then for two years, until the tragic death in 1933, led the country's aviation industry. He died on takeoff in the literal sense of the word, not having lived only a few days before his 41st birthday, but the trace that he left in storiesdeserves good memory.
The line of the 20 – 30s of the last century was special in our history. It was then that the young Soviet state, built on the ruins of a great empire, rapidly, and for many in the world, quite unexpectedly, began to turn into a superpower. And not only by the number of soldiers or the smelting of iron, but also by scientific and technical power. The transformations that took place in the USSR at that time are comparable in results with the reforms of Peter the Great.
20 January 1934 The defense sector of the USSR State Planning Committee prepared a certificate for the XVII Congress of the CPSU (B.), Summing up the results of the first five-year plan and the first stage of the country's industrialization. According to this document, marked “top secret”, the production of aircraft in the USSR to 1934 compared to 1930 increased from 1037 to 4116 units, that is, 4 times, and aircraft engines - 7 times, from 1281 to 7771 pieces . And it was about airplanes, which at that time were not equal in the world, in particular, the AN-Russian design bomber TB-3, which entered mass production. Tupolev. And, most importantly, they were raised in the sky by the domestic AM-34 engines, created by Soviet designer A.A. Mikulin in the Central Institute of Aviation Motors, which, with 1933, began to bear the name of PI. Baranov. This engine is in 1930-ies. claimed the laurels of the most powerful engine in the world. He was so reliable and economical that he allowed the crew of V.P. In June 1937 on ANT-25, the first ever non-stop flight across the North Pole to the USA was made by Chkalov, and the crew of M.M. Gromov on the same route in a month - set a world record for the distance of a non-stop flight in a straight line.
“I don’t think of Soviet aviation without Baranov,” said Tupolev. Mikulin said about his M-34: “The dear Baranov opened the road for my motor.”
Clerk Revolutionary
The experience of those critical years is still relevant today. After all, history is made by specific people, and their personal qualities sometimes play a crucial role in success or failure.
Peter Ionovich Baranov - an active participant in the events of that period. Unlike such military figures as Ya.I. Alksnis and M.N. Tukhachevsky, he did not live to see the repression of 1937 of the year and did not get into the martyrology of the regime, and therefore did not attract keen attention from historians and publicists.
To a large extent, this is due to his personal modesty. Behind him was not outrageous hobbies. About personal life in general there is little information. He lived not rich, even reaching the highest positions. Once they brought him money for long service, which he had not received for many years. Accumulated a large amount in those days - three thousand rubles. Baranov counted the bills and sent them back with the same postman, attaching a statement asking him to transfer the full amount to the orphanages.
Baranov was an avid chess player and organized blitz tournaments at his home. In the free time from the big aircraft in the winter, he tested snowmobiles, and in the summer he visited the gathering of glider pilots.
He even looked unusual for a fiery revolutionary: an accountant’s parting in his hair and always calm, restrained behavior. Contemporaries among the main features of his character noted reasonable restraint and intelligent tact. And his favorite word was some kind of bourgeois: “Nute-s.”
P.I. Baranov was born 22 September (10 September old style), according to other sources - 18 September (6 September old style) 1892, in the village of Krutoy Verkh of the Zarai district of the Ryazan province. Peter was the fifth of eleven children. After a hungry year, the family left their homeland. His father worked as a hooker in the port, then became a water carrier in New Village, a suburb of St. Petersburg.
The boy turned 13 years old when his father died. In order to feed himself and help the family, Peter entered as a pupil in the sales office of Promadeta. Then he worked in the archive, reached the accountant. It sounds modest, but this office was something like the Ministry of Metallurgy of the Russian Empire and, by 1914, united 90% of the country's metallurgical plants. The same word-parasite "Nute-s" Baranov picked up from the chief accountant "Promedeta", which probably best describes the social circle that formed the future Soviet statesman. In general, both in appearance and in manners, a typical office worker appears before us. But this young man had a different, secret life.
In 1912, he became a member of the RSDLP (b). In the 18 years, he was shot by a bullet by participating in a demonstration of workers in the Vyborg district. In 1913, he was expelled from St. Petersburg for revolutionary activities. In the 1915 year, he was drafted into the army, but already in 1916, he was sent to prison for agitation.
A curious document has been preserved - the prison notebook, which Baranov was given "for tasks and exercises in mathematics, physics, chemistry and literature." It has exercises on algebra, including the derivation of the Newton binomial. You can also read the following words: “In my dungeon as in the night. But the darker the night, the brighter the stars. And in darkness there is light, and darkness cannot embrace it. The humble monk Peter the son of Jonah put his hand to this. Among other youthful exercises in the literature are sentences like the following: “Heaven protects us from lawmakers in understanding beauty”, which alternate with confessions: “No one will reproach me that I did not live or do not live in the future.”
As for formal education, in his youth Baranov attended the Chernyaev general education courses at St. Petersburg University. This educational institution was intended for people from the poorest segments of the population, who did not receive an education in childhood. They taught at the courses of a university professor. Among them V.M. Bekhterev, S.A. Vengerov, N.E. Vvedensky, I.F. Fedoseev and others.
Portrait of a hero
In the domestic memoir literature can not find bright portraits PI. Baranov. Contemporaries, if that emphasized in his character, then restraint. In order to delineate the appearance of our hero, we have to turn to the memories of foreigners, whose curious eyes sometimes caught on to what our fellow citizens seemed to be mundane. This is what the American woman Drummond Hay, the first woman who flew over the Atlantic Ocean on the airship "Graf Zeppelin", wrote about Baranova in her book devoted to a trip to Russia: "The Chief of the Red Air Force. Crow-colored hair. Black eyes and a pleasant voice. This is Russian Italo Balbo. ” Mrs. Drummond had in mind the imposing minister of aviation of Italy, the semi-official heir of Mussolini, a brave pilot and a favorite of the public before the war. But at the same time, she adds that Baranov "is just as sustained as he is full of temperament."
It is noteworthy that Italo Balbo met with his Soviet colleague and also composed his verbal portrait. This happened during the flight, which under the leadership of Balbo made 35 airplanes on the route Taranto-Athens-Istanbul-Varna-Odessa. Italians have prepared a magnificent meeting, in which the Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army Air Force participated. Balbo described Baranov’s appearance in some detail: “He was exactly the same as I imagined the generals of the Bolshevik revolution: he is not yet forty years old, he is tall, thin, with a dry face and a broad forehead, on which a strand of hair descends. All this gives him an authoritative view of the commander. He has correct and refined manners, calm and proud eyes, no embarrassment when he sincerely gives me his right hand. ”
Drummond Hay, describing Baranov briefly but succinctly, wrote: “He has an organizational talent and a talent necessary for the Bolsheviks - to direct and inspire”. These qualities allowed Peter Baranov to advance in the years of revolution and civil war.
Position height
The February 1917 revolution of the year rescued Baranov from prison. With his unit, he went to the front and quickly became chairman of the Council of Soldiers' Deputies of the Romanian Front. In 1918, he joined the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, commanded the Donetsk Army, was a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of a number of fronts, and worked as the head of the political department of the troops of Ukraine and Crimea.
Several times Baranov was close to death, being taken hostage by the leaders of the regiments revolting against the Soviet power, but each time he showed remarkable restraint and remained alive.
In those years, he met many influential people. Commander I.E. Yakir considered Baranov his best friend and called his son Peter in his honor.
In March, 1921, among the 329 delegates of the Xth Baranov Party Congress, came out on the ice of the Gulf of Finland to suppress the Kronstadt insurgency. He became an ordinary fighter of the 238-th Bryansk regiment, although at that time he was the head of the political department of the troops of Ukraine and Crimea. There was real confusion among the Red Army men when, after suppressing the insurrection, a courier arrived at the regiment after Baranov with an order signed by Frunze and Lenin. For participation in these events, Baranov received the Order of the Red Banner.
At the end of the civil war, the most urgent task of the Red Army was technical re-equipment. To create "high-tech" weapons required proven personnel. Peter Baranov was just that, and therefore was in demand in this field. In 1923, he was appointed to the post of commissioner of bronesil, then transferred to the deputy chief of the air force for political affairs, and in 1924, he became head of the air force of the Red Army. Since then, aviation has become a part of his life.
Difficult thing
“I know this is a difficult thing, but our air fleet will be the first in the world,” said P.I. Rams. When, in 1924, he headed the country's Air Force, only the most incorrigible optimists believed in the second part of the sentence. The certificate of the state of aviation that Baranov prepared for the country's leadership in the 1925 year shows the following figures: in 1916, the plants of tsarist Russia produced 1769 airplanes and 666 aircraft engines. Then a continuous recession began, which reached the bottom in the 1922 year, when the entire 43 aircraft and 8 engines were taken from industry.
At small aerodromes, one could meet only battered foreign aircraft of various designs. The difficulty lay not only in the weakness of the production base, but also in the inertness of the views and ignorance of the leadership. The question of the priority development of aviation in the 20s was quite debatable, although in 1921 the book of Italian military theorist Giulio Douet, “Dominance in the air”, was already published. In it, he argued that the war can be won by air strikes alone. Even Drummond Hay scared American readers with the ghost of a mighty red air fleet: "For Russia, it will become what the British navy has been for our whole life for centuries."
But M.V. Frunze, for example, did not consider the role of the air force in a future war decisive. In his opinion, the theory of Duee reflected relations in the bourgeois world, where capitalists, fearing the armed masses, insured themselves with the help of technology. The experience of the civil war clearly confirmed that it was not machines, but people who decided the outcome of the battle. And the Red Army, in alliance with the world proletariat, will crush any enemy.
But what to say, even if he headed the Soviet Air Force to AV Baranov? Petrov-Sergeev (killed along with Baranov in the 5 September 1933 crash) published a book entitled “Strategy and Tactics of the Red Air Fleet”, in which he criticized the leadership of the Air Force for the inadmissible luxury of the current state of the country to have the Air Force Headquarters in the Red Army headed by a member Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic. That is, Baranov, whom the author ironically called "something like an air minister." The author, with proletarian aplomb, argued that since “there is no air strategy,” and “aviation specialization we cannot afford,” then for the Red Army, “not sufficiently saturated with machine guns, artillery, automobiles, etc., size - an unnecessary thing "!
Rams did not write propaganda books and did not enter into strategic disputes of a global scale. He started off small: his focus in the first stages was on guidance in parts of the elementary order. In the report on the results of his first inspection trip he wrote: “There is a disorder in the barracks, there is no bedding, the case is not glued to laundry and the bath, the boiler is also amusing, the Red Army book is not on hand, and if there is, it does not contain all records of boots , a scraper, a handkerchief, a rifle, an overcoat, and so on. Red Army uniforms are worn out ... "
Strategic Management Red Commissioner
P.I. Baranov (second from left) at a meeting of the Revolutionary Military Council
In aviation, Baranov was not just a commissar or, in modern terms, an effective manager, he tried to get into the essence of the matter, to the very depths. He did not become a pilot, but, still being an assistant to the Chief of the Air Force, he successfully completed a high school of observers, and in 1925, during a business trip to the Leningrad Military Technical School, he completed a short-term course of aviation mechanics. And every day, the head of the Air Force and a member of the USSR Revolutionary Military Council found an hour or two hours to disassemble and assemble the M-5 motors in an oily overalls.
As for the leadership style, the attention of Peter Baranov to trifles was noted: discipline in parts, order in the barracks. He did not remember the steep personnel changes or cleanings. On the contrary, today, after the expiration of time, its decisions appear to be strategically adjusted and surprisingly far-sighted. It was he who retained Valery Chkalov for the air hooligan aviation, who in 1928 was convicted of another year for another feat with damage to the aircraft and put in the Bryansk correctional home. Baranov, through Mikhail Kalinin, achieved the release of Chkalov and his transfer to the post of test pilot.
He consistently fought with revolutionary excesses. For example, a certain Association of Proletarian Musicians launched a campaign to ban the song “Higher and Higher”. Proletarian musicians heard a foxtrot in it. Baranov categorically rejected this comparison as idiocy, and the song became the Soviet aviators of aviators, popular to this day.
A holiday like Airborne Forces is associated with Peter Ionovich. It is believed that the idea of airborne assault troops belonged to M.N. Tukhachevsky. In fact, initially in 1928, Tukhachevsky meant only landing with the landing of airplanes or gliders in the rear of the enemy. At that time, no one thought about parachutes for this purpose - they were used only to rescue the pilots in an emergency situation, and each jump was an extraordinary event. The first forced parachute jump in the Air Force was made on 23 on June 1927 by the famous Soviet pilot Mikhail Gromov while testing the I-1 on a tailspin. This event was so significant that the pilot received a special badge "Silk Caterpillar" from the American company "Irving", the manufacturer of the parachute.
The enthusiast of the wider use of parachutes in aviation was the commander of the RKKA Air Force L.G. Mines. In 1928, he set forth his ideas to Baranov, who sent him to the USA to study the parachute case. Returning, 26 July, 1930, L.G. Minov performed a demonstration jump at the airfield in Voronezh before the participants of the training camp of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District. Baranov immediately issued a new assignment to him: “It would be very good if, in the course of the Voronezh exercise, it was possible to demonstrate the release of a group of armed paratroopers for sabotage actions on the enemy’s territory”.
The group was prepared as soon as possible, and 2 August 1930 of the year with two Farman-Goliath aircraft made a demonstration landing of 12-paratroopers. Since then, 2 August is considered the birthday of the Airborne Forces.
Import substitution
In addition to underestimating the role of aviation, there was another dangerous tendency in the country - to buy aircraft abroad, without wasting time and energy on its own developments. Baranov here again held a reasonable position, rightly believing that all means are good for the fastest strengthening of the Red Air Fleet. He personally went abroad several times for the purchase of aviation technologies. By the way, the nature of these trips partly reflected the relict position in which Soviet aviation was located in the 1920s. What can I say, if the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Air Force went abroad not just as a private person, but illegally, under a foreign name. At the same time, in the host countries they knew perfectly well who they were dealing with. For example, in France, the Minister of Aviation arrived with a “bouquet of red roses” in civilian clothes. A curious incident occurred in the 1929 year when entering the United States. The customs official wanted to leave suspicious Russians for a week-long quarantine. However, when Baranov, in response to a question about the purpose of the visit, announced the amount for which he intends to purchase engineering products in the USA, permission to go to the American coast was received instantly.
The position of Baranov in relation to the use of foreign technology is perfectly illustrated by the episode that occurred at Stalin’s dacha in August 1933, when he became familiar with a narrow circle of top state leaders. At such informal "parties", along with the game of small towns, important state issues were resolved. In particular, at that time it was about the absence of a powerful aircraft air-cooled engine. At the suggestion of Baranov, for the speedy resolution of this problem, it was decided to purchase a foreign license.
With all this, Baranov always believed that the country should be able to do the planes herself. On the second day after his appointment as Chief of the Air Force, he went not somewhere, but to the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), where A.N. Tupolev gave him a tour. Since then, Baranov has become a regular guest at TsAGI. Peter Ionovich played the most important role in the creation of the Central Institute of Aviation Motors (CIAM).
"Godfather"
The emergence of CIAM was preceded by rather dramatic events. The initiative to create the institute was made by 19 prominent aviation specialists, 13 on August 1930 wrote a letter to the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) with a copy to Voroshilov and Baranov. The idea with the letter was risky, because it was, in fact, an open criticism of the actions of the Soviet government. The need for direct appeal to the leadership was caused by the following circumstances. At the initiative of an energetic group of young designers of the aviation department of the US, future luminaries of the domestic engine-building - V.Ya. Klimova, A.A. Mikulina, A.D. Charomsky, V.A. Dobrynina and others, in the Moscow district of Lefortovo, construction began on the Pilot Plant for aircraft engines. However, the NAMI leadership took a narrow departmental position, as a result of which, by decision of the USSR Supreme Economic Council, the plant was transferred for the needs of the All-Union Auto-Tractor Association (VATO).
The letter spoke directly about this: “For all the time in the Union, various organizations have designed more 40 aircraft engines: 30 of them were put into production, about 15 built, but none of them stands on airplanes. Our prototype construction was extremely fruitless. Now, when the plant is built and basically ready to eliminate the breakthroughs, it is transferred to VATO. Thus, our aviation engine building loses the base it has just created. ”
But writing a letter is half the battle. It was also necessary to deliver it to the addressee. The former commissioner and future designer of diesel aviation and tank motors A.D. Charomsky. He was a fellow soldier of Baranov and achieved a personal meeting with him. The Air Force chief took an active part in an important issue for the aviation industry, put his visa on the letter and even allocated an R-5 aircraft so that Charomsky could urgently fly to Sochi, where the country's top leadership was on vacation. Arriving in Sochi, Charomsky reported to Voroshilov, and after Stalin considered the proposals set out in the letter, a telegram was sent to the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) with the appropriate instructions. On December 3, 1930, on the basis of a report by Pyotr Baranov "On the progress of experimental construction on aircraft and engines," the USSR Revolutionary Military Council decided to establish an Experimental Aviation Engine Institute in Lefortovo. This day became the birthday of CIAM, which today, having the largest scientific testing base in Europe, continues to remain the leading scientific organization of aviation engine building.
There are other dates that, thanks to Baranov, today are honored in aviation history, although they are not always associated with his name. An important role he played in the fate of the design teams of A.N. Tupolev and S.V. Ilyushin. At the beginning of the 1930s, when pest control in the country was intensified in connection with the so-called “industrial party” affair, Tupolev also fell under suspicion of noble origin. He was actually removed from the management of the design department of TsAGI, the leading, if not the only serious organization at that time to develop aircraft in the country. It was an intrigue built on the opposition of Tupolev and Ilyushin, in which the interests of the NKVD were affected. It was necessary to act extremely cautiously, and PI Baranov with his vast administrative experience and endurance succeeded. Everything ended successfully, and 13 January 1933 of the year, signed by Baranov, issued an order to divide the TsKB TsAGI and organize the Central Design Bureau of the experimental aircraft construction of light aircraft. The creation of heavy airplanes for various purposes was entrusted to the TsAGI CO SOS under the direction of AN Tupolev. January 13 - the day when A.N. Tupolev returned to the leadership of the team he created; it is quite possible to call the second birthday of the Tupolev Design Bureau (founded on October 22 on 1922 of the year). On the account of the OKB now about 300 aircraft projects. The same day became the official birthday of the OKB S.V. Ilyushin. Such an order suit all parties.
But the best monument to Baranov was the Day of the Air Fleet of the USSR, which was first celebrated on August 18 1933 of the year. The contribution to this holiday of Peter Ionovich was marked by awarding him the highest award of the country - the Order of Lenin.
On the thin side
Baranov’s transition into the aviation industry from being the Air Force chief in 1931 was accomplished in a rather unexpected way. In the middle of July, 1931, at the Central Aerodrome, a review of aviation technology was organized for the country's top leadership. Stalin arrived and immediately went to the planes, puffing on a cigarette. When several steps remained before the parking, the commander of the Air Force Scientific Research Institute A.A. Turzhansky stopped the head of state: “Excuse me, please, Joseph Vissarionovich, but maybe you are smoking here? Airplanes can not. It was said loudly, so that the whole retinue heard. Stalin silently threw a cigarette and carefully put it out with the sole of his boot. The mood of the leader is clearly deteriorated. Approaching the 5, he abruptly asked: “Is there a radio on airplanes?” Turzhansky replied that he did not. “Why not?” Stalin demanded an explanation. Baranov, who was present there on duty, tried to tell that the experiments on installing radio on fighters had just begun, but did not satisfy the head of state. He grew grim.
Of particular interest was the experimental model of the newest Tupolev TB-3 bomber. Here Stalin also showed discontent: “Why are the test periods delayed?” After that, the leader wanted to see a new car in flight. Meanwhile, MM Gromov, who had raised TB-3 into the air, was in the hospital with an ulcer, and none of the pilots present on this plane had yet flown.
“Nuth, sir, what are we going to do? The government has arrived, and we cannot show the most interesting car in flight? Will we sign our helplessness? ”Asked Baranov Turzhansky, and he suggested that two pilots who were flying on TB-1 be put at the helm. Despite the objections and even the protests of the other commanders, Baranov ordered to do so.
And here Stalin unexpectedly declared: “Why don't I fly on this bomber?” At the same time, just a few days ago, after the death of the RKKA deputy chief of staff, V.K. Triandofillova, it was decided not to let responsible officials use air transport without special permission from the Central Committee. Stalin, knowing well about him, continued to persist: “Why can't I, comrade air force chief?”
To tell the leader that something was forbidden to him was very dangerous, so Baranov had to go to the trick: “You can, Joseph Vissarionovich, if you want it. But there is an order: you first need to check the new car in the air, and then take the passengers on board. ” “That's how it is? Well, I will wait if it is necessary for order, ”Stalin replied.
The pilots received orders to fly around the airfield for at least 40 minutes. To prevent the head of state from getting bored, Alexander Anisimov and Valery Chkalov climbed the I-4 and I-5 skyward. They started such a fascinating air battle that time flew by. When TB-3 landed, Stalin was reminded that he was waiting elsewhere. “Why did I obey you? Why did they scare me? ”- Stalin complained, looking at Baranov. The leader ordered to reward the pilots and left without saying goodbye to the commander in chief of the Air Force.
A week after this incident, there was a sharp turn in Baranov’s career: G.K. Ordzhonikidze informed him that he was fired from the Air Force and transferred to lead the country's aviation industry.
Minister of Aviation
Why Baranov instead of the expected opals went on increasing? According to one of the versions, he was defended by Ordzhonikidze, who needed an intelligent assistant in the complex transformations that he was to carry out. It is possible that Stalin himself liked the idea of putting at the head of the aviation industry a person who had been working for a long time as his main customer, and therefore knew the industry well. Most likely, the government required a disciplined military in this crucial position. In the Soviet country began a new era.
By 1928, the production of aircraft in the USSR was able to bring to 644 units, and the engines - to 614 units. It was very little compared with the release of aircraft in leading countries. In England, 1928 airplanes and 1400 engines were launched in 3000, France, 3000 and 5500, respectively, in the USA, 4760 and 3500, respectively. But what to say, even in Germany, which was forbidden to have military aircraft, produced 500 aircraft and 900 engines. We were inferior not only in quantity, but also in quality. In fact, the USSR Air Forces were not operational, since 85% consisted of reconnaissance aircraft. Most of the engines and aircraft were licensed copies of foreign technology or purchased abroad, not the most modern of its models.
In the meantime, the international situation took shape in such a way that the prospect of the world proletarian revolution finally came to naught, but the new world war began to look almost inevitable, and it was necessary to prepare for it. Slogans here helped a little. We needed tanks and airplanes, and the USSR began to translate its economy on a war footing. In February, 1931 of the year, Stalin declared: “We are behind the advanced countries on 50 – 100 years and must run this distance in 10 years, otherwise they will crush us.”
Baranov’s transition to a new position was accomplished at a critical moment for the aviation industry. Until 1932, the country's economy was ruled by the Higher Council of National Economy (VSNH), which was something like the current Ministry of Industry and Trade, which oversees the sphere of activity in which 47 ministries were engaged in the USSR. This system was quite liberal, allowing for some autonomy of enterprises. VSNH performed regulatory functions, set targets, but did not directly intervene in the work of enterprises. The plants worked on the principles of cost accounting and were united in trusts. At the beginning of 1930, the country's leadership decided that such a system could not act effectively in the new environment.
5 January 1932, instead of the Supreme Economic Council, three people's commissariats appeared, that is, the ministries of heavy, light and timber industries. Accordingly, the All-Union Aviation Association (HLW), which unites the enterprises of the aviation industry (similarly to the United Aviation Corporation), has become a purely budgetary Main Directorate of the Aviation Industry (SUAI). Baranov, who began his civil career as a head of HLW, in the course of the reform, became the head of SUAI in the status of Deputy People's Commissar of Heavy Industry G.K. Ordzhonikidze, that is, in fact - the first minister of the Soviet aviation industry.
The death of Baranov, as well as the elimination in the future of such independent figures as Ya.I. Alksnis and M.N. Tukhachevsky, did not pass for aviation without a trace. They were often replaced by people whose competence could not be compared with their predecessors. For example, G.N. Korolev. Its level vividly illustrates such a case: in September 1933, at the Central Aerodrome in Moscow, an aviation exhibition was held. The newly minted head of the Soviet aircraft industry, being at the event, came to life at the sight of an elegant AIR-6 aircraft model designed by A.S. Yakovleva: “Immediately you can see foreign work. This is culture! Soon we will learn to build like this. ” When he was told that this plane was domestic, he yawned and went on.
Or another case. A couple of months after the entry of the new head of the aviation industry, A.S. Yakovlev, who survived from the factory number 39. Korolev told the designer, who was to become the creator of the best Soviet fighter of the Great Patriotic War: “Are they being evicted from the plant? Correctly do. I have instructed to place your design office in the bed shop. ” And he added that the task of producing beds from the workshop is not removed.
After him, M.M. Kaganovich, brother of the all-powerful Lazarus. Unfortunately, his knowledge, organizational skills and erudition also left much to be desired.
The words of A.N. indicate the role of Baranov in the development of domestic aviation. Tupolev: “It was difficult, very difficult. I remember, M.M. Kaganovich arrived at one of the big factories, created by Peter Ionovich. More than half of the construction was mothballed. Peter Ionovich decided to create this plant from a number of factories: aviation, motor, aggregate. After the death of Peter Ionovich, the construction of most of them was not started. ”
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