Against Polikarpov. Fighter-185, or the history of meanness and betrayal
Understanding is a very complicated thing. Especially when you begin to really understand that everything could be different. And - especially - in our aviation 40s of the last century.
The speech, as everyone already understood, will be about the actual murder of the most talented designer Nikolai Polikarpov. It is clear that no one mixed it with poison and did not put it on the wall. But that was how it happened, without poison and bullets.
Question: can Polikarpov be considered holy, around which there was one ... one known substance? Yes, Nikolai Nikolayevich was a man alien to convulsions alien to the society in which he had to live and work. Alas, it is. But there were many worthy, honest and principled people in his life. I will try to mention them to the maximum.
Serpentarium, which was called “the Soviet school of aircraft designers,” was exactly what I called it in one of the past articles. But here without sentiment: the built aircraft are awards, orders, immunity. And for this you could go on any meanness and stabs in the back.
So it happened on the whole with this remarkable man and the ingenious designer - Nikolai Polikarpov.
Let's start with the facts about which I already wrote in the materials on the MiG-3 and I-180. That is from 1939 of the year.
Before the Rubicon
So, 1939 year. We can say that the OKB Polikarpov ended it with good results. In fact, the project “Ivanov” was worked out, which then became Su-2, the SPB bomber was created on the basis of HIT-2, and, of course, all forces were sent to the introduction of the I-180 series.
And there was a project work for the future. First, we worked on a high-altitude fighter project “K” / project 61 under the motor AM-37.
And the designer himself worked on another fighter project under the air cooling engine of S. K. Tumansky or A. D. Shvetsov. The design bureaus of these engineers created the same two-row “stars” with the power of 1600-2000 hp.
Polikarpov kept these works secret, and for good reason.
At the end of 1939, after the conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Polikarpov was sent to Germany as part of the Soviet delegation. Yes, the trip was more than useful, our engineers were able to get acquainted with weapons former enemy in the war in Spain personally.
But on his return, Polikarpov was forced to do things so far from design that I would not want to be in his place.
Soviet-style robbery
While Polikarpov in Germany was studying the “Messerschmitts” and “Heinkels”, his EDB was crushed. At the plant # XXUMX, director Artem Mikoyan created his own development department headed by himself and Mikhail Gurevich. The new structure of the rake from the Polykarpov design bureau is everything that could be reached. From ordinary employees to leading engineers.
True, not everyone voluntarily ran over to Mikoyan, like Gurevich. There were people who had to be persuaded, there were those who were even intimidated. But in the end, Mikoyan and Gurevich took about 80 human engineers and promising projects from the Polikarpov Design Bureau.
When, after the death of Mikhail Iosifovich Gurevich, his name was instantly excluded from the name of the company, I think it is true even from some side.
Polikarpov, for the sake of justice, threw candy. Awarded the Stalin Prize for the creation of the MiG-1. And he was appointed director and chief designer of the plant number XXUMX, which at that time did not even exist. In this position, Polikarpov remained until his death. Not for long, in general.
In general, the plane was stolen (in general, two, "Ivanov", as it were, too, "flew away"), they were put out of the factory, the designers were taken away. What time is it? That's right, based on the experience and data obtained in Germany, to start building a new aircraft!
Against "Focke-Wulf"
Nikolai Nikolayevich with the remaining loyal employees begins work on the project "62". He - and-185.
In general, the implementation of the I-180 was still going, but the I-185 promised to be better. And-180 met the requirements of that time and even exceeded them. But, having been in Germany, Nikolai Nikolayevich understood that other modifications would follow the Bf-109D, and Kurt Tank, who loved to boast under schnapps, also hinted that they had something to do with it.
Foresight of a genius or tishkom information received? We will never know the truth, but the fact is: Yakovlev, Lavochkin, Gorbunov, Pashinin rushed to create airplanes similar to 109. Polikarpov began work on a completely different machine.
The main working qualities of the future aircraft were vertical and horizontal maneuver, high speed and rate of climb, weapons. Polikarpov best represented what should be the fighter of the future war. And the fact that he succeeded (I-185) was not the beginning of the plane, but the end of that war.
An analysis of the state of German aviation showed that more advanced modifications of Bf-109E would soon appear, and what was created in the Focke-Wolfe was not clear at all.
It is difficult to give an answer, not seeing the subject of confrontation, but it was not for nothing that Polikarpov bore the title “King of Fighters”.
"Give the motor!"
It is clear what will be discussed now. The fact that for an ingenious machine need not even ingenious, but the engine. Which will move this car.
And the engine should be more powerful than M-88, from which they began to dance with I-180. The engines were theoretically, but Polikarpov ordered the laying of 4 machines at once for the installation of different engines. Not intentionally.
Further, as always, the Soviet detective story about engines began.
The first version of the I-185 was designed under the M-90 motor of the Zaporizhzhya Design Bureau, the HP 1750 with power. A good indicator, by the year 1942 was brought to 2080 hp
25 May 1940 completed the construction of the 185 and under the M-90. By this time, and received the first M-90. The motor was completely non-working. Note that the first flight of an 185 could have been made in June 1940.
History With the M-90, she began to drag out, and the Commissar of the aviation industry Shahurin, realizing the importance of the case, gives instructions to install an M-185 motor with an 71 power in one of the ready-made copies of the I-2000. The M-71 was considerably heavier than the M-90 and had a larger diameter. It was a 18-cylinder two-row engine. The estimated speed with it went somewhere in the region of 650-660 km / h, that is, a head taller than LaGG-1 and Yak-1. And comparable to the MiG-1.
Receipts M-71 waited until it stops, but the engine was not ready. And in November 1940 of the year Shakhurin with his power ordered to put on the I-185 one more motor of the Shvetsov Design Bureau, M-81. 14-cylinder and with power 1600 hp
Minus 400 "horses" - not good, but so far tolerated.
But M-81 also entered the Design Bureau only in December and ... in non-working condition! By own forces the motor was put in order. Until the final death of the engine, the aircraft performed 16 flights. The speed of the defective engine, issued from the power 1400 hp turned out to be close to 500 km / h. That confirmed the calculations of Polikarpov and instilled optimism and confidence.
In March, 1941, the flights were officially stopped by Yakovlev’s order, because the aviation industry commissar decided not to engage in fine-tuning the M-81 engine.
But there was a ray of hope. The first motor M-71 was received!
And right there, Polikarpov sends a complaint to Yakovlev: the motor has 15% less power than stated and 13% higher than the nominal weight. The second M-71, received after it, weighed 1079 kg instead of the 975 declared, but at least produced the specified number of “horses”.
The motor worked disgustingly. All attempts to debug it failed. The lousy M-71 also worked for Sukhoi on the Su-6 attack aircraft.
As a result, all three instances of the I-185 were on the ground with a very vague prospect of waiting for the moment when the motors would be brought to standard. Or, as Polikarpov wrote in the report, “to a state allowing at least minimal risk of testing the aircraft.”
The situation was not easy. Just a year ago, the idea of another purchase of imported engines for the next copy soared in the air. This time it was about the American "Wright" and "Pratt-Whitney." But they refused the idea, because they seemed to have their own approach.
However, they did not pull their own, and M-90, M-81 and M-71 hung in the finalization stage for more than a year.
There was an attempt to buy a few BMW-801 from "friends" from Germany, but they frankly delayed the question, and in 1941, the Germans were no longer such friends, and they refused to sell motors.
In fact, it took Polikarpov a year to tear the 185 off the ground. On the eve of the war - a luxury.
If you read Yakovlev's book “The Purpose of Life”, then there is quite cynically signs Polikarpov’s defeat in the fight against “young unknown designers” (quoted by Yakovlev). As I said, they were not so young and completely unknown. Rather, on the contrary, very similar to all rooms. Deputy People's Commissar of the aviation industry, head of the department of the same NCAP, curators of plants in the NCAP system, brother of the Minister of Foreign Trade and colleague of Stalin.
Is it possible to justify Polikarpov? Need to. 4 relocation for 4 of the year, withdrawal of the best employees, the actual defeat of the KB - how is it?
And Yakovlev writes: “He (Polikarpov) perfectly understood ... that to be empty-handed in front of the Motherland at the most difficult time for her is not only a personal failure.”
Indeed, in those days Polikarpov was gloomy. It was from what. And it was something to rejoice Yakovlev.
However, the war put everything in its place, and non-Polikarpov fighters were powerless against the Germans. And-16, sorry, was weaker, and this was not a secret. The latest fighters of Yakovlev and the rest were beaten by the Messers. And this is a fact from which it is difficult to get out.
But on the part of Alexander Sergeevich, it was simply blasphemous to reproach Polikarpov, who had already died by that time, that he had not provided the proper fighter. The fighters gave "young and unknown". And the fact that all three new Soviet fighters were absolutely no match for Bf-109 - wasn Polikarpov really to blame?
Fools and scoundrels
Meanwhile, the motor for the I-185 was. All the same Shvetsova. All in the same Perm. Arkady Dmitrievich performed a double miracle for those times.
The first is to create an 82 M-1700 horsepower. and (especially valuable), the motor was very small in diameter, just 1260 mm.
Secondly, he defended his engine when an order came from NCAP to switch the plant to water cooling engines. With the help of the first secretary of the Perm regional committee of the party, Gusarov Shvetsov managed to break through to the reception to Stalin.
The whole problem of that time was precisely that Stalin physically could not accept and listen to everyone. Alas. Even without being a specialist in the industry, Iosif Vissarionovich understood that Shakhurin and Yakovlev were making obvious idiocy, trying to transfer the plant from the production of air-cooled engines to liquid ones. A completely different process.
In early May 1941, after meeting with Shvetsov, Stalin canceled the NCAP resolution on the Perm plant, and then decided to transfer the M-82 to repeated state tests. Motor tests passed, and 17 May was the ruling on the launch of the series.
Yes, when Stalin straightened out his subordinates, things went very quickly. But half a year is still lost.
It is interesting to me, but what would Yakovlev and Shakhurin babble in their memoirs and who would they blame for the fact that suddenly there were no motors for La-5, La-7, Tu-2?
By the way, the ASH-82 in modifications after the war regularly carried not only airplanes, but also helicopters. La-9, La-11, Yak-11, Il-12, Il-14, Mi-4 - it all flew exactly on ASH-82. And the direct descendants still plow in our aviation even today.
It looked like a 57-mm anti-tank gun. They took it off, abandoned it, and when it turned out that there was nothing to beat the Tigers, they ran like skirts, loyally looking Stalin in the eye with the question: “What are we going to do, Comrade Stalin”?
And after death all to blame on the commander in chief. Not spotted, did not stop, did not order.
Yes, Shakhurin, to his credit, served it and later admitted mistakes in his memoirs. Yakovlev did not fall to apologies. But I’m sure if they had the opportunity to write memoirs after such a scenario, I’m sure they would have unanimously accused Stalin, who did not stop them.
Yakovlev repeatedly robbing Polikarpov
So, at the end of 1940, we still seemed to have a plane, head and shoulders superior to the designs of the “young and early”. Well, on paper, at least.
It is clear that the NKAP was completely uninterested in I-180 and I-185 machines, there were enough people around and around who were hungry for orders and awards. It's clear.
In general, all that was needed was in the interests of the country to give Polikarpov an opportunity to bring the plane to mind, and Shvetsov to build motors. Both of them, in fact, just wanted to do this.
But no, the NKAP by all means slows down this line. And only 5 May 1941, Polikarpov, finally, receives an official task for the I-185 with M-82.
By that time, the OKB had two versions of the aircraft: using the existing fuselage and building a new, somewhat elongated one - specially for M-82.
Moreover, having forgiven Mikoyan, Polikarpov began work on a unified propeller group, since at that time it had become clear that the MiG-3 was, to put it mildly, “not a cake”. And he needs another motor. And initially the MiG was developed precisely by Polykarpov people.
The I-185 speed was estimated at 600-625 km / h. That is better than any of the "young and early." But this is not the main thing. Speed is great. How to fight?
According to the draft design, completed in May, the armament of the 185 and the M-82 consisted of three (!!!) synchronous ShVAK guns and two synchronous ShKAS machine guns. And you could still stick in the wing on the ShKASU.
Brilliantly placing all this battery around the engine, Polikarpov did not give chances to any of the Germans, not even the five-point "Messerschmitt", since the three synchronized guns are three synchronous guns.
This, when compared, is FW-190. But 190-th is, sorry, 1943 year. But not 1941. And again, the "Focke-Wulf" cannon in the wings. That is - the spread. And-185 is more accurate at the output, which means more efficiently.
E-185 with M-82A made the first flight in August 1941. In September, flights began at the flight test institute. Simultaneously with the tests and X-Numx with the motor M-185.
Even with a very raw M-71 engine, which also constantly messed up, the I-185 M-71 showed a speed of 620 km / h. The prospect of using air-cooled engines has become obvious, and please appreciate what Yakovlev did.
By order of Yakovlev, the drawings of the I-185 propeller group with the M-82A and the installation of the ShVAK synchronous guns were transferred to the Lavochkin Design Bureau, Mikoyan, Yakovlev. This greatly accelerated the work on the creation of aircraft with air-cooled engines La-5, MiG-9М-82 (version MiG-3) and Yak-7М-82.
And Polikarpov? What about him?
And with Polikarpov Shakhurin and Yakovlev did a very peculiar way.
In October, 1941, the work in the Design Bureau was stopped due to evacuation. Polikarp's OKB was evacuated to Novosibirsk, but not to an aircraft factory. At the aircraft factory number XXUMX moved ... Yakovlev Design Bureau!
And Polikarpov was provided with the premises of the city menagerie and the aeroclub airfield ...
In general, it is very difficult for me to assess the human qualities of Polikarpov. When you are beaten in the back like that every day and spit in your face, when your plane is not allowed to fly by all means, an understanding of the deepest spirituality and love for your Motherland of this person arises.
Five months - and in February 1942 for state tests are presented with the I-185 M-71 and I-185 M-82А. 28 March these tests successfully completed.
Challenge trials
Test pilot Pyotr Emelyanovich Loginov wrote in his flight assessment:
Pyotr Emelyanovich Loginov tested many airplanes of that time: La-5, La-5Н, And-153, MiG-1. He made the first flight on the 185 and carried out combat tests of the aircraft. Peter Loginov died in 1944 in a battle with four German fighters.
His son, captain Valentin Petrovich Loginov, died in the 1962 year, to the last turning away the emergency fighter from the large village of Angelovo near Moscow (it still exists today near Mitino).
Can you not believe the words of such people?
Leading Engineer of the Scientific-Research Institute of the Air Force Iosif Gavrilovich Lazarev:
2) According to the piloting technique and take-off and landing properties, the aircraft is simple and accessible to middle and lower-level pilots ...
3) ... When tested, the plane lifted 500 kg of bombs (2х250 kg) and took off and landed with 4 bombs on 100 kg.
And finally, the general conclusion of the Air Force Institute:
I-185 M-82 ... second only to the I-185 M-71 aircraft, surpassing all production aircraft, both ours and foreign ones ...
The piloting technique is similar to the I-185 M-71, i.e. simple and affordable for pilots below average qualifications.
Immediately after the state tests, a flight was carried out by front-line pilots who received airplanes in Novosibirsk. The commander of the 18 Guards IAP, Major Chertov, and the squadron commander Captain Tsvetkov wrote to Shakhurin in a memo from 1.04.42:
But it's too early to start rejoicing. So, it seemed that a panacea against the Messers was found, it only remains to put on stream, and ...
And no decision on the aircraft followed.
You can start to wonder.
And all the more surprising, because 24 December 1941, after testing the captured Bf-109F at the Air Force Institute, the institute management sent AS. Yakovlev letter, which, in particular, said: "Currently, we do not have a fighter with flight tactical data better or at least equal to Me-109F."
And then the question arises: “we” - who is this? Filled with honors, awards and money Yakovlev, Mikoyan and Gorbunov and his comrades?
Many people who write on this subject often say, they say, the NCA has made a bet on La-5. And here is just some bitterness of understanding. Well, who are you trying to deceive, gentlemen? La-5 began to undergo factory testing only in March of the 1942 year, what are you all about?
And honestly, after the titanic efforts of the creators of LaGG-3, who struggled to breathe life into their aircraft. Yes, Lavochkin succeeded. But how!
The plane itself was created underground. And collected Semyon Alekseevich La-5 in a barn on the outskirts of the plant in Gorky. And if it had not been for the first secretary of the Gorky regional party committee (the party intervened again) Mikhail Ivanovich Rodionov, who took the risk and went to Stalin to report to La-5, it is not known how it would be with him (La-5).
In defense of Lavochkin, I want to say that although La-5 was inferior in flight data and armament of the I-185 with the M-82, it also had a certain advantage. Launch 5 can be adjusted to the factories producing LaGG-3, which was as many as five. What, in fact, happened in practice.
Perhaps the defenders have in mind that Yakovlev relied on his fighter with an air-cooled engine Yak-7 M-82. Yes, in fact it was a good aircraft with good weapons. And not the fact that when bringing to mind this car would be worse than La-5.
But I-185 was already !!! Flew !!! He fought !!!
And the best result of the work of the I-185 is, from my point of view, the act, which was signed by the head of the Air Force Scientific Research Institute, Major General P. Losyukov 29 January 1943.
By maximum speed, climb and vertical maneuver, the I-185 with the M-71 surpasses the domestic and latest production aircraft of the enemy (Me-109-2 and FV-190).
The final blow and the lie of Yakovlev
Everything seemed to be going well: an excellent fighter is launched into the series, which surpasses all existing modern aircraft, moreover, it has already developed modifications ...
But the decision to adopt the I-185 was not followed.
The fate of I-185 was decided by the discussion of the letter, which February Polikarpov wrote to 4 in the name of Stalin. Really fearing new delays and bases.
All the meanness of the moment, oddly enough, was described by Yakovlev in his book The Purpose of Life. I have in the library two copies of this book. 1972 and 1987's. So, during the 6 reprints, Yakovlev spoke more and more about I-185. He gave the truth on a teaspoon, but nonetheless.
In the last edition, Yakovlev writes the following legend:
It is clear why Yakovlev needed to pull out two AND-180 and one AND-185 from all the AND-180 and AND-185, to issue them as 3 experienced AND-180, each of which killed a test pilot. I wrote about this in the beginning. Orders, awards, glory and honor.
But Malenkov was left with THREE state tests at the Scientific-Research Institute of the Air Force, and testimonies of test pilots and front-line pilots, which, unlike Yakovlev, appreciated the car, were attached to the acts.
I just assume that “an attempt to objectively evaluate a car” was just as objective and truthful as the fairy tale in the book for the masses… Suffering, in general, comrades Shakhurin and Yakovlev tried.
But honestly, Shakhurin didn’t go into design business. He was a production coordinator. For design affairs he had a whole deputy. Yakovlev.
There are a lot of reasons why the 185 did not go into the series. And the plant was not free, and the production was rebuilt for a long time, the undecided M-71 motor ...
Problems with the motor - this is the reason that touched all designers. Let's just say this is a black line that stretches across the history of our aircraft. But the motor was!
But there were those “young unknown” designers who really wanted to become kings. And they absolutely didn’t like the situation of having a plane that was superior to their car. Lavochkin and Gudkov in 1942 would simply not have started working on La-5 and Gu-82, but they would have been completely unclear on what position.
Yes, and Yakovlev would have very difficult. And-185 is not Yak-1, Yak-7, Yak-9 and not even Yak-3. Unable to resist the Messerschmitt and Focke-Wulfs, they too would not be needed.
It turns out that I-185 was needed only to Polikarpov, fighter pilots, and even engine builders.
Meanwhile, already in the sky of Stalingrad, Bf-109G-2 showed its complete superiority over all Yakovlev fighters (Yak-1, Yak-7, Yak-9) in speed, rate of climb and armament. Yes, and appeared in the same La-5 speed advantage was minimal, only the ground afterburner.
The I-185 with the M-71 motor exceeded Bf-109G-2 near the ground at 75-95 km / h, at the height of 3-5 km - at 65-70 mm / h, at 6000 m - at 55 km / h, and only at altitudes 7,5 - 8 km speed advantage passed to the "Messerschmitt". But there they somehow did not fight on the Eastern Front.
It remains to acknowledge finally ...
We have to admit that in that war we fought with numbers. But not quality. Yes, quantitative superiority in the sky is, of course, good, but when this amount is achieved by such things as dismantling “all unnecessary” type of oxygen equipment, machine guns, ammunition from an airplane ...
And with one gun to go against the "Messerschmitt", who had from 3 to 5 trunks and "Focke-Wulf" with six barrels, four of which are cannon.
However, I already wrote about this in the article about the Yak-1.
By and large, while in the NKAP and the Air Force Research Institute were engaged in what has always been called fraud. Very often you meet today the reasoning about how important the number of aircraft is for winning air superiority. This amount of 22.06.1941 helped a lot, for some reason nobody remembered. And Germany and the Allies had almost 5 000 planes against 11 000 from the Red Army Air Force.
In general, one can talk endlessly about the turns of Yakovlev and Shakhurin. Especially about Yakovlev, a man with a not very clear conscience.
Yes, in the end we managed in that war without AND-180 and AND-185. We have done a lot without what. Without the industry of Ukraine, lost in the first year, without bread of the Chernozem region, without trained and competent military leaders, without an army ready for war ...
We did a lot without what. The question is - at what cost. But we know the price paid by the Soviet people. And we must understand that each such "cost" is measured in a certain number of human lives.
It is very strange today, even after 80 years, it looks like this. Excellent samples of military equipment did not even reach the series at all (I-180, I-185, Su-6, ZiS-2), or they required such efforts that it is even strange to talk about it today. No need to go for examples and here, it suffices to recall the stories of the emergence of IL-2, Tu-2, T-34, Su-100.
Polikarpov was comforted by another sop - the Stalin Prize for the I-185. But money is dead to nothing. The order to design a high-altitude interceptor with an airtight cabin based on an I-185 also turned out to be nothing.
Cancer of the esophagus in 52, dumped Polikarpov. 30 July, 1944, Nikolai Nikolayevich is gone.
Immediately after the death of Polikarp's OKB, it was disbanded, all projects were stopped and closed. On the basis of the Design Bureau V.N. Chelomey created his design bureau, which was engaged in the creation of cruise missiles.
What have we lost? What have we acquired? It is difficult to judge.
Based on:
Ivanov V.P. Unknown Polikarpov.
Yakovlev A. S. The purpose of life.
Shavrov V. B. The history of aircraft designs in the USSR 1938-1950.
Information