Invincible constructor. 100th anniversary of the birth of Sergei Pavlovich Invincible
Sergey Pavlovich Invincible, photo: Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau, kbm.ru
September 13, 2021 would have marked the 100th anniversary of the outstanding domestic designer of missile weapons, Sergei Pavlovich Invincible.
This designer and scientist is rightly called the titanium of the domestic rocket industry. With his direct participation, 28 different missile systems were developed: from anti-tank missile systems "Shmel" to tactical missile systems "Tochka".
In many respects, the works and ideas of Sergei Invincible allowed the development of a modern operational-tactical missile system "Iskander", which is rightly considered one of the most formidable weapons systems of the Russian army. The legacy of the excellent designer continues to protect the borders of our Motherland even after his death.
On the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Sergei Pavlovich, a monument to the designer was unveiled in Kolomna in the Memorial Park. It is no coincidence that the bust of the talented inventor of military equipment and weapons was installed in Kolomna. Sergey Pavlovich Invincible from 1965 to 1989 was the head and general designer of a local defense enterprise - the famous Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering in Kolomna.
The makings of a future designer were already evident in childhood.
Sergei Pavlovich Invincible was born on September 13, 1921 in Ryazan in a working class family. The next year, the family of the future designer moved to the small village of Nikolskoye, Shchigrovsky district, Kursk province. It is in the village that the barefoot childhood of Sergei Invincible passes.
The future designer of missile weapons received his secondary education in the city of Shchigry, where he moved with his family. The Invincibles decided to move to Shchigry precisely in order to give their children a better education. Already in his school years, Sergei showed outstanding inclinations in mathematics. In addition, he was excellent, like his father, versed in mechanics and was engaged in modeling. It is known that already at the age of 14, Sergei Invincible designed a speedboat with a steam turbine. The makings of a designer were well manifested already in childhood.
The building of the Sloboda Palace, which housed the Bauman Moscow Mechanical Engineering Institute, photo: mt.bmstu.ru
After graduating from high school, Sergei had no questions about what to do next. In 1938 he went to conquer Moscow and entered the prestigious Moscow Red Banner Mechanical and Mechanical Engineering Institute named after N.E.Bauman. For training, Invincible chose the department of ammunition.
The very fact that an applicant from the provinces entered this university already looked like a serious achievement, since 8 out of 9 candidates were eliminated in the competition. To enter this institute, it was necessary to pass seven entrance exams well at once: in addition to traditional mathematics, physics, chemistry and the Russian language in writing, students passed an essay on literature, a foreign language and history VKP (b).
During the war, the future designer dug trenches and studied in Izhevsk
The war, which began on June 22, 1941, found Sergei Invincible as a student. His application to be sent to the front was rejected. At that time, first and second-year students were drafted into the army, third-year students had to continue their studies, and senior students were actively involved in work in their specialties at various defense enterprises of the country.
At the same time, from the very first days of the war, the situation at the front was very unfavorable for the Red Army. Against this background, a detachment of 300 students was formed from the students of the Bauman Institute. Formed construction battalion already on June 30, 1941 departed for the construction of defensive lines in the rear areas.
The students stayed on earthworks for the construction of fortifications: bunkers, escarps, trenches, anti-tank ditches until the end of the summer of 1941. The work was hard enough. According to the recollections of Sergei Invincible, they started with a norm of 7 cubic meters of land per day, later it was increased to 10 cubic meters. At the same time, they often had to work until 11 o'clock in the evening.
Anti-tank crews during the Great Patriotic War
Returning from the construction of the fortifications, the students learned that their institute had been evacuated to Izhevsk. In the capital of Udmurtia, university students were moved to private apartments with local residents. Sergei Invincible lived in Izhevsk in a small house on Azina Street with an elderly couple. In the capital of Udmurtia, Invincible was employed at the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, formed here on the basis of the evacuated enterprises. At the plant, the future designer worked as a simple turner.
This plant, which is subordinate to the People's Commissariat of Arms, manufactured anti-tank rifles designed by Degtyarev and Simonov - the famous ATRM and ATGM. During the war years, more than 200 thousand anti-tank rifles were assembled here, and Sergei Pavlovich Invincible also had a hand in assembling them. In one shift, he managed to grind up to 14 barrels for anti-tank rifles.
At the same time, third-year students worked on a shortened six-hour shift. So, Sergei Invincible stood at the lathe from eight in the evening until two in the morning. After that, he had to quickly return home so that at 9 am he would go to classes, which until the evening were taught by university teachers who had arrived with the students from Moscow.
The magic of surnames
In the summer of 1943, students of the Bauman Mechanical Engineering Institute returned to Moscow. They did not have vacations, and in the same summer the future designer took a job again. In the capital, Invincible worked at a pipe foundry, which, during the war years, produced hulls for 100-kg aviation bombs. At the same time, the work shift was already 16 hours.
Then, after returning to Moscow, students chose a specialization. The invincible chose rocket technology.
This choice determined his entire further design life. At the same time, fate decreed that Sergei Invincible studied in Moscow in the group of Professor Yuri Alexandrovich Pobedonostsev. The training tandem of Pobedonostsev and Invincible presented the country with a unique designer of rocketry. And this was not just a matter of the unusual magic of surnames.
Sergey Pavlovich Invincible, photo: Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau, kbm.ru
By that time, Yuri Pobedonostsev was already an outstanding Soviet designer who had been working on the creation of rocketry since the early 1930s. Among other things, Pobedonostsev was directly involved in the creation of the guards rocket launchers - the famous "Katyusha". Possessing a rich set of knowledge in the theory and practice of rocketry, he successfully shared it with his students, including Sergei Invincible.
Invincible began his work at KBM with an anti-submarine bombardment
Sergei Pavlovich Invincible successfully graduated from the Moscow Higher Technical School in 1945 with a degree in mechanical engineer for ammunition.
The designer's diploma work was called "Extended-range missile system to combat tanks". It is symbolic that in the future Invincible will successfully implement a huge number of projects of anti-tank missile systems, among which were the Bumblebee, Baby, Shturm, Attack and Chrysanthemum complexes.
Immediately after graduating from the university, Pobedonostsev recommended Invincible for work at the B.I.Shavyrin SKB in Kolomna (in the future KBM). Here in Kolomna, Invincible worked without interruption until 1989, going from an ordinary mechanical engineer to a general designer.
The first independent project of Sergei Invincible was the work on the BMB-2 anti-submarine bomb, which was put into service in 1951.
The designer participated in the creation of a loading mechanism for a 433-mm pointless anti-submarine bombardment launcher. Later, in 1954, he already supervised the creation, testing and putting into mass production of cumulative and high-explosive fragmentation rounds for recoilless artillery B-10 and B-11 guns.
BMB-2 anti-submarine bomb launcher, photo: wikimedia.org
Further work of the Invincible in Kolomna was associated exclusively with missile weapons.
Under his leadership and with his direct participation, 28 different missile systems were adopted and put into mass production: from small MANPADS to huge OTRKs. Many of the weapons samples created by the designer are still among the best in their class.
Sergei Pavlovich Invincible died at the age of 92, it happened on April 11, 2014. Until the last days of his life, the designer continued to work for the benefit of the country's defense capability. Since 2005, he was an advisor to the general designer of FSUE "KBM", in addition, from 1989 to 2014 he worked at the Central Research Institute of Automation and Hydraulics in Moscow.
The memory of the designer in Russia was immortalized with a medal
The memory of the outstanding designer was immortalized in Russia with a departmental medal.
The missile armament section of RARAN, of which Sergei Pavlovich Invincible was an active member during his lifetime, came up with a proposal to the Presidium of the Academy to establish a departmental medal named after an outstanding designer.
Opening of the bust to Sergei Pavlovich the Invincible in Kolomna in September 2021, photo of the Administration of the Kolomna city district
According to the official website of the Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering in the city of Kolomna, a positive decision was made on this appeal.
The founders of the new departmental award, which will be awarded for outstanding achievements and merits in the development, testing, development in the production of defense equipment, are the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences, the Central Research Institute of Automation and Hydraulics and the Machine-Building Design Bureau itself.
An invincible missile brigade appeared in Russia
On August 2, 2021, on the basis of a decree of the Russian President, the 448th missile brigade, which is armed with Iskander-M OTRK, was given the honorary title "named after S. P. Invincible." It is noted that the name of the outstanding designer will be borne by the missile brigade, which is one of the best in the Land Forces of the Russian Federation.
Calculations of the Iskander-M OTRK at the Zapad-2021 exercises, photo: multimedia.minoborona.rf
The 448th Missile Brigade, which is part of the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Western Military District, was created in 1986. Since its inception, the brigade has been armed with the Tochka-U tactical missile system, which was the brainchild of the Kolomna designer Sergei Invincible.
Today, the brigade has been re-equipped with the most modern domestic operational-tactical missile systems, the creation of which Sergey Pavlovich initiated in 1989.
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