Myth-making continues, or V.V. Pluzhnikov’s “Rover”
But it would seem that it’s easier to write about the times from us which are not so remote: I went to the archive, I ordered the right things, I looked and ... speak on this basis in print, indicating the number of cases and pages. It is possible to quote them literally, it will be only better. But no, even today there are people who continue to replicate the myths, so it remains only to wonder - why are they doing this?
I hold in my hands the next 5-th issue of the magazine "Technology-Youth" dedicated to the Victory Day. It has the “Club of OK” section, and in it there is an article by Vladimir Pluzhnikov with the author’s drawings “Do not go into the canister”, dedicated to ... yes, all the same tank by A.A. Porokhovshchikova! What can be opposed to this? Nothing! On the pages of VO about him there were materials and more than once, so why not write about him and the popular magazine TM? Another thing ... how and what to write, and this is what I want to talk about again. About this “tank” there is a whole article on Wikipedia, there are many articles on Yandex and Google, including mine, as well as articles by other authors. You can look, compare, be interested in the mismatch of interpretations and information blocks and ... conduct your own, albeit small, research - so who is right after all? Those who claim that it was a “miracle of Russian technical thought,” which was ahead of its time and was lost by the inertness of worthless tsarist military experts, or ... “an invention without a future,” raw and completely unrealizable, but capable of affecting weak minds.
And how did V. Pluzhinikov act in this case? Even no need to guess! I chose the first version and ... printed it, even without even thinking about it, which replicates absurdities all over the country. What kind? But: “On an average run, the tank overcame a ditch wide on top of 3 m and a depth of about ¾ m, with steep slopes about 40 degrees”. Well, the question immediately arises: how did the machine with a length of 3,6 m overcome a ditch wide in 3 m? What's this? "Batmobile" with wings?
Then a completely “patriotic” attack in the spirit of the day against the West (just like in the 1948 books): “... armament in a rotating turret (which was not the case in the first foreign tanks)”. But ... there was no tower on ATV! Well, the fact that he “provided for it”, because the Englishmen also “envisaged” the towers on their tanks ... There is even a photo. And what does V. Pluzhnikov not know about? Or on the contrary, he knows, but he tries to write “in the spirit of the day”?
Further - more interesting. "In order not to hold back the tests ... the body of the machine was first made of wood, initially without the tower and weapons." And next: “Armor protection was made up of cemented and hardened thin sheets. To soften the bullet blows sheets divided soft pads. Initially, individual sheets of armor were tested, then an “armored box” (body) was made. Putting it on the chassis of a car, they were tested for impenetrability by bullets and overall rigidity. ”
Understand what is at stake? Not really, huh? Well, this is one of the methods of myth-making: to write in such a way as to create an impression. And it was created: that the body of the Rover was made of armor! In fact, the armor proposed by A.A. Porokhovshchikov had nothing to do with the body of the Rover (but it is not clear from the text of this!). She stood on the car (there is a photo!) In the form of flat sheets and ... everything! However, later authors did not stop saying that the “Rover” was designed specifically for this super-arm with a pad of sea grass - an idea that, of course, was innocently strangled by bad tsarist officials. But the fact remains: firstly, Mexican insurgents on Pancho Villa’s armored car also used armor with “sea grass”, and secondly, even the Powdersmen himself, proving his tank championship, didn’t remember about this armor - she It was a separate project and completely independent from “Rover”! Moreover, after its shelling, it was concluded that the usual five-millimeter armor provides exactly the same security, but it is lighter and less voluminous.
It should be added to this that the rubber track-ribbing tape did not have, and the drums themselves did not have annular grooves, that is, the crawler's slipping along the drums was ensured. Besides the question: how to fix a rubber torn caterpillar on the battlefield? Just change? The French tried in 20-s of the twentieth century to put such tracks on Renault tanks FT-17. And nothing they did not work! But they found out: it is possible to repair the track track. Rubber - no! Hence the conclusion: the promised high throughput of the car was, shall we say, doubtful. Yes, but “it” also had to float - but for this, the plywood case had to be airtight. To move on water, the Rover was supposed to rewind the track, and to steer - the steering wheels, and it is obvious that both speed and controllability, even with complete calm, would be equal to zero. In general, Porokhovshchikov proved to be much better as an aviator than the designer of the BTT.
But 25 September 1916, the newspaper Novoye Vremya published an article “Land Fleet”, translated from the London Times. It talked about cars, called "tank" (and the name was translated as "tub") and now Porokhovshchikova this newsApparently, it struck a chord, and he wrote a “reply” to it - “Land Fleet — a Russian Invention!”, which appeared in Novoye Vremya four days later. In it, he wrote that his car - a prototype of the English "lohaney." Anyone familiar with the device of the British tank Mk.I, referred to in this article, can search for the degree of similarity of both cars. But hardly anyone will argue that there is no similarity in principle. Even the one-track undercarriage did not become Porokhovshchikov’s know-how, because back in 1832 (!) The Englishman George Giktot had tested a steam tractor with a single cloth track.
Here in January 1917, A.A. Porokhovshchikov presented the project “Rover No.2”. It was a tracked vehicle with the usual booking: by this time he was already tired of promoting his “algae sandwich”. But on the other hand, he put on him the original “multi-storey” turret - out of three independently rotating rings, each of which was supposed to contain a machine gun. They were to be managed, of course, by three machine gunners, and the fourth member of the crew was the driver and was sitting in the hull, and in case of need he could shoot a machine gun in a frontal armor plate. The military project was reviewed, and the report on it indicated that it was impossible for three machine-gunners to fit in one tower - all the more so since for some reason they didn’t indicate Powershowers. Such important details of the design as the system for feeding cartridges, withdrawing spent cartridges and cooling machine guns were not worked out. As a result, the verdict: “The Commission finds that the project“ All-Terrain Vehicle ”of the construction of Porokhovshchikov in its present form does not deserve any attention.” Again, the world experience of using such towers was? Was! On the Spanish tank Trubia, the turret was double, with two machine guns and ... it turned out that it was almost impossible for two machine gunners to work in it. Two machine guns and two people! And here are three ...
In 1922, the newspaper Izvestia VTSIK published an article entitled “The Tank’s Homeland - Russia”. It hinted that the corrupt royal satraps handed over England documents for the Rover, and that it was this documentation that served as the basis for the creation of the first British tanks. Why such an article was needed clearly - it was necessary to encourage the people, to show that we were not afraid of the “Englishwoman” with her tanks, but we also stole them. The fact that the tanks “Killen Straight”, “Little Willy” and MKI only in a drunken sleep can be considered similar to the Porokhovshchikov car did not worry anyone. Soon the article was forgotten, especially since Porokhovshchikov himself in 41 had been shot for espionage. But after the Great Patriotic War, they remembered about it and began to replicate it. And why - also understandable. It was necessary to encourage the people and show that the "Country of the Soviets" ahead of the rest. True, frankly far-fetched fiction about the transfer of drawings to England yet did not repeat. But on the other hand, the Rover itself was now painted only this way: with a case of armor instead of plywood, with an indispensable machine-gun turret over the driver’s seat and, understandably, without an air intake in the forehead, which would really be extremely inappropriate on a tank. By the way, he is not in the author's drawing of V. Pluzhnikov in the journal TM - and why is he in such articles ?!
And now about the "inert tsarist generals." After all, when Porokhovschikov with his proposal turned to the Special Committee on Strengthening fleet and promised a lot of things, but he didn’t provide any concrete drawings. And only on January 9, 1915, at a reception at the head of the supply of the North-Western Front, General Danilov, he laid out ready-made drawings and cost estimates for the construction of his All-Terrain Vehicle. So, what can we say about their excessive credulity. After all, they approved the project, gave permission to build, and the money - 9660 rubles 72 kopecks - was written out. At the same time, the design data for the car were specified in a special report No. 8101. And so, V. Pluzhnikov should go to the archive, since he is in Moscow, not in Podolsk, and you can get there by metro and see this report and others, materials attached to it. Then he would have known that the cost of the "tank" amounted to 10 rubles 118 kopecks, and here Porokhovshchikov for some reason included money for the purchase of two pistols, seven fathers and even ... "a tip to couriers in Petrograd." What? You can’t forbid to live beautifully, especially with state money! Well, and in the report on the test results it was indicated that “the built copy of the All-Terrain Vehicle” did not show all those qualities that were due to the report No. 85, for example, it could not walk on loose snow with a depth of about 8101 foot (1 cm), and the course tests on water was not made ... ". So there was no need to write to V. Pluzhnikov that "the Russian military authorities did not find money for the serial implementation of the project." There was nothing to serialize!
So, it turns out, who is reviving the old myths of the Soviet era - one of the regular authors of TM. And this is despite the fact that, as it has already been noted, the necessary archive is at his side!
What is the result? As a result, here is such a miracle - the “myth-model” on the site Karopka.ru - a forum of modellers. And again, there is nothing wrong with this model itself - well, it could be that way - it means that we have a model from an alternative history, and why should it not be ?! Bad is different: in the comments when discussing it, I came across the following text: Mikhail Ukolov. Lyubertsy, 31 year. "Few people know that in 1913, the aircraft designer
A.A. Porokhovshchikov created such a unique prototype of all-terrain vehicles. There was also his more powerful version - Rover №2, armed with 4-machine guns, but his project was despicably sold to the British. So there were the famous "diamonds". Moreover, it is known that Porokhovshchikov developed and improved the “Rover” No.3 - it was meanly exported to America and served as the prototype for the Christie tank and, accordingly, the T-34. It is necessary to open the monument to Porokhovshchikov as the father of world tank building. 5 January 2015 of the year, 15: 01.
Here, as they say, neither subtract nor add! I don’t even want to comment on this, because here on the pages of VO people meet mostly knowledgeable people and ... let them laugh a little bit about it! How do we sometimes write here - “what do you smoke or what kind of mushrooms do you eat?” But laughter turns out to be bitter. Patriotism is, of course, good and every decent citizen of his country must be a patriot. But not so! I am sure that we do not need such ignorant patriots! And we also don’t need the myths that create them, enough time has passed and the archives and affairs that historians need (at least with respect to the “Tank of Porokhovshchikov”) have long been open, thank God! By the way, if this is how they say now, "joke", then the bad one - someone younger might think that this is the way it is!
As for TM, then, as they say, “God is their judge.” I collaborated with this edition from 1996 of the year to 2007 of the year, they published my magazine “Tankomaster” and to it two more “umbrella brands”: “Aviamaster” and “Flotomaster”. But it was said still ancient: "Plato, you are my friend, but the truth is more precious!"
PS: By the way, what was required to write? And it was necessary to write that the Russian land was always rich in talents. What else in 1914 was found a person who thought of ... managed to interest the military, tried to create, but for subjective reasons - all people - people and they have their flaws - could not adequately complete the project. However, the military did not even think about backing up his work with well-educated engineers, creating a team and, deducting money from the inventor's salary for pistols, hats and "tips for couriers", continue working! Well, the author of the article, most likely living in Moscow, can only be reminded that the work in the archives has not been canceled, and that the correspondent card of the employee TM is a good key in all respects. Therefore, problems with finding new and really interesting information for those who have it, usually does not arise!
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