Winged fantasy of Sukhoi

Even before the revolution, when the aircraft industry was just beginning to develop, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich spoke about domestic enthusiast aircraft builders: “Most of all, you should not get carried away with the idea of ​​creating an air fleet according to the plans of our inventors. The [air fleet] committee is not at all obliged to spend wild money on all kinds of fantasies just because these fantasies were born in Russia. By the labor of the Wright brothers, Santas Dumont, Bleriot, Farman, Voisin and other airplanes, they have now brought to perfection the technique that is possible in the current state of technology. And it remains to take advantage of these ready-made results. ”

It seems that such an approach to aircraft construction has been adopted in modern Russia. It remains only to add to the topical sounding words of the Grand Duke a few newfangled terms like the competitiveness of Western counterparts and replace the names of foreign aircraft builders with the names of modern foreign aviation companies "Boeing", "Airbus", "Bombardier", etc.

As is known, the Soviet government held the opposite opinion on this matter. Not so much time has passed since Alexander Mikhailovich made a statement, but when in the summer of 1937, the crew of Chkalov, having flown across the North Pole, landed on the North American continent, to questions from journalists who built the plane and whose engine was installed on it, our pilots rightfully could proudly answer: "Everything is Soviet on the plane." The plane on which the flight struck the world was made was called ANT-25, and its creation in Tupolev's design bureau was done by a remarkable Soviet designer, whose name would later be called the best domestic military aircraft, Pavel Osipovich Sukhoi.
In the 1930s, records of Chkalov and Gromov’s crews were set on planes prepared by a team led by Sukhoi. On a modified version of the long-range bomber DB-2, the Rodina plane carried out its non-stop flight from Moscow to the Far East by Grizodubov, Osipenko and Raskov. The name “Homeland” given to the aircraft by the crew “expresses the thoughts and feelings of the creators of the machine: workers, engineers, designers”, the designer Sukhoi confessed to the only interview in his life.

An independent design bureau under the leadership of Sukhoi is created in 1939, and the Su-2 becomes the first production aircraft of the Su brand. “On these planes we fought near Moscow, Leningrad, Stalingrad, at the Kursk Bulge,” the pilots later recalled the feats of the Su-2 in World War II. “A light aircraft, docile with a skilled hand, flying, maneuverable, fairly fast. And most importantly, multi-purpose: reconnaissance aircraft, bomber, attack aircraft, “free hunting” aircraft, aircraft of group flights and single combat, with a spacious attack aircraft cabin-cabin, incredibly tenacious and trouble-free, ”M. Lashin described the brainchild of Sukhoi. The word "vitality" pilots generally use, referring to the Su-2, especially often, remembering with gratitude how he "saved our lives again."

Even before the war, Dry was given the task of creating an attack aircraft. A little earlier, the same task was put before Ilyushin, who eventually developed the famous IL-2. “While testing the Sukhoi attack aircraft, I discovered that its speed and maneuverability are higher than those of the Il-2,” the pilot AKKolgov asserted. Despite the official recognition of the superiority of the Su-6 over the Il, Sukhoi’s attack aircraft did not go into the series: the Il-2 was already in service and successfully coped with its tasks, and in difficult military conditions the country could not afford to organize the production of the new aircraft. Nevertheless, Sukhoi’s merits did not go unnoticed by the leadership of the country: the designer was awarded the Stalin Prize of the first degree, of which Sukhoi sent the money part to the Defense Fund.

It so happened that this fate - and did not go into the series - befell at the time other excellent Sukhoi aircraft. In 1949, he was going through a very difficult moment: his design bureau was disbanded, and Sukhoi again returned under Tupolev’s wing. “I’m an airplane and I’ll stay with him in any situation. Without aviation, I cannot imagine my life, ”he said then.

A separate design office was re-created in 1953. Few days later, Sukhoi had already introduced his colleagues to the basic parameters of two new aircraft. Sukhoi Design Bureau is starting to create a front-line fighter with a swept wing and an interceptor fighter with a delta wing. What Sukhoi did was so new that to many, the declared technical characteristics of the conceived planes seemed incredible. Perplexed comments repeatedly sounded to the Sukhoi team: “Sukhoi and you are all great dreamers.” Nevertheless, he was able to prove that he can create the best, most modern aircraft. Soon everything fell into place: “If anyone learns something new and interesting, it’s from Sukhoi,” the designer Lavochkin once admitted.

In 1956, for the first time in our country, a speed exceeding two speeds of sound was achieved on a Sukhoi aircraft. The absolute world speed record on a hundred-kilometer closed route (2092 km / h) was set by pilot Adrianov on T-405 of the same design bureau. This is far from the only world-class achievement on Sukhoi airplanes: for example, VS Ilyushin on a T-431 aircraft set a record for flight altitude at 28852 m, he also wrote the absolute record for the height of horizontal flight (21 270 m). Pavel Sukhoi is considered one of the founders of Soviet jet and supersonic aircraft. Su-7 fighter, Su-9 fighter-interceptor, Su-7B fighter-bomber - these are some examples of the Sukhoi aircraft designed during the post-war period. The USSR’s first forward-swept plane was also the brainchild of Sukhoi -
Su-Xnumx. In total, the designer has developed fifty original aircraft designs, more than three dozen of them were built and tested.

Pavel Osipovich's biographers speak of him as a very reserved man, reserved, unwilling emotions, sometimes even seemed to be exactly the same as his name, “dry,” and at the same time extremely modest. And at the same time, behind the outward appearance, there was also a sensitive concern for the people working alongside him, and a surprisingly rich inner world. The creator of the magnificent military aircraft was well versed in literature and painting, he carefully followed the latest technical innovations, reading foreign technical magazines in the original (by the way, and fiction), he was fluent in three modern European languages, and also knew Latin.

A small touch: once they reported to Sukhoy that a preferential voucher to a sanatorium was received for him. The designer stated that he would take advantage of the voucher, but only by paying it in full. According to his ideas, preferential permits should have been delivered first of all to workers. When you read about the Soviet leader, it does not seem surprising or rare, on the contrary - it is very natural. But what a terrible contradiction this behavior enters with the attitude to workers of modern "effective top managers."

... When you see Su planes in the sky during performances, every time you experience a whole gamut of feelings. It is always a delight from the beauty of the fighting bird, the perfection of its lines, the admiration for the power of the aircraft and the skill of the pilot, it would seem, easily making figures on a heavy machine that take your breath away. The pride that this perfection of the lines is the result of the hard work of our aircraft manufacturers; and also thanks to the “dryers” for the fact that they honestly took care of the rest of our country all their lives, and the feeling that when such aircraft began to come into service, we really were not afraid of any enemy. For our eyes, they are not at all predatory, but on the contrary, even relatives, and let their others be afraid! You never noticed how frightening, unlike ours, are Western combat aircraft - perhaps also because you know that Yugoslavia and Iraq are on their account? .. Yet, at the same time, it’s difficult to get rid of with pride and admiration from an anxious feeling of annoyance - which, again and again, the Soviet achievements turn to themselves for the benefit of the power, all Soviet cursing and destroying and therefore not having any moral right to them. They are used to rumble all doubts about our current defense capability with the roar of the still-working Soviet engines of the Russian Knights. Meanwhile, as a well-known fact in relation to military aircraft today it is said that "we keep the industry only through exports" and as evidence of great progress, promise is made that in 2015, 40% of the production of combat aircraft will be focused on the domestic market .

The engine builder Lyulka, with whom Sukhoi worked, particularly emphasized the risk the designer was taking when he started creating an incredible aircraft at that time in the newly recreated design bureau: “For this, I’m not afraid of such lofty words, great designer courage, true patriot Motherland. Words about patriotism are by no means accidental: Sukhoi worked in conditions when a cold war was waged against the USSR, and the presence of the most modern combat aircraft in the USSR was a very weighty argument in the confrontation with NATO. An argument that we lack so much now.

T-4 ("weaving") - attack and reconnaissance bomber-missile carrier OKB im. Dry.

- 22 August 1972, the chief pilot of the Hero of the Soviet Union, V.S. Ilyushin, together with Honored USSR navigator A.Alferov, raised the T-4 into the air. The flight lasted 40 min. In the ninth test flight of 6 August 1973, the car crossed the sound barrier at an altitude of 12100 m.
The picture shows the preparation for the flight.

- The third copy of the aircraft (ANT-37bis), released in February 1936, was named "Homeland". All work was done by the team of PO Sukhoi - the actual author of this aircraft. The design and equipment of the Rodina aircraft were more sophisticated than in previous military and record aircraft.
The Rodina aircraft set a female flight range record. 24 – 25 September 1938 pilots V.S. Grizodubova, PD Osipenko and M.M. Raskova made a flight along the route Moscow - Kirby village 5908 km in length in 26 h 29 minutes. flight time.

In the photo: P.O. Sukhoi among the crew members of the Rodina aircraft (M.Raskova, V.Grizodubova, P.Osipenko).