S. Mikoyan. "Memoirs of a military test pilot
1960Our flight test institute has been tasked with spin testing the first modification of the MiG-21. The deadline is tight. We need to hurry. Then we were in a hurry all the time. There was no other way. It is enough to recall the political situation in the country and in the world: the fifties, sixties, seventies. The alternation of international crises, the emergence of military conflicts and hotbeds of tension. What is needed for the security of the country? First of all, military equipment, including aircraft. And planes must be reliable. In particular, they must recover well from a spin. To do this, it was necessary to conduct spin flight tests.
At LII then there were two masters of such tests: Sergei Anokhin and Yasha Vernikov. Both were already aged, so the management decided to prepare a replacement for them. For some reason the choice fell on me. So I became their successor.
The aircraft's spin flights are preceded by tests of a dynamically similar model in a special TsAGI wind tunnel. The aircraft is then equipped with means of emergency recovery from a spin, in case it is impossible to stop the spin using the control surfaces. And, of course, a set of recorder instruments with a large list of recorded parameters is installed on the aircraft. That's according to plan. But we were in a hurry...
Tests have been carried out at TsAGI, however, processing the test results is very labor-intensive, and the official conclusion from TsAGI has not yet been received. But the aircraft at LII is already equipped with an anti-spin missile control system and is ready for flight. Another thing is that the rockets are made by a specialized company, but it has not yet delivered them. Is it possible to start flight tests? The management thinks it’s possible, so do I.
And the flights began. Contrary to hope, the plane entered a flat spin, from which recovery may or may not be possible. In the test methodology there is a concept: “delay during recovery from a spin.” Possible delays are specified in the flight instructions. The pilot must wait patiently for the specified number of spins and seconds before retrying the rudders or using the flares. That's what I did. He waited as long as necessary, and again gave the rudders for withdrawal. But the plane did not react to my actions. I looked longingly at the two buttons with the inscriptions “exit from the left corkscrew”, “exit from the right”. There were buttons, but there were no rockets.
And the plane goes to the ground at a speed of one hundred meters per second. There are about a hundred seconds for all the thinking and philosophizing, twenty have already been spent. My attention is on edge. The plane hesitates in a tailspin. I understood, or rather, “intuitively”, that the rudders need to be deflected in time with the oscillations of the corkscrew. In general, the next attempt to exit the corkscrew rotation stopped, but the altitude had already approached the one at which it was necessary to eject.
They say that if an experimental aircraft does not recover well from a spin, this is already a problem for its creators... But the management had the idea that the problem was not in the aircraft, but in Shcherbakov. Little experience, did something wrong.
Doubts bother me too. Soon the decision is made to repeat Anokhin’s flight, but with rockets.
Sergei Nikolaevich was also unable to get the plane out of the spin using the rudders and used rockets. The recorders were deciphered, confirming that the plane entered a flat spin. The correctness of my actions was also confirmed. Then TsAGI’s conclusion arrived about the unfavorable characteristics of the spin and the need for modifications to the aircraft. By the way, Sergei Nikolaevich gave a brilliant assessment of my actions, although in expressions that did not correspond to the norms of literary language.
Year 1969
The MiG-25 aircraft is undergoing State tests and entering service. This is an aircraft of great capabilities. But on April 24, a disaster occurs on it. The commander of the air defense aviation, General Kadomtsev, dies. Until the cause of the crash is clarified, MiG-25 flights have been stopped. Everywhere except LII.
And again a conclusion on a corkscrew is required. These are my tests. However, the plane gave me an unexpected surprise and without any spin. On the first takeoff on May 6, immediately after retracting the landing gear, the aircraft's controls jammed and the handle and pedals became motionless. This can only happen if the hydraulic system has failed. But the instruments show that the pressure in the system is normal.
For all the rudders to jam at once, I’ve never even heard of that. In such a situation, you need to eject. But the plane is flying in a straight line and is not going to fall yet. This means that I have nowhere to rush. He radioed what happened and said that he was mentally prepared for the ejection. But to eject means to destroy an experimental aircraft, and with its death the cause of the disaster will be hidden. And where will the plane fall? Near Kolomna and Ryazan. It was the journalists who came up with a story about how a pilot, risking himself, sent an uncontrollable plane into a deserted place. Yes, if the plane is uncontrollable, then you can’t direct it anywhere.
I carefully examine the cockpit and instrument readings. I remember that retracting the landing gear was accompanied by some unfamiliar metallic sound. Is there a connection between this sound and the control failure?
With hope, I put the landing gear valve on release and feel how the controls started working, the handle and pedals moved. Broadcast it on the radio. During these tense minutes the earth was silent. This failure of control puzzled the test managers no less than me...
As the plane rolled down the runway, I already realized how important it was to get it to the ground. The main thing is that the reason for the refusal will now be clarified.
This reason was identified during the first inspection of the aircraft. It turned out that when retracting the landing gear, the strut of the nose strut pressed with such force on the attachment point to the fuselage that it caused the structure to deflect, as a result of which the control rods passing in this area were pinched. Subsequently, the fuselage structure in this area was strengthened and the problem was completely eliminated. The aircraft successfully continued State tests. General Designer Rostislav Apolosovich Belyakov invited me, thanked me and presented me with the MiG-25 model.
1974
The Su-24 aircraft is undergoing State tests. Our institute has been tasked with performing a whole range of work on this aircraft. You need to check the car for strength, controllability, and spin. The aircraft is being equipped with test equipment at the flight base of the Sukhoi Design Bureau. I take my workplace - the cockpit and say to the Sukhov engineers: “The angle of attack and overload indicator must be moved from the lower part of the instrument panel to the edge of the visor. It’s also necessary to install rear-view mirrors, like on the MiG-23.”
The instrument engineer explains to me that moving the device is not practical. This will take time, but the plane is already ready to fly.
The head of the tests regarding the mirrors also says ironically: “Alexander Alexandrovich, taxiing on highways is not included in the flight test program.”
In general, at first there was a certain lack of mutual sympathy with the Sukhovites. But I was not capricious, but achieved my goal.
The overload specified in flight must be performed very accurately. It must be controlled by the instrument and by the movement of the aircraft at the same time. And mirrors are simply necessary here. All the aircraft's weapons are suspended under the wing, and the wing is not visible from the cockpit. If the suspension or any structural element comes off during its destruction, the pilot can only see it in the mirror.
The Sukhovites lost.
After a short delay caused by me, intensive flights began. In the next flight, the effectiveness of the hydraulic boosters of the control system was determined. It was necessary to tilt the handle completely in roll direction, wait a few seconds, then tilt it completely in the opposite direction. At the same time, intense rotation of the aircraft developed.
And here I am in the air. I turn down the handle and wait for the set time. Suddenly, without my participation, the plane itself changes the direction of rotation, swaying sharply along the course. At the same time, deafening surging engine pops are heard.
Looking ahead, I’ll tell you right away what happened. Let me remind you that the Su-24 has a variable sweep wing. The pilot can set it at angles from 16 degrees to 69. And it turned out that the left wing spontaneously moved from a sweep of 45 degrees to a position of 16 degrees. The wing shift mechanism rod broke the support unit, cracked the side wall of the aircraft and pierced the fuel tank. Kerosene streamed into the running engine.
It is clear that all this became clear later. At that moment, of course, I didn’t know this. I try unsuccessfully to stop the rudders from turning and look around the cabin. There is a display in the cockpit, these little windows, and there are inscriptions in them. Green windows are informational. Red ones are emergency. When they light up, they require immediate action from the pilot. In these windows there are inscriptions: “Fire”, “Engine failure”, “Hydraulic system failure” and more in the same spirit. So, all the red windows lit up at once!
I try to start the stopped engine, I turn on the fire extinguishing system, but I quickly realize that all this is empty trouble. I broadcast on the radio: “Let’s eject. Raise the helicopter." I give the command to the second pilot Slava Loychikov to eject. After this, the radio and internal communications are stopped. All wires were destroyed by fire.
Although we are sitting next to Slava, we cannot hear each other due to the loud noise. To activate the ejection seat, you need to pull two handles located between the legs. Fame pulls them, but to no avail. He shows me his hands up. The rescue equipment does not work because the plane is without power. A completely exceptional case!
Now, to eject, you must first release the canopy from the mechanical system and only then pull the handles. I show this to Slava, throwing off my flashlight with the emergency handle. But, according to the instructions, the first to eject is the one who dropped the lantern - that is, me.
I don’t want to burden the reader with technical details, but I’m doing this to clarify: it is a heavy psychological burden for the commander to leave the plane first. According to the laws and traditions adopted from the navy, the commander is the last to leave the plane. But here it was necessary to set an example.
As soon as I hung on the parachute, the thought immediately struck me: did Slava understand my hint? Did he drop the canopy and manage to eject?
I landed in a corn field, freed myself from the parachute and saw Slava coming towards me and smiling. Our hugs on that field were worth a lot. And then again an alarming thought came to mind - where did the plane crash? We were above the city of Voskresensk. This is a large residential and industrial area.
A rescue helicopter soon arrived and we learned that the plane had crashed on the edge of the village, but no one was injured. Another painful worry has disappeared, but there is no particular joy. An experimental aircraft was lost, important work that had begun well was stopped. The plane is so destroyed that it will be almost impossible to find out the cause of the accident without a more or less probable hypothesis. I need to remember everything in detail.
I clearly saw the ejection process, although it happened in a split second. What came before? Cabin inspection. Inability to respond to red signs. Did I look in the mirror? Yes, I looked. Did I see something unusual there? Stop! Remember! Under the wing is a weight model of a half-ton bomb. Her blunt muzzle is clearly visible in the mirror. It seems that I saw her from a slightly different perspective than before the emergency event. That's right, I saw her somehow wrong.
They urgently put a mirror on the Su-24, hang a bomb, connect the ground hydraulic system, and in the cockpit I begin to move the wing, watching how the view of the bomb changes. This is where it becomes obvious that at the time of the emergency the wing was at a position of 16 degrees instead of the required 45!
An emergency commission is being assembled urgently. I report that the left wing spontaneously went into lower sweep.
“You wanted to say greater sweep,” says a company representative. “No,” I answer, “less.”
“But it’s impossible for the wing to spontaneously move against the air flow, overcoming the speed pressure,” says the designer.
But then a TsAGI representative stands up: “There is nothing incredible in this. There are cases of wing loading when the vector of aerodynamic forces has a component against the flow. The effect is enhanced if inertial forces act on the wing.”
“Why didn’t we know this? Why is this case not covered in the strength standards?” – ask engineers and designers.
“But because before the wings were motionless. You are the first to create an aircraft with variable wing geometry.” A short debate ends in a decision: the Design Bureau, together with TsAGI, performs the necessary calculations of the loads acting on the wing, taking into account the newly identified factor, the Design Bureau makes changes to the design of the wing relay system and its attachment points, providing it with the necessary safety margin.
Engineers can do all this well, and the problem won’t be left to them. How can we evaluate everything that happened as a whole? Slava and I found ourselves in a very difficult emergency situation. Rescue took place under the most difficult conditions. The plane is lost, but... A new aerodynamic phenomenon has been found and understood, and the plane will be freed from its dangerous consequences. Other pilots will no longer find themselves in such a dangerous situation. This means that the end result is quite positive. This is also my merit. In a crazy emergency situation, I made an important observation. Realizing all this gives me a feeling of joyful satisfaction.
At the final meeting of the emergency commission, the conclusions and recommendations are read out: “The cause of the aircraft accident was the destruction of the wing rotation system attachment point, which occurred...
On the sidelines of the meetings, one “Sukhovsky” comrade tells me that they accept their share of responsibility for the accident in which the pilots found themselves, ask not to hold a grudge against them and not to lose trust in them, and hope to continue working with me. From such words I feel some kind of euphoria. I wanted to tell the creators of the plane that I don’t hold it against them, that I trust them, otherwise how could I get on the plane. That I understand their work, in which it is impossible to eliminate risk and danger. That's what flight tests are for. And I hope for further joint work and look forward to continuing testing. I wanted to say all this, but I restrained myself and remained silent, fearing that it might be perceived as sentimental talkativeness. Only at the commission did he dryly say that he was ready to continue testing.
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Stepan Anastasovich Mikoyan, lieutenant general of aviation. Hero of the Soviet Union, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, is well known in aviation circles in our country and abroad. He had the opportunity to test or pilot all types of domestic aircraft of the second half of the 20th century - from light sports cars to heavy missile carriers. But the fighters have always remained my greatest affection. The world-famous aircraft designed by Mikoyan - Gurevich and Sukhoi received a ticket to the skies with its help.
Memoirs of Stepan Mikoyan - a vivid historical essay about Soviet fighter aviation. The author confidentially and frankly talks about the everyday life of the difficult and dangerous work of test pilots. For the first time, an objective analysis of the causes and circumstances of the death of Yuri Gagarin was given.
Stepan Mikoyan is the eldest son of Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan, an outstanding statesman of the Soviet Union. About parents, younger brothers, friends of youth, about life in our country on the eve, during the war and in the post-war years - an equally sincere story.
In Rus' they say that if you have talent, you cannot hide it. Stepan Anastasovich Mikoyan is a wonderful pilot. Nowadays, he is an outstanding memoirist and generously gives the reader an interesting book.
Publisher: M., Youth Technology, 2002, 478 p.
Code: 235065 ISBN: 5-93848-006-х
Circulation: 2000, Format: 70x100/16, Binding/Region: 7BC, St. pack : 8
For questions about purchasing this and other books from the publishing house, you can contact the publishing house to Irina Vladimirovna Savushkina (phone 8-095-257-96-84) or the secretary (8-095-285-16-87).
Chapters from the book are published on the website with the kind permission of the author.
Anyone who, during the second half of the last century in the Soviet Union, then in Russia, was involved in flight testing of aircraft and their development, the creation of new aircraft and other aircraft, could not help but meet the author of this book, not know him personally, or at least by good word of mouth.
Stepan Anastasovich Mikoyan is known in our country and in aviation circles abroad as an outstanding test pilot, masterfully mastering all methods of atmospheric flight available to humans today. Any aircraft in the entire range of flights is subject to him; He has a colossal amount of aircraft flight testing under his belt, both in disciplines related to the assessment and improvement of aircraft control, its design, the operation of the power plant, the entire “pilot-aircraft-environment” complex, and in the use of the aircraft as a combat weapon.
The flying path of life, outlined by the young Stepan, was finally chosen by him after graduating from high school in 1940 at the age of eighteen, and since then he has been following it throughout his life until the present day, unambiguously and faithfully.
First flights and a year of study at the famous Kachinsky military pilot school. The invasion of Hitler's troops in June 1941 finds him a cadet. In the same year, a nineteen-year-old pilot, who does not yet have the proper flying experience or wisdom, begins service on a fighter in the harsh military skies. At the beginning of 1942, he was shot down, seriously wounded, and burned in the cockpit. After treatment in the hospital, he was back in service until the victorious 1945.
For the next six years he studies at the Air Force Engineering Academy named after N. E. Zhukovsky. In 1951, he successfully completed it, adding to his life's baggage as a mechanical engineer and maintaining the profession of a military pilot.
After graduating from the academy, he was appointed to the State Red Banner Scientific Testing Institute of the Air Force as a test pilot, where he worked for 27 years until 1978.
In the testing institute, which changed its name from time to time, but was always involved in state testing of aircraft and flight research, S. A. Mikoyan, moving up the career ladder, was always a significant figure, consistently leading departments and, if you like, a group of testers, right up to to leading the Institute itself in the role of first deputy head of the Air Force Research Institute. At the same time, he did not lose the habit of specific engineering, continued intensive, complex and valuable flights as a test pilot, was and remained an aviator with a broad outlook, an intelligent person, accepted confidentially by the entire military and industrial testing community, and simply by the pilots as one of their own.
The pilots could not treat him differently, because, despite his honed aerial skills, meaningful preparation for each flight and respectful attitude towards the method, Stepan had accumulated in test flights no less than others, a solid, as they say, “gentlemanly a set” of unforeseen and even foreseen flight accidents of varying complexity that accompanied the chosen profession. In such cases, to successfully complete a flight, preserve the aircraft and, at the same time, own life, composure, courage, resourcefulness, loyalty to comradeship and something else were required - qualities highly valued by test pilots of all countries and inherent in the author of these memoirs.
Evaluating in his work aircraft of various designs, designs, characteristics and purposes (the number of different types of aircraft and their modifications in the fate of which the author of the book had the opportunity to participate was close to a hundred), reflecting on the problems of aircraft construction, the author was an indispensable, welcome and authoritative participant in the development of tactical -technical requirements for the country's promising aircraft. In other words, he actively participated in shaping the development paths of domestic aviation.
After 27 years as a test pilot, the author's flight work was completed by the conclusion of a medical commission.
In 1978, S. A. Mikoyan was invited to the enterprise that developed the Buran aerospace vehicle (general designer, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences G. E. Lozino-Lozinsky), as deputy general director and chief designer for flight tests, where he participated in the creation of the aircraft , in its flight testing, in performing an automatic landing at the airfield after an unmanned orbital flight. He still works there at the present time.
Stepan Mikoyan is the eldest son of the outstanding revolutionary and statesman of Russia and the Soviet Union Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan.
There were many different examples and results of the Kremlin education of the children of the powerful. They turned out to be tyrants, drunkards, and just loafers; there were also normal people. The Mikoyan family, where the young generation consisted of five sons, managed to raise talented, hardworking people demanded by society, who fit into society with mutual respect, and became worthy citizens of their country.
The second eldest son, Vladimir, having become a military pilot at the age of seventeen at the call of his heart and conscience during the Patriotic War, six months later, in 1942, died in an air battle near Stalingrad. The third son, Alexey, was also a military pilot and commander of large aviation formations. The fourth, Vano, having received a military engineering education, has been fruitfully working as a designer in the aviation design bureau for fifty years. Fifth, Sergo, scientist, Doctor of Historical Sciences. Those who happen to know them value this.
Stepan Anastasovich Mikoyan, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General of Aviation, Honorary Member of the International Society of Experimental Aircraft Test Pilots located in the USA, Candidate of Technical Sciences, continues to live a great life. These are the memories of not only a major aviator, but also a citizen.
He witnessed and sometimes took part in many historical events that took place in the country described in the book, and this further increases interest in it.
At the end of the last century, Stepan Mikoyan's book appeared in London in English and attracted wide attention not only from aviators. You can be sure that it will arouse even greater interest among Russian readers.
Hero of the Soviet Union, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, Aviation Major General G. A. Sedov
The first 11 B-25-S bombers from North American appeared in the Soviet Union in 1942, and until September 1945, 862 vehicles of various modifications were delivered to our country under Lend-Lease.
In the period from April 21 to May 27, 1944, the State Research Institute of the Air Force underwent state tests of the B-25-DP aircraft, the characteristic feature of which was the Wright-Cyclone R-2600 engines of the twenty-ninth series with the Hydromatic vane propellers from the Hamilton Standard company ( The B-25-S had similar engines of the 13th series) with a take-off power of 1700 hp, as well as a modified small arms design and the presence of underwing bomb racks, providing suspension for eight American bombs with a caliber of up to 300 pounds. The fuel system has also undergone changes. Additional fuel tanks with a capacity of 1,140 liters (302 US gallons) were installed in the wing consoles. By reducing the volume of the intra-fuselage gas tank, the bomb bay was more than doubled, in which a pair of FAB-250 and FAB-500 bombs could be suspended at the same time. There were other minor differences.
During state tests, engineer V.Ya. became the vehicle's leaders. Magon, pilot G.A. Ashitkov and navigator Filippov. The plane was also flown by pilots M.A. Nyukhtikov, A.M. Khripkov and V.M. Shulgin, navigators Litvinchuk and Tsvetkov. In his reports, Ashitkov wrote that “... the behavior of the aircraft and piloting technique... in comparison with the B-25-S aircraft has minor features, which are explained mainly by the increased specific load of the B-25-DP aircraft. The plane taxis calmly and steadily with different wind directions.
When taking off without flaps and with flaps extended at 15 and 23 degrees, the aircraft is stable and well controlled, but with flaps extended at 30°, stability and controllability deteriorate.
Taking off with flaps set to 45° is practically impossible, since the take-off speed increases slowly, and when the front wheel rises, the aircraft loses speed. In this case, the aircraft takes off from three points with detonation at low speed, while the aircraft is laterally unstable and poorly controlled and picks up speed too slowly while maintaining.
Level flight with a weight of 14650 kg is permitted at speeds from 170-180 mph IAS to maximum. At IAS speeds of 140-150 mph, the ailerons become ineffective and the aircraft's controllability deteriorates, and at 135 mph the aircraft becomes uncontrollable.
The plane is well balanced with trim tabs in all speed ranges and flies with the controls abandoned... Allows you to make turns with a bank of up to 55-60 degrees. The loads on the steering wheels are large. The time of minimum turn with a roll of 55-60° when the engines are running at the first speed of the supercharger at an altitude of 2700 meters is 1 minute 30 seconds, at the second speed of the supercharger at an altitude of 4650 meters - 55 seconds.
Horizontal flight with a normal flight weight on one engine operating at rated power with the propeller in the feathered position is impossible (... with a flight weight of 14,150 kg at a speed of 160-175 mph, flight is possible from an altitude of 1,700 meters and below).
If one of the engines fails, the plane is thrown sharply towards the failed engine, the load on the leg is very large and it is almost impossible to keep the plane in a straight direction. In this case... it is advisable to slightly cover the gas of the running engine, after which remove the load on the leg with the steering trimmer.
If the aircraft has good stability and the available equipment, long-range flights do not present any difficulties and do not particularly tire the pilots.
The autopilot is very sensitive and requires very precise adjustments, especially at altitude. The autopilot definitely cannot withstand the “churning” flight mode and requires periodic adjustments.
The aircraft intercom does not work satisfactorily.
If there is a continuous track, it is impossible to conduct targeted shooting (forward along the course - N.K.) both day and night - the track covers the target and the sight scale.
Thanks to a good view forward and to the left, the pilot can independently guide the plane to the target during bombing...”
Other flyover pilots generally agreed with their colleague. Nyukhtikov expressed himself most briefly and succinctly: “The B-25-DP aircraft, despite its large flight weight (13,700 kg), has easy take-off and landing in terms of piloting technique, travels relatively easily on one engine, has good longitudinal and quite satisfactory lateral sustainability. The latter could be good if the aircraft had a slightly increased margin of directional stability relative to lateral stability and reduced the load on the legs.”
Despite the fact that the plane had two cabins - a bombardier and a navigator, this did not ensure the normal work of the navigator in aircraft navigation. He was hampered by two stationary machine guns, the boxes of which cluttered the bombardier's cabin.
In this regard, Litvinchuk’s opinion is of interest: “The navigator does not have a place where he could work concentratedly, see all the instruments, use them and observe the ground. To operate the radio compass and navigation sight, you need to get off the seat. There is no speed indicator, clock or altimeter in the cockpit. These instruments are located on the pilot's board, and the navigator cannot see them from the seat. The view from the cockpit does not allow for detailed orientation. It is difficult to provide general orientation... The most suitable place for the navigator to work is the bombardier’s cabin, the view from which is good and fully ensures general and detailed orientation...” Researchers have noted the unsatisfactory performance of machine gun installations due to their frequent spontaneous failures, mainly associated with the loss and distortion of cartridge belts.
Based on the test results, in particular, the following conclusions were made:
“The normal flight weight of the B-25-DP aircraft, equal to 14650 kg, is greater by 1750 kg or 13.55% of the normal flight weight of the B-25-S aircraft due to:
a) increasing the empty weight of the aircraft by 75 kg;
b) increasing the payload weight by 1675 kg;
The maximum operational alignments of the aircraft - front 21.7% MAR and rear 33.5% MAR - are in the range of alignments allowed by the American company (20-33.5% MAR).
The decrease in maximum altitude speeds of the B-25-DP aircraft in comparison with the B-25-S aircraft was due to:
a) deterioration of the aerodynamics of the aircraft due to the installation of additional shooting points;
b) increasing normal flight weight by 1750 kg.
At all flight modes in the range of flight speeds from the minimum permissible to the maximum, the B-25-DP aircraft with a normal flight weight of 14650 kg (centering 31.0% GR) has good controllability and quite satisfactory stability in both longitudinal and lateral respects. When piloting at the minimum permissible speed, turns with a bank of no more than 15-20 degrees are allowed.
In comparison with the B-25-S aircraft, the piloting technique on the B-25-DP aircraft is somewhat more complicated due to the large specific loads. In terms of piloting technique, the aircraft is accessible to moderately qualified pilots.
The propeller group operates flawlessly in all modes of aircraft flight up to the practical ceiling.
The rifle installation does not ensure trouble-free operation of machine guns and requires frequent reloading due to the large bends of the power hoses and the braking of the cartridge belt in them. The working conditions of the tail gunners are unsatisfactory.
Bomber installations work flawlessly. Underwing American bomb racks do not provide suspension for domestic bombs. To increase the bomb load and expand the possible suspension options for domestic bombs, it is necessary to factory rework the underwing holders for FAB-250 and FAB-500 bombs.
The American D-8 bomber sight does not provide ease of use and bombing accuracy and is significantly inferior to our domestic sights of the NKPB-7 type.”
Unlike domestic bombers, the B-25-S crew cabin was comfortable. There were even heaters.
The radio station provided very good communication, including when flying at maximum range. The check was carried out on the Chkalovskaya-Kharabali route (Astrakhan region) with a total length of 2340 kilometers.
At the conclusion of the Act, based on the results of state tests, it was recommended to remake American underwing bomb racks for domestic FAB-100 and FAB-250 bombs and replace the American D-8 sight with the domestic NKPB-7; remove the forward fixed machine guns and install a seat in the forward cockpit of the bombardier; rearrange existing equipment and install additional equipment and instruments in the navigator's cabin.
The first combat military unit of the Soviet Air Force to begin mastering the B-25 bomber in the summer of 1942 was the 37th BAP, which arrived from the Far East at the Kratovo airfield in the Moscow region. Soon it was joined by two more bomber regiments: the 16th and 125th, which until that time had fought on the Leningrad Front on Pe-2 aircraft. From these regiments, in July 1942, the 222nd BAA was formed, which from August 8 took part in hostilities as part of the 1st BAC. Taking into account the aircraft's performance characteristics and the heavy losses that the division suffered during daytime sorties, the division commander, Colonel F.V. Titov proposed reassigning the ADD division, which happened on September 22, 1942. In March 1943, for the courage shown in the performance of military duty, the 222nd BAD was awarded the honorary title of the 4th Guards BAD, and the 37th, 16th and 125th BAP became the 13th, 14th and 15th Guards BAP
By the summer of 1943, taking into account the number of B-25 bombers delivered to the country, they began to create the 4th Guards BAC on the basis of the 4th GBAD DD. It included the 5th GBAP DD, created in September 1942 on the basis of the 14th GBAP, and the 747th BAP DD, which, after retraining from the Er-2 to the B-25, received the name 22nd GBAP DD. In March 1944, the 335th BAP DD (from December - 34th GBAP) was formed as part of the 4th GBAD and the 337th BAP DD (from December - 35th GBAP DD) as part of the 5th GBAD. In addition, as part of the 4th GBAC in August 1944, a separate 341st daytime BAP was formed, also armed with B-25 bombers.
Bombardier's cockpit: 1-sight for bombing, 2-electric release AN-B-3, 3-control panel for bomb release
Airborne installation with a machine gun
Upper electrified turret with twin Browning machine guns
Tail mount with Browning machine gun
At the end of December 1944, the ADD was reorganized into the 18th Air Army. In this regard, the numbering of the military units that were part of the 4th GBAD changed once again: the 4th GBAD became the 14th GBAD, the 5th GBAD became the 15th; 13th GBAP DD - 229th GBAP; 15th GBAP DD - 198th GBAP; 34th GBAP DD - 250th GBAP; 14th GBAP - 201st GBAP, 22nd GBAP DD - 238th GBAP and 35th GBAP DD - 251st GBAP.
Since August 1943, the 2nd GBAP DD of the 1st GBAD DD (formerly the 748th DBAP for special purposes of the 3rd BAD DD) was re-equipped with B-25s from Il-4 aircraft. In this regiment, one of the most famous ADD aces, twice Hero of the Soviet Union A.I., fought in the B-25D “Oleg Koshevoy”, purchased with funds raised by the youth of Donbass. Young. At the same time, the 362nd BAP DD was armed with B-25 bombers.
Some B-25 aircraft served as reconnaissance aircraft both in the Air Force (48th GBAP and 118th ODRAE) and in the Navy aviation (15th ORAP KBF and 118th OMRAP Northern Fleet).
After the end of the Great Patriotic War, B-25 bombers continued to enter service with Long-Range Aviation units. Until the beginning of the 50s, they were received, for example, by the 330th DBAP in Bobruisk and the 132nd BAP on Sakhalin. In addition to its main purpose, B-25s with weapons removed were used in the USSR by various organizations as transport aircraft and flying laboratories for testing power plants and equipment.
B-25 aircraft were also operated at the Chelyabinsk Military Aviation School of Navigators. There, small arms and oxygen equipment were partially removed from the planes, since bombing from high altitudes was not taught. In the summer of 1954, (according to the story of navigator Selivanov), the console of the B-25 came off during a night training flight. This cost the lives of a crew of four under the command of Captain Kolpikov. After the disaster, the operation of the B-25 in the USSR Air Force ceased.
ALEXANDER VASILIEVICH DUDAKOV, the author of the memoirs published below, devoted 32 years of his life to flight work. Through Komsomol recruitment in 1936, he entered the Engel Military Aviation School, where he underwent flight training on U-2 and R-5 aircraft. Having graduated from school in 1938 with the rank of lieutenant, he worked there as an instructor pilot on SB (high-speed bomber) aircraft.
In 1942, along with other experienced specialists, he was sent to Monino near Moscow, where the 22nd AD DD was being formed. Successfully completing combat missions, by the spring of 1944 he had the rank of major and the position of squadron commander. At the end of the Great Patriotic War, he was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, which he received in 1948.
He graduated from the Yu. A. Gagarin Military Academy in 1952 (modern name) and in 1960 from the General Staff Academy. Commanded the 22nd Long-Range Aviation Division in Bobruisk. After being decommissioned from flight work, he taught at the KRRA named after. Yu. A. Gagarin. In 1974 he retired with the rank of major general of aviation.
The crew of Colonel Ulyanovsky before flying to Berlin
I had to fly B-25 Mitchell aircraft for six years - from June 1942 (almost the entire Patriotic War) until I entered the Air Force Academy in 1948.
These were vehicles of different series: B-25S, B-25D, B-25G, which mainly differed from each other in the location of defensive weapons and their quantity, as well as fuel supply.
Aircraft began to arrive at the Monino airfield, where the 222nd AD DD was formed, consisting of three regiments. We received the B-25S first. They had two electrified towers: one in the upper part of the fuselage, the other in the lower part. Each had two 12.7 mm heavy machine guns. The navigator had another machine gun in the very nose of the plane.
During combat operations at night, the lower tower was essentially “blind.” This made it possible for German Me-110 night fighters to quietly adjust from below to the aircraft and follow it to the landing airfield, where the crew’s vigilance disappeared. As a rule, after the fourth turn during landing, ours were shot down with impunity. This is how several Il-4 and B-25S aircraft died.
Our command responded quickly: they asked to remove the lower turret, place one machine gun with a gunner in the rear and one machine gun on the sides of the fuselage; they were to be served by another gunner. Thus, the crew increased by one gunner and consisted of six people. In addition, an additional 215-gallon gas tank was installed in the bomb hatch, which increased the flight duration to 7 hours. This reconstruction was made possible thanks to the large size of the bomb hatch, in which four FAB 250 and two FAB 500 bombs were freely placed for suspension.
Thus the B-25D was born. Subsequently, two coaxial machine guns began to be placed in the stern, and this series was already called the B-25G.
We must pay tribute to the American command and their industry. They immediately fulfilled all our requests to increase the combat capabilities of the B-25 aircraft. By the way, the name “Mitchell” somehow didn’t catch on with us, and we always called the plane “B-25.”
The pilots' first impression of the car was unimportant. They immediately nicknamed her “cuttlefish.” The tail-keel with the pipe up and the three-wheeled landing gear seemed very clumsy. But after flying it, we changed our attitude.
The plane was very easy to taxi with excellent forward visibility. Piloting both on takeoff and in the air and on landing was so simple that it made it possible to quickly introduce young pilots into combat formation. Of all the types of aircraft I have flown, the B-25 is the most accessible in terms of flying technique. Two keels with rudders in the sphere of action of the jet from the propellers and a three-wheeled landing gear made it possible to take off and land in any crosswind. It is no coincidence that subsequently all aviation switched to a three-wheeled landing gear.
The B-25 was equipped with flight and navigation instruments that were remarkable for those times. It had two attitude indicators - for the left and right pilots, a good autopilot, which provided great assistance to pilots during long and “blind” flights, and most importantly, a radio compass, which was indispensable in night flights.
Of particular note is the aircraft's anti-icing system, which allowed it to fly in any weather. On the attack ribs of both planes there was a mechanical de-icer from Goodrich. Rubber “bags” were periodically inflated, chipping off the ice, and the screws were washed with alcohol.
A. V. Dudakov (left) and engineer Druyan
Refueling the Mitchells of the 125th BAP, 1942
Arrival of the regiment commander before a combat flight (Umat, 1944)
It is necessary to say about the reliable operation of the motors, which had a total resource of 500 hours. And the Wright-Cyclone engines produced it. Of course, there were refusals - aviation is not without it. My pilot, senior lieutenant Nikolai Sidun, had one of his engines disabled by a direct hit from an MZA shell in the sky over Budapest. He managed to “pull” over the Carpathians on the second, arrive at his Uman airfield and land safely. The flight on one engine lasted for 3 hours.
Retraining personnel for this technique was not without incidents. Nobody knew English - everyone studied German at school. But the language barrier was quickly overcome. We immediately learned: “ON” - on, “OFF” - off. And what kind of device it was - you could already see where to turn it to turn it on - the arrow showed it. So stickers with inscriptions were quickly abandoned. However, there were also unpleasant situations, especially when operating the propeller group. There was a case when a pilot flew for a little more than two hours and fell without fuel. We flew on this plane with the same fuel supply for about five hours. The accident occurred due to an incorrect combination of engine speed and boost (gas sector supply).
Now about combat work. Experienced pilots were seated in the left seat of the crew commander, and youth were seated in the right seat. During the day we relearned quickly. Several crews were sent on a combat reconnaissance mission. And here it immediately became clear that it was difficult to cope with the enemy in the B-25 during the day - the speed and ceiling were low, you couldn’t get away from the “Messer”. True, the Germans were unable to shoot down a single plane from us - the pilots managed to hide in the clouds, but everyone received holes. Our command again quickly oriented itself to the situation, and the regiments were urgently retrained for combat operations at night. We trained at the Kryazh airfield near Samara. After this, the combat work at night went successfully and in full swing. The Germans announced to the whole world that the Russians no longer had aviation. And on August 15, 1942, I made my first combat flight from the Monino airfield to the railway. Kursk junction We still had to prove that Soviet aviation was alive and capable of striking deep behind enemy lines.
Aircraft B-25D-30 squadron commander L.V. Dudakov, 1945
Planes of the 222nd AD DD bombed the cities of East Prussia: Koenigsberg, Tilsit, Onstenburg. The Germans did not expect this. They didn't even have blackout. And they mistook our raid on Koenigsberg for an attack by Anglo-American aircraft.
My crew had to fly a lot to drop reconnaissance aircraft over the entire territory of Europe, including the Berlin area. In this case, a tank with a capacity of 518 gallons was suspended in the bomb hatch, and then it was possible to remain in the air for 15 hours without landing. The scouts jumped out at an altitude of 300-400 m through a hatch in the navigator's cabin. In total, during the years of the Great Patriotic War, I completed 220 combat missions.
We can’t help but mention the B-25 version with a cannon. It was installed in a hole through which the navigator entered the front cockpit, had a caliber of 75 mm and a combat reserve of 24 rounds. One copy of such a machine ended up in our division. I was instructed to test it day and night at the training ground, and at night for combat use. Then give a conclusion about the possibility of using this aircraft.
At the training ground, the wing console was placed vertically and the dies were lit at the ends and in the center of it. I climbed to an altitude of 3000-4000 feet, put the plane into steep glide and opened fire by pressing the trigger. During the day the tests went well, but at night the unexpected happened, as often happens when learning new technology. The night flight took place in the same sequence as the day flight. But when I pressed the trigger, a bright flame about ten meters long flew out from the cannon shot, which blinded me. I lost the ability to follow the instrument readings; I only understood that I needed to take the helm so as not to crash into the ground. I couldn’t determine how much to take, but I gave it full throttle due to the danger of losing speed. When I began to see a little, I turned on the headlights, which illuminated the tops of the trees: another second or two - and the matter could have ended tragically. During the subsequent approach and shooting, I simultaneously closed my eyes while pressing the trigger and opened them after the shot: it was pleasant to watch how the tracer projectile flew towards the specified target.
After field tests, I flew four combat missions in a B-25 with a cannon. The targets of the attack were railway trains on stages along the road that ran west of the Dnieper - from Kyiv to Dnepropetrovsk. Train traffic was frequent; there was a train on each section. I managed to blow up one of them with cannon fire - apparently it hit ammunition or fuel.
Based on the test results, he wrote an Act and made the following conclusion: “It is advisable to use the B-25 aircraft (cannon version) in the Navy to attack enemy ships.” For the tests I was given 10 days leave. This was a great reward in the active army.
It is worth noting the strikes of our aviation on the then enemy capital of Helsinki, on the naval base and military defense of the cities of Turku and Kotka. As a result, Finland was withdrawn from the war, which means thousands and thousands of lives of soldiers and officers were saved.
Later we attacked Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, the cities of Constanta, Gyor, Satu Mare, Danzing, Kotowice and many other enemy targets.
Due to successful military operations, our regiment of the 125th BAP ADD was transformed into the 15th Guards BAP ADD, which received the name “Sevastopol”.
The American B-25 aircraft was widely used by our aviation due to another important advantage. There were two pilots on it, and we trained only the pilots who sat in the right seat on this machine to become the crew commander, because they acquired good combat experience and were excellent at instrument piloting.
I confess: throughout my entire flying career I have had two favorite aircraft - the B-25 and Tu-16. But "Mitchell" is something closer to the heart. Apparently because he once saved my life during the war.
My heavenly life: Memoirs of a test pilot Menitsky Valery Evgenievich
4. GUDKOV’S LAST FLIGHT
4. GUDKOV’S LAST FLIGHT
The death of Sasha Kuznetsov, as I already said, focused everything negative that can be in aviation. With the exception, of course, of professional pilot training.
The last disaster at this stage of MiG-25 testing was the death of Oleg Vasilyevich Gudkov, chief pilot of the LII, classmate of Pyotr Maksimovich Ostapenko and Alexander Vasilyevich Fedotov. Their release was generally unique and powerful: many died, but many reached great heights in aviation. Fedotov became an Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union and Lenin Prize laureate, Ostapenko had the same titles and awards, Oleg Vasilyevich Gudkov was also awarded the titles of Hero of the Soviet Union and Honored Test Pilot of the USSR. These high regalia were worn by both Zhenya Solovyov from the Sukhov company, and Kurlin, the chief pilot of the Antonov Design Bureau. All the test pilots of that class were perfectly trained, they all went through instructor school, had extensive flight hours (at that time they still flew a lot), and their professionalism reached the highest level. I forgot to mention the Honored Test Pilot of the USSR Yuri Alekseevich Shevyakov, my instructor at the ShLI, who became the deputy head of this School. Before that, he worked as a commander of a detachment of test pilots at the LII, and then went to work for a Yakovlev company. Here are just a few people from that legendary episode - those whom I knew personally, true luminaries of the flying business.
Gudkov's disaster occurred at a time when we were finally getting serious about the problem of hinge moments and were approaching the solution to the mystery of this phenomenon, how its consequences could affect the operation of the aircraft. It seemed that everything was already clear in this sense, and Oleg Vasilyevich had to carry out the final flight against this insidious regime. The program as a whole was successful. This was truly the final flight. But it became fatal for Oleg Vasilyevich. On the passage before landing, he performed the usual routine in the Ramenskoye area, which he did almost constantly. But at the same time he released the brake flap. And as soon as the shield moved, a hinge moment arose.
Before this, I repeat, a huge number of tests were carried out. We had, including from Gudkov’s flights, as it seemed to us, a complete picture of the occurrence and distribution of the hinge moment. Before this we flew both with and without a brake flap. But it turned out that it was the very moment of release of the shield that provided a negative impulse sufficient to enter the fatal mode. It was this point that we did not take into account during testing. And it was precisely this that manifested itself in the last test flight and in the last mode.
The flight director heard only one word from Gudkov: “Rotates!” Oleg Vasilyevich could, of course, immediately eject. The height was still eight hundred meters. But he tried to take the plane out of this mode, since Ramenskoye was underneath him. And the decision to leave the plane was made by Gudkov when the car flew over the main residential area of the city. But by that time the plane had become almost uncontrollable...
For us, the death of Oleg Vasilyevich was a great shock. We have lost a wonderful pilot - one of the best in the history of the Flight Institute. Gudkov was a competent methodologist and innovator, a skillful educator and commander. He raised a whole galaxy of test pilots, was one of the few who knew how to unobtrusively force himself to listen carefully and absorb his every word. His experience was colossal.
Gudkov was just as extraordinary in life - a cheerful optimist, a bright leader of any company. I was not his close friend; we represented different generations of pilots, but we often met at friendly gatherings. I was a member of the Mikoyan team, and he was friends with Ostapenko and Fedotov and was often present at our common feasts. Therefore, our relationship was very warm.
Gudkov’s death struck many people and forced them to take a different look at the problem of finding a solution to prevent the occurrence of a hinge moment and its negative consequences. We have begun large-scale testing with even greater intensity. They developed them to the point that, having finalized the control system, they then specially flew on a mission with one of the aircraft’s hydraulic systems turned off in order to get into this mode and fix it again and again. The MiG-25 had a main and booster system, each powering its own camera. We turned them off one by one, simulating the worst driving conditions.
These tests were based mainly on the data that Gudkov received. And he brought almost all the “curves” of the hinge moments. And only after we carried out additional tests, introduced improvements to the design of the aircraft and restrictions in the instructions for its operation, we calmed down a little and solved this problem. A problem solved at the cost of the lives of our comrades.
Remembering the work on the problem of hinge moments, I cannot help but recall many meetings with the air defense leadership. At each of them, new hypotheses were put forward for the reasons for the occurrence of involuntary rotation of the aircraft, that is, the hinge moment. Graphs were posted explaining the physical reasons for this phenomenon. I remember how at one of these meetings the tireless Malanichev with two generals called me aside and said:
Valer! Well, I understand everything. But I feel in my gut that something is not right here. All our scientists have not completely convinced me. You flew yourself. You felt, after all, that not everything was clear, how and why this was happening?
I admitted to him that it’s really not entirely clear why you suddenly start spinning. A feeling of certain understatement accompanied the meetings of all commissions. And we, the pilots, had the feeling that we had caught not a crane, but a tit. They seemed to have grasped this phenomenon, but deep down in their souls they felt some kind of dissatisfaction with themselves. It was a feeling similar to the sensations that arose during my memorable landing in Vladimirovka, when the landing gear of another plane flew over my head. My intuition told me that we never got to the real reasons. Even though in many respects this phenomenon coincided with being caught in a wake, my soul thirsted for the truth.
We must thank the military, in particular the air defense leadership, that they demanded that we search more and more for objective reasons for the plane getting into such a situation. Nikolai Ivanovich Moskvitelev, Vladimir Andreev, Valery Malanichev, Vladimir Sibirtsev and many others, with their principled position, helped solve this problem, which allowed us to avoid heavy casualties, and gave the aircraft a long life.
The incident with Gudkov sank into my heart. I often told my colleagues and students later that under no circumstances should we dwell on any single hypothesis. We need to consider everything and everyone. And if at least something is unclear in this phenomenon, one cannot, as they say, close the book. You have to leaf through it again and again.
We sometimes come across bosses for whom everything is immediately clear and understandable in any, even the most difficult case: “That’s it! Forward! Thank God we sorted it out!” Here, each of us is required to have great integrity and a desire for truth. This, of course, takes away our time, energy and patience, requires a deep, scrupulous analysis, moral and material costs. But life in aviation is such that only such an approach can reduce the number of disasters and accidents.
As a rule, politics interferes with aircraft testing. Strict deadlines are set. And every time the chief and general designers and lower-ranking bosses “cook” in these deadlines. What makes matters worse is that these are not just paper deadlines. These are reports, these are wages, bonuses for the team of the entire design bureau, serial factories, related enterprises, bans on flying in combat units. Above are balanced programs for accepting the aircraft into service. And failure to meet deadlines is often associated with organizational conclusions. This policy, the policy of scolding, when “if you don’t do it, you will be rewarded!” - leads to the fact that everyone begins to fear that something might not happen. As a result, the aircraft is not completed and taken into service.
On the other hand, you can’t demagnetize people by saying: “Do it when you do it!” Everyone will walk around and do nothing. Why bother? The money is paid, the program is running, you can do as many flights as you like... There must be some kind of stable balance in this system of relations. So that there are clear deadlines and tests are carried out properly. In my opinion, there is no ideal option here, but the work could be organized as follows.
There must be some planning for the aircraft's acceptance into service. But this must be done taking into account the possible occurrence of previously unknown phenomena during testing, depending on gaps in science, errors in aircraft modeling, and shortcomings during bench tests, inevitable not only in aviation, but also in any other high-tech industry . This is a scientific process where nothing can be planned in advance. And if problems arise in the technology and physics of processes, if there is a need to return to what has been covered and conduct additional scientific research, we must meet scientists and designers halfway. Don’t put so much pressure on them with deadlines, since this matter is associated with possible accidents and disasters. There should be temporary “plays” here. The fact is that phenomena like a hinge moment are sometimes resolved in two days. And sometimes they cannot be understood or resolved in a year.
Before the disaster with Gudkov, it seemed that all the reasons for this phenomenon had been found and substantiated. First they took the wake, then Gudkov himself went further and seemed to reach the end. But it turned out that we were only halfway there. Science is like a pregnant woman: the fetus will ripen when it is supposed to, not earlier and not later.
Our long-suffering people have been accustomed to tough governance for centuries. The lack of genuine democratic principles still affects our mentality today. I have already spoken about the resignation with which we perceive many things, believing that this is how it’s supposed to be, that our leaders have thought through everything for us. Today, times have changed, and we sometimes remember with a smile our recent past, when we could not allow ourselves to say much out loud, fearing that someone would hear us. By the way, relapses from that era remain to this day.
Sometimes in our aviation, resolutions and conclusions were written by a strong-willed decision, including those of emergency commissions. The fear of contradicting the authorities, the fear of losing one’s warm position, of not receiving the expected reward or position led to the fact that a person made a deal with his conscience. I wouldn't want to blame everyone for this. Man is inherently multifaceted. And each of us has negative traits. Moreover, the system itself demanded obedience. Our slave upbringing (not in the literal sense, of course), life in fear for many generations affected, as I already said, our mentality. The bosses, using the rudest and harshest expressions, are well aware: the mentality of the Russian person is such (by Russian I mean all residents of Russia) that he begins to work only when he is shouted at.
And the subordinates, in turn, think: yeah, since the boss gave the order, since he threatened to fire and kick everyone out, it means the matter is serious. If he does not control the work, then it can be done according to the “go ahead” principle. We often used similar prohibited methods in flight test work, intriguing with the military, jeopardizing the career advancement of some of their superiors, in order to make agreed decisions. To be honest, it happened. This practice exists everywhere, it’s just that rarely anyone talks about it out loud. In order to move your topic forward, all methods are used - both honest and dishonest.
But it should be noted that this is much more difficult to do when testing equipment. As our general designer Belyakov said, the technology will prove itself. I will add that it will prove only if the aviation-related intrigue does not completely determine the work on specific projects and the path of development of domestic aviation as a whole. When there is corruption that can influence decision making, technology will not help. A good example is the Su-27K and MiG-29K shipborne aircraft. But I will dwell on this later, because this topic is too deep to talk about it in passing. In the meantime, I’ll tell you about another, this time funny, episode, which nevertheless illustrates my thoughts about the Russian mentality and effective methods of leadership.
Many of our engineers, and then, in descending order, brigadiers, successfully used pressure on the working class, and sometimes on the collective farm peasantry. During the memorable terrible accident at Fastovets, the first thing that, according to Alik’s story, prompted him to “make his legs” was the sight of something burning flying out from under him. It was a rocket that came off, a secret rocket. And then they couldn’t find her for a long time. And how to find it? As the song says: “Steppe and steppe all around...”
And then the leading engineer of the machine, Gennady Muravlev, got down to business - a great specialist and a good guy in himself. Although his fate, frankly speaking, was unenviable. He was constantly haunted by failures. He was the lead test engineer when Alik Fastovets ejected. And although it was clear to the naked eye that the cause of the accident lay in a violation of technology by the manufacturer, it happened in his presence, which means that the commission cast sidelong glances in Muravlev’s direction.
Then Gena was the leading engineer on the second “twenty-ninth” car, which I lifted. Thus, he was given a lot of trust. Unfortunately, in this case too an accident occurred. And everyone also saw that he was not guilty as such in this case. It mainly lay with the ideologists of the oil system. And his third car - the fourth MiG-29 - was also unlucky. Alexander Vasilyevich Fedotov ejected from it. It turned out that the guy was not guilty in any case. He did everything right. But the will of chance - one car, a second, a third. And no matter how you look at it, an iron law applies: he must leave. This is an unshakable rule of flight test work, which was already violated after the loss of two machines. These are the rules of the game. And on top of that, people in aviation are superstitious.
But let's return to the rocket that we couldn't find. Gena was generally an enterprising guy, he could and knew how to organize work, in a word, he was the head of a modern warehouse. And after our unsuccessful searches he suggested:
Let me cover the area one more time. Just give me a couple of soldiers, and I will bring it to you whole or in pieces.
And he flew. He flew around several nearby collective farms in the steppes, interviewing people. They didn't react at all. Then Muravlev called one of the collective farm chairmen, and the chairman is a kind of leader of the local steppe people, and told him:
If after two hours you do not return the product that we lost, then at 15.00 soldiers will cordon off the area, here are cans of gasoline, and set the steppe and villages on fire. And let your collective farmers live wherever they want.
The reception, of course, was Jesuitical. It is clear that Gena would not have done anything he promised. But his situation was critical. After all, he was the leading engineer on this machine, the rocket had to be found at all costs, and he was required to make a decision. And then Muravlev threatened, without really hoping for any effect. I think that this threat, of course, is impossible, one of the military suggested to him.
Nevertheless, an hour later a huge pile of various products grew near the helicopter. There were pylons, old models of rockets, their tails, bombs - everything there was. Probably everything that has fallen in the area since the 50s. Among other things, part of our rocket was found in this pile. In other words, the terrifying effect worked instantly. But the persuasion of the “natives,” which lasted for a whole week, the sermons that the pilots needed this to prevent disasters, that we were talking about people’s lives, did not have any impact on the steppe inhabitants. Just as they would not have any effect on any Russian person. God gave us such a character and tested its strength for centuries. But he did not give it to us so that we would come to terms with our, to put it mildly, negative traits. And in order to fight them all your adult life.
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