As Tupolev said: “Only beautiful planes can fly well. "Ugly planes don't fly." Tupolev's grandson about the great aircraft designer An ugly plane cannot fly

Waiting for the plane December 28, 1995 88°22’55’’ S. la., 80°38’03’’w. d. Quiet day. White mist. I made a device for a compass. It took 12 hours. I'm waiting for the plane to come and drop off food for me. Two left

The plane goes into smoke “...12.1.45 at 20.47 hours. There was a breakdown of the Po-2 aircraft. The plane took off just before the guide gate, but did not gain altitude... Load: 6 bombs...” I think: what is luck? I remember my very first flights, when I wanted to distinguish myself. Everything is around

Probably many people have heard this phrase from Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev in the title. They began to put a broad, metaphorical meaning into it - well, that nothing good will come of it without the soul invested in the work and the efforts made, without the high goal and wonderful plan that should be in a person who is embarking on something important. This is all clear and indisputable. However, the designer himself, who expressively threw out this phrase, actually put a direct meaning into it. He addressed it to his colleagues who were willing to lift ridiculous-looking, awkward structures into the air. This drove Tupolev into rage and swearing!

Any “techie” who knows a lot about the business will say that the phrase “ugly planes don’t fly” makes no sense at all! “Beauty” - an attractive aesthetic appearance - has nothing to do with the performance of the machine, in particular the flight qualities of the aircraft; on the contrary, if you put aesthetics at the forefront, this may actually be detrimental to the technical merits...

Any number of very unsightly-looking aircraft flew beautifully, were safe, and were valued and loved by pilots! The famous German Junkers attack aircraft looked so ridiculous that the German aviation department did not even want to accept it for serial production, but the good flight qualities of this model outweighed the negative aesthetic impression it made. The fighter designed by the Soviet engineer Lavochkin looked very poor, but it flew beautifully, demonstrating unprecedented maneuverability, so it was loved by pilots. Created in 1947, the famous An-2 biplane looked archaic even at that time, being devoid of any swiftness, “stubby,” with jumpers between the wings giving it the appearance of a whatnot. But he immediately rose into the air with extraordinary ease, and turned out to be ideally suited to carry out his tasks as a “corn grower”, staying in the air, remaining controllable, at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour and taking off from a 100-meter grass area. And this unsightly-looking miracle has survived to this day!

But here is one of Andrei Nikolaevich’s favorite creations - the first Soviet jet passenger aircraft Tu-104, built in 1955... Swift appearance, slender long fuselage, swallow-like wings folded back with engine nacelles neatly pressed to the fuselage, hiding nine tons of jet thrust each... And so - almost the very first flights of this handsome man turned into a series of disasters that claimed the lives of hundreds of people.

Yes, the designers were faced with the factor of the unknown: before this, our planes had not flown near the border of the troposphere (9-11 kilometers); it turned out that at these heights coming from the ground updrafts throw the plane up. And this slender, swift Tu-104 did not have enough flap area to effectively change the lift force, reducing it when it became excessive, and increasing it when it was necessary to overcome the “failure”; the plane was designed exclusively for “dynamics”, stable forward movement... After the “high-profile” accidents, the wing mechanization on the Tu-104 was strengthened, but still the congenital defect, which gives poor vertical control, was not completely overcome.

However, Tupolev himself was confident in the perfection of his brainchild, and responded to reproaches with the famous phrase: “It’s not a bad plane, it’s you who don’t know how to fly it!”, whose cynicism tarnished the reputation of a truly great engineer who stood at the origins of our aviation.

And Tupolev’s planes are swift, elegant, everything in them calls for speed and soaring into the sky... Created after the “fatal” Tu-104, Tu-124, Tu-134, Tu-154 were no longer so dangerous, but their own The view in the sky captivated the eye. Note that they retained some of the characteristic Tupolev problematic features - the same “inertia”, insufficient controllability, especially during landing...

So why did the great designer still consider flight to be only for beautiful cars? What is beauty (not to be confused with the key aesthetic category - beautiful!)? Yes, it seems that the harmonious relationship of the parts should speak of the perfection of the design, that is, relate to real technical advantages, and not “beauty” as such... Probably, this is approximately how Tupolev saw it. In his opinion, what is perfect should be beautiful. By the way, besides him, designers sometimes abandoned their projects because of the ridiculous appearance of the resulting car. A harmonious appearance is a kind of verification of the design concept, an expression of its fidelity.

But a perfect car will not always be beautiful in the accepted sense. The contradiction here probably lies on two levels. Firstly, stereotypical standards of external perfection are not always applicable to a complex technical object, which may simply be new and unusual; The usual stereotype of beauty must sometimes be broken. Secondly, one cannot absolutize any one principle in the approach to business: for example, when creating an aircraft, reliability is at the forefront, but, of course, everything is not limited to it among operational qualities - the device may have to be high-speed, maneuverable, and load-lifting ; Likewise, among qualities as a whole, a harmonious appearance is needed, but its role is not absolute; it will probably “add to” the fundamental perfection.

When the Wright brothers lifted the first man-made structure heavier than air into the air, they had no time for aesthetics, no time for checking the perfection of a harmonious appearance; this kind of “cuttlefish” was their brainchild. First you need to lay and work out the foundation, and then move towards visible perfection.

This is the natural way, by the way, not only of technology, but also of nature: the first “fossil” organisms - how ridiculous they looked!

It seems that Academician Tupolev was not alien to these ideas. Well, “Ugly planes don’t fly” is a phrase thrown out in the heat of the moment and still does not imply an absolutely direct understanding.

I recall the wonderful words of the late academician Andrei Nikolaevich Kolmogorov: “In mathematics, the aesthetic side is important - a beautiful hypothesis often leads to the truth.”

There is also a noticeable influence of art on science. I never cease to repeat Albert Einstein’s strikingly paradoxical statement: “Dostoevsky gives me more than any thinker, more than Gauss.” But Gauss is an outstanding mathematician!

It is with the words of these famous people that we want to start a conversation in the great duality of “science - art”, a duality to which Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov, designer-artist-poet, was directly related.

They will say: Antonov is the creator of aircraft, a talented designer. All his other hobbies are typical “hobbies”, so to speak, necessary, but not mandatory conditions for relaxation after scientific work.

The fact of the matter is that this is far from the case. Antonov was a typical exponent of those new remarkable processes.

which occur at the end of the second millennium (if you count by and large) as a result of a scientific and technological revolution that covered all aspects of life.

Let's try to understand this complex and extremely interesting process.

The ways of the development of science are inscrutable, but in this rapid process that led us to the scientific and technological revolution, one can discern its own patterns. Once upon a time, in the distant years of the formation of science, a scientist comprehensively covered almost all branches of human knowledge and culture. In his view, science was not divided into separate zones or sections. Exact sciences came close to art. The giant scientist worked with almost equal success in different areas of his life.

This was the great Leonardo da Vinci. A brilliant artist, a brilliant inventor, a brilliant seer... The technical creations of the great Italian are equal in importance to his creations as an artist. Creating designs at the level of his century, the scientist boldly peered into the contours of the future. He gave designs for aircraft that were not even thought of at that time. With the dedication of an innovative doctor, he invaded the then reserved area of ​​anatomy.

Mikhail Lomonosov was just as versatile. While studying astronomy and discovering new laws in the development of chemistry, he wrote poetry, laying the foundations of Russian poetry. And it’s not for nothing that one of the early French encyclopedias wrote down for posterity: “We ask you not to frighten the outstanding chemist Lomonosov with the famous poet Lomonosov.” Yes, it was he, the great Lomonosov, both a poet and a scientist, who also created beautiful mosaic paintings.

For people like the giants of the distant past, there was no sharp boundary not only between the sciences, but also between science and art. The entire complex of human knowledge and worldview was locked in their minds into a magic circle of skillfully solved real problems.

But the years passed, and in an increasingly complex science, the process of fragmenting the general into separate departments began. Unable to grasp the vastness of knowledge with their minds, scientists specialized in narrow areas, confining themselves to the circle of individual industries, schools and directions. Only a physicist. And how can one be an artist, a poet or a sculptor at the same time! Specialization seemed to have reached such a level that the scientist ceased to understand his neighbor in science, who was busy with nearby problems. Only a mathematician. Mechanic only. But it was once different: only Lomonosov, only Leonardo...

But the years passed. Nothing is eternal under the Moon. And again, on the path of the scientific revolution, new lights began to flash, highlighting new trends. Sciences were born that united the seemingly incompatible; mathematics weaved fragmented knowledge into various sections with its iron thread. Young cybernetics came to medicine. The study of space has also led to a better understanding of the geology of the planet. These processes served to unite previously unrelated, even seemingly antagonistic sciences.

The indisputable truth is that new things in the development of science are often created in border areas, near the boundaries that once separated scientists. All this forced us to reconsider the triumphant concept of narrow specialization towards universalism.

A modern scientist is absolutely obliged to know what is being done in neighboring areas of science. Often, an invasion of “foreign” territory causes a new leap in knowledge. And the more unexpected and seemingly incomparable such an intervention is, the more results we can expect from this feedback in science.

Today, a new process emerging in the world of science is clearly visible. Scientists seem to be returning to that already forgotten universalism of the past, which generously gave birth to Lomonosov and Leonardo.

We can say with confidence that the development of science, as a part of human culture, is today making another spiral turn of its evolution, while dialectically returning scientists to the broadest coverage of the entire horizon, knowledge from science to art. We generally call this process a single word - creativity.

The creative process develops in a dialectical spiral. From the general to the particular and from the particular again to the general - this is the path of creativity, continuously enriched in the flow of time with more and more new achievements in the field of both science and art.

We observe today how two threads - the thread of science and art - seem to be intertwined in a spiral, continuously enriching each other. Strange, but this is predicted in old occult treatises.

This is where we come to the main point with which we started our conversation: modern science today is taking another turn, turning, for example, even to creative discoveries in the field of science fiction painting, permeated with a specific sense of the future.

And what is amazing is that the turns of two helices in the field of science and art are intertwined with each other, like the double genetic helix of DNA - the carrier of life. In its mysterious depths lie the nuclei of future possibilities - the genes of the future. Isn’t this the living connection between seemingly incompatible science and art?

And what is most important is that art, as it were, becomes an integral part of science and vice versa, the living juices of science nourish modern art.

We were convinced of this at the “Scientists Draw” exhibition, which took place in the very center of Kyiv in a new exhibition hall. It was in 1981, when Oleg Konstantinovich - who else? - took care of its organization.

Under the arches of the exhibition halls were collected canvases and graphic works by the country's most famous scientists and designers.

Visitors to the exhibition will see several paintings by the General Designer. Hero of Socialist Labor, Academician Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov. The years have and do not have power over the creativity of the designer and artist. After all, the creator of the super-heavy winged "Antey" and the most load-lifting aircraft in the world at that time - "Ruslana" - turned to the palette and poetry, regardless of his age. His paintings are predominantly blue, pastel in color. The elastic transparency of the air, through which the artist, as if from a bird’s eye view, sees the world around him in a surprisingly youthful way. Years go by, but the world on the canvases remains the same, his.

The painting “Our Motherland” is beautiful. As if flying among a plump mass of cumulus clouds, the viewer looks around his native country from an unusual perspective - this is the view of a pilot. With the same vigilance, the scientist-artist peers into the microworld in the painting “Structure of Matter” or tries to associate his feelings with such abstract concepts as “Rage” ”, or such socially intense ones as “Battle for Peace”. Mature works by a mature artist. It's hard to believe that these are the works of a world famous aircraft designer.

And he is not alone in this. Somewhere nearby are paintings of the founders of cosmonautics, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Mikhail Klavdievich Tikhonravov, Academician Boris Nikolaevich Yuryev, Patriarch of Russian Aviation Konstantin Konstantinovich Artseulov.

The creativity of these world-famous design scientists and pilots is akin to art. Their aspirations are illustrated by the words of O.K. Antonov, addressed primarily to the younger generation:

“Literally from the first steps, a child longs to create. He creates, and when he breaks, he explores. This thirst must be supported and kindled. It is unacceptable to imprison a child in the clutches of our adults: “you can”, “you can’t”, “sit still”! What would humanity achieve if it consisted only of people who were exaggeratedly prudent?..

I am for bloody noses, for abrasions on the knees, for calluses on the hands. Let the kids argue, make mistakes, correct mistakes, learn how to use tools, a ruler, a brush. Let them not be afraid of difficulties, let them strive to fly further, higher, faster.

However, we must remember another simple truth: an ugly plane will not fly. Everyone needs wings, not only those whose destiny is directly connected with aviation.”

The last words apply to us, to artists, to designers, workers, pilots and motorists, to you, reader.

Addressing young people, the outstanding designer reveals this secret of scientific creativity - the indisputable connection between science and art.

Ugly plane... Oh, what a pitiable fate of its creators. Their brainchild will never see the sky!

We must apply this principle to any type of scientific and technical activity. Only harmony - a combination of beauty and rationality - produces genuine results in any field of creativity.

The latter also applies to the outstanding Odessa eye doctor N. Filatov, welding specialist B. A. Smirnov-Rusetsky, Candidate of Technical Sciences M. D. Sterligova, Moscow mathematics professor A. T. Fomenko. Their paintings are innovatively fresh and their craftsmanship is beyond doubt.

They are inspired by high aspirations, as Anatoly Timofeevich Fomenko beautifully expressed:

“There are many similarities between mathematics and painting, science and art. And most importantly, the scientist and artist go to the discovery of the unknown, not known before them, and having made this discovery, they carry others along with them.”

Isn’t this the law of creativity? After all, it extends not only to painting, but also to poetry. Many scientists and designers write poetry, and not only for family albums.

The publishing house "Soviet Russia" published the poetry book "The Muse in the Temple of Science" in two editions. The poetic work of scientists is widely represented in it. Among them is the poet Oleg Antonov.

And what’s interesting is that many of the poets were also represented in the catalog of the “Scientists Draw” exhibition. They are poets, artists, and scientists. And their critics? Oh, they're almost always just critics.

People crowded around the entrance of this exhibition all day long, wanting to join in the mystery of creativity in many areas.

Scientists are developing new theories. Scientists draw. Scientists write poetry. Scientists create... The eyes of the exhibition guests run wild. But they contain reflections of eternal secrets and sacraments.

The guest book at the “Scientists Draw” exhibition contains poems by N. Bromley, candidate of biological sciences.

It is a lie that there is no poetry in science.

In the reflections of the great world

The poet will catch hundreds of colors and sounds

And the sorceress-lyre will repeat.

A real scientist is also a poet,

Eternally thirsting to know and foresee.

Who said that there is no poetry in science?

You just need to understand and see.

Understand and see... Leave in memory these dozen paintings by the late President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Academician A. N. Nesmeyanov, who also wrote more than 300 poems. He, an outstanding organic chemist, needed these beautiful landscapes and still lifes as much as a sip of spring water, as a heartfelt impulse, as deeply poetic lines about the essence of life.

Poetry and painting helped the founder of space biology, the innovative scientist Alexander Leonidovich Chizhevsky. Creating his famous theory of the influence of solar cycles on life, the scientist wrote (or heard from above?) beautiful poems and painted romantic landscapes. By the way, his poems were appreciated by such giants as Vladimir Mayakovsky, Valery Bryusov, Maximilian Voloshin.

And isn’t it the same connection between science and art that the work of Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Dmitry Ivanovich Blokhintsev tells us about? The outstanding physicist, who led the construction of the world's first nuclear power plant, was both a poet and an artist of sorts. In addition to the most important theoretical articles on nuclear physics, Blokhintsev more than once published original theoretical articles on the nature of creativity, emphasizing the similarity of creative processes in science and art.

Everyone knows that Lenin’s comrade-in-arms, pioneer of the electrification of our country, academician Gleb Maximilianovich Krzhizhanovsky, wrote poetry. The words of the famous “Varshavyanka” belong to him. New works by the revolutionary scientist, written by him in prison and exile, are still being discovered.

And here are the lines of poetry by another scientist - the outstanding Soviet geneticist, Academician Nikolai Petrovich Dubinin. How figuratively he writes about the majestic river where he once worked as an ornithologist, being, under the slander of Academician Lysenko, exiled to the Urals during the years of repression for his commitment to genetics:

At dawn, my blue-blue Urals,

Like Damascus steel in silver.

Curving, it cuts through the desert,

Calling swans in the spring.

Interesting are the poems of the Hero of Socialist Labor, Academician Igor Vasilyevich Petryanov, a chemist and world-famous specialist in the field of aerosols:

These hands can do anything.

If you want, I’ll build a whole world with them, -

These, skillful ones, mine...

And how many songs have I written with them -

These skillful ones, mine...

After all, these hands can do anything.

Yes, these hands can do anything.

But I didn’t hold you back with them -

These skillful ones, mine,

At least these hands can do anything.

What brevity and what poetic power in these repetitions of the image of omnipotent and such powerless hands.

And, finally, poems by another outstanding scientist - Hero of Socialist Labor, Academician Nikolai Alekseevich Shilo. A geologist, he worked for many years in the East and the Far North - that is why his literary works are dedicated to the harsh nature of this region.

Cold firmament and pale moon,

The unheated sun above the earth.

There is no village here, not even a threshing floor -

The harsh world bent over me.

This frozen land is dear to me,

On a stormy day, ringing in the wind,

When the blizzard swept away the open spaces.

Like a mother in a hut, waking up in the morning.

I can’t help but want to ask a question:

Who is the physicist here? Who's the lyricist?

They have grown together into a single image of a talented person. This creativity illuminates his face with its light.

And here are poems from the same book by Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov. He called them "The Sound of Rain".

The rushing sound of rain

More and more, more and more...

Only this noise is not noise -

This is the music of the rain!

Drops fall, flow,

Along the stems, sliding towards the ground,

Along the blades of grass, along the blades of grass

The drops jump and shine

Connecting into streams,

They run along the trunks to the ground

And from leaf to leaf -

This is the music of the rain.

Dance of pearls in the branches.

Jumping, falling, flowing

Under the roots with warm moisture,

Dissolving the salt of the earth.

Silky noise and ringing -

Quiet the music of the rain.

Fine comb, fine comb

The rain combs the winds.

Black puddles with anxiety

They look into the dark sky.

...The restless sound of a drop.

Quiet rain music.

The sense of beauty does not change the poet, who has been building airplanes all his life.

How to understand your statement about a beautiful plane? - Antonov was once asked.

It seems to me that in our aviation this is felt especially clearly,” Antonov answered the dull interviewer. - a close relationship between high technical excellence and beauty. We know very well that a beautiful plane flies well, but an ugly one flies poorly, or even doesn’t fly at all. This is not a superstition, but a completely materialistic position. Here we get a kind of natural selection within our consciousness. Over the course of many years, some purely technical, calculated and experimental solutions, tested in practice, were developed. Having this partially even subconscious information, the designer can often go from beauty to technology, from aesthetic solutions to technical solutions.

According to Antonov, his artistic education is also of great importance in the designer’s work.

That's why the ability to draw, he says, is so important for a designer. That is why the designer, talking with the designer, does not part with his pencil. While talking, explaining, he draws. A few strokes - and the design idea becomes clearer...

No wonder Diderot, the head of the French philosopher-encyclopedists of the 18th century, argued:

“The nation that teaches its children to draw as well as to read, count and write will excel all others in science, arts and crafts.”

How true this is! The fact that Oleg Konstantinovich knew painting in all its intricacies and understood art is clear from his correspondence with the commander of the French pilots of the Normandy-Niemen squadron in 1977.

“Dear Mr. Pierre Poulard!

I cordially congratulate you on being awarded the International Lenin Prize for strengthening peace between nations.

I take this opportunity to thank you for the wonderful gift that brought me great joy. It is doubly valuable to me: firstly, as a masterful reproduction of one of the early works of the Impressionists; secondly, as the work of our great friend, the commander of the glorious Normandy-Niemen squadron.

I really love the art of the Impressionists, who made one of the greatest revolutions in art, I admire their steadfastness in defending their aesthetic beliefs, their vision of the world.

In the books published in our country devoted to impressionism (for example, J. Rewald and a number of Soviet authors), as well as those that I managed to acquire in France, along with the names of Manet, Monet, Pizarro, Sisley, Renoir, Degas and Cezanne, there is quite The name Berthe Morisot is rare.

Don’t you think that, despite her relatively modest role in the development of impressionism, her works, at least those that I was able to see, now, after a hundred years, seem surprisingly modern?

Her work is very little known among us. However, even in wonderful programs not a single painting by Berthe Morisot is mentioned.

It seems to me that someday she will be “discovered”, just as, for example, Jan Wermeer of Delft was “discovered”.

I am sending you transparencies of some of my amateur works: “Our Land”, “Catastrophe”.

With best wishes, sincerely yours Antonov.”

Antonov warmly supported the unknown artist Alexei Kozlov, with whom he was familiar and whose work he highly valued.

A letter from the academician addressed to the director of the State Tretyakov Gallery with a request to support a talented person has been preserved.

Here is the letter:

“Ten years ago I became acquainted with the works of Kozlov, a very unique and deeply national artist.

He is a simple soldier, a participant in the Second World War, and upon returning to his village of Pyshug in the Kostroma region and graduating from an art college, he devoted himself entirely to painting.

For many years he lived in poverty, living from hand to mouth...

One of his works, in my opinion, deserves to be acquired by the Tretyakov Gallery, headed by you.

We are talking about a portrait of his friend, the forester Kipriyan Zalessky. This is not a portrait of an individual. This is a collective image of a Russian person, seen through the prism of the entire amazing history of our people. The thing is both poetic and deeply philosophical. Her painting is excellent. It may well be ranked among the world's best portraits by Velasquez, Valentin Serov, Modigliani, and Nesterov. The portrait of Cyprian Zalessky is, like everything else he painted, at his home, in his studio: Savelovsky lane, 8, apt. 6.

Antonov."

The example of the artist Kozlov is not unique.

There are many known cases when Oleg Konstantinovich stood up for artists.

His view of painting was unique and, of course, original.

Looking at the picture, Antonov said, look for a projection where all the lines converge at one point. If you find it, then everything will instantly become clear. This is the miracle of art. Then Platonov’s painting “It’s Snowing” suddenly begins to warm you up. Conversely, the painting “Fire” is chilling. This is the magic of painting, Antonov concludes.

DANCE OF THE TRAINED ELEPHANT

For the first time I saw “Antey” very close by in the factory yard in Svyatoshin, where Oleg Konstantinovich took me.

Here’s our new brainchild, meet me,” he said, elegantly extending his hand towards the giant winged structure.

I was dumbfounded... Before me stood a truly fantastic creation of human hands, the height of a four-story building. It only vaguely resembled an airplane with a smart “streamlined muzzle” and wings the size of a railway station platform.

The womb was opened from the side empennage and reminded giant cave, into which a neat, well-made bridge led. It turned out to be the cover of a huge hatch through which the aircraft is loaded with out-of-dimensional cargo of titanic proportions. This easily includes excavators, bulldozers, mobile power plants - everything that cannot pass through railway and highway.

We cross the hall-like belly of the aircraft. The width of the hall is 6.4 m, height 4.4 m, length 36 m. Grandiose!..

We go up to the cockpit, which is also far from our usual ideas.

Controlling a giant is much simpler than a regular plane, explains Antonov, it is entirely based on a booster device - hydraulic boosters work. No effort...

Looking at this mundane miracle, I involuntarily exclaimed.

You have to be a wizard to create something like this!..

“And I’m a bit of a magician,” Oleg Konstantinovich laughed. - It’s quite difficult here without scientific magic...

Later, talking with Alexei Yakovlevich Belolipetsky, Deputy General, I heard from him:

Oleg Konstantinovich was the father of “Antey”. I am his nanny. And raising such a child was not easy. Jumping to the fifth floor right away is unthinkable. You can go upstairs only by steps, from platform to platform. And slowly... So we climbed... AN-2 - 1.5 tons of cargo, AN-8 - already 7-10 tons. AN-22 "Antey" - 60–80 tons.

"Ruslan" - 140, and "Dream" - 250 tons. You can't even imagine what this will do for people. I will give just one example. Recently, Pravda wrote in the article “How many people does the North need?” that the Tyumen region alone needs 300 thousand settlers annually. And you have to spend no less than 40 thousand rubles on each person. By transporting ready-made and large-block structures instead of building materials and parts, the need for costs can be reduced by 4 times.

Giant aircraft landing on unpaved airfields can make a real revolution in the development of the North and Siberian expanses. After all, they will be able to transport large, ready-made blocks for the installation of entire towns and villages. And this is just one side of the matter. Transportation of complete mechanisms, without preliminary disassembly, factory floors, hydrofoil boats completely changes the entire system of developing new lands.

It fell to the remarkable test pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union Yuri Vladimirovich Kurlin, an extraordinary and truly talented man, to test “Antey”.

Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin once said this about him after meeting him at the Le Bourget salon in Paris:

“Kurlin is tall, slender, leisurely and attentive. In the year of the ship's trial he was thirty-three years old, and he was handsome in his youth and his strength. His Antey is much larger than my Vostok, and the commander matches his ship.”

Tests giant ship began with jogging around the factory airfield. It was small for a giant - at first it was possible to reach a speed of 170 km/h, but it required at least 220 km/h to lift off the ground.

Finally, on February 27, 1965, it was decided to take a risk. The first pilot is Kurlin, the second is Tersky. In addition to them, the navigator, radio operator, flight engineer, leading engineer and “owner” of the ship Alexander Eskin is Antonov’s long-time associate.

The giant plane easily took off from the airfield and immediately removed its landing gear - 12 wheels, each as tall as a man. The booster control completely justified itself - “Antey” obeyed the control impeccably.

However, just in case, we landed at a large airfield 70 km from Kyiv.

Antonov immediately flew out after Antey to keep abreast of events. He always believed in the pilot and listened to the fresh opinion of the test pilot.

If I told the General that I doubted something, Kurlin says, he would answer: “Doubt is always useful. But the test must continue."

“We returned to Kyiv,” continues Kurlin. - A rally took place in the assembly shop. Then a banquet. Oleg Konstantinovich joked at the table: “It’s easier for me to drink a hundred grams of castor oil than vodka!”

He didn't tolerate alcohol.

It was decided to show “Antey” in Paris. At the beginning of the book we already talked about the extreme success this had! plane in the International Salon. Perhaps never before in all 35 Salons, held every two years, have individual aircraft had such success as the Soviet giant experienced.

There was a real spirit here these days. Olympic Games. This was emphasized by the Soviet exhibition, which showed only civilian aircrafts- airplanes and helicopters.

“On a large platform,” says Antonov, “predatory planes, ugly destroyer heli-bombers, and hunchbacked reconnaissance officers armed to the teeth were placed. Around them, weapons of war hated by the people were laid out in neat rows: high-explosive and napalm bombs of all calibers and stripes, guided and unguided missiles with electromagnetic and thermal homing heads, machine guns, cannons, shells...

Nearby, two military men in khaki with cigarettes in their teeth sat alone on folding chairs.

There is emptiness all around, as if around a plague-ridden place. The good French, some with caution and some with disapproval, avoided this platform of death.

Our Soviet stands, on the contrary, were swarming with curious, friendly, animated spectators.”

You need to know the character of Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov in order to understand his ability to elegantly “play” his foreign interlocutors.

Shocked by the sensational merits of the Soviet giant aircraft, French aviation specialists highly appreciated the cheerful “gift” that the General Designer gave them, as they say, at the end of the Salon.

On the last day of the Soviet delegation's stay in Le Bourget, she was invited by the organizers of the salon to the final meeting.

“The meeting ended in an atmosphere of cordiality,” Antonov recalls. - Everyone got up from the table and, breaking up into small groups, hurried to prove what they considered important. While still sitting at the table, I noticed two large framed photographs on the side walls of the room, of which the left one especially attracted my attention. She depicted the departure of a large number balloons... There is no doubt - these are the balloon competitions in Paris in 1908.

Around me there are several Frenchmen, mostly designers, heads of aviation companies, experienced people, undoubtedly well aware of the history of aviation and, like all Frenchmen, who love a funny joke to the point.

I feel with my hand in the inner pocket of my jacket for the treasured piece of thin cardboard and turn to the group of people around me:

Gentlemen, I'm a bit of a wizard. Let me present you with an invitation ticket to this 1908 hot air balloon competition!

Surprised exclamations:

ABOUT! Incredible! Can't be! Where did you get it from? Let me take a look...

Yes, of course, this is an authentic invitation card from 1908! Here's the date...

The ticket passes from hand to hand, is examined in the light, almost tasted, until the most passionate collector present takes possession of it.

In 1962, Yakov Zarkhi, one of the oldest figures of Osoaviakhim, gave me for safekeeping the valuables that he managed to save from the exhibits of the flying club-museum after the heroic defense of Leningrad. There were amazing things here.

Rare photographs of the first aircraft, receipts from Sikorsky for receiving a fee from the Russian-Baltic Plant for the drawings of the Russian Knight aircraft...

And finally, a pack invitation cards, addressed to General A. M. Kovanko, a famous figure in aeronautics in Tsarist Russia. Among them are tickets to a balloon competition in Paris in 1908.

But what is on the wall of the residence of the French syndicate aviation industry It turned out, to my own surprise, to be a photograph of balloon competitions, not airplanes, and precisely in 1908 - this is a pure and pleasant coincidence that helped me puzzle our hospitable hosts.

But in general, the beast runs towards the catcher.”

No less sensational was the demonstration on the last day of the salon of the flight of “Anthea” with two engines turned off.

Everyone is flying. And we are sitting under an office ban - not to fly. - Yuri Kurlin complained to the minister.

Are you sure of success?

I'm absolutely sure.

Well then, come on!

And Kurlin gave... In six minutes of flight he showed an accelerated takeoff, a turn to low altitude with a bank of 60 degrees, passage in front of the audience with two of the four engines turned off. The audience was shocked...

“Kurlin is being a hooligan,” said the head of the Flight Service Department. - He violated the order...

What, did you come to look at the girls on Pegal Square? - Minister Pyotr Vasilyevich Dementyev asked sarcastically. He, too, was eager to show “Antheus” to the fullest extent of its capabilities...

In particular, visitors to the salon were greatly impressed by the loading system of the super-sized airship. For the convenience of loading heavy vehicles, excavators, and bulldozers, a kind of “squat” of the aircraft has been created. When loading, the entire fuselage of the aircraft is lowered hydraulically onto all 12 landing gear legs to allow vehicles to enter independently through the folded aft hatch cover. It is huge in size and serves as an entrance bridge.

The French press was so shocked by the plane's "squat" that it wittily called the operation "an elegant dance of a trained elephant."

Indeed, the “squat dance” of the air giant can capture any imagination.

The only thing that meticulous journalists found fault with was the name of the ship.

Ancient giant Antaeus, breaking away from the Earth, lost his strength. It was the touch of Mother Earth that poured new strength into the mythical giant. It turns out that the name “Antey” contradicts the essence of the airship.

But you need to know the character of Antonov, who left his “AN” in the names of airships and not only... “Antey”, “Ruslan” - which stands for “Russian airliner AN”. This “AN” even penetrated into the names of Antonov’s children: Andrei, Anna, Rolland... The famous pilot Marina Lavrentievna Popovich told me about this.

The 61st General Conference of the FAI in 1969 in London awarded M. L. Popovich the Paul Tissandier Diploma for his dedication, initiative, outstanding flying achievements and contribution to the development of aviation. She is the first pilot in the Soviet Union to break the sound barrier on a modern high-speed fighter in February 1972. On the Antey plane, Marina Popovich and her crew set ten world records in two flights. The area of ​​her scientific and technical interests is not only aircraft testing, but also creative participation in their creation.

Responding to those who attacked the name of the plane, Marina Popovich said:

“I have more than once heard lengthy judgments regarding the very name of the aircraft “Antey”. According to ancient Greek mythology, Antaeus took strength from his mother, the Earth. He could be defeated by tearing him off the ground, which is what Hercules did. The AN-22 aircraft, having taken off from the ground, should, according to this myth, become exhausted. But here it’s the other way around.

Yes, “Antey” was created not by God, but by people, the collective mind and labor of people.

Despite its two-hundred-ton weight and sixty-thousand horsepower, it meekly submits to the pilot (hence, it rises and takes off from the ground itself, together with its crew).

That is why the name “Antey” is correct...

Isn’t it amazing: the AN-22 plane set 27 world records and 50 all-Union records. These are the huge steps of “Antheus” across the sky.”

And these steps were taken by fragile women - our Soviet pilots. Together with Marina Popovich, the following people took part in setting world and all-Union records on Antey in February 1972: co-pilot G. Korchuganova, navigator L. Petrash, leading engineer A. Strelnikova.

The friendly team of women once again showed the outstanding role of Soviet pilots, which manifested itself both during the war and during the years of peaceful exploration of the air ocean.

Let us remember what was said about our glorious female pilots who took part in the Great Patriotic War.

Once the commander of the Normandie-Niemen squadron, Colonel Poulard, observing the work of the technicians and the flights of the pilots, their air battles, said with delight:

“If all the flowers in the world were collected and laid at the feet of these fragile young girls, then this would not be enough to express their deepest gratitude for their endless courage.”

I can’t help but remember Marina Popovich’s story:

“...Once in West Berlin at a press conference I was asked the question: “What alloying additives were used to make the steel of the leading edge of the wing of the airplane on which you, women, set a world record?” Remembering the courage of women shown in battle, I answered:

“From an alloy of courage, heroism and high devotion to the Motherland.”

“Antey” gave Soviet pilots the opportunity to once again prove themselves in the extreme conditions of mastering a super-heavy air giant, the very existence of which has become legendary.”

Is this why Marina Popovich dedicated one of her poems - and she is already a famous poetess - to the legendary mythical hero and the legendary airplane?

From a deep ancient legend

The mythical Antaeus came to us -

Son of the Earth, fearless, bright-eyed,

Taking power from its roots.

In the twentieth century it is visible and real

You created a menacing thunder in the engines,

Embodied in song metal,

"Antey" became a winged ship!

And today the air worker

You are strong on your shoulders

You obediently take on a multi-ton load,

To lead him to the ends of the Earth.

Created by men, not gods,

You have not disgraced your ancient family:

Although you are truly friends with heaven,

The Earth gives you strength again.

For the creation of the AN-22 - "Anthea" the group of designers received the country's highest award - the Lenin Prize.

Antonov’s “Antey” involuntarily became that attractive principle that magnetically attracted many aviation figures from all over the world to the General Designer.

In Le Bourget, Antonov met with the son of the outstanding Russian aircraft designer Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky.

He lives in the USA, is one of the leaders of the Douglas company, and works in Germany. His father is a remarkable Russian designer, who began to become interested in aviation while still a Kyiv student before the revolution, and over the years turned into a leading designer in Russia. It was he who built the four-engine giant “Russian Knight” before the First World War and, after it, launched the “Ilya Muromets” into series - in those years largest aircraft in the world. We talked about this above.

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