An ugly plane won't fly. The ugliest planes that took off against all odds! The pinnacle of 20th century engineering

I couldn't pass by this day!
Today, November 10, is the birthday of Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev!


He is a GENIUS aircraft designer, the creator of a design bureau named after him.
Under the leadership of Tupolev, over 100 types of aircraft were designed, 70 of which were built in series. His planes set 78 world records and completed about 30 outstanding flights.
Milestones from the life and work of Tupolev Design Bureau:
1925 - Andrei Nikolaevich created the all-metal twin-engine aircraft TB-1 (ANT-4), the world's first serial all-metal heavy twin-engine monoplane bomber. In addition to the Moscow-New York flight, TB-1 took part in the rescue of the crew of the icebreaker “Chelyuskin” - pilot A.V. Lyapidevsky took the first batch of Chelyuskin sailors from the ice floe.

1932 - under the leadership of Tupolev, the ANT-25 aircraft was designed by P. O. Sukhoi’s brigade.
1936 - flight from Moscow to Far East(crew commander - V.P. Chkalov, co-pilot - G.F. Baidukov, navigator - A.V. Belyakov). The 9,375 km flight lasted 56 hours before landing on a sandy spit of Udd Island in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk.
On June 18, 1937, the ANT-25 aircraft made a flight along the route Moscow - North Pole- United States of America, with landing at the airfield in Vancouver, (crew commander - V.P. Chkalov, co-pilot - G.F. Baidukov, navigator - A.V. Belyakov)

1934 - Multi-engine aircraft of the Maxim Gorky model. It had eight engines, a usable area of ​​more than 100 m² and a passenger capacity of up to 60 people.

1952 - New model- Tu-16 jet bomber. It was capable of speeds of more than 1000 km/h. Still in service with the Chinese army!

1955 - The first domestic jet civil aircraft appeared - the Tu-104.

1952 - Tu-95 (according to NATO codification: “Bear”) - the legendary turboprop strategic missile-carrying bomber, one of the fastest propeller-driven aircraft in the world.
The world's last adopted and mass-produced turboprop bomber. More than half a century in service!
On July 30, 2010, a world record for non-stop flight was set for serial aircraft— in 43 hours, the bombers flew about 30 thousand kilometers over three oceans, refueling four times in the air. Part of Russia's nuclear triad

At Belaya airbase

1957 - intercontinental passenger aircraft Tu-114.

1963 - Tu-134 - Over many years of operation, the Tu-134 has shown its reliability and efficiency. In terms of reliability coefficient, the Tu-134 has proven itself to be practically fail-safe. An outstanding feature of the aircraft is the previously unsurpassed restrictions on the magnitude of the headwind (30 m/s) and side (20 m/s) wind components during takeoff and landing.

11-Tu-134UBL, nicknamed “Pinocchio”, is intended for training Tu-22M3 and Tu-160 pilots.

1968 - Tu-154, the most popular Soviet jet passenger aircraft, which until the end of the first decade of the 21st century remained one of the main aircraft on medium-range routes in Russia

1968 - Tu-144 - The world's first supersonic airliner, which was used for commercial transportation. The first flight was two months earlier than Concorde. The Tu-144 is also the first passenger airliner in history to break the sound barrier (June 5, 1969).
The plane exceeded Mach 2 on May 25, 1970, flying at an altitude of 16,300 m at a speed of 2,150 km/h.

1969 - Tu-22M. Long-range supersonic missile carrier-bomber with variable wing geometry

1977 - Tu-22M3. Carrier of X-22 cruise missiles. The threat of NATO aircraft carrier groups.

1981 - Tu-160 - Supersonic strategic missile-carrying bomber with variable-sweep wing. Is the largest and most powerful in history military aviation supersonic and variable-wing aircraft, as well as the heaviest combat aircraft in the world. Also the fastest bomber in the world. An integral part of Russia's nuclear triad, together with the Tu-95.
A decision was made to resume production of the Tu-160.

1989 - Tu-204 - one of the few passenger aircraft, which in practice confirmed the possibility of safely completing a flight with all engines inoperative. On January 14, 2002, Tu-204-100 aircraft No. 64011 of Siberia Airlines, flying from Frankfurt to Novosibirsk, ran out of fuel 17 km from Omsk airport in difficult weather conditions and made a successful landing with two engines inoperative. No one was injured during landing, and the plane soon returned to service.

1996 - Tu-214. Tu-214SUS - An aircraft that provides communications to the President of Russia.

The photos are not all mine (mine are signed)

AN UGLY PLANE WILL NOT FLY

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 from these words famous people We want to start a conversation in the great duality of “science - art”, a duality to which Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov, designer-artist-poet, had a direct connection.

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 projects aircraft, which were not even thought of at that time. With the dedication of an innovative doctor, he invaded the then reserved area of ​​\u200b\u200banatomy.

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’s most important is that art becomes, as it were, integral part 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 domestic 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, specialist in the field of welding B. A. Smirnov-Rusetsky, candidate 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.

In the publishing house " Soviet Russia“The poetry book “The Muse in the Temple of Science” was published 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 the work of Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Dmitry Ivanovich Blokhintsev telling us about the same connection between science and art? 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 about the nature of creativity, emphasizing the similarities 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 Vasilievich 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, my...

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. Geologist, he worked for many years in the East and Far North- that’s 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 have been developed, tested in practice. 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 here on 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, visible through the prism of all amazing story 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.

From the book About spaceships author Feoktistov Konstantin Petrovich

ROCKET, PLANE OR ROCKET PLANE? No matter how much one talks about future ships and stations, it is not only design problems that determine the possibility and economics of their creation. Such is the nature of astronautics that at all times much will depend on the means

From the book Front to the Sky (Notes of a Naval Pilot) author Minakov Vasily Ivanovich

Red Plane It is hardly possible now to find out who came up with this idea. Simple, like everything ingenious,” we recalled later, half-jokingly. Brilliant is, let's say, too much. But they remembered it more than once. Whenever it was necessary to find the only possible solution from

From the book We are the children of war. Memoirs of a military test pilot author Mikoyan Stepan Anastasovich

Chapter 22 SU-15 aircraft I will continue the story about the interceptors of the Sukhoi Design Bureau. Since 1960, Su-9 aircraft began to arrive in some combat air defense regiments. Since government tests have not yet been completed, we have issued a "Preliminary Conclusion" so that they have

From the book Airplanes Fly to the Partisans (Notes of the Chief of Staff) author Verkhozin Alexander Mikhailovich

The plane landed without a pilot. Crew young commander Leonid Shuvaev's ship consisted of combat Komsomol members. They carried out their tasks diligently and with passion. They were trusted to bomb fascist troops and fly to drop cargo for partisans. In preparation for the “rail war”

From the book Tupolev author Bodrikhin Nikolay Georgievich

Main aircraft In the early 1950s, with the advent of nuclear weapons, aggravated international political situation demanded the speedy strengthening of the strategic component of Soviet military aviation. Stalin really liked the Tu-16 aircraft, and, once calling

From the book by Anatoly Serov author Chalaya Zinaida Akimovna

Airplane This was the first airplane Anatoly saw. Of course, before, it happened that a steel bird would fly high above a field or a city, and the boy’s eyes would follow it until it disappeared into the distance. Tolya was then less than a year old, and the “airplane” did not yet capture his imagination. But with

From the book “Flame Motors” by Arkhip Lyulka author Kuzmina Lidiya

Su-27 - a legendary aircraft At the end of the 60s, hard work was going on in the United States to create a new complex specialized air superiority fighter, the F-15. The echoes of this purposeful, large-scale activity reached our designers.

From the book The Winged Guards author Sorokin Zakhar Artemovich

The plane did not return in October Kola Peninsula already real winter. With it comes the polar night. The ground is densely shrouded in snow, severe frosts begin, and snow charges arrive. I, accustomed to southern climate, such an early and severe winter was in

From the book Purpose of Life author Yakovlev Alexander Sergeevich

Rocket and airplane Grandiose successes of rocket technology. - Will missiles displace aviation? - Opinions of foreign experts. - Airplanes of the near future. - From Moscow to New York in 3–4 hours. - Both a rocket and a plane! - A trip to the training ground. - The government gets acquainted with new

From the book Unknown Lavochkin author

Airplane “130” This machine was designed for the ASh-83 engine. It was expected that its maximum speed would reach 725 km/h at an altitude of 7500 m, range - 1450 km, and ceiling - 10,500 m. But the planned engine, as you already know, was never expected, and it was replaced by a battle-tested one

From the book Unknown "MiG" [The Pride of the Soviet Aviation Industry] author Yakubovich Nikolay Vasilievich

Aircraft "152" After the La-150, the aircraft "152", built taking into account the already accumulated experience, began to claim the role of the first combat vehicle of OKB-301. While maintaining the classic design of its predecessor, the new fighter has been largely redesigned. He became medium-shot and larger

From the book Pages from a flight book author Golubeva-Teres Olga Timofeevna

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

From the author's book

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

A Russian proverb states that “one is greeted by one’s clothes, one is seen off by one’s mind.” It is usually interpreted as the superiority and priority of “mind” over “clothes.” Looks like it's time to take a fresh look at the old wisdom.

This statement clearly reveals a dismissive, or even contemptuous, attitude towards “clothes”, which is often customary in Russia. After all, what is truly significant and valued for us is mainly the internal content.

And indeed, the wrapper, the “clothes”, the appearance is not more important than the internal content, but it must be worthy of it. Moreover, it somehow happens that great essences are usually accompanied by an attractive shell.

As Tupolev said: “Only beautiful planes can fly well.” And the great aircraft designer is worth believing.

Almost a hundred years ago, Russia offered the world a fundamentally new socio-political project, which promised a better, more just system for all humanity.

And this one new project was accompanied by such brilliant and innovative works of artists, poets, architects, directors and a general social upsurge that the world still draws inspiration from them.

And, probably, it is no coincidence that the internal decline of the Soviet project was reflected in external forms - boring, formal nomenklatura, which had lost the light, strength and inspiration of the first decades.

Nowadays in Russia they write a lot about the internal content of current processes in the country, they understand the reasons and mechanisms of its revival, the body of a new social unity, and the symbolic depth of what is happening.

The West, in turn, writes about the new Russian threat, about the effectiveness of the Russian information war. At the same time, his observations and conclusions about the essence of the processes taking place in Russia often seem to us ridiculous, superficial and simply stupid.

But this does not matter, since he, the West, is entirely right in another way - in that he adequately and sensibly assesses the threat to himself, based not on the essence of the changes, but on the forms that they take.

Russia is waging an information offensive in the world, and in many directions at once - in politics, culture, social trends, art. The funny thing is that this is largely a spontaneous and internal process. In all this, Russia is looking for new meanings and new forms, primarily for itself.

The state, non-state structures, and just ordinary citizens are involved in this process. Moreover, it is the state, due to its traditional bureaucratic clumsiness, that most often acts awkwardly.

The “St. George Ribbon” campaign came out of the bowels of RIA Novosti, and the “Immortal Regiment” was invented by ordinary Tomsk journalists.

But this process of revival is so large-scale and powerful that even the “side effects” that accrue to the rest of the world are enough for Western experts and the media to fight in alarmist hysteria that “the Russians are coming.”

The animated series “Masha and the Bear” promotes the most traditional values ​​(hard work, honesty, kindness, caring for others, etc.), but in a completely modern package. The girl Masha is wearing a sundress and a headscarf, but underneath are short hair curls and fashionable sneakers.

The Sochi Olympics turned out to be pure proof that Russians know how to do things beautifully and know how to work with modern technologies. And the “cherry on the cake” was the unopened ring at the opening, which turned out to be so impressively played out at the closing of the Games.

Immediately after the Olympics, almost right off the bat, the world saw a Russian performance from a completely different sphere. We are proud that Crimea returned home without bloodshed, that is, in the essence of what happened. But just as important is how outwardly beautiful Operation Polite People turned out to be.

The PR campaign of the Russian army, of course, amazes with its effectiveness, efficiency and innovation. Both proven and the most modern methods are used. Work on social networks, press tours for the Russian and foreign press, the whole Patriot park, which is just beginning its promotion. Parade on May 9th last years

has turned into one grandiose attraction, part of which are both rehearsals and unexpectedly placed cameras (in the paving stones of Red Square, on the gun barrels of tanks, in the cockpits of fighter planes), which allow us to give amazing and previously impossible angles.

Recently, another Western expert burst out with an alarmist article about the new secret weapon of the Russian information war - drones, thanks to which the Russian media have learned to create extremely effective videos, in particular from war zones.

And here we return from external forms to internal content.

Russia manages to break through the extremely negative background of the Western media and the most intense information campaign against itself because events regularly and increasingly arise that the Western media cannot ignore, and in themselves they carry such a huge positive message that they reach the world even through negative interpretations and comments.

This happens solely because they are based on something very real, and the matter is not limited to an attractive “wrapper”.

Western media, of course, have drones. But it is Russian military correspondents who regularly go into the thick of things in order to make an appropriate report. And this is what Western experts don’t understand: the secret weapon of Russian journalism is not drones, but Russian journalists themselves.

The notorious concert of the Mariinsky Orchestra in Palmyra, which caused such a controversial reaction in the West, is also about this. Yes, it was an amazing Russian political PR campaign. So it’s not in vain that opponents are gnashing their teeth.

But what was at its core? And at its core were several dozen classical musicians who flew to a country at war, not to the rear, but close to the front line.

And then to the concert site they rode for seven hours on a bus under the scorching sun across this blood-drenched land, where danger could lurk for them at any moment. And there they played - on the site where mass executions had taken place a few months earlier. For each of the musicians and their conductor, this was truly an act of civic and human courage.

It was this courage - both of the musicians and of Alexander Prokhorenko, who died a brave death near Palmyra - that filled the concert in ancient city, despite any pragmatic considerations of its organizers.

So the West, which is concerned about Russia’s informational and ideological expansion, is absolutely right in its fears. Russia offers the world an alternative, and this alternative - both in content and in form - is so powerful that it is increasingly and more successfully resisting the total anti-Russian campaign of the West.

I think that designer Tupolev would be pleased today: from modern Russia It turns out to be a very beautiful plane.

A meeting of students and journalists with Advisor to the General Director of the Tupolev Design Bureau Andrey Tupolev, dedicated to the anniversary of a large-scale event - the transportation of the Tu-144 from the sixth building of the university on Dementieva Street, where it stood for more than 30 years, to building No. 8 on Chetaeva Street. Transportation of the fuselage weighing 50 tons on the night of April 14-15, 2017 lasted five hours. According to the idea of ​​the university staff, by the end of the year the aircraft with tail number 77107 will turn into an interactive museum of aerospace technology and will welcome its first visitors.

The pinnacle of 20th century engineering

This year marks half a century since the first flight of the Tu-144. And in the early 60s the idea of ​​​​creating a large passenger plane, capable of flying at speeds greater than sound, was fantastic, because quite recently the limit of achievement seemed to be “whatnots”.

The USSR Ministry of Defense entrusted the implementation of the ambitious project to one of the most experienced design bureaus for the creation of jet aircraft - the Tupolev Design Bureau. And the project was brilliantly implemented.

“The Tu-144, the first in the world in its category, became the pinnacle of engineering of the 20th century. It implements hundreds of world-class innovations, and yet it was made in the post-war difficult time,” said Rector of KNRTU-KAI Albert Gilmutdinov. - This aircraft, under the leadership of Andrei Tupolev, began to be designed 2 years later than the participants in the Anglo-French project, which was created by a competitor, Concorde. But at the same time, our car took off two months earlier than the Western European one. That’s how they worked then.”

The Tu-144 aircraft became the pinnacle of engineering thought of the 20th century. Photo: AiF

Artists worked on TU-144

Once Tupolev was shown a model of an airplane. “No, it won’t fly,” he assessed the appearance. - "Why?" - “The model is ugly. Ugly planes don't fly."

Andrei Alekseevich Tupolev is the grandson of the famous aircraft designer A. N. Tupolev. Photo: AiF / Venera Volskaya

When asked whether Andrei Nikolaevich actually said the phrase that became a catchphrase, the grandson of the aircraft designer replied that the story was real.

“In addition to designers, designers also worked for him; they were quite artists high level. And, by the way, I agree with him,” noted Andrei Alekseevich. According to his observations, the fate of “ugly” aircraft turns out to be unsuccessful - even with a good start and successful experimental flights, he does not get a start in life.

Why did Andrei Alekseevich choose the profession of his great grandfather? - future aircraft manufacturers asked the designer’s grandson.

“I became interested in the aviation industry early on. But I couldn’t get past aviation. Pilots and designers visited our house on weekends, and my grandfather himself visited either the Minister of Defense or the Minister of Defense on Saturdays. civil aviation, he recalled. - The whole life of my grandfather and father was devoted to aircraft construction; the family took up much less space than aviation. When I graduated from the institute in 1983 (MAI in the direction of “Aircraft Engineering” - editor’s note), I had a diploma project based on materials from the Tupolev Design Bureau. I still could not show the drawings and calculations I had made to my father because of his busy schedule. In the end, he told me: bring it by 11 pm.”

The students also asked Andrei Tupolev about the prospects for using additive technologies in the construction of aircraft (in which “extra” material is added to the manufactured product rather than removed - editor’s note), in particular, a 3D printer.

“I’m positive,” he replied. - They significantly reduce production costs. In addition, they radically affect the quality control system. Foreign aircraft power plants have built-in monitoring systems that show, for example, that after one and a half thousand hours of operation such and such a component may fail. But the use of a 3D printer will depend on the level of modernization of aircraft factories.”

“One of the American companies has developed an engine for big plane, which is almost entirely made using 3D printing. This technology is the future,” added Albert Gilmutdinov.

“Let’s translate ideas into hardware”

The idea of ​​transporting the TU-144, which had been standing in the Aircraft Construction District of Kazan for 31 years, to the Novo-Savinovsky District, caused a lot of skepticism, noted the rector of KNRTU-KAI, Albert Gilmutdinov. Nevertheless, the plan was implemented. To install the liner's hull at the permanent location, an 800-ton crane had to be brought in from Nizhny Novgorod, the only one of its kind in the Volga region.

“After this, we carried out an external restoration of the aircraft and installed professional dynamic lighting. The first big stage is behind us, now the actual organization of the museum and educational complex is underway. Inside the aircraft there will be about 10 thematic halls with 50 exhibits, including interactive ones. They will recreate the cockpit, and it will be possible not only to sit at the helm, but also, with the help of computer software, to take off and land, break the sound barrier, and experience the effects of overload during aircraft maneuvers. They are also going to organize quests here.

The aircraft-based museum will open at the end of 2018. Photo: AiF / Artem Dergunov

The museum has three main “faces”: it is a training laboratory for students, a center for additional technical education at the federal level, and a technical museum for tourists, Gilmutdinov said. But to attract foreign tourists, the museum should become a real gem. "We need you interesting ideas, and we will embody them in hardware,” the rector addressed the students.

There are also plans to add an additional building to the aircraft, which will be able to display aircraft engines and other large objects. At KNITU-KAI they want to create a dome 3D cinema, showing a view of the Earth from space outside, and a starry sky at night. The museum is planned to open on December 31, 2018, on the day of the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the Tu-144.

Let's share a look at some non-trivial solutions in the field of aviation, which at first glance were doomed to failure, but nevertheless managed to get off the ground and conquer the sky. These devices, which are not at all similar to airplanes, were not put into full series, which means they are not familiar to the general public. Today we are correcting this undeserved omission.

Avrocar (1952)

Although Hitler's Germany lost in World War II, its engineering heritage deeply impressed Allied specialists with its achievements and numerous developments, prototypes that were seriously ahead of their time and the then development of engineering of the leading world powers. Just look at Hitler’s secret flying disks, which copied ancient Indian alien devices—vimanas.

Apparently, impressed by the successes in this field, American designers accepted the challenge and, together with their English colleagues, began developing their own flying saucer. One of the brainchild of such design research was the AvroVZ-9V Avrocar fan-type vertical take-off vehicle. Despite the ambitious stated characteristics, the design, on which the Canadians spent about seven years and a substantial budget, was never able to rise above one and a half meters above the ground against the three-kilometer ceiling stated in the technical specifications. The speed of movement also left much to be desired.

This flying fan was produced in only two copies and was capable of flying with two people on board - a passenger and a pilot. The rather large size of the unit left no chance for the development to be implemented, at least in the form of an alternative urban transport. And although the “flying saucer” was capable of low flights above the ground, the military was not interested in it. But today, such developments are again gaining popularity, judging by the appearance of flying bicycles in Russian laboratories.

VVA-14 (1972)

Probably, seeing the Soviet amphibious aircraft, George Lucas was inspired to create the Millennium Falcon in his famous saga “ star Wars" It is the contours of the futuristic spaceship that resemble the shape of a vertical take-off torpedo bomber, created in Taganrog according to the design of aircraft designer Robert Bartini. Considering the restrained confrontation between the two superpowers in those years, many projects were developed with an eye toward operational military action already on the territory of an overseas military enemy. Therefore, the creation of a water ekranoplan capable of delivering many thousands of tons of cargo, equipment and manpower by sea was a very promising undertaking. The two actually operating units that were built were of quite impressive size. The ekranoplan had as many as twelve lifting engines and two propulsion engines. Together with the payload, the twenty-five-meter apparatus weighed more than fifty tons. True, for all its versatility and successful tests, the seaplane never went into mass production.

Caproni Ca.60 (1921)

The idea of ​​transatlantic flights for the purpose of transporting many passengers has not allowed engineers to sleep peacefully since the beginning of the century. Connect Old light with the New Expressway - a business that can glorify daring geniuses and bring handsome profits. It was in pursuit of such solutions that in 1921 a twenty-meter seaplane-airliner, designed to carry one hundred passengers, appeared. The Italians approached the matter in a big way - on the long cigar of the hull they installed three shelves of wings from heavy bombers, which themselves consisted of three load-bearing planes. As a result, the plane boasted nine wings, ready to lift it into the air. All that remained was to verify this on test flights! But the first flight showed the shortcomings of such a design: having risen to a height of about twenty meters, the miracle plane broke up and crashed into the water. Fortunately, no one was hurt. And the plane itself was even restored after the crash. True, he no longer made any further flights, but simply burned ingloriously, possibly as a result of sabotage.

Vought V-173 “Skumovka” (1942)

Another attempt to reduce the length of the runway turned into a completely usable unit, nicknamed the “pancake” for its outlandish appearance. Indeed, the plane’s profile resembled the above-mentioned culinary dish. Despite its ridiculous appearance, the plane turned out to be very agile in the air and lived up to the hopes placed on it. All thanks to powerful motors that drive propellers so large that they would have touched the ground on takeoff, if not for the elongated front landing gear rods, due to which the cockpit rose into the sky at a very acute angle. This device served as a prototype for a larger and heavier carrier-based fighter of the same shape and similar design. Similar developments did not go into series, despite very encouraging characteristics, since the Second World War at the time of the proposed implementation of the prototypes, it had already ended.

Stipa-Caproni (1932)

If anyone has not seen a flying barrel, we advise him to take a look at the brainchild of Italian engineers who, before the outbreak of World War II, created an entertaining aircraft for two pilots that used the principle of a turbofan engine to escape from the ground. Indeed, the plane was a prototype of a modern passenger airliner turbine, to which a wing was screwed on each side. This fat man had very modest dimensions, but he made do with a very modest power plant and could accelerate to a speed of 130 km/h. Unfortunately, the military did not show sufficient interest in this development and its value for the aviation industry was revealed later, when the time came to pay attention to civil aviation and the turbofan engine layout became very attractive for increasing power power plants new conquerors of the skies.

McDonnell XF-85 Goblin (1948)

The aircraft, reminiscent of a flea both in appearance and in size, but nevertheless a jet fighter, was assembled by American engineers in the late forties of the last century. Such a miniature airplane was suspended like a Christmas tree decoration under the fuselage of a large strategic bomber and remained there during the entire long flight of the giant to its destination. When there was a threat of interception of the bomber by enemy fighters, the little pilot stopped drinking coffee and took his place in the miniature cockpit along a special ladder. Next, the micro-fighter undocked, carried out a counterattack and, if successful, docked again to its home pylon. The concept at that time would have made it possible to cope with the low range of conventional escort fighters, but the small dimensions of the Goblin did not allow it to compete equally with enemy interceptors, therefore, the model could not perform its functions of effectively protecting bombers. Therefore, there could not even be any talk of any mass production of babies.

 

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