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In the Bolkhovitinov Design Bureau and KOSTR
with electrical equipment in industrial shops, and they considered the airplane a
simple task. Semyon Gavrilovich Chizhikov, a former model maker at a foundry,
graduated from Moscow Aviation Institute. He fearlessly designed the instrument
panels and installation of the onboard equipment. I took on the task of developing
the electrical system diagrams for the weapons and ignition, and issuing drawings
for all the cable assemblies. Zhenya Ibershteyn proved to be indispensable for
acquiring the documentation for all purchased instruments and equipment. We
developed requirements for the new aircraft and made business contacts with the
Moscow factories Lepse,Aviapribor, and Elektrosvet; with the Air Force Academy
Department of Special Equipment; with the Teplopribor and Elektropribor factories
in Leningrad; and with radio factories in Moscow and Gorky.
Right from the start, I became so immersed in this gripping, interesting work
that I could barely tear myself away to Shchelkovo, where they were conferring
about the testing of my electronic bomb-release device.The military testers dampened
my enthusiasm with their findings.After listing the merits and shortcomings,
they recommended that instead of a single central device for heavy bombers,
several simpler, local devices should be developed for each caliber of bomb. In this
vein, they hinted that it would soon be time to withdraw the TB-3 from service,
and that there was still time to develop new heavy aircraft.
In Leningrad at the Elektropribor Factory, I first saw the American electrical
sight produced by Sperry, as well as Elektropribor’s own development: the vector
sight. We agreed to develop the vector sight, combining it with an effector—
an electronic bomb release. A young engineer from Elektropribor, Sergey
Farmakovskiy, persuaded me to do this. Fifty years later, I would often meet with
Doctor of Technical Science, Professor Sergey Fedorovich Farmakovskiy. We
directed regular meetings with scientists at the Academy of Sciences to discuss
problems of navigation and motion control, and we had even more scientific interests
in common at that time than in the years of our youth.
after returning to the bolkhovitinov kb at Fili after a business trip, I would
fall into a regime of endless workdays with no days off.A struggle was going on, not
only over the speed of the future aircraft, but also over the speed of its creation.
Three military engineers first class comprised the KB’s nerve center—
Bolkhovitinov, Shishmarev, and Kuritskes. It was risky for Bolkhovitinov, who was
named chief designer, to take on the production of a heavy aircraft that would compete
with Tupolev’s ANT-6 without having the industrial experience of an aircraft builder
under his belt. His striving for innovation was manifest particularly in the unrealized
project of a superheavy aircraft that would be able to deploy tanks. 2 Bolkhovitinov was
absolutely decent, technically erudite, and competent in design problems.
2. Author’s note: They attempted to develop such an aircraft at the Air Force Academy without factory
participation.
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