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Rockets and People
of free space in my special equipment department, prompting my neighbors in the
cramped building to joke and gripe to Bolkhovitinov and myself, “All the
resources allocated for the ‘D’ went towards alternating current, there is nothing
left over for the aircraft itself.”
the latest design of the liquid-propellant rocket engine fighter-interceptor had
been approved by Bolkhovitinov and included as “non-essential” in the schedule
of operations in April 1941.
Bolkhovitinov allocated a separate room for the small team of developers for
this preliminary design, which had been assigned the designation “BI.” Colonel
Engineer Volkov, the factory’s chief engineer, who like many other “aviation
wolves” had considered the work of Isayev and Bereznyak to be a childish
escapade, set aside a 25-square-meter room for them. 1 There they began to work
on the preliminary design. On the morning of 21 June 1941, I found Isayev and
Bereznyak in a heated argument in that “secret” room. I wanted to coordinate the
proposals for the automatic-startup control unit for the liquid-propellant rocket
engine that had been developed after discussions with Shtokolov at RNII–NII-3.
I also needed to know the latest version of the weaponry in order to design the
electric circuit. Was it four machine guns or two ShVAK guns? Bereznyak
informed me that all the machine guns needed to be thrown out and to design for
two ShVAK guns with ninety rounds each. As far as the liquid-propellant rocket
engine startup circuit, I could forget everything that I had agreed on with
Shtokolov. Dushkin’s turbopump assembly was in the most deplorable state and
there was virtually no hope of getting it developed in the coming year.
Isayev announced that he would recalculate everything at home that day and
the next day, Sunday. On Monday we would start over on a preliminary design that
would not require a turbopump assembly.We then parted company, to meet again
on Monday.
On Saturday evening I left for Udelnaya.Two-year-old Valentin felt more free
at the home of his maternal grandmother in the fresh atmosphere of the pine forest
than on the factory grounds where we lived with my parents.
The morning of Sunday, 22 June carried with it the promise of a hot, sunny day.
Katya and I were about to hike to some nearby ponds for a swim and to give
Valentin his first introduction to cold water. Just before we left, one of our neighbors
shouted,“A government announcement is going to be broadcast at noon.”We
lingered.All the inhabitants of the nearby dachas gathered by the black “dish” of the
broadcast network, the Rekord loudspeaker. Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov’s
short speech split time into two epochs:“before the war” and “during the war.”
“Our cause is just. . . .The enemy will be defeated. . . .Victory will be ours.”
These words did not carry any specific instructions as to what each citizen was to
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1. “Aviation wolves” refers to older, experienced aviators.