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Back in Moscow
an order was issued to convert NII-3 into NII-1, and soon afterward I was
“removed” from Khimki and transferred to Likhobory, to the post of avionics
department chief. It was a shame to part with my cozy special equipment department
at Factory No. 293 and the work at combat airfields. In Khimki, I left behind
the branch under Roman Popov developing the ROKS system and the group
expanded by Isayev that was servicing measurement equipment and electrical ignition
systems. 7
In 1944, Pobedonostsev helped me establish good relationships with the NII-3
staff. He first introduced me to Tikhonravov, Artemyev, and to the few original
creators of the Katyusha still remaining at the institute. They opened up for me
certain pages of the pre-history of our rocket technology. But the names of
Korolev and Glushko were still not mentioned at NII-1 during this time.
At NII-1, during my first year of activity, I successfully combined the avionics
teams of Factory No. 293 and NII-3. My new department received two men who
are now firmly ensconced in the history of our great rocket technology and
cosmonautics. Nikolay Pilyugin, who had worked on instruments for autopilots,
transferred from LII to NII-1 immediately after it was formed. 8 Leonid Voskresenskiy
from the Nitrogen Institute transferred to NII-3 even before it was reorganized.
At the beginning of the war, he developed anti-tank incendiary grenades at
the Nitrogen Institute. Upon coming to NII-3, Voskresenskiy began work on
pneumohydraulic systems for the liquid-propellant rocket engine. 9
One of the first creative achievements of the new department was developing
a unified avionics system for liquid-propellant rocket engines for aircraft. After
flying off to Germany in April 1945, I found out that Voskresenskiy and I had been
awarded combat Orders of the Red Star for this work.
The medals were presented to us in the Kremlin only after our return from
Germany in 1947. Immediately after receiving them, we headed to Tverskaya
Street—in those days Gorky Street—to the Aragvi restaurant.Voskresenskiy went
up to the director and asked whether he knew Comrade Chertok, who had just
been at the Kremlin.The restaurant director was very sorry that he did not know
him but was happy to make his acquaintance. After that introduction, we were
afforded the honor of having a banquet set up for us in a separate dining hall. I
also recall this evening because it seems it was the last time that all of us who had
just returned from Germany—Korolev, Pobedonostsev, Tikhonravov, Pilyugin,
7. In February 1944, the former NII-3 (at Likhobory) was completely reorganized.The institute was briefly
known as NIRA before becoming NII-1. As part of this reorganization, Bolkhovitinov’s design bureau, the
OKB-293 (at Khimki) where Chertok worked, was attached to NII-1 as its Branch No. 1.This 1944 reorganization
of NII-3 into NII-1 focused the resources of the Soviet aviation industry toward the development of jet
and rocket engines.
8. Nikolay Alekseyevich Pilyugin (1908-1982) later became an Academician and chief designer of Soviet
missile guidance systems.
9. Leonid Aleksandrovich Voskresenskiy (1913-1965) later became deputy chief designer under Sergey
Korolev at OKB-1.
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