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Factory No. 22
and factory flight tests depended on them. Nikolay Nikolayevich Godovikov
was the director of flight mechanics. There were legends about his ability to
find defects in the propeller group by ear. From the nightshift duty electricians,
he demanded failure-free operation of the powerful lights where the aircraft
were parked outdoors and portable lights that could reach any place inside
the aircraft.
During the first months on the job as the duty electrician, I gradually
became steeped in the technology-worship prevalent at the factory. The shop
walls were plastered with the slogans Technology Solves Everything!,Technology
for the Masses!, Every Worker Should Be a Rationalizer and an Inventor!
and What Have You Done to Master Technology? These slogans were not just
empty appeals. They found a very lively response among the mass of young
workers. Each proposal for improving production methods was quickly
reviewed by the shop boards, and if it was accepted, it was encouraged with
tangible material goods. Shock-worker and Stakhanovite cards were introduced,
granting their holders the right to attend the best cafeteria. 13 A coupon
was issued enabling those individuals to acquire clothing that was otherwise
virtually impossible to obtain. Tangible monetary prizes were issued for especially
valuable proposals.
I soon succeeded in this field. I made several suggestions about switching from
transmissions to individual drives for the machines. Not a single machine had yet
been converted along the lines of my proposal, but I had already gained possession
of my very own shock-worker card. Soon I received an inventor’s certificate
for a photoelectric circuit breaker for electrical devices and was accepted into the
USSR Society of Inventors. Some time later, I proposed that the building cradles
be equipped with distribution sockets for plugging in drills and lights.This idea
was accepted. Then I proposed that the voltage of the portable lighting be
reduced to a safe level. The latter suggestion was far from novel, but it was not
implemented at first because 12-volt lamps were not available. Having obtained
the authority of the Komsomol committee, I assembled a delegation that set out
for Elektrozavod in Moscow. 14 We were able to demonstrate to our Komsomol
counterparts at Elektrozavod how vital their 12-volt lamp production was to the
aircraft industry. They very rapidly arranged for the release of the lamps, which
were in short supply, and step-down transformers. For this coup I was awarded a
coupon for a leather jacket. During the civil war, black leather jackets had been
in fashion among Cheka agents and Red Army commanders. 15 During the NEP
13. The Stakhanovite movement of the mid-1930s was a publicity campaign fostered by the Soviet government
to increase productivity in factories. It was named after Aleksey Stakhanov, a Soviet coal miner who, it was
claimed, used innovative work methods to greatly increase his personal productivity.
14. Elektrozavod—Electrical Factory.
15. The ChK or Cheka was the first Soviet security police organization and a predecessor to the more
famous KGB.
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