P.I.Baranov - 1932-33 - General Directorate of Aviation Industry
Since January 1932 Baranov was deputy Commissar of Heavy Industry of the USSR and General Directorate of Aviation Industry. Why was Baranov sent to the Aviation Ministry? According to one of the versions, he was defended by Ordzhonikidze, who needed an intelligent assistant in the complex transformations that he was to carry out. It is possible that Stalin himself liked the idea of putting at the head of the aviation industry a person who had been working for a long time as its main customer, and therefore knew the industry well. Most likely, the government required a disciplined military in this crucial position.
In the Soviet country began a new era. By 1928, the production of aircraft in the USSR was able to bring up to 644 units, and motors - up to 614 units. It was very little compared with the release of aircraft in leading countries. In England in 1928, 1,400 aircraft and 3,000 engines were produced, in France, 3,000 and 5,500, respectively, in the USA, 4,760 and 3,500. But what to say, even in Germany, which was forbidden to have military aircraft, 500 aircraft and 900 engines were produced. We were inferior not only in quantity but also in quality. In fact, the Soviet Air Force was not operational, since 85% consisted of reconnaissance aircraft. Most of the engines and aircraft were licensed copies of foreign technology or purchased abroad, not the most modern of its models.
In the meantime, the international situation took shape in such a way that the prospect of the world proletarian revolution finally came to naught, but the new world war began to look almost inevitable, and it was necessary to prepare for it. Slogans here helped a little. Tanks and airplanes were needed, and the USSR began to transfer its economy to war rails. In February 1931, Stalin declared: “We are 50–100 years behind the advanced countries and must run this distance in 10 years, otherwise they will crush us.”
Baranov’s transition to a new position was accomplished at a critical moment for the aviation industry. Until 1932, the country's economy was ruled by the Higher Council of National Economy (VSNH), which was something like the current Ministry of Industry and Trade, which oversees the sphere of activity in which 47 ministries were engaged in the USSR. This system was quite liberal, allowing some autonomy of enterprises. VSNH performed regulatory functions, set targets, but did not directly intervene in the work of enterprises. Factories worked on the principles of cost accounting and were united in trusts. In the early 1930s, the country's leadership decided that such a system could not act effectively in the new environment.
On January 5, 1932, instead of the Supreme Economic Council, three people's commissariats appeared, that is, the ministries of the heavy, light and timber industries. Accordingly, the All-Union Aviation Association (HLW), which united enterprises of the aviation industry (such as the current United Aircraft Building Corporation), has become a purely budgetary General Directorate of the aviation industry (SUAI). Baranov, who began his civil career as a head of HLW, in the course of the reform, became the head of the GUAP in the status of Deputy People's Commissar of Heavy Industry GK Ordzhonikidze, that is, in fact - the first minister of the Soviet aviation industry.
Interrupted flight
On September 5, 1933, Baranov’s life was cut short in a plane crash that the Soviet press called "monstrous and ridiculous." However, she was no more ridiculous than any other accidental loss of life. Peter Baranov violated the ban on flights that existed for responsible workers of the Soviet state. Moreover, it is possible that it was Baranov who insisted on departing under adverse weather conditions. But the risk attitude of people at that time was completely different. Here is an example of an air incident that quite clearly characterizes the level of flight safety of those years.
In 1929, the newest at that time ANT-9 with Baranov, Tupolev and two other passengers on board made a flight from Moscow to Kiev. Conducted aircraft M.M. Gromov. In the area of the Dnieper began a heavy rain, the wind rose. Suddenly, the speed of the plane began to fall. Gromov managed to make out a suitable site and land. It turned out that for some unknown reason, the ends of the wooden screws were not covered with copper cladding and in the rain the blades lost their shape and were degraded. Tupolev climbed onto the shoulders of one of his comrades and cut off the rags from the screws, then measured the field and said that you can take off if you drain some of the fuel and land one person. It is characteristic that neither Tupolev, nor Baranov used the opportunity to refuse the risky journey. Baranov ordered his subordinate to remain on earth.
And here is another incident that MM describes. Gromov: “At the very beginning of the flight, Baranov always read newspapers, and then went to bed. So it was this time. Flying great. I have already seen the airfield, which remained about four kilometers. And suddenly, all three motors suddenly stopped. I chose a strip (there was a landfill below us) and sat down safely. ” Incidentally, the aviation enthusiast poet Mikhail Koltsov was on board with Baranov. If it were not for the skill of Gromov, for both this flight could be the last.
It was dangerous to fly in those years, and Baranov was well aware of the high accident rate in aviation. This was his main headache in the post of Chief of the Air Force. In notebooks Peter Ionovich preserved notes for each accident. He always felt bad about them: “Every obituary can be started like this:“ The pilot of the air force, commanded by PI Baranov, died ... ”. For all that, he himself flew a lot, during the inspections he spent whole days in the sky with the pilots. Probably the sense of danger was dulled. This is evidenced by the fact that on the fateful flight he took with him a wife who wanted to see the children who were vacationing in the Crimea.
The R-6L aircraft, on which Peter Baranov went on the last flight, was an outdated R-6 reconnaissance aircraft (ANT-7) converted into a limousine with a cabin of eight seats. The project to create the R-6L Baranov actively supported, which probably also played a role in his determination to certainly rise to the sky. The plane was still on trial. There was no equipment for flying in bad weather conditions. In addition to P.I. Baranov and his wife, the head of the Main Directorate of Civil Air Fleet A.Z. Holtzman, his deputy A.V. Petrov-Sergeev, an employee of Gosplan V.A. Zarzar and director of the largest in Europe aircraft factory number 22, on which the R-6L, S.P. Hunchbacks. Piloted car chief pilot Glavaviaproma I.M. Dorfman, flight mechanic - N.E. Carpenters.
Due to bad weather, all flights on that day were canceled. However, according to the weather reports, it was clear behind Kursk, and Baranov was in a hurry to catch the glider competitions in Feodosia. At 9 am, the R-6L flew out, and after 20 minutes in the area of Loposnya station (now Chekhov) hooked up the chassis wire with a radio aerial antenna stretched high on the poles, lost speed, hit the left wing on the top of the tree and hit the ground. All aboard were killed. In the Column Hall of the House of Unions of the capital of the USSR, seven red-covered coffins stood closed.
The accident investigation commission came to the conclusion that the pilot had to fly below the edge of the clouds so as not to lose orientation, since the plane was not equipped with devices for blind flight. The last point of the commission’s conclusion was: “The cause of the catastrophe was extremely difficult meteorological conditions under which the departure of an aircraft not prepared for a blind flight was unacceptable.”
September 9, 1933, an urn with the ashes of PI Baranova was buried in the Kremlin wall on Red Square. Enterprises, streets, educational institutions, sports clubs in different cities were named in his honor, including the name of Baranov, which is the Omsk Motor-Building Association (a branch of Salyut Gas Turbine Construction Scientific and Production Center JSC).
A.N. Tupolev, who recalled the situation after the death of Peter Ionovich, testifies about the role of Baranov’s personality in the history of Russian aviation: “It was difficult, very difficult. I remember that M. M. Kaganovich and I came to one of the big combines that had been created under Peter Ionovich. More than half of the construction was mothballed. Peter Ionovich decided to create this plant from a number of plants: aviation, engine, aggregate and plant some details. After the death of Peter Ionovich, the construction of most of them was not started.” Alexander Mikulin, the creator of the M-34 engine, one of the landmark projects in the history of domestic aviation, spoke even shorter: “The dear Baranov opened the road for my motor”.
The resonant catastrophe, as a result of which the aviation industry and civil aviation lost their leaders, led to the reorganization of the air service. After it, the practice of annual verification of flight crew qualifications was introduced in the USSR; from now on, all passenger aircraft were equipped with instrument flight equipment. The transportation of people on untested aircraft was prohibited; navigation, meteorological and navigator services were created. All high-rise objects began to provide signal lights. Today, they light up every night, including as if in memory of Peter Ionovich Baranov.
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