Petr Alekseevich Kolesov

Petr Alekseevich Kolesov (1915 - 2004) was an outstanding Russian designer and remarkable scientist who for almost a quarter of a century led the Rybinsk Design Bureau, giving his talent, knowledge, energy and strength to his native enterprise. Petr Alekseevich Kolesov was an outstanding Russian designer of aircraft engines, winner of three USSR State Prizes (1951, 1971, 1979). From 1960 to 1984 he was Chief Designer of the Rybinsk Motors Engineering Design Bureau. The whole era in the history of the Russian aircraft engine industry is associated with the name of P. A. Kolesov. Under the leadership of P. A. Kolesov, the design bureaus developed engines for the first domestic: supersonic bomber, supersonic passenger aircraft, supersonic vertical take-off and landing aircraft. Each of these engines was ahead of time and was a new step in the domestic engine industry.

Petr Alekseevich was born in the village of Yemelyanovo, Tver Region, on August 17, 1915 in a large and friendly family. He graduated from the village school and seven-year-old in the regional center, after which he moved to Moscow at the age of 16. The path to aviation began at the Glavaviaprom design courses, during which he was sent to the Central Institute of Aviation Motors. In 1932 in Moscow he graduated from the Glavaviaprom design courses. During his studies, he worked at the Central Institute of Aviation Motors as a design engineer. The position of engineering designer was the first step in more than half a century of career.

At that time, talented engineering forces of the country had been concentrated at CIAM for two years. Later general designers left these frames: Mikulin, Tumansky, Dobrynin, Klimov and many others. Petr Kolesov under the direction of Professor V.I. Kirsanov was assigned the task of developing fuel equipment for motors. Kirsanov, he considered his first great teacher, instilled in him an interest in design and experimental work.

The lack of engineering education led the young designer to the Moscow Aviation Institute, where he continued to combine education with work. In 1935 Kolesov became a student of the motor faculty of the Moscow Aviation Institute, combining studies with design activities: he participated in the creation of the gearbox for the helicopter I. P. Bratukhina, and under the guidance of Professor Kirsanov, on the basis of Plant No. 33, investigated the fuel aggregates and developed fuel equipment for the engines. In the period of graduation design he performed calculations of the control system of the piston motor M-250 development in KB-2 MAI.

After graduating from the institute, in March 1941, Peter Alekseevich was sent to Voronezh, to the experimental department of the motor factory #16. The first five years he worked as a design engineer in a group of crank mechanism and crankcase piston motors. A new Soviet M-250 engine was built under the leadership of Vladimir Dobrynin. There was a momentous meeting between two designers - 46-year-old Vladimir Alekseevich Dobrynin, who had already received government awards for the engine, which provided the world-famous flights of the crews of Chkalov and Gromov, and 26-year-old Peter Kolesov.

Production is evacuated from Voronezh to Ufa, from where, in 1943, the experimental design bureau No. 250 under the leadership of Dobrynin was transferred to Rybinsk and renamed OKB-36. For the first five years, Kolesov worked as a design engineer in a group of crank mechanism and crankcase of piston motors. The school, headed by Dobrynin, has always been innovative, striving towards an unknown future - this is the secret of the rapid growth of its students.

Kolesov recalled: "Work on these motors has become a school for many designers: It gave us the opportunity to become specialists of the highest class." The whole life of P. A. Kolesov took place against the background of those years: war, evacuation and hard work on the instructions of the Motherland. In 1943, the OKB-250, where Kolesov worked, was transferred from Ufa to Rybinsk to Plant No. 36 (now NPO Saturn) and renamed OKB-36.

In 1946, Petr Alekseevich Kolesov was appointed lead designer for the development of the VD-4K combined piston motor for the Tu-85 strategic bomber. This was the pinnacle of the development of the engine for piston aircraft. The work was complicated by the application for the first time in world practice of three pulse turbines and a turbocharger with an adjustable jet nozzle, as well as short periods allowed to create a unique motor. The situation was aggravated by the issuance of tasks to two design bureaus at once: the Rybinsk and the Perm. The winner received the right to install the engines on long-range strategic bombers Tu-85. The competition was won: the only supplier of engines for the Tu-85 aircraft was Rybinsk KB. It was a victory and lead designer Peter Kolesov, who received the State Prize for this. In 1951, among other designers for the creation of the VD-4K, Kolesov was awarded the State Prize of the first degree.

Since 1952, OKB-36 has been working on turbojet engines. All further design activities of Peter Alekseevich was devoted to this topic. Then he was full of strength and creative energy. In April 1952, the government obliged the Rybinsk designers to create a VD-5 turbojet engine for a subsonic strategic bomber of the Design Bureau V. M. Myasishchev. Take-off thrust was set one and a half times more than the thrust of the most powerful AM-3 domestic engine in the world at that time. All work was taken less than two years. But in February 1953, the finishing up began. Pyotr Alekseevich was the leading designer of the TRD VD-7B, TRDF VD-7M and RD-7M-2 engines, which were put into mass production and adopted by the Air Force. Peter Alekseevich was the leading designer of the engine VD-7B.

In 1956, he headed the design department, and in 1959 he was appointed deputy chief designer. After the retirement of V.A. Dobrynin in 1961, Kolesov was appointed chief designer of the Rybinsk Engine Design Bureau, which he managed for almost a quarter of a century.

During this period, work was under way on the creation of the RD-7M2 engine, intended for the first Russian supersonic rocket carrier. It was followed by: RD36-41 engine - for the T-4; RD36-51A and RD-36-51 - for the first domestic supersonic passenger aircraft Tu-144D, RD-36-51V - for the first domestic supersonic aircraft M-17 (Stratosphere), a family of lifting and booster engines.

Each engine was ahead of its time and was a new step in the domestic engine-building industry. In the team, which led Kolesov, always reigned the atmosphere of cohesion and creativity, which was the key to success. Petr Alekseevich Kolesov was the author of 43 inventions and a number of scientific works. The results of the activities of Peter Alekseevich Kolesov are appreciated. He was awarded the USSR State Prize three times, he was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and numerous medals. In 1984, Kolesov retired, but until 1995, he continued to work as a lead designer.

Yury Shmotin, general designer of NPO Saturn, said: “For twenty-four years, Petr Alekseevich Kolesov was responsible for the fate of the Rybinsk design bureau of the motor-engineering industry. Under his leadership, the design bureaus developed engines for the first domestic: supersonic bomber, supersonic passenger aircraft, supersonic vertical take-off and landing aircraft. Each of these engines was ahead of its time and was a new step in the domestic engine-building industry. And today, the design service of the company uses the groundwork created on the initiative, under the guidance and with the active participation of Peter Alekseevich Kolesov.”

The talent of the head and designer Kolesov was harmoniously combined with extraordinary personal courage - he went his own way, not repeating anyone, steadfastly experienced failures and did not boast successes. He was always was simple and sustained. The whole life of Peter Alekseevich Kolesov was associated with aviation, and he said his word in the history of the development of aviation technology, left his unique mark.