Andrey Tupolev 1936-37 - Chief Engineer
Andrey Nikolayevich was a man of national level. People's Commissar for Heavy Engineering Industry Sergo Ordzhonikidze noticed such his quality of approaching to the matter and offered him a position of the Aircraft Industry General Director First Deputy and his chief engineer, actually technical director of the sector. And he was right in his choice. Initiated by Tupolev modernization of old aviation and engine factories and building of new ones with the usage of Western aviation technologies, establishment of the design bureau and re-equipment of factories, unprecedented aeronautics development gave a powerful impetus to the implementation of the slogan of those days: “Catch up and outdo” Western aviation industry. All this was done with extreme economy of public funds.
With the passage of time, Ordzhonikidze made it clear that it was necessary to introduce into the GUAP system a senior specialist with extraordinary thinking who is not indifferent to the fate of aviation. And he decided to use the engineering and organizational skills of Tupolev in full, across the industry. On January 5, 1936, by the order of the NKTP, Tupolev was appointed First Deputy Head and Chief Engineer of the GUAP, with the dismissal of the Deputy Head of TsAGI, but leaving the Chief Designer and the immediate head of the TsAGI experimental aircraft.
During the period from January 5, 1936 to October 21, 1937, in just a year and nine months, a lot was done. The construction of the mothballed complexes was resumed, work on the construction of new ones was organized. The factories were reconstructed, and work was under way to create a new TsAGI. “It was difficult, very difficult. I remember that M. M. Kaganovich and I came to one of the large plants that were created under Peter Ionovich [Baranov]. More than half of the construction was suspended. Peter Ionovich decided to create this factory from a number of plants: aviation, engine, aggregate and some details of the plant. After the death of Peter Ionovich [Baranov], the construction of most of them was not started," Tupolev later recalled.
The philosophical concept of A.N. Tupolev was extremely clear: “The country needs planes like black bread. You can offer pralines, cakes, etc., but there’s no need, there are no ingredients from which they are made". He believed that: "Under the conditions of the USSR, dwarf design bureaus, even if headed by talented designers, cannot achieve much, we need powerful organizations like KOSOS, of which only two, maximum three." In those years, he believed that those could be strong bureaus created around Grigorovich and Polikarpov.
For 10 years from 1927 to 1937, the Tupolev bureau created 10 large-scale machines for the country that meet the requirements of the Air Force and Civil Air Fleet, these are Il-4, R-3, R-7, TB-1, TV-ZSB, RD (ANT-25), TB-7 (ANT-42), ANT-9 , ANT-14 . During the same years N.N. Polikarpov released - I-5, U-2, R-5 and I-16, that is, five types, Ilushin Design Bureau IL-2 and IL-4, that is, two types, and Bartini - EP-2, that is, one. During the same years Kocherigin, Golubkov, Itskovich, Moskalev, Florov, Borovkov, Gribovsky , Tsybin , Pashenin , Grokhovsky, Shcherbakov, Chachovnikov, Belyaev, Tairov, Rafaelyants, Zhonshay, Kozlov, Nurov, Ermolaev, Tolstoy, Viskovat, Cheranovsky, Nevdachin, Yakovlev - there were, of course, more of them, - each of which had its own design bureau, did not give the Air Force a single one. Apparently, many of these people, talented designers, in large design bureaus could be used more productively. Do not forget the economic side of the matter, the country had little money, and how much the maintenance of all these bureaus cost.
It would be naive to depict A.N. Tupolev as Tolstoyan. Large talent, regardless of the scope of its activities, always and everywhere oppressed the less capable. This is usually manifested from the first grade of school. However, it should be attributed to Tupolev that the existence of many dwarf bureaus took place at the time when he combined in himself not only the head of the design department of the sector of experimental aircraft (COSOC) of TsAGI, but also the chief engineer of the Main Administration of the Aviation Industry [GUAP].
At that time, he had the power to destroy any such microbureau with one stroke of the pen. He did not do this. The right to be critical of the activities of others is the inalienable right of everyone. Most recognized this, however, some did not want to put up with it. One of them could be A.S. Yakovlev. It would be wrong to exclude the opportunities opened up from its proximity to the “luminaries”. This idea is also suggested by some pages of his book, The Purpose of Life. Anyway, A.S.Yakovlev repeatedly showed hostility to A.N.Tupolev.
Andrey Nikolaevich Tupolev was full of creative ideas. His fame stepped out of the country. A leader by nature, an engineer from God, besides, and with a brilliant education, received in IMTU, he managed to unite talented engineers and designers in his design bureau. He was respected by the workers, as he could show how to handle a hammer and a needle file, a plane and a surface gauge. He was respected by engineers for the ability not only to understand their vision of the design they were developing, but also to help, if necessary, in solving a complex issue. Scientists of various specialties communicated with him with pleasure and as an engineer of the broadest outlook, and as a person who did not hesitate to ask their advice if he did not know anything or did not fully understand. But Andrey Tupolev did not work for long as the Lead Engineer of the Soviet aircraft building industry.
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