|
| |
1923 – 1933
The events that took place in Petrograd, former Saint Petersburg, in November 1917, had a long-standing influence over the future of our country, our history, economics, political situation and industrial development. The small party of Bolsheviks headed by Vladimir Lenin successfully overthrew the Provisional Government, and in the result of the revolutionary coup seized the power and announced their intention to create an unheard of proletarian state and a new society. The initial triumph of the Bolshevik Revolution did not mean that the entire population supported the revolutionaries and the goals they proclaimed. Civil war immediately followed while the Great War started in 1914 was still in full swing. The armed confrontation lasted six years and took millions of human lives. Two terrible wars not only resulted in the tremendous decrease of the population but also crossed out the former Russian Empire, the Soviet Republic at that time, from the list of progressive industrial countries. In 1923 the gross value of agricultural output constituted less than a half of a pre-war level while the industry was working at about 9-25% of the former capacity. The aircraft manufacturing industry was downgraded to zero.
In order to overcome the economic crisis, the new regime had to gain the political stability, secure a financial system and instate the laws that regulated the production. The sorry state of the transportation system remained one of the most important problems of the Soviet Union whereas for such a vast country the reliable transportation was the basis of the normal economic development. Soviet Government considered necessary to give the utmost attention to the immediate reconstruction of ground and sea transportation, and decide to recover the aircraft manufacturing industry.
On March 1923 in Kharkov, which was the capital of Ukraine at that time, the first Ukrainian air company called Ukrvozdoukhput' (Ukrainian Air Way) was established. 51% of this shareholding company belonged to the state. The construction of the new Kharkov airport began at the same time. The airport was located in the district of Sokolniki, next to the city raceway, where the builders chose a flat area for a first runway of the new airport. Next to the airport the builders started the construction of hangars, aircraft repairing workshops and administrative buildings. Meanwhile the workers winterized the garage nearby, equipped it with two lathe machines and a drilling machine, and started to work. In the spring of 1924 the construction, that had been stopped because of the extremely cold winter, was resumed. By the end of May the new buildings were completed. Aircraft manufacturing workshops were named OAVUK (Aviation and Aeronautics Society of Ukraine and Crimea) and went to work, which was mainly servicing of Ukrainian Air Way airplanes.
The first passenger routes Kharkov-Poltava-Kiev and Kharkov-Kirovograd-Odessa were opened on May 25, 1924. In four months the Ukrainian Air Way company transported 760 passengers, 137 kilograms of mail and 519 kilograms of cargo. By that time the new economic policy had achieved the first results: the economy was slowly recovering, the industry was partly reconstructed, and the overall economic life of Ukraine was giving first signs of revival. By 1926 Kharkov aircraft manufacturing workshops had become quite a large company for that time and employed a significant number of workers. In September 1924 there were 17 of them, in March 1925 - 50, and a year later there were 92 workers and 15 persons of engineering and managing personnel. The production capacities had increased enabling the team to start the production of aircraft along with repairs and servicing.
The management of Ukrainian Air Way considered several options of setting up aircraft manufacturing in Kharkov. Among them were assembling airplanes of German-made parts (Claude Dornier, the German aircraft designer, even suggested the transfer of the full-cycle production of the new aircraft, "VAL", one of the most advanced world aircraft at that time, to Kharkov), and inviting to Kharkov aircraft designers to create an own design bureau (Russian aircraft designer, D. P. Grigorovich, had designed and built the new model of aircraft especially for Ukrainian Air Way). But the final decision was made in favor of the young designer Konstantin Kalinin, whose aircraft was highly appraised by the Ukrainian experts.
Konstantin Kalinin, the former pilot of the World War I, after the Civil War had become a production manager at Kiev aircraft repairing factory. A dedicated aviation enthusiast, he quickly gathered a group of aviation fans, and together they built a new aircraft K-1 that made its first flight in 1923. In autumn of the same year K-1 flew to Moscow, and on its way made a stop in Kharkov where it was demonstrated to Ukrainian Air Way company management. In Moscow K-1 had successfully completed the state testing program and had become the first Soviet airplane recommended for serial production. Kalinin had accepted the offer of Ukrainian Air Way management to move to Kharkov, and soon, with a small group of aviation lovers who helped him to build his first aircraft in Kiev, formed a small design bureau in Kharkov and proceeded to redesign the model for mass production.
The aircraft designers strived to create a universal and inexpensive model that would accommodate three passengers and two members of crew. Apart from the basic passenger model, they also designed ambulance and aerial surveying versions. These airplanes could fly at 165 km/h speed, and carried enough fuel for 6 hours of flight. This redesigned model became known as K-2.
In May 1925 the Command of Air Forces of the Red Army issued the permission to Konstantin Kalinin to found an aircraft manufacturing company in Kharkov. However, the mass production of K-2 was not possible at that time. Aircraft manufacturing workshops were overloaded with aircraft servicing and repairs orders as they had never been before. In addition to the routine procedures of technical support and maintenance of the airplanes operated by Ukrainian Air Way company the workers also carried out complete overhaul of foreign-made airplanes. This tension, as well as the intensive working schedule of aircraft manufacturing workshops, resulted in the conflict between Kalinin and Ukrainian Air Way management: it is turned out that following the normal process of work approved by UAW made impossible manufacturing new airplanes designed by Kalinin. The production capacities still remained very modest, and the lack of technical personnel also complicated Kalinin's attempts of implementing new technologies and introducing new products.
On September 17, 1926 the workers read the announcement on the bulletin board next to the workshop: "Due to the significant expansion of the production activities, beginning of the new aircraft construction, and the increase of the number of large orders, the workshops of Ukrainian Air Way company will be restructured and from this day on will become Aircraft Manufacturing Company named after the Council of People's Commissars of Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic". Thus, this date, September 17, 1926, has become the date of birth for Kharkov State Aircraft Manufacturing Company. Konstantin Kalinin was appointed a director general and a chief designer of the newly created aircraft manufacturing enterprise.
Establishing aircraft manufacturing industry in Kharkov did not go easy: there were not enough qualified personnel, production areas, materials and financing. Nevertheless, K-2 was completed, successfully tested and had flown 129 hours during the flight season of 1927 without any accidents and problems. The aircraft was then slightly modified according to test pilots' suggestions: the manufacturers sheathed the front part of the fuselage with duralumin, installed the additional fuel tank and made major changes to the construction of the keel and steering system.
According to the production schedule for 1928, aircraft manufacturing company was to produce 8 new airplanes. The company records of that period mentioned K-3 and K-4, which means that the design bureau further improved the basic model and created new advanced modifications of it. For the first time in history of Kharkov aircraft manufacturing company the management decided not to build airplanes one by one but start a simultaneous production of aircraft by four units at the same time. The period of preparation took longer but this production method promised savings of time and money in the future.
In autumn 1928 Kharkov aircraft manufacturers participated in the prestigious international aircraft exhibition for the first time. On October 8, 1928 III International Aircraft Exhibition was opened in Berlin, and the company introduced "completely Soviet" airplane K-4 (K-4 was equipped with BMW engine which was replaced with the Soviet M-6 of 300 HP right before the exhibit). The jury awarded K-4 with a gold medal of the exhibition.
Meanwhile the production facilities expanded, the number of employees increased, and the production output has grown by 833% as compared to 1927 rate. The demand for civil aircraft in the Soviet Union increased accordingly. That same year the governmental committee decided that mass production of 5-6-seaters with a cruising speed of 160-180 km/h was a state necessity and sent a request to Kharkov aircraft manufacturing company to create a new aircraft with improved technical characteristics. By that time Kharkov design bureau had already started the work on K-5, and the production of the first experimental prototypes was scheduled for spring 1929.
In 1929 the aircraft manufacturing company was producing K-4 airplanes and getting ready to set up a production of the new model. The first K-5 were built quickly but there were no engines to equip them with, and in autumn 1929, as soon as the engines were received, workers mounted the power units, and K-5 made its first flight. It happened on November 6, 1929.
On January 1, 1930 Kharkov aircraft manufacturing company was once again restructured by order of government. No longer a division of Ukrainian Air Way company, it was released to control of Ukrainian Air Trust. After a number of other organizational and structural changes that followed, Kharkov aircraft manufacturing company (HAZ) was switched to "centralized" state financing. Almost instantly it became obvious that the state does not have sufficient funds to finance aircraft manufacturing in Kharkov: even the largely understated amounts that the company requested in order to exist, were never paid on time. Meanwhile the government demanded from HAZ to expand the production and increase the output. It is a mystery what HAZ workers saved on, but nevertheless in 1930 they started to build new workshops. The problem of qualified personnel also remained very acute. The engineers, precious for HAZ at all times, were mostly graduates of Aviation Department of Technological Institute. Since 1930 HAZ began to employ Kharkov engineers raised and educated locally - Kharkov Aviation Institute started its glorious way in science and students' training. The company also proceeded to take care of housing and social problems of the workers, and 1930 has become the year of residential building activity.
In summer 1930 the first prototype of K-5 with the new engine M-15 had completed the state testing program. During the trial flights test pilots and engineers determined that the maximum speed of K-5 with 1,600 kg of payload was 198 km/h. With the payload decreased by 200 kg, the airplane demonstrated a much better climbing speed, controllability, and take-off and landing characteristics. K-5 with 1,400 kg of payload required only 100 m to take off and 140 m to land. K-5 was recommended for mass production, and by the end of the year HAZ produced 25 new airplanes that went into operation all over the Soviet Union.
The weak point of Soviet airplanes including K-5 was, and remained, their power unit. The engines produced at that time were neither reliable nor durable, and during 1931 HAZ continued its attempts to improve the situation. The work went in two different directions at the same time: M-15 engine was modified and updated, and K-5 airplane was redesigned and adjusted for the new engine M-22. Kharkov aircraft manufacturers had succeeded in both: after they made numerous changes to the construction of M-15, K-5 significantly improved its flying performance and became virtually infallible. By the end of 1932 HAZ discontinued the production of K-5M-15 and fully switched to the mass production of K-5M-22.
From 1930 to 1934 HAZ manufactured the total of 288 K-5 airplanes of different modifications. Up to 1941 these aircraft were operated all over the USSR and actually constituted the base of the passenger aviation of this large country. This highly reliable and successful model attracted the attention of the Soviet Army command, and in 1931 aircraft manufacturers made an attempt to convert K-5 into a bomber aircraft. However, the customers were not satisfied with the results and made a decision to use K-5s as ambulance and transport aircraft in case of war.
In the end of 1933 the Board of the Aircraft Industry Administration decided that HAZ was to stop manufacturing K-5 and switch in 1934 to manufacturing military-oriented products.
By that time Kharkov design bureau and HAZ had designed and manufactured quite of few aircraft modifications: airmail carrier K-6, multi-purpose "executive" K-9 (the cheap model that was planned to be used for communication between the regional and county centers and distant collective farms), the more advanced models K-10 and K-11 (the work on the latter was stopped when it was still on paper). In 1932 HAZ included in the production schedule the new aircraft, VS-2, also called K-12. It was a military airplane that was supposed to barrage the front line sky for a long time, fly with 250 km/h speed at 3,000 m altitude, have at least 350 km action radius, and carry 300 kg of bomb load.
Kharkov designers had also created a "flying wing" - a tailless airplane without a traditional empennage. There was absolutely no theoretical basis for such airplane at that time, and Kharkov manufacturers built a wooden prototype in 1:2 proportion. The prototype was successfully tested by HAZ specialists: However, the full-size K-12 aircraft was built in Voronezh, after Kalinin's design bureau was transferred to that city from Kharkov.
In 1933 Kharkov aircraft manufacturers also worked on the bomber K-13 and the passenger aircraft K-14. The flying characteristics of these aircraft turned out to be far from excellent, the interest to them had declined, and these projects were cancelled. Here we should probably also mention another aircraft, HAI-1, even though it was designed by Kharkov Aviation Institute students separately from Kalinin's design bureau and built by HAZ aviation enthusiasts. Back in the thirties the aircraft speed was increasing from one modification to another steadily but very slowly (thus, from 1929 to 1931 it had increased only by 10 km/h, from 190 to 200 km/h). Young Kharkov engineer I. Neman, who was at that time a head of one of Kharkov Aviation Institute departments, was genuinely interested in solving this problem and substantially increasing the aircraft speed. He gathered a group of talented aviation students and set about designing a new aircraft that would fly faster than any other aircraft of that time. The Neman's group had designed HAI-1, a low-wing monoplane with a cantilevered wing and a retractable landing gear, an absolute technical innovation for that time. HAZ workers decided to build HAI-1 without any financial compensation, in their free time. The airplane was built within an absolutely record-breaking period of 180 days. The first trial flight of HAI-1 took place in October 1932, and in January 1933 the pilot had first retracted the landing gear in flight increasing the speed by 40 km/h. On January 30 the aircraft flew with 292 km/h speed which had brought it to the first place in Europe and second in the world among the speedy passenger airplanes. In spring 1933 this airplane went into production even though the state tests were not over yet.
And there is another quite unique project that is worth specific mentioning. It is the story of K-7, which chronologically fits into this same period and yet should be mentioned separately because of the significance of the events associated with it. Back in those years building of giant airplanes had become the aviation manufacturing priority, and Kharkov aircraft manufacturers did not stand aside. In 1929 Kalinin's design bureau completed the design project of the four-motored passenger aircraft K-7, powered by BMW engines of 1000 hp each. The K-7 was a gigantic elliptical wing of the thick profile with the impressive wingspan of 53 meters and wing area of 452 square meters. The passenger modification of K-7 was intended for carrying 128 passengers and claimed the flying range of 5,000 km. The design bureau had also planned to build a VIP configuration of K-7 that featured eight luxurious compartments for eight sleeping berths each, with a panorama windows on the floor, and a comfortable clubroom with couches, galley, bar and radio compartment in the center wing section. The estimated speed and carrying capacity of K-7 kindled the interest of high-ranked military command: as a strategic bomber, K-7 could carry up to 10,000 kg of bombs, its size allowed to install cannons, and the overall layout had made the airplane exceptionally comfortable and safe "flying fortress". The troop-carrying modification of K-7 provided for transporting 112 fully equipped paratroopers.
Problems of construction were many, and in process of building the prototype of the giant K-7 Kharkov design bureau and HAZ encountered them all the time. The design constantly required improvements, the production of materials that the aircraft was built of had just started, the size of the aircraft was way too big for existing manufacturing areas, and welding presented a great problem as well. And yet, these problems were successfully overcome, and having worked for thousands of exhausting hours, Kharkov aircraft manufacturers had created a giant that boggled the imagination. On August 8, 1933 the aircraft was taxied to the runway. On August 19 K-7 made its first flight at the altitude of 5 meters that lasted just a few seconds. Each time test pilots revealed serious problems, vibrations of aircraft parts, etc., and designers and manufacturers made more and more changes to the construction. Thus, the tail of the aircraft was redesigned in just a few days, stabilizers were moved closer to controls, aircraft parts were urgently strengthened.
At 6 a.m. on August 21, 1933 seven crew members took their positions inside K-7. Kalinin himself occupied the seat of the co-pilot. After a few taxis the aircraft smoothly took off. Soon after that the control cable of the servo-assisted steering gear had broken, but the pilot successfully made a circle over Kharkov and landed on the factory airfield.
Three weeks later, after a number of improvements had been made to the aircraft construction, test flights resumed. The second flight took place on September 22, 1933, and the official HAZ flight testing program began. Test flights rarely went without problems and each time revealed more defects that were to be fixed.
The eleventh flight of K-7 turned out to its last one. On November 21, 1933 the aircraft was to be tested again before going to Moscow, and the test pilot got the assignment to measure the maximum speed of the aircraft for the second time (the speed had already been measured the day before but the ground team made a mistake that had cast doubt upon the measurement results). According to the flight plan, K-7 was supposed to take off, fly to the south west of Kharkov (Rogan' district), approach the "measuring kilometer" at 1,000 m altitude, then lower to 100 m and pass the speed base of 1,250 m three times at the maximum speed. At the third run the aircraft approached the "ruler", descended and suddenly dived and hit the ground killing fifteen people of twenty that it had taken on board. The fire started instantly finishing off the aircraft wreck.
Later on the government commission of the most prominent aviation experts summoned for investigating the cause of this catastrophe had come to the conclusion that K-7 crashed because of the deformation of aircraft empennage caused by flatter. At that time there was no solution to that problem, and aviators could not fight the flatter, but considering the success of the previous test flights, the government decided to build two more aircraft of this type. However, considerable changes in the life of Kalinin's design bureau and Kharkov aircraft manufacturing company had already begun to take place, and after the design bureau had been transferred to Voronezh, the construction of the new K-7 was moved there as well. Kharkov aircraft manufacturing company was renamed into "Factory 135" which obviously meant switching to the production of military equipment. The crash of K-7 was neither forgotten nor forgiven, and in 1938 Konstantin Kalinin was arrested, accused of espionage and sabotage, and executed by NKVD.
|
