Denunciation or mistake: why the creators of the Katyusha were shot. Unknown War

Kravchenko Andrey Grigorievich (11/18/1899 - 10/18/1963) Born on the Sulimin farm in the Kiev region. In the Red Army since 1918, participant Civil War... Commander of a rifle platoon, head of the machine-gun team, graduated from the Poltava Infantry School in 1923, and from the Military Academy in 1928

Biography

In 1922-1926 he studied at the 3rd Kiev Military Engineering School, from which he graduated first in academic performance, after which he served in Nizhny Novgorod.

Arrest

After the urgent evacuation of the institute at the end of 1941 in Sverdlovsk, Kostikov (he was director from 1942 to February 18, 1944) was engaged in the development of a rocket fighter aircraft. For this, OKB-55 was organized. M.R. was appointed the head. Bisnovat, and Kostikov as chief designer. Initially, a composite power plant with an accelerating liquid-propellant engine designed by Dushkin and two ramjet engines (pulsating air-jet engine) designed by Zuev was assumed. The ramjet engine was never debugged, and the plane was in flight only as a towed glider.

At the beginning of 1943, Kostikov decided to equip the prototype aircraft with only a liquid-propellant rocket engine. The pace of aircraft creation accelerated, but its characteristics (speed, rate of climb, range) dropped sharply. In addition, Kostikov, making this decision, made a serious organizational mistake by not submitting the fundamental changes in the tactical and technical data and the design of the aircraft to be formalized by a government decree. In January-February 1944, a government commission headed by the Deputy People's Commissar of the Aircraft Industry A.S. Yakovlev came to the conclusion that it was necessary to stop work. A. G. Kostikov was accused of deceiving the government, removed from his post as director of NII-3, and on March 15, 1944, he was arrested.

For almost a year the recent hero was in prison (from March 1944 to February 28, 1945). However, the charges of espionage and sabotage brought against him were not confirmed. The conclusions of the investigation read: “The explanations of the author ... are correct. It is advisable to involve the author in a more in-depth development. ... The enemy's intention in the actions of A. Kostikov, who was a great specialist in his field, has not been established. "

Further career

On December 5, 1950, Kostikov died suddenly from myocardial infarction in his apartment. He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery (plot No. 2). S. T. Konenkov created a monument at his grave.

Awards and prizes

Criticism

After Kostikov's death, the discussion about the true authors of the Katyusha invention flares up with renewed vigor. Kostikov is accused of misappropriating the invention of the "Katyusha", as well as the fact that he actively contributed to the repression that befell the employees of his institute (including the designers S. Korolev and V. Glushko, who worked at the end of the 1930s in the department that then led by Kostikov). Journalist Y. Golovanov in the article “The False Father of the Katyusha”. (Ogonyok, 1988, No. 50) claims that in the conclusion of the official investigation conducted in June 1965 by the Chief military prosecutor's office, it says: "On June 20, 1938, Kostikov headed an expert commission, which gave an opinion to the NKVD authorities about the wrecking nature of the activities of engineers Glushko and Korolev."

This accusation was indeed verified by the USSR Prosecutor's Office. However, its official document (No. 13 / 4-1032-89 of 12.06.1989) says something else: “The Prosecutor's Office of the USSR has thoroughly studied the materials related to the arrest of prominent scientists of the Scientific Research Institute in the 30s ... In the materials of the criminal cases against S. P. Korolev, G. E. Langemak, V. P. Glushko, I. T. Kleymenov, there is no evidence that they were arrested on the basis of A. G. Kostikov's denunciation.

Kostikov Andrey Grigorievich - Deputy Director of the Research Institute No. 3 of the People's Commissariat of Ammunition of the USSR, Moscow, military engineer of the 1st rank.

Born on October 18 (30), 1899 in the village of Kazatin, Berdichevsky district of the Kiev province, now the Vinnitsa region of Ukraine (later he indicated the birthplace of his parents - the village of Bystroe, Mosalsky district, Kaluga province). The son of a handyman on the railroad. Russian.

He graduated from the rural school in itself Bystroe in 1912. Since 1912 - a locksmith's apprentice in the technical office of Mezheritsky in Moscow. From December 1914 he worked as an assistant locksmith at the Suschevsky plant in Moscow, from August 1915 - as a locksmith at the machine-building plant of the Langensippen and Co company in Petrograd. During the February Revolution of 1917, he joined the workers' squad of the plant and as part of it participated in revolutionary events in the city. From April 1917 he worked as a mechanic at the traction service section of the South-West railways in Kiev. Participated in the January Uprising of 1918 in Kiev against the government of the Central Rada. Escaping repression after the suppression of the uprising, he changed his place of work and from March 1918 he was a mechanic at the Fizikokhimik plant.

After the Red Army entered Kiev, in February 1919 he volunteered for the Red Army. He fought on the fronts of the Civil War as part of the 58th Kiev separate shelf: Red Army soldier, squad leader, battalion political commissar, platoon commander. In August 1919, he was wounded in battle (according to his own explanation, he wounded himself due to careless handling of weapons, but was accused of deliberate injury due to cowardice, for this reason he was demoted to the Red Army). In January 1919 he joined the RCP (b) *.

In January 1920 he fell ill with typhus, was treated in a hospital in Vologda, from February 1920 - in the command of the weak of the 5th reserve regiment in Kaluga, from April 1920 - foreman of the communications team of the 147th infantry regiment, then in the same position in the light artillery battalion of the 17th rifle division... In August 1920 he was captured (according to other sources, surrendered without resistance) to the White Poles. Contained in POW camps in Bialystok, Lublin, Zamoć. In April 1921 he escaped from captivity and crossed the border. After a short stay in a filtration camp in Kiev from the end of May 1921, he was political instructor of the cavalry reconnaissance team of the 55th Infantry Regiment of the 7th Infantry Division (Poltava). In August 1922 he was sent to study.

In 1926 he graduated from the 3rd Kiev military communications school named after M.I. Kalinin. From June 1925 - platoon commander, then head of the radio station of the 6th separate radiotelegraph battalion. In 1928 he graduated from the military-political courses of the commanding officers of the Ukrainian Military District (Kiev). From September 1928 - the political instructor of the company, from October - the head of the company commander of the 2nd radiotelegraph regiment of the Moscow Military District (Nizhny Novgorod).

In the spring of 1930 he entered the Air Force Academy of the Red Army named after Professor N.E. Zhukovsky, graduated from it (aeronautical faculty) in 1933. As a graduate of the academy in the first category, at his own request in August 1933 he was assigned to the Reactive Research Institute of the NKTP of the USSR (NII-3): he worked as an engineer, from May 1936 - as a senior engineer - head of the laboratory, from 1936 - as head of the jet department. engines (2nd department). Supervised the design of the first rocket plane, participated in the development and testing of missile weapons and engines. From November 15, 1937 - acting chief engineer of NII-3 **.

Personally involved in tragic events 1937-1938, which caused heavy damage to the development of jet technology in the USSR, when the head of the Rocket Research Institute I.T. Kleymenov and his deputy G.E. Langemak. In 1938, the leading employees of the institute V.P. Glushko and S.P. Korolev. Miraculously, survivors in the camps of S.P. Korolev and V.P. Glushko believed that the reason for the arrest was A.G. Kostikov about their wrecking activities in the party committee of the institute, which was redirected to the NKVD. However, according to the conclusion of the USSR Prosecutor General's Office No. 13 / 4-1032 dated 06/12/1989, in the criminal cases of S.P. Korolev and V.P. Glushko there are no materials that could testify to the connection between A.G. Kostikov's letter and their arrest. But later the text of the written denunciation by A.G. Kostikov about the wrecking activities of I.T. Kleymenov, E.G. Langemak, S.P. Korolev, V.P. Glushko, V.N. Luzhin and a number of other employees of the institute, as well as other documents confirming A.G. Kostikov's involvement in their arrest ***. In addition, in March 1938, he wrote a letter to the party committee of the institute about the sabotage of Glushko and Korolev (transferred from there to the NKVD), and in June 1938, as chairman of the expert commission, Kostikov drew up and signed an act on the sabotage activities of Korolev and Glushko at the request of the NKVD of the USSR. All these documents were used by the prosecution as evidence of the guilt of these employees. Kostikov also personally accused a number of employees and heads of the institute at party meetings of sabotage. As a result, S.P. Korolev was sentenced to 10 years in the camps, and V.P. Glushko - by the age of 8 in the camps.

In September of the same 1938 A.G. Kostikov was appointed Deputy Director of Research Institute-3 for Scientific and Technical Affairs. In 1938-1941 - scientific and technical leader of the development and testing of rockets and launchers for them. Together with I.I. Guay and V.V. Aborenkov A.G. Kostikov received an inventor's certificate dated February 19, 1940, entered in the register of inventions of the USSR under No. 3338, for the invention of "a mechanized installation for firing missiles of various calibers." It was the legendary BM-13 multiple launch rocket launcher, known worldwide as the Katyusha.

The opinions of historians and specialists on the role of A.G. Kostikova in the creation of "Katyusha" diverge to diametrically opposite. Some believe that after the arrest of almost the entire leadership of the Rocket Institute A.G. Kostikov appropriated the developments of the repressed researchers (primarily G.E. Langemak) and passed them off as his own. Some believe that it was Kostikov himself who initiated the arrests of some employees of the institute for selfish purposes. The outstanding creator of the rocket and space technology S.P. Korolev. According to others, by the time the repressions began, the rockets, and even more so the installation for firing them, had not left the stage of draft development, and it was Kostikov who carried out all the work on them up to the creation of experimental combat vehicles and their launch into mass production.

It can only be said for certain that A.G. Kostikov played an important role in convincing the leadership of the state and the Red Army of the need to put rocket systems into service.

From November 1940 to April 1941 - acting. Director of Research Institute-3. Throughout 1940 and the beginning of 1941, attempts by a number of leaders to remove Kostikov from work and generally dismiss him from NII-3 on charges of incompetence did not stop, but he had the support of a number of other high-ranking leaders who eventually gained the upper hand.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 28, 1941, for outstanding services in the invention and design of one of the types of weapons that increase the combat power of the Red Army, Andrei Grigorievich Kostikov awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.

In the first year of the Great Patriotic War, A.G. Kostikov continued to work at NII-3 (the institute was evacuated to Sverdlovsk in October 1941), which developed new modifications of the Katyushas, \u200b\u200bincluding ground frame installations, ship and boat installations. Experiments were carried out to equip aircraft with them. But Kostikov's attempt to create a new design of a rocket engine ended in an explosion on a test bench during the very first fire test.

In July 1942, NII-3 was reorganized on his initiative into the State Institute of Reactive Technology, and A.G. was appointed its director and chief designer. Kostikov. Back in the spring of 1941, he put forward the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating a jet fighter, and in June 1942, in a letter addressed to I.V. Stalin made a promise to create such a fighter as soon as possible. By the decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR of July 15, 1942, the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry of the USSR in a short time was instructed to develop a jet fighter-interceptor of project "302", and Kostikov was appointed chief designer of this fighter. For the implementation of this idea, NII-3 was reorganized. However, here Kostikov clearly overestimated his strength. In the fall of 1943, the first copy of the aircraft was built, but it was unsuccessful, and the development period set by the State Defense Committee was disrupted.

February 18, 1944 A.G. Kostikov was relieved of his post as chief State Institute jet technology. On February 20, a criminal case was opened against him, and on March 15 (according to other sources, 20) March 1944, he was arrested on charges of eyewash and deception of the state. On April 19, 1944, the military prosecutor's commission issued a conclusion that A.G. Kostikov, Gwai and Aborenkov cannot be considered the authors of the M-8 and M-13 rocket launchers, as well as the RS-82 and RS-132 rockets. However, the criminal case was not transferred to the court, and A.G. Kostikov was released from custody on February 28, 1945. Soon the investigation was terminated - a resolution was issued to dismiss the case for failure to establish enemy intentions and the absence of corpus delicti in the actions of A.G. Kostikova.

From September 1945 to 1949 - Head of the Bureau for the Development of Theoretical and Experimental Research in the Field of New Technology **** NII-24 of the USSR People's Commissariat of Ammunition. April - December 1947 - Commissioner of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the Soviet zone of occupation of Germany. Since December 1947, he was the head of design bureau No. 5 at NII-24, which since 1946 was part of the USSR Ministry of Agricultural Engineering, and at the same time since 1947, he was a senior researcher at the G.M. Krzhizhanovsky.

He died on December 5, 1950 of a heart attack. Buried on Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow (section 2).

Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1943). Candidate of Technical Sciences (04/11/1941, without defending a thesis). Chairman of the USSR Academy of Sciences Commission on New Technology (1947-1950).

Military ranks:
military engineer 3rd rank (05/31/1936),
military engineer 2nd rank (1937),
military engineer 1st rank (04/26/1938),
Major General of the Aviation Engineering Service (25.07.1942).

He was awarded 2 Orders of Lenin (07/28/1941, 06/24/1948), the Orders of the Red Banner (11/06/1947), the Red Banner of Labor (11/24/1942), the Red Star (05/22/1939), medals.

Laureate of the Stalin Prize, 1st degree (1942).

Memorial plaques were installed in the city of Kiev on the building of the former Kalinin Kiev Military School of Communications and in the city of Kazatin on the house where A.G. Kostikov. The bust of the Hero was installed in Kiev in the courtyard of the Military Institute of Telecommunications and Informatization.

* Retired due to capture in 1920, re-joined the party in 1922.
** In a number of documents of 1939-1940 and publications, he is also referred to as the chief engineer of NII-3, although he was no longer officially in this position (perhaps, simultaneously with his new duties, he temporarily performed duties in this position).
*** The document was published in the book by A. Glushko “Unknown Langemak. Constructor "Katyusha" ".
**** The title of this position is different in different sources.

(18.10.1899–5.12.1950), mathematician, constructor, Hero of Socialist. Labor (28.7.1941), part. - corr. Academy of Sciences of the USSR (from 29.9.1943), general. Ing. - Aviation service (25.7.1942), laureate of the Stalin Prize (1942). In 1918 he joined the Red Army. Graduated from the Kiev military. - Ing. school and military. - air. Academy named after NOT. Zhukovsky (1933). Participant of Civil. war, was wounded, taken prisoner by the Poles, in 1920 escaped from captivity. From 1933 an engineer, from 1936 beginning. Department of Jet Engines, from Nov 1937 and.about. ch. Engineer of the Reactive Institute (Research Institute No. 3). In 1937 he wrote a statement about the sabotage activities of his colleagues in the in? That in the party committee, which was redirected to the NKVD. After that, the designers I.T. Kleimenov, V.P. Glushko, S.P. Korolev and others. In June 1938 he was appointed to the post. Commission for the investigation of "sabotage" in? Those. He spoke out against his colleagues with accusations of "sabotage" and "sabotage", which cost many camps, and some (including Kleimenov) life. He made a fast career, becoming the deputy on 15.9.1938. dir. Research Institute? 3. Later K. tried to arrogate to himself the honor of inventing a rocket launcher - the legendary Katyusha, since its inventors G.E. Langemak and Glushko were repressed (on 19.2.1940, together with I.I.Gai and V.V. Aborenkov, they received an author's certificate for it). From 1941 Ch. engineer and director. State in? that rocketry... Enjoyed the patronage of I.V. Stalin. However, after K.'s promised jet fighter was not built, K. was dismissed on 02/18/1944 and an NKVD investigation was ordered in his case. 03/15/1944 arrested, but released 02/28/1945. From Aug. 1945 early. KB NII? 24 (since 1946 as a part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Chemical Engineering of the USSR). Since 1947 the representative of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Germany. He died of a heart attack.

Andrey Grigorievich Kostikov (1899 - 1950) - Soviet scientist, specialist in the field of mechanics. Major General, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the Department of Technical Sciences (Mechanics) since September 29, 1943, Candidate of Technical Sciences (1939). Member of the CPSU (b).

Biography

Born on October 18 (October 30), 1899 in Kazatin (now Vinnytsia region, Ukraine), but was registered in the homeland of his parents in the village of Bystroe (now Borovensk, Kaluga region), baptized there.

Father (died in 1920), a native of peasants, did not have a certain profession and all his life worked for hire as a laborer, janitor, porter, wandering around Russia (Kazatin, Kiev, Moscow, Petrograd). Mother did household and agriculture (died in 1922). There were also a sister and a brother.

After graduating from the 4th grade of the Bystrovskaya rural school, since 1913 Kostikov studied in Moscow, in the technical office of engineer Mezheritsky, as a plumber. Then, in 1914-1919, he worked as a locksmith's henchman, mechanic at factories in Moscow, Petrograd, Kiev.

With 19 years - a volunteer of the Red Army. He took part in hostilities against Ukrainian rebels, in the Soviet-Polish war. He was wounded in the leg. In August 1920 he was captured by the Poles, in April 1921 he fled and again continued to serve in the Red Army.

In 1922-1926 he studied at the 3rd Kiev Military Engineering School, from which he graduated first in academic performance, after which he served in Nizhny Novgorod.

In 1930-1933 he studied at the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy "in aircraft engines and rocket specialty", where he became seriously interested in rocketry. He was sent as an engineer to the Jet Institute (RNII, NII-3), worked in the department of ballistic missiles. According to some testimonies, Kostikov met several times with K.E. Tsiolkovsky in Kaluga.

Since 1936 - head of the department for the development of liquid propellant rocket engines.

In November 1937, Kostikov was appointed acting, and from September 15, 1938, after the arrest of leading employees (V.P. Glushko and S.P. Korolev), he became the chief engineer of the institute, which at that time was engaged in the development and testing of rockets and installations for their launch from the ground and from aircraft.

On February 19, 1940, employees of the institute A. Kostikov, I. I. Gvay and a representative of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army V. V. Aborenkov received an inventor's certificate for the invention of a "mechanized installation for firing rocket projectiles of various calibers" No. 3338, which became the basis for the development of the future the famous "Katyusha". On June 17, 1941, Kostikov demonstrated to members of the Politburo, the government of the country and the leadership of the NKO of the USSR the operation of a multiple launch rocket launcher (UZO) based on a car.

The day before the start of the war, on June 21, 1941, JV Stalin made a decision to deploy the serial production of M-13 rockets and the BM-13 launcher (UZO) and to start forming the corresponding military units.

Already on July 14, 1941, the secret Soviet weapon (UZO) was baptized by fire near Orsha under the command of Captain I. Flerov. The results were stunning. Two series of Katyusha volleys completely destroyed the Orsha railway station and the Orshitsa river crossing. From this section of the front, the Nazis took out three echelons of the killed and wounded. Equally important was the enormous demoralizing effect of missile weapons on the enemy.

On July 28, 1941, the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces issued two decrees on awarding the creators of the Katyusha. The first decree "for outstanding services in the invention and design of one of the types of weapons that increase the combat power of the Red Army" Kostikov was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (No. 13). By the second decree orders and medals were awarded to 12 more engineers, designers and technicians, including the Order of Lenin - Kostikov's co-authors on the invention - I. Gwai and V. Aborenkov. The designer was awarded the rank of Major General of the Aviation Engineering Service. In March 1943, Kostikov was elected a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in the Department of Technical Sciences (Mechanics) (September 29, 1943). Member of the CPSU (b).