E. KISELEV: This is really the program "Our Everything" and I, its host Yevgeny Kiselev. I greet everyone who is listening to radio "Echo of Moscow" at this moment. In our program, we write the history of our fatherland over the past hundred years. The starting point is 1905. We go alphabetically and come to the letter L. I remind you that for each letter, with the exception of the letter K - for the letter K, we had 9 heroes, because there are a lot of surnames in the Russian language for the letter K, and in general there are many words for the letter K, that's how our language works. And for all other letters we have 3 heroes. We choose one by voting on the Internet, on the Echo of Moscow website. By the way, a list of candidates for the letter M will appear there soon, follow the publications on the Internet. We choose one hero during a special broadcast from those who are included in this list, which hangs on the Internet, but which does not win in the Internet voting - there is only one, the second we choose, I repeat, by voting on the air. And, finally, I myself choose the third hero. And today we have a hero whom you chose last Sunday, who won the three-round voting and was elected by you, dear radio listeners, as the hero of our program. This is Semyon Alekseevich Lavochkin. The "March of Aviators", written in 1931, was played. Semyon Lavochkin is an outstanding aircraft designer. To be honest, I was very pleased that Lavochkin was chosen as the hero of our program. It is possible that if he had not been chosen, I would have chosen him, because in the current project I really wanted to have at least one program about someone from the brilliant galaxy of Soviet aircraft designers. Why - I'll tell you a little later. And first, as always, a portrait of our hero, a portrait in the interior of the era.

PORTRAIT IN THE INTERIOR OF THE EPOCH

They said about people like Semyon Lavochkin: the same age as the century, forgetting that the year of his birth, 1900, was in fact last year 19th century. Well, it doesn't matter - a year more, a year less, but it's beautiful. The age of the century, in which many people were born in order to, as it was sung in the famous march of Stalin's aviation, "to make a fairy tale come true, to overcome space and expanse." Semyon Alekseevich Lavochkin was one of them, one of those who, with the power of their minds, created "steel arms-wings", "fiery motors", and higher and higher aspired the flights of Soviet aviation. The name of Lavochkin today, perhaps, is not as well known as the names of other prominent Soviet aircraft designers. First of all, those who have always been heard, thanks to the aircraft they created civil aviation: ANam, ILam, Yakam and TU - to machines designed by Oleg Antonov, Sergey Ilyushin, Andrey Tupolev and Alexander Yakovlev. But there was a time when the name of Semyon Lavochkin thundered. He was twice Hero of Socialist Labor, Laureate of four Stalin Prizes for the creation of combat aircraft for the Red Army. He had his own design bureau, where the once famous LA-5 and LA-7 fighters were created, which in the final period of the Great Patriotic War, in 44-45, became the main machines that were in service with the Soviet Air Force fighter aircraft. Most of the Soviet aces flew on them, including three times Hero Soviet Union Ivan Kozhedub. The fate of Lavochkin was very happy in its own way. He escaped the difficult trials that befell, for example, Tupolev, Petlyakov, Myasishchev and other aircraft designers who were arrested in the years stalinist repression and created their own aircraft, being prisoners of the so-called "sharashka". Many believe that Tupolev and his colleagues were saved by the impending war. Stalin was a pragmatist; he punished representatives of the scientific and technical intelligentsia selectively. A very valuable testimony of the second man of the Stalinist regime, Molotov, has survived. It is doubly valuable, because it was written from his words by the Stalinist writer Felix Chuev, who admired Molotov and hardly began to put into his mouth what he did not say. “Why were Tupolev, Stechkin, Korolev in prison?” Chuev once asked Molotov. “They were all sitting,” Vyacheslav Mikhailovich answered. “We talked too much. They didn't support us. Tupolev and others were at one time a very serious issue for us. For some time they were opponents, and it took more time to bring them closer to Soviet power. And it is also impossible not to reckon with the fact that at a difficult moment they can become especially dangerous. You cannot do without this in politics. They cannot build communism with their own hands. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov told the students: this is why we live badly! And he pointed to the portraits of Lenin and Stalin. This open opponent is easy to understand. It was more difficult with people like Tupolev. Tupolev is from the category of intelligentsia that the Soviet state really needs, but in their hearts they are against it. And along the line of personal connections, they carried out dangerous decomposing work. And even if they did not lead, they breathed it. And they couldn't do otherwise. " Nevertheless, it turned out differently with Lavochkin. The prison passed him by, despite the fact that he was not even a party member. And this for a military aircraft designer could already be a circumstance that arouses great suspicion. Lavochkin joined the CPSU only after Stalin's death, but unlike Tupolev, Ilyushin, Yakovlev, who lived long life, Lavochkin died early. It happened in 1960, when he was not yet 60. The project of creating a suborbital strategic aircraft "Tempest", which was led by Lavochkin, was never completed.

E. KISELEV: It was a portrait of our today's hero Semyon Alekseevich Lavochkin. I am really very pleased that at least one program will be devoted to the outstanding Soviet aircraft designer of that era - the era when Tupolev, Ilyushin and Yakovlev worked. Because this is partly the story of my own family - my late father and my mother, who is still alive, and I wish her many years and good health, worked all my life in aviation, at the All-Union Institute of Aviation Materials in Moscow, at VIAM, and, by the way, when my mother was pregnant with me, she told me about it herself today - I consulted with her as a professional before the show, - she went on business trips to the Zaporizhstal plant, where it was for the new generation fighters - for Lavochkin's jet fighters, a special very thin and wide steel sheet was made from which fuel tanks were made, and when in April 56, I was born in June, and in April 1956, exactly at the same time when Lavochkin was awarded the gold star of the Hero of Socialist Labor for the second time, my mother received the Order of the Badge of Honor for the same work. Hope she hears us now. And now I will introduce to you our today's guest - our guest today is the aviation historian Dmitry Borisovich Khazanov, whom many probably already know from his repeated participation in the program of Dmitry Zakharov and Vitaly Dymarsky - non-jubilee notes about the history of the Great Patriotic War - "The Price of Victory". But today we will talk with him about Lavochkin. Tell me, please, as I understand from your own words - we managed to talk a little before the broadcast - your main topic is war, World War II, and the Great Patriotic War. This is what distinguished Lavochkin's planes and why exactly did they become the main weapon of fighter aircraft?

D.KHAZANOV: First of all, good afternoon, good evening. I am very pleased that this topic was chosen as a result of the vote. It seems to me that Semyon Alekseevich Lavochkin is an interesting person, a worthy, very gifted designer. And of course, he deserves to be remembered and dedicated to him this program. This is the first thing. The second thing I wanted to say is that, unlike many people whose names have now sounded, the leaders of our aviation and space design bureaus - Tupolev, Korolev, Yakovlev - they were still people, despite the fact that they have different destinies, and you you all know this, they were very authoritarian people who stood at the head of their collectives, who in the event of certain periods of their lives could open the doors of the boss with a kick, relatively speaking, and so on. A completely different person was Semyon Alekseevich - modest, shy, and this definition somehow does not even fit with the concept of the chief designer, because everyone understands that this is primarily the organizer of production, and nevertheless, the aircraft that he created during the war years and before the war ... chief designer - this is an organizer, first of all, it is a person who must solve a lot of problems.

E. KISELEV: Sorry, I will interrupt now. You agreed with you - I ask the question, and you answer. Otherwise, the whole transmission will go upside down. I asked you - what kind of planes were there? How did they differ from MiGs, from Jacob?

D.KHAZANOV: After this preamble, I am ready to answer.

E. KISELEV: Why, say, our Soviet aces like Kozhedub preferred to fly on La-7 aircraft?

D.KHAZANOV: Well, first of all, I must tell you that a whole chain of aircraft was built during the war years, and they were gradually improved and modernized. After the prototype I-301 was created before the war, in the series it was already called after the revision of LaGG-3, then the La-5 aircraft with a more powerful engine appeared ...

D.KHAZANOV: Vladimir Petrovich Gorbunov and Mikhail Ivanovich Gudkov. And an unusual story in the creation of our domestic aircraft industry, when the so-called. the triumvirate was making the plane. Then the triumvirate disintegrated, Lavochkin became the leading, chief, but nevertheless the plane was made by three chief designers. Moreover - on initial stageWhen he was just being created, Gorbunov was the leader, the head was, as more experienced, as the head of the department, endowed with certain powers. But later, fate put everything in its place. Then there was, as you rightly said, La-5, modernization, La-7, and it is believed that on final stage wars, they were one of the best not only ours, but also the world's fighters. I would say here that these aircraft were very suitable for the war that was going on on the Soviet-German front, when an exceptional range, exceptional altitude was not required from a fighter, because the battles were fought near the front line - we had the so-called ... tactical warfare, battles were fought at low altitudes, and it was a front-line aircraft. And the planes La-5 FN, La-7 turned out to be very successful, which flew here, and therefore they were so loved by the pilots.

E. KISELEV: That is, speed and maneuverability were important for them?

D.KHAZANOV: Yes, they were high-speed, maneuverable, tenacious, to some extent protected the pilot like a frontal shield. The air-cooled engine continued to operate in the event of a failure of several cylinders and allowed the pilot to return to his territory. They had very good vertical maneuverability. Again, for the war that was here. And in terms of the complex of flight and tactical data, they were not inferior to their opponents - Messerschmites, Fokewulfs of the same year.

E. KISELEV: So this is a legend - that supposedly German fighters were superior, and our pilots took it mainly with courage, courage, self-sacrifice?

D.KHAZANOV: Well, we must look at what period. If we are talking about 44th year, 45th year, then the Germans did not have an advantage. And in some ways we even surpassed them. Another thing is that we did not have enough well-trained pilots. But in the event that a man was sitting in the cockpit who knew his business, who was not hastily trained and released into flight, but went through the school of war and normal training, if he was so lucky, then he had every chance not only for equal to fight with German aces, but also to win this single combat.

E. KISELEV: I remember one of the famous aces of the war, later Air Marshal Pokryshkin in the film “ Unknown War", Which was filmed jointly by Soviet and American filmmakers in the mid-70s, when there was the first wave of detente in relations between the US and the USSR, at the time when the first disarmament agreements were signed, when the Soyuz-Apollo was flying, - in In this film, Pokryshkin told that he flew on an American plane - "Aircobra". Did the aces have the opportunity to choose what they would fly? Or what they put into service ...

D.KHAZANOV: I think we have put it into service. But I think that Alexander Ivanovich just personally liked this plane, and he used its advantages, he said that he got along with it, in particular in this film, in which he performed. But his division fought in Airacobras, and of course he was. Although he also ended the war on the Lavochkin's plane - La-7, when they were already rearmed.

E. KISELEV: So the American fighters were not superior to Lavochkin's planes?

D.KHAZANOV: And American fighters did not outnumber Lavochkin's planes.

E. KISELEV: And here is a question that comes up very often. You probably already had to answer more than once. How many Kozhedub shot down - 62 planes, right?

D.KHAZANOV: 59 - officially, according to our historiography.

E. KISELEV: And the best German ace named Hartman shot down how many?

D.KHAZANOV: 352 aircraft.

E. KISELEV: Why such a gap?

D.KHAZANOV: Well ...

E. KISELEV: And, in my opinion, there was not only Hartman, there was in this list ...

D.KHAZANOV: Well, first of all, everything that is recorded on the combat account of the pilot does not mean that he shot down. There was little opportunity to control, we understand that air combat is very fleeting, and even a person who is sincerely sure that he shot down does not mean at all that this is so. The plane could go down, get lost in the background. He was sure that he had shot down, and he flew safely. And a lot of such cases are known.

E. KISELEV: How did it happen? The pilot takes off on a mission, returns and reports that ...

D.KHAZANOV: Yes, that he shot down an enemy plane. And who is the witness? Either it was ground troops, or it was someone from the ground watching this battle, or, for example, the chairman of a collective farm over the field, as happened in our case. From the Germans, since they flew in pairs, they demanded confirmation from their followers. In all cases, this is a little arbitrary, and as a rule, in such things about which you are asking, you need evidence from the opposite side. Suppose our pilots reported something there, and the enemy's documents show that during these days on this sector of the front the enemy suffered such and such losses - and it is more or less clear how true this is and how not. But here is the main answer to your question - I would still emphasize here not on not entirely reliable reports, but on the very great experience of those people who fought against us. Soviet aviation did not knock out enemy personnel, and the pilots who went through the whole war, many of them survived, survived until the surrender, in this case of Germany and were very dangerous opponents. And so a lot of experience, a large number of battles, plus German tactics, which were very different from ours. Our pilots were very often tied to cover the area, to cover their aircraft - bombers and attack aircraft. German aces were mainly engaged in free hunting, when the pilot was not limited by anything, when he himself was free to choose a target, in a choice of behavior. He can attack or, for some reason guided by him, leave the battle, and this does not mean that he will be punished in some way in a disciplinary manner.

E. KISELEV: Fundamentally different tactics of air combat and, in general, the use of fighter aircraft.

D.KHAZANOV: Yes, that's why many German aces had such high scores and, so to speak, survived well, in particular on our front.

E. KISELEV: And, accordingly, they avoided the fight when they saw that there was the slightest danger.

D.KHAZANOV: Either the danger, or when they saw that they were opposed by a well-trained, well-equipped enemy, a Russian pilot, they could get out of the battle, forcing the engines, hide and look for a more suitable victim next time.

E. KISELEV: And, of course, big losses in the initial period of the war?

D.KHAZANOV: Theoretically, yes, but statistics show that in 1943 the losses were even greater than in 1941, oddly enough, and in personnel. Maybe in 1941 we had very large losses on the ground, but air battles - the most severe, the most brutal - this is exactly the 43rd year, when ...

E. KISELEV: Kursk Bulge.

D.KHAZANOV: Yes, the Kursk Bulge, the battle for the Dnieper, when the outcome of the struggle for air supremacy was being decided. And many of our pilots, especially those who did not have time to properly finish their studies, who were brought into battle in emergency circumstances, they just suffered the most.

E. KISELEV: Let me remind you that today we are working on the air, and our radio listeners can send their questions, their remarks, comments by phone +7 985 970 45 45 in the form of SMS messages. We have already received a certain amount, and here, in particular, the widow of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Oleg Nikolaevich Smirnov, writes to us that her husband flew during the war on La-5 and La-7 aircraft and spoke very well of them. Well, we have already answered some of the questions. Here, in particular, here just came a remark from Yuri that the Germans had about 200 pilots who shot down a hundred or more planes. We have just discussed this topic. Dmitry from St. Petersburg asks: “Didn't Pokryshkin and Kozhedub fly speedfighters? However, this does not detract from the merits of Lavochkin's planes. " Well, I'm not an expert, but as I understand it, about speedfighters is, as they say, vision aberration. Indeed, there were Aircobras, a whole division.

D.KHAZANOV: Yes, and Kozhedub always flew only on Lavochkin's planes.

E. KISELEV: Appreciating their high-speed qualities. But why ... One second, someone sent us such a remark ... Yuri - "It's not for nothing that LaGG was called - a lacquered guaranteed coffin." Have you never heard?

D.KHAZANOV: Of course I heard, well, how do you think, how could I not hear.

E. KISELEV: Why was it called that?

D.KHAZANOV: Here I would like to make a short preamble ...

E. KISELEV: Then we will stop at this place. The LaGG aircraft - this is the predecessor of the La-5 and La-7 - had such a front-line nickname, the front-line nickname - “lacquered guaranteed coffin”. Why, we'll talk about this after a pause. Because now is the mid-hour news time on Echo of Moscow. Stay tuned, we'll be back on the air in a minute or two.

NEWS

E. KISELEV: We continue our release, which today is dedicated to Semyon Lavochkin. This is the first transmission of three with the letter "L". Let me remind you that we will still have programs about the head of Soviet television during the Brezhnev stagnation - Sergei Lapin and about an outstanding physicist, laureate Nobel Prize Lev Landau. And today we are talking about the aircraft designer Lavochkin. Together with me here in the studio is Dmitry Borisovich Khazanov, an aviation historian, whom you probably know from his participation in the program “Non-Jubilee Notes on the History of the Great Patriotic War - The Price of Victory”, hosted by Vitaly Dymarsky and Dmitry Zakharov on Mondays. Let me remind you that today we are working on the air and we have turned on the phone +7 985 970 45 45 - to this number you can send your questions in the form of SMS messages. Further - I would like to immediately react to several of your remarks. For example, Natalia from Moscow is outraged at a quote from the writer Felix Chuev. She writes to me - "What kind of cute baby is giving you introductory notes?" Well, Natalya, these are different cute crumbs, different colleagues of mine are voicing the texts of "Portraits" of our heroes, which I write myself, on the air. Just so that the program sounds not only masculine, but also female voice and your ear would be nice. Some of these are the secrets of our radio profession. As for the quote from Felix Chuev - well, you know, this is a very valuable quote. You probably did not hear or understand, or, as they say, did not understand the meaning of what was said. Molotov did not leave his own memoirs, at least published. But he had an adorer - this same Felix Chuev, who met with him many times and tried to record the conversations, long conversations that they had at the Molotov dacha in Zhukovka. And in fact, there are many terrible things said by Vyacheslav Mikhailovich and then written down by Felix Chuev. And as a historical source, this is the most valuable thing. We just told you - this is how Stalin, Molotov and others like them treated outstanding scientists. They did not fully trust them, especially some of them. So, according to Molotov's version, set forth by the writer Chuev, Tupolev, Myasishchev, Korolev and many other scientists ended up in places not so remote. And, in general, I understand that there really were people among the scientific and technical intelligentsia who, deep down in their hearts, did not like at all either Joseph Vissarionovich or the system he created. So that's it. Well, there are a lot of different other comments here. "Until what year were Lavochkin's planes in service?" Well, obviously, the planes that we talked about are planes from the war, they were in service until jet fighters appeared, including Lavochkin's designs. By the way, is it true that Maresyev, the famous legless pilot, fought on Lavochkin's planes?

D.KHAZANOV: Yes, it's true. After returning to service, he flew on a La-6 FN aircraft in the 63rd Guards Regiment. Evgeny Alekseevich, you asked a question about the “lacquered guaranteed coffin”. Let me answer this matter, at least briefly.

E. KISELEV: Yes, please. Where did this name come from?

D.KHAZANOV: The history of the adoption of the LaGG-3 aircraft was very short, very short. On March 30, an experienced fighter piloted by Alexei Ivanovich Nikashin took off for the first time. Factory tests and state tests were quickly passed. Everything happened literally on a super-urgent basis. The aircraft was put into production at five plants. It was generally an unheard of success for three young chief designers. And we can assume that the merit and the fact that they made a successful car, and the merit of the test pilot, who was able to reveal all its advantages, and also the fact that it was made without metal parts, components, only from wood. As you understand, there was enough wood in our country, and it was assumed that in case something unpleasant, a war, began, we would be provided with fighter aircraft. There will be a lot of planes, - this is how Comrade Stalin, whom you mentioned earlier, reasoned. But the factories where the production was launched, this also had to be done very quickly. Someone was not ready for this business at all, someone had a different technology. In general, it was all a very difficult, painful process. So, the plant in Gorky, which became generally the head, they were going to make some kind of their own car, Polikarpov's deputies. And suddenly a completely unfamiliar person arrives with his team. They continue to release these old 16s as if nothing had happened, they say that everything needs to be completely different. Therefore, when serial production began, the serial machines were very different for the worse from the experimental ones. They turned out to be heavier and heavier, and the wood was much less used there than on the experimental machine, and the quality of the finish was worse. And, besides, Lavochkin was ordered to increase the fighter's range. At the time of the handover, they installed an additional caisson, installed fuel tanks to enforce a government decree. In a word, if the prototype aircraft weighed less than 3 tons, 2970 kg, then the serial ones - 3380, 3300 kg, which is generally very significant. And the engine was still the same - M-105, which, of course, turned out to be rather weak for such a machine, and big problems began. Pilots, especially young, poorly trained, could hardly cope. This is the first part. The second part is that the strength of the structure, for which the calculation was made, turned out to be insufficient. The landing gear of the aircraft buckled, many other problems during aerobatics. There were cases when the plane did not get out of steep dives. This was also very unnerving, worried about the management. And the third point is that Yakovlev's planes, also not without big problems, nevertheless turned out to be generally successful. And it was decided, especially since Yakovlev is a very active person, at that time he was deputy commissar ...

E. KISELEV: He was Stalin's favorite ...

D.KHAZANOV: Yes, I was a favorite, I was entering the leader's office. And he made the decision to gradually replace Lavochkin's aircraft with an aircraft of his own design - Yak-1, then Yak-7, then Yak-7 B, and gradually the factories, one after another, passed under the jurisdiction of Alexander Sergeevich Yakovlev. It was the spring of 1942. Lavochkin was left with a secondary plant, which at that time was evacuated from Taganrog to Tbilisi. Southern people generally had little idea of \u200b\u200bwhat it was. Nevertheless, they were preparing to release his planes. And the main contingent of his closest employees went there. In Gorky, he remained literally with a handful of his closest associates. This is the story of the creation of the La-5.

E. KISELEV: But when the La-5 appeared, then the competition continued and in the end already leaned towards Lavochkin?

D.KHAZANOV: Well, to some extent yes, but to some extent not, because until the end of the war many pilots enjoyed flying and fighting on Yakovlev's planes with pleasure. Moreover, he also had many successful projects. The Yak-3 aircraft is considered the lightest fighter, that is, it had unconditional connoisseurs and unconditional merits. At the end of the war ...

E. KISELEV: And there were also MiG fighters, right?

D.KHAZANOV: By that time Mikoyan and Gurevich had stopped building MiGs in series. Plant number one, after its evacuation from Moscow to Kuibyshev, stopped producing and began to make Il-2 attack aircraft. Therefore, Mikoyan temporarily dropped out of the competition, this design bureau was not disbanded - they were engaged in experimental work, high-altitude aircraft, but Mikoyan and his colleagues were not such a mass serial manufacturer at that time. Lavochkin was the last. But if he was left with only one plant in Tbilisi - Taganrog 31st, then I think that it would not be long either. But as a result of emergency measures, an urgent installation on an air-cooled glider, which was much more powerful, the M-82, on its plane, quick flight tests ...

E. KISELEV: Whose design was the motor?

D.KHAZANOV: Shvetsova. And as a result of the support that the secretary of the regional committee gave Lavochkin then, a number of high-ranking comrades who believed in him. And so, he was summoned to the Kremlin, he was returned control over one of the largest then Gorky plant number 21, and history went the way it went. Subsequently, the subsequent aircraft of Semyon Alekseevich were created there. By the way, the La-5 was already a purely Lavochkin plane. If LaGG-3 was Lavochkin, Gorbunov, Gudkov, then La-5, La-7, La-9 are already purely Lavochkin's machines.

E. KISELEV: "When Pokryshkin rose into the air, about this with the words" Akhtung, Akhtung! " German signalmen warned their pilots. Did our signalmen warn our pilots about the presence in the sky of Hartman and others german aces? " a radio listener named Dzauk asks us.

D.KHAZANOV: I think not. And our people found out about Hartman only somewhere at the very end of the war, at best - from the interrogation protocol of captured German pilots. And somehow we were not very interested in their surnames, first names. Fritz - and that's it.

E. KISELEV: Many were touched by this story of Hartman. “Why humiliate Hartman? He's great, ”writes Yura from St. Petersburg. Well, Yura, in my opinion, no one tried to humiliate him, we just say that we were different techniques counting, different tactics ...

D.KHAZANOV: Different combat experience. Hartman is great. He used everything that his technique, tactics, skill gave him.

E. KISELEV: By the way, how did his fate develop? He survived by the end of the war?

D.KHAZANOV: He survived. In my opinion, there were even special programs dedicated to him. He was extradited by the Americans to our country, received a term of 25 years, and spent a rather long period in prison. Then he was released, returned to Germany, lived there, and died in 1993.

E. KISELEV: In the FRG or in the GDR?

D.KHAZANOV: In Germany.

E. KISELEV: This is what Albert appeared who curses me: “Kiselev, you are an anti-Soviet and a vile person! You try to distort history. damn you!" Well, you know, in a sense, I am really anti-Soviet, because I believe that thank God that the Soviet period of our history is over. But in this period there was a lot of good things. And, in particular, with today's program, I try to pay tribute to the bright pages in our history. "You forgot to mention Bountgarten, who shot down 285 planes." Well, you see, today we are not setting such a task - to talk in detail about the history of the German aces. We just mentioned Pokryshkin, Kozhedub, three times Hero of the Soviet Union, who shot down 62 aircraft - most of all of our aces, according to our counting method, we repeat. He really flew on Lavochkin's planes. And in this regard, we could not help ... Moreover, we were asked these questions. “And what planes did the French fly from the Normandie-Niemen regiment? - asks Sergey from Moscow.

D.KHAZANOV: On Yakovlev's planes. First on the Yak-1, Yak-9 planes, and ended the war on the Yak-3, and these planes were presented to them.

E. KISELEV: Evgeny Alekseevich, my name is not Sergey Alekseevich. This I am addressing to Evgenia, whose phone number is 7 962 ... and at the end of 15. So, Evgenia, you reproach me for spending all my time on the Air Force, except for the story about Lavochkin. Well, you know, it seems to me that it would be strange to talk about something else besides aviation and space technology, because this is what Semyon Alekseevich devoted his whole life to. Well, I know that my guest today, Dmitry Borisovich Khazanov, an aviation historian, has some references, including, in my opinion, a biography written by the hand of the late Semyon Alekseevich himself. Please, Dmitry Borisovich.

D.KHAZANOV: If possible, I will just say a few words. Well, firstly, I think it will be interesting for you to hear what Semyon Alekseevich himself wrote. “I was born in Smolensk in 1900. At about the age of 10, our entire family, including myself, moved to Roslavl, Smolensk region... My father was a teacher, my mother was a housewife. In the city of Roslavl, I first studied at the city school, then tried to enter the gymnasium. The percentage rate for Jews did not allow me to go there, and in the 15th year I had to go to the city of Kursk to my relatives, where I entered the gymnasium. He graduated from it in the 17th year. Upon graduation, he returned to his relatives in Roslavl and voluntarily joined the Red Army the next year. First, the Red Guard, then the Red Army. Was in its ranks almost until the end of the 20th year. In the 20th year, I was sent to study at the Moscow Higher Technical School. The difficult financial situation quite often distracted me from my studies at the school, and I was able to graduate from it only in the 29th year. In the 27th year, my father died, and I already entered a permanent job at the plant number 22 in Moscow. From then on, I started working in the aviation industry. For 16 years (and he wrote this already in 1943) I have worked in different positions and in different areas. The government approved the design of my aircraft, and since then I have continued to work on the design of various types of aircraft and their modifications. " And the signature is S.A. Lavochkin. This is about the official autobiography. He really held positions and went from a copier to a chief designer, worked mainly in Moscow at the 22nd, 28th, 39th plants. Then he was invited to plant # 31, then the flagship of our aircraft industry. Then he worked as a senior engineer in the First Head Office of the People's Commissariat of General Machine Building. Then he was appointed chief designer of plant No. 301. And after the LaGG-3 plane was adopted, he became chief designer in Gorky at the 21st plant and lived there for a long time. Here Semyon Alekseevich writes that he was married, his wife was a housewife, his father was from the middle class, he worked as a teacher in Roslavl, and his mother was a housewife, also their bourgeoisie. He had two more brothers. But he was the eldest, so he had to drag, roughly speaking, the whole family. This is about his biography. Yes, you said quite rightly - 4 times he was awarded the Stalin Prize, honored, and twice Semyon Alekseevich was the Hero of Socialist Labor. In June 1943 he was awarded this title for the success of the La-5 aircraft and for the second time he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Hammer and Sickle gold medal in April 56, already for space technology.

E. KISELEV: There are several more questions that we received on the Internet. Well, I have already managed to ask my guest today, Dmitry Borisovich Khazanov, an aviation historian, if he can somehow comment on the question that was put on the Ekho Moskvy website about our program. Inna from the Israeli city of Halona sent a question - “Could you tell us in more detail how in February 1953 the aircraft designer Lavochkin, along with other prominent Soviet Jews, was forced to sign a letter calling for the resettlement of Soviet Jews to the Siberian outbacks as the people responsible for the fabricated conspiracy doctors, allegedly taking place against Stalin? " Well, you know, there really was such a letter. Indeed, they were preparing to publish it in the Pravda newspaper. This, by the way, is described in sufficient detail in the memoirs of Ilya Orenburg "People, Years, Life", in some other memoir sources. Yes, indeed, this is a medical fact. The end of the 40s and the beginning of the 50s is a period when, with Stalin's blessing, an organized anti-Semitic campaign began in the country, and within the framework of this campaign there was the murder of Mikhoels, the arrest of many prominent Jews, and the trial of the Jewish anti-fascist committee, and then the "case doctors ”, and this is a letter being prepared. But for some reason at the last moment they refused to publish it, and literally a very short time later, Stalin died. The "Doctors' File" was closed, and a lot has been said about it, there is a whole book by the historian Gennady Kostyrchenko, in which Inna is told in great detail. “Tell us about it at least 55 years later” - this has already been told many times. Yes, Dmitry Borisovich.

D.KHAZANOV: I still wanted to say one thing on this issue. I will refer to the recollection of one of Lavochkin's deputies, deputy chief designer Chernyakov, who was present at the discussion of the missile theme just at the time you just mentioned, and there was the question that the estimated weight of the missile that was planned is a new anti-aircraft missile , the starting mass is a new, unexplored business, and it was believed that all this would be within a ton, but it turned out to be 3.9. The meeting was chaired by Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria, and upon learning that this was the case, he suddenly announced - "We urgently need to deal with this matter - these Jews want to ruin our country." And the repressions began, since Semyon Alekseevich had deputies, and the director of the pilot plant was also of the wrong nationality. And with great difficulty, then Semyon Alekseevich managed to defend his closest colleagues from serious repression.

E. KISELEV: By the way, here is our radio listener, who signs herself with the surname "Lavochkina", perhaps she is a granddaughter or great-granddaughter, or maybe a daughter - sorry, I don’t know anything about Semyon Alekseevich’s relatives, - corrects us - not Yaroslavl, but Roslavl.

D.KHAZANOV: Roslavl - that's what I said.

E. KISELEV: Quite briefly. We literally have three minutes until the end of the program. Lavochkin's supersonic titanium aircraft and the reasons why it did not go into series. Only very briefly.

D.KHAZANOV: At the end of the aviation phase, Semyon Alekseevich made very good airplanes - La-200 and La-250. But at this time, the series were already transferred to Mikoyan aircraft - the MiG-15 is a famous page, the glory and pride of our aviation, and it was decided that these aircraft will remain in prototypes.

E. KISELEV: One more question. Lavochkin's strategic cruise missile.

D.KHAZANOV: You know, after completing the aviation theme, Semyon Alekseevich was primarily concerned with anti-aircraft missiles. It was a very long period in his activity, very difficult and, unfortunately, very closed. Few people know that the complex that was created, the S-25, was based on the Lavochkin missiles. But literally only now, publications began to appear, in particular, a very interesting work in the "Aerospace Review", which tells about this period - by Serov and Fomichev. I draw everyone's attention that the work is worthwhile, and if possible, read it.

E. KISELEV: We received a few questions about the pager regarding the Tempest project. In a nutshell, what kind of project was it?

D.KHAZANOV: It was a cruise missile, which was to some extent - in terms of ideas, design - compete with the R-7 Korolev rocket. But, as you know, it was the Korolyov rocket that was adopted for service, and it was preferred. But in principle, a very interesting job.

E. KISELEV: And, in fact, it was unfinished in connection with the death of Lavochkin, right?

D.KHAZANOV: Yes.

E. KISELEV: The last question. Unfortunately, we don't have more time. Lavochkin's relationship with Stalin.

D.KHAZANOV: According to my information, they met four times. The first meeting, I saw, on May 19, was when the La-5 plane was launched into series. In October 1943, to Stalin's proposal to increase the range of the La-5 aircraft, La-7 Lavochkin refused, and, in general, he was not such a gentle person, since he allowed himself to object, to argue. He said it would degrade flight performance. As further evidence showed, he was right. And, in general, many, probably, will look at this person differently - soft, intelligent. Military testers said that among themselves they called him "Sheep" for such a kind character. But nevertheless, he could defend his point of view, defend the people with whom he worked and whom he trusted. He was fully responsible for what he proposed. That is, he had exceptional qualities.

E. KISELEV: Dmitry Borisovich, thank you very much. Unfortunately, our time is up. We are already sorting through. Let me remind you that our guest today was the aviation historian Dmitry Borisovich Khazanov. Today we talked about the history of our aviation, especially during the war, talked about Semyon Alekseevich Lavochkin. It was the program "Our Everything" and its host, Evgeny Kiselev. See you next Sunday.

D.KHAZANOV: Thank you, all the best.

The factories built over 6,500 LaGG-3 fighters in 1940-1944, and about 16,000 La-5 and La-7 fighters in 1942-1945, on which the liquid-cooled engine was replaced by a more powerful and tenacious air-cooled engine. Lavochkin fruitfully collaborated with scientific aviation organizations of the USSR, actively introduced modern methods in-line production.

Biography

Born September 11, 1900 in the family of a Jewish teacher. He graduated from the city school in Roslavl, and then with a gold medal - the Kursk gymnasium. In 1918 - 1920 served in the Red Army. After demobilization, he continued his studies in Moscow, having received the qualification of an aeromechanical engineer at the Moscow Higher Technical School (now the Bauman Moscow State Technical University).

Who was

In 1939, together with V.P. Gorbunov and M.I. Gudkov was the initiator of the design and construction of a high-speed solid-wood single-engine fighter with extensive use of delta-timber, designed to increase the strength of the structure. The LaGG-3 fighter turned out to be successful, at the end of 1940 it was put into production at five aircraft factories at once. In 1942-1943. it was replaced by La-5, then La-7. After the war, he developed the La-15 jet fighter, launched into series, created the first anti-aircraft missiles in the USSR for the Moscow air defense system "Berkut", since 1954 he worked on the intercontinental supersonic cruise missile "Tempest" and the anti-aircraft air defense system "Dal". The untimely death did not allow the completion of the work.

What is famous for

The LaGG-3 fighter was created collegially, however, in the process of fine-tuning, during the development and modification of the aircraft, the elimination of its defects, the talent, deep knowledge, erudition of Lavochkin, who became the true leader of the team, was fully revealed. Under his leadership, La-5 (autumn 1942) and La-7 (summer 1944) were built and introduced, which became one of the best fighters of the Second World War.

Battle locations

LaGG-3 fighters first participated in the defense of Moscow and Leningrad, and then appeared on other fronts. Gradually, they were replaced by the more advanced La-5 and La-7, which took part in all major battles of the Great Patriotic War before the Victory.

Cases of manifestation the highest degree heroism

Soviet pilots loved Lavochkin's aircraft, and many considered "la" the best fighters of the end of World War II. Aces like I.N. Kozhedub, K.A. Evstigneev, N.M. Skomorokhov, the three of whom shot down 162 enemy planes, won all the victories on the Lavochkin.

Circumstances of death

He died at the Kazakh training ground Sary-Shagan of a heart attack on June 9, 1960, before reaching his 60th birthday.

State awards and regalia

Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Major General of the Aviation Engineering Service, four times Stalin Prize laureate, twice Hero of Socialist Labor. Three times he became a Knight of the Order of Lenin, awarded with other orders. Streets in Moscow, Smolensk, Lipetsk, Krasnodar, Khimki bear the name of Lavochkin, immortalized in the name of the "Research and Production Association" (formerly OKB-301 in Khimki), where he worked as chief designer for more than 20 years.

The name of Semyon Lavochkin is inextricably linked with the history of Russian aviation. Lavochkin made his first contribution to the development of the Soviet aircraft industry when he was a student at the Moscow Higher Technical School. Under the leadership of Andrey Tupolev, he ...

The name of Semyon Lavochkin is inextricably linked with the history of Russian aviation. Lavochkin made his first contribution to the development of the Soviet aircraft industry when he was a student at the Moscow Higher Technical School. Under the leadership of Andrey Tupolev, he took part in preparations for serial production of the ANT-4 bomber.

After graduation, Lavochkin worked in various design bureaus: in the design bureau of the French aircraft designer Paul Richard, in the Bureau of New Designs, the Main Directorate of the Aviation Industry, OKB-301.

The designer “does not have an office, he needs a plant. It is not enough for him to have paper and ink, he needs people, tools, raw materials, materials, ”Lavochkin said, and the government did not spare funds for the development of military aviation. The Soviet Union needed combat aircraft, and a war with Hitler was inevitable.

The Spanish Civil War, in which the baptism of fire took place soviet pilots and domestic aircraft, showed a serious advantage of the German Messerschmitt-109 fighter over the main fighter of the Red Army I-16.

Several design bureaus received the task to develop a new fighter that would replace the "donkey", as the military called the I-16.

Three new fighters were presented to the government commission: Yak-1 (designer Yakovlev), MiG-1 (designers Mikoyan and Gurevich) and LaGG-1 (designers Lavochkin, Gorbunov and Gudkov). All aircraft were accepted into production.

The design of LaGG, developed by three designers, consisted entirely of wood, which was both the main advantage and the main disadvantage of the machine. The wooden structure allowed LaGG to become the most massive domestic fighter of 1941-1942. But thanks to the same wooden structure, the LaGG was heavier than all domestic and enemy fighters. Therefore, despite high speed, according to its main characteristics, it was inferior not only to the German Messerschmites, but also to the domestic competitor Yak.

During the war, the production of LaGGs was discontinued. But Lavochkin's design idea did not stand still, he decided on an experiment and replaced the water-cooled engine with an air-cooled engine, ASh-85, having previously changed the design of the aircraft.

The flight characteristics of the fighter have increased dramatically. This is how the new La-5 fighter appeared. The first batches of La-5 took part in Stalingrad battle and contributed to the success of this major operation.

Almost immediately, its modification La-5FN was developed, followed by La-7. It was these two fighters that, in many respects, surpassed the enemy Messerschmitts and Focke-Wulfs of the most recent modifications.

“La-5, especially La-5FN, and La-7 have become machines of a qualitatively different level. At working heights, they could fight on equal terms with the "Messers" and "Fokkers," Soviet pilots noted.

On the aircraft designed by Lavochkin, three times Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Kozhedub shot down 62 enemy aircraft. By the end of the war, another three times Hero of the Soviet Union, Alexander Pokryshkin, moved to La.

After the war, Lavochkin's design bureau created jet aircraft and developed intercontinental missiles, but in national history he entered as the designer of Victory, the creator of the famous La-5 and La-7 fighters.

Semyon Alekseevich died of acute heart failure in June 1960 while testing the Dal air defense system.

Perhaps one of the most attractive exhibits of the Air Force Museum, located in Monin, Moscow Region, is considered to be the fighter plane three times Hero of the Soviet Union I.N. Kozhedub. This legendary car, created under the direct supervision of S.A. Lavochkin, rows of red stars are applied, each of which means a victory over the enemy. La-7 by its flight data and armament is rightfully considered one of the best fighters of the Second World War. But few people realize that from the first ideas of the designer to the creation of the La-7 fighter lies a distance of five years.

Against this background, attention is drawn to the creation of an unmanned radio-controlled target La-17 and, on its basis, a front-line reconnaissance aircraft, which became the first remotely controlled targets. aircraft Soviet army.
For services to the state on June 21, 1943, Lavochkin was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the presentation
Gold medal "Hammer and Sickle" and the Order of Lenin. On April 20, 1956, Semyon Alekseevich was awarded the second Gold Medal "Hammer and Sickle". Since 1956 S.A. Lavochkin - general designer OKB-301. Two years later, Lavochkin was elected a Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Semyon Alekseevich was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR three times (3-5 convocations). Laureate of four Stalin Prizes of the USSR. He was awarded three Orders of Lenin, Orders of the Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov, 1st and 2nd degrees, medals, including "For Military Merit".
The name of Lavochkin is a research and production association in the city of Khimki near Moscow, formed on the basis of the OKB, which he headed. Streets in Moscow and Smolensk are named after him, and bronze busts are also installed there.

Semyon Alekseevich Lavochkin was born on September 11 (August 29, old style) 1900 in a Jewish family in Smolensk (according to other sources - in the village of Petrovichi, Smolensk province).
In 1917 he graduated from high school with a gold medal and was drafted into the army. Since 1918 - in the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, and then in border troops... In 1920 he entered the Moscow Higher Technical School (now the Bauman Moscow State Technical University) and after graduation received the qualification of an aeromechanical engineer.
Lavochkin began his career in the summer of 1927 at an aircraft plant in Fili. At that time, the enterprise was mastering the serial production of the first domestic all-metal heavy bomber, which was very useful, since the theme of Lavochkin's diploma project was a bomber.
Two years passed unnoticed, and in 1929 Semyon Alekseevich stepped over the threshold of the newly created design bureau of the French engineer Richard. The reason for the appearance of the "Varangian" in the USSR is quite simple. Until the end of the 1920s, the domestic industry was unable to create a seaplane for the naval aviation, and the country's leadership turned its attention to the West. But the torpedo bomber of the open sea TOM-1, designed with the participation of the head of the strength section Lavochkin, remained in a single copy. By the time of its first flight, the domestic industry had already mastered the serial production of the float version of the TB-1 for a similar purpose.
Richard's team disintegrated, and under the leadership of his deputy, Henri Laville, the Bureau of New Designs (BNK) began the development of the DI-4 two-seat fighter. Having mastered the aerodynamic and strength calculations from Richard, at the BNK Lavochkin, having taken up the design and layout of the aircraft, he stepped one step further, becoming a leading designer. Since then, fighter aircraft have become the main direction in the work of the aircraft designer Lavochkin.
But there are exceptions in life. After BNK, Lavochkin had to work for a short time at the Bureau of Special Structures (BOC) with V.A. Chizhevsky over the experimental stratospheric aircraft BOK-1 and in parallel with the professor Air Force Academy named after N.E. Zhukovsky S.G. Kozlova - over a gigantic transport plane. The constant search for a more perfect structure of the aviation industry led to the emergence of new and liquidation of old enterprises. This was especially reflected in the creativity of designers, who often moved from one team to another. Lavochkin was no exception. This leapfrog lasted until 1939.
After BOK was transferred to Smolensk, Lavochkin ended up with D.P. Grigorovich, and then, in 1935, in Podlipki near Moscow "under the wing" of the creator of dynamo-jet cannons L.V. Kurchevsky. This period of Lavochkin's activity should be told in more detail, since he first became the chief designer of plant number 38, but not aviation, but ... artillery.

Seven years spent on the creation of dynamo-jet guns were not crowned with success. Not a single aircraft equipped with these weapons was accepted into service. This put Leonid Vasilyevich Kurchevsky in an awkward position - the money was spent, but there were no guns suitable for use. But, deeply convinced of the correctness of his idea, Kurchevsky invited S.A. to the plant of aircraft designers. Lavochkin, S.N. Lyushina, B.I. Cheranovsky and V.B. Shavrova. Each of them began to develop its own direction.
One of the main parameters of a fighter of those years was speed. The higher it is, the faster (of course, in combination with high maneuverability and powerful weapons) you can defeat the enemy. With a limited choice of engine, the speed can only be increased by reducing the drag. But how to do that? First of all, Lavochkin and Lyushin, acquaintances from working together at Richard and Laville, they used a retractable landing gear. This gave a noticeable increase in speed, and then a completely unexpected solution was proposed - to hide the pilot's lantern in the fuselage. This, of course, will also increase the speed, but also impair the view from the cockpit. An airplane with poor visibility is a good target. Then they decided to make the pilot's seat lowered along with the lantern.
And today, designers sometimes follow a similar path. Remember the supersonic passenger airliners Tu-144, the Anglo-French "Concorde" and the multipurpose T-4 (product "100") P.O. Sukhoi. True, these machines do not remove the lantern anywhere, but the nose of the fuselage rises and falls, but even here they and Lavochkin had one goal - to reduce aerodynamic drag. And yet, despite the progressiveness technical solutionsplanted in the LL fighter (Lavochkin and Lyushin), the lowered chair was very uncomfortable. Air Force Commander Ya.I. Alksnis and chief Engineer Of the Main Directorate of the Aviation Industry (SUAI) of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry (NKTP) of the USSR A.N. Tupolev, who visited the Department of Special Works on January 12, 1936 (which included plant No. 38), did not approve of this project.
In the same year, Kurchevsky was removed from his post, and Tupolev soon offered Lavochkin a position in the Main Directorate of the NKTP, on the basis of which the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry (NKAP) was created in 1938. So, by the will of fate, the aircraft designer renounced his favorite job, but not for long. While working at the People's Commissariat, Lavochkin tried to maintain his design skills. What only he did not have to do in this field, even the creation in 1936-1937 of the Arctic gliders "Sevmorput", intended to connect the icebreaker with the coast, while overcoming openings and ice floes. Nevertheless, aviation attracted more.

The emergence of the generation of aircraft of the Second World War was facilitated primarily by civil War in Spain. This country, located on the Iberian Peninsula, has become a kind of training ground where the military equipment of many states, including Germany and the Soviet Union, was tested and tested. Even the subsequent armed conflicts in Khalkhin Gol and in Finland did not have such an impact on military equipment and equipment like the war in Spain.
Conclusions about the need to improve, in particular, aviation technology were made quickly, and the creation of new aircraft was delayed for several years, despite all the efforts on the part of the leadership of the Soviet Union. There is a long distance from ideas to the embodiment of the machine in "metal", and everything rested primarily on the power plant. And this is the Achilles heel of the Soviet aircraft industry. The only thing that domestic aircraft designers could really count on was the M-103 engines and the M-88, which was still being designed. The first of them had clearly insufficient power. This was the impetus for the emergence of such an aircraft as "C" by V.F. Bolkhovitinov with a tandem pair of M-103 engines - a descendant of the licensed Hispano-Suiza.

The M-88 looked much more attractive in 1938, but it appeared with a delay, and on the first I-180 N.N. Polikarpova, I-28 V.P. Yatsenko and I-220 "IS" ("Joseph Stalin") A.V. Silvansky was supplied with less suitable M-87s. But even with this already proven engine, fortune turned its back on aircraft builders. He died on the first of these aircraft in December 1938. The second, which took off in April next year, although generally successful, required improvements, but the stubborn nature of Vladimir Panfilovich ruined a good idea. The "Joseph Stalin" Silvansky did not take the wing either.
The situation changed in 1939, after the appearance of the 1100-horsepower M-105 engine and the 1350-horsepower AM-35 engine. And immediately the young cadres entered the "battle":
, media. Gurevich, M.M. Pashinin, D.L. Tomashevich and V.P. Gorbunov with S.A. Lavochkin. There were, of course, other, in their own way talented creators of new technology, but, being in captivity of outdated concepts, they offered either semi-fantastic projects or outdated combat biplanes. For example, A.A. Borovkov and I.F. Florov designed a 7221 biplane (later I-207) with cantilever wings and an air-cooled engine, and engineer G.I. Bakshaev - fighter monobiplane RK with a sliding wing. An equally exotic project was the IS (folding fighter), born from the commonwealth of the pilot V.V. Shevchenko and the designer V.V. Nikitin. This plane in the air turned from a biplane to a monoplane and vice versa.

Of the whole variety of projects, only five turned out to be real: I-200 with AM-35 engine (first flight on April 5, 1940), I-26 (first flight on January 13, 1940), I-301, I-21 (IP-21 ) with motors M-105P and I-110. The last of them, created in the prison design bureau TsKB-29, was guided by the M-107 engine and went flying tests in the midst of the war. The I-21, which took off in June 1940, was distinguished by an unsuccessful aerodynamic wing layout. Its fine-tuning dragged on, and the outbreak of the war forced to stop working on it.
Each of the first three fighters had their own advantages and disadvantages, but together they seemed to complement and to some extent insured each other. At the same time, the I-26 (prototype Yak-1) and I-301 (future LaGG-3) became competitors in the fighter "aviation market".
The designer was always on the lookout, modernizing and creating new aircraft. As a result, the aircraft, and La-7, along with the machines of other designers, made a great contribution to the victory over Nazi Germany. In one of his publications, Lavochkin wrote: “At one time the crossbow replaced the bow, but it was not he who radically changed the combat capability of the army. This required gunpowder ... Rationalization, the improvement of existing structures and machines, of course, is a necessary matter, and I am by no means an opponent of rationalization, but the time has come to break away more boldly from accepted schemes, from hackneyed methods - it is necessary to combine the evolutionary paths of development of technology with genuine revolutionary break ".

The time for a revolutionary path came after the war with the advent of turbojet engines. Unfortunately, at this stage in the development of aircraft, OKB-301 was engaged in the creation of only prototype aircraft. One of them, La-160, for the first time in domestic practice, equipped with a swept wing, paved the way for the famous fighter, the appearance of which during the Korean War contributed to the quickest end of the armed conflict.
The chances of adopting the La-200 patrolling interceptor were very high. But the successful completion of its tests coincided with the creation of the Yak-25 aircraft with the AM-5 small-sized engines, which led to a change in the views of the military.
“Wherever I was, whatever I did, I always thought about the plane,” wrote Lavochkin. - Not about the one that is already flying, but about the one that does not yet exist, which should still be. Sometimes you sit, watch a play, and suddenly you catch yourself thinking about an airplane. The performance moved somewhere far away, and the plane was again before my eyes ...
I don't know yet what it will be. Some details are vaguely looming. I think. Another person might say: rather strange occupation - from morning till night to pace your office. Is it an occupation? But everyone works in their own way. So, walking, I change my mind and refine my idea. This is work. This is tedious, strenuous work.
And when finally it becomes clear to me what this new car should be like, I call my workmates over to me. “This is what I came up with,” I tell them, “how do you like it?” They listen attentively, write something down, draw something. Discussion begins. Sometimes it seems to me that they like my idea too much and I can't help it.
- Criticize the same, damn it! I shout to them. They get excited, and such a noise rises in the office that visitors sitting in the reception area might think that sworn enemies are gathered here. But our common cause is dear to all of us, therefore we are all so excited and lose our temper. The discussion ends. We are glad. Now, at least, it is clear to each of us what he is right and where he is wrong. Now you can start.
And now the first line appears on the drawings. Dozens of people are working on the future aircraft. My slender machine seems to disintegrate into separate parts: the engine, the propeller group, the weapons - specialists are working on each part. And everyone is in a hurry - hurry, hurry! "
The last manned OKB-301 aircraft was the La-250 interceptor. The machine is very complex and represented a bunch of advanced technical solutions. But the experience of its creation was not in vain, and the results of many years of research and flight tests contributed to the development of new models of combat aircraft in other design teams.

Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1958), Major General of the Engineering and Technical Service (1942), twice Hero of Socialist Labor (1943 and 1956).

In 1920, from the ranks of the Red Army, he was sent to the Moscow Higher Technical School, from which he graduated in 1927.

Since 1935, chief designer for aircraft construction. Under his leadership, fighter planes "LaGG-Z", "La-5", "La-7" and a number of their modifications were created, which had high combat qualities and played an important role during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45.

Three times Hero of the Soviet Union I.N. Kozhedub shot down 62 fascist aircraft on fighters designed by Lavochkin. Lavochkin's works post-war period devoted to the development of jet aviation technology: the aircraft he created for the first time in the USSR reached the speed of sound in flight.

Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 3rd - 5th convocations.

USSR State Prize (1941, 1943, 1946, 1948).

He was awarded 3 Orders of Lenin, 3 other orders and medals.

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