The creator of the first Soviet robot and several more androids that glorified domestic robotics. The developer of a device that allowed the USSR, if not to win, then to reduce to a local one and prevent a new world war. He is the author of a system for teaching children the basics of electronics, on which more than one future high-tech genius has grown. For all his merits to his homeland, Vadim Viktorovich Matskevich did not always find recognition in his own country. Although the same States, which annoyed his inventions a lot, Matskevich’s authority was always respected, making documentaries with his participation and publishing articles written by him. It is worth considering - perhaps, attention to the fate of such great specialists as Matskevich is one of the signs of a developed high-tech society.
Siren vs. World War III
During the war, Matskevich, along with other students, worked on the construction of defensive structures around Moscow, and then went to the Air Force Academy. Mozhaysky. In 1942, he became a test engineer at the Air Force Research Institute. Two years later, he conducts test flights on the Me-110 night interceptor captured from the Germans, equipped with the latest radar system. Radars allowed to fight in the absence of visibility and Vadim took seriously the study of these devices, which still had a huge role to play in the development of military aviation. The Siren warning station he developed saved the position of Soviet fighters in the Korean War, which began in 1950. Our generally superior MiG-15s and MiG-17s were shot down by American Sabers long before they could be noticed. This was done with the help of active radio range finders, "seeing" the situation within a radius of 2.5 km. Once, one rangefinder fell into the hands of our specialists, and Matskevich, having studied it, was able to make a miniature passive radar that detects an enemy aircraft with a radar as much as 10 km away. It didn’t work out right away - having offered his radar, Matskevich came across stubborn resistance from mossy ranks in the military-industrial complex and was even fired from the army. The case moved only after his meeting with the designer of the “Moments” Mikoyan, who managed to convey the advantages of the new radar to the head of state - Stalin.
At the direction of the "supreme" "Siren" was introduced and until the end of this war, our aircraft did not lose a single fighter in the sky of Korea. But the Sabers began to fall one after another - the expensive American guidance systems failed their masters, losing to the penny Matskevich’s radar. Largely thanks to the Siren, the United States postponed its plans for a massive nuclear attack on Soviet megacities by strategic aviation forces - soon Matskevich’s devices were put on fighter-interceptors of the USSR air defense, not giving bombers with death megatons on board any chance to get closer to our cities. The Yankees realized that it is too dangerous to engage in a direct battle with an adversary who is able to flexibly respond to any military and technological challenges.
NKVD missiles
A young Cossack who is fond of radio electronics - it seems that we already went through such a combination in the IDN when we talked about cybernetics Viktor Glushkov. The hero of this article - Vadim Matskevich was born in 1920 in the capital of the Don Cossacks Novocherkassk and knew how to hold in his hands ... no, not a saber, but a soldering iron almost from the cradle. At ten years old he built a mobile radio station, and at twelve - a radio-controlled armored car that fired rockets and fireworks. For the armored car, he was rewarded with a pile of tin sheets, bearings and new radio components, of which the boy for several years created a real robot that could, however, not much. For example, move to the light, shoot a pistol and raise your right hand to shoulder level. In 1937, Soviet robot No. 1 traveled to the World Exhibition in Paris, where it unexpectedly attracted the attention of guests from the Third Reich. After that, the robot arm raised up began to be interpreted by some particularly vigilant citizens as an imitation of the Nazi salute. A young robotics engineer who had already become a student at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute was summoned to the NKVD, but was quickly released. For the time being. The following year, Matskevich, using remote control, drove his rocket carrier to the building of the regional NKVD and fired a volley at it - so the guy took revenge on the repressed comrade, former secretary of the Komsomol regional committee. The building was almost not damaged, but Vadim was seized and interrogated for two weeks. But, fortunately, they forgave and released - the chief security officer of Novocherkassk stood up for him. Otherwise, our story would end in the first chapter.
Dance Robotics
Engaged in radar systems at the Air Force Research Institute, Matskevich did not abandon his long-standing passion for robotics. The public load helped in this - in his spare time from service (and Vadim Viktorovich, by the way, rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel), he led a circle at one of the Moscow stations of a young technician. The abundance of radio components and components contributed to the training of schoolchildren: in the 1950s and 1960s, American spy balloons flew in swarms into the USSR airspace, most of which were interrupted by our air defense forces. Young technicians riveted their crafts from the downed overseas equipment. In 1959, Matskevich and the team made a robot with much more skills than the poor fellow who liked the Germans. And again, Matskevich’s work attracted the attention of foreigners, this time by the American delegation. Impressed by the robot, Vice President Nixon presented Vadim Viktorovich and his wards with provocative gifts - passports of honorary citizens of the United States. Of course, no one took advantage of the gifts, and ten years later a new robot came out of the doors of Matskevich’s circle dancing. A cheerful, able to dance android became part of the Soviet exposition at the Expo-70 exhibition held in Japan, where it compares favorably with hundreds of functional, but dull machines and manipulators. The Japanese emperor Hirohito, who saw him, was so enthusiastic that he demanded that the Soviet robot be given a central place at the exhibition.
The station of the young technician, at which Matskevich taught children robotics, was not the exclusive privilege of Muscovites. Since 1926, such stations, whose goal was the development of children's technical creativity, opened throughout the country. Already in the 30s, the work of Soviet schoolchildren regularly won awards at international exhibitions, and in the Great Patriotic War, young technicians organized workshops for the implementation of military orders. The work of the stations, with which prominent scientists, military and cosmonauts collaborated, acquired a special scope in the 60s. On their basis, entire design bureaus arose, building models and full-fledged apparatuses for almost all sectors of the national economy. By the beginning of the 80s, there were more than 1000 young technician stations operating in the country, within which various clubs and circles functioned. In addition, there were about 1,500 houses and clubs of young technicians working in the trade union system. All this was part of a huge system of children's technical creativity that helped yesterday's kids correctly decide on the choice of a profession.
Serious Dice Games
Japanese interest in Soviet electronics was not limited to dancing robots. In 971, Matskevich’s article was published in one of the supplements to the magazine Young Technician, where readers were asked to make small plastic cubes based on simple diagrams inside which radio elements and magnets were placed. “Playing” in “radio cubes” it was possible to assemble not only receivers, but also much more complex devices. Actually, the electronic insides of the robot that conquered the emperor consisted of the details of the designer Matskevich. Within a year, the idea of \u200b\u200bVadim Viktorovich was realized by industry. But not Soviet, but Japanese - the Gakken training set became a hit, thanks to which crowds of children around the world excitedly joined the ranks of beginner radio electronics. In the USSR, such a set appeared a little later and has not taken away worldwide popularity from the Japanese counterpart. Although several factories were engaged in its mass production at once, and work with recruitment was included in the school curriculum. Matskevich developed six more new designers, with the help of which a child with a minimum of knowledge and skills could assemble, for example, a computer stuffing or a robotic arm. Today, the creation of a training set by Matskevich can be compared with the invention of a personal computer. If the PC made the possibilities of electronic computers widely accessible, the “Matskevich’s cubes” opened up for the world millions of talents who have created and will continue to create new computers, new robots and new gadgets.
The Japanese company Gakken has gained worldwide fame thanks to the training set created by Matskevich’s methodology “Electronics in Radio Cube”. In fairness, it is worth saying that the technique was not stolen by them - Vadim Viktorovich himself gave the green light to its use. The serial production of the designer Gakken ended in 1986, but in 2002 was resumed in connection with the return of fashion to "home-made" electronics.
At the age of 8 he made the first invention - radio transmission in a suitcase, for which he was encouraged with the certificate of honor “Drummer of the second year of the second five-year plan”. In 1936 he created the first Soviet robot, which in 1937 was shown at the Paris World Exhibition and received a prize.
According to the results of participation in the exhibition was accepted in without exams. In 1942 he graduated from the Air Force Academy. A.F. Mozhaysky. Member of World War II (test pilot at the Air Force Institute).
In 1944-1945 he developed the Tovarishch warning station, which was then used in the Korean War on MiG-15 and MiG-17 aircraft.
The robot, designed by Matskevich in the form of a man, raised his hand, however, due to the weakness of the motor, only slightly above shoulder level. German experts from the neighboring pavilion of the World Exhibition in Paris came to be photographed with a robot in a Nazi salute; this circumstance was the reason for accusing the designer of political incorrectness. From repression he was saved by his youthful age and the head of the Novocherkassk NKVD B.I. Talasov.
In protest against the execution of the first secretary of the Azov-Black Sea Territory Komsomol K. Erofitsky, who supported him in his work and later declared an enemy of the people, fired mini-rockets at the building of the Rostov NKVD from a miniature radio-controlled mobile installation. Has been arrested; released under the personal guarantee of B. I. Talasov.
He worked in the design bureau in Chkalovsk, where he learned about the great losses of the Soviet pilot in the Korean War due to the use of active radio range finders by the American F-86 Sabers, which made it possible to detect the target much earlier (2.5 km versus 150 m within sight). Having studied the captured trophy F-86, he proposed a passive radar circuit with acoustic signaling that detects the enemy’s active radar for 10 km. There was a conflict with the bosses, since the invention demonstrated the inefficiency of the work of a whole team of designers who offered to operate a heavy radar (weighing 100 kg) with a short range (600 m). This was followed by dismissal from the army on charges of "worship of foreigners and cosmopolitanism." After addressing the Air Force Commander-in-Chief, Marshal Zhigarev, he was subjected to a psychiatric examination that did not detect any diseases; an expert doctor advised him to seek understanding "above." Thanks to the assistance of future cosmonaut Georgy Beregovoy and test pilot Stepan Mikoyan, the invention was demonstrated to aircraft designer Artyom Mikoyan, who reported on the invention to Stalin. By personal order of Stalin, 10 copies of the radar were installed on MiG aircraft. Initially, the radar was easily excited from the slightest interference in a humid atmosphere, as a result of which it received the name "Siren". We managed to solve the problem by flooding the radar sensors with rice resin. After this, the losses of Soviet fighter planes sharply decreased, the radar was called "Comrade", and escorting American bombers by F-86 fighters became ineffective. It is believed that this eliminated the threat of the Third World Atomic War.
Categories:
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
Matskevich V.V. Entertaining anatomy of robots, NPBSh, 1988.
Paradoxically, the first Soviet robot was created by a schoolboy, Vadim Matskevich. This happened in 1936, when Vadim was only 16 years old. However, the young inventor was previously distinguished by outstanding abilities. So, at the age of eight, he had already designed a radio transmitter, for which he received an honorary diploma “Work Drummer of the Second Year of the Second Five-Year Plan”. At the age of twelve, the young inventor created an armored car that could fire rockets.
Warmly welcomed at the World Exhibition in Paris, В2М brought Vadim a lot of problems, since politics intervened in this matter. The fact is that Vadim's robot raised his right hand. A delegation from Nazi Germany who visited the Paris exhibition appreciated the invention of the Soviet schoolchild. Its representatives were photographed with "B2M", arms extended in a Nazi salute.
Returning to the USSR, Vadim was in a difficult position: all Soviet newspapers wrote about the success of a schoolboy in Paris, but the Novocherkassk regional department of the NKVD became interested in his activity. The reason for this was a letter in which someone recommended Vadim to patent his inventions and offered him his help for 20% of the amount that Matskevich should have received. Oddly enough, a letter suggesting joint illegal activity may have saved Vadim’s life: “Sometimes I think that if it weren’t for that ill-fated letter, I would die in the steppes of Kazakhstan ...” laughs Vadim Viktorovich. - Then, during interrogation, I measured - this is the 37th year. And if by chance the then head of the Novocherkassk NKVD Boris Ivanovich Talasov, Ossetians, the smartest man didn’t go into that room ?! He immediately says - what happened? I read the letter - and why do enemies of the people seem strange to you everywhere? Well this is a boy yet! In general, he asks me - what do you want, man? I say - a bicycle! The fact is that I was promised a bicycle for participating in the Paris exhibition, and they gave me 250 rubles of premium. You couldn’t even buy a wheel for this money! In general, he says - come in, they say, in a couple of days to me. You will have a bike! So we became friends - I began to go to him in the NKVD a couple of times a week. I’ll come, he will call the Dynamo store - will they bring the bicycles, and then we’ll definitely sit and talk. He even introduced me to his daughter, my peer was, Darling. ”
The fate of the inventor evolved in a dramatic style. It contained opal, recognition, rebellion, and creativity. The inventor of the first domestic android died on October 2, 2013. Despite the fact that Vadim Matskevich devoted a significant part of his life to working with the younger generation, now his name has been lost in the shadow of other, no less deserved, domestic scientists. However, robotics continues to develop, circles, albeit in a slightly different form, are functioning. Who knows, perhaps, among today's guys who storm Darknet in search of their alchemical artifacts, there is Matskevich, and over the years, the abbreviation "B2M" will become more popular than "R2D2". After all, an android is not only a phone.
The figure shows a funny puppy that walks, wagging its tail gaily, barks, turning its head to the right and left, stops, looking around, and then continues to bark again. It was designed by a young technician Muscovite Myasum Alyautdinov. The electronic unit of the model is a software device of three time relays. One relay connects power to the other two for a certain time (about a minute), after which the model stops. Two software relays periodically stop the model, including the barking device, or put it into motion mode. To obtain long delays with small-capacity excipod capacitors, both time relays are assembled on operational amplifiers.
VADIM MATSKEVICH - WINNER OF AMERICA
I think the biggest tragedy of our people was that we did not watch the cartoon "Shrek" 90 years ago. Because in this cartoon it is simply and easily explained that cannibals are like bulbs. I mean, puff. And any person - and especially the cannibal - must be considered taking into account the undercoat layers.
Here is a fresh example. A week ago, the editors rang. The first sentence: "I love Spark so much, and recently I was declassified! Such luck! I would like to meet with you!" The first thought - well, another crazy grandfather. But now I'm in the know about onion theory, so I listened to a couple more thousand phrases. Sucked in.
In general, I had to go to Star City.
Vadim Viktorovich Matskevich - retired lieutenant colonel. His 82 years are more like a fairy tale than all American cartoons combined. Honestly, I still didn’t understand what was in his story a fairy tale and what was true. Understanding the affairs of bygone days is not a trifle in your pockets. In general, if you understand - write letters.
So, Vadim Viktorovich has three chips. The first is robotics. The second is airplanes. The third is children. On these three chips, as on three pillars, is the fascinating and implausible life of VVM.
CHIP # 1. Pioneer Matskevich and the NKVD
Well, can it be that a seven-year-old boy from the capital of the Don Cossacks of the 20s was carried away by electronics? Yes, then they still did not hear about her! But no - as they say, it was! When Vadik turned twelve, he made a radio-controlled armored car, firing rockets and fireworks. At the station of young technicians in Rostov-on-Don, the then first secretary of the Komsomol regional committee, Kostya Erofitsky, saw an electronic miracle and was impressed:
- Wow! Really did it yourself? What else do you want to do?
- Robots! - the pioneer answered without hesitation.
The conversation was heard by the famous Claudia Vilor, who was famous thanks to the writer Soloukhin, who worked as the director of this station:
“What,” he says, “for bourgeois indecency?” What other robots? Robots are bourgeois little things that allow these bourgeois to fire workers from factories!
But Kostya did not heed the wisdom of the older generation:
- And what do you need for this? He asked the young technician.
“Twelve sheets of tinplate and ... bearings.”
And Vadik had happiness in the form of tin, imported bearings and permission to work in the turning workshops of the Novocherkassk Polytechnic. Two long years of hard work created a real robot that could raise his right hand. The work of the Don pioneer was appreciated and sent the robot to the world exhibition in 1937 in Paris. It was then that Vadik had the first among many problems with the NKVD. The fact is that the Soviet pavilion, crowned by Mukhinsky workers and collective farmers, made, incidentally, especially for this exhibition, was located next to the pavilion of achievements of German economy. And since the Nazis were already bossing in Germany at that time, they were very fascinated by the pioneer robot - the motor raising his hand was rather weak, which is why this same arm heaved only straight ahead a little higher than the shoulder, reminding the fascists of something elusively dear. So they got into the habit of going to the Soviet pavilion to be photographed with a politically correct robot - they would be on both sides, wait until he lifts his hand, themselves, too, “Zig Heil!” and release a bird. Of course, this bothered the responsible workers. Pioneer Matskevich had more than one conversation on the topic "Why is your robot greeting the Fuhrer?" All this, however, did not prevent Vadik from receiving the diploma of the Paris exhibition, which he still carefully preserves, and the recognition of the Motherland — all Soviet newspapers wrote about his work. And soon Vadik Matskevich was summoned to the Novocherkassk regional department of the NKVD.
During the interrogation, it turned out that the reason was a letter sent to the address of the local house of pioneers from Kiev - some quick-witted person recommended that the pioneer obtain a patent for the invention of the scheme of the first Soviet robot. They crossed, they say, to me the blueprints, I will draw up everything for twenty percent of everything that you get for it. Such a business proposal. In general, much could come out of this for Vadik, but a miracle happened.
“Sometimes I think that if it weren’t for that ill-fated letter, I would die in the steppes of Kazakhstan ...” laughs Vadim Viktorovich. - Then, during interrogation, I already measured - this is after all the 37th year. And although there were no mass repressions in the province yet, what everyone knew was an enemy of the people. And if by chance the then head of the Novocherkassk NKVD Boris Ivanovich Talasov, Ossetians, the smartest man didn’t go into that room ?! He immediately says - what happened? I read the letter - and why do enemies of the people seem strange to you everywhere? Well this is a boy yet! In general, he asks me - what do you want? I say - a bicycle! The fact is that I was promised a bicycle for participating in the Paris exhibition, and they gave me 250 rubles of premium. You couldn’t even buy a wheel for this money! In general, he says - come in, they say, in a couple of days to me. You will have a bike! So we became friends - I began to go to him in the NKVD a couple of times a week.
I’ll come, he will call the Dynamo store - will they bring the bicycles, and then we’ll definitely sit and talk. He even introduced me to his daughter, my peer was, Darling ... And in the 38th he was declared Kost Yerofitsky as an enemy of the people and shot ... He was such a handsome guy, he spoke so well - he would go out onto the balcony, a long forelock fluttering ...
In general, I could not bear it. Kostya Yerofitsky wrote in gold letters on his armored car, which he liked so much, drove him with a friend to Rostov, placed him next to the regional NKVD building (this is where the SKVO headquarters is now), on the other side of the street he brought him to the window by radio and shot a volley . Glasses flew out ... but we, of course, were seized. For two weeks, investigator Friedman interrogated me ... What did he not do. And again, Talasov saved me - he came, vouched for me and took ... He then released my father, otherwise ... Remember the "Iron Stream" by Serafimovich? There was such a hero - the legendary red commander Casing. So, this Kozhuh - actually Koftyukh - was such a huge man, then a military commissar of Novocherkassk, was also shot, and his wife ... Two of his sons studied with me from the same school - my oldest classmate was. After the execution of the parents, they were sent to Kazakhstan, to the camps for the children of the enemies of the people, and both of them died there ... That would be the way I did, but Boris Ivanovich saved.
After there was an institute ... and everything else - like everyone else. Including the war.
CHIP # 2. The first electronic and its winner
By order of the motherland and the call of the heart, Vadim Matskevich became a test pilot. In the middle of World War II, strange things began to happen in the air. For example, the invincible American “flying fortresses” “B-29,” “Liberators,” and “DB-3,” which until then erased German cities almost with impunity, suddenly lost their invulnerability. And not for air defense, but for the Fuhrer’s new secret weapon, the Messerschmidt-110 night interceptors. The new equipment of the Messers - radar stations, devices of invisible combat - allowed them to attack without visibility, in fog, clouds, at night. Only in October 44, near Yasy, two fairly crippled new Messers were captured. After the repair, one of them managed to be transported to the Air Force Institute near Moscow. A group of suicide bombers, which included our hero, flew on a damaged trophy. During the 21st flight, Lieutenant Matskevich injured his leg in a mangled cabin and with a diagnosis of gangrene was suspended from flying. In the 22nd flight, the plane left without him, but never returned - all his comrades died. As a result, in the Soviet Union only one person survived and even recovered from his youth, who knew what a radar was. And he applied his talents not in the Great Patriotic War, but later.
For those who do not know anything about the Korean War, a brief reference: this was the first confrontation of the former allies - the USSR on the one hand and all the others on the other. In 1950, North Korea attacked South. The south was not even able to provide decent resistance - Seoul fell within three days - besides turning to the Americans for help. Quite unexpectedly, the combined UN forces under the command of General MacArthur really came to protect the world from the Communist infection - and very successfully. The turning point in the war turned out to be very clear and in a few weeks the situation changed to the exact opposite. The Chinese, and, of course, the Soviet pilots in Chinese uniform, rushed to the aid of the North Korean brothers. A division of the famous Kozhedub in the amount of five hundred aircraft arrived in the bordering Chinese territory, including the ultra-modern MiG-15 fighters flying at an altitude inaccessible to no other aircraft in the world.
I must say that the Korean War is also famous for the first in the history of world aviation jet combat - jet aircraft against jet aircraft. I must say that this battle ended not in our favor - at the beginning of the Korean War, the ratio of losses in the air was approximately equal to one in ten. And all because of the strange American fighter Saber F-86E. Intelligence reports speculated that it was all about the amazing sight of the new American aircraft. Guess was not enough. And ace pilot Colonel Pepelyaev managed to knock out Saber. The pilot tried to land the damaged aircraft on the water, but only reached the coastal strip. So that the plane did not get the enemy, the Americans urgently flew out to bomb the shore. Our rushed to intercept. The battle for the American fighter lasted more than three hours, we lost seven MiGs - to no avail. In general, in the end, the Korean god smiled at the north - the tide began and the plane flooded. Nimble Chinese under water (!) Dismantled the plane and took out the hull. So "Saber" got to the Air Force Institute near Moscow for research. In general, it is clear that here the paths of the plane and Lieutenant Matskevich crossed, and the lieutenant found out that the whole thing really was in the cunning electronic sight of the American fighter. Simply put, Saber could shoot down a target two and a half kilometers from it, while all other planes fired only within sight - 150-200 meters. It became clear why our MiGs fell in such numbers - they weren’t sleepy, but they had already been knocked down.
- It's a shame! - smiles Vadim Viktorovich. - Of course, as I figured it out, I immediately rushed with a report - they say that ours is no good, we must urgently copy the American sight! It was then that I was worshiped by foreigners and cosmopolitanism ... well, yes. Thirty-five applications came to me. They called to Moscow, a bunch of generals are sitting, reading out statements - all the same. In general, they kicked me out of the army, deprived me of my allowance and salary. And I, by the way, have a wife with a small daughter. In general, we were starving - I started a stomach ulcer. And nevertheless, I decided to go again to the Air Force Commander-in-Chief Marshal Zhigarev - with a dozen radars, which I came up with and a summary of the losses (America’s voice was definitely transmitting). Here it is, this "Siren" ...
In the palm of Vadim Viktorovich is a 7x10 metal box in which there is a small board with a terminal.
- When I investigated the American sight, I realized what frequency it works at. And he made a radar that detects this signal for 10 kilometers and notifies the pilot that he is under the gun. Zhigarev listened to me, and then waved a finger in my face: “You won’t buy Americans for such a damn thing! Here, on the personal order of Comrade Stalin, our entire industry produces“ Positrons ”, weighing one hundred kilograms, and they only warn the pilot for 600 meters! And you you say that your baby for 10 keme works! " I had to blow my legs. And then friends advised me - are you going to save Mikoyanov’s planes? Go to Mikoyan! They arranged a meeting for us, he listened, thought and said - I believe you. Immediately I flew to China with my ten stations. On the night of the station put on the MiG, and they flew. And in the morning some general called me and said: "Well, thanks, comrade captain!" And I was confused, I say: "I am a lieutenant!" - I think maybe she doesn’t know, I’m in Chinese uniform. And he: "And Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bulganin (the then Minister of Defense) says that you are the captain!" Then the commotion began - Stalin ordered in three months to equip with my stations all five hundred aircraft of the Korean corps. And still, all our planes carry my Sirens on their tails!
And I also recovered from an ulcer in China. They had cooks so tasty there - some chops, huge ones, every kind of bird ... But I have an ulcer, I haven’t eaten anything for two months - I just drank compote, I’m yellow, I don’t even know what. So here. As the only engineer, I had the right to talk with captured Americans - with the goal of finding out all sorts of technical secrets from them, of course ... Once our men caught Colonel Makhurin - he was the son of our emigrants. And they say to me: go, they say, talk to him - you don’t need a translator. I go in, and he sits, legs on the table. I told him: "Well, you, Mr., feet on the table - indecent!" And he told me: “It’s indecent,” he says, “to call for interrogation after dinner. You Russians do not rest after eating, so you all have a stomach ulcer.” Well, well, I think. In general, we talked for a couple of hours - and all about the ulcer. I tried after a meal for about fifteen to twenty minutes to rest - not half lying, but half sitting. They twisted their fingers around the temple - every morning, at nine o’clock, the Americans fly to bomb Korea, and turn around on Chinese territory, right above our military town. Everyone runs to the bomb shelter, and I rest after breakfast, and nothing can move me! So two weeks later I ate a whole Peking duck! A friend says to me - why are you, you’ve been starving for two months! And at least for me - where the whole ulcer has gone!
CHIP # 3. Same children
Vadim Viktorovich’s only dream is to publish his latest book, From Entertaining Electronics to the Profession. In fact, he has published enough books, but this one is the most important. The fact is that Vadim Viktorovich came up with a system for teaching children electronics. And even the corresponding designers developed. Apparently, the system works - the entire apartment of the first Russian robot builder is littered with children's electronic tricks: dogs, executing commands, grunting pigs, flickering pictures, crabs that respond to different types of radiation ... And, of course, robots.
- I always messed with the kids. All my comrades told me - why are you, Ph.D., and you mess with all the children! Not solid, they say. What about me? Seeing the results of your work in children is much nicer than even on airplanes. Among my students there are many professional electronics engineers with a capital letter. Look at the photo - this is a robot that we made with the children. He and I sang, and danced, and talked with the public, answered questions ... You see, these two boys, Vovka Polyakov and Oleg Kustov, turned their backs to the camera for nothing - they are now classified military designers ... Oh, with This robot has an interesting story to tell.
In 1959, an American exhibition was being prepared in Sokolniki. In April, the deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers came to our station ... and said: "The Americans said they would bring six robots. What can we oppose them?" Well, the guys and I showed him this robot. He was pleased. A special stage was built for the robot in front of the American pavilion, and he performed there. The Americans were astounded! Nixon himself came to this exhibition, at that time the vice president of America. So he gave us - me and my four little foppies - for this robot, he issued passports of honorary citizens of America and a special letter from Nixon’s personal guest. Well, of course, the passports were immediately taken away by the authorities - “for storage”. So we have not seen them since.
And this robot in the seventieth year was recognized as the best robot in the world at an exhibition in Japan. Of course, we did not go to represent him ... There was also such an episode. The robot was put in a corner, and so many people crowded around it that the passing emperor Hirohito said: "Well, what have you locked up the most interesting exhibit in the corner? Let it go among people!" And our "companions" only moo - no way possible, they say. The emperor smiled: “Well, we have Sony, Hitachi corporations. They will do everything.” And the rest of the exhibition, the robot walked and talked with people. So one gebist, Nikolai Ivanovich Ukolov, received a medal for this robot - here he is in the photograph. He told me everything that he shoots prisoners himself, twenty people a day, and even introduced rationalization - puts them in pairs, one in front of the other, and kills two in the back of the head with a bullet ... A bastard. He probably received a higher pension - for rationalization and for our robot.
- What about the children?
“Well, the children did get something.” They are at the end of the exhibition ... asks: what university do you want to enter? They stand, bewildered, moo: MEI, MAI ... I say - Doodles! Fizteh! So they went to the physics and technology department. And I still do with the guys. It’s convenient here - the plane crashed, here’s a whole bunch of metal, and motors, and relays ... You know, I’ve been struck by an article in The Spark, this one, an interview with some Vykhansky. Here: "I don’t think that our electronics have any prospects. It’s just that by nature we are not adapted to the high-quality performance of small, precise operations." But this is absurd! Such specialists must, as Putin said, be wet in the toilet! We were always the first in this area - I told you! But in the end, who's a shoe flea? And what children we have smart! Now, of course, everything has changed - even the children. Previously, after all, all the guys were busy, were fond of something, but now they don’t know anything at all ... They are helpless, they don’t want anything ... But this is easy to fix! Here they bring such guys to me, and after two months they are completely different, they try so hard, they burn! Yes, just do not recognize those guys - and the parents are surprised ... Everything can be done. We need to teach electronics at school! In kindergarten! It is possible, believe me!
- Yes, I believe, I believe!
Here, Stanislavsky would have believed, all the more so on a full stomach - in addition to all other talents, Vadim Viktorovich fries meat great and treats them to visiting journalists. Sipping gulls with cookies, I made out two books of Bill Gates - "The Road to the Future" and "Business at the Speed \u200b\u200bof Thought":
- Do you read Bill Gates?
- Yeah. A biting little man. Well, I, of course, will not compete with him - the years are not the same. Do you know why I don't like Bush?
- Interest Ask.
- For removing from the embassy in Russia all the people who loved Russia. For example, my friend James Connell, captain of the first rank of the US Navy - he helped me a lot. He set the phone for me, tossed some money on vacation. I handed him the unfinished book of Felix Chuyev about me - "The Soldier of the Empire" is called. The Americans published pieces from there in various magazines - and everywhere they represent me as a person who "defeated the Americans in electronic warfare." A few years ago they shot a film about the Korean War, and they also asked me about those times. By the way, our some State Duma committee was very offended that I gave the book to the Americans. And I say - yes, here in all publishing houses they demanded money from me, and the Americans themselves helped me. They put the phone here ... They all asked me - well, has the government really paid you nothing for your invention? Yes, in any country in the world you would already be a billionaire!
- And they did not tell you that behind the radar they are on American planes? The fact is that in the 59th year during the Egyptian war, the Israelis captured several of our MiGs-15 and -21. And, in accordance with the agreements, they were transferred to the Americans. So maybe Americans owe you a lot more ...
- By the way, maybe! Of course, I need money for a book ... Then a friend of mine advised me - send, they say, a report on the work done during the Korean War by Bin Laden. He’ll throw you a couple of hundred thousand, and that's enough for a book, and for kids ...
For a very long time I could not say goodbye to Vadim Viktorovich. He wanted to show photographs and children's crafts. Standing in the doorway, we talked about palm trees (“From my wife left”) and birds that fly to the balcony to feast on bacon (“A woodpecker flies twice a day, I'm waiting for it!”), And how to cut and lay the bacon for every kind of bird ...
Life, like any cannibal, is still very diverse and flaky - like a bulb. You can be a soldier in an empire against the will of that empire. You can be beaten by your country, and love her after all that she has done to you. You can be young, talented and in demand - and in old age, feed the birds and palm trees left from your destiny ... And yet - life is beautiful, if only because you can walk on Thursdays to engage with children and go to the Crimea for the summer. And in winter, look at the advertising poster of the Livadia Reserve on the wall and wait for spring together with the birds.
In recent years, it has become fashionable worldwide to conduct population surveys to identify an invention that is most significant. They call a wheel, gunpowder, an airplane, a transistor, a computer, the Internet, etc. That's right, these are really outstanding inventions, but no one called the invention made in 1952 by the Soviet lieutenant V.A. Matskevich. In its significance, it occupies a special place in the history of invention, because, it can be considered, it saved humanity from the third world war.
An intrigued reader will impatiently ask: what kind of invention is this?
We will call it, but first things first.
It is no longer a secret that half a century ago, American generals planned to launch a nuclear attack on the USSR almost every year. The American military doctrine has changed since World War II. According to its provisions, military units did not need to make contact with the enemy. To destroy it was planned to use several nuclear bombs and thereby secure a victory.
It was supposed to drop several thousand nuclear bombs on large cities, industrial and military facilities of the Soviet Union. To Moscow and Leningrad - 6 each.
But in order to implement this plan, the bombs had to be delivered. For this, the United States already had B-26 and B-29 bombers in service, the latter was notorious for dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
But the USSR is not Japan, and the Soviet MiG-15 fighters, which at that time were in service with the USSR, could become an obstacle to bombing.
In 1950, the war began in Korea. The United States, with the support of some countries at the UN, began active military operations against the DPRK.
The Koreans were helped by China - with their volunteers, and the Soviet Union - with military equipment and pilots. After all, the DPRK had neither aviation nor pilots.
In the sky over Korea, a competition between Soviet and American fighters unfolded. This was essentially a rehearsal of the undeclared World War III. If the Americans won in those air battles, it would mean that they could defend the B-29 bombers, which would carry nuclear weapons to the Soviet Union.
At first, air superiority was with Soviet pilots. But then the situation changed, and MiGs began to suffer heavy losses.
It turned out that on the enemy’s aircraft radars were installed, which made it possible to detect Soviet fighters over several tens of kilometers. This made it possible to attack MiGs unexpectedly and from advantageous positions.
At the same time, in the USSR, the development of a radar was also carried out in a specialized research institute. But the designers did not promise to detect the enemy at a great distance and could not make the device compact for placement on a fighter.
In the meantime, our guys died in the sky of Korea.
And at that moment, Lieutenant Vadim Andreevich Matskevich proposed to install his device on the MiG, which made it possible to record the beginning of the irradiation of the aircraft with an enemy locator.
But the well-known bureaucratic system did not allow the "outsider" to solve the problem, over which hundreds of specialists from another department fought.
And there was everything according to the classical scheme: the dismissal of V.A. Matskevich from the army, and an attempt to stipulate him.
But there were smart people who advised not to butt with bureaucrats at the lower level, but to go to the upper echelons of power.
In the meantime, our guys died in the sky over Korea.
Matskevich made ten devices at his own expense and began to look for ways to reach those who make the decision.
First, he turned to George Beregovoy (future astronaut), who lived in his city. He served in the same regiment with Stepan Mikoyan. The latter, learning about the problem, immediately called his uncle Artem Ivanovich Mikoyan, the chief designer of the very MiGs that fought in Korea.
Artem Ivanovich ensured that Stalin accepted him and reported to him about the invention of an unknown lieutenant.
Stalin instructed to install ten instruments on the MiG and test them in combat conditions. The results exceeded all expectations.
Now Soviet pilots immediately recognized that they were seen by an enemy radar. Well, if warned, then armed. They were already waiting for the enemy and from the experience of the battles even knew where he would come from. Usually, Americans attacked from the side of the sun, which at that moment blinded the eyes of a potential victim.
From now on, the outcome of any battle depended on the skill, experience, courage and courage of the pilot. Well, ours was not to occupy it. Indeed, the color of Soviet aviation, the heroes of the Soviet Union, and aces who had experience in air battles with the Luftwaffe fought in Korea.
It was ordered to make 500 sets of the device.
But unexpectedly during the test, the device had a malfunction.
Matskevich began to search for the cause and soon realized that the reason was high humidity. When the device “got wet”, it stopped giving a signal, and after drying, it started to work as before.
And here the inventor found a way out: he poured rice gum into the device, which Korean soldiers used to seal the joints between the plates at the airfield.
Now the device worked reliably.
They sent an urgent telegram to the manufacturer: fill the device with a compound.
Instruments were installed, and American planes rained down on Korean soil, like autumn leaves after a strong gust of wind. The victory in the air finally and irrevocably passed into the hands of Soviet pilots. And some of the hotheads of American warriors have cooled. It became clear to hawks in the USA that the air shield of the Soviet Union could no longer be pierced. The device of V.A. Matskevich was a receiver tuned to the frequency of the American locator. with acoustic alarm. The closer the enemy, the louder the signal. In essence, it was a radar detector that other motorists are now putting on their cars.
Looking at the invention from the heights of modern scientific and technological achievements, it seems that the device of Lieutenant Matskevich is nothing special. But for that time he was outstanding. And how he appeared on time!
He saved the lives of hundreds of Soviet pilots.
Believe V.A. Matskevich with your invention or step back before the bureaucratic machine, and a third world war would be inevitable.
Viktor Andreevich was promoted (through one rank) to captain and awarded the Order of the Red Star.
And the Chinese government, paying tribute to the merits of Soviet aviation in protecting the advancing Chinese volunteers from the air, presented him with a Volga car and built a garage for it.
A. Efimochkin
The young lieutenant Matskevich, who also took part in the study of the aircraft, made the assumption that this device is nothing but a radio range finder and immediately rushed with a report - they say, our one is no good, we must urgently copy the American sight, make a radio range finder! But no one wanted to listen to him - it seemed, how could a simple rangefinder serve as such a formidable weapon? However, as it turned out, the radio range finder allows you to detect the enemy in time and, knowing exactly the distance to him, adjust the fire of the guns. And even this is enough to become unattainable in aerial combat.
The bosses brushed aside the lieutenant, but he did not let up. To succumb to the persuasion of a single genius meant admitting the incompetence of entire institutions, and taking responsibility. And if the idea turns out to be erroneous? Thirty-five statements were written to the lieutenant. Vadim Viktorovich was dismissed from the army, deprived of allowance and salary.
They say there is no silver lining. So the dismissal gave Vadim Viktorovich a lot of free time. He recalled his long-standing idea of \u200b\u200ba device warning about the start of radar exposure. Based on the results of the Saber study, Matskevich imagined at what frequency the American rangefinder worked. With his money, he developed and created 10 samples of instruments that detect radar radiation and an audible warning signal to the pilot about the danger. He decided again to go to the Air Force Commander-in-Chief Marshal Zhigarev with his crafts, and a summary of losses according to the Voice of America radio station. He told him about his device, said that for 10 kilometers it detects radiation from enemy sights. Zhigarev listened to him, and then waved a finger in front of his nose: “You can’t buy Americans for such a damn thing! Here, by personal order of Comrade Stalin, our entire industry produces “Positrons” weighing one hundred kilograms, and they warn the pilot only 600 meters! And you say that your baby for 10 keme works! Young man, do not do nonsense! ”
And again, the competent authorities took up the annoying lieutenant. Well, they could not declare him an enemy - it was obvious to everyone that Matskevich could not be blamed for this.
Then they decided to go the other way and took him for examination to a psychiatric clinic.
The doctor, an old Jew, took a clear, intelligent look at the lieutenant and asked the Chekists accompanying him to leave them alone:
- Young man! It is obvious to both of us that you are as crazy as I am. Only here is what advice I will give you. It is impossible to achieve anything in our country by knocking on the bottoms. We must go to the very top! Whose aircraft are you going to defend? Mikoyan! So you have to go to Mikoyan!
V.V. Matskevich talked with G.G. Coastal, in those years, not yet a famous astronaut, but a MiG test pilot at the Air Force Research Institute. He told him about the possibility of building warning equipment and about the rejection of his ideas by the leadership of the Air Force Research Institute. Beregovoi suggested that it would be nice to interest our “tops” with this idea - without their support, any idea, even the most useful one, can go awry. In particular, he proposed to V.V. Matskevich to meet with MiG chief designer Artem Ivanovich Mikoyan.
“But I don’t know either his phone number or address,” VV Matskevich sighed.
I’ll talk with Stepan, - G.G. Beregovoi (meaning Stepan Anastasovich Mikoyan, nephew of A.I. Mikoyan, who at that time also worked as a test pilot of the MIGs at the Air Force Research Institute. In his memoirs, he mentions this story).
Mikoyan
V.V. Matskevich reported to Mikoyan about the principle of operation of his equipment, about the rejection of his idea at the Air Force Research Institute, about the fact that he was already being removed from the staff of this institution, simply - they were firing. “From tomorrow you will not need to ask them,” answered Artem Ivanovich, “from tomorrow they will ask you. They will return to you everything they have taken. After conducting flight tests at the Air Force Research Institute, I will send you with ten stations to Korea. ”
A.I. Mikoyan spoke with Air Force Commander-in-Chief Marshal P.F. Zhigarev, and the next day he ordered V.V. Matskevich come to him. “Exactly at 12,” VV recalled. Matskevich, - one after another about 10 generals entered the marshal’s office; I was the last to come. ”
“Marshal got up, leaning his hands on the table, and in a thunderous voice, without any preamble, he started shouting:“ All experts say that your ideas are bullshit, green rubbish. On Chkalovskaya everyone has brains. Serious institutes make warning stations weighing about 100 kg. They get a range of about 600-800 m. Specialists fight for every meter. And he, you see, made a matchbox, which has a range of 8-10 km! Correctly on Chkalovskaya they consider that you are not in yourself. Only the abnormal can carry such nonsense and, despite orders, orders, and finally, dismissal, - to pester with his nonsense.
And now he is here, ”the marshal drew a circle,“ in my office, and is taking our time, comrades generals! ” And nothing can be done with him: two Mikoyan follow him at once. General Danilin, you raised this stubborn man! This is your former employee! You did not bring up your employee well. Let him make 10 stations, and let Mikoyan send him to Korea in a week or two, as he please ...
I clearly said?
“And before departure,” the marshal continued, “get him vaccinated immediately against all Korean infections, maybe he’ll grow wiser!”
The generals smiled approvingly.
In conclusion of his formidable monologue, Zhigarev, more peacefully, said: “In general, brother, no matter what the bosses say, the lieutenants must respect and listen to them.
