ANDREY N.TUPOLEV

Andrey N. Tupolev - one of the greatest aircraft designers of the XX-th century was born on the 10-th of November, 1888 near city of Kimry. He finished school in city of Tver, graduated from Moscow Higher Technical School, became a student and .companion of N. Zhukovskiy - a “father of Russian aviation”.

Together wth N.Zhukovskiy A.N.Tupolev founded Central Aerohydraulic Institute. Following. Zhukovskiy’s precepts A.Tupolev developed aviation science and experimental and research facilities, in era of wooden airplane structures he became an inspirer and founder of Russian metal aircraft directing world aircraft production towards all-metal concept. In the 1920s A.Tupolev and his colleagues created heavy bomber which layout and design approaches defined for many years ahead trends of heavy aircraft development of both civil and military purpose. Soviet pilots landed Tupolev’s aircraft on Northern Pole, on board of Tupolev’s aircraft Chkalov and Gromov performed record flights from Moscow to the USA. By Tupolev’s initiative the first native jet passenger aircraft TU-104 was created which started mass operation of jet passenger aircraft in the world. Due to his activities our country obtained powerful strategic aircraft which made it possible in post-war period to restore balance in “cold war” and to prevent world nuclear war. Under his leadership excellent military and passenger aircraft of different purposes were built which mostly defined tendencies in world aviation of the XX-th century.

A.N.Tupolev was elected as an actual member of Academy of Science of the USSR, honorary member of UK Royal Aeronautic Society and US Institute of Aeronautics and space, he was awarded with premium and golden medal named after Zhukovskiy, with six governmental premiums, the highest prize of International Aviation Sport Federation. He was thrice awarded with name of hero of Socialist Labor and with the highest medals of the Soviet Union. He did so much that his name entered for ever the golden fund of technical progress.

After A.N. Tupolev’s death the most powerful creative collective of aircraft builders was left. He managed to do so much mostly due to his brilliant human qualities. Now you are invited to consider it in more detail.

Scale and range of his activities

He was a person of State scale thinking. The Head of Heavy Industry Committee - Sergo Ordgenikidze noticed this quality of him and proposed Tupolev to hold an appointment of the first Deputy Head of Main Department of Aircraft Industry and Chief Engineer - i.e. to become substantially a Technical Manager of the Industry. And this choice was not a mistake.

Modernization of old and building of new aircraft plants under A.N.Tupolev initiative using Western aircraft technologies, establishing Design Bureaus and plants on the basis of the most advanced equipment, unprecedented development of experimental and research facilities and logistics of aviation science - became a serous impact for realization of slogan of those times - “overtake and leave behind Western Aircraft Industry”. All these tasks had to be fulfilled under conditions of extreme saving of government money. However A.Tupolev worked as a manager of Soviet Aircraft Industry not for a long time. In 1937 A.N.Tupolev was subjected to unreasonable repressions - he was imprisoned for a year and a half. After that he was transferred to Central Design Bureau - CDB-29 at KGB wherein he headed a collective of aircraft designers who were also imprisoned. At that time Tupolev was given a task to build a diving bomber which technical and tactical characteristics should exceed those of all previous aircraft in the world. The process of creation of TU-2 aircraft by Tupolev’s collective within KGB structure could be considered as a moral and patriotic exploit.

Even under such extraordinary circumstances Tupolev did not lose courage and firm belief in justice. Working on the project he could estimate a role of aviation in the war that had already started at that time in Europe. Tupolev insisted on necessity of building of front-line universal two-engine bomber instead of proposed by Stalin and Beria heavy four-engine diving bombers.

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic war A.N.Tuplev and his colleagues were freed and were given possibility to work independently for our Victory as free persons. Under most difficult conditions of the beginning of the war being evacuated to Omsk Tupolev managed to deploy serial production of one of the best front-line bombers TU-2 making it available to operation by 1942 and later in Moscow he managed to provide its large-scale production preparing in parallel several dedicated versions of this unique aircraft.

Scale of A.N.Tupolev’s activity during the period from 1936 to 1937 before being arrested, his active participation in development of native aviation probably gave Stalin an idea to charge Tupolev with an important state-scale task - technical management of reconstruction of Aircraft Industry in the USSR for rebuilding American B-29 bomber. Stalin gave A.N.Tupolev emergency powers. A.N.Tupolev provided fulfillment of this task in unbelievable short dates - one and a half year. In May, 1947 the first serial TU-4 was lifted into the skies.

When building milestone aircraft of our aviation - TU-16, TU-95, TU-104 etc. Tupolev also acted from State positions.

Wide- Scale Engineering Views

At each step of his activity A.Tupolev used to put the most important (often not obvious) tasks which defined a progress of aircraft manufacturing (especially building heavy aircraft) and was the first in the country to solve them.

He was capable to catch a sense of a phenomenon immediately, to be sensitive to very early tendencies in advances scientific and technical trends in aviation and in related industries. All that was accepted by him and laid into the basis of his own scientific and technical logic, all that he believed was “ripe enough” to be used in the industry he could due to his enormous energy to turn quickly into aircraft structures in every case choosing the most reasonable and simple engineering approaches.

Due to combination of said qualities he could create the most advanced aircraft quite often exceeding a contemporary level. All these was done in the period when our aircraft industry was by many technological figures behind the world aircraft manufacturing.

Accumulation of information before taking a decision

Probably nobody in the Design Bureau studied so thoroughly published articles, reports, photos of aircraft and their components as A.N.Tupolev did.

He did not take any decision without previous discussion the problem with specialists of his Design Bureau and of various Scientific and research Institutes of our country. The most often guests of him were specialists from TsAGI, TsIAM, VIAM, LII (Test Flight Institute) and many other Scientific Institutes of the country.

He has a “computerized” capability to absorb and keep information, a surprising talent to listen to people filtering advertising and pathos. If he could not catch something he stopped a speaker with words “Well repeat, repeat what you have said”,- and kept listening further. He was especially interested in experimental data as a basis for taking decision. In this case he checked experiment procedure and carrying it out using his rich practice of making experiments.

To his opinion demand in powerful research and experimental facilities which meet the most strict requirements was a major consideration for technical progress. In the 1920s and 1930s Tupolev was constantly busy with development and improvement of TsAGI including its new complex in which project Tupolev previewed great potentiality for the future. He ordered the most advanced native and foreign equipment, laid down giant wind tunnels to test full-scale aircraft.

He permanently paid attention to extension of his experimental and research plant, intensively developing laboratories and test benches (static test hall, engine test complex, aerodynamic system etc). Immediately after war he built his own flight test and development facilities without which no experimental facilities now can exist.

Ability to attract creative powers and to improve responsibility of specialists.

Andrey N. Tupolev knew how just by proper words to raise enthusiasm of people, desire to create. “An aircraft is built by collective labor of people”,- this was his credo. It was on his line to involve creative powers of the whole collective, potentiality of the whole aircraft industry and related industries. In parallel he used so called “method of horizontal links” that was in practice in the Design Bureau . The method allowed to establish the most fruitful relations between different parts of building of new aircraft. When building aircraft the great deal of decisions are usually a palliative between two opposite requirements. Responsible decision regarding compromises at the level of “horizontal links” (technologist - designer, aerodynamic and layout specialists etc.) increased initiative and responsibility for decisions at the level of each executor. A.N.Tupolev checked this level fairly, encouraging creation and responsibility, but eliminated a habit to come to a chief with a question, following in case of failure with words: ”... but you have instructed like this”.