Aircraft designed by Rostislav Alekseev. Alekseev Rostislav Evgenievich - to remember

Rostislav Evgenievich Alekseev(1916 - 1980) - Soviet shipbuilder, creator of hydrofoils, ekranoplans and ekranoplanes. Yacht designer, winner of all-Union competitions, master of sports of the USSR.

Laureate of the Lenin Prize (1962) and the Stalin Prize of the second degree (1951). Member of the CPSU (b) since 1950.

Biography

Born on December 5 (December 18), 1916 in Novozybkov (now the Bryansk region), in the family of an agronomist and a teacher. In 1933 the family moved to Gorky.

In 1935 he entered the Zhdanov Gorky Industrial Institute (now the Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University them. R. E. Alekseev) to the shipbuilding department (now the Institute of Transport Systems). On October 1, 1941, he defended his thesis "Hydrofoil glider"; Alekseev was awarded the title of shipbuilding engineer by the state commission. After the defense, the young engineer was sent to the Krasnoye Sormovo plant, where from 1941 to 1943 he worked as a control foreman for the production of tanks.

In 1942, a decision was made to allocate him space and people to work on the creation of combat hydrofoil boats. The shipbuilding department of the Navy believed in Alekseev's idea, and funds were allocated to him. Alekseev's boats did not have time to take part in the hostilities, but the models he created convinced him of the possibility of a successful implementation of the idea.

The team begins to work on a hitherto unseen passenger hydrofoil vessel (SPK), which received the symbolic name "Rocket". In the summer of 1957, Alekseev presented the "Rocket" to the judgment of the world community, bringing the ship to Moscow in the days International Festival youth and students. From that moment on, high-speed shipbuilding began in the world. Boats "Volga", "Meteor", "Comet", "Sputnik", "Petrel", "Voskhod" - annually new project and everyone is the best.

In 1962, the Central Design Bureau began work on the creation of the KM ekranoplan for the Navy, and in 1964 - on the project of the T-1 ekranoplan for the airborne troops. The first was supposed to fly at altitudes of several meters, and the second - up to an altitude of 7500 m. On June 22, 1966, the KM ekranoplan, the largest for its time aircraft on the ground, was launched into the water.

In the early 1970s, the Central Design Bureau for the SPK was given an order for the construction of an amphibious ekranolet "Eaglet". On November 3, 1979, the world's first amphibious assault ship was accepted as a combat unit in the Navy. He received the staff number MDE-160 (small amphibious ekranoplan).

On January 14, 1980, while testing a model of a new passenger ekranolet (which was to be completed by the Moscow Olympics-80), Alekseev was injured. This happened when the model was launched into the water. On January 17, 1980, Alekseev was hospitalized and, after two operations, died on February 9, 1980. He was buried at the Bugrovsky cemetery in Nizhny Novgorod.

A family

He was married, daughter Tatyana, son Eugene.

Conflicts

In the documentary "Burnt Wings. Betray the designer ”the idea is expressed that the talented designer had many ill-wishers, among them the Minister of the Shipbuilding Industry of the USSR B.E. Butoma (according to the film, the reason for the persecution of the inventor is that Alekseev turned to Khrushchev over the head of his superiors).
In 1976, after an accident during the testing of an ekranolet, Alekseev was removed from all positions by Butoma's order, only a department of 15 people was left under him.

Awards

Stalin Prize of the second degree (1951) - for the development of hydrofoils
Lenin Prize (1962) - for the creation of a new vehicle.
Honored Inventor of the RSFSR

Memory

The name of Rostislav Evgenievich Alekseev is a school in the urban district of the city of Chkalovsk - MBOU Libezhevskaya secondary school named after Rostislav Evgenievich Alekseev.
A hydrofoil ship is named after him.
In the center of the Sormovsky district of Nizhny Novgorod, the following are named after Alekseev: a square, a monument to Alekseev is erected at the beginning of Yubileiny Boulevard, a commemorative star is erected on Komintern Street, and a Meteor is located on Burevestnik Square. School No. 183 of the Sormovsky district of Nizhny Novgorod is named after R. Alekseev.
A street was named in the village of Kuznetsovo, Chkalovsky district, Nizhny Novgorod region, where the test base of the Central Design Bureau for the SEC was located.
Rostislav Alekseev is named after the Central Design Bureau for Hydrofoils (TsKB for SPK) in Nizhny Novgorod.
On February 2, 2007, by the Decree of the Government of the Nizhny Novgorod Region No. 33, his name was given to the Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University.
A bust of Alekseev was erected at the Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University.
A square was opened and a monument was erected in Novozybkov.
In 2012, the Museum of Speeds was opened in the urban district of Chkalovsk, which tells about the life and work of the designer.
The portrait of Rostislav Evgenievich Alekseev is in the Hall of Fame of the US Congress.
Traditional sailing regatta for the R. E. Alekseev Cup in Nizhny Novgorod.
In 2016, in honor of the 100th anniversary of R.E. Alekseev at the Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University, an ekranoplan monument was erected.

Filmography

Documentary"Burned Wings. Betray the designer "(2007).
Documentary film "The Alekseev Effect" from the series Secrets of Forgotten Victories.
Documentary film “Ekranoplanes. On the verge of two elements" from the series "Wings of Russia".
Documentary film "Sea Dragon" from the cycle " Impact force”, issue 71.
Documentary film "Rostislav Alekseev" from the series "Geniuses and villains of the outgoing era" (2002).
Documentary film "The War That Wasn't. Floating above the waves." (2012)
Documentary film “Experiments with Anton Voitsekhovsky. WIG "(2012)

Notes

WIG. On the verge of two elements - History of development.
"Obsession", Oleg Yarchevsky, essay, "Boats and Yachts", numbers 111 and 112, 1984
1 2 "Nizhny Novgorod Sails" Nizhny Novgorod: Quartz, 2014. p.265, total 333 p. ISBN 978-5-906698-05-6
Decree of the Presidium Supreme Council RSFSR No. 575 of September 22, 1962
Burnt wings. Submit the constructor.
Wings of Russia. WIG. On the verge of two elements.
The war that never happened. Floating above the waves
Experiments with Anton Voitsekhovsky. WIG

Terrible dream of American admirals

Ship group US Navy led by an aircraft carrier carries out military service in the oceans. Radars do not record any threats, and calm reigns on American ships. It is broken by the sudden visual detection of a target on the horizon - either a ship rushing at an incredible speed, or an aircraft literally gliding above the surface.

An unidentified target before our eyes grows into a huge " flying ship". An alarm was declared on the aircraft carrier, but it was too late - the “alien” carried out a missile salvo, and after a few tens of seconds, the pride of the fleet, engulfed in fires and torn to pieces, went to the bottom. And the last thing that dying sailors see in their lives is the shadow of an unknown and terrible enemy rapidly disappearing beyond the horizon.

Such or approximately such nightmares tormented at night American military leaders who had information about secret weapon USSR - project 903 impact ekranoplan "Lun".

Ekranoplan "Lun", Kaspiysk, 2010. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org/Fred Schaerli

The ekranoplan with a length of more than 73 meters and a height of almost 20 meters could move at speeds up to 500 km per hour above the water surface at a height of about 4 meters. It was armed with Moskit anti-ship missiles, which allowed it to inflict maximum damage on enemy ships. The Lun was nicknamed the "aircraft carrier killer".

The amazing combat vehicle was developed in the design bureau of Rostislav Alekseev, a Soviet designer whose developments revolutionized shipbuilding.

In pursuit of speed

Rostislav Alekseev was born on December 18, 1916 in the city of Novozybkov, Chernihiv province, in the family of a teacher and an agronomist. In 1935, Rostislav entered the Zhdanov Gorky Industrial Institute at the shipbuilding department.

The future shipbuilder in his student years was fond of sailing. The young man thought about how to increase the speed of movement on the water.

Even at the very beginning of the era of aviation, pilots and designers drew attention to the so-called screen effect - a sharp increase in wing lift and other aerodynamic characteristics of an aircraft when flying near a screening surface (water, earth, etc.).

Engineers have been looking for ways to put this effect into practice.

Rostislav Alekseev came to the conclusion that the way to increase the speed of movement on the surface of the water lies through a decrease in the area of contact of the vessel with the aquatic environment.

The young designer started with the idea of a hydrofoil vessel. It was such a ship that became for Alekseev the topic of his graduation project, which he defended in 1941.

The defense, which took place in July 1941, was held behind closed doors. The topic of Alekseev's project in the conditions of the outbreak of war was more than relevant - "Speed hydrofoil boat". The idea of a high-speed combat boat for the needs of the Soviet Navy was highly appreciated.

The young engineer was sent to the Krasnoye Sormovo plant, where in 1942 Alekseev received premises and specialists to work on the creation of combat boats on lightly submerged hydrofoils.

Alekseev did not have time to create unique combat boats before the end of the war, but his models were recognized as very promising. The work of the designer and his subordinates in 1951 was awarded the Stalin Prize of the second degree.

Hydrofoil vessel "Petrel". Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

"Rocket" that conquered the world

In 1951, the young designer's military developments were converted for the needs of civilian shipbuilding. Alekseev Design Bureau begins work on a passenger hovercraft, called the "Rocket".

The first "Rocket" was presented in Moscow during the World Festival of Youth and Students in 1957. The hydrofoil passenger vessel, which was head and shoulders above all civilian motor ships that existed at that time, produced the effect of an exploding bomb in the world.

"Rockets" stepped far beyond the borders of the USSR. They were successfully exploited not only in the countries of the socialist camp, but also, so to speak, "in the lair of the enemy." Alekseev's ships confidently plowed the waters of Great Britain, Canada, Germany, Finland, etc.

Following the "Rocket", other types of civilian hydrofoils were created, such as the Volga, Meteor, Kometa, Sputnik, Burevestnik, Voskhod.

For this work, the team headed by Rostislav Alekseev was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1962.

"Caspian monster"

But the designer did not think to rest on his laurels. Having fully realized the idea of hydrofoils, Alekseev proceeds to work on ekranoplanes - ships hovering above the water surface.

In 1962, the Alekseev Design Bureau began work on the KM ekranoplan project (dummy ship). "KM" had really gigantic dimensions - a wingspan of 37.6 m, a length of 92 m, a maximum take-off weight of 544 tons. Before the appearance of the An-225 Mriya aircraft, it was the heaviest aircraft in the world.

Western experts, having received a picture of the experimental model, called it the "Caspian monster" (tests took place in the Caspian Sea).

The Caspian Monster made its first flight on October 18, 1966. It was piloted by two pilots, one of whom was Rostislav Alekseev himself. The flight was successful.

"Caspian monster". Photo: Frame youtube.com

Tests "KM" continued for 15 years. The new "flying ship" had a lot of advantages, but there were also enough disadvantages. In fact, KM opened a completely new direction on the border of aviation and navigation, in which its own laws and rules had yet to be developed.

The "boundary" position of ekranoplans affected their prospects in the most disastrous way. The Air Force believed that it was a ship, and shipbuilders were convinced that we were talking about an airplane. Alekseev, with his unusual project, irritated the officials who stood up for the classical forms of shipbuilding development.

Alekseev's projects were saved from complete closure by the chief curator of the Soviet defense industry, and later the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Dmitry Ustinov.

"Eaglet" and Opal

In addition to bureaucratic obstacles, there were problems with the ekranoplane pilots. It was extremely difficult for the pilots to get used to aerobatics passing over the very surface of the water. The features of the ekranoplan are such that it is almost impossible to “drop” it into the water in level flight, even if you completely release the steering wheel. However, the professional habits of the pilots often forced the ekranoplan to pull up, taking it "out of the screen", which caused accidents.

Each new failure was extremely painful for both the idea of the ekranoplan and the designer Alekseev himself. In 1968, the design bureau, which was created by him, was divided into two - for hydrofoils and for ekranoplanes. Alekseev was left with only the second direction.

In the early 1970s, the Ministry of Defense gave an order to the Alekseev Design Bureau for the development of an amphibious ekranoplan for the Navy, which was given the code name Orlyonok. In 1974, officials from Moscow literally forced Alekseev to withdraw the still “raw” Orlyonok for sea trials even before receiving the results of a static check of the hull. The result of this was the separation of the tail section of the hull during testing. Alekseev, who traditionally controlled his offspring in his first flight, managed to safely return the "Eaglet" to the base. No one was hurt, but Alekseev himself was punished to the fullest - he was removed from the development of Orlyonok, transferring him to the position of head of the long-term planning department.

Ekranoplan "Eaglet". Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Despite this, the suspended designer almost clandestinely continued to participate in the work on the landing ekranoplan. In 1979, the "Eaglet" was adopted by the Soviet Navy. This amphibious ekranoplan could take off at a wave height of up to 2 meters and reach a speed of 400-500 km / h. Taking on board up to 200 fully armed marines or two combat vehicles (tank, armored personnel carrier, infantry fighting vehicle), the Orlyonok could transfer them to a distance of up to 1500 km.

The designer was killed by his brainchild

In total, three combat "Eaglets" were created, on their basis the 11th separate air group was formed directly subordinate to the General Staff naval aviation. This series was supposed to be an installation series, and in total, 120 amphibious ekranoplans were to enter combat service in the USSR Navy.

Despite the disgrace, Alekseev continued to work hard - tests of a passenger ekranoplan were underway, the development of a strike model armed with missiles continued ...

In January 1980, a passenger model of an ekranoplan was tested in Chkalovsk. His assistants cleared the ice blockage and said that the model could be released. What exactly happened at that moment is not clear. But Alekseev somehow took on some of the weight of the 800-kilogram apparatus.

At first it seemed that this incident did not affect the health of the 63-year-old designer - Alekseev successfully completed the test day. But the next morning he began to complain of pain in his side. Doctors initially found it difficult to diagnose. So another two days passed, after which Alekseev lost consciousness. During the emergency operation, the doctors found that the designer was injured during the incident on the tests - what the people usually define as "overstrained". Over the past few days, peritonitis has developed. The doctors had to perform three operations and seemed to cope with the disaster. But complications began, and on February 9, 1980, Rostislav Evgenievich Alekseev died.

Past and future

The Lun impact ekranoplan, the idea of which belonged to Alekseev, was launched in the summer of 1986, and in 1991 it was officially put into service, becoming part of the Caspian Flotilla.

"Lun" remained the only impact ekranoplan of the Navy, first of the USSR, and then of Russia. After the death of Dmitry Ustinov in 1984, his successor as Minister of Defense of the USSR, Sergei Sokolov, curtailed the program for the construction of military ekranoplans, considering this species weapons unpromising. And when with the collapse Soviet Union Russian army covered with total lack of money, then revolutionary ideas Rostislav Alekseev were completely forgotten.

In 2007, ekranoplanes were finally decommissioned from the Navy. At the same time, the most surviving copy of the landing "Eaglet" was towed along the Volga to Moscow, where it was installed in the Museum of the Navy.

The debate about whether ekranoplanes have a future in the 21st century continues to this day. Behind the disputes, it quietly turned out that small-displacement combat ekranoplanes appeared in service with Iran and China. The Chinese soon intend to introduce an amphibious ekranoplan designed for 200 marines.

What does Russia need?

In Russia, work is currently underway on passenger ekranoplanes of small displacement, and the idea of creating military vehicles this type stumble upon the same resistance of officials of various ranks, as during the life of Rostislav Alekseev.

After all, what a strange thing it turns out - in our country billions are easily allocated for the purchase of Mistral helicopter carriers from France, and our own unique developments are just as easily sent to the trash or buried through endless approvals.

But only by relying on our ideas and our working hands can we guarantee the independence of the country.

And Rostislav Evgenievich Alekseev understood this like no one else.

Mother is a Russian language teacher in a rural school. Father and mother are from the Old Believers. In addition to Rostislav, the following were born in the family: the elder brother Anatoly, a radio engineer, went missing near Moscow in 1941; sister Galina - Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, teacher at the Institute. Bauman; sister Margarita is an architect.

Education

Graduated primary school in Novozybkov. In 1930-1933, during his father's exile in Nizhny Tagil, he studied at the FZU, working as a radio equipment repairman at a local radio center. In 1933, after the family moved to Gorky, he entered the Gorky Evening Mechanical Engineering Workers' Faculty. He worked as a draftsman and graphic designer. In 1935 he entered the shipbuilding department (now the Institute transport systems at NSTU). On October 1, 1941, he defended his thesis on the topic “Hydrofoil Glider” before the State Commission and received the title of shipbuilding engineer. Alekseev's reviewer, Professor M. Ya. Alferyev noted:

The diplomat consistently approaches a new type of hydrofoil glider, which he named A-4. He develops this type in several variants, differing from each other in the dimensions and methods of the bow and stern plumage. The diploma holder gives his ship an interesting streamlined shape, displaying not only high seaworthiness, but also the swiftness of the ship, corresponding to a speed of about 100 knots. In the project, all the devices of the glider are well thought out and all the moments of its operation are provided both on calm water and on the surface of an agitated sea. The seaworthiness of the ship is confirmed by hydrodynamic calculations, in the creation of which the student showed great initiative.

In addition, Alferyev pointed out the desirability of further continuation of the topic in order to bring it to practical implementation (the A-4 hydrofoil boat was built by Alekseev in 1943).

Sailing

Alekseev in his "sports autobiography" [ unknown term ] (November 4, 1945) wrote that the love for water and water sports manifested itself in him from the age of 14, even then he built three boats with his own hands; on the Black Sea he went as a cabin boy on a schooner and sailing whaleboats.

At the age of 16, he built his first yacht and trained on it, the second, 5.5-meter sailing dinghy "Pirate", which was also built independently, according to his own drawings in 1935, led him to his first sporting achievements. in Gorky yachts. The "Pirate" had an 11-meter mast and powerful sailing equipment painted black (sails were sewn from patches of multi-colored fabric, which the designer received from housewives while repairing sewing machines). Soon Rostislav was noticed by the Volga yachtsmen, recognized and accepted into the sailing section of the Dynamo on the Oka, and then began to actively engage in sailing, receiving prizes in regattas.

Creation of hydrofoils

After defending his diploma, Alekseev was sent to the Krasnoye Sormovo plant, where from 1943 he worked as a control foreman for the production of T-34 tanks. A few days later, on November 10, 1941, Alekseev sent a report and a draft of his SPK - a submarine fighter to People's Commissar of the Navy N.G. does not differ from those previously tested. Despite this, Alekseev persistently continues experiments, in free time chasing new models behind the yacht and working out the design of hydrofoils. In addition, he appeals to the People's Commissariat with a proposal for a new device for igniting Molotov cocktails, the use of propellers built on the jet-injection principle on high-speed torpedo boats.

Soon Alekseev's diploma work became interested in the chief designer of Krasnoye Sormovo V.V. Krylov and director E.E. Rubinchik. Despite the maximum workload of the plant with the production of tanks, Alekseev is allocated 2-3 hours a day for work on the SEC. In his monograph, Alekseev noted that as a result of experiments in 1941-1942, he was the first to obtain approximate hydrodynamic characteristics of a hydrofoil depending on the depth of its immersion and relative speed, found optimal working immersions, and also confirmed the possibility of ensuring stability when using low-submerged hydrofoils .

After the report on the work done by Alekseev, at the beginning of 1943, under his leadership, the Hydrolaboratory was organized at the plant and the creation of the first double hydrofoil boat (PDA) A-4 began. Initially, the laboratory consisted of a hut on pontoons, frozen into ice in the backwater of the Sormovo plant and the only assistant, a student of locksmith Alexander Nekorin.

In April 1943, Alekseev's first hydrofoil boat was put to the test with a mass of 0.9 tons and an engine power of 25 hp. With. reaches a speed of 30 km / h on the wings. Tests revealed a decrease in wing lift as it approached the water surface and good movement stability at a immersion depth of 15-30% of the wing chord, which became the forerunner of the creation of low-submersible self-regulating hydrofoils, which differ from everything previously developed.

According to the test results, Alekseev is appointed the official head of the Scientific Research HydroLaboratory (NIGL), in which the search for the optimal wing profile and the solution of the associated problems of propulsion, maneuverability, strength, safety reliability, etc., in relation to different conditions operation. The scope of work is expanding, the first test base is being created, the first leading engineers of the future Central Design Bureau are coming to NIGL: Ivan Erlykin and Konstantin Ryabov, Nikolai Zaitsev, Leonid Popov, Boleslav Zobnin, Ivan Shapkin and others, mostly former yachtsmen, familiar to Alekseev from sailing. Most of the issues have to be solved for the first time, since there were very few developments on the SPC in the USSR and in the world at that time, the unsuccessful verdicts of the predecessors also played a negative role in assessing the prospects for the work of the laboratory.

In 1945, the new PDA A-5 was put to the test, with a mass of 1 ton and a power of 72 hp. With. a speed of 85 km/h has been reached. At the end of May 1947, Alekseev and Popov take the A-5 along the Oka to Moscow, where he demonstrates its capabilities to the people's commissariat of the shipbuilding industry. The design bureau receives an order to put a serial project 123 torpedo boat on the wings. The problem was successfully solved, during the tests in the summer of 1948 the boat reached a speed of 110 km / h on the wings with satisfactory stability parameters. The study of the hull contours of high-speed SPCs begins, since the classic planing contours interacted poorly with the wings in transient conditions. Methods are being developed for calculating propellers on lightly submerged high-speed propellers and water jets with axial propeller pumps.

During this period, the work of the laboratory is aimed at creating torpedo boats in the interests of the Navy, civilian projects are taking place on an initiative basis, however, thanks to extensive theoretical and experimental research, by the mid-1950s, the main technical problems were solved and profiles of low-submersible wings with high hydrodynamic quality were created, which are used at the SPK to this day.

The team began working on a completely new for that time passenger hydrofoil vessel (SPK), which received the symbolic name "Rocket". In the summer of 1957, Alekseev presented the "Rocket" to the judgment of the world community, bringing the ship to Moscow during the International Festival of Youth and Students. From that moment on, high-speed shipbuilding began in the world: new boats "Volga", "

year 2009

Star and death of Rostislav Alekseev

The famous designer honed his ideas on cleaners and assembled foreign cars from ... cardboard and plywood.

Sea, girl, ekranoplan: the last drawing of the designer

Chief liked leisure and youth companies

Friends-yachtsmen nicknamed Alekseev Admiral

Once a year Alekseev carved out a couple of weeks to go skiing in the North Caucasus

With pilots

One of the latest photos

Alekseev at the May Day demonstration

With director of Krasnoye Sormovo Mikhail Yuryev

With Chkalov, young Rostislav met on the basis of love for sailing

Khrushchev gave the green light to all Alekseev's undertakings

The designer is 60 years old (on the right is his wife Marina Mikhailovna)

The wife of Alekseev Marina Mikhailovna did not part with the scythe until old age

Rostislav Evgenievich with his mother (in a white hat) Serafima Pavlovna and mother-in-law Maria Stepanovna Duchinova (1951)

Tatyana Rostislavovna with her sons Gleb and Misha and their father (looks out from behind Tatiana's friend) in Kaspiysk

He had several names. His parents called him Rostik, his colleagues called him the Chief and the Doctor, and his fellow yachtsmen called him Admiral. He had few friends, but many considered him their friend. He did not blame the people who betrayed him and endured adversity with dignity...
What kind of person, husband and father was Rostislav Alekseev, we asked his daughter Tatyana Rostislavovna. She still works at the Central Clinical Hospital for the SPK - the brainchild of her father.

"Cut off" in mathematics because of a hidden gun

The life of Rostislav Alekseev was forever intertwined with our city in 1933. Here he entered the polytechnic, met his future wife Marina, who was a year younger than him and studied here, at the Faculty of Chemistry.
However, fate almost “drew” Alekseev from Nizhny. So, in the fourth year, a capable student was transferred to the Leningrad naval academy. But Rostislav was expelled from there a year later - the future designer did not pass ... higher mathematics.
- In fact, my father, of course, knew mathematics, - says Tatyana Rostislavovna. - The background here was different. A few years earlier, he had found an old revolver in some attic and hid it in the stove. Then, when the elder Alekseevs with their three children moved to Moscow, their apartment on Bolshaya Pecherskaya went to other people. What was their shock when they found a gun in the oven! Of course, they immediately told where to go. And as a punishment, my father was “cut off” in higher mathematics!
24-year-old Rostislav returned to Nizhny and married Marina. It happened two weeks before the war - June 6, 1941. The young man did not have his own housing, and he and his wife settled with their mother-in-law, in a house on Ulyanov Street. Here Rostislav Evgenievich lived until the end of his days, three generations of Alekseevs were born and raised here. To this day, the descendants of the designer occupy two apartments in the house on Ulyanov. Tatyana Rostislavovna herself, her youngest son Mikhail with his wife and two children, as well as Tatyana Alekseeva's brother, Evgeny Rostislavovich, live in one - four-room apartment. In the apartment opposite, the family of Gleb, the eldest son of Tatyana Rostislavovna, settled down: a wife and four children.
...First two years life together Rostislav and Marina were overshadowed tragic events. One after the other, two children died: one - in childbirth, the second - from congenital heart disease. Therefore, when Tatyana Rostislavovna was born on May 8, 1944, the doctors did not hide from her parents that the girl was unlikely to survive. However, the doctors added, if the child "stretches" up to a year, it will be possible to assume that the threat has passed. On May 9, 1945, the Alekseevs celebrated two holidays at once - the Great Victory and the year of Tanechka.

How the cat Atom worked as a tester

The April day of 1951, when Alekseev was given the Stalin Prize, Tatyana Rostislavovna remembered very well.
Because then it flew in from my mother, - the daughter of the designer recalls with a smile. - The fact is that with the premium money we decided to restore the blankets and pillows sold out during the war. We also bought a coat for my mom. And in a conversation with a neighbor, I began to list how much good we bought for the prize! Mom pulled me right back. Boasting about prosperity in those years was considered the height of bad manners.
But the most important acquisition was Pobeda, which replaced the self-made Tatra in the Alekseevs' garage. And before the "Tatra" was "Volkswagen". So Rostislav Evgenievich called these "miracles of technology", personally assembled by him from parts found in a landfill in Sormov. Volkswagen had a corresponding nickname: KDF - cardboard, wood, plywood.
“But it all started with a bicycle,” says our interlocutor. - to war public transport I didn’t go, but my father had to somehow get from the upper part to Krasnoe Sormovo. He made himself a bicycle, but soon it ... exploded, scalding his face with hot water.
After that, Alekseev left cycling and enrolled in a sports motorcycle club, where he was given a trophy Harley. On it he rode the first post-war years until he assembled a Volkswagen.
Then this rarity ended up in the museum of one Pavlovsk lover of auto antiques, after which the trace of Alekseev's first car was lost.
Following the Volkswagen, Rostislav Evgenievich assembled the Tatra. And when he received the Stalin Prize, he sold a home-made product, added money and acquired Pobeda. She served the Alekseev family until 1962, when, having received Lenin Prize, the designer bought the 21st Volga.
- At the party dedicated to the high award, dad's friends brought a cake on which "Glory to Glory!" was written in cream! and ... a box, - the designer's daughter recalls. “The most accurate measuring device is located there,” his colleagues told him. We puzzled for a long time about what was there, and when we opened it, a cat named Atom jumped out! In the Central Design Bureau, it was decided to be the first to launch a cat on a new ship. The designers believe that the animal will always fall on the place where there are some flaws and malfunctions.

Did the awards mean a lot to Rostislav Evgenievich?

My father often said: “Work unites people, but awards separate them.” He had many problems due to the fact that the higher management included various officials who had nothing to do with the project on the list of those presented for the award. Father crossed out these names, they entered them again, he crossed them out again ...

He liked to dress well and eat delicious food.

Tatyana Rostislavovna recalls that she never saw her father idle: When, after his death, the Central Clinical Hospital conducted a survey, one person wrote this: “Rostislav Evgenievich lived in a continuous search for a point of view on any issue. But he was constantly distracted from this. Indeed, in the Central Clinical Hospital it was difficult for him to retire.
The young designer made up for lost time at home.
And since he had no office, he worked wherever he had to. Either he will sit at the table in the living room, then at the workbench in the corridor. He also had a small machine at home - he sawed models on it. And sometimes he painted - while still a student at the Polytechnic, Alekseev managed to study a little at the art school.
He could do almost everything with his hands! - says Tatyana Rostislavovna. - Could work on a lathe, possessed locksmith skills. The fact is that grandfather Yevgeny Kuzmich organized a workshop for children, and the boys disappeared there for days on end. Dad was not even six when he made a steam locomotive and a typewriter. And then, even before entering the institute, my father worked as a mechanic at a radio assembly plant in Nizhny Tagil.
Rostislav Evgenievich did not demand that his family create any special atmosphere for him:
When he worked, we continued to live our lives. It happened, and they made noise, and distracted ... But he was not angry, - Tatyana Rostislavovna recalls.
But no matter how much Alekseev was fascinated by creativity, he never stayed up after midnight. All my life I followed a strict regimen: no later than 23.00 - lights out and early - at 5-5.30 - rise.
As chief designer, Alekseev had a salary of 400 rubles. He gave all the money to his wife. What did you spend on?
My father loved beautiful things and delicious food. As a designer, an artist, he had good taste, - says Tatyana Rostislavovna. He had a keen sense of where to put what. His favorite style was elegant and sporty.

Didn't know the word "no"

Rostislav's parents had two sons and two daughters. Alekseev's children were brought up according to a very interesting system.
- Now it is customary to call such a technique Japanese, - Tatyana Rostislavovna argues. - The children were not forbidden anything, they were not put under any pressure. Once, my father and brother Tolya “designed” a punt boat. But on the "tests" she turned over, and the boys ended up in the water. How would the average father react in such a situation? I would give the children a beating and forbid them to approach the river. And Evgeny Kuzmich took the guys to a familiar fisherman and asked him to help the guys design the “correct” boat, and at the same time he would teach her how to drive it.
Or another example. Rostik dreamed of a horse. And when he was bought boots, he ran to the stable: to exchange shoes for a horse. But the parents figured out how to "calm down" the child. They just sent him out into the night with the shepherds several times! The boy had seen enough of his favorite animals there and ... burned out.
How are we raising children now? We forbid them literally everything, - Tatyana Rostislavovna sighs. - And thus from childhood we hammer in a child creativity, intuition. After all, why did the father have exceptional intuition? Because they had an atmosphere of freedom in their family.
Unfortunately for our interlocutor, she and her brother Zhenya were brought up differently. Two models clashed in the family: Rostislav Evgenievich with his democracy and Marina Mikhailovna, who demanded unquestioning obedience. The future wife of Alekseev spent her childhood near her mother, a teacher in an orphanage, and often heard the word “no” ...
Rostislav Evgenievich corresponded with his parents all his life. He also had a habit - from any city where he found himself, send them a postcard.
In Moscow, Alekseev always ran to his parents. True, often these visits were lightning fast. He sticks his head in the door, says: "I was" - and that's it, runs on.

Traveled to England on a "left" passport

The end of the 50s - the beginning of the 60s was the heyday for the Central Design Bureau. After the government was swept away on the Meteor with a breeze, Khrushchev gave the green light to all the undertakings of the designer. Two thousand people under the leadership of Alekseev for 15 years annually designed, built and tested 15-20 models. One by one, "Meteors", "Rockets", "Comets" came out on our rivers and seas ...
- My father was very happy to go on ships own invention- says Tatyana Rostislavovna. - He even had a certificate of honorary captain of hydrofoils.
But due to the fact that the father sought to manage all his ships, he often had friction with his superiors. They said that Alekseev did not trust anyone. The Pope explained this by saying that he could not entrust anyone with the management of the ship until he personally made sure that it would not throw out any unpleasant surprises. It was not arrogance that guided him, but a reluctance to put people at risk.
In 1966, Rostislav Evgenievich, under a false name and on a "left" passport (and in those years even the photograph of the Chief was classified!) was sent to England to an exhibition of shipbuilding achievements. There, the designer wanted to “steer” one hovercraft, but they looked at him as a big joker. Then Alekseev asked to be allowed to put his hands on the hands of the driver. This was enough for him to understand how to navigate the ship.
Alekseev liked to hone his ideas on those around him. “The thought must take hold of the masses,” he repeated and explained the advantages of the newly conceived vessel ... to a cleaning lady or a janitor. And if they did not understand him, this was a sign for Rostislav Evgenievich: the idea is “raw”, one must think more ...

Which fleet was Rostislav Evgenievich more willing to design - civil or military?

Definitely civil. The father was a peaceful man. But here's the catch: good money was allocated only for military development. And in order to deal with the civilian fleet, it was necessary to deal with the military. In order to be able to save and transfer part of the funds to passenger ships.

“Drop Alekseev, otherwise we won’t give you an apartment”

The louder the success, the more "friends" around us. After Stalin Prize there were many who wanted to dance around Alekseev. And he did not drive anyone from himself ...
- There was a period when they said about my father that he did not understand people, - Tatyana Rostislavovna recalls. - Nothing of the kind: he saw through people. But dad had this principle: no matter what the person was, give him a chance. And if he was pierced, his father tore with him without any regrets.

Were there betrayals in his life?

Of course. All around. But the father reacted to this philosophically. He understood that often people betrayed him because they were forced to do so. For example, they were told: "Don't work with Alekseev, otherwise you won't get an apartment." And only one person was able to withstand all this pressure and not go over - this is Vyacheslav Zobnin, a brilliant aerohydrodynamicist.
For the first time, the spiteful critics raised their heads when they realized that the idea of ekranoplanes, which the Chief was carried away by, was bewildering "at the top". vigorous activity against Alekseev developed the so-called "Zelenodolsk group". At one time, Rostislav Evgenievich persuaded several designers from Zelenodolsk to go to his Central Design Bureau. And then...
“Their director became the Minister of Industry and forced former subordinates to regularly submit “information” about Alekseev to the ministry,” says Tatyana Rostislavovna. - You can imagine what kind of information it was. Denunciations clean water. Moreover, they are anonymous. They wrote various nonsense in them: that the father imagined himself a slave owner, that he had ten apartments ...
And in 1965, Rostislav Alekseev was removed from the post of chief designer. It was arranged as follows.
- Father was summoned to Moscow and bombarded with absurd accusations. He himself did not understand what he was accused of, ”recalls Tatyana Rostislavovna. - The next morning after returning from Moscow, we went with him to the Central Clinical Hospital. He enters his office, and two hours later he appears from there together with some man and announces to the team: “Let me introduce you to the new chief designer and CEO Valery Vasilievich Ikonnikov. Silent scene. It turns out that when he entered his office in the morning, Ikonnikov was already sitting at his desk!
Having "demoted" Alekseev from the Chiefs, he was appointed chief designer of the WIG direction.
The 70s were especially difficult for my father, - Tatyana Rostislavovna recalls. - In 1974, an accident occurred during a test in the Caspian Sea. The commission accepted "Eaglet". And during the transitional regime, the aft part of the ekranoplan seemed to stick to the water, and when the device took off, the “tail” fell off. Father immediately sat in the pilot's seat and turned the engines on full power and thus created an air cushion under the wings. On this pillow he returned to base. If he had not orientated himself in the situation so quickly, the ekranoplan could have swallowed water and sunk ... Aviation workers said that they give a Hero for such things, but they recouped their father to the fullest.
In the summer of 1975, Alekseev was transferred to ordinary designers. Someone hinted that it would be nice to appoint him head of the advanced design department, but the authorities waved their hands. The position was offered to Vyacheslav Zobnin. He did not want to cross the path of a friend, but Alekseev convinced him that it would be better for the common cause if he agreed. Unfortunately, Zobnin did not lead the department for long. In 1977 best friend Alekseev died...
Moreover, Rostislav Evgenievich was forbidden to attend the tests of his own cars! But he still secretly flew to Kaspiysk. Fortunately, the pilot Alexei Mitusov, devoted to him, despite possible troubles, took him on board.
- Father was demoted and demoted ... and he behaved as if nothing was happening, - says Tatyana Rostislavovna. - Many were irritated by the dignity with which he carried himself. Some stopped greeting him, and yesterday’s “friends” said: “Well, now that Alekseev is gone, we will design this!” But time passed, and no one gushed with brilliant ideas. And then the same people sang something else: “What do you want from us? Alekseev is a genius, but who are we? Mere mortals..."
In these bleak years, the disgraced designer looked for distractions in nature. In solitude, I walked for a long time in the forest, picking mushrooms. Contact with people brought to naught.
The worst thing for him was that the brain suddenly stopped generating new ideas, - recalls Alekseev's daughter. - Apparently, he found some kind of stupor. Then he retired to the base in Chkalovsk, again began to paint. And the inspiration is back! Last years father was passionate about the development of the second generation ekranoplan.

Neither the stars nor the "luminaries" helped

There are still conflicting rumors about the death of Alekseev among the people. Personally, after talking with three Sormovichi, I heard the following versions. The first - the designer was repairing the Volga in the garage, picked it up and overwrought it. The second version - in the same garage was poisoned by carbon monoxide. And the third person claimed that in fact Alekseev was stabbed to death by a hooligan in the Sormovsky park - "only this is still silent."
No, no, - Tatyana Rostislavovna shakes her head. - Everything was different. In January 1980, my father tested the latest ekranoplan model in Chkalovsk. But every time some lovers of small dirty tricks threw various rubbish down the descent to the ice. The assistants once again cleared the blockage and told the father that everything was ready, you can let go of the model. And he, apparently, did not hear and took upon himself the whole weight of the 800-kilogram apparatus ...
At first, the 63-year-old designer did not feel any signs of trouble. After the tests, I went to the Central Design Bureau, worked all day. And in the evening he complained to his family about pain in his side. Frightened that it was appendicitis, Alekseev was immediately admitted to hospital No. 3 on the Upper Volga Embankment. Doctors - and these were such luminaries as professors Kolokoltsev and Korolev - found it difficult to diagnose. Either problems with the liver, or stones in the gallbladder made themselves felt ...
“My father spent Thursday and Friday on his feet,” recalls Tatyana Rostislavovna. - And on Saturday morning I got out of bed and ... lost consciousness. He was scheduled for emergency surgery.
It turned out that during those two days when Alekseev felt relatively well, peritonitis developed in his body - inflammation of the peritoneum, a life-threatening condition. When the constructor hit operating table The process was already in full swing. The first intervention was followed by three more operations.
As Professor Kolokoltsev later explained to me, due to dysentery suffered in childhood, an adhesion formed in my father in some part of the intestine, explains Tatyana Rostislavovna. - And this indirectly contributed to the torsion of the intestines. In general, my father did not worry about his health. Twice he was sent to a sanatorium. And twice he escaped from there ...
Rostislav Evgenievich died not from peritonitis, but from a complication caused by it. Two weeks after the onset of the illness, he developed pleurisy. Pulmonary and heart failure progressed rapidly, and on February 9, the famous designer died.
By the way, in the next room with the same diagnosis lay the "flying skier" Gary Napalkov. And he safely left the hospital on his own two feet. But he was 26 years old, and Rostislav Evgenievich - 63 ...

On the bones of the designer staged a coven

There were half the city wishing to say goodbye to Alekseev. The authorities allowed the coffin to be installed in the Dzerzhinsky House of Culture at what was then Vorobyovka. But they strictly warned - no funeral speeches!
Pickup was scheduled for noon. However, looking out into the street, Tatyana Rostislavovna was shocked: the entire Vorobyovka and part of Pokrovka up to Gorky Square was packed with people ...
- And about two, one of the party comrades appeared, - Alekseev's daughter recalls. - It turns out that on this day some high Moscow boss came to the city and asked what caused the crowd on the main street. And when he found out that Alekseev was being buried, he forced the then leaders to say goodbye to the deceased and make a speech appropriate to the moment.
The coffin with Alekseev was carried in his arms to Gorky Square, and then buried with honors at the Bugrovsky cemetery. And then, according to Tatyana Rostislavovna, a real Sabbath began ...
When I remember that period, I will shudder, - says Alekseev's daughter. - Now I don’t understand myself how I could survive all this, survive ...
The very next day after the funeral, February 13, I went to Chkalovsk to collect things in my father's service apartment. And I found two bosses there, who snatched from each other the drawings made by their father! And on February 14, I flew to Kaspiysk and found a complete rout in the apartment. All things were piled in a heap in the middle of the room, and the drawings and notes of the father were torn to small pieces. Moreover, the one who did this did not open the door with a key, but entered the apartment through the window, like a thief ...
Rummaged and in the office of Alekseev in the Central Clinical Hospital. Many drawings and developments of the designer were lost. Apparently, taking advantage of the situation, some people wanted to appropriate the ideas of Rostislav Evgenievich.
But some of those who plotted against the Chief found the strength to obey the daughter of the deceased.
- Somehow, several people from the same "Zelenodolsk group" approached me and apologized to me, - Tatyana Rostislavovna recalls.
... In the Alekseevs' apartment on Ulyanov Street, on the sunny wall of the living room, to this day, there is a picture that Rostislav Evgenievich painted shortly before his death. Far, far away, on the horizon blue sea the outlines of the ekranoplan are visible. And a girl is standing on the shore and waving a handkerchief to the apparatus of the future ...

instead of a postscript.

In Nizhny, hydrofoils have almost never sailed since recently - they say, this is one loss for the shipping company. But in St. Petersburg, a lot of Meteors ply, Comets fly to Kizhi and Solovki, and Olimpia goes on the route Tallinn - Helsinki ...
As for the further development of Alekseev's ideas, the new owner of the Central Design Bureau for the SEC, Georgy Antsev, announced to the team in May 2009 that the development of the great designer would be continued.

Works and days of Rostislav Alekseev

1916 - in the town of Novozybkov Bryansk region in the family of an agronomist and a teacher, a son, Rostislav, is born.
1935 - enters the shipbuilding department of the Gorky Polytechnic University.
1941 - defended his thesis "Hydrofoil glider".
1942 - at the plant "Krasnoye Sormovo" begins the development of hydrofoil combat boats.
1951 - for the development and creation of hydrofoil ships receives the Stalin Prize.
1954 - the research hydrolaboratory of the Krasnoye Sormovo plant is allocated to the TsKB-19 branch.
1957 - Alekseev presents "Rocket". It marks the beginning of high-speed shipbuilding all over the world. New models come out of the Central Design Bureau every year: Volga, Meteor, Kometa, Sputnik, Burevestnik, Voskhod.
1962 - receives the Lenin Prize.
1966 - the ekranoplan KM (“Model Ship”, or “Caspian Monster”) was launched, the largest aircraft for its time, created by order of the Navy. And in 1967, a world record was set in the USSR - an aircraft of unprecedented mass took off into the air.
1973 - the development of the amphibious ekranoplan "Eaglet" was completed.
1975-1980 - develops a family of passenger ekranoplans of a new generation: "Volga-2", "Rocket-2", "Vikhr-2".
1979 - the world's first landing ekranolet "Eaglet" (MDE-160) was accepted as a combat unit in the Navy. In December, Alekseev begins construction of the Volga-2, on which he wants to go to Olympic Games to Moscow in 1980.
1980 - Alekseev dies in Nizhny Novgorod.

Photo by Alexander Belyaev and from the archive of Tatyana Alekseeva.

December 18, 1916 was born an outstanding (and maybe great) Soviet designer Rostislav Evgenievich Alekseev.

Alekseev R.E. - chief designer of hydrofoils, ekranoplans and ekranoplanes

In 1932, the Alekseev family moved to Gorky. Here, on the Volga, Rostislav saw one of the first sailing yachts glide through the waves - and caught fire. He made a yacht in the attic of his house, the sail of which he painted black. Ship Alekseev called "Pirate".

Then there were many yachts (one more perfect than the other), made by Alekseev, and he repeatedly won regattas. Once his ship capsized, and our fellow countryman "earned" facial paralysis. But that didn't stop him.

The young man wanted his ships to glide through the water even faster. In 1935 he entered the shipbuilding faculty of Zhdanovsky industrial institute. Now it is Nizhny Novgorod Technical University named after Alekseev.

It was in his student years that he seriously begins to think about the speed of ships. It was a seemingly insoluble problem. All types of transport then "accelerated", and for ships there was a barrier - 40 km / h. After all, the resistance of water is 880 times greater than the resistance of air.

The principle of hydrofoils, discovered by Charles de Lambert back in the 1890s, came to mind.

It's simple: due to the high resistance of the water, the wings of the ship can be made very short. And the effect will be the same as when an airplane takes off: most of the ship will rise above the water. Contact with the water element will practically come to naught, and the speed of the ship will increase significantly.

The first attempts to create a hydrofoil were made at the end of the 19th century. In 1897, a Russian subject, Charles de Lambert, who lived in France, built and tested a small hydrofoil on the Seine. However, the power of the steam engine used on this ship as an engine was not enough to develop the speed necessary for the ship's hull to rise above the water.

More successful were the experiments of the Italian inventor Enrico Forlanini. He has been experimenting with hydrofoil models since 1898. In 1906, the full-size experimental vessel he created during tests on Lake Lago Majore reached a speed of 42.5 miles per hour (68 km / h). This boat had multi-tiered wings like a bookcase.

In 1941, Rostislav Alekseev defended his thesis on the topic: "Hydrofoil glider". State examination committee heard about a ship that I didn't know yet world history shipbuilding. Graduate work was recognized as corresponding to the level of a PhD thesis. Alekseev was awarded scientific title candidate of technical sciences.

A significant increase in the speed of water transport became possible with the advent of passenger hydrofoils. In a short time, hydrofoils became one of the most popular modes of transport in the USSR. Speed, seaworthiness, high efficiency allowed winged ships to master waterways messages, because the roads at that time were in very bad condition. In the summer of 1957, the motor ship "Rocket" was put into operation - the first passenger hydrofoil, designed and built by the team of the Central Design Bureau of the Krasnoye Sormovo plant under the guidance of engineer Rostislav Alekseev. The Rocket made its first flight on August 25. During this flight, the distance of 420 kilometers from Gorky to Kazan was covered in seven hours. There were thirty passengers on board. Serial production of "Rockets" (projects 340, 340E, 340ME) was launched at the Feodosia shipyard "More". From 1959 to 1976, 389 Rockets were built, including 32 for export. High-speed diesel engines were supplied by the Leningrad Zvezda plant. In 1957, Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev was amazed by the “Rocket”, and uttered memorable words: “Enough for us to swim along the rivers on oxen! To the modern world— modern speed!”. By the way, only 4 years later a similar vessel was made in the USA.

The world's first hydrofoil "Rocket"

"Rocket" was intended for river high-speed passenger transportation on suburban and local lines, up to 500 km long. Technical parameters of the "Rocket": length - 27 m, width - 5 m, average speed- 60 km / h, power - 850 hp, number of passengers - 64 people. There was also a fire modification "Rocket-P" with two fire nozzles and water and air-foam protection systems.

Up to high speeds (maximum 120 km / h) "Rockets" reached thanks to a hybrid of a ship and an aircraft: they were equipped with engines from bombers. It was a unique unit, super lightweight, made entirely of aluminium. True, he had a considerable appetite: fuel consumption reached 103 kg / h at cruising speed.

In 1959, the first "Meteor" for 130 people was launched. This ship had greater seaworthiness than the "Rocket".

Meteor

In 1961, ten employees headed by Alekseev received the Lenin Prize for the creation of a new vehicle. So in eight years since 1956, a high-speed fleet of Russia was created.

In the early 60s of the last century, the Soviet Union had the largest fleet of cruise ships in the world: more than 1,000 Volga boats, hundreds of Raketa motor ships, dozens of Kometa, Meteor and Belarus ships were used in the water spaces, although all of them were popularly called “rockets” - after the name of the first-born.

The idea of the ekranoplan was born by R.E. Alekseev back in the early 50s. In 1961, the first self-propelled model of the SM-1 ekranoplan was tested. After that, work began on the creation of an ekranoplan for the Navy and for the airborne troops. The first was supposed to fly at altitudes of several meters, and the second - up to an altitude of 7500 meters.

Since the idea of \u200b\u200bbuilding ekranoplanes caused bewilderment "at the top", Alekseev had spiteful critics. Some of them were not shy, and wrote that Alekseev imagined himself a slave owner, and that he had ten apartments. As a result, in 1965, Rostislav Alekseev was removed from his post as chief designer.

Alekseev was appointed chief designer of the ekranoplan direction, and on June 22, 1966, the KM ekranoplan, the largest aircraft on earth for its time, was launched. When American reconnaissance satellites discovered a ship of unknown design in the Caspian Sea, analysis of the photographs showed that it, like an airplane, was moving at high speed, while its flight was above the water itself. The Pentagon and NASA thought it was a technical gamble. Only a few experts said that the Soviets created a new and very effective type of weapon - ekranoplanes.

In 1975, in one of the test flights, when a large commission headed by the Minister of Shipbuilding was on board the ekranoplan, the pilot made a mistake when landing. The car hit the wave hard. Bulkheads and hull burst. Chief designer took control and brought the ekranoplan to the base, which was 40 kilometers away.

When the ekranoplan reached the shore, it turned out that he did not have enough stern and tail. The accident showed the survivability of the ship, but the organizational conclusions were harsh: Rostislav Alekseev, by order of the Minister of the Shipbuilding Industry of the USSR, dissatisfied with the inventor, due to the fact that Alekseev had previously turned to Khrushchev, ignoring his opinion, he was removed from the post of chief designer and head of the Central Design Bureau, demoted to head department, and then to the head of a promising sector.

The 70s were especially difficult for my father, - recalled his daughter Tatyana Rostislavovna. - In 1974, an accident occurred during a test in the Caspian Sea. The commission accepted "Eaglet". And during the transitional regime, the aft part of the ekranoplan seemed to stick to the water, and when the device took off, the “tail” fell off. The father immediately sat in the pilot's seat and turned on the engines at full power and thus created an air cushion under the wings. If he had not orientated himself in the situation so quickly, the ekranoplan could have swallowed water and sunk ... Aviation workers said that they give a Hero for such things, but they recouped their father to the fullest. He was transferred to ordinary designers.

Moreover, Rostislav Evgenievich was forbidden to attend the tests of his own cars! But he still secretly flew to Kaspiysk. Fortunately, the pilot Alexei Mitusov, devoted to him, despite possible troubles, took him on board. Father was demoted and demoted... and he acted like nothing was happening. Many were irritated by the dignity with which he carried himself. Some stopped greeting him, and yesterday’s “friends” said: “Well, now that Alekseev is gone, we will design this!” But time passed, and no one gushed with brilliant ideas. And then the same people sang something else: “What do you want from us? Alekseev is a genius, but who are we? Mere mortals...".

During these years, the disgraced designer was looking for distractions in nature. In solitude, I walked for a long time in the forest, picking mushrooms. Contact with people brought to naught. The worst thing for him was that the brain suddenly stopped generating new ideas, - recalled Alekseev's daughter. - Apparently, he found some kind of stupor. Then he retired to the base in Chkalovsk, again began to paint. And the inspiration is back! In the last years of his life, his father was fascinated by the development of a second-generation ekranoplan.

But when testing a model of a new passenger ekranoplan, which was supposed to be completed by the Moscow Olympics-80, Rostislav Alekseev overstrained himself during launching. In January, he tested the latest ekranoplan model in Chkalovsk. His assistants cleared the ice blockage and said that the model could be released. But Alekseev did not hear, and took on the entire burden of the 800-kilogram apparatus.

At first, the 63-year-old designer did not feel any signs of trouble, went after the tests to the Central Design Bureau, and worked all day. And in the evening he complained to his family about pain in his side. Alekseev was immediately admitted to hospital No. 3 on the Verkhne-Volzhskaya embankment. On February 9, 1980, the famous designer died.

RostislAv Evgenievich Alekseev lived three design lives. In the first, he created a series of hydrofoils. In the second - he was engaged in hovercraft. He devoted his third life to ekranolet. All the ideas he worked on were in the air for a long time. He embodied them in real designs - the first.

Gorky branch of the Central Clinical Hospital for the SEC on the Trotsa River, where R.E. Alekseev, by 1980 had two tracks with powerful electric catapults, a portable catapult for water tests, a wind tunnel for testing ekranoplan models, a circular hydro pool, a cavitation tube, several experimental facilities for research on the blowing effect, a significant fleet of powerful towing boats capable of testing models on open water with speeds up to 100-120 km/h, a stand for the study of full-scale power plants, a powerful portal crane with a concrete slip with a lifting capacity of up to 50 tons, a hangar shop, various workshops, including those for the manufacture of towed models, an airfield with a concrete runway, and a large number of specialized laboratories. By 1980 the base was scientific complex world-class, the best in a number of European research centers.

Rostislav Alekseev did not know what fate awaited his creation. The Minister of Defense of the USSR, by order of October 12, 1984, ordered the adoption of ekranoplans into service. It was supposed to build two dozen devices of the "Eaglet" type and create a new landing force on the Baltic Sea. It was supposed to complete this program before the mid-90s, but this did not happen. Only four ready-made ekranoplanes remained in the Caspian as part of the 11th separate air group.

The associates of the creator of the Soviet ekranoplans managed to develop and manufacture in 1985 the combat ekranoplan "Lun", equipped with six anti-ship homing missiles "Moskit". However, he did not go into the series, but in 2002 he was put into service after a long conservation.

Mighty "Lun"

American WIG designer Stephen Hooker said: "They were ahead of us by 30 years!".

Rostislav Alekseev is buried in Nizhny Novgorod.

Soviet cruise ships were successfully exported to many countries of the world, including the USA, England, Germany, France, Italy, which did not have similar technologies. They went out of wide use immediately after the collapse of the USSR. Some “rockets” are still used in flights and as pleasure ships to this day. For example, in Moscow, since 2007, the gradual restoration of the Rocket began, and four vessels have already entered the navigation of 2009.

Hydrofoils are the pride of the Soviet Union. In their production and operation, he was a world leader.

In total, for the needs of the Soviet military fleet, the Production Association "More" in the city of Feodosia built three ships between 1981 and 1987, two of which are now part of the Russian Navy and one was transferred to the Ukrainian Navy, but officially armament was not accepted.

Main dates.

December 18, 1916 - in the town of Novozybkov, Bryansk region (now - Oryol) in the family of an agronomist and a teacher, the son Rostislav is born.