The belief is widespread that the parachute that Kotelnikov developed was not allowed to use the military - the command allegedly did not want them to leave the planes. We checked the reliability of such statements.
The parachute, the model of which in 1911-1912 was developed by the actor and inventor-self-taught Gleb Kotelnikov, is considered one of the most famous Russian inventions of the twentieth century. At the same time, many thematic materials noted that in his homeland he was not given the move even during the First World War, when the parachute could save the life of aviators. It is often stated that the opponent of the parachuts was Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich. He allegedly stated that “the parachute is a harmful thing”, since the pilots will jump from the plane prematurely instead of saving an expensive device. This statement can be found in Scientific and popular books, and c newspaper articles, and c Blogs.
Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich (1866–1933), cousin and at the same time Shurin of Emperor Nicholas II, was one of the main enthusiasts of military aviation development in Russia. During the First World War, he headed aviation on the southwestern front, and from February 1915 throughout the army of the Russian Empire.
For the first time, the information that the Grand Duke negatively reacted to parachutes is found in the book of Kotelnikov himself "The story of one invention: Russian parachute", Published already in Soviet times, in 1938. As one might expect, it contains very sharp assessments of pre -revolutionary Russia and its ruling class. In particular, Kotelnikov writes:
At the end of the imperialist war, the parachute already had many friends. There were generals who appreciated the benefits of the parachute. They asked the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, who was then the chief chief of the Russian air forces, be sure to introduce parachutes in aviation. At this report, the prince drawn such a resolution: “The parachute in general in aviation is a harmful thing, since the pilots at the slightest danger that threatens them from the enemy will be saved by parachutes, providing planes of death.”
What a striking contrast with this resolution are remarkable words said by the great leader of our country Comrade. Stalin to one of our valiant pilots, now the Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel Chkalov: "Your life is more expensive for us to any car."
Compare these words. In them, in these words, you will see how you treated people in tsarist Russia and how they are now related in our country. Then the tsarist government was afraid to believe not only to soldiers, but even to their officers. Now, in these remarkable words of our leader, that genuine concern of the Soviet state was reflected about people, which makes a person’s work joyful, and life is happy.
In the second edition (1939), Kotelnikov added another pathos:
In this cynical grand -ducal resolution, like the sun in a drop of water, the whole regime, the whole era, the entire state of our country were reflected: a huge, helpless, technically backward, crushed by a heavy boot of autocracy. In this huge Russia there were very few cars and too many people - this “cannon fodder”, even officers, because in those days there were usually only “gentlemen of the officers” to be pilots.
At the same time, Kotelnikov does not indicate how he became aware of the resolution of the Grand Duke. It is no accident that in The most complete Kotelnikov’s biographies for authorship of Gennady Chernenko (1988) of the phrase of the Grand Duke about the dangers of parachuts.
In the works of military historians dedicated to Russian aviation during the First World War, criticism of the Parachuts by the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich is not mentioned. In the article by Leonid Minov "The use of parachutes in the Russian army during the First World War"(1976) It is indicated that at the beginning of the war the main military-technical department ordered 70 parachutes of the Kotelnikov system, which were allocated by the Ilya Muromets bombers and the airsmalling companies using the airships. However, parachutes for a long time lay idle for a long time due to the fact that the pilots themselves were “morally not prepared” to use them, that is, obviously, they did not trust the new invention.
The situation has changed when it became known about successful jumping with parachutes of the group of French air -soldiers under Verden in the spring of 1916. After that, Major General Anatoly Barsov, the head of the office of the Aviation Head and the Air Force of the Army, that is, the very Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, on June 10, 1916 published circular No. 10493, which orders parachutes to all those who wish to airfiders. Kotelnikov’s parachuts were not enough, and the Russian command ordered a large batch of parachutes of the jukemes system in France. At the same time, the aviators tried to finalize the Kotelnikov model, which was reflected in the “Instructions for using parachutes on snake balloons” of October 25, 1916. According to Minnov, from January 25 to November 7, 1917, military air engineers made 65 parachute jumps from balloons and airships, including 29 voluntary and 36 forced ones, that is, the use of a parachute among Russian military -melting became mass. As for aviation, Minov mentions only one training jump from the biplane in July 1917, but this initiative was not supported by the "leaders of the air fleet." Unfortunately, Minov does not specify who exactly opposed, but it could not be Alexander Mikhailovich, since he was fired from the service in the spring of the same year, after the February Revolution.
It is noteworthy that a very similar story about the ban on the use of parachute by aviators is set out in the memoirs of the British military pilot Arthur Lee Lee "Without a parachute. Fighter pilot in the First World War"(1968). Lee notes that during the war and after it rumors were widespread: the pilots did not give parachutes out of fear that they would, without extreme need to leave expensive aircraft. According to Lee, he did not find a single document in the archives of the British military department, where such a point of view would be expressed in explicitly. But skepticism in relation to parachutes was characteristic of the entire command of British aviation, so the parachute of Koltropo models, patented back in 1913 (two years later Kotelnikov) and passed successful tests, was never used by British pilots (unlike air forces) in the First World War.
It can be assumed that a similar picture was also characteristic of the Russian army. There is no documentary evidence that the command ever officially prohibited parachutes, and the quote attributed to Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich was almost certainly invented by Kotelnikov himself. However, rumors that the authorities care more about cars than people could really be as common among Russian pilots as among the British ones. However, the command, and, probably, at least part of the pilots simply did not trust parachutes, so they were used less often than they could.
Photo on the cover: Wikimedia Commons
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