Red Moscow

"During the Great Patriotic War, the United States provided large-scale military assistance to our country." After the two chatted for a while, Yakov suddenly changed the topic: "But they have always refused to provide us with the most advanced technology."

"Well, yes, during the Great Patriotic War, the United States gave us huge military assistance. Without their help, it is still unknown whether we could have survived the most difficult early stages of the war." Although Yakov is himself A good friend, but when it comes to some sensitive topics, Sokov is still more cautious: "At least the probability of losing Moscow will be greatly increased."

"We were able to defeat Germany. In addition to the bloody battles of our military officers and soldiers, the assistance from the United States played an important role." After Yakov repeated the topic again, he continued: "Have you heard of the US military's strategic bombers?"

"Yasha, although I am from the Army, I have heard of the US military's strategic bombers." Sokov said without hesitation: "The US military's B-29 bomber, nicknamed the Super Flying Fortress, is a propeller-type strategic bomber. I heard that I The military is in the process of imitating it, and I don’t know if a prototype has appeared.”

Hearing what Sokov said, Yakov couldn't help but show an expression of astonishment on his face: "Misha, how did you know about such a top-secret matter?"

Yakov's question made Sokov panic. He didn't know how to explain this to Yakov. He couldn't tell the other party that I saw the information on the Internet in later generations. That would definitely Treated as a lunatic by Yakov.

Fortunately, Yakov did not pursue the matter further, but continued: "Yes, our army is indeed imitating the US military's B-29 bomber. Although this is a secret, for us in the General Ordnance Department, There is nothing to keep secret.”

Sokov asked tentatively: "Can you briefly introduce the situation to me?" The reason why he made such a request was to know how much Yakov knew about the imitation of the B-29 bomber. In the future, he and himself Only when others talk about this matter can you avoid cheating.

"After the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the United States provided various military assistance to our country in accordance with the Lease Act. Considering that our Air Force did not have long-range strategic bombers, my father expressed his desire to the United States many times to obtain B-29 bombers, but was rejected. They are only willing to provide medium-sized bombers, fighter jets and transport aircraft to our country, and our country has been difficult to develop large bombers due to its weak technical foundation.”

"Yasha, do you know why the United States rejected your father's request?"

"Misha, tell me what you think."

“In the eyes of Americans, our country and they have fought side by side to deal with the common enemy, Germany, but they are always potential opponents. Therefore, it is completely necessary to maintain the advantage over our country in terms of long-range bomber technology. "

"Misha, you are right, I think so too." Yakov continued: "My father's requests to the United States were repeatedly rejected. Just when he felt there was no hope, a turning point came. .

On July 29, 1944, a B-29 bomber numbered 42-6256, piloted by U.S. Captain Howard Jarrell, was damaged by anti-aircraft artillery during a bombing mission on the island nation and had to make an emergency landing in Vladivostok, my country. As soon as the plane landed, it was detained by the airport security forces.

Then on November 11, another B-29 bomber numbered 42-6365, after completing a night air raid on Kyushu, also made an emergency landing in Vladivostok due to damage. On November 21, the B-29 bomber No. 42-6358 was damaged and made an emergency landing in Vladivostok.

In this way, in just four months, our army obtained three long-awaited and complete B-29 bombers. We arranged for all the crew members of the US military to return to the West via Tehran in January 1945, and the B-29 bomber they were flying was left behind by us.

After my father learned that our army had three B-29 bombers, he was very happy. He immediately decided that the bomber would be a model and spent two years researching and mass-producing his own strategic bomber! He personally ordered that the naval commander, Admiral Kuznetsov, be solely responsible for this strategic plan. "

Sokov recalled a movie he had seen later in life. After being captured, a Soviet pilot robbed a German bomber and escaped back to a Soviet-controlled area with a group of prisoners of war. Before capturing the German bombers, the most troublesome thing for the Soviet pilots was that the operating methods of the German bombers were different from those of the Soviet bombers, and all the texts on the instrument panel were in German. After they tried their best to figure out what the German words on the dashboard meant, they flew away from the German airport.

"Yasha, the B-29 bomber is a brand new model for our military pilots. I'm afraid it's not that easy to fly." Sokov said: "And the text on the instrument panel is all in English. Our military's If the pilot takes off rashly, problems can easily arise.”

"Misha, you are right." Yakov nodded and said: "After Marshal Kuznetsov accepted the task assigned by my father, he arranged for the navy's chief test pilot Semyon Ryder to conduct a test on the impounded B- 29 bomber conducted secret test flights. Semyon Ryder was fluent in English and was responsible for flying a large number of aircraft from the United States to the front during the war. Together with several operating manuals found on the B-29 bomber, he only spent a lot of money. It took him a few weeks to figure out the operating principles of the B-29. With the help of a Russian-English dictionary, he and a group of technicians carefully inspected every part of the B-29 and labeled every switch and system in Russian. illustrate."

"If our country can imitate our own strategic bomber through the B-29 bomber, this test pilot named Semyon Ryder will be indispensable."

"After a large number of test flights, Rydell became more and more familiar with the performance of the aircraft. In the report sent by Marshal Kuznetsov to the Supreme Command, he stated that the B-29 bomber is the most advanced fighter aircraft in the world. Its lightweight aluminum alloy, The pilot's pressurized cabin, remote-controlled aircraft cannons, high-power engines, Norton bomb observers, radars, electronic systems and all other instruments far exceed our country's aviation technology level.

It was this report that convinced my father to imitate the B-29 bomber. He ordered Marshal Kuzhidsov to arrange manpower to fly the B-29 bomber to Moscow and carry out secret imitation work at a special location. "

"Before our country obtained the B-29 bomber, I remember that there seemed to be a project to develop a long-range bomber on its own. Right?"

"Yes." Yakov said: "On June 22 this year, our country officially launched the four-engine bomber program code-named 'B-4', which was later officially renamed Tu-4, which is a top-secret plan to copy the B-29. My father also ordered the cancellation of the homemade long-range bomber program that had just been launched in January of this year, and appointed Tupolev, the original chief engineer of the program, as the chief engineer of the Tu-4. The entire replication program was carried out at the central airport outside Moscow. The three B-29 bombers seized by the Chinese side were used for disassembly and mapping, one for reference, and one for test flights.

What was dismantled and mapped was B-29 bomber No. 42-6365. Each disassembled part was carefully measured and photographed for reproduction. Special care was taken when dismantling various instruments and control systems. Countless lines were numbered, labeled, and recorded. Afterwards, these parts are handed over to the design team for duplication. Our country's aviation industry is under tremendous pressure, and it is very difficult to replicate approximately 100,000 aviation parts that meet quality requirements on time. The 105,000 parts of the B-29 bomber required 400,000 sketches.

In order to ensure that there would be no leaks in this top-secret copying work, my father arranged for Beria to be responsible for the security of this project. "

Having said this, Yakov looked at Sokov and said meaningfully: "But I didn't expect that even if the security measures are so tight, you still heard the news."

"When I was flying over Moscow once, I saw a lot of people busy at the airport on the ground, but I didn't see any planes nearby." In order to convince Yakov, Sokov started to make nonsense: "So I judged at that time that the airport below must be engaged in the research and development of some new aircraft. I just asked casually, but I guessed it right. "

After listening to Sokov's far-fetched explanation, Yakov did not have any doubts. After all, he had just said that this top-secret work would be a huge leak if outsiders knew about it. But for important members of the General Ordnance Department like Sokov, it was nothing at all.

"The research and development work has been going on for half a year. Even if a prototype is to be produced, I'm afraid it won't be that fast." Yakov said: "Since my father asked them to complete the imitation work within two years, it means that we want to see a successfully imitated long-range bomber. , at least until after July 1947."

Sokov remembers that the first Tu-4 aircraft was launched in 1947, and its first test flight was conducted in May of the same year.

In August, the Tu-4 made its public debut at the Moscow Aviation Festival, and military attaches from Western countries stationed in the Soviet Union were invited to visit the Soviet Army’s first strategic bomber. Three Tu-4 bombers and one Tu-70 passenger plane flew over the rostrum from a low altitude of 300 meters. One of the Tu-4s was personally piloted by Air Marshal Grovonov. When these three Tu-4s appeared in front of people's eyes, many Western military attachés thought they were the US B-29 bombers that had been seized by the Soviet Union.

Beginning in 1948, the Tu-4 bomber entered service with the Soviet Strategic Air Force. Since then, the Soviet Army has truly possessed strategic bombing capabilities.

Chief designer Tupolev did not completely copy the B-29 bomber during the imitation process. He creatively improved some important components, such as radar, ammunition and engines. The most important one is the engine, which was replaced by the ASH-72K developed by the Soviet Union. It can produce up to 2,300 horsepower, which is larger than the original engine of the B-29. This is one of the reasons why Western countries later felt strange that the Tu-4 had a longer range and faster flight.

"By the way, Yasha, I thought of something."

"whats the matter?"

"Comrade Ustinov went to the Far East. I thought he went to Chelyabinsk at first, but when you talked about the B-29 bomber, I thought of another possibility."

Yakov laughed twice and said first: "Do you think that our army has seized a new B-29 bomber in the Far East?"

"This possibility cannot be ruled out." Although Sokov knew that the Soviet Union used the seized U.S. B-29 bombers to imitate the famous Tu-4 bomber, he was not sure how many U.S. military aircraft were seized. Therefore, he linked Ustinov's sudden trip to the Far East to the seizure of new US military B-29 bombers.

"To be honest, I don't know either." Yakov said helplessly: "After all, Comrade Ustinov is our superior. How can a superior who is on a business trip tell his subordinates the purpose of his trip? Therefore, he Whether it went to Chelyabinsk or the Far East, we don’t know.”

The two were chatting when suddenly there was a knock on the door.

Yakov stood up and opened the door. Outside the door was a middle-aged man in military uniform. After he saw Yakov, he said respectfully: "Comrade General, the drawings you requested have been delivered. Please sign for them." ”

Yakov picked up the pen, signed the book provided by the other party, then took a document bag and expressed his gratitude to the other party: "Thank you!"

"You're welcome, this is what I should do." After saying this, the middle-aged man turned and left.

Yakov took the document bag and walked to his desk. I wanted to open it, but I looked at Sokov sitting opposite, hesitated, and then threw the document bag directly on the table.

Sokov saw the flash of hesitation on Yakov's face, and realized that the document bag he just got must contain confidential documents, and he was not qualified to know them. If he continued to stay here, it would only affect Yakov's work, so he wisely stood up and said to Yakov: "Yasha, it seems that you still have work, so I won't disturb you."

Yakov nodded slightly, and then said: "I'll give it to you!"

When he sent Sokov to the door, he emphasized: "Misha, it will be the New Year in a few days. If possible, you'd better go home and stay with Asya. It used to be war time , it’s understandable that you can’t go home during the New Year. But now that the war is over and peaceful life has resumed, it would be a bit unreasonable to not be by Asiya’s side during the New Year.”

"Yasha, it's not that I don't want to go home, it's just that I can't go back." Sokov said awkwardly: "You also know that I have submitted my design plan for several days, but as of today, I have not received it. Any reply. I don’t know if the sample gun has been produced, whether it has been tested, and a series of other issues.”

"Yes, this is indeed a problem." Yakov said: "But there are exceptions to everything. Even if Comrade Ustinov is not here, your design work has been completed, and there should not be much problem in going home. Today I There are other things I can ask you when I have free time tomorrow, so that you can go home before the New Year.”

"Thank you so much." Sokov grabbed Yakov's hand, shook it with him, and said gratefully: "If we can really go home before the New Year, Asiya and I will thank you. "

"Misha, don't be so polite, we are friends." Yakov said with a smile: "If you had not rescued me from the prisoner of war camp, it is still unknown whether I would have survived to this day."

When Sokov turned and walked towards his office, he thought of another question: in East Prussia, General Chernyakhovsky survived and was even promoted to marshal, but not long ago, He died in a plane crash. In real history, Yakov died in a German prisoner of war camp on April 13, 1943. Although he is still alive and well because of his appearance, who can guarantee that the powerful entanglement of history will Will the wrong power wipe him out directly one morning?