Gleb Kotelnikov - the father of knapsack parachutes, who created the aviation revolution

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

What associations do you have when you mention aviation? Airplane, pilot, parachute - probably the most popular. Do you know that a knapsack parachute saves the lives of pilots thanks to our compatriot, Gleb Evgenievich Kotelnikov, and about the difficult path that the inventor went through to give his creation a chance for life?

Father of the parachute

Gleb Kotelnikov was born in St. Petersburg on January 18, 1872. He was interested in design since childhood - at first it was models, toys, but gradually a simple hobby grew into a real vocation. The young man received a good education, graduating from the Kiev military school in 1894. At the end of his compulsory service, he received the position of an excise official and left for the provinces, but this did not prevent Kotelnikov from continuing to do what he loved - singing, playing the violin, organizing drama clubs and even taking part in staging performances himself. His father is a professor of mathematics and higher mechanics, and his mother, an avid theater lover, instilled in his son their hobbies and skills. He most often applied them precisely in construction, to which he was drawn along with the theater. Excise official - this position weighed on him. In 1910, Gleb, by this time successfully married for several years, returned to St. Petersburg, where he attends the All-Russian festival of aeronautics, the events of which turned his whole future life.

Tragic premise

In September (October according to the old style) of 1910, the pilot Lev Makarovich Matsievich performed at that very holiday. On the day of the tragedy, he successfully completed several flights, and even managed to ride several influential persons. Matsievich was given the wish of the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, who at that time was the chief of Russian aviation - they say, show us, brother, something of the latest achievements. Without thinking twice, the pilot decided to show the maximum height to which the plane can take off, but something went wrong: the performance turned out to be spectacular, but the spectacle was a real disaster. The car could not withstand the load, and at exactly 18:00 it literally began to fall apart into pieces. Lev Uspensky wrote about how it looked from the ground in his "Notes of an old Petersburger" - despite the fact that at the time of the tragedy he was only 10 years old, the circumstances of that evening were imprinted in the memory of the future writer for a long time:

… One of the braces burst, and the end of it hit the working screw. It shattered to smithereens; the motor was ripped off. “Farman” sharply pecked his nose, and the pilot, who was not secured in his seat, fell out of the car …

… I stood at the very barrier and so that for me everything happened almost directly against the background of the sun. The black silhouette suddenly split into several parts. A heavy engine swiftly struck at them, almost as lightning speedily, waving its arms terribly, an ink human figure swept to the ground … The warped plane, folding along the way, fell either with a “sheet of paper” or with a “corkscrew” much more slowly, and still lagged behind it, quite above, some incomprehensible small patch, spinning and tumbling, continued its fall even when everything else was on the ground …

… I didn't even go to the remains of the plane. Suppressed to the limit, completely not understanding what will happen now and how to behave - this was the first death in my life! - I stood over a shallow hole carved in the middle of a damp plain of a field by a human body hitting the ground, until one of the adults, seeing my face, said angrily that there was nothing for children to do here.

Kotelnikov's word

The inventor was also that day at the Commandant airfield, and he was struck in the very heart by the death of Matsievich. In distress, he lamented in a circle of friends that the pilot did not have a device thanks to which he could save his life. But this did not exist - and then Kotelnikov decided to create it himself.

At that time, instead of a parachute, a bulky, heavy and rather unreliable structure resembling a folded umbrella was used, however, due to its weight, it was used very rarely - almost never. Kotelnikov did not even consider creating something like this: his room was littered with drawings and calculations for a completely different device. It would seem - an accident, but it was the chance that led him to the idea of what the essence of the parachute should be: somehow, walking along the embankment, he noticed how the girl took something out of her bag, rolled into a tight lump - with a gust of wind he turned around, turning into a large silk scarf. Why not? The inventor added to the previous ideas both this and the next, according to which the lines should be distributed on both hands of the pilot - then he will be able to control the descent, adjusting the place of his landing. He also solved the problem with the "packing", choosing the best option - a backpack, but not simple, but adapted to the situation for which it was created. After several attempts, the first model appeared, in which a neatly folded parachute lay on special shelves equipped with springs. On the lid of the knapsack there is a latch, from the latch there is a cord with a ring. According to the engineer's idea, if necessary, it was enough just to pull the ring to open the lid, and then the springs and the wind will do their job - the first will push out the folded parachute and lines, and the second will help it turn into a full-fledged durable canopy, which will give the aviator a chance to rescue …

On October 27, 1911, Kotelnikov received privilege No. 5010 for a lifepack for aviators with an automatically ejected parachute. Another attempt was made in France in March 1912 (patent No. 438 612). What did the inventor suggest?

He created the PK-1 parachute (“Russian, Kotelnikova, first model”) in less than a year, and in June 1912 conducted successful tests near the village of Salizi, now renamed Kotelnikovo. However, the first “test” was carried out with the participation of a car: the parachute, tied to the tow hooks, did an excellent job. The car was accelerated to maximum speed, and Kotelnikov pulled the ring. The invention did not disappoint: the instantly opened dome forced the car not only to stop, but even to stall due to sudden braking. On the fourth day, the parachute was tested already in the camp of the Aeronautical School, located approximately in the same area. This time, instead of a car, an 80-kilogram dummy equipped with a parachute participated: the testers tried several heights when they threw it off the balloon, and each time the parachute brilliantly coped with the task.

Ideal, right? If the device perfectly fulfills its function, why not put it into use, why not start production and save the life of a pilot in trouble? No matter how it is. The Main Engineering Directorate of the Russian Army did not accept Kotelnikov's invention - the Grand Duke doubted its benefits, motivating his refusal with the following words:

Parachutes in aviation are generally a harmful thing, since pilots, at the slightest danger threatening them from the enemy, will flee by parachutes, leaving planes to die. Cars are more expensive than people. We import cars from abroad, so they should be taken care of. And people will be found, not the same, so different!

The phrase has exactly reached our days, because it was she who became the resolution of Alexander Mikhailovich on Kotelnikov's petition to introduce parachutes into compulsory flight equipment. How does it feel? And this despite the fact that all the tests were attended by both spectators and representatives of the press, who also exerted (at least tried) pressure on the powers that be, insisting on the need to use parachutes.

What is Kotelnikov doing? In the same winter, with the help of a commercial firm, he exposes his brainchild for participation in a competition that was held in Paris and Rouen. A demonstration performance was the jump of Vladimir Ossovsky from the 60-meter mark of the bridge over the Seine. And this time the law of meanness bypassed Kotelnikov: a student of the Petersburg Conservatory in front of the amazed audience smoothly glided off the bridge, alive and well, contrary to the phrases of the spiteful critics, they say, at the moment of opening the parachute, the pilot will tear off his arms, and if he does not tear off his hands, then his legs -that, when hitting the ground - by all means. It was a triumph - the invention was recognized. And what about the homeland? The homeland remembered Kotelnikov and his creation only in the First World War.

After graduating from the Kiev military school and service, Kotelnikov was in the rank of lieutenant. At the beginning of the war, he was sent to the automobile units, but in the end he still went about his business: it was decided to supply the crews of multi-engine RK-1 aircraft, and their designer was directly involved in creating the required number of parachutes. Kotelnikov did not stop at RK-1: in 1923 RK-2 was created, followed by RK-3, already with a soft knapsack. There were other models, no less successful, but less in demand, such as the cargo RK-4, capable of lowering up to 300 kg.

In 1926, the inventor donated his collection to the Soviet government.

He met the first blockade winter in Leningrad, and then was evacuated. Gleb Evgenievich died in Moscow on November 22, 1944. The designer's grave at the Novodevichy Cemetery is a place where many parachutists come to pay tribute to his memory, and to tie a ribbon on the branch of a nearby tree to tighten the parachutes. Good luck.