The hydrogen engine was invented back in besieged Leningrad

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

The besieged Leningrad was one of the most difficult points on the battle map of the Eastern Front. In the conditions of a total siege by German troops, it was extremely difficult to ensure the defense of the city. Balloons were one of the most effective ways to protect the Leningrad sky from enemy bombing. However, the lack of supplies nearly put them out of action. The situation was saved by a talented lieutenant, whose invention was decades ahead of its time.

For the first time, balloons soared into the sky over Leningrad at night practically from the first day of the war - in the late evening of June 23, 1941. Huge vehicles with hydrogen inside cruised over the city at medium altitude, preventing enemy bombers from descending to begin shelling. And if the plane nevertheless attempted to descend and hit the balloon, then a high-explosive bomb exploded, which destroyed the enemy vehicle.

Balloons were a fairly effective method of defense against bombing, but they also had drawbacks. So, the period of their continuous stay in the sky usually did not exceed three weeks. The balloons were losing hydrogen, which was released to the outside. And they just went down, losing altitude. And in order to lift the “defender” into the sky again, it was necessary to first land it on the ground and fill it with new hydrogen. Refueling was carried out using gasoline powered winches. However, the much-needed fuel ran out already at the end of 1941, and Leningrad was threatened with the loss of the protection of its sky.

A 32-year-old military technician with the rank of junior lieutenant Boris Shelishch found a way out. He was mobilized on the second day after the invasion of German troops into the territory of the USSR. The junior lieutenant Shelishch was engaged in the repair of aerostatic winches of the 3rd regiment of the 2nd air defense corps. Being a talented self-taught person, even before the war he managed to assemble a passenger car, which served him as a means of transportation between balloon posts for technical guidance.

And on difficult days, when gasoline ran out in Leningrad, Boris Shelishch proposed an alternative - to use electric winches from the elevator adapted to work with balloons. The idea was not bad, but a new obstacle stood in the way: pretty soon the city was left without electricity.

The attempt to turn to mechanical labor also proved to be practically impossible. The fact is that such work required the strength of more than ten men, but in the conditions of widespread mobilization of personnel to the front, up to 5 people remained at the balloon posts, and most of them were girls.

But Shelishch did not give up, trying to find a way out of an almost desperate situation. While on leave from his home, the engineer decided to entertain himself with reading. The choice fell on the novel "The Mysterious Island" by Jules Verne. The solution to the problem with balloons was found at the same moment - the 11th chapter of the work contained a dispute between the main characters, discussing what fuel would be used in the future. According to the character of Cyrus Smith, who was an engineer, after the coal deposits dry up, the world will switch to water, or rather its components - oxygen and hydrogen.

The decision to turn to hydrogen instead of gasoline required deliberation, given the sad episodes of the past associated with such experiments. Shelishch was well acquainted with the history of the pride of aeronautics in Germany, the airship "Hindenburg". The catastrophe, which was caused precisely by the ignition of hydrogen, caused the death of dozens of people and was actively covered in the Soviet press. This tragic event initiated the curtailment of experiments with dangerous gas and put an end to the era of airships.

However, Lieutenant Shelishch believed that it was necessary to take the risk, because the defenders of besieged Leningrad simply had no other way out. As the first experiment, the mechanic connected the balloon to the engine pipe of the "lorry" with a hose and turned on the waste hydrogen. The idea worked - the engine started working immediately. But then the unexpected happened - when Shelishch tried to increase the speed, there was an explosion. The mechanic got off with a shell shock, there were no casualties.

But the talented lieutenant was not going to stop halfway. Immediately after his recovery, he began to think about a solution to the problem that had arisen. It was a water seal, which served as a separator between the engine and the fire. The hydrogen passed through a kind of water wall, and the explosions were prevented. The Shelishch project was proposed to officials from the management, and they gave the go-ahead for development.

The entire top of the Leningrad Air Defense Service gathered for testing. Boris Shelishch carried out the launch procedure in the presence of the management. The engine started instantly, despite the 30-degree frost, and worked without interruption. All subsequent experiments were also successful. The impressed command ordered to transfer all balloon winches to hydrogen within 10 days. However, the developers simply did not have the resources for this.

Shelishch again set out to find solutions. In his search, he ended up at the Baltic Shipyard and at first did not find anything. However, then, entering the warehouse, I came across a huge number of used fire extinguishers. And they were the perfect solution. Moreover, in conditions of constant bombardment, the "stocks" of empty fire extinguishers were continuously replenished.

In order to meet the deadline, the developers worked in several teams almost around the clock. The account of the created and installed units of the necessary equipment went to hundreds. But the Leningraders managed to do it. And the balloons soared into the sky again, protecting the besieged city from enemy bombing with an impassable wall.

Boris Shelishch, together with his brainchild, visited a number of exhibitions of military inventions. For his work, the talented lieutenant was presented with the Order of the Red Star. And they also wanted to award the invention with the Stalin Prize. However, it did not happen - then the work did not go through the competition.

By the beginning of 1942, the glory of the invention of junior lieutenant Shelishch reached the Headquarters. An order was issued to move the technician to Moscow to complete the task: to ensure the transfer of 300 engines to hydrogen in parts of the capital's balloon barrage. The task was completed. In response, Shelishch was offered to move to Moscow, but the lieutenant refused. He believed that if he stayed in the capital, it would look like an escape from the real battlefield, which continued to rage on the Leningrad soil. The technician returned to his hometown and continued to do his job - to carry out technical control of balloon obstacles.

Aerostats powered by junior lieutenant Boris Shelishch were successfully used throughout the war. But the victory put an end to this era: the reason was the disappearance of fuel for the engine - "waste" hydrogen. However, the written-off inventions of the Leningrad nugget technician continued to be used in the work of collective and state farms.

But, despite the fact that Shelishch's invention was forgotten for many years, the honor of the talented person was preserved. Thus, in August 1974, in an article by the Pravda newspaper entitled “Fuel of the Future - Hydrogen,” Academician V. Struminsky wrote: “Even if coal and oil disappear in the world, the USSR does not face an energy catastrophe, since Soviet scientists, having outstripped American science, found an alternative source of energy - hydrogen. At the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1968, a year earlier than the Americans found a way to use hydrogen as a vehicle fuel."

And then the veterans of the Leningrad Front sent a refutation, recalling the history of the invention of junior lieutenant Boris Shelishch, which saved the besieged city since 1941. So indeed, in the matter of creating a hydrogen engine, the USSR overtook America, but did it decades ago.