Tula signs of the "Hunchback"
In the book "The Black Death is Attacking" Tulyak, an attack aircraft pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Polukarov described the aircraft he flew in the war as follows:
"IL-2 is a fortress, it is strength and power, it is an avalanche of fire. These humpback planes are capable of turning any enemy tanks and self-propelled guns into a shapeless pile of scrap metal."
N. Polukarov enthusiastically lists the armament of his attack aircraft:
"And the armament! Two cannons, two machine guns, eight rockets – at least let them go at once, at least separately. And besides, six hundred kilograms of bombs. Well, what's not a flying tank?"
In July and August 1941, after the spectacular "debut" of the IL-2 aircraft near Orsha, Smolensk and Yelnya, "the front was particularly insistent on attack aircraft — they were used to fight enemy tanks," said Alexei Shakhurin, former People's Commissar of the USSR Aviation Industry.
But, of course, the Il-2 would not have become such a popular and sought-after aircraft in the war if Tula designers had not invested their talent in equipping it and increasing its combat capability.
The "transparent armor" for the Il-2 was created just before the war by engineer Boris Zverev, a native of the village of Torkhovo in Tula County. Machine guns and even 20-mm fascist air cannons did not take his armored glass,
The attack aircraft was armed with specially designed 23-mm air cannons from Tula gunsmiths Alexander Volkov and Sergey Yartsev. This greatly increased his offensive firepower.
When the second one wins
Before the war, when a new 23-mm cartridge with a high muzzle velocity of 900 m/s was developed, the creation of an aviation automatic cannon for it was entrusted to the Moscow OKB-16 under the leadership of Yakov Taubin. In parallel, the same task was assigned to the Tula Central Design Bureau-14, where several creative teams took part in its solution, including A. Volkov with S. Yartsev and V. Salishchev with V. Galkin.
Samples of A. Volkov's Tulyaks with S. Yartsev and Y. Taubin's Muscovites with M. Baburin were selected for comparative state tests. Preference was given to the Muscovite product. But soon the further development of the Tauba cannon stalled - numerous flaws were revealed.
A special commission examined the activities of the OKB-16 and stated that all the products designed by J.G. Taubin (he was not the only one who designed them, of course, but was responsible for each one) — a 23-mm cannon, a 12.7-mm machine gun and a 37-mm cannon, which were relied on to equip new combat aircraft, according to they failed for one reason or another. Huge amounts of money were spent on their development and invaluable time was lost, as the industry was distracted by the preparation of the release of unfinished samples.
On the night of May 15-16, 1941, Y.G. Taubin and his deputy M.N. Baburin were arrested. On October 28, 1941, when the Germans were standing at the gates of Moscow, Y.G. Taubin was shot in the village of Barbysh in the Kuibyshev region. His deputy M.N. Baburin, who was sentenced to 5 years in prison in the same case, died in the camp on August 30, 1944. After Stalin's death, by a decree of the USSR Prosecutor's Office dated December 20, 1955, the case against Y.G. Taubin was dismissed for lack of evidence of a crime.
We must pay tribute to S. Yartsev and A. Volkov. After losing to their opponent at the state trials, they did not give up, but on the contrary immediately began to eliminate the shortcomings that were pointed out to them. So when the Decree of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) "On cannon armament of aviation" was issued, which canceled the Taubin cannon production program, and the Volkov and Yartsev cannon was adopted by the Air Force, they were already confident in the trouble-free operation of all components of their brainchild.
Due to the lack of ready-made sludge, the first tests of the gun were carried out on a Messerschmitt-110 fighter-bomber purchased in Germany. Successful tests on the Il-2 took place just before the war, after which the gun was adopted by the Soviet Air Force under the name VYA-23 .
Vladimir Novikov, former Deputy People's Commissar of Armaments of the USSR, recalled a meeting with designers at the factory that was setting up the production of the VYA-3 aviation cannon:
"Almost everything was ready for production, although there was still a lot to do. The designers of the guns themselves, A.A. Volkov and S.A. Yartsev, were also there. They were young, powerfully built, serious, and somewhat similar to each other. Only Volkov is blond with glasses, and Yartsev is brown—haired and without glasses. And they are dressed in different ways: Volkov in a suit and tie, and his co—author in a paramilitary jacket. I asked them to accompany me and show me the production from start to finish." The "tour" ended with the testing of new weapons: "Next to the ShVAK for comparison. We make a thousand shots from each instance. There are no delays."
A total of 64,655 VYA-23 air guns were produced.
Learn more about the constructors:
Alexander Alexandrovich Volkov was born on November 2, 1905, near Tula, in the family of a poor peasant who later moved to the city in search of work. After graduating from elementary school, Sasha worked as a boy in a hardware store. In 1921, he entered the vocational technical college at the Tula Cartridge Factory, from where, two years later, he transferred to the FSU school (factory apprenticeship school) at the Tula Arms Factory. After graduating from the Federal Law in 1927, he qualified as a 7th-class draftsman and joined the design bureau of the machine-building department of the plant.
In 1932-1934, he taught cold metalworking at the school of the Federal Law of the Kosogorsky Metallurgical Plant near Tula, then returned to the weapons factory in the experimental military design department. Here, Volkov joined a group of young designers who were assigned to develop samples of aviation weapons. Together with N.F. Tokarev, the son of the great creator of the TT pistol, he took part in the development of the SHKAS twin aircraft machine gun, which was installed on the SB aircraft and tested in the air in 1936.
In 1937, A.A. Volkov, together with S.A. Yartsev, designed a 20-mm aircraft cannon, work on which was suspended due to the imperfection of ammunition of this caliber.
Alexander Alexandrovich Volkov is a laureate of the Stalin Prize of the first degree (1942), a knight of the Orders of Lenin (1942), Kutuzov (1944), and the Patriotic War of the Second Degree (1945); he was awarded medals "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" (1945), "For Labor Distinction" (1962).
The designer's life ended on January 12, 1965, but the name of Alexander Alexandrovich Volkov will forever remain in the history of the arms industry.
The famous aircraft cannon of the Soviet Il-2 and Il-10 attack aircraft under the "VYA" (Volkov – Yartsev) index is kept in the museum's collections. Sergei Alexandrovich Yartsev was born in 1906 in the family of a worker at the Tula Arms Factory. After graduating from high school, he entered the vocational school at TOZ, which he successfully graduated in 1926.From that time on, his working life began as a copier.
He combined his work in the design bureau with continuous improvement of technical training: in 1931, he successfully graduated from the mechanical college, receiving the title of design engineer for cold metalworking.
In 1930, Sergey Alexandrovich took part in the design and development of the SHKAS machine gun.
On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, A.A. Volkov and S.A. Yartsev designed and tested the 23-mm VYA-23 aircraft cannon. The Il-2 attack aircraft equipped with it effectively hit enemy armored vehicles. In 1942, S.A. Yartsev was awarded the Stalin Prize of the first degree for the development of the 23-mm VYA-23 cannon.
For his exemplary performance of tasks in providing the Soviet Army with weapons, S.A. Yartsev was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Orders of the Patriotic War of the First and Second degrees .
In June 1980, Yartsev resigned from TSKIBA. He died a little more than a year later, in July 1981.
The famous aircraft cannon of the Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft under the "VYA" (Volkov – Yartsev) index is kept in the collections of the Tula Museum of Weapons.
