Matus Ruwimowitsch Bisnowat

Matus Ruwimowitsch Bisnowat ( Russian Матус Рувимович Бисноват ; born October 23, 1905 in Nikopol , Russian Empire ; † November 8, 1977 ) was a Soviet designer in the field of aviation and missile technology, doctor of technical sciences (1965 ), winner of the Lenin Prize. (1966) of the State Prize (1973), Hero of Socialist Labor (1975).

Training and work in aircraft construction

Bisnowat SK-2

After graduating from MAI (Moscow Aviation Institute) in 1931, Bisnowat took on responsible positions in design offices and plants in the aviation industry at an early stage. So z. B. until 1938 in the OKB von Tairow, then as chief designer of an OKB in the ZAGI . It was here that experimental designs for high-speed aircraft such as the SK-1 and SK-2 as well as the twin-engine SK-3 fighter were created under his leadership . Regardless of the good flight performance, these machines did not go into series production. Yaroslav Golovanov wrote about Bisnowat in one of his publications on the history of Soviet aviation: “Matus Ruwimowitsch was an extremely talented person, but he lacked the ability to assert himself, compared with such a 'predator' as Yakovlev - he was an absolute 'vegetarian' . "

During the Great Patriotic War , Bisnowat was employed as a chief designer in various aircraft factories. B. the series production of the LaGG-3 . In 1942 Bisnowat was given the management of OKB-55; this is where the project for the jet-powered fighter “302” was developed. From 1945 to 1948 work was carried out on experimental aircraft 5 to research aerodynamics and flight characteristics in the near-sound speed range. This work was carried out parallel to the activities of OKB-2 in the reconstruction of the German DFS 346 project .

OKB-293 - New tasks in rocket technology

In 1948 the OKB-293 was founded in Chimki near Moscow in Plant No. 293, and MR Bisnowat was appointed as its head. The task for the OKB consisted in the development of a guided air-to-air missile with the designation SNARS-250 (self- guided missile projectile for aircraft with a mass of 250 kg) and a wing rocket "Schturm" for coastal defense. At the beginning of the 1950s, work also followed on an LM-15 unmanned aircraft with the RD-550 ramjet engine from the OKB by MM Bondarjuk . At an altitude of 8000 m, the model reached speeds of Mach 1.15 to Mach 1.6.

The projects SNARS-250 and "Schturm" were in the flight test stage when the OKB-293 was disbanded on February 19, 1953. Both the employees and the facilities went to KB 1. The obvious reason for the dissolution is now the nationality of Bisnowat itself, at the height of the “fight against cosmopolitan tendencies” and during the prosecution of the “case of the Kremlin doctors”. The relatives of the chief designer, who had been living in the USA since 1914, represented an unsettled situation at the beginning of the 1950s. Bisnowat was deported to a less prestigious OKB in the outskirts of Moscow, where he began developing mobile security technology for airfields, such as B. starting devices of the type APA dealt.

OKB-4 - The quick rebirth

Due to the rapid development in the field of aircraft technology, there was an urgent need for guided air-to-air missiles as armament for modern fighters such as the Su-9 or the Jak-25 in the mid-1950s . In order to quickly achieve a countable success, several OKB worked in parallel on this task. In the time of the political thaw after Stalin's death , the qualities of Bisnovat were remembered and he was given the management of OKB-4, later KB “Molnija” in Tuschino .

In 1955, work began on the K-8 ( R-8 ) rocket , which was intended as armament for the Jak-25 fighter aircraft . However, it was only the modernized R-8M variant that went into series production.

For the Tu-128-80 interception complex, development of the K-80 ( R-4 ) missile and its modifications began in 1958 .

In the early 1960s, the OKB-4 developed the K-98 missile as a fundamental modernization of the R-8. It was used as the R-98 with its modifications to arm the Su-11 , Su-15 and Jak-28 .

As the main armament for the MiG-25 , the development of the K-40 ( R-40 ) missile began in 1962 . For this work MR Bisnowat and his deputy W. Jelagin were awarded the Lenin Prize.

Project work on the K-73 ( R-73 ) short-range missile began in 1974. In 1982, all work on the K-73 missile, together with most of the specialists involved, was handed over to the MKB "Wimpel".

In 1976, when work began on the Soviet spacecraft “Buran”, individual OKBs were reorganized. The KB "Molnija" was merged with the "Plant for Experimental Mechanical Engineering" of WM Myasishchev and the MKB "Burewestnik" under the new name NPO "Molnija". The main task under the new chief designer G. W. Losino-Losinski was the development of the "Buran". Work on guided air-to-air missiles ran in parallel until 1982, when this topic was handed over to the MKB "Wympel".

Matus Ruwimowitsch Bisnowat died after a long illness of diabetes on November 8, 1977, he was buried in the Vagankovo ​​Cemetery in Moscow.

Awards

For his services, MR Bisnowat was awarded a number of orders and medals, including 2 orders of Lenin , 1 order of the red labor banner .

swell

• AB Shirokorad : “Encyclopedia of Domestic Missile Weapons 1817 to 2002”, Library of Military History, Moscow 2003.
• WB Schawrow, "History of Soviet Aircraft Construction".
• "Aerokosmitscheskij obzor" 1/2005, 6/2005.

Web links

• Bisnowat's biography on testpilot.ru (Russian)
• Fighter plane "302" on testpilot.ru (Russian)
• Airplane "5" on testpilot.ru (Russian)
• SK-2 fighter aircraft on airwar.ru (Russian)
• ZAGI SK-2, from a recognized aviation archive with extensive technical data