Chapter 93 Market for Technology
The Junker F13 plane that Hersman took took off from Berlin, landed twice in Danzig and Riga for refueling, and took about 12 hours to reach Petrograd. It landed at a military airport near the "Children's Village" (the original Tsar Village).
At the airport, Hersman's old friend Mrs. Kollontai and Soviet Deputy Foreign Affairs People's Commissar Rakovsky were greeted. Natalie Lesinskaya was also at the airport, and standing next to her was a middle-aged man who was a little bald, not tall, wearing small round glasses and wearing a yellow-green military uniform. When getting out of the cabin of the F13 plane, Hersman noticed that the bald middle-aged man was staring at the plane intently.
He must be an aircraft designer! Hersman thought, this guy with glasses didn't look like a pilot. Mrs. Kollontai's introduction quickly proved his guess.
"Ludwig, let me introduce you, this is Comrade Tupolev from the Central Institute of Fluid Power."
It turned out to be Tupolev! How could Hersman not have heard of this man? He is one of the best aircraft designers in the Soviet Union.
Before Hersman's visit to Russia, he had discussed with Kollontai in Riga the issue of "investigating the Soviet aviation industry" - the investigation was of course for further cooperation. So it was not surprising that Soviet aviation experts like Tupolev appeared at the Children's Village military airport.
"The Central Institute of Fluid Power... Is this for designing aircraft?" Hersman asked knowingly.
"At present, it can only be said that it is studying the theory of aerodynamics, not designing aircraft." Tupolev replied.
Russia started very early in the study of aerodynamics. The wind tunnel of Moscow University is one of the earliest wind tunnels in Europe. It was built as early as 1902. The first wind tunnel in Germany was built in 1913 (Junkers presided over the construction).
Although Russia cannot be said to be leading in aircraft design and manufacturing, it is not backward. During and before World War I, it was at least much stronger than the United States and Japan. The famous Sikorsky was a Russian aircraft designer. At the end of 1913, he designed the world's first heavy bomber "Ilya Muromets" A.
After the October Revolution, the Soviet authorities also attached great importance to the aviation industry. Not only did they establish the Central Aerohydrodynamics Research Institute in 1918, but they also took over the aircraft factories of the Tsarist Russia. Among them, the famous Dukes Factory and Petrograd Factory had already started production and have now begun to produce aircraft.
Moreover, according to the information obtained by Hersman, the Soviet aviation industry also received 25 million rubles of research and development funds in 1920.
"Comrade Tupolev, I will introduce you to two colleagues. This is Anthony Fokker and this is Hugo Junkers." Hersman smiled and introduced the two aircraft designers who were very famous at the moment to Tupolev in a very friendly manner.
"Mr. Fokker, oh, you are so young!" Tupolev hurried forward to shake hands as if he had seen his idol in his heart - this is Anthony Fokker! Although he is only 30 years old, he is already a star in the aviation industry.
Then Tupolev went up to Junkers and shook hands with him. "Mr. Junkers, this is the Junker F13 you designed, right? It's a groundbreaking masterpiece."
"Thank you for the compliment. Your Sikovsky is a real genius." Junkers' answer was a bit embarrassing. It seems that he didn't know that Sikovsky was no longer in Russia.
"Mr. Sikovsky is not ours now, but the Americans'." Deputy People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs Rakovsky was frank enough. "Mr. Junkers, our aviation industry has experienced a certain degree of regression due to the civil war!"
"It is Sikovsky's loss that he didn't stay in Russia!" Hessman glanced at his future brother-in-law Focke, saying, "Because the aviation industry is a strategic industry of a country... Only with the support and support of the country can great aircraft designers be produced. If Sikovsky stayed in Russia, he would have a good chance of becoming the greatest aircraft designer in the world! But in the United States, he will not have a brilliant future."
Hersman was actually talking about Focke, not Sikovsky.
When William Edward Boeing sold the first seaplane, Anthony Focke had already created the "Focke disaster." But when Boeing grew into the world's largest aircraft manufacturer, Fokker was no longer glorious.
If there is anything that Fokker cannot compare to Boeing, it is probably that there is an America behind Boeing.
However, in this time and space, with the intervention of Hessman, Anthony Fokker's aircraft company still has the support of Germany and has the opportunity to take advantage of the Soviet Union. There must be a bright future in the future!
...
On the first night after arriving in Soviet Russia, Hessman and others were arranged to stay in the magnificent Yekaterin Palace. A sumptuous dinner was also prepared in a dim and luxurious restaurant - although the famine in Soviet Russia was getting worse day by day, it did not hinder the hospitality of the Soviet people. Similarly, famine would not affect Soviet Russia's investment in the aviation industry.
"Ludwig, let me tell you a secret." Kollontai said to Hessman with a smile while sipping champagne, "The Supreme National Economic Council is preparing a ten-year plan, and the aviation industry will be placed in the most important position."
Ten-year plan? Hersman had never heard of it. He knew that the Soviet Union had a five-year plan or something. But Kollontai did not deceive Hersman. The Soviet Union was indeed compiling a ten-year plan to prepare for a direct transition from military communism to communism. The specific approach was to sacrifice agriculture and light industry and concentrate on developing heavy industry. It was similar to the two five-year plans of the Stalin era. However, the Soviet Union in the early 1920s had just experienced a civil war and was devastated. The countryside had experienced continuous riots and had no power to support the investment in heavy industry as in the two five-year plans that followed.
As a result, after the announcement of this ten-year plan, there was a lot of opposition, and even bigwigs like Trotsky expressed different opinions. Although Trotsky's opinions were not adopted, peasant uprisings and workers' strikes broke out in various parts of the Soviet Union against this economic policy that ignored the development of Russian society. Finally, the Kronstadt sailor uprising broke out, which made the Bolshevik leaders aware of the danger and forced them to suspend unrealistic policies and begin to implement the New Economic Policy.
However, for strategic industries such as aviation industry, even during the New Economic Policy period, the Soviet government maintained high investment year after year without any slack.
"This is really great," Hersman clapped his hands and laughed, "I knew that Russia would be a big market." He pointed to Fokker and Junkers, "and we have the most advanced aviation industry in the world... not only designing aircraft, but also the most advanced aircraft engines. You know, the internal combustion engine was invented by us Germans, and we are at the forefront of the world in this regard. You Russians have the market, and we Germans have the technology, which allows us to work closely together."
Rakovsky nodded with a smile, "Yes, we should cooperate. Lieutenant Colonel, do you have any ideas about this?"
"Of course I have ideas," Hersman said, "My idea is to exchange market for technology."
"Exchange market for technology?" Rakovsky had not heard of this policy that later became famous. "How do we exchange?"
"You provide the market, land and workers, and we provide the technology and equipment. We will establish a company to jointly produce aircraft and engines, and produce aircraft in Russia to supply the Red Army and civilian use. At the same time, we will also help you train engineers and technical workers so that they can master German standard production technology."
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