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all of 10,000 kilometres, clearing all bureaucratic barriers in its path, in a
matter of minutes. The event was reported to Josif Vissarionovich Stalin
himself while he was in a meeting. Stalin thought for a moment then,
having asked only the Politburo members to remain, he passed the news
on to them and, with a cunning smile on his face, asked them to give their
opinions.
The opinion was unanimous: to detain the bomber for a week under
any pretext so as to enable specialists to acquaint themselves with the
structure.
'And what if we do not return the bomber at all to our allies?' asked the
Great Leader and Teacher, drawing on his pipe.
'The allies will be offended, Comrade Stalin,' Molotov objected
cautiously.
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'They may stop sending us supplies,' added Kaganovich. 'Then what
shall we do without their Studebaker lorries?'
That splendid American army lorry was universally acknowledged as
the best military vehicle by everybody from common soldier to marshal.
The famous Russian Katyusha BM 13s were mounted exclusively on
these American vehicles. The Soviet artillery was the mightiest in the
world but its prime mover and ammunition transporter was that same
American Studebaker. And, in addition to lorries, the allies supplied
much else besides which was very important for the Soviet Army,
including means of communication and jeeps, Aircobra fighters,
armoured personnel carriers and tanks.
The supply could be stopped at any moment and, with that fact very
much in mind, all the Politburo members fell to thinking. Very
cautiously, everybody declared themselves against the proposition not to
return the bomber. Only Beriya sat silent, trying to guess which way the
Great Teacher's mind was inclining.
But the Teacher scoffed at the apprehensions of the Bureau and
declared: 'As it is, we shall soon strangle Germany and what will be our
next objective? How can we turn against England and America without a
strategic bomber? The allies will put up with it,' he added, sucking his
pipe. 'They will be a bit agitated for a while and then forget all about it.
The bomber must be copied exactly, alike as two peas, and it must fly
within the year.'
Beriya energetically supported Stalin while the other members of the
Political Bureau readily agreed. They all knew only too well that the
basic principle of their Leader and Teacher was that friends and allies
should be treated like a woman - the more you beat her, the more she
loves you. But every one of them doubted strongly in his heart that the
allies would put up with it.
But the allies did put up with it. The American crew was returned, but
not the best bomber in the world. The Soviet side did not even bother to
invent any kind of explanation. We are not going to return it -full stop.
Lease-lend supplies continued as usual because American diplomats were
accustomed to discussing problems which arose without regard for
questions of military supplies.
A. N. Tupolev, the best Soviet aircraft designer, was put in charge of
the copying team and the new Soviet strategic bomber was named, after
him, the later TU-4. A further sixty-four design bureaux and scientific
research institutes joined in, copying the engines, the fuel and other
materials used in the B-29's construction, as well as all its systems of
navigation, sighting, internal and external communication network and
much else besides. Co-ordination of all the work was entrusted to a
member of the Political Bureau, Comrade Lavrenity Pavlovich Beriya,
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and the aircraft designer, Yakovlev, was appointed technical consultant.
The latter understood Stalin better than anyone else and he knew how to
please him.
A huge new workshop was hurriedly built at the restored aircraft
factory in Vorohekh where, incidentally, twenty-two years later, the
unsuccessful attempt to copy the Concorde was made.
The B-29 was dismantled into thousands of the smallest possible parts,
which were distributed among the various ministries, departments, design
bureaux and scientific research institutes with the explicit command to
copy each detail, aggregate or device and then to embark upon its mass-
production within ten months.
The bomber probably received the unfortunate nickname, 'The Brick
Bomber', owing to all these small parts and mechanisms being sent all
over the Soviet Union. Many years later, in his book The Aim of Life,
Yakovlev said that in 1945-46 we somehow missed out on the
development of jet-propulsion. And, no doubt owing to his inborn
modesty, Yakovlev completely forgot to explain why this happened. This
was precisely the time when dear Comrades Yakovlev, Beriya and
Tupolev were up to their necks creating the 'Brick'. Well might he have
missed anything else. 'It must be ready to fly in a year's time' - this was
all that Comrade Yakovlev remembered even while he slept.
Indeed, after the TU-4, all unsuccessful aircraft, especially those
copied from foreign models, were unofficially nicknamed 'Bricks'. The
most famous is, of course, the TU-144 Koncordskiy. But, on that
occasion, there was no actual model to hand, only a few documents.
Maybe also its failure was due to the absence of Lavrentiy Pavlovich's
iron fist, without which all technical progress withered.
Difficulties arose from the very beginning of the copying process. To
begin with, the use of the metric system of measuring was quite out of the
question. If the weight of each rivet is only ten milligrammes less than it
should be, it could lead to the whole structure's durability being
diminished whereas, if the weight is just a bit greater, it could adversely
influence the weight of the whole aircraft. Tupolev knew full well that if
the aircraft was to be copied it must be copied in every detail, down to the
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