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Rockets and People<br />
women who had been liberated from various camps and were awaiting their hour<br />
of repatriation.At that time, neither they nor we knew what awaited them.<br />
A kind of semi-starvation existence began. During our expeditions around<br />
Berlin, we therefore had no qualms about s<strong>to</strong>pping for a visit at units where they<br />
fed “starving” Muscovites pretty well.<br />
In the ensuing days, we continued <strong>to</strong> investigate the Askania facility.The fac<strong>to</strong>ry<br />
had a broad spectrum of interesting items and competed with Siemens for our<br />
interest. We discovered another large fac<strong>to</strong>ry and design bureau in Mariendorf.<br />
Here I finally found intact actua<strong>to</strong>rs for the V-2, as well as similar actua<strong>to</strong>rs for<br />
aircraft au<strong>to</strong>pilots. Sets of au<strong>to</strong>pilot equipment intended for delivery were assembled<br />
on the test stands. With as<strong>to</strong>nishment, we discovered shops with submarine<br />
periscopes, periscope range finders, bombsights, and anti-aircraft fire control<br />
equipment (PUAZO). 1 There were special cockpits equipped for crew training<br />
and testing where blind flight conditions were simulated.There was a rather large<br />
shop that was involved with purely optical production. Optical glass polishing<br />
machines s<strong>to</strong>od <strong>next</strong> <strong>to</strong> the finished products—virtual mountains of lenses of various<br />
diameters up <strong>to</strong> 50 centimeters! The test labora<strong>to</strong>ries were excellently<br />
equipped.They contained pressure chambers, thermal vacuum chambers, vibration<br />
stands, and rainfall simula<strong>to</strong>rs. Every area was equipped with all-purpose and<br />
special-purpose measurement instruments and also with our dream instrument: the<br />
Siemens multi-mirror oscillograph!<br />
On 8 May we inspected another Askania fac<strong>to</strong>ry in Friedenau. Here we met<br />
with the firm’s technical direc<strong>to</strong>r. He drew a diagram (since there was no readymade<br />
diagram available) of the polarized relay for the V-2 actua<strong>to</strong>r and <strong>to</strong>ld me that<br />
their company had the most advanced instrumentation and machinery in Europe.<br />
He boasted in particular about their unique set of jig-boring machines and optical<br />
benches.<br />
During later journeys, interagency squabbles began. The first <strong>to</strong>ok place that<br />
same day, 8 May, when we approached the Kreiselgeräte fac<strong>to</strong>ry. 2 There was a sign<br />
out front—Saburov’s unit. What unit? Was Saburov a Gosplan representative? 3 At<br />
the entry checkpoint there were two men wielding au<strong>to</strong>matic weapons.“Comrade<br />
officers, we cannot allow you <strong>to</strong> enter.”After some wrangling, one of the men left<br />
and brought back a lieutenant colonel—a “trade union” officer like us.We introduced<br />
ourselves. He apologized that he could not admit aviation representatives<br />
since the fac<strong>to</strong>ry had been transferred <strong>to</strong> the shipbuilding industry. He went off<br />
somewhere, then returned with permission for us <strong>to</strong> enter.<br />
This was Zinoviy Moiseyevich Tsetsior.We soon made friends with him and<br />
for many years he remained our compatriot in the development of gyroscopic<br />
1. PUAZO—Pribory Upravleniya Artilleriyskim Zenitnym Ognem.<br />
2. Kreiselgeräte is the German word for ‘gyroscope.’<br />
3. Maksim Zakharovich Saburov (1900–77) was the Chairman of Gosplan, the State Planning Commission,<br />
in 1949-55.<br />
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