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Rockets and People
The Germans had used a fuel called tonka instead. 2 When it was injected into the
combustion chamber and mixed with nitric acid there was instant spontaneous
ignition.“And it doesn’t require any of your ‘horns and hooves.’”
In 1943 in Khimki, I had indeed proposed an electric-arc type of discharge
system for reliable ignition.This required a special mechanism that set up two arcshaped
“horns” in the engine nozzle before launch. At the required moment, a
blinding electrical arc appeared between the electrodes, or “hooves”, secured to
these horns.Theoretically, the kerosene and nitric acid mixture had to ignite and
then form the steady plume characteristic of a liquid-propellant rocket engine.We
achieved ignition only half the time. Under my command, engineer and physicist
Larisa Pervova worked on getting this capricious system to work right. The
mechanics on the test rig joked in this regard, with some vexation, “Larisa still
hasn’t learned how to give anybody horns.”
A threatening telegram addressed to Isayev arrived from Moscow from the
deputy People’s Commissar of Aviation Industry, accusing him of dawdling, and
demanding that he return to make a report. In response, Isayev invited the directors
of the aircraft industry to Basdorf in Germany. Makar Lukin, who was in
charge of engine production in the aircraft industry, flew in and attended several
firings.The engines generated 1.5 metric tons of thrust. Lukin praised them,“You
guys are champs, what you’re doing is fine, and for the time being you don’t have
to go to Moscow. Keep up the good work.”
Each firing rig was provided with a technical description, then disassembled,
carefully packed, and shipped to our institute, NII-1.And what about the dismantled
machine tools and drawings? Eventually the Germans showed us that steel
barrels with machine tool parts and instruments had been buried in a small grove
under young birch trees.All of the technical documentation was discovered in an
aluminum tube that had been buried in a bomb crater.
Having made a complete study of liquid-propellant rocket engines designed for
aircraft, Isayev and Raykov headed by way of Magdeburg to Nordhausen, where
we had come together to start joint work. The team of the remaining engine
specialists headed by Pallo traveled to the A-4 engine firing test base in Lehesten
near Saalfeld. On the way Pallo visited Kümmersdorf. The history of German
liquid-propellant rocket engines began in Kümmersdorf. Here, von Braun and
other future leading specialists of Peenemünde began their work and developed a
series of engines with various combustion chamber geometries. The Germans
expended a great deal of effort on developing combustion chamber head designs
with injectors that provided the best mixture of alcohol and liquid oxygen.
In Lehesten, our engine specialists easily tracked down the directors of this
unique engine testing base, including engineer Schwartz, director of the Haase
2. Tonka was a common term used by the Germans to refer to a mixed hydrocarbon fuel. Its most common
form, Tonka-250, consisted of 57 percent crude oxide and monoxylidene and 43 percent triethylamine.
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