Memory. George Langemak

On July 21 (8), 1898 , Georgy Langemak, the creator of Katyusha, a pioneer of missile technology, was the first to use the term “astronautics”.

Personal business

Georgy Erikhovich Langemak (1898-1938) was born in Starobelsk in the Kharkov province in a German family and Swiss who accepted Russian citizenship. After the gymnasium graduated, he decided to devote his life to Japanese literature and entered the philological faculty of Petrograd University. However, he was soon drafted into the army. In January 1917, he was promoted to combat non-commissioned officers, in the same year he graduated from the school of warrant officers. During the October Revolution, he was training in Revel, then served in the coast guard on the island of Russar in Finland. He was captured by the Germans, but was released under the terms of the Brest world.

In March 1918, he demobilized and returned to Ukraine, entered the historical and philological faculty of Novorossiysk University. However, instead of lectures, according to some reports, he served in the army of hetman Skoropadsky. In June 1919 he joined the Red Army, was appointed commander of the battery in the Kronstadt fortress. During the Kronstadt uprising in 1921 he was arrested and sentenced to death. After the suppression of the uprising is released. The following, 1922, he rose to the deputy chief of artillery of the fortress. Then he was excluded from the CPSU (b) due to the wedding in the church. In 1923 he entered the Leningrad Military-Technical Academy of the Red Army. After its completion, he worked in a gas -dynamic laboratory, where he was engaged in the design of reactive shells for future Katyush.

In 1934, he moved from Leningrad to Moscow, where the world's first reactive research institute was created on the basis of a gas-dynamic laboratory. He became the deputy director of the institute, replacing Sergei Korolev in this post. During his work at the Research Institute, he completed the refinement of the reactive shells of the RS-82 and RS-132 used at the mortar "Katyusha". In 1937, during the "cleaning" of the institute, he was arrested as a German spy. In January 1938 he was shot. In 1955, it was completely rehabilitated.

What is famous

One of the main creators of the famous reactive mortar "Katyusha", widely used during the Second World War. Official recognition was only in 1991, when by decree of the President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev, he and other designers were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. He talked with Queen and Tsiolkovsky, like them, dreamed of flights into space, the first to use the word "astronautics".

What you need to know about

For many years, the name of Langemak was silent. After declassifying the NKVD protocols, it became known that he was arrested on the denunciation of Andrei Kostikov , who, after the arrest of his place. Kostikov later, for disrupting the deadlines, and he himself was arrested, accused of sabotage, but escaped the execution and was justified after the war. From Langemak, investigators knocked out testimonies on previously arrested Sergei Korolev, Valentin Glushko and Ivan Kleimenov. The NKVD believed that they managed to expose the organization of anti-Soviet engineers.

Direct speech:

From the certification of the Langemak party worker: “1. Does it have organizational abilities? - It has. 2. Does the propaganda abilities (as an agitator, lecturer and writer) possess? - It has all issues. 3. Theoretical training is good. 4. Are there any cases of refusal from part -time and was not subjected to party penalties? - No. 5. What is the supervisor of the administrator? - good. 6. What are his attitudes towards the Komsomol and vice versa, does it enjoy authority among the Komsomol? - Satable, enjoys authority. 7. Is the authority among the Red Army? - Among the Red Army, little rotates. 8. How did you manifest himself in battles? - Unknown. 9. Does the initiative have, is it energetic and firm character? - There is an initiative, energetic, the character is hard, because during the crowns in prison he behaved as befits a communal. 10. Are there cases of temper, sharpness or rude attitude with subordinates? - Cases of temper are due to young years, the rest is not. 11. What other positive or negative features have? - disciplined. 12. Does it need to replenish education and in which area? - No. 13. Does the position corresponded, and for what reasons? “Consider for the above reasons.”

4 facts about George Langemake

• Since childhood, he perfectly mastered French and German.
• He discovered the law of similarity, which made it possible to calculate the optimal geometry of the nozzle of the reactive engine without long -term expensive experiments.
• In 1967, the crater was named after Langemak on the back of the moon.
• In 1995, the commission for perpetuating the memory of the victims of political repressions discovered the burial place of the scientist near the Don Monastery. Nearby, by chance was the grave of his wife Elena Vladimirovna, who died in 1972.

Article about George Langemake on Wikipedia

Biography on the website of the Federal Space Agency

Who planted one of the authors of Katyusha G. E. Langemak

Biography on the site "Heroes of the country"

Alexander Glushko "Unknown Langemak. Designer "Katyush"