"Order #40
On the Kirov factory on May 9th, 1941
- After examination of 27 KV-4 projects proposed to SKB-2, presenting a series of solutions for development of new war machines, I remark on several projects focusing on increasing the firepower of the tank, and the project that uses components from currently produced vehicles, considering the manufacturing possibilities of the factory and its economics.
- The KV-4 project that uses predominately KV-3 components is approved.
- The following engineers contributed useful and original ideas, and are rewarded as follows:
- Buganov: 1000 rubles
- Duhov: 5000 rubles
- Ermolayev: 2000 rubles
- Kalivoda: 500 rubles
- Pereverzev: 500 rubles
- Kuzmin, Mitskevich, Tarotko: 3000 rubles
- Moskvin: 1000 rubles
- Tseits: 2000 rubles
- Sashmurin: 1500 rubles
- Bychkov: 500 rubles
- Issue 3100 rubles to the Chief Engineer of the 1st department, comrade Kotin, for payment of engineers working on the KV-4 project and subsequent payment of the engineers working on the KV-5 project
Director of the Kirov factory (Zaltsmann)"
The project that was considered the winner was, for some reason, Shashmurin's project (at least according to his memoirs), which resembled a KV-1 with a 107 mm gun in the hull.
According to Gennadiy Petrov, a Russian historical collector that knew Shashmurin personally, he was not a fan of his creation. One of the copies of the blueprints was marked "BS" on the back, which, according to the author, stood for "bred sumashedshego" (mad man's lunacy).
Nice find :) How far did the project go?
ReplyDeleteAbout this far. In two months, nobody will have time to design a new super-heavy tank.
DeleteFirst Prize: 1,000 rubles
ReplyDelete2nd Prize: 2,000 rubles
The problem with rubles is that there was nothing to buy with them.
Money back then worth a lot more than today, and not in term of its worth over time either.
DeleteI'm looking at Shashmurin's tank and I have to ask, how did the turret even operate? I can't see anywhere on the tank that indicates that the turret had a basket to keep its crew separate from the hull fighting compartment.
ReplyDeleteHeck, the design probably would've been objectively better by deleting the turret and just making a Tank Destroyer.
BS :)
DeleteHow much is 1000 rubles from 1940 worth in today's terms?
ReplyDeleteWait, Sashmurin's crazy design was the winner, even though Duhov got a bigger prize?
ReplyDelete