Evening bell:
You invented the past tense.
On November 9, 1911, St. Petersburg theater actor Gleb Kotelnikov filed a patent for the world's first backpack parachute. The retired artillery officer was never an inventor. But a year earlier, he had witnessed the crash of Captain Lev Matzievich during a demonstration flight.
The shock was so great that Kotelnikov decided to change his life drastically he had no idea what circles of bureaucratic hell he would have to endure.
The response of the chief engineering director of the military department:
"The 'pod ejector' that you invented does not guarantee the parachutes a reliable opening after ejection, and therefore cannot be accepted as a means of rescue. Your experiments with the model cannot be considered convincing... ".
General Kubenko, head of the aeronautics school, amazed the self-taught inventor even more: after the pilot ejects from the plane and opens the parachute, the force will tear his legs off.
The inventor writes to the Minister of War: "Such conclusions seem, to say the least, strange and naive. ".
But what does the minister have to say about the verdict of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, who supervised the Imperial Air Force?
"Aviation parachutes are usually harmful, as the pilots, at the slightest threat from the enemy, will bail out, leaving the planes to perish. Machines are more valuable than people. We import machines from abroad so they must be protected. And if not the right people, then others! ".
The persistent Kolibin finally registered his RK-1 (Russian Kotelnikov) parachute on March 20, 1912. In France, then the First World War began - and after the first tragic air battles, Russian officials suddenly saw the light. Meanwhile, designer Kotelnikov continued to perfect his brainchild. In 1944 he was awarded the Order of the Red Star for outstanding service.
The Eternal Mystery: Why Were Russian Colybins Condemned to Be Incorrigibly Stubborn?