By 1948, our vehicles amassed more than 2000 km. The authorities were impatient. With their silent consent, we started running the tanks on a stretch of a snow covered Minsk highway between Golitsyn and Mozhaisk. In the test protocol, the nature of the road was described as "a winter, snow covered road without ditches and sharp turns." In two weeks the signs of testing became noticeably more prominent. Paddle-type tracks quickly became worn out. At high speeds, which at times reached 60 km/h, the upper segments of the tracks, severely bashed on the drive wheels, creating excessive stress in the drive train. The driving was conducted only during the night, when the number of cars was relatively few.  The prototype of the T-44. The T-44 tank was not equipped with the night vision equipment at the time. This equipment was demonstrated to us by its developers during one of the training days, which were organized 1-2 times a month. That device was highly secret. It was set up in the auditorium of the club. On the outside, the building was heavily guarded by armed soldiers from the headquarters defense company. Each officer was given a chance to look through the device at those present in the auditorium. Finally, it was my turn. I started looking around through the rows of officers. In the green-blue light I recognized the features of engineer-colonel Skvortsov. I knew that it was Skvortsov by his high forehead and glasses. Then there was Major Krementulo, sleeping in the dark room, agape with his head tilted back. Then - Lenochka from the chemical laboratory (Lenochka is a female name - Valera). Even the distorted image of the night vision scope could not detract from her beauty. We were all shocked by the capabilities of that device. Unfortunately, track testing soon ended, and ended too bad. When one of the tanks from our group tried to pass a slow-moving truck, it collided head-on with an approaching truck, smashed it to pieces and killed the two people inside. Having torn off the cabin with its gun, the vehicle dragged it almost all the way to the park. The vehicle was a self-propelled "100" artillery gun (means SU-100 - Valera), which was used for testing motor oil additives. Its commander was a young and cheerful lieutenant Kalinin. During the field court trial, his superior, engineer-colonel I…, nick-named "Sperokheta blednaya" (a Russian coarse, means somewhat like "pallid sperm" - Valera), denied any involvement in the incident, even though he was fully aware of where and how the "100" was being tested. Kalinin got a two-year prison sentence and was deprived of all decorations. After that, the testing moved back to the deteriorated track. In February Kaplinskiy crossed over to the other side of Moscow river in search of a better track and found a suitable route. Its main advantage was that there were no villages nearby. On the return trip, his tank fell through the ice up to its turret. Fortunately, the water in that place was not deep. The attempt to pull the tank out without additional help was unsuccessful and the second engine went out of line.  The T-44-100 The testing continued. After a certain number of kilometers, the tanks had to conduct field firing with live rounds: 10 shots with the turret parallel to the hull and 10 shots with the turret - perpendicular. During the trip from the park to the firing range, my driver became ill, and so I had to drive the tank myself. The number of kilometers accumulated by me and Gorbanets was about the same. After lowering the seat into the combat position, I was ready to carry out orders of the two artillery officers in charge of the shelling. Kalistratov and Vedeneev stepped out of the vehicle into a shelter. Having found myself in the cramped position of the driver I was amazed at how difficult controlling the machine has become. The pedals of the main clutch, the fuel supply, and incline brake all were now positioned much higher. The levers of the steering clutch and gear shifting became inconvenient to operate. The visibility was limited. The shelling lasted for 15-20 minutes. Hot cartridges were rolling underfoot, just like in a T-34 or an SU-76. I was deafened and choked by the gases from the gun. After we finished firing, I started the engine, not without some difficulty, and drove in reverse out of the firing range. Taking a rest, I thought: how would the driver feel in this tank during a real battle? The three-year old war was still fresh in my mind. The ambition to accumulate mileage was replaced by a more rigorous examination of various junctions and mechanisms of the tank. The trouble-shooting and problem analysis became stricter. It was discovered that falling-home of the road wheels appeared sooner than anticipated. To increase the service life of the road wheel drive train, the new tank was set up with a slight camber of the paired road wheels. However, this resulted in greater stress on the outer rollers. As the run progressed, camber disappeared, and both wheels - the outer and the inner were loaded equally. The last stage of the run proceeded with the falling-home of the road wheel, where the inner wheel became more loaded. On our tanks, falling-home began to appear after 2500 km. To successfully complete a 6000 km run, it was necessary to replace expensive parts of the drive train.  The T-44-122 on trials. Notice the cartridge loading shot on the vehicle. By the middle of the third thousand the tank became worn out. Boris Kaplinskiy, loyal to his negligence, ruined an engine by not submitting motor oil samples to the chemical analysis lab. This was his third engine. It has to be mentioned that the expert staff of the chemical lab could predict any problems an engine might have with a high degree of accuracy by analyzing the oil. After being reprimanded by his superiors and calming his grief, Kaplinskiy took me to the "Mukhran." That was the nickname of a blue-painted beer stand. The name was derived from captain Mukhrankiy's last name, because his wife worked at the stand. The captain played the role of both husband and rationer. He measured out the beer from barrels with the help of air cylinders used to start the tank. And if you were nice to his wife, she could pour you a hundred grams of the hard stuff. The engine of my machine got old and worn out and could no longer start properly. The oil pressure dropped to 2-3 atmospheres. Under heavy loads, it started smoking, spewing out black smog out the side. The tracks got ripped several times. The last rip could have ended quite tragically. On a rainy autumn day, Gorbanets was driving the machine on the track, and I, as usual, was boldly sitting on top of the hull next to the driver's hatch (this way it was more convenient to monitor the instrument panel) and taking notes in the issued notebook. We were required to record the revolutions of the crankshaft, oil pressure and temperature, and water temperature every 30 minutes. In one place the track passed pretty close to a steep Moscow river bank. To save me from getting splashed by mud, Gorbanets tried to circumnavigate a large puddle on the right and approached the bank at full speed. Just at the moment the left track ripped. I didn't realize it at first, but when the tank started pulling to the left, it finally hit me what had happened. The tank stopped, the engine died and it slowly started to slide toward the precipice. I quickly jumped to the ground and while trying to prevent the tank from sliding, started yelling to the driver to start pushing the tank. But the tank kept on sliding and even together with Kalistratov and Vedeneev, we couldn't possibly hang on to a 32-ton beast. The disaster was prevented by a lonely little tree growing on the edge of the bank. It strained and bent under the load, but the tank stopped. We secured the tank a much as we could with tow cables, dumped anything that we could get hold of under the drive wheels, and started waiting for the next machine to pass by. After 10 minutes or so, a "100" appeared and pulled us out to safety. At the department everybody understood that the results of testing were quite sufficient to develop a comprehensive picture of the machine's operational characteristics. Some of the test materials were sent to NTK (Technical Research Committee) and the Chief Directorate even before the testing ended. The machines had exhausted their resources and showed everything that they were capable of. It was clear that they could not run for 6000 km without major repairs. After 3000 km the testing ended. Shortly afterwards, a batch of T-54, guarded and covered by tarpaulin arrived from Nizhnij Tagil for testing. R.Ulanov |
