Vasily Degtyaryov

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vasily Degtyaryov
Василий Алексеевич Дегтярёв.jpg
Born
Vasily Alekseyevich Degtyaryov

(1880-01-02)2 January 1880[1]
Tula, Russian Empire[1]
Died16 January 1949(1949-01-16) (aged 69)[1]
Moscow, Soviet Union[1]
OccupationFirearms designer[1]
DP-27

Vasily Alekseyevich Degtyaryov (Russian: Васи́лий Алексе́евич Дегтярёв; 2 January 1880, Tula – 16 January 1949, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian engineer who specialized in weapons design. Hero of Socialist Labour (1940).

Biography[]

He was a factory worker at the Tula Arms Plant.[2]

In 1905, he married.

Since 1918 Vasily Degtyaryov headed the first Soviet firearms design bureau[1] at Kovrov Arms Factory.[2]

In 1927, the Red Army was equipped with the his 7.62 mm light machine gun DP-27.[1][2] This design led to DT tank machine gun (1927)[2] and two aircraft machine guns: DA[2] and DA-2 (1928).[2]

In 1940 he became the Doctor of Technical Sciences,[1] and Hero of Socialist Labour[1] (he received the second such award in its history just two weeks after Joseph Stalin himself)

He became a CPSU member in 1941.[1]

After Axis invasion in USSR in summer 1941 he made 14.5mm anti-tank rifle - PTRD.[1]

In 1944 he became the Major General of the Engineering and Artillery Service[1][2]

In 1944, Degtyaryov designed a belt-fed light machine gun RPD chambered for the 7.62×39mm intermediate cartridge.[2]

Vasily Degtyaryov was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1941, 1942, 1944, and 1949 (posthumously).[1]

He was buried in the cemetery in Kovrov.[1]

Inventions[]

He created 82 types of machine guns, submachine guns and anti-tank rifles, 19 of them were officially adopted.[2]

  • Degtyaryov also designed a few models of submachine guns, the best of which would be adopted by the Soviet Army in 1934 (modernized in 1940) as the ППД PPD-40 (from Пистолет-пу��емёт Дегтярёва, "Degtyaryov's submachine gun").
  • In 1930, Degtyaryov designed a 12.7 mm large-caliber machine gun, the ДК, or DK (Дегтярёва Крупнокалиберный). In 1938, this machine gun was upgraded by Georgy Shpagin and called ДШК (DShK) (Дегтярёва Шпагина Крупнокалиберный).
  • In 1939, Degtyaryov designed his heavy machine gun called ДС, or DS (Дегтярёва Станковый). The DS-39 was issued to the Red Army and used in the Winter War of 1939–1940. The belt feed mechanism damaged the cartridge cases and the gun was found too complicated and liable to malfunctions and was withdrawn from service.

Honours and awards[]

Commemoration[]

The engineer's room in the house-museum

On the day of the designer’s death, by a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, monthly scholarships were established in his name :[3]

  • one is for graduate students (850 rubles) and one for is students (400 rubles) of the Leningrad Military Mechanical Institute;
  • two are for post-graduate students (850 rubles) and two are for students (400 rubles) of the Tula Mechanical Institute;
  • five are for excellent students (350 rubles) of the Kovrov College.

On October 17, 1954, a monument[4] was erected in Kovrov for Degtyaryov, and a bust and several plaques were installed on the territory of the weapons factory bearing his name. At the memorial of gunsmiths and designers, a bas-relief with his image was made. In the house, where the designer lived, on January 6, 1978, a museum was opened.[5] In addition, a technical school, a secondary school, a kindergarten, a recreation park, the House of Culture of Metal Workers and the former Komsomolskaya Street were named after him in Kovrov .[6] A pioneer camp near the village of Sukhanikha was named after Degtyaryov.[7] In many cities of the former USSR (Kharkiv, Novosibirsk, Lomonosov, Saint Petersburg) there are streets that perpetuate the memory of the gunsmith Degtyaryov in his name. November 6, 1979, as it was the 100th anniversary of the designer, the USSR Ministry of Communications issued a postal envelope with his image.[8] January 2, 1980 in Kovrov held a special cancellation of these envelopes. On August 18, 2004, the Russian Post also issued an envelope depicting Degtyaryov.

In popular culture[]

See also[]

References[]

Bibliography[]

  • Nagayev, Herman (1973). Russian gunsmith:Tales (rus. Русские оружейники: Повести). Moscow: Soviet Russia. p. 447.
  • Bakhirev, V.V. (1979). Designer Degtyaryov V.A.: Beyond the biography lines (rus. Конструктор В. А. Дегтярев: За строками биографии). Moscow: Voenizdat.
  • Bakhirev, V.V. (1987). Degtyaryov V.A.: Student-book (rus. В. А. Дегтярев: Книга для учащихся). Moscow: Prosvescheniye.

Footnotes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Дегтярёв Василий Алексеевич // Большая Советская Энциклопедия. / под ред. А. М. Прохорова. 3-е изд. том 8. М., «Советская энциклопедия», 1972.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l Дегтярёв Василий Алексеевич // Большая Российская Энциклопедия / редколл., гл. ред. Ю. С. Осипов. том 8. М., научное издательство "Большая Российская Энциклопедия", 2007.
  3. ^ Bakhirev 1979, p. 183, Last years of life (rus Последние годы жизни).
  4. ^ Bakhirev 1979, p. 185, Last years of life (rus Последние годы жизни).
  5. ^ Bakhirev 1979, p. 186, Last years of life (rus Последние годы жизни).
  6. ^ Bakhirev 1979, pp. 184–185, Last years of life (rus Последние годы жизни).
  7. ^ Bakhirev 1979, p. 184—185, Last years of life (rus Последние годы жизни).
  8. ^ "Vasily Degtyaryov (1979)". Colnect.com. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
Retrieved from ""