Mikhail Kalashnikov passes away

[endfire79]

  But I think he deserved a bit more than 'Good Riddance', especially from a grog site.

sure not from a Grog side! but from a German grog for sure... of course MK was a good engineer.
(or to put in war gaming terms ... a modder ;-) )
 
its like if the Americans had put some run out of the mill harvester engineer 'Joe Smith' to patron over and daily blackmail life threat over some now probally lesser known Wernher von Braun .... and 'Joe Smith' would now be the all American patriot who single handed brought a man to the moon (and a nice arsenal of ICBMs to the USA too) in the history book

well, Wernher von Braun had the fortune to cut a lucky deal with the OSS early to finally concentrate on his space visions -he always had- in a free society, instead of being a slave switching from a Nazi dictatorship monster (he was smart and charismatic enuf to wiggle his ways between the different envious factions inside that regime  -a thightropewalk) to a Commi dictatorship monster oppression

It's an interesting analogy and that was funny though :)

Yes MK was in a monster system but he wasn't the one in charge of that, he helped design weapons.  Many of which are still used today.  He didn't have a PHD, but neither did Browning.  I say RIP to the guy, he deserved at least that much.

Prost (hope I got it right!).

[mirth]

There's a famous story about the 'designing' of the Tu-4. During the War a B-29 crash-landed in Soviet territory and the Russians, having no true heavy bomber, were very interested in it. Stalin ordered Tupolev to copy the aircraft exactly and they did just that (to the best of their abilities). Rumors floated around that Tupolev (supposedly at Stalin's insistence) even built their planes with matching repair patches similar to those which had been applied to the original B-29 to cover war-time damage and also matched the bullet holes visible in the original. The story is most likely not true but illustrates the view of the Soviet state-run design approach held by the West at the time.

I've read some on this too. While they probably weren't matching bullet holes,  I think there were specific things that the Soviets knew they could improve upon, but because of the time table and pressure from the top (meaning you'd better meet the deadline or you'll be counting trees in Siberia - if you're lucky) they skipped any kind of improvements and went for a pretty much straight copy.

I have a book somewhere that briefly covers the development of the Tu-4. I'll have to see if I can find it and locate the chapter.

[Airborne Rifles]

RIP. From what I know he seemed a decent person.  Never got a patent for his design, being in the Soviet Union and all.  I seem to recall an interview I saw a few years ago where he was still living in a small apartment in his hometown.  He didn't grow rich off his design but was obviously proud of his work.  Something to be admired there I think.

[Keunert]

i think there is an entire history of underestimating soviet engineering that probably started with the OKH. their weapons were in some regards top notch. the same applies to mathematics, programming, physics and aerospace. to work with economical and political restrictions seems to support some creative thinking. at least some times.

i recommend the book 'Red Plenty' on Chrustchovs time and the soviets hope to economically surpass the west.

[GDS_Starfury]

Soviet/Russian design usually follows the simple, brute force approach.

[Staggerwing]

Much like the quality of quantity.

[bayonetbrant]

Dead AK-47 Inventor To Be Buried In Mud For A Week, Cleaned Off, Then Put Back To Work

Russia has announced funeral arrangements for Lt. Gen. Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47 assault rifle.

"Comrade Kalashnikov will be buried in a pit of mud with full military honors," said General-Major Saiga Molot, a spokesman for the Russian army. "After a week, we will exhume his body, clean it off, and put him back to work. We expect that there shall be no issue with his functions."

Kalashnikov died of complications from a liver transplant operation. The liver Kalashnikov received was allegedly Romanian, but turned out to be a substandard Albanian version.

"It was a successful substitution, but it made him inaccurate and prone to blockage," said his son, Victor.

While praised for his simple operation and ruggedness, Kalashnikov is also being remembered for his contributions to over 300 insurgencies, 524 known terrorist groups and at least 18 hostile regime changes.

"We will always be grateful to General Kalashnikov for giving us the inspiration for Kevlar," said DuPont President and CEO Ellen Kullman.

An outpouring of support came from some unexpected areas, including Hollywood, which gave him a star on the walk of fame for his contribution to action films which "helped the audience identify the bad guys without further visual or audio cues" as well as the music industry.

"You can rhyme about a MAC-10 or Uzi, but they know you're serious when you start pulling out that AK," said rapper Banana Clip. "Think of what rhymes with 47 – heaven, um... Devon? 7-11? Yeah."

Kalashnikov is survived by 21 major variants and 31 national operators in addition to several unknown and unidentified versions.

[endfire79]

The comments on the duffelblog article are hilarious.

[eyebiter]

.