From the memoirs of Professor UAI-UGATU I.A. Bolotovsky:

Bolotovsky Israil Arkadyevich was born on September 4, 1912. After graduating from the Rybinsk Aviation College, he left the technical school and worked as a designer of the technical bureau of training and production workshops. At the same time, he studied at the evening department, and from the third year - at the daytime department of the Rybinsk Aviation Institute. After graduating with honors from the institute in 1937, he began working as a manager at the Rybinsk Engine Plant, supervised its evacuation to Ufa and the organization of the production of engines for the defense industry at a new location. From 1946, he taught at the Ufa Aviation Institute. In 1945–1985 was the head of the department of machine parts and the theory of mechanisms, in 1962–1968. - Dean of the Faculty of Aircraft Engines, in 1973-1985. - Dean of the Faculty of Advanced Training of Engineering and Technical Workers. Candidate of Technical Sciences (1952), professor (1972). Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the Bashkir ASSR (1962). He was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor (1945), medals "For Labor Distinction" (1972), "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945." Died December 30, 2001

- We arrived in Ufa from Rybinsk on December 5, 1941. It was very difficult to set up production in Ufa. The plant was located on three squares. The first is the territory of the former plant of combine motors, there were several buildings suitable for work, but completely inadequate in terms of volume. The second - the main site - a huge open field, located five kilometers from the first site. On this site, there was one building for the tool shop and just begun construction for mechanical and other shops. Some of these buildings did not have a roof, while others did not even have completed walls, while others were just beginning to lay the foundation. However, the machines were installed and started to work, sometimes almost in the open air. The equipment arrived continuously, 5-6 echelons per day. Wooden overpasses were built along the railway line in a vast desert area, and thousands of factory workers, for whom there were no jobs yet in their main job, became temporary builders and loaders.

The plant was revived. Already in April 1942, the first motor was assembled, mainly from parts brought from Rybinsk. By June, all the machines from the overpass and from the open area were already in place. The plant began to produce products from new parts made in Ufa, and during all the years of the war it worked like clockwork - it produced 50 motors a day.

Our workshop was allocated a large unfinished, roofless wooden building, which was originally intended for some kind of warehouse. We completed it on our own, equipped office and amenity premises, arranged and put into operation metal-cutting equipment, equipped thermal, welding and forging departments, which were necessary for our universal work.

In addition to the basic maintenance of all the workshops of the plant, we were entrusted with some special, unique work. We were the only plant in Bashkiria capable of manufacturing a variety of gears. On the instructions of the government, we have produced many thousands of wheels for cars and tractors. They made gears for American drilling rigs that worked in those years in Bashkiria; a lot of invention and ingenuity had to be applied in order to manufacture these wheels, which were not quite suitable in terms of their dimensions and geometric parameters for our equipment. The unique gear-cutting machine, the only one in Bashkiria that we had, worked in three shifts. For him, inside the unfinished workshop, a separate room was created, sheltered from the snow. We also performed work that was completely unusual for us - parts of shoe machines for a shoe factory and a number of other special and secret works.

The plant continued to gain momentum and by the end of 1943 began to produce aircraft engines of a new design, developed under the guidance of chief designer Klimov. In those years, the excellent organizer V.P. Balandin was in charge of the plant. He was the director of the plant back in Rybinsk, in 1940 he was appointed Deputy Minister of the Aviation Industry, in early 1941 he was arrested, and in July 1941 he was reinstated in all rights and appointed, concurrently with the work of the Deputy Minister, director of the Ufa plant.

A. M. Myzdrikov was the technical manager of the plant at different stages of its work. He went through all stages of engineering activity: he was a fixture designer, head of the design department, deputy head and head of the machine shop, studied the design and production technology of aircraft engines in France and England. Before the war, he was the chief technologist, and in the last years of the war, he was the chief engineer of the plant. Under the leadership of A. M. Myzdrikov, the plant mastered a number of fundamentally new technological processes, regularly produced engines both before and after the evacuation in Ufa. In the last 20 years of his life, A. M. Myzdrikov was a professor and head of the department of mechanical engineering technology at UAI. He successfully transferred his knowledge and vast versatile production experience into the educational process, significantly improved the content and methods of teaching a number of academic disciplines, and improved course and diploma design.

My immediate superiors at the plant were the chief mechanic of the plant, S. S. Troitsky, and the deputy chief mechanic, S. P. Bespalov. They were excellent organizers and sensitive leaders. We worked very amicably and in concert, and I have the best memories of them.

As the head of the shop, I received from the management of the plant a personal permission not to come to the plant once a week, devoting this day to work at the institute. On such a day, I read eight hours of lectures, in two streams of four hours each. It was very difficult to read these lectures and to prepare for them, besides, I had to travel from Chernikovsk to Ufa in poorly functioning transport, but I did not want to give up teaching work. I chose a good deputy for myself, M. I. Kuritsin.

I want to note that in 1944 the captured Germans began to work on the restoration of the destroyed buildings of the Rybinsk plant. In 1945–1946, these buildings began to be filled with captured equipment, and soon a new first-class factory appeared in Rybinsk. Not a single machine was returned from Ufa to Rybinsk, only some workers returned to Rybinsk. That is how two big plants grew from one big plant.

The experience of the Great Patriotic War showed that victory is achieved not only by the skillful leadership of military operations and by the heroism of soldiers and military leaders, but also by high organization and the heroism of home front workers in enterprises and agriculture. In a brutal war, front and rear must be united, and this unity has been achieved.

It should be noted that the uninterrupted supply of weapons and ammunition to the army was ensured by the high level of development of defense plants. In the prewar years, a powerful industry was created in the country in a short time and qualified production organizers, designers, and technologists were trained. The Rybinsk Aviation Institute also played a significant role in this. At the Ufa Motor Plant, as well as at the Ministry and at some other plants, our graduates filled senior positions.

I remember the unforgettable day of victory, May 9, 1945. In Ufa, the morning was overcast, it was drizzling, but it seemed that the bright spring sun was shining. Everyone came to work, although the day before was declared a day off. Meetings were held in all shops and departments. During the war years, I had to speak almost daily in the workshop during breaks with an overview of the situation at the fronts, with an analysis of the international and domestic situation. They always listened to me attentively, and on the day of victory, my excited speech even caused tears in the eyes of stern, adult men. We cried with happiness, with joy and pride for our country, for the soldiers of the army and home front workers who defended the freedom and independence of our Motherland in mortal combat.

From the book "The Great Patriotic War: a historical essay and memoirs of its participants"

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