One more time a little bit about FED by A. Nikitin

Alexey Nikin has kindly provided me his article to post in the wiki, I hope you will all enjoy his research! I apologize for any grammar mistakes in translation.

Cheers,
Vlad

Thanks Alexey and Vlad,

I wish I could read those books too. I think there might be 2 mistakes and would like to add another important date.

There was the order #681 from 16.IX.1941 about the evacuation. I doubt they started the evacuation on September 5th before that order. It gives 11 more days of possible production.
Somewhere I read that the Germans found FED cameras in the evacuated buildings. How could that be possible?

There was the order #2445 from 23.X.1942 to transfer equipment, engineers and technicians to plants #393 KMZ and #237 KOMZ. The equipment was transferred to KOMZ, not KMZ. KMZ might have gotten everything later after the Arsenal tryout.

Another important date was in summer 1944, Zoom mentioned it. There was a fire in the FED management building, all documentation was lost. I guess that happened in the KOMZ factory. Wish we could know more about this accident.

Amazing to me is that FED started camera production again, first in Berdsk and then in Kharkov, and at the same time Arsenal was producing FED-Arsenal.
Later it was FED production in Kharkov and at the same time FED-KMZ and FED-Zorki production in Krasnogorsk.
Why wasn't the FED equipment transferred back to FED from the start, when it was decided to restore FED camera production in June 1945?

Great text.
So cameras 173.500 - 184.000 were produced in Kharkov yet, right ?

Regarding FED NKAP. I saw NKAP No 200.000 in 90's. It is in bad condition but it exists. I assume nobody destroyed it since this time.

Great! thanks to you both, Alexey and Vlad!

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Originally posted by Alfa2

Great text.
So cameras 173.500 - 184.000 were produced in Kharkov yet, right ?

Regarding FED NKAP. I saw NKAP No 200.000 in 90's. It is in bad condition but it exists. I assume nobody destroyed it since this time.

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Yes, Alfa. The 1e were probably entirely made in Kharkov before evacuation. But because of the absence of passport for the last 3000 cameras (or so), we cannot be totally sure, at least for the moment.
About the NKAP s/n 200000, you could put it in the wiki. Could you describe it? Did it have odd features, as it happens, as it seems, for the early ones?

Amitiйs. Jacques.

I saw 200.000 for few minutes about 20 years ago. No odd features or I haven't noticed/remember. It was in pour condition but everything was equally used.
I have added it to wiki. I did not know I could do it.

quote:

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Originally posted by Alfa2


I saw 200.000 for few minutes about 20 years ago. No odd features or I haven't noticed/remember. It was in pour condition but everything was equally used.
I have added it to wiki. I did not known I could do it.

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Thanks Alfa,

unbelievable they started with #200000, they should have started with #200001, right.

Did you saw it in Poland for sale? How much was it at that time?

Thanks, Alfa.

Always concerning the "after Kharkov", I am struck by the Fed parts which will be used on differents locations:
- KMZ, of course, for the Fotosnipers which will be made after GOI in 1944/45,
- Arsenal for the Fed-Arsenal in 1946,
- Berdsk perhaps, for the 1946 NKAP (some of them seem to contain prewar parts, but that must be confirmed),
- KMZ again for the 1948 FED-KMZ and Fed-Zorki (to be confirmed),
- and Kharkov again: some 1948/49 1f contain prewar parts too.

I wonder if the listing is complete!
The ways "from Kharkov to Kharkov" have yet some mysteries...

And about the last 1e whose passports we don't have, I wonder how and if they can have been all sold in this troubled context... And yet, I have three of them, so they really exist... Would a specialist have an explanation ?

Thanks! Jacques.

In my collection also 3 1e FEDs.
180542
182896
183200
And fed-C 174698

quote:

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Originally posted by Lenny
unbelievable they started with #200000, they should have started with #200001, right.

Did you saw it in Poland for sale? How much was it at that time?

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Yes, I saw it in Poland for sale. Price was about 30% higher than price of regular FED NKVD. Seller asked about 60 $. I remember we laughed at this "round" number with the seller. In 90's we had a lot of interesting things for collectors on our market, camera was in bad condition so I didn't buy it and walked away (what a fool). But I have changed my mind in 10 minutes and went back to the seller but the camera was already not there.