Who in our country does not know that Chkalov flew near Troitsky
bridge over the Neva? If not from books, then from the famous film by Mikhail Konstantinovich Kalatozov. But few people know that in Chkalov’s times, the Trinity Bridge in Leningrad was the Bridge of Equality. And Valery Pavlovich Chkalov never flew under this very Bridge of Equality. It’s not at all difficult to verify this. It is enough to carefully and impartially look at the biography of V.P. Chkalov and the history of domestic aviation. According to documents, of course, and not according to falsified materials from Soviet publications.
Let's take the initial data: it is stated that Chkalov flew under the bridge in 1928, and in a number of sources, in 1927. They all say that Chkalov did this on a Fokker D.XI fighter, in front of his future wife Olga Erasmovna. For his “recklessness” he was seriously punished by the regiment commander I. Antoshin - he was put in a guardhouse!
About the flight date
In Podolsk, the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense (TsAMO) contains the personal file of the famous pilot V.P. Chkalov No. 268818. It has long been declassified and today is available for comprehensive study. In the personal file, as expected, there is track record pilot From it and many other documents it follows that in 1928 red soldier V.P. Chkalov served in the “15th Air Squadron” of the Bryansk Air Brigade and never flew to Leningrad. He also could not make such a flight unofficially. It was IMPOSSIBLE for any of the fighter brigades in service to fly to Leningrad without landing and refueling and return back. 1928 is categorically out of the question!
On January 19, 1929, the doors of a prison cell kindly opened before Chkalov for the second time. His prison diary is still kept to this day in the memorial museum of the legendary pilot in the city of Chkalovsk, Nizhny Novgorod region, where it can be easily viewed. Chkalov was demobilized from the army. He could not fly under the bridge in 1929.
Let's consider other dates.
Not a single source says that Chkalov flew under the bridge in 1924. Everyone understands that only a pilot who came to the combat unit would not be able to pull off such a trick.
1925...In St. Petersburg, where I live, there are three unique libraries: the Russian National Library, the Library of the Academy of Sciences and the Central Naval Library. Together, these three huge book depositories contain everything that has ever been published about Valery Pavlovich in our country. Anyone can look into them and see for themselves: in all her numerous interviews and books, when asked about when and how her husband flew under the bridge in Leningrad, Chkalov’s second wife is Olga Erasmovna. for which, according to the film, Valery Pavlovich flew under the Equality Bridge, she always answered: “He didn’t fly with me...”.
By the way. Valery Pavlovich and Olga Erasmovna met on the last day of 1924! In her last book “The Life of Valery Chkalov” iM 1979) Olga Erasmovna wrote: “... this happened in 1925,” which contradicts her own words, all official statements and the personal file of V.P. Chkalov.
“In 1925 he was demobilized by court” - from personal file No. 268818. Here is another extract from this document: “VERDICT IN THE NAME OF THE RSFSR.. Visiting session on November 16 (1925)... considered in an open meeting at the location of the 1st squadron... case No. 150 on the charge of citizen Valery Pavlovich Chkalov ... was recognized as proven: on September 7, 1925 in Leningrad, gr. Chkalov, holding the position of military pilot of the 1st squadron... and being obliged to report to the airfield for a training group flight by 3 o'clock in the afternoon. arrived at the indicated time in a completely drunken state, as a result of which he not only could not fly, but generally behaved unacceptablely, shouting, making noise, etc., which attracted the attention of those present at the airfield.
Having been arrested and then sent home in a car with pilots Blagin and Bogdanov, Chkalov on the way was very dissatisfied that he was sent from the airfield and was not allowed to fly on the device, loudly expressed his displeasure with shouts and gesticulations...
By these actions, Chkalov discredited the authority and rank of commander-soldier of the Red Army, i.e. committed a crime, and therefore the visiting commission of the VT LVO SENTENCED gr. Chkalov Valery Pavlovich to imprisonment with strict isolation for ONE year, without affecting his rights.
Taking into account Chkalov’s first conviction, voluntary service in the Red Army, youth and proletarian origin, strict isolation should be lifted and Chkalov’s term of imprisonment reduced to SIX months.” Chkalov appealed the verdict, but the response “Definition” read: “The verdict is upheld.”
Drunkenness in our country is a common phenomenon. And in the RKKAF aviation of those years there is a general and ubiquitous legacy civil war, when, due to lack of gasoline, it was necessary to refuel the engines of worn-out coffin airplanes with a mixture of alcohol and ether. In the 1st Red Banner Squadron, the young military pilot Valery Chkalov was quickly turned into a drunkard. How this happened is described in sufficient detail in the book of his daughter V. Chkalova “Valery Chkalov. Legend of Aviation" (M 2005).
For drunken brawls they were put in a guardhouse or given fifteen days. And then 6 months in prison!.. One can only guess how outstanding Chkalov’s drinking sessions were. Apparently, the command is boiling...
1926... In 1926 V.P. Chkalov practically did not serve. At first he sat in the “ispravdom”, as the prison was called then, and then knocked on the thresholds of the offices of military commanders and military registration and enlistment offices, trying to restore himself to military service. Perseverance paid off. As follows from his personal file: “...in 1926 he was admitted back to Kr. Ar. to the 1st squadron..." After recovery, Chkalov behaved “quieter than water and lower than the grass,” during this period he only had positive characteristics. That year, Chkalov had no time for hooligan flights under bridges. And when he began to fly again, the Neva was already frozen in ice. As stated, Chkalov was flying over the water. 1926 is no longer necessary.
1927... From January until spring there is ice on the Neva. The first quarter is eliminated. On March 24, Chkalov, during a training battle, had an accident on a Fokker D-XI fighter: “A collision in the air, after which he planned it.” An official investigation follows. Chkalov, naturally, was temporarily suspended from flying. In May, another service report was requested for him, and already in June the pilot was sent for training to Lipetsk. From where, naturally, he could not fly to the Leningrad Equality Bridge in any way. To all of the above, it is worth adding that in 1927 Chkalov was already married to O.E. Chkalova, and she, as noted above, always claimed that her husband “did not fly with her” under the bridge over the Neva.
It turns out that V.P. Chkalov could fly under the Equality Bridge only in 1925.
About serious punishment
The famous “father” – I.P. Antoshin, commander of the 1st Red Banner Squadron, did NOT PUNISH Chkalov for any flight under the bridge! In his memoirs (see: I. Antoshin “First flights in the squadron”, M. 1969) he doesn’t even mention a word about Chkalov’s flight under the bridge over the Neva. Moreover, all his life he claimed that he had heard about this flight only from third parties. After Chkalov's arrest in November 1925, Antoshin was sent for further service in Turkestan. So, under Antoshin, Chkalov did not fly under the Equality Bridge. Especially in 1928.
It is erroneously stated that V.P. Chkalov flew under the bridge in a Fokker D.XI fighter
V.P. Chkalov (second from left) among his colleagues. First on the left – mechanic Ivanov
In the personal file of V.P. Chkalov NO punishments were recorded for flying under the bridge. There are many punishments there:
– “Court penalties and disciplinary sanctions announced in the order in part and above: tried twice by the Military Tribunal. Subjected repeatedly disciplinary sanctions»…
– Being a member of the RKSM, he was “expelled for 6 months for indiscipline.” There is no information about reinstatement in the RKSM in the personal file...
There are many punishments... But punishment for an unauthorized flight over Leningrad and flying under a bridge is not among them. At all! Not in any year of his service!
About the witnesses of the flight
You can only fly under the bridge during the day. In broad daylight, the Summer Garden, Peter and Paul Fortress, and the embankments are always full of people. There must have been many eyewitnesses. But there are none. Not a single one! It was officially registered that there were 106 people dragging with V.I. Lenin's log at the subbotnik There the date was known, when Lenin was dragging the log, it was easy for false assistants to lie. But there are no witnesses to Chkalov's flight under the bridge! No real eyewitnesses, no “sons of Lieutenant Schmidt. Because there is NO exact date for the passage under the bridge!
An airplane flying under a bridge, then or now, is a stunning phenomenon, a sensation! All newspapers should have written about such an event. In 1916, Petrograd newspapers excitedly reported on the flight of naval pilot Lt. G.A. Frida under the Trinity Bridge on an M-5 plane. And in the fall of 1916 they enthusiastically described the flight of naval pilot Lt. A.E. Gruzinova under all bridges at once!!! In 1940, Leningrad newspapers wrote with the same admiration about the flights under the Kirov Bridge by the pilot of the Northern Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet, Evgeniy Borisenko, during the filming of the film “Valery Chkalov.” Borisenko flew under the Kirov Bridge on an LU-2 plane four times. Two on the first day of shooting, two on the second. But NOT ONE Leningrad newspaper or city magazine has NEVER written about the flight under the Chkalova Bridge.
About flight descriptions
All descriptions of Chkalov’s flight under the bridge over the Neva that exist in the literature (and there are only 3-4 of them) are dated much later than 1940. That is, they were given by the authors who saw the film “Valery Chkalov”. And all these descriptions retell footage from the film... None of the authors witnessed that flight.
About the vigilant OGPU and the command of the Leningrad Military District Air Force
To fly under the Equality Bridge, Chkalov had to build an approach from the Smolny side. It is alleged that he tried on the bridge span several times. That is, it circled over Smolny, over Liteiny, where the leadership of the OGPU was located, over Shpalernaya, where the prison was the OGPU, and the house of the Politkatorzhan, in which the entire top of the Bolshevik authorities of the city lived. Such a flight should have been followed by proceedings in the OGPU, at a minimum. Wasn’t the morally unstable pilot Chkalov, expelled from the RKSM, the son of a steamship owner - a socially alien element, planning to bomb Smolny? Should we shoot at Leninist party members? Didn’t you want to take revenge for your arrest, to take out your anger? Nothing of the sort happened. There was no such trial.
Following Trinity is the Dvortsovy Bridge. After flying under the Equality Bridge, Chkalov immediately had to put the car into a climb. Just opposite Palace Square, where the headquarters of the Leningrad Military District Air Force has been located since the first years of Soviet power. Respectively. Chkalov should have done this during test runs as well. Did no one from the command of the Leningrad Military District Air Force take an interest? What kind of fighter is this roaring under their windows, flagrantly violating the ban on military aircraft flying over Leningrad? But there is no information about Chkalov’s punishment for this flight in his personal file. I have not seen anything like this in the reporting documentation of the Leningrad Military District Air Force.
ABOUT magical power art
A thorough and comprehensive study of library collections allows us today to state with absolute accuracy that before 1939 there were NO publications about the flight of V.P. Chkalov did not exist under any bridge.
The first story about the flight of V.P. Chkalov under, mind you, the “Trinity” bridge appears... in Roman-Gazeta No. 13/1939. The magazine published a story by the aspiring writer G. Baidukov entitled “About Chkalov,” which was a literary version of the film script “Valery Chkalov.”
In this description, Chkalov flies under the bridge out of high flying motives. colorful, detailed description The flight ends with the phrase that the tired but satisfied pilot is returning home to his loving wife. How can we not recall again the statement of O.E. herself? Chkalova, that Chkalov did not fly under the bridge with her.
From Roman-Gazeta, the description of the flight migrated to all other books, including the one published by O.E. Chkalova on behalf of V.P. himself Chkalov's book “High above the ground. Stories of a Pilot" (1939)
But let's get back to the script. The director was not satisfied with the original script. There was no main thing, without which a good movie cannot exist - a love line. The reasons for Chkalov’s expulsion from the Air Force were also unclear. The script for the propaganda film was repeatedly revised, but Mikhail Kalatozov ( real name– Kalatozishvili) didn’t like him.
How did the flying scene in the film acquire a knightly and heroic appearance - for the sake of the heart of the beloved woman! – established from the original source. An outstanding historian, Navy Air Force fighter pilot, WWII participant Nikolai Andreevich Goncharenko managed to find the members of that film crew in his time. And they told him who was the author of this plot twist: Once in the smoking room, during a break in filming, the pilots who advised the film told details about how, back in tsarist times, pilots flew under the Trinity Bridge. There were legends about this among aviators.
Kalatozov sat with us and listened carefully to this story. The very next day, according to his vision, the script was redone once again. Now Chkalov was expelled from the Air Force for a hooligan flight under a bridge, committed to win the heart of his beloved.”
Since then, this director’s invention has gone “to the people.” It’s like how the footage of the “storming of Winter” from Eisenstein’s film “October” began to be passed off as a documentary chronicle.
The famous pilot and friend of Chkalov, Georgy Baidukov, the main author of the film script, in fact, the creator of the myth of “flying under the bridge,” then admitted: “Chkalov himself told me about this!..”. Which is not surprising, because G. Baidukov did not serve in Leningrad and could not see this himself...
About the truth of life
In 1939, after the death of V.P. Chkalov, the publishing house "Children's Literature" of the Komsomol Central Committee published a very interesting book: Valery Chkalov, Hero Soviet Union“High above the ground. Pilot's stories." Foreword by Olga Erasmovna Chkalova. In it Olga Erasmovna her with my own hand described how, when and under what circumstances V.P. Chkalov flew under the bridge. And under what bridge:
“One morning - it was several years ago in Leningrad - Valery Pavlovich returned from a flight. He greeted me and my son and looked around the room with some strange alien gaze. This is how a person looks who has just survived a great danger and still does not believe that he is again in his native, familiar environment.
-Did something happen to you?
He quickly ran his hand over his forehead and smiled:
- Nothing, nothing. Go to work, you'll be late, I'll tell you in the evening.
In fact, these “trifles” looked like this.
The plane was facing imminent destruction. The winter fog pressed him to the ground, his wings were frozen, and there was a forest all around. Not far away is a railway bridge along which a train was traveling, blocking the path to the only and pathetic semblance of a landing site. And Valery Chkalov landed the plane on this small saving island, flying...under the arch of the railway bridge.”
In her last book, Olga Erasmovna was more frank: “Once he and a mechanic were tasked with ferrying a plane from Novgorod. And suddenly there was an accident again! He returned home bruised.
“I can’t believe I’m home, alive,” he told me when I came home from school.
For the first time I saw that Chkalov’s nerves, as they say, had lost.
Having taken off from Novgorod, he found himself in difficult meteorological conditions. The plane became icy and the desired height it was impossible to dial. We had to fly low, right above the forest. A railroad track ran under the wing. The moment came when Valery realized that he needed to make an emergency landing. And there is nowhere to sit. You can try to sit on the treetops - there is a chance to save your own life, but Valery rejected this option immediately. Even then, he developed the principle of fighting for the life of the machine as if it were his own, to the last.
While Valery was thinking, a train appeared in the distance. Suddenly a bridge flashed ahead. It was just a stone's throw away. There is only one way out - to dive under the bridge and sit down. Chkalov dived, but a semaphore prevented him from landing behind the bridge. A moment later, he and the mechanic were lying on the ground among the wreckage of the plane.
A special commission found that if the pilot had tried to choose a different option for an emergency landing, the car would have crashed into the railway platform and the death of the crew would have been inevitable” (O.E. Chkalova “The Life of Valery Chkalov”, M. 1979).
This bridge stands near the Vyalka station, which was located on the 225-km Oktyabrskaya route railway Leningrad-Moscow. In the documents, this event does not look as beautiful as in the stories of Olga Erasmovna.
In 1929 V.L. Corvin (mother's first surname, father's name - Kerber) in own apartment designed and built an amphibious aircraft. During the Civil War, from 1919, he was in the ranks of the Don Hydroavian Division of the Whites, and worked at the Taganrog aircraft plant, where they repaired Dobrarmia aircraft. After the war, Corwin ended up in Leningrad, where he proposed his seaplane project, but it was not accepted - the Soviet authorities did not have confidence in the designer. And then he started building a car in his apartment. He was helped by a graduate of the Institute of Railways, V.B. Shavrov. When the work came to an end, Corvin began to fear that he, a former White Guard officer, would be given credit for the construction by the authorities. aircraft, as an attempt to prepare a terrorist attack against the leaders of the city and the country. Then the creator of the plane suggested to his assistant Shavrov that he pass off the plane as his own, and then contact Osoaviakhim Northwestern region with a request for funding for completion of work. Shavrov agreed with pleasure. The amphibian received the index Sh-1 (photo on the screensaver) and an 85 hp Walter engine, purchased with money from Osoaviakhim. The plane turned out to be successful. Shavrov instantly became a famous aircraft designer, although until the end of his life he was never able to create a single production aircraft of his own. Corwin did not see all this. He was arrested.
State tests were carried out in Moscow. The plane was piloted by test pilot B.V. Glagolev. In February 1930, he ferried the plane home to Leningrad, but due to disgusting weather, he got stuck in Borovichi. A few days later, Glagolev was recalled to Moscow, and Osoaviakhim of the North-Western Region was offered to pick up his car. The Leningrad Aeroclub-Museum of Osoaviakhim of the North-Western Region, whose employee Chkalov was then, sent him to pick up the plane along with mechanic Ivanov.
Ivanov, like Valery Pavlovich, was a big drinker (a few years later he would be fired from Osoaviakhim for regular drinking). Either they had it with them, or they had a good time in the dining car, but when the train reached Borovichi, the sea was already knee-deep. Despite the snowfall, almost complete lack of visibility and very low clouds, they boarded the plane and, despite advice not to fly, took off.
At first everything went well, but the further they flew from Borovichi, the worse the weather became. Chkalov did not even try to rise above the clouds - he did not master the art of instrument flight. He could only navigate by ground. And so he had to press the car lower and lower to the ground so as not to lose sight of the railroad track. On top of everything else, icing began. After some time they were already flying at low level. Valery Chkalov subsequently loved to tell his listeners about this: “And once on a foggy day, I was forced to rear up an icy amphibian dozens of steps in front of a rushing steam locomotive, jumped over it and, without touching the snow-covered roofs of the hot-vehicles with my skis, disappeared behind the tail of the train in frosty darkness."
The locomotive rushed forward, illuminating the space with a powerful headlight. It was possible to notice its light in time. But, having jumped the train, the Sh-1 crew finally realized that every minute they were catching up with the train going in front of them to Leningrad. AND glimmer They will not be able to notice the red lights of his last carriage in time. With all your desire! I had to sit down. They began to look for a place to land. A suitable bank flashed at the next railway bridge. The clearing allowed landing, but it had to be approached from the side of the railway bridge. Having made a turn, Chkalov led the amphibian to land, trying to fly over the surface as low as possible in order to have more space for the run. The engine was already turned off when suddenly another train jumped out of the forest onto the bridge. The collision could have been avoided only by diving under the bridge. There was no other way out. They fit safely into the span. But it was no longer possible to sit on the bank of the frozen river. It was necessary to go for a second approach. Turning on the engine, Chkalov put the car into a turn, while simultaneously trying to gain altitude. But the icy plane stubbornly did not go up. Ahead of us, a railway platform was visible and a signal signal was sticking out. Chkalov chose a semaphore. (Later, a commission investigating the causes of the disaster would determine that the impact on the platform would have been fatal for the crew). The impact of the wing on the semaphore broke the car into pieces. The crew was thrown into the snow. They miraculously survived. Having recovered from what they had suffered, Ivanov and Chkalov bandaged each other and set off on foot to the Vyalka station.
A criminal case was opened into the plane crash. During the investigation, the crew was acquitted. In the flight book of V.P. Chkalov No. 279, issued by the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (GUGVF) on July 10, 1933, this disaster is listed with the wording: “Weather conditions are to blame.”
Not a single pilot would talk about his failures, but apparently he really wanted to talk about flying under the bridge. Most likely, Chkalov talked about his flight with a fair amount of imagination, replacing the true scene of action with a fictitious, more spectacular one. As they say, “he was telling airfield stories.” It was not difficult to change the bridge over Vyalka to Troitsky. Every aviator in those years knew about the phenomenal flights under the Neva bridges by naval aviation pilots Friede and Gruzinov.
Anatoly Ivanin/
Krasnochervonny village, Stavropol region
In June 1965, a pilot from the air defense regiment Valentin Privalov flew a MiG-17 under the Communal Bridge over the Ob River in Novosibirsk...
Before this, he himself swam to examine the distance between the bridge supports. Moreover, Chkalov made a similar flight on a propeller-driven plane, not a jet...
He was arrested for air hooliganism, but Malinovsky, the then Minister of Defense, ordered the pilot to be allowed to fly
I heard about this incident in childhood, but never saw a photo, so I found it on Facebook, searched for it, and found more:
The arrest followed immediately - the very next day. The debriefing of the flight and, to put it mildly, the demolition did not take long. However, no one wanted to take upon themselves the final decision on the fate of the pilot. The then USSR Minister of Defense, Marshal R. Malinovsky, put an end to this matter. A telegram came from him to the unit: “Pilot Privalov should not be punished. Limit yourself to the events that were carried out with him. If you weren't on vacation, send him on vacation. If there was, give ten days of rest with the unit.” "Captain Valentin Privalov, nicknamed "Jack".
Valentin was born in the Moscow region, his childhood fell on wartime. While still at school I was involved in a flying club. After college, he served in naval aviation, in Kaliningrad and the Arctic, and was awarded the Order of the Red Star. Later he was transferred to Kansk, Krasnoyarsk Territory.
In June 1965, as part of a flight of 4 MiGs, Privalov was seconded to exercises taking place in the Siberian Military District - at a training ground near Yurga, anti-aircraft divisions conducted firing training. Returning from a mission to Tolmachevo, Valentin flew under the Communal Bridge. (For reference: the size of the arch is approximately 30 by 120 meters, the wingspan of the MiG-17 is 9.6 meters).
Anatoly Maksimovich Rybyakov, retired aviation major, recalls:
“From the third turn, he descended and passed under the bridge. Speed is about 400 km/h. It was a clear, sunny day. People on the beach were swimming, sunbathing, and suddenly there was a roar, and the plane took off like a candle, avoiding a collision with the railway bridge. It was clear that this could not be hidden. Air Marshal Savitsky arrived and conducted an investigation. They asked Privalov what his motives were. He replied that he wrote two reports about being sent to Vietnam, but they remained unanswered. That’s why I decided to fly under the bridge so that people would pay attention. This act was assessed differently. Young pilots are like heroism, the older generation is like air hooliganism.”
Meanwhile, there is a history of flights under bridges: “According to a widely circulated legend, Chkalov flew under the Trinity Bridge in Leningrad. For the film “Valery Chkalov” this flight was repeated by pilot Evgeny Borisenko!
Rumors about flying under the bridge quickly spread across the country, and following Valery Pavlovich during the armed conflict on the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) in 1929, pilot E. Lukht, three times awarded the Order of the Red Banner, personal military weapons, gold watches and other insignia of those years, flew under the bridge over the Amur in Khabarovsk, followed by this seemingly useless and most dangerous trick, repeated by the pilot of the same air squad A. Svyatogorov, as well as I.P. Mazuruk and M.V. Vodopyanov.
During the war, a similar trick was performed by the pilot Rozhnov. Escaping pursuit in the sky, he flew under a railway bridge, saving the lives of himself and the crew.
On December 15, 1938, the legendary Valery Chkalov. During landing approach, the engine of the I-180 fighter he was testing stalled. Chkalov at the last moment turned away from the roof of the residential barracks and crashed into a metal high-voltage support. The impact threw the pilot out of the cockpit along with the steering wheel. Chkalov lived for another two hours. His last words were: “I ask you not to blame anyone for what happened, it’s my fault.”
The country remembered Chkalov as a hero, first of all, thanks to his flight across the North Pole to America. June 18, 1937, a heavily loaded ANT-25 with a crew of commander Chkalov, co-pilot Georgy Baidukov and navigator Alexandra Belyakova took off from the Shchelkovo airfield and headed north. The flight was full of difficulties. When the plane passed the Pole of Inaccessibility, oxygen supplies were almost exhausted. Chkalov's nose began to bleed. Suddenly there was a bang, and the cabin glass was covered with a blind ice crust - the cooling system pipe burst. While Baidukov, sticking his hand out the window, was chipping away at the ice, Chkalov and Belyakov poured all the remaining ice on board into the expansion tank. drinking water and urine, which was collected for analysis. On June 20, after 63 hours of exhausting flight, the ANT-25 landed at Barracks Airfield in Vancouver. The heroic crew was greeted by thousands of Americans, US President Franklin Roosevelt organized a reception in honor of Soviet pilots. This was a triumph not only for Chkalov and his two companions on the flight, but also for the entire Soviet aviation.
But Valery Chkalov also entered the history of aviation as a pilot who accomplished a number of “feats” on the verge of a foul. He served 10 days in the guardhouse for flying upside down, and another 10 days for an experiment with dead loops (he made a bet that he would continuously spin 50 loops, but he made 250). Plus 5 days for flying sideways between two trees growing nearby. But the longest time - 15 days - was for the flight under the Equality (Troitsky) Bridge in Leningrad.
We have compiled a selection of cases in domestic aviation, which can also be called “feats” on the verge of a foul.
Flying under a bridge in a jet fighter
June 3, 1965 military pilot, captain Valentin Privalov made the only flight under the bridge in a jet plane in the world. It happened near Novosibirsk. After the training flight, Privalov emerged from the dense clouds directly onto the Communal Bridge across the Ob. Having slowed down, the MiG-17 skidded a meter above the water. Privalov walked right up to the bridge trusses and went up steeply. For reference: the size of the bridge arch is approximately 30 by 120 meters, the wingspan of the MiG-17 is 9.6 meters.
This is how an eyewitness, a retired aviation major, describes this incident Anatoly Rybyakov: “From the third turn, he descended and passed under the bridge. Speed is about 400 km/h. It was a clear, sunny day. People on the beach were swimming, sunbathing, and suddenly there was a roar, and the plane took off like a candle, avoiding a collision with the railway bridge. It was clear that this could not be hidden.”
It is surprising that Privalov got away with this act. He was arrested almost immediately, but soon the USSR Minister of Defense, Marshal, came Rodion Malinovsky: “Pilot Privalov should not be punished. Limit yourself to the events that were carried out with him. If you weren't on vacation, send him on vacation. If there was, give ten days of rest with the unit.” After this, Privalov was promoted, and he made a career - he became a squadron commander, and then deputy regiment commander.
Tu-124 landing on the Neva
On August 21, 1963, a passenger Tu-124 under the command Viktor Mostovoy made a regular flight Tallinn-Moscow. The route included an intermediate landing in Leningrad for refueling. On approach to Northern capital It was discovered that one of the landing gear legs was jammed and could not be released.
Deputy Head of the Leningrad Directorate civil aviation Vladimir Sirotin ordered the crew to make an emergency landing on a dirt strip outside the city using proven technology - “on the belly.” Fire trucks and ambulances were brought there. The plane was supposed to circle over the city until the tanks were almost empty.
And then the following happened. “Bort” panickedly reported that the fuel was completely exhausted, and there was no minimum fuel for the landing approach. This meant that the car could crash directly onto the houses. Fortunately, the Neva was below, and the Tu-124 landed on the water between the Bolsheokhtinsky and Finlyandsky bridges. This is one of the rare cases in the history of world aviation when a plane did not collapse after landing on water.
The captain of the boat, which was sailing along the Neva, propped up the wing of the Tu-124 and began to push the plane towards the shore. Passengers and crew disembarked. The aviation authorities initially assessed Mostovoy’s “feat” as sloppiness and expelled him from the squadron. But there were foreigners on board, there was a fuss in the press - and Mostovoy was again allowed to fly, and was even awarded an order.
How a plane took off without a pilot
This anecdotal incident occurred in the village of Novo-Shulba, one hundred kilometers northeast of Semipalatinsk, in the mid-1960s. He is described in the book of the Honored Pilot of the USSR Turyskali Madigozhina"Extreme Flights"
In winter it was almost impossible to get to the village, so the authorities of Semipalatinsk organized a local airline. Po-2 and Yak-12 worked on it. That day, the pilots carried all the passengers on three Po-2s, but there were three more left - a full load for the Yak-12 - who needed to go to Novo-Shulba. Nikolay Ulyanov- he was the commander on duty that day - he decided to take them himself.
But it was discovered that there was no air in the Yak-12 engine starting system, the pressure was insufficient. Starting the engine at the base in Semipalatinsk is not a problem, but what about in Novo-Shulba? There was only one way out: do not turn off the engine upon arrival, and the commander remains on the plane.
That's what they decided on. In Novo-Shulba, Ulyanov dropped off the passengers, but it turned out that at the village airport the woman was waiting for a flight to the city. Sitting in the cockpit of a working Yak-12, Ulyanov was waiting for a passenger when he suddenly saw a Po-2 landing. From the obvious underestimation of the descent glide path, he realized that the Po-2 pilot (young pilots were working on the line) did not see the “T” landing sign, which the Yak had covered up during landing. Ulyanov jumped out of the cab and ran to the sign to clear it of snow.
And at this time a passenger was already walking towards the Yak-12 - a large lady in winter clothes. She did not freeze near the plane, but climbed into the cabin along the icy ramp. The lady slipped on the steps, fell flat on the pilot's seat and pulled the throttle towards herself.
The plane roared as the heated engine immediately entered takeoff mode. The brakes could not hold the car on the loose snow, and the plane began to accelerate rapidly. Ulyanov at that moment was about forty meters from the Yak. Realizing what was happening, he rushed as fast as he could towards the plane. With one jerk, Ulyanov pulled the unlucky passenger out of the cabin, since her legs were sticking right out of the door. The uncontrollable Yak-12 accelerated, easily took off from the ground, gained a height of 60 meters, and plummeted down.
The emergency was investigated by a departmental commission, but did not find any gross violation of instructions or criminal negligence. Nevertheless, many demanded that the pilot be punished; the case was investigated by the city party committee. As a result, Ulyanov retired from aviation of his own free will.
From Perm to Moscow - in the chassis compartment
In the winter of 2007, workers at the capital's Vnukovo airfield found a frostbitten boy on the runway. He turned out to be a 14 year old Andrey Shcherbakov from the village of Chastye, Perm region. As it turned out, he ran away from home and climbed into the chassis compartment of a Tu-154 at the Perm airport. It turned out that the teenager traveled 1,300 kilometers to Moscow at an altitude of 10 thousand meters, in an unpressurized compartment, and even at an outside temperature of minus 50 degrees. Nobody believed in this. The guy was taken to the hospital, where several frostbitten fingers on his hands were amputated.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor's office checked the emergency and came to the conclusion that Shcherbakov was not lying. As stated by the deputy head of the Sverdlovsk interdistrict investigative department of the Perm prosecutor’s office for transport Alexander Kuznetsov, “among the airplane soot and dust inside the gondola, we saw and photographed the footprints of the boy’s boots and hands - exactly in the place that he indicated.” Several workers at the Perm airport paid for their negligence, and Shcherbakov’s nickname “cosmonaut” became firmly attached to him in his native village.
On June 4, 1965, military pilot ace Valentin Privalov, who was serving in the Kansk garrison, flew a jet plane under a bridge a meter from the water.
At the beginning of June 1965, the cannon anti-aircraft artillery of two motorized rifle divisions of the Siberian Military District began passing a kind of combat exam at a training ground near the city of Yurga. In order for everything to be as natural as in a real battle, a flight of four was transported from the 712th Guards Aviation Regiment to Tolmachevo. Among the pilots was Captain Privalov.
Ground anti-aircraft gunners fired at the mirror image of the fighters with 57-mm guns, and the authorities with large stars on their shoulder straps drew conclusions about the level of preparedness of each division. After such an imitation of the defeat of an air enemy, Privalov, following to the airfield in Tolmachevo, saw below him the Communal Bridge across the Ob River in Novosibirsk, connecting the Leninsky and Oktyabrsky districts of the city.
Built in 1952-55, the bridge consisted of seven 128-meter spans.
The pilot Privalov noticed the communal bridge a long time ago. Having arrived from Kansk to Novosibirsk for flight training, the ace immediately thought to himself: “I will definitely fly under this bridge!” And then such a chance presented itself. The pilot approached the target in the direction of the Ob current, at a speed of about 700 kilometers per hour.
In Novosibirsk, that day, June 4, 1965, turned out to be hot. On a lazy Friday afternoon, the embankment was crowded, and on the city beach there was nowhere for an apple to fall. Young Novosibirsk students and schoolchildren have just started their holidays. The city was preparing to fall into an afternoon slumber, when suddenly... a roar came from the sky. The sound grew and quickly became threatening. And suddenly, silvery lightning appeared over Otdykha Island (the Ob island closest to the Communal Bridge). And... it began to fall into the Ob, but not vertically, like a stone, but in a smooth downward direction. When there were a few meters left to the water, the silver car leveled out and went smoothly.
Novosibirsk residents were alarmingly silent: if the unknown hooligan at the helm of a fighter makes a mistake even by a millimeter, a tragedy will occur. On the bridge, hundreds of people in cars, trolleybuses and buses are rushing about their business. God forbid, the ace crashes into the support of the Communal...
The plane dived directly under the central arch of the bridge and immediately emerged from the other side. From the shore it seemed like an unprecedented trick. Someone breathed a sigh of relief. But then the jet engine howled, and there, beyond the bridge, silvery lightning rushed upward.
People on the other side of the embankment, where the Urban Beginnings park is located today, were speechless: a silver plane emerging from under the Communal Bridge was flying straight towards the railway bridge.
The silver lightning missed the railway bridge by only ten meters. The plane took off into the sky, and the entire embankment, without saying a word, applauded.
The next day, June 5, 1965, all four pilots seconded from Kansk were arrested. The emergency incident was reported vertically, and soon everyone who was assigned to their position learned about an incident unprecedented since the time of Valery Chkalov. They also reported to the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky. Anticipating numerous thunder and lightning from the General Staff Olympus and the imminent prospect of Privalov being put on trial, the communists of the regiment hastily expelled the desperate pilot from the ranks of the CPSU. And in those years this meant the end of an aviation biography even in the most favorable scenario.
During interrogation by the then Marshal of Defense of the USSR Rodion Malinovsky, Privalov said that he simply wanted to become a “real pilot.” Privalov, without a plane, but with a parachute (as required by uniform), went by train back to Kansk. He was threatened, if not with a tribunal, then with the end of his flying career. However, when the ace arrived at his native unit, a telegram arrived there: “Pilot Privalov should not be punished. Limit yourself to the activities that were carried out with him. If he was not on vacation, send him on vacation. If there was, give ten days of rest during the unit. Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union R. Ya. Malinovsky.”
Human losses of countries in the Second World War
German air losses
How were captured Germans fed?
The Dutch about the Russians
The British about the Russians
The Japanese are descended from the Chukchi
British Marines froze to their diapers and refused to participate in the exercises
Norwegian children adopt Russian language
THE BRIDGE UNDER WHICH VALERY CHKALOV FLYED
Who in our country does not know that Chkalov flew near Troitsky
bridge over the Neva? If not from books, then from the famous film by Mikhail Konstantinovich Kalatozov. But few people know that in Chkalov’s times, the Trinity Bridge in Leningrad was the Bridge of Equality. And Valery Pavlovich Chkalov never flew under this very Bridge of Equality. It’s not at all difficult to verify this. It is enough to carefully and impartially look at the biography of V.P. Chkalov and the history of domestic aviation. According to documents, of course, and not according to falsified materials from Soviet publications.
Let's take the initial data: it is stated that Chkalov flew under the bridge in 1928, and in a number of sources, in 1927. They all say that Chkalov did this on a Fokker D.XI fighter, in front of his future wife Olga Erasmovna. For his “recklessness” he was seriously punished by the regiment commander I. Antoshin - he was put in a guardhouse!
About the flight date
In Podolsk, the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense (TsAMO) contains the personal file of the famous pilot V.P. Chkalov No. 268818. It has long been declassified and today is available for comprehensive study. The personal file, as expected, contains the pilot’s service record. From it and many other documents it follows that in 1928 red soldier V.P. Chkalov served in the “15th Air Squadron” of the Bryansk Air Brigade and never flew to Leningrad. He also could not make such a flight unofficially. It was IMPOSSIBLE for any of the fighter brigades in service to fly to Leningrad without landing and refueling and return back. 1928 is categorically out of the question!
On January 19, 1929, the doors of a prison cell kindly opened before Chkalov for the second time. His prison diary is still kept to this day in the memorial museum of the legendary pilot in the city of Chkalovsk, Nizhny Novgorod region, where it can be easily viewed. Chkalov was demobilized from the army. He could not fly under the bridge in 1929.
Let's consider other dates.
Not a single source says that Chkalov flew under the bridge in 1924. Everyone understands that only a pilot who came to the combat unit would not be able to pull off such a trick.
1925...In St. Petersburg, where I live, there are three unique libraries: the Russian National Library, the Library of the Academy of Sciences and the Central Naval Library. Together, these three huge book depositories contain everything that has ever been published about Valery Pavlovich in our country. Anyone can look into them and see for themselves: in all her numerous interviews and books, when asked about when and how her husband flew under the bridge in Leningrad, Chkalov’s second wife is Olga Erasmovna. for which, according to the film, Valery Pavlovich flew under the Equality Bridge, she always answered: “He didn’t fly with me...”.
By the way. Valery Pavlovich and Olga Erasmovna met on the last day of 1924! In her last book “The Life of Valery Chkalov” iM 1979) Olga Erasmovna wrote: “... this happened in 1925,” which contradicts her own words, all official statements and the personal file of V.P. Chkalov.
“In 1925 he was demobilized by court” - from personal file No. 268818. Here is another extract from this document: “VERDICT IN THE NAME OF THE RSFSR.. Visiting session on November 16 (1925)... considered in an open meeting at the location of the 1st squadron... case No. 150 on the charge of citizen Valery Pavlovich Chkalov ... was recognized as proven: on September 7, 1925 in Leningrad, gr. Chkalov, holding the position of military pilot of the 1st squadron... and being obliged to report to the airfield for a training group flight by 3 o'clock in the afternoon. arrived at the indicated time in a completely drunken state, as a result of which he not only could not fly, but generally behaved unacceptablely, shouting, making noise, etc., which attracted the attention of those present at the airfield.
Having been arrested and then sent home in a car with pilots Blagin and Bogdanov, Chkalov on the way was very dissatisfied that he was sent from the airfield and was not allowed to fly on the device, loudly expressed his displeasure with shouts and gesticulations...
By these actions, Chkalov discredited the authority and rank of commander-soldier of the Red Army, i.e. committed a crime, and therefore the visiting commission of the VT LVO SENTENCED gr. Chkalov Valery Pavlovich to imprisonment with strict isolation for ONE year, without affecting his rights.
Taking into account Chkalov’s first conviction, voluntary service in the Red Army, youth and proletarian origin, strict isolation should be lifted and Chkalov’s term of imprisonment reduced to SIX months.” Chkalov appealed the verdict, but the response “Definition” read: “The verdict is upheld.”
Drunkenness in our country is a common phenomenon. And in the RKKAF aviation of those years, it was generally widespread and ubiquitous - a legacy of the Civil War, when, for lack of gasoline, it was necessary to refuel the engines of worn-out coffin airplanes with a mixture of alcohol and ether. In the 1st Red Banner Squadron, the young military pilot Valery Chkalov was quickly turned into a drunkard. How this happened is described in sufficient detail in the book of his daughter V. Chkalova “Valery Chkalov. Legend of Aviation" (M 2005).
For drunken brawls they were put in a guardhouse or given fifteen days. And then 6 months in prison!.. One can only guess how outstanding Chkalov’s drinking sessions were. Apparently, the command is boiling...
1926... In 1926 V.P. Chkalov practically did not serve. At first he sat in the “ispravdom”, as the prison was called then, and then knocked on the thresholds of the offices of military commanders and military registration and enlistment offices, trying to reinstate himself in military service. Perseverance paid off. As follows from his personal file: “...in 1926 he was admitted back to Kr. Ar. to the 1st squadron..." After recovery, Chkalov behaved “quieter than water and lower than the grass,” during this period he had only positive characteristics. That year, Chkalov had no time for hooligan flights under bridges. And when he began to fly again, the Neva was already frozen in ice. As stated, Chkalov was flying over the water. 1926 is no longer necessary.
1927... From January until spring there is ice on the Neva. The first quarter is eliminated. On March 24, Chkalov, during a training battle, had an accident on a Fokker D-XI fighter: “A collision in the air, after which he planned it.” An official investigation follows. Chkalov, naturally, was temporarily suspended from flying. In May, another service report was requested for him, and already in June the pilot was sent for training to Lipetsk. From where, naturally, he could not fly to the Leningrad Equality Bridge in any way. To all of the above, it is worth adding that in 1927 Chkalov was already married to O.E. Chkalova, and she, as noted above, always claimed that her husband “did not fly with her” under the bridge over the Neva.
It turns out that V.P. Chkalov could fly under the Equality Bridge only in 1925.
About serious punishment
The famous “father” – I.P. Antoshin, commander of the 1st Red Banner Squadron, did NOT PUNISH Chkalov for any flight under the bridge! In his memoirs (see: I. Antoshin “First flights in the squadron”, M. 1969) he doesn’t even mention a word about Chkalov’s flight under the bridge over the Neva. Moreover, all his life he claimed that he had heard about this flight only from third parties. After Chkalov's arrest in November 1925, Antoshin was sent for further service in Turkestan. So, under Antoshin, Chkalov did not fly under the Equality Bridge. Especially in 1928.
In the personal file of V.P. Chkalov NO punishments were recorded for flying under the bridge. There are many punishments there:
– “Court penalties and disciplinary sanctions announced in the order in part and above: tried twice by the Military Tribunal. He was repeatedly subjected to disciplinary sanctions."
– Being a member of the RKSM, he was “expelled for 6 months for indiscipline.” There is no information about reinstatement in the RKSM in the personal file...
There are many punishments... But punishment for an unauthorized flight over Leningrad and flying under a bridge is not among them. At all! Not in any year of his service!
About the witnesses of the flight
You can only fly under the bridge during the day. In broad daylight, the Summer Garden, Peter and Paul Fortress, and the embankments are always full of people. There must have been many eyewitnesses. But there are none. Not a single one! It was officially registered that there were 106 people dragging with V.I. Lenin's log at the subbotnik There the date was known, when Lenin was dragging the log, it was easy for false assistants to lie. But there are no witnesses to Chkalov's flight under the bridge! No real eyewitnesses, no “sons of Lieutenant Schmidt. Because there is NO exact date for the passage under the bridge!
An airplane flying under a bridge, then or now, is a stunning phenomenon, a sensation! All newspapers should have written about such an event. In 1916, Petrograd newspapers excitedly reported on the flight of naval pilot Lt. G.A. Frida under the Trinity Bridge on an M-5 plane. And in the fall of 1916 they enthusiastically described the flight of naval pilot Lt. A.E. Gruzinova under all bridges at once!!! In 1940, Leningrad newspapers wrote with the same admiration about the flights under the Kirov Bridge by the pilot of the Northern Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet, Evgeniy Borisenko, during the filming of the film “Valery Chkalov.” Borisenko flew under the Kirov Bridge on an LU-2 plane four times. Two on the first day of shooting, two on the second. But NOT ONE Leningrad newspaper or city magazine has NEVER written about the flight under the Chkalova Bridge.
About flight descriptions
All descriptions of Chkalov’s flight under the bridge over the Neva that exist in the literature (and there are only 3-4 of them) are dated much later than 1940. That is, they were given by the authors who saw the film “Valery Chkalov”. And all these descriptions retell footage from the film... None of the authors witnessed that flight.
About the vigilant OGPU and the command of the Leningrad Military District Air Force
To fly under the Equality Bridge, Chkalov had to build an approach from the Smolny side. It is alleged that he tried on the bridge span several times. That is, it circled over Smolny, over Liteiny, where the leadership of the OGPU was located, over Shpalernaya, where the prison was the OGPU, and the house of the Politkatorzhan, in which the entire top of the Bolshevik authorities of the city lived. Such a flight should have been followed by proceedings in the OGPU, at a minimum. Wasn’t the morally unstable pilot Chkalov, expelled from the RKSM, the son of a steamship owner - a socially alien element, planning to bomb Smolny? Should we shoot at Leninist party members? Didn’t you want to take revenge for your arrest, to take out your anger? Nothing of the sort happened. There was no such trial.
Following Trinity is the Dvortsovy Bridge. After flying under the Equality Bridge, Chkalov immediately had to put the car into a climb. Just opposite Palace Square, where the headquarters of the Leningrad Military District Air Force has been located since the first years of Soviet power. Respectively. Chkalov should have done this during test runs as well. Did no one from the command of the Leningrad Military District Air Force take an interest? What kind of fighter is this roaring under their windows, flagrantly violating the ban on military aircraft flying over Leningrad? But there is no information about Chkalov’s punishment for this flight in his personal file. I have not seen anything like this in the reporting documentation of the Leningrad Military District Air Force.
About the magical power of art
A thorough and comprehensive study of library collections allows us today to state with absolute accuracy that before 1939 there were NO publications about the flight of V.P. Chkalov did not exist under any bridge.
The first story about the flight of V.P. Chkalov under, mind you, the “Trinity” bridge appears... in Roman-Gazeta No. 13/1939. The magazine published a story by the aspiring writer G. Baidukov entitled “About Chkalov,” which was a literary version of the film script “Valery Chkalov.”
In this description, Chkalov flies under the bridge out of high flying motives. The colorful, detailed description of the flight ends with the phrase that the tired but satisfied pilot returns home to his loving wife. How can we not recall again the statement of O.E. herself? Chkalova, that Chkalov did not fly under the bridge with her.
From Roman-Gazeta, the description of the flight migrated to all other books, including the one published by O.E. Chkalova on behalf of V.P. himself Chkalov's book “High above the ground. Stories of a Pilot" (1939)
But let's get back to the script. The director was not satisfied with the original script. There was no main thing, without which a good movie cannot exist - a love line. The reasons for Chkalov’s expulsion from the Air Force were also unclear. The script of the propaganda film was revised several times, but Mikhail Kalatozov (real name Kalatozishvili) did not like it.
How did the flying scene in the film acquire a knightly and heroic appearance - for the sake of the heart of the beloved woman! – established from the original source. An outstanding historian, Navy Air Force fighter pilot, WWII participant Nikolai Andreevich Goncharenko managed to find the members of that film crew in his time. And they told him who was the author of this plot twist: Once in the smoking room, during a break in filming, the pilots who advised the film told details about how, back in tsarist times, pilots flew under the Trinity Bridge. There were legends about this among aviators.
Kalatozov sat with us and listened carefully to this story. The very next day, according to his vision, the script was redone once again. Now Chkalov was expelled from the Air Force for a hooligan flight under a bridge, committed to win the heart of his beloved.”
Since then, this director’s invention has gone “to the people.” It’s like how the footage of the “storming of Winter” from Eisenstein’s film “October” began to be passed off as a documentary chronicle.
The famous pilot and friend of Chkalov, Georgy Baidukov, the main author of the film script, in fact, the creator of the myth of “flying under the bridge,” then admitted: “Chkalov himself told me about this!..”. Which is not surprising, because G. Baidukov did not serve in Leningrad and could not see this himself...
About the truth of life
In 1939, after the death of V.P. Chkalov, the publishing house “Children’s Literature” of the Komsomol Central Committee published a very interesting book: Valery Chkalov, Hero of the Soviet Union “High above the ground. Pilot's stories." Foreword by Olga Erasmovna Chkalova. In it, Olga Erasmovna described in her own hand how, when and under what circumstances V.P. Chkalov flew under the bridge. And under what bridge:
“One morning - it was several years ago in Leningrad - Valery Pavlovich returned from a flight. He greeted me and my son and looked around the room with some strange alien gaze. This is how a person looks who has just survived a great danger and still does not believe that he is again in his native, familiar environment.
-Did something happen to you?
He quickly ran his hand over his forehead and smiled:
- Nothing, nothing. Go to work, you'll be late, I'll tell you in the evening.
In fact, these “trifles” looked like this.
The plane was facing imminent destruction. The winter fog pressed him to the ground, his wings were frozen, and there was a forest all around. Not far away is a railway bridge along which a train was traveling, blocking the path to the only and pathetic semblance of a landing site. And Valery Chkalov landed the plane on this small saving island, flying...under the arch of the railway bridge.”
In her last book, Olga Erasmovna was more frank: “Once he and a mechanic were tasked with ferrying a plane from Novgorod. And suddenly there was an accident again! He returned home bruised.
“I can’t believe I’m home, alive,” he told me when I came home from school.
For the first time I saw that Chkalov’s nerves, as they say, had lost.
Having taken off from Novgorod, he found himself in difficult meteorological conditions. The plane became icy and it was impossible to gain the required altitude. We had to fly low, right above the forest. A railroad track ran under the wing. The moment came when Valery realized that he needed to make an emergency landing. And there is nowhere to sit. You can try to sit on the treetops - there is a chance to save your own life, but Valery rejected this option immediately. Even then, he developed the principle of fighting for the life of the machine as if it were his own, to the last.
While Valery was thinking, a train appeared in the distance. Suddenly a bridge flashed ahead. It was just a stone's throw away. There is only one way out - to dive under the bridge and sit down. Chkalov dived, but a semaphore prevented him from landing behind the bridge. A moment later, he and the mechanic were lying on the ground among the wreckage of the plane.
A special commission found that if the pilot had tried to choose a different option for an emergency landing, the car would have crashed into the railway platform and the death of the crew would have been inevitable” (O.E. Chkalova “The Life of Valery Chkalov”, M. 1979).
This bridge stands near the Vyalka station, which was located on the 225-km route of the Oktyabrskaya Leningrad-Moscow railway. In the documents, this event does not look as beautiful as in the stories of Olga Erasmovna.
In 1929 V.L. Corvin (first surname on his mother’s side, Kerber on his father’s side) designed and built an amphibious aircraft in his own apartment. During the Civil War, from 1919, he was in the ranks of the Don Hydroavian Division of the Whites, and worked at the Taganrog aircraft plant, where they repaired Dobrarmia aircraft. After the war, Corwin ended up in Leningrad, where he proposed his seaplane project, but it was not accepted - the Soviet authorities did not have confidence in the designer. And then he started building a car in his apartment. He was helped by a graduate of the Institute of Railways, V.B. Shavrov. When the work came to an end, Corvin began to fear that he, a former White Guard officer, would be considered by the authorities to build the aircraft as an attempt to prepare a terrorist attack against the leaders of the city and the country. Then the creator of the aircraft suggested to his assistant Shavrov that he pass off the aircraft as his own, and then apply to Osoaviakhim of the North-Western Region with a request to finance the final work. Shavrov agreed with pleasure. The amphibian received the index Sh-1 (photo on the screensaver) and an 85 hp Walter engine, purchased with money from Osoaviakhim. The plane turned out to be successful. Shavrov instantly became a famous aircraft designer, although until the end of his life he was never able to create a single production aircraft of his own. Corwin did not see all this. He was arrested.
State tests were carried out in Moscow. The plane was piloted by test pilot B.V. Glagolev. In February 1930, he ferried the plane home to Leningrad, but due to disgusting weather, he got stuck in Borovichi. A few days later, Glagolev was recalled to Moscow, and Osoaviakhim of the North-Western Region was offered to pick up his car. The Leningrad Aeroclub-Museum of Osoaviakhim of the North-Western Region, whose employee Chkalov was then, sent him to pick up the plane along with mechanic Ivanov.
Ivanov, like Valery Pavlovich, was a big drinker (a few years later he would be fired from Osoaviakhim for regular drinking). Either they had it with them, or they had a good time in the dining car, but when the train reached Borovichi, the sea was already knee-deep. Despite the snowfall, almost complete lack of visibility and very low clouds, they boarded the plane and, despite advice not to fly, took off.
At first everything went well, but the further they flew from Borovichi, the worse the weather became. Chkalov did not even try to rise above the clouds - he did not master the art of instrument flight. He could only navigate by ground. And so he had to press the car lower and lower to the ground so as not to lose sight of the railroad track. On top of everything else, icing began. After some time they were already flying at low level. Valery Chkalov subsequently loved to tell his listeners about this: “And once on a foggy day, I was forced to rear up an icy amphibian dozens of steps in front of a rushing steam locomotive, jumped over it and, without touching the snow-covered roofs of the hot-vehicles with my skis, disappeared behind the tail of the train in frosty darkness."
The locomotive rushed forward, illuminating the space with a powerful headlight. It was possible to notice its light in time. But, having jumped the train, the Sh-1 crew finally realized that every minute they were catching up with the train going in front of them to Leningrad. And they will not be able to notice the dim light of the red lights of his last carriage in time. With all your desire! I had to sit down. They began to look for a place to land. A suitable bank flashed at the next railway bridge. The clearing allowed landing, but it had to be approached from the side of the railway bridge. Having made a turn, Chkalov led the amphibian to land, trying to fly over the surface as low as possible in order to have more space to run. The engine was already turned off when suddenly another train jumped out of the forest onto the bridge. The collision could have been avoided only by diving under the bridge. There was no other way out. They fit safely into the span. But it was no longer possible to sit on the bank of the frozen river. It was necessary to go for a second approach. Turning on the engine, Chkalov put the car into a turn, while simultaneously trying to gain altitude. But the icy plane stubbornly did not go up. Ahead of us, a railway platform was visible and a signal signal was sticking out. Chkalov chose a semaphore. (Later, a commission investigating the causes of the disaster would determine that the impact on the platform would have been fatal for the crew). The impact of the wing on the semaphore broke the car into pieces. The crew was thrown into the snow. They miraculously survived. Having recovered from what they had suffered, Ivanov and Chkalov bandaged each other and set off on foot to the Vyalka station.
A criminal case was opened into the plane crash. During the investigation, the crew was acquitted. In the flight book of V.P. Chkalov No. 279, issued by the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (GUGVF) on July 10, 1933, this disaster is listed with the wording: “Weather conditions are to blame.”
Not a single pilot would talk about his failures, but apparently he really wanted to talk about flying under the bridge. Most likely, Chkalov talked about his flight with a fair amount of imagination, replacing the true scene of action with a fictitious, more spectacular one. As they say, “he was telling airfield stories.” It was not difficult to change the bridge over Vyalka to Troitsky. Every aviator in those years knew about the phenomenal flights under the Neva bridges by naval aviation pilots Friede and Gruzinov.
PUSH: Soviet propaganda piled up a lot of lies, sending the best representatives of our people into oblivion. No matter how hard I tried, I could not find the biographies of Fleet Lieutenant G. A. Fried and Staff Captain A. E. Gruzinov, outstanding designers and test pilots of their time who stood at the origins of the birth of naval aviation. But at least Frieda managed to find a photograph of G.A.
Pilot naval aviation G.A. Frida on the Curtis plane. Sevastopol
Taken here:
