City Ufa
Leader: Dyagilev Alexander Vasilievich (history teacher at the Ufa Cadet Corps)
Research work "Air ramming - is it exclusively a weapon of Russians?"
Plan:
I IntroductionA Classification of air rams
B. First air ram
A. Reasons for the use of rams
IV. Conclusion
V. Bibliography
I Introduction
We often talk about heroes, but rarely about how they achieved victories that perpetuated their names. I was interested in the proposed topic, because ramming is one of the most dangerous types of air combat, leaving the pilot with minimal chances of survival. The subject of my research is not only interesting, but important and relevant: after all, the topic of the exploits of heroes who defended our grandparents at the cost of their own lives will never become obsolete. I would also like to compare our pilots with pilots from other countries.
II. What is an air ram
The ram is divided into 2 types
1) a targeted collision of an aircraft with a target in the air, causing it huge damage directly by the attacking aircraft itself
2) a ram of a ground object or a ship, in other words - a “fiery ram”.
A. Classification of air rams
For clarity, I compiled a table in which I showed the type of ram depending on the types of aircraft on which and against which this air combat technique was performed. I also want to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of each technique and method of air ramming
B. First air ram
The world's first ram was made on September 8, 1914 by Nesterov Petr Nikolaevich
. Baron F. Rosenthal flew boldly on a heavy "Albatross" at a height inaccessible to shots from the ground. Nesterov boldly went to cut him off in a light high-speed "Moran". His maneuver was swift and decisive. The Austrian tried to escape, but Nesterov overtook him and crashed his plane into the tail of the Albatross. An eyewitness wrote:
"Nesterov came from behind, caught up with the enemy, and, like a falcon beats a clumsy heron, so he hit the enemy."
The bulky "Albatross" still continued to fly for some time, then fell on its left side and fell rapidly. At the same time, Peter Nesterov also died.
.
A. Reasons forcing a pilot to ram:
What were the reasons that forced the pilot to destroy the enemy aircraft, despite the mortal danger, to ram?
The heroism and patriotism of the Soviet people, which were clearly manifested during the Great Patriotic War, are interconnected. These two concepts are sides of the same coin. The country would not have withstood such a terrible and severe test if it had not lived with a single thought: "Everything for the front, everything for victory!" Not only during the war, but even to the present time, the reasons that prompted pilots to ram were not properly analyzed.Even in the works of A.D. combat. All emphasis was placed only on the promotion of heroism, proceeded from the fact that every ram was necessary. Yes, heroism is undeniable. Ramming is the highest form of manifestation of heroism. Honor and praise to every pilot who decided to make this deadly technique in the name of protecting their homeland air combat.
The impossibility of a second attack, and therefore the need to destroy the enemy aircraft immediately. For example, when a bomber has already broken through to the target and can start bombing; an enemy scout returning to his airfield after completing a mission is about to disappear into the clouds; real danger hangs over a comrade who is attacked by an enemy fighter, etc.
- Expenditure in air combat of all ammunition, when circumstances forced the pilot to fire from a long range and at large angles or when conducting a long air battle, a battle with several enemy aircraft.
- The depletion of ammunition due to the inability to conduct an attack, the inability to conduct aimed fire and, first of all, shooting from an unreasonably long distance.
- Failure of weapons due to design and production deficiencies in weapons, installations or ammunition,
- Failure of weapons due to unsatisfactory training by the technical staff.
- Failure of weapons through the fault of the pilot.
- Low weapon efficiency.
- The desire to use the last opportunity to hit the air enemy. For example, a pilot's plane is shot down, most of all they burn, although the engine is still running, but they cannot reach the airfield, and the enemy is nearby.
Why did our pilots more often use a ram to destroy the enemy? Trying to figure it out, I made a table and added a couple of diagrams to compare the aviation of the USSR and Germany during the Second World War
In 1941 
In 1943 
Thus, I came to the conclusion that many of our pilots tried to compensate for their lack of readiness for combat operations, their lack of training in terms of acquiring flying skills with their heroic confidence that the enemy should not harm their native country. Therefore, the enemy must be destroyed at any cost, even at the cost of one's own life.
B. Air rams during the Great Patriotic War
The air ram became widespread during the Great Patriotic War.
The air ram was repeatedly repeated by Soviet pilots during the Great Patriotic War, turning into a means of decisively destroying enemy aircraft.
Rams on enemy pilots terrified!
Already on the 17th day of the war, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 8, 1941, three pilots were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. They were the valiant defenders of the city of Lenin, pilots junior lieutenants P.T. Kharitonov, S.I. Zdorovtsev and M.P. Zhukov, who made air rams in the first days of the war. (3 heroes of the USSR)
Much later, we learned that on the first day of the war, Soviet pilots rammed planes with fascist swastikas 16 times. On June 22, 1941, at 4:25 a.m., the flight commander of the 46th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Southwestern Front, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov, was the first to ram.
It is significant that this feat was accomplished in the area of the city of Zhovkva, Lviv region, that is, where Peter Nesterov rammed for the first time in the history of aviation. Almost simultaneously with it, the enemy plane D.V. Kokarev hit.
Let us dwell on the most notable rams of the war years.
On the night of August 7, 1941, having shot all his ammunition, wounded in the arm, fighter pilot Viktor Talalikhin rammed a German bomber. Victor was lucky: his I-16, which cut off the tail of the Non-111 (enemy aircraft) with a propeller, began to fall, but the pilot was able to jump out of the falling plane and land on a parachute. Let us pay attention to the reason for this ram: due to the wound and lack of ammunition, Talalikhin had no other opportunity to continue the battle. Undoubtedly, Viktor Talakhin demonstrated courage and patriotism by his act. But it is also clear that before ramming, he was losing an air battle. The battering ram was Talalikhin's last, albeit a very risky means of retaking the victory. (First night ram)
On September 12, 1941, the first aerial ramming by a woman took place. Ekaterina Zelenko and her crew on the damaged Su-2 were returning from reconnaissance. They were attacked by 7 enemy Me-109 fighters. Our plane was alone against seven enemies. The Germans took the Su-2 into the ring. A fight ensued. "Su-2" was hit, both crew members were injured, in addition, the ammunition ran out. Then Zelenko ordered the crew members to leave the plane, and she continued to fight. Soon she ran out of ammo. Then she entered the course of the fascist who attacked her and led the bomber to approach. From a wing strike on the fuselage, the Messerschmitt broke in half, and the Su-2 exploded, while the pilot was thrown out of the cockpit. Thus, Zelenko destroyed the enemy car, but at the same time she herself died. This is the only case of aerial ramming committed by a woman!
On June 26, 1941, the crew under the command of Captain N.F. Gastello, consisting of Lieutenant A.A. Burdenyuk, Lieutenant G.N. Skorobogaty and Senior Sergeant A.A. Kalinin, took off on a DB-3F aircraft to bomb a German mechanized column on the road Molodechno - Radoshkovichi as part of a link of two bombers. Gastello's aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft artillery fire. An enemy projectile damaged the fuel tank, and Gastello made a fiery ram - sent a burning car to the mechanized column of the enemy. All crew members were killed.
Boris Kovzan rammed enemy planes three times in 1942. In the first two cases, he safely returned to the airfield on his MiG-3 aircraft. In August 1942, Boris Kovzan discovered a group of enemy bombers and fighters on a La-5 aircraft. In a battle with them, he was hit, injured in the eye, and then Kovzan sent his plane to an enemy bomber. From the impact, Kovzan was thrown out of the cockpit and from a height of 6000 meters, with a parachute not fully opened, he fell into a swamp, breaking his leg and several ribs. Partisans came to the rescue to pull him out of the swamp. For 10 months the heroic pilot was in the hospital. He lost his right eye but returned to flying duty.
And how many air rams did Soviet pilots make during the Great Patriotic War?
In 1970, there were more than 200, and in 1990, 636 air rams, and there were completely 350 fire rams
34 pilots used an air ram twice, Hero of the Soviet Union A. Khlobystov, Zdorovtsev - three times, B. Kovzan - four times
V. Rams of pilots of other countries
In Soviet times, only domestic and Japanese air rams were always mentioned; moreover, if the ramming of Soviet pilots was presented by communist propaganda as a heroic conscious self-sacrifice, then for some reason the same actions of the Japanese were called "fanaticism" and "doom". Thus, all Soviet pilots who made a suicidal attack were surrounded by a halo of heroes, and Japanese "kamikaze" pilots were surrounded by a halo of "anti-heroes".
Although the ram was used the largest number of times in Russia, it cannot be said that it is an exclusively Russian weapon, because the pilots of other countries also resorted to the ram, albeit as an extremely rare method of combat.
Here, for example, the most amazing air ram in the 1st World War was made by the Belgian Willy Coppens, who rammed the German Draken balloon on May 8, 1918. Coppens slammed the wheels of his Anrio fighter against the skin of the Draken; propeller blades also slashed across the tightly inflated canvas, and the Draken burst. At the same time, the HD-1 motor choked due to gas rushing into the hole of the torn cylinder, and Coppens literally did not die by a miracle. He was saved by the oncoming airflow, which spun the propeller with force and started the Anrio's engine as it rolled off the falling Draken. It was the first and only ram in the history of Belgian aviation.
And about a year later (in July 1937) on the other side of the globe - in China - for the first time in the world a sea ram was carried out, and a massive ram: at the very beginning of Japan's aggression against China, 15 Chinese pilots sacrificed themselves by falling from the air on enemy landing ships and sinking 7 of them!
On June 22, 1939, the first ram in Japanese aviation was made by pilot Shogo Saito over Khalkhin Gol. Clamped “in tongs” and having shot all the ammunition, Saito went for a breakthrough, cutting off part of the tail of the fighter closest to him with his wing, and escaped from the encirclement.
In Africa, on November 4, 1940, the pilot of the Battle bomber, Lieutenant Hutchinson, was hit by anti-aircraft fire during the bombing of Italian positions in Nyalli (Kenya). And then Hutchinson sent his "Battle" into the thick of the Italian infantry, at the cost of his own death, destroying about 20 enemy soldiers.
During the Battle of England, British fighter pilot Ray Holmes distinguished himself. During the German raid on London on September 15, 1940, one German Dornier 17 bomber broke through the British fighter screen to Buckingham Palace, the residence of the King of Great Britain. Spikirova on his "Hurricane" on top of the enemy, Holmes on the opposite course cut down the tail of the Dornier with his wing, but he himself received such severe damage that he was forced to escape by parachute.
The first American pilot to actually fly a ram was Captain Fleming, commander of the USMC Vindicator bomber squadron. During the Battle of Midway on June 5, 1942, he led his squadron's attack on Japanese cruisers. On approach to the target, his plane was hit by an anti-aircraft shell and caught fire, but the captain continued the attack and bombed. Seeing that the bombs of his subordinates did not hit the target, Fleming turned around and dived at the enemy again, crashing into the Mikuma cruiser on a burning bomber. The damaged ship lost its combat capability, and was soon finished off by other American bombers.
A few examples of German pilots who committed aerial ramming:
If at the beginning of the war the ramming actions of German pilots, who were victorious on all fronts, were a rare exception, then in the second half of the war, when the situation was not in favor of Germany, the Germans began to use ramming attacks more and more often. So, for example, on March 29, 1944, in the skies of Germany, the famous Luftwaffe ace Hermann Graf rammed an American Mustang fighter, while receiving severe injuries that put him in a hospital bed for two months.
The next day, March 30, 1944, on the Eastern Front, the German assault ace, holder of the Knight's Cross Alvin Boerst, repeated the "feat of Gastello". In the Yass area, he attacked a Soviet tank column on the anti-tank version of the Ju-87, was shot down by anti-aircraft guns and, dying, rammed the tank in front of him.
In the West, on May 25, 1944, a young pilot, Oberfenrich Hubert Heckman, in a Bf.109G, rammed Captain Joe Bennett's Mustang, decapitating an American fighter squadron, after which he escaped by parachute. And on July 13, 1944, another famous ace - Walter Dahl - shot down a heavy American B-17 bomber with a ramming blow.
D. Air rams in the USSR in subsequent times
After the Victory over Nazi Germany, rams continued to be used by Soviet pilots, but this happened much less frequently:
1951 - 1 ram, 1952 - 1 ram, 1973 - 1 ram, 1981 - 1 ram
The reason is connected with the absence of wars on the territory of the Soviet Union and the fact that powerful vehicles equipped with firearms and maneuverable and light interceptor aircraft appeared.
Here are some examples:
During the battle, Subbotin scored one aerial victory, but then his plane was hit by enemy fire. According to the official version, after that, Subbotin deliberately rammed the Saber chasing him, releasing the brake flaps, which led to a collision of aircraft. After that, he ejected. In a number of sources, this episode is mentioned as the first aerial ramming on a jet aircraft in the history of aviation.
2) On November 28, 1973, air defense systems recorded another violation of the state border. Noticing the target, Eliseev went to rendezvous. Having reached the distance of aimed fire, the pilot fired two R-3S missiles at the intruder, but the Phantom released heat traps, and the missiles, having captured them, flew 30 meters from the aircraft and self-destructed. Then Eliseev hit the enemy plane not with the wing, but with the whole body. MiG-21 exploded in the air. Eliseev failed to eject, and both enemy pilots, sadly, survived.
3) Another successful ram was made later. It was carried out by Captain Valentin Kulyapin on July 18, 1981 on the Su-15. He hit the fuselage on the right stabilizer of a Canadair CL-44 transport. CL-44 went into a tailspin and fell two kilometers from the border. The crew of the violator died, reserve colonel Valentin Aleksandrovich Kulyapin is still alive.
VI. Conclusion
Here is what the Chief Marshal of Aviation A.A. Novikov wrote about the ram twice Hero of the Soviet Union:
“As for my opinion about the role and significance of the ram in battle, it has been and remains unchanged ...
It is known that any method of air combat, culminating in a decisive attack by the enemy, requires courage and skill from the pilot. But the battering ram makes immeasurably higher demands on a person. An air ram is not only a virtuoso command of a machine, exceptional courage and self-control, it is one of the highest forms of manifestation of heroism, that very moral factor inherent in the Soviet person, which the enemy did not take into account, and could not take into account, since he had very vague idea."
Thus I set the goal of my work to show an air and fire ram as a weapon used not only by Russians, but also by pilots of other countries at moments when the fate of a battle is being decided. At the same time, I want to emphasize that if in other countries pilots resorted to a ram as an extremely rare method of combat, then Soviet pilots used a ram when they could not destroy the enemy in any other way, so only in the Red Army did the ram become a permanent weapon of battle.
VII. Bibliography
1. L. Zhukova "I choose a ram" (Essays) "Young Guard" 1985. http://u.to/Y0uo
2. http://baryshnikovphotography.com/bertewor/ram_(air)
3. Zablotsky A., Larintsev R. Air ram - the nightmare of German aces. //topwar.ru;
4. Stepanov A., Vlasov P. Air ram - a weapon not only of Soviet heroes. //www.liveinternet.ru;
5. Film "I'm going to ram". (2012 Russia)
6. Immortal feats. M., 1980;
Vazhin F.A. Air ram. M., 1962;
7. Zablotsky A., Larintsev R. Air ram - the nightmare of German aces. //topwar.ru;
Zalutsky G.V. Outstanding Russian pilots. M., 1953;
8. Zhukova L.N. I choose ram. M., 1985;
9. Shingarev S.I. I'm going to ram. Tula, 1966;
Shumikhin V.S., Pinchuk M., Bruz M. Air power of the motherland: essays. M., 1988;
10. Vazhin F.A. Air ram. M., 1962;
Exactly 75 years ago, on the night of August 7, 1941, junior lieutenant Viktor Talalikhin was one of the first in Soviet aviation to ram an enemy bomber at night. The air battle for Moscow was just beginning.
sinister plane
That night, Viktor Talalikhin, deputy squadron commander of the 177th Air Defense Fighter Aviation Regiment, received an order to intercept the enemy, who was heading for Moscow. At an altitude of 4800 meters, the junior lieutenant overtook an enemy aircraft, went into its tail with lightning speed and began to shoot at it.
However, it was not easy to shoot down the Heinkel-111 long-range bomber. Of the five crew members, three fought the fighters. The ventral, rear and side gunners in flight constantly kept their sector of fire in sight and, in the event of a target appearing, opened furious fire at it.
The ominous silhouette of "Heinkel-111" was well known to the inhabitants of Poland, Denmark, Norway, France, Great Britain. This bomber was considered one of the main ones in the Luftwaffe and took an active part in all military campaigns of the Third Reich in Europe. He took an active part in the attack on the USSR from the very first minutes.
Deprive the USSR of Moscow
In 1941 the Germans tried to bomb Moscow. They pursued two strategic objectives: firstly, to deprive the Soviet Union of the largest railway and transport hub, as well as the center of command and control of the country. Secondly, they hoped to help their ground troops break the resistance of Moscow's defenders.
This task was entrusted by Hitler to Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, commander of the German 2nd Air Fleet. This task force, numbering 1,600 aircraft, supported the offensive of Army Group Center, whose main goal, according to the Barbarossa plan, was the Soviet capital.
The bomber crews had extensive combat experience in strikes against large cities, including at night.
Unpleasant surprises for the Luftwaffe
The Fuhrer demanded from the pilots "to strike at the center of the Bolshevik resistance and prevent the organized evacuation of the Russian government apparatus." Strong resistance was not expected, and therefore the military and political leadership of Germany was confident in their imminent parade on Red Square.
On the night of July 22, 1941, the first raid on Moscow took place. The Germans found that the Russians had a lot of anti-aircraft guns, barrage balloons, which were installed much higher than usual, and a lot of air defense fighter aircraft, which were active at night.
Having suffered significant losses, the Luftwaffe pilots began to rise to new heights. Actively participated in massive raids and "Heinkels-111".
Trophies of the 177th Fighter Regiment
The command of the German Air Force did not learn the lesson from the air battle for Britain in 1940, in which the Germans lost two and a half thousand aircraft. Of these, almost 400 "Heinkel-111". As a gambler, in the battles over Moscow, the Nazis bet on their own luck, ignoring the combat potential of the enemy.
Meanwhile, the air defense fighter regiment under the command of Major Mikhail Korolev, in which Talalikhin served, opened a combat account for enemy losses on July 26, 1941.
On this day, the deputy commander of the regiment, Captain Ivan Samsonov, shot down a German bomber. Soon this military unit had other "trophies".
Young but experienced pilot
The "impenetrable" "Heinkel-111", which Talalikhin met in a night battle, did not have time to drop bombs on the target and began to leave. One of his engines caught fire. The Soviet pilot continued to shoot, but soon the machine guns fell silent. He realized that the cartridges ran out.
Then the junior lieutenant decided to ram the enemy aircraft. At almost 23, Victor had a low rank, but by the beginning of World War II he was already an experienced pilot. Behind him was the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939/40 and the Order of the Red Star for four downed Finnish aircraft.
There, the young pilot fought on an obsolete I-153 biplane, nicknamed "The Seagull". However, in the first battle he won an air victory. Another enemy plane was shot down by him when Talalikhin was covering for his commander, Mikhail Korolev.
Don't let the bastards get away
In a lightning fight in the Moscow night sky, when a Soviet pilot aimed his plane at a ram, his hand was suddenly burned. One of the enemy shooters wounded him.
Talalikhin later said that he "decided to sacrifice himself, but not to miss the reptile." He gave full throttle and his plane crashed into the tail of the enemy. "Heinkel-111" caught fire and randomly began to fall down.
The damaged I-16 fighter lost control after a terrible blow, and Talalikhin left it on a parachute. He landed in the river Severka, from where he was helped to get out by local residents. The entire German crew was killed. The next day, Viktor Vasilyevich Talalikhin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Infernal air defense
Having lost 172 Heinkel-111 aircraft in a short time (not counting a significant number of other types of bombers), by the tenth of August 1941, German aviation abandoned the tactics of raiding in large groups from one or two directions.
Now the Luftwaffe pilots tried to "seep" into Moscow from different sides and often attacked the target, entering in turn, one after the other. They had to exert all their strength and skill in the fight against the hellish for the Nazis air defense of the capital of the USSR.
The air struggle reached its apogee in the fall of 1941, when a grandiose ground battle unfolded on the outskirts of Moscow. The Germans relocated their airfields closer to the city and were able to increase the intensity of sorties, interspersing night raids with daylight ones.
Death in battle
In fierce battles, the ranks of the 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment thinned out. On October 27, 1941, Viktor Talalikhin died in an air battle, and on December 8, Ivan Samsonov died.
However, the Germans also suffered significant losses, breaking through the wall of anti-aircraft fire and fighting off Soviet fighters. During the period from July 26, 1941 to March 10, 1942, 4% of enemy aircraft broke through to the city. During this period, over a thousand enemy aircraft were destroyed by Moscow's air defense systems.
Those of the crews of the German bombers who managed to drop bombs did it chaotically, in a hurry to get rid of the cargo as soon as possible and leave the shelling zone.
The failure of the air blitzkrieg
British journalist Alexander Werth, who had been in the USSR since the beginning of World War II, wrote that in Moscow shrapnel from anti-aircraft shells drummed through the streets like hail. Dozens of searchlights illuminated the sky. In London, he had never seen or heard anything like it.
Pilots did not lag behind the anti-aircraft gunners, and not only fighters. For example, the squadron commander of the 65th Assault Aviation Regiment, Lieutenant Georgy Nevkipely, burned not only six enemy aircraft, but also several tanks and more than a hundred vehicles with infantry in his 29 sorties.
He died a heroic death on December 15, 1941 and was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. The power of the air defense of the capital of the Soviet Union proved to be generally insurmountable for the Luftwaffe. The air blitzkrieg, which Goering's pilots counted on, failed.
On June 22, 1941, the troops of Nazi Germany and its satellites attacked the Soviet Union. Almost immediately, repulsing the Luftwaffe raids, Soviet pilots made the first air ramming of enemy aircraft. So, on June 22, on the day the war began, the pilot of the 46th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Senior Lieutenant I.I. Ivanov flew on I-16 to intercept German He-111 bombers. In an air battle, a flight of three fighters commanded by Ivanov won two victories, but when the planes were turning towards the Dubno airfield, where the regiment was stationed, the flight commander noticed another German bomber. Ivanov's ammunition ran out at the most inopportune moment. There were only two ways out of the situation - to return to the airfield or go to the ram. Senior Lieutenant Ivanov chose the second exit. At 4:25 he attacked a German aircraft.
Starley Ivanov's ram on the day the war began was not the only one. At about 5:15, junior lieutenant Leonid Buterin also attacked a German aircraft in the Stanislav area (Ivanovo-Frankivsk). The Soviet pilot died. At 6 am, an unknown Soviet pilot rammed a German Messerschmit plane, and at 10 am, pilot Pyotr Ryabtsev attacked an enemy plane in the sky over Brest. During the first day of the war, Soviet pilots carried out 19 aerial rams of enemy aircraft - and these are only those rams known to historians.
On the night of June 29, 1941, in the area of st. Rumyantsevo, Novo-Petrovsky District, Senior Lieutenant P.V. Eremeev, who served in the air defense fighter aircraft, pursued an enemy aircraft in his MiG-3. He also had to go to ram the enemy. Eremeev was able to leave his plane by parachute. A week after the ramming, Yeremeyev received the Order of the Red Banner, and the German Ju-88 bomber was put on display in August for residents of the capital on Manezhnaya Square.
However, on October 2, 1941, pilot Eremeev died in an air battle near the village of Krasnukha. Many pilots, even those who survived the ramming, subsequently died in other air battles - a fighter pilot usually died in the fifth or sixth sortie, an attack aircraft pilot in the tenth sortie. If we talk about those who decided to ram, then every third Soviet pilot died here. That is, those who managed to go through the entire war in fighter aircraft and survive were incredibly lucky people. As for the dead, the names of some of them are still unknown to us, not all the heroes were found with well-deserved awards. So, for example, Pyotr Vasilyevich Yeremeev, who died on October 2, 1941, was awarded posthumously with the high title of Hero of the Russian Federation only in 1995.
One of the most famous air rams at the beginning of the war was undertaken by Junior Lieutenant Viktor Talalikhin, who served in the 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps of the Moscow Air Defense Zone. On the I-16 fighter, he attacked the He-111 bomber, piloted by an experienced German pilot, Lieutenant Tashner. As in most other situations, when Soviet pilots used a ram, Talalikhin simply had no other choice - the cartridges ran out and the pilot decided to at least get even with the enemy.
Since the German was firing back, Talalikhin was wounded in the hand, but continued to ram - he went to the tail of the enemy aircraft and hit him with a propeller. Non-111 went down, and Viktor Talalikhin himself managed to jump out of his plane with a parachute and landed in a small lake. From there, the pilot was pulled out by local residents. The very next day, Talalikhin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and his aerial ramming began to be regarded as a benchmark act that other Soviet pilots should be equal to. Unfortunately, Talalikhin did not live very long after his feat - on October 27, 1941, he died in an air battle near Kamenka near Moscow. In the last battle, the pilot managed to destroy one enemy fighter personally and one as part of a group. The twenty-three-year-old Hero of the Soviet Union was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
Unlike most other Soviet fighter pilots who rammed enemy aircraft, Viktor Talalikhin entered the official "pantheon" of Soviet heroes. It is difficult to say why he was the one - whether it was the fact that Talalikhin was the first to attack the German plane at night, or the personal factor played the main role. Viktor Talalikhin was ideally suited for this role - a very young, 23-year-old, simple working guy who began his career in aviation with a glider circle at the plant and by the time the war began, he already had solid combat experience gained in the Soviet-Finnish. Such a pilot could well become a real example from which hundreds of thousands of Soviet boys and young men could "make life". Streets, squares, educational institutions in various cities and towns of the Soviet Union were named after Talalikhin.
Only two days passed after the feat of Viktor Talalikhin, when on the night of August 9-10, 1941, the deputy squadron commander of the 34th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps of the Moscow Air Defense Zone, Senior Lieutenant Viktor Alexandrovich Kiselev, flew in his MiG-3 aircraft to patrolling the airspace on the outskirts of the Soviet capital. Kiselev was in the Naro-Fominsk area when he discovered the German He-111 bomber in the immediate vicinity.
The senior lieutenant decided to attack the enemy aircraft. But the bomber's gunner was able to damage Kiselev's fighter with return fire. There was no way out - only a ram. Senior Lieutenant Kiselev knocked out a German bomber, but he managed to jump out with a parachute. He stayed alive. Of the German crew, only the navigator non-commissioned officer A. Otruba managed to escape, who was soon discovered and captured, and the pilot O. Schliemann, radio operator A. Wetzel, mechanic V. Gizelman and gunner V. Kranich died. 
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union to Kiselev, whose feat was the second after the attack of Talalikhin with a night air ram, was no longer given. October 28, 1941 he was awarded the Order of Lenin. Victor Kiselev continued to fly. In November 1943, he was already the acting navigator of the regiment and deputy regiment commander, he flew the La-5. On June 6, 1944, less than a year before the end of the war, the deputy commander of the 34th Fighter Aviation Regiment, which by that time was part of the 317th Fighter Aviation Division of the Special Moscow Air Defense Army, Aviation Captain Viktor Kiselev did not return from a combat mission. He went missing in the Rzhev area. By this time, the pilot had 251 sorties behind him, conducted 21 air battles, personally shooting down 6 enemy aircraft and, as part of a group, shooting down 2 enemy aircraft. On August 13, 1944, Captain Viktor Kiselev was posthumously awarded the rank of major.
Kiselev, like Talalikhin, was lucky during the night ramming - he managed to jump out with a parachute and survive. But fighter pilots at the height of the war were actually suicide bombers - even surviving during a ramming, he died in one of the air battles. By the way, Kiselev's biography is very reminiscent of Talalikhin's biography - he was born in 1916 (25 years old at the time of the ramming and 28 years old at the time of death), worked as a technician at the plant, graduated from the 2nd Red Banner Military Pilot School and first served in the 41st Fighter Aviation Regiment head of the parachute service and commander of the aviation unit. He began to take part in the Great Patriotic War from its very first day - from June 22, 1941. The remains of the aircraft on which Kiselev undertook his ramming were found only in the autumn of 2017.
By the summer of 1942, the turning point in the air had not yet been reached. German aviation retained its advantages, so Soviet pilots resorted to air ramming tactics just as often as in the first year of the war. On January 12, 1942, the 441st Fighter Aviation Regiment was transferred to the Kalinin area, where it repelled enemy air strikes. On March 19, 1942, Junior Lieutenant Evgeny Ivanovich Pichugin, a twenty-year-old young man who had previously studied at a railway school, but then connected his short life with military aviation, took over as a pilot on duty. At about 10 o'clock Pichugin flew out on an alarm signal to intercept enemy aircraft flying towards Kalinin, and found 8 German Ju-88 bombers and 4 Me-109 fighters in the air.
Despite such a large-scale numerical superiority, it was impossible to hesitate. Pichugin attacked the bombers and shot down one of the German planes. The rest of the "Junkers" turned back, but then they realized that only one Soviet aircraft opposed them in the sky and entered into battle with it. Pichugin, being in the tail of one of the Me-109s, tried to open fire, but could not fire. The Soviet officer had only one way out - he approached the German plane and hit the tail and fuselage with a propeller. Then Pichugin jumped out with a parachute, hoping to escape, but one of the German shooters shot the Soviet pilot in the air. By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated February 14, 1943, Junior Lieutenant Evgeny Pichugin was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
The feat of another Soviet pilot, junior lieutenant Mikhail Rodionov, also deserves special attention. On the morning of June 3, 1942, junior lieutenants Rodionov and Sergeev flew on the Yak-1 to intercept the German Ju-88 aircraft in the Maloyaroslavets area. The enemy, having been subjected to two attacks by Soviet pilots, tried to break away from the pursuit. Junior Lieutenant Rodionov rushed after him on his Yak-1. Let's talk about it in more detail. 
Mikhail Alexandrovich Rodionov was born in 1918. The same age as Talalikhin, he was only 24 years old. Behind him is the same path: a seven-year school, a factory school and an flying club, and then enrolling in the Engels Military Aviation Pilot School, participating in the Soviet-Finnish war. By the time of the events described, Junior Lieutenant Rodionov, who served as the flight commander of the 562nd Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps of the Moscow Air Defense Front, conducted 242 sorties and shot down 5 enemy aircraft.
Seeing that the pursuit of the German Ju-88 did not give results, Rodionov decided to ram. In the area of the village of Shumyatovo, the Soviet pilot was able to cut off more than two meters of the right plane of the German aircraft, but the enemy continued to fly, and then Rodionov, going to the other side, hit the left console of the "German" with his wing. The enemy plane flew another 800 meters, fell to the ground and caught fire. Rodionov, unlike Talalikhin and Kiselev, was not lucky - he could not survive as a result of a ram. Landing on an uneven surface, the Rodionov fighter collided with an earthen hill. The Soviet pilot, who was the first to conduct a double ramming of an enemy aircraft, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union only on February 14, 1943.
Soviet pilots used air ramming more and more often, terrifying German pilots. Aces of the Luftwaffe were very afraid of a ram, which, by the way, is evidenced by the testimony of captured German pilots. The ram was not as widespread as in the Soviet fighter aviation in any other air force in the world. Obviously, the selfless courage of the Soviet pilots, their focus on victory at any cost, including at the cost of their own lives, had an effect. For example, in the overwhelming majority of cases, German pilots did not risk ramming and tried to avoid it by all means - to go to the location of their unit, jump out with a parachute, etc.
When the Luftwaffe pilots understood from the actions of the Soviet pilot that he was going to ram, they began to rush about in a panic, descended or gained altitude, by any means tried to avoid a collision with the Soviet aircraft. What to do, because in fact the air ram itself was an invention of Russian aviators - let's not forget that it was the Russian pilot Captain Pyotr Nesterov who was the first to use it in world aviation. During the Great Patriotic War, many pilots, knowing full well that they might find themselves in a situation where a ram would be the only way out, tried to train, hone skills that could come in handy in the event of a direct collision with an enemy aircraft.
Many decades have passed, but Russia keeps the memory of the brave heroes of the Great Patriotic War, who took a mortal risk and very often sacrificed their lives, if only an enemy plane would not drop bombs on the location of Soviet troops, on peaceful Soviet cities. Of course, like all people, these heroic pilots were probably afraid of death, but in a critical situation they still made their choice. Therefore, they terrified the famous aces of the Luftwaffe.
For a long time, the authorship of the first air ram of the Great Patriotic War was attributed to different pilots, but now the studied documents of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation leave no doubt that the first at 04:55 on the morning of June 22, 1941 was the commander of the 46th IAP, Senior Lieutenant I. I. Ivanov , at the cost of his life destroyed a German bomber. Under what circumstances did this happen?
The details of the ram were considered by the writer S. S. Smirnov back in the 60s of the last century, and 50 years later, Georgy Rovensky, a local historian from Fryazino near Moscow, wrote a detailed book about the life and exploits of a fellow pilot. Nevertheless, in order to objectively cover the episode, both lacked information from German sources (although Rovensky tried to use data on the losses of the Luftwaffe and a book on the history of the KG 55 squadron), as well as an understanding of the general picture of the air battle on the first day of the war in the Rivne region, in the area Dubno - Mlynow. Taking as a basis the research of Smirnov and Rovensky, archival documents and memoirs of the participants in the events, we will try to reveal both the circumstances of the ram and the events that took place around.
46th Fighter Aviation Regiment and its enemy
The 46th IAP was a personnel unit formed in May 1938 in the first wave of deployment of the Red Army Air Force regiments at the Skomorokha airfield near Zhytomyr. After the annexation of Western Ukraine, the 1st and 2nd squadrons of the regiment were relocated to the Dubno airfield, and the 3rd and 4th to Mlyniv (modern Mlyniv, Ukrainian Mliniv).
By the summer of 1941, the regiment arrived in fairly good shape. Many commanders had combat experience and were fully aware of how to shoot down the enemy. So, the regiment commander, Major I. D. Podgorny fought at Khalkhin Gol, the squadron commander, Captain N. M. Zverev, in Spain. The most experienced pilot, apparently, was the deputy commander of the regiment, Captain I. I. Geibo - he even managed to take part in two conflicts, made more than 200 sorties on Khalkhin Gol and in Finland and had downed enemy aircraft on his account.
High-altitude reconnaissance Ju 86, which made an emergency landing in the Rovno region on April 15, 1941, burned by the crew
Actually, one of the proofs of the fighting spirit of the pilots of the 46th IAP is the incident with the forced landing of a high-altitude German reconnaissance Ju 86, which occurred on April 15, 1941, northeast of Rovno - the flag navigator of the regiment, Senior Lieutenant P. M. Shalunov, distinguished himself. This was the only case when a Soviet pilot managed to land a German reconnaissance officer from among the "Rovel group", which flew over the USSR in the spring of 1941.
By June 22, 1941, the regiment was based at the Mlynow airfield with all units - the construction of a concrete runway began at the Dubno airfield.
The weak point was the state of the material part of the 46th IAP. The 1st and 2nd squadrons of the regiment flew I-16 type 5 and type 10, the resource of which was ending, and the combat characteristics could not be compared with the Messerschmitts. In the summer of 1940, the regiment, according to the plan for the rearmament of the Red Army Air Force, was among the first to receive modern I-200 (MiG-1) fighters, however, due to delays in fine-tuning and deployment of mass production of new machines, the units did not wait. Instead of the I-200, the personnel of the 3rd and 4th squadrons in the summer of 1940 received the I-153 instead of the I-15bis and rather sluggishly engaged in the development of this "newest" fighter. By June 22, 1941, 29 I-16s (20 serviceable) and 18 I-153s (14 serviceable) were available at the Mlynow airfield.
The commander of the 46th IAP Ivan Dmitrievich Podgorny, his deputy Iosif Ivanovich Geibo and the commander of the 14th SAD Ivan Alekseevich Zykanov
By June 22, the regiment was not fully provided with personnel, since in late May - early June, 12 pilots were transferred to the newly formed units. Despite this, the combat effectiveness of the unit practically did not decrease: of the remaining 64 pilots, 48 served in the regiment for more than a year.
It so happened that the 14th Aviation Division of the Air Force of the 5th Army of the KOVO, which included the 46th IAP, was right at the forefront of the German attack. The two main "Panzerstrasse" allocated by the German command for the movement of the 3rd and 48th motorized corps of the 1st Panzer Group of the Army Group "South" passed through the directions Lutsk - Rovno and Dubno - Brody, i.e. through the settlements where the division's headquarters and its 89th IAP, 46th IAP and 253rd ShAP were based.
Opponents of the 46th IAP on the first day of the war was the III./KG 55 bomber group, which was part of the V Air Corps of the 4th Luftwaffe Air Fleet, whose formations were to operate against the KOVO Air Force. To do this, on June 18, 25 Heinkels of the He 111 group flew to the Klemensov airfield, 10 km west of the city of Zamosc. The group was commanded by Hauptmann Heinrich Wittmer (Hptm. Heinrich Wittmer). The other two groups and the headquarters of the squadron were located at the Labunie airfield, 10 km southeast of Zamosc - literally 50 km from the border.
The commander of the bomber air group III./KG 55 Hauptmann Heinrich Wittmer (1910-1992) at the helm of the Heinkel (right). November 12, 1941 Wittmer was awarded the Knight's Cross, and ended the war with the rank of colonel.
The headquarters of the 5th Air Corps, the fighter group III./JG 3 and the reconnaissance squadron 4./(F)121 were located in Zamość. Closer to the border, only parts of JG 3 were based (headquarters and II group 20 km away at the Khostun airfield, and Group I - 30 km away at the Dub airfield).
It is difficult to say how the fate of the 46th IAP would have developed if all these German units had been thrown to gain air supremacy over the axis of attack of the 48th motorized corps, which ran through the Dubno-Brody region. Most likely, the Soviet regiments would have been defeated like the units of the ZapOVO Air Force, which fell under the crushing blows of the aircraft of the II and VIII Air Corps, but the command of the V Air Corps had broader goals.
The hard first day of the war
The units concentrated in the Zamostye region were to attack airfields from Lutsk to Sambir, with the main emphasis on the Lviv region, where the Messerschmitts from JG 3 were sent in the morning of June 22, 1941. In addition, for some fantastic reasons, I. /KG 55 was sent in the morning to bomb airfields in the Kyiv region. As a result, the Germans were able to detach only III./KG 55 to attack airfields in Brody, Dubno and Mlynuv. In total, 17 He 111s were prepared for the first flight, each was equipped to attack airfields and carried 32 50-kilogram fragmentation bombs SD-50 . From the combat log III./KG 55:
“... The start of 17 cars of the group was envisaged. For technical reasons, two cars could not start, another one returned due to engine problems. Start: 02:50–03:15 (Berlin time - author's note), target - Dubno, Mlynov, Brody, Rachin airfields (north-eastern outskirts of Dubno - author's note). Attack time: 03:50–04:20. Flight altitude - strafing flight, attack method: links and pairs ... "
As a result, only 14 aircraft out of 24 combat-ready took part in the first sortie: six aircraft from the 7th, seven from the 8th and one from the 9th squadrons, respectively. The commander and headquarters of the group made a serious mistake, deciding to operate in pairs and links for maximum coverage of targets, and the crews had to pay a high price for it.
Takeoff of a pair of He 111s from the KG 55 squadron on the morning of June 22, 1941
Due to the fact that the Germans operated in small groups, it is impossible to determine exactly which crews attacked which of the Soviet airfields. In order to restore the picture of events, we will use Soviet documents, as well as the memories of the participants in the events. Captain Geibo, who actually led the regiment on June 22 in the absence of Major Podgorny, in his post-war memoirs indicates that the first clash occurred on the outskirts of the Mlynow airfield at about 04:20.
A combat alert was announced in all units of the KOVO Air Force around 03:00–04:00 after the district headquarters received the text of Directive No. 1, and the personnel of the units and formations managed to prepare the materiel for combat operations even before the first German air raids. The planes were dispersed at the airfields on June 15th. Nevertheless, one cannot speak of full combat readiness, primarily because of the controversial text of Directive No. 1, which, in particular, stated that Soviet pilots should not succumb to “provocations” and have the right to attack enemy aircraft only in response on fire from the German side.
These instructions on the morning of the first day of the war were literally fatal for a number of units of the SC Air Force, whose planes were destroyed on the ground before they could take off. Several dozen pilots were killed, shot down in the air while trying to force the Luftwaffe aircraft out of Soviet territory by evolution. Only a few commanders of various ranks took responsibility and gave orders to repel German attacks. One of them was the commander of the 14th SAD, Colonel I. A. Zykanov.
Aerial photograph of the Mlynów airfield taken on June 22, 1941 from a He 111 bomber from the KG 55 squadron
In the post-war years, through the efforts of unscrupulous authors, this man was undeservedly denigrated and accused of non-existent mistakes and crimes. It should be noted that there were reasons for this: in August 1941, Colonel Zykanov was under investigation for some time, but was not convicted. True, he was no longer reinstated in his previous position, and in January 1942 he headed the 435th IAP, then commanded the 760th IAP, was an inspector pilot of the 3rd Guards IAK and, finally, became commander of the 6th ZAP.
In the post-war memoirs of Major General of Aviation I. I. Geibo, it is clearly seen that the divisional commander announced the alarm in time, and after the VNOS posts reported that German aircraft had crossed the border, he ordered them to be shot down, which brought even such an experienced fighter like Geibo into a state of prostration. It was this firm decision of the divisional commander literally at the last moment that saved the 46th IAP from a sudden blow:
“The interrupted dream returned with difficulty. Finally, I began to doze a little, but then the telephone came to life again. Cursing, he picked up the phone. Division commander again.
– Declare a combat alert for the regiment. If German planes appear - shoot down!
The phone rang and the conversation ended.
- How to shoot down? I got excited. “Repeat, Comrade Colonel!” Not to expel, but to shoot down?
But the tube was silent ... "
Considering that we have before us memories with all the shortcomings inherent in any memoirs, we will make a small comment. Firstly, Zykanov's order to raise an alarm and shoot down German aircraft actually consists of two orders received at different times. The first, about the announcement of the alarm, was obviously given around 03:00. The order to shoot down the German aircraft was clearly received after the data from the VNOS posts arrived, around 04:00–04:15.
Fighters I-16 type 5 (above) and type 10 (below) from the 46th IAP (photo reconstruction, artist A. Kazakov)
In this regard, the further actions of Captain Geibo become clear - before that, the duty link was raised into the air in order to expel violators of the border, but Geibo took off after him with the order to shoot down German aircraft. At the same time, the captain was clearly in great doubt: within an hour he was given two completely contradictory orders. However, in the air, he figured out the situation and attacked the German bombers that met, repelling the first blow:
“At about 4:15 a.m., from the VNOS posts, which were constantly monitoring the airspace, a message was received that four twin-engine aircraft were heading east at low altitude. The duty link of senior lieutenant Klimenko rose into the air according to routine.
–You know, commissioner–I said to Trifonov,–I'll fly by myself. And then you see, the darkness descends, as if something again, like Shalunov, were not confused. I'll figure out what kind of planes. And you are in charge here.
Soon I was already catching up with Klimenko's flight in my I-16. Approaching, gave a signal: "attach to me and follow me." He glanced at the airfield. A long white arrow stood out sharply at the edge of the airfield. She indicated the direction to intercept unknown aircraft ... A little less than a minute passed, and ahead, a little lower, in the right bearing, two pairs of large aircraft appeared ...
"Attack, cover!"–I signaled mine. A quick maneuver - and in the center of the crosshairs of the sight, the leading Yu-88 (an identification error typical even for experienced pilots of all countries - author's note). I press the trigger of the ShKAS machine guns. Tracer bullets rip open the fuselage of an enemy aircraft, it somehow reluctantly rolls, makes a turn and rushes to the ground. A bright flame rises from the place of its fall, a column of black smoke stretches to the sky.
I glance at the onboard clock: 4 hours 20 minutes in the morning ... "
According to the combat log (ZhBD) of the regiment, Captain Geibo was credited with the victory over the Xe-111 precisely as part of the link. Returning to the airfield, he tried to contact the division headquarters, but due to communication problems he could not do this. Despite this, the further actions of the command of the regiment were clear and consistent. Geibo and the political officer of the regiment no longer doubted that the war had begun, and clearly set tasks for their subordinates to cover the airfield and the settlements of Mlynow and Dubno.
Simple name - Ivan Ivanov
Judging by the surviving documents, by order of the headquarters of the regiment, around 04:30, the pilots began to take off on combat duty. One of the units that was supposed to cover the airfield was led by Senior Lieutenant I.I. Ivanov. Extract from the ZhBD regiment:
“At 04:55, being at an altitude of 1500-2000 meters, covering the Dubno airfield, we noticed three Xe-111s going to the bombing. Going into a dive, attacking Xe-111 from behind, the link opened fire. After the ammunition was used up, Senior Lieutenant Ivanov rammed the Xe-111, which fell 5 km from the Dubno airfield. Senior Lieutenant Ivanov died during a ramming death of the brave, defending the Motherland with his chest. The task of covering the airfield has been completed. Xe-111 went west. Used 1500 pcs. ShKAS cartridges.
The ram was seen by Ivanov's colleagues, who at that moment were on the road from Dubno to Mlyniv. Here is how the former squadron technician of the 46th IAP A. G. Bolnov described this episode:
“... Machine-gun fire was heard in the air. Three bombers went to the Dubno airfield, and three fighters dived on them and fired. In a moment the fire ceased on both sides. A couple of fighters rolled off and left to land, having shot all the ammunition ... Ivanov continued to pursue the bombers. They immediately bombed the Dubna airfield and went south, while Ivanov continued the pursuit. Being an excellent shooter and pilot, he did not shoot - apparently, there was no more ammunition: he shot everything. A moment, and ... We stopped at the turn of the highway to Lutsk. On the horizon, to the south of our observation, we saw an explosion - puffs of black smoke. I shouted: "Clashed!"– the word "ram" has not yet entered our lexicon ... "
Another witness of the ram, flight technician E. P. Solovyov:
“Our car raced from Lvov along the highway. Noticing the skirmish between the "bombers" and our "hawks", we realized that this was a war. The moment when our “donkey” hit the “Heinkel” on the tail and it fell down like a stone was seen by everyone, and that ours went to land too. Arriving at the regiment, we learned that Bushuev and Simonenko had left in the direction of the silent battle without waiting for the doctor.
Simonenko told reporters that when he and the commissar carried Ivan Ivanovich out of the cab, he was covered in blood, unconscious. They rushed to the hospital in Dubno, but there they found all the medical staff in a panic - they were ordered to urgently evacuate. Nevertheless, they accepted Ivan Ivanovich, the orderlies carried him away on a stretcher.
Bushuev and Simonenko were waiting, helping to load equipment and patients into the trucks. Then the doctor came out and said: "The pilot died." "We buried him in the cemetery,–recalled Simonenko,–set up a signpost. It was thought that we would drive the Germans away quickly,–Let's set up a monument.
I. I. Geibo also recalled the ram:
“Even in the afternoon, during a break between sorties, someone reported to me that the flight commander senior lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov had not returned from the first sortie ... A group of mechanics was equipped to search for fallen aircraft. They found the I-16 of our Ivan Ivanovich next to the wreckage of the Junkers. An inspection and the stories of the pilots participating in the battle made it possible to establish that Senior Lieutenant Ivanov, having used up all the ammunition in battle, went to ram ... "
As time passes, it is difficult to establish for what reason Ivanov committed a ram. Eyewitness accounts and documents indicate that the pilot fired all the cartridges. Most likely, he piloted an I-16 type 5, armed with only two 7.62 mm ShKAS, and shooting down a He 111 was not easy and more serious weapon. Besides, Ivanov didn't have much shooting practice. In any case, this is not so important - the main thing is that the Soviet pilot was ready to fight to the last and destroyed the enemy even at the cost of his own life, for which he was deservedly posthumously presented to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Senior Lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov and the pilots of his flight on the morning flight on June 22: Lieutenant Timofey Ivanovich Kondranin (died 07/05/1941) and Lieutenant Ivan Vasilievich Yuryev (died 09/07/1942)
Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov was an experienced pilot who graduated from the Odessa Aviation School back in 1934 and served as a light bomber pilot for five years. By September 1939, already being a flight commander of the 2nd Light Bomber Aviation Regiment, he participated in a campaign against Western Ukraine, and in early 1940 he flew several sorties during the Soviet-Finnish war. After returning from the front, the best crews of the 2nd LBAP, including Ivanov's crew, took part in the May Day parade of 1940 in Moscow.
In the summer of 1940, the 2nd LBAP was reorganized into the 138th SBAP, and the regiment received SB bombers to replace the obsolete R-Z biplanes. Apparently, this retraining served as an excuse for some of the pilots of the 2nd LBAP to "change their role" and retrain as fighters. As a result, I. I. Ivanov, instead of the Security Council, retrained for the I-16 and was assigned to the 46th IAP.
Other pilots of the 46th IAP acted no less courageously, and the German bombers did not manage to bombard accurately. Despite several raids, the losses of the regiment on the ground were minimal - according to the report of the 14th SAD, by the morning of June 23, 1941 “... one I-16 was destroyed at the airfield, one did not return from the mission. One I-153 shot down. 11 people were injured, one was killed. Regiment at the Granovka airfield. Documents III./KG 55 confirm the minimal losses of the 46th IAP at the Mlynow airfield: “Result: The Dubno airfield is not occupied (by enemy aircraft - ed.). At the Mlynów airfield, bombs were dropped on about 30 biplanes and multi-engine aircraft standing in a group. Hits between planes ... "
Downed "Heinkel" He 111 from the 7th squadron of the bomber squadron KG 55 "Greif" (artist I. Zlobin)
The greatest losses in the morning sortie were suffered by 7./KG 55, which lost three Heinkels due to the actions of Soviet fighters. Two of them did not return from the mission along with the crews of Sergeant Dietrich (Fw. Willi Dietrich) and non-commissioned officer Volfayl (Uffz. Horst Wohlfeil), and the third, piloted by Chief Sergeant Major Grunder (Ofw. Alfred Gründer), burned down after landing at the airfield Labunie. Two more bombers of the squadron were seriously damaged, several crew members were injured.
In total, the pilots of the 46th IAP claimed three air victories in the morning. In addition to the Heinkels, shot down by senior lieutenant I.I. Ivanov and the link of captain I.I. Geibo, one more bomber was credited to senior lieutenant S.L. Maksimenko. The exact time of this application is not known. Considering the consonance of “Klimenko” - “Maximenko” and that there was no pilot with the surname Klimenko in the 46th IAP, we can confidently say that it was Maksimenko who in the morning headed the duty link mentioned by Geibo, and as a result of the attacks it was his link that was shot down and burned down " Heinkel" Oberfeldwebel Grunder, and two more aircraft were damaged.
Hauptmann Wittmer's second attempt
Summing up the results of the first flight, the commander of III./KG 55, Hauptmann Wittmer, should have been seriously concerned about the losses - out of 14 aircraft taking off, five failed. At the same time, the records in the group's railway data about the allegedly 50 Soviet aircraft destroyed at the airfields seem to be a banal attempt to justify the heavy losses. We must pay tribute to the commander of the German group - he made the right conclusions and tried to take revenge on the next sortie.
"Heinkel" from the 55th squadron in flight over the Mlynow airfield, June 22, 1941
At 15:30, Hauptmann Wittmer led all 18 serviceable Heinkel III./KG 55s in a decisive attack, the only target of which was the Mlynów airfield. From the ZhBD group:
“At 15:45, a group in close formation attacked the airfield from a height of 1000 m ... Details of the results were not observed due to strong fighter attacks. After the bombs were dropped, the further launch of enemy aircraft did not take place. It was a good result.
Defense: a lot of fighters with attacks on the way out. One of our cars was attacked by 7 enemy fighters. Boarding: 16:30-17:00. One I-16 fighter shot down. Crews watched him fall. Weather conditions: good, in some places small clouds. Ammunition used: 576SD 50.
Losses: Corporal Gantz's plane was lost, fighters fired after dropping bombs. Hid down. Further fate could not be observed due to strong fighter attacks. Wounded non-commissioned officer Parr.
Later, in a note to the description of the raid, a real triumph is mentioned: "According to clarification on the spot, after the capture of Mlynuv, a complete success was achieved: 40 aircraft were destroyed in the parking lot."
Despite another “success” both in the report and later in the note, it is obvious that a “warm welcome” again awaited the Germans over the Mlyniv airfield. Soviet fighters attacked the bombers on their way. Due to continuous attacks, the German crews were unable to record either the results of the bombardment or the fate of the lost crew. Here is how I. I. Geibo, who led the interception group, conveys the atmosphere of the battle:
“At an altitude of about eight hundred meters, another group of German bombers appeared ... Three of our links came out to intercept, and with them I did. As we approached, I saw two nines in the right bearing. The "Junkers" also noticed us and instantly closed up, clung to each other, preparing for defense - after all, the denser the formation, the denser, and therefore more effective, the fire of air gunners ...
I gave the signal: "Let's go on the attack all at once, each one independently chooses a target for himself." And then he rushed to the leader. Here he is already in sight. I see flashes of return fire. I press the trigger. The fiery route of my bursts goes to the target. It's time for the Junkers to fall on its wing, but it continues to follow its previous course like a bewitched one. The distance is rapidly shrinking. Gotta get off! I make a steep and deep lapel to the left, preparing to attack again. And suddenly - a sharp pain in the thigh ... "
Results of the day
Summing up and comparing the results, we note that the pilots of the 46th IAP this time also managed to cover their airfield, not allowing the enemy to stay on the combat course and bombard accurately. We must pay tribute to the courage of the German crews - they acted without cover, but the Soviet fighters did not manage to break their system, and they could shoot down one and damage another He 111 only at the cost of the same losses. One I-16 was hit by gunners, and junior lieutenant I. M. Tsibulko, who had just shot down a bomber, jumped out with a parachute, and Captain Geibo, who damaged the second He 111, was wounded and landed the damaged aircraft with difficulty.
I-16 fighters type 5 and 10, as well as training UTI-4, broken as a result of flight accidents or left due to malfunctions at the Mlynow airfield. It is possible that Captain Geibo piloted one of these vehicles in the evening battle on June 22, and then, due to combat damage, made an emergency landing.
Together with the downed Heinkel from 9./KG 55, the crew of Corporal Ganz (Gefr. Franz Ganz) was killed, consisting of five people, another aircraft of the same squadron was damaged. On this, the fighting of the first day of the war in the air in the region of Dubno and Mlynuv actually ended.
What did the opposing sides achieve? Group III./KG 55 and other units of the V Air Corps failed to destroy the material part of the Soviet air units at the Mlynow airfield, despite the possibility of a first surprise strike. Having destroyed two I-16s on the ground and shot down another one in the air (except for Ivanov's plane, which was rammed), the Germans lost five He 111s destroyed and three more damaged, which is a third of the number available on the morning of June 22. In fairness, it should be noted that the German crews operated in difficult conditions: their targets were located 100-120 km from the border, they operated without fighter cover, being for about an hour over the territory controlled by the Soviet troops, which, along with the tactically illiterate organization of the first sortie, led to big losses.
The 46th IAP was one of the few regiments of the KA Air Force, whose pilots on June 22 were able not only to reliably cover their airfield and suffer minimal losses from assault strikes, but also inflict serious damage on the enemy. This was the result of both competent management and the personal courage of the pilots, who were ready to repel enemy attacks at the cost of their lives. Separately, it is necessary to note the outstanding leadership qualities of Captain I. I. Geibo, who fought superbly and was an example for young pilots of the 46th IAP.
Pilots of the 46th IAP who distinguished themselves on June 22, 1941, from left to right: Deputy Squadron Commander Senior Lieutenant Simon Lavrovich Maksimenko, an experienced pilot, a participant in hostilities in Spain. In the memoirs, Geibo is listed as "commander Klimenko." Later - squadron commander of the 10th IAP, died on 07/05/1942 in an air battle; junior lieutenants Konstantin Konstantinovich Kobyzev and Ivan Methodievich Tsibulko. Ivan Tsibulko died in a plane crash on 03/09/1943, being a squadron commander of the 46th IAP with the rank of captain. Konstantin Kobyzev was wounded in September 1941, and after being cured he did not return to the front - he was an instructor at the Armavir Pilot School, as well as a pilot of the People's Commissariat of Aviation Industry
The number of victories declared by Soviet pilots and actually destroyed German aircraft is practically the same even without taking into account damaged aircraft. In addition to the losses mentioned, a He 111 from 3./KG 55 was shot down in the Dubno area in the afternoon, with which five crewmen of the crew of non-commissioned officer Beringer (Uffz. Werner Bähringer) were killed. Probably, the author of this victory was junior lieutenant K.K. Kobyzev. For success in the first battles (he was the only regiment pilot who claimed two personal victories in the June battles), on August 2, 1941, he was awarded the highest award of the USSR - the Order of Lenin.
It is gratifying that all other pilots of the 46th IAP, who distinguished themselves in the battles of the first day, were awarded government awards by the same decree: I. I. Ivanov posthumously became a Hero of the Soviet Union, I. I. Geibo, I. M. Tsibulko and S L. Maksimenko received the Order of the Red Banner.
One of the standards of feat of arms is considered to be an air ram, when a pilot, deliberately risking his own life, brings his plane down on an enemy plane. Our pilots made such rams during the Great Patriotic War, according to some sources, more than six hundred. Of course, this figure is far from final, it changes all the time: eyewitness accounts and archival documents are checked against enemy data, the names of new heroes and additional details of these amazing feats become known.
Among those who were one of the first to shield our beautiful Odessa was the deputy squadron commander of the 146th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Konstantin Oborin. In a combat report from the headquarters of the 21st Air Division of the Odessa Military District, it was briefly reported that on June 25, 1941, in absolute darkness, Oborin, in the direction of tracer bullets from anti-aircraft machine-gun points, found and rammed an enemy aircraft, as a result of which he fell. In fact, it was the first night air ram in the Great Patriotic War, committed on the fourth day of the war. And before the feat of junior lieutenant Viktor Talalikhin, who rammed the enemy in the sky of the Moscow region on the night of August 6-7, there was still a whole month and a half. However, Talalikhin received the Gold Star of the Hero for his ramming, and his name became known throughout the country. Later it became known about another pilot - senior lieutenant Pyotr Yeremeev, who also made a night ramming near Moscow, but earlier than Talalikhin - on the night of July 29-30, 1941. Although very late, he was nevertheless awarded the title of Hero of Russia on September 21, 1995.
Senior Lieutenant Oborin was much less fortunate in this regard. Unfortunately, Oborin's feat is practically unknown, and his name was lost among many unknown heroes of the war. It's time to correct this insulting injustice and inscribe the name of Konstantin Oborin in golden letters in the glorious cohort of Heroes.
Konstantin Petrovich Oborin was born on January 3, 1911 in Perm. After graduating from the sixth grade of the school, he worked first as a student, and then as a master of cold metal working at one of the local enterprises. But, like many boys of that time, he was attracted to the sky. In August 1933, he entered the 3rd Orenburg Military Pilot School and successfully completed it. By order of the People's Commissar of Defense No. 02126 dated November 5, 1936, he was awarded the rank of "lieutenant" and he was enrolled as a student of the 2nd Borisoglebsk school of fighter pilots. Since 1937, he has served as a junior pilot of the 68th Aviation Squadron of the Moscow Military District. In May 1938, he was appointed head of the parachute service of the 16th Fighter Regiment. By order of the NPO No. 0766 / p dated February 17, 1939, he was awarded the rank of "senior lieutenant". In January 1940, Oborin became adjutant of the squadron of the 16th regiment. However, he was soon assigned to the Odessa Military District. Here the career of a combat pilot continues successfully. In August 1940, he was appointed flight commander of the 146th Fighter Aviation Regiment, in March 1941 he became the squadron's senior adjutant, and from May 1941 he was already deputy commander of the 2nd squadron of the 146th regiment. An excellent pilot, he was one of the first to master the new MiG-3 fighter. From the first days of the war, Konstantin Oborin actively participated in repelling Nazi air raids. And soon he accomplished an outstanding feat.
On the night of June 24-25, 1941, at 03:20, an air alert was announced at the airfield near the regional center Tarutino (126 kilometers southwest of Odessa), where the 146th regiment was then based. Soon, in the thick predawn twilight, the silhouettes of two enemy Heinkel-111 bombers began to fade over the airfield. Anti-aircraft machine guns opened fire on them, but the Germans continued to circle around the airfield. Having found the target, the enemy pilots at 03:47 began dropping bombs.
To repel the raid, two MiG-3s and one I-16 took off. Soon, against the background of the sky, where the tracks of anti-aircraft machine guns stretched, the pilot of one of the MiGs, Senior Lieutenant Oborin, discovered an enemy bomber. Approaching him, Oborin took aim and pressed the trigger. The rapid-firing ShKAS machine guns rattled deafeningly, but, apparently, the bullets did not hit the weak spots of the enemy vehicle. The German plane dropped another series of bombs and began to turn around for a new approach to the target.
At the airfield, they heard the crackling of machine-gun bursts of a fighter, and the anti-aircraft gunners stopped firing. Our pilot repeated the attack, but after a short burst, the machine guns fell silent. Oborin reloaded the weapon, but after that there were no shots: the machine guns failed...
Then, having increased the engine speed to the fullest, Oborin began to get closer to the Heinkel. Approaching the enemy closely, he hit the left wing of the Xe-111 with the propeller of his fighter. The bomber rolled over and, slowly falling on the wing, began to fall. Soon a bright explosion erupted in the darkness. When ramming, Oborin hit his head on the sight, but did not lose consciousness and began to level his fighter, which had begun to fall. Due to the damaged propeller, the aircraft engine was shaking violently, but, having released the landing gear, the pilot was able to make a safe landing on the airfield. When examining the machine, it turned out that only the propeller spinner was dented and the propellers were badly bent. In general, the damage was minor, and after a small repair, the MiG-3 returned to service.
Oborin also continued to fight. Introduced to the Order of Lenin among the first on the Southern Front, he managed to make another 30 sorties and shoot down a second enemy plane. But, unfortunately, the military fate of the hero was too short. On the night of July 29, 1941, when landing at the Kharkov airfield in difficult conditions, Oborin's fighter rolled over, and the pilot received a spinal fracture. The injury turned out to be fatal: on August 18, 1941, Konstantin Oborin died in the field hospital No. 3352 and was buried in Kharkov cemetery No. 2. And the presentation for awarding the Order of Lenin was lost somewhere in the headquarters ...
This could be the end of this story. But some curious details about the German bomber that Oborin rammed have recently become known. It turned out that the pilot of the Xe-111 was one of the best pilots of the 27th bomber squadron "Belke" Lieutenant Helmut Putz. He was awarded two Iron Crosses, a Silver Cup for excellence in air combat, and the so-called Golden Buckle for 150 sorties he flew in the skies of France and England. It was this vast combat experience that saved the life of Putz and his crew.
It turned out that the bomber did not fall immediately after the ramming. After a ram attack from a Russian fighter, the Heinkel's navigator, Captain Karl-Heinz Wolf (by the way, was awarded the Golden Cross with diamonds for Spain!) Was forced to emergency drop the rest of the bombs. The explosion of these bombs was perceived at the Soviet airfield as the fall and explosion of an enemy aircraft. However, the Xe-111, controlled by an experienced pilot, continued to fly for some time. Nevertheless, the damage received during the ramming was so serious that, before reaching the front line of 130 kilometers, Putz had to make an emergency landing on the fuselage in a field near the Dniester River. But even here the German crew was incredibly lucky. During the landing of the aircraft, the crew was not injured, moreover, there were no Soviet troops in the area of the landing site. The radio operator of the crew was able to report on the radio about the accident and, having learned about the deplorable situation of the Putz crew, two other Xe-111s from his squadron flew to his aid. The Heinkel pilots, Lieutenants Werner Kraus and Paul Fendt, landed their planes in a field next to the wrecked plane and took Putz's crew away. And the wreckage of "Heinkel" number 6830 with tail code 1G + FM remained to rust on an unnamed field ...
And yet, Putz did not manage to escape Soviet captivity: two years later, on June 13, 1943, as a squadron commander and holder of the Knight's Cross, he was shot down by our anti-aircraft gunners near Kozelsk and, together with the crew, was captured.
After fighting on the distant approaches to Odessa, the 146th Fighter Aviation Regiment fought on the Southwestern Front from July 17, 1941, and then on other fronts. On September 3, 1943, for the courage and bravery shown by the pilots of the regiment in battle, the 146th regiment was reorganized into the 115th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. Subsequently, the regiment was awarded the honorary title "Orshansky", and the orders of Alexander Nevsky and Kutuzov appeared on the banner of the regiment. The guards pilots fought until the victorious May 1945, during the Berlin operation they made 1,215 sorties and shot down 48 German aircraft. On May 1, 1945, a group of pilots of the regiment, together with a group of pilots of the 1st Guards Regiment, was entrusted with an honorable mission: to drop pennants-banners over Berlin with the inscription "Victory!" and “Long live May 1!”. The task was successfully completed: two six-meter red banners were dropped exactly over the center of the burning capital of Nazi Germany. By the way, the combined group of 16 fighters included two pilots who distinguished themselves in the defense of Odessa in 1941: Hero of the Soviet Union, Major V.N. Buyanov from the 115th Guards Regiment and Hero of the Soviet Union, Major P.V. th regiment.
In total, during the war years, on the combat route from Odessa to Berlin, the pilots of the 115th Guards Aviation Regiment made 8,895 sorties and destroyed 445 enemy aircraft. Four pilots of the regiment were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union: V. N. Buyanov, K. V. Novoselov, G. I. Filatov and B. A. Khlud ...
The study of the history of the 146th Fighter Aviation Regiment, which defended the distant approaches to Odessa, and search work continues. The names of the pilots who died in those first battles of June-July 1941 are being established, their graves near the Tarutinsky airfield are being sought. Materials were found, according to which, on the third day of the war, the commander of the same regiment, Lieutenant Alexei Ivanovich Yalovoy, in a group battle, first knocked out, and then finished off an enemy aircraft with a ram. This probably also happened in the Tarutino area, but, unfortunately, the details of this battle are not yet known. Perhaps the reason for this was the early death of the pilot, who died on July 26, 1941. It is only known that A. I. Yalovoy was born in 1915 in the village of Spasskoye, Novomoskovsky district, Dnepropetrovsk region. A career military pilot, he died in an air battle and was buried in Kirovograd ...
It is believed that over time, the names of all its brave defenders will be inscribed in the annals of the heroic defense of Odessa.
