Why Valery Chkalov was credited with a deadly trick
In October 1940, Leningrad newspapers enthusiastically wrote about the skill of the pilot Yevgeny Borisenko, who, on the set of the film "Valery Chkalov", performed the most difficult aerobatic stunt - he flew on an amphibious plane under the Kirov (now Troitsky) bridge, and several times. By the way, in the modern serial "remake" of the film (filmed in 2012), this episode was imitated using computer technology. With his trick, Borisenko surpassed Chkalov himself, who had never flown under the Trinity Bridge.
Incident on set
By the time of the filming of Chkalov, Yevgeny Borisenko was only 27. A pupil of an orphanage, in 1931 he entered the Batai School of the Civil Air Fleet (GVF) on a Komsomol ticket and two years later began flying in the Northern Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet. In the autumn of 1940, Borisenko was seconded to Leningrad to shoot Valery Chkalov, which was started by director Mikhail Kalatozov.
For the flight under the bridge, Borisenko chose the Sh-2 amphibious aircraft. On the first day of filming the episode, October 22, Eugene did a couple of successful takes in a row. However, the director and cameraman, being reinsured, the next day asked the pilot to "repeat" - and he again successfully completed the task. But in the end, it still could not have done without an emergency - Nikolai Bogdanov, a friend of the pilot Borisenko, later wrote about this.
It turns out that at the end of the filming day, the cameraman asked the pilot Borisenko to deliver and drop him “closer to Lenfilm”. Borisenko fulfilled the request: he delivered and splashed down normally. However, on the way of the plane, a sunken log was encountered, in a collision with which the car received a hole: the fuselage filled with water in a matter of seconds, and the Sh-2 almost completely sank.
The pilot who emerged from the water first rescued the cameraman who had gone to the bottom, and then, wet and chilled, for several hours led the rescue and towing of the seaplane. What subsequently organizational conclusions regarding the pilot were made by his command, one can only guess. It seems that, despite the movie heroism, he got it to the fullest. This unfortunate incident did not get into the Leningrad newspapers ...
The all-Union premiere of "Valery Chkalov" took place on March 12, 1941. The name of one of the true heroes of the film - Yevgeny Borisenko - did not appear in the credits. And soon the war broke out, and from a movie hero he had to reincarnate into a real hero. In total, Yevgeny Ivanovich made 173 successful sorties, 152 of them at night. He was presented to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but for some reason the official presentation was "wrapped up".
Was there any silliness?
After the release of a film about him, Valery Chkalov became a cult national hero of the USSR for many decades, and Soviet youth rushed en masse to enroll in flight schools. The film itself became one of the leaders in the box office, and the episode with the "fly under the bridge" became one of the most shocking and recognizable scenes of Russian cinema. True, flight professionals considered it not convincing enough, but Evgeny Borisenko is not to blame for this: in the final version, a combined mix of several takes was included in the film.
Meanwhile, modern researchers are skeptical about the very existence of an example of such "recklessness" in Chkalov's biography. Yes, in some Soviet period publications dedicated to the pilot, a similar episode is mentioned. But! Under less romantic circumstances.
Namely: an emergency landing in the winter of 1930 under a railway bridge near Vyalka station (Novgorod region), as a result of which the Sh-1 aircraft being ferried to Leningrad fell to pieces, and the crew (pilot Chkalov and mechanic Ivanov) miraculously survived. But there is no reliable documentary evidence of Valery Pavlovich's flight over the Neva and under the bridge, and even in honor of his beloved woman. This story began to be attributed to Chkalov only after the release of a film about him.
The former director of the Leningrad State Aviation Museum Alexander Solovyov, in one of his essays, which can now be easily found on the Web, quotes the story of one of the members of the film crew: “... Our director Kalatozov did not like the original script of the film. Once in a smoking room, during a break in filming, the pilots who advised the film told that back in tsarist times, some pilot flew under the Trinity Bridge. Kalatozov sat with us and listened attentively to this story. The very next day, at his request, the script was redone. Now Chkalov was being expelled from the Air Force for a hooligan flight under a bridge, committed to win the heart of his beloved.
Aces of Tsarist Russia
Foreign experts believe that the first pilot to fly under the bridge is the English pilot Frank K. McClean. On August 10, 1912, on the float biplane Short S33, he flew between the upper and lower spans of the Tower Bridge, and then under all the bridges on the Thames to Westminster, where he safely landed on the water.
However, for reasons of patriotism, in this matter we give the palm to our aviator, a native of the Chernigov province, Khariton Slavorossov, whose name is now thoroughly forgotten. Since 1910, Khariton worked as a mechanic at the aviation school of the Warsaw Aviata Society, where he passed the pilot test and a year later received a diploma from the All-Russian Aero Club. After the liquidation of Aviata, he bought his airplane and began to take part in various international aviation competitions.
In the very same 1912, in the town of Mokotovo, near Warsaw, Slavorossov, driving a small airplane "Blerio", in front of the public, suddenly flew under a bridge over the Vistula River. “The first trick of its kind in the world,” the aviator later recalled, admitting that he had paid a decent fine for his Russian prowess. By the way, during the First World War, Slavorossov fought as a volunteer in the ranks of the French army, in the 1st Aviation Regiment. When in October 1914, in one of the sorties, the French pilot Reimon was wounded and, along with his plane, ended up in the neutral zone, Khariton Slavorossov landed next to him, transferred his comrade to his device and took off under enemy fire.
As for the flight directly under the Troitsky Bridge, it was first made by naval test pilot Georgy Friede on his M-5 flying boat in 1916. In the same year, Fride's friend and colleague, Lieutenant Alexei Gruzinov, repeated this aerobatic element. Moreover, it significantly complicated the task by flying under all the bridges on the Neva in a row. Gruzinov was generally an ace of the highest level. There are references to such an air stunt of his: with the engine turned off on the M-9 plane, Gruzinov made a circle, almost tightly flying around the dome-drum of St. Isaac's Cathedral and landed on the water across the Neva.
Finally, one cannot fail to recall the legendary pilot Alexander Prokofiev-Seversky, a kind of forerunner of Maresyev. A graduate of the Sevastopol Aviation School, in early July 1915 he received the title of naval pilot and was sent to the front. Soon, during a sortie, Alexander was blown up by his own bomb and was seriously injured - his right leg was amputated. Nevertheless, the young officer decided to return to duty and began to learn to walk hard - first on crutches, and then with a prosthesis.
At the beginning of 1916, Prokofiev-Seversky began his service at the St. Petersburg Aeronautical Plant: first as an observer for the construction and testing of seaplanes, and then he retrained as an aircraft designer. However, Seversky was convinced that he could and should fly. According to one version, in order to make himself known, Prokofiev-Seversky flew without permission in an M-9 flying boat and flew under the middle of the Nikolaevsky Bridge in broad daylight. At the same time, he also managed to happily miss an oncoming river tram.
For such hooliganism, the pilot was threatened with serious disciplinary punishment. However, Rear Admiral Nepenin decided not to ruin the pilot's career and sent a report to the Highest Name, in which he especially emphasized the courage and fortitude of the officer. And he asked in the final: is it possible to give this midshipman permission for combat flights? The report allegedly returned with the emperor's resolution: “I read. Admired. Let it fly. NICHOLAS"...
As a result, by the turning point in October 1917, Lieutenant Prokofiev-Seversky became one of the most famous Russian aces pilots.
MK help
Who else flew under the bridges
The French pilot Maicon in 1919 on a two-seat training biplane "Codron G.3" successfully slipped under a bridge over the Var River in Nice.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet pilot Rozhnov was able to break away from the "Messer", who sat on his tail, only thanks to the passage under the bridge.
In 1959, US Air Force Captain John Lappo flew an RB-47 under the Mackinac Suspension Bridge on Lake Michigan. And although the trick was performed successfully, the pilot went to the tribunal, and only his former military merits in Korea saved him from prison.
In 1965, in response to Khrushchev's thoughtless demobilization of military aces, the pilot of the Kansk aviation detachment Privalov flew under the arch of the Novosibirsk bridge across the Ob in a jet MiG-17.
In 1999, Lithuanian pilot Jurgis Kairis in a sports plane flew under ten bridges in a row on the Neris River. With the title of world champion in aerobatics, Kairis received permission from the city of Vilnius, and also insured himself and the bridges for $ 2.5 million.
In 2012, Siberian pilot Yevgeny Ivasishin, trying to make an emergency landing of a sports plane, was forced to fly between the 18-meter supports of the Yugorsky railway bridge.
June 4 marks exactly 50 years since an unusual incident - a MiG-17 jet fighter flew under a bridge in Novosibirsk. The "feat" of the pilot Valentin Privalov was captured in the photo ...
The pilot is "suicidal"
As eyewitnesses recall, that day in 1965 turned out to be hot. On a lazy Friday afternoon, it was crowded on the embankment, and on the city beach - in general, there was nowhere for an apple to fall. Young Novosibirsk students and schoolchildren have just started their holidays. Silence, calmness and goodness - summer in the Soviet Novosibirsk.
The city was preparing to fall into an afternoon slumber, when suddenly… a roar came from the sky. The sound grew and quickly turned into a menacing one. On the embankment, they began to look around anxiously: what is making noise?
And suddenly a silvery lightning appeared over Otdykha Island (the Ob island closest to the Communal Bridge). And ... began to fall into the Ob, but not vertically, like a stone, but in a smooth downward direction. When the water was a few meters away, the silver car leveled off and went straight.
- Yes, it's a plane! A real combat fighter! - exclaimed someone on the embankment.
The crowd fell silent in horror: the fighter flew low over the waves straight to the Communal Bridge. The water under the plane boiled with white breakers - either from the incredible speed of the machine, or from the blows of a jet stream from a nozzle. It seemed that a silver boat was flying over the water, and a white trail stretched behind it (it is called a wake).
- What will happen? the female student asked in a low voice.
Novosibirsk was anxiously silent: if an unknown hooligan at the helm of a fighter makes a mistake even by a millimeter, a tragedy will happen. On the bridge - hundreds of people in cars, trolleybuses and buses hurry about their business. God forbid, the ace will crash into the support of the Communal ...
The plane dived right under the central arch of the bridge and immediately exited on the other side. From the shore, it seemed like an unprecedented trick. Someone breathed a sigh of relief. But then the jet engine roared, and there, beyond the bridge, silvery lightning darted skyward.
People on the other side of the embankment, where the Gorodskoe Nachalo park is located today, were dumbfounded: a silver plane that emerged from under the Communal Bridge was flying straight at the railway bridge. The city history began with it, the fate of the country depends on it, and just now a freight train with a forest is going along it!
Silvery lightning missed the railway bridge by only a dozen meters. The plane went into the sky, and the whole embankment, without saying a word, applauded.
Get a scolding from the marshal and stay in the ranks
As Alexander Kamanov (a Novosibirsk resident who met and talked with Valentin Privalov) tells in his memoirs, the pilot noticed the Communal Bridge a long time ago. The ace, who came from Kansk to Novosibirsk for flight training, immediately thought to himself: “I will definitely fly under this bridge!”. After one of the training sessions, Privalov was going to return to the airfield. But, flying over the Ob, he decided to fulfill his promise to himself.
The target was approached in the direction of the Ob, at a speed of about 700 kilometers per hour. It was scary - to darkening in the eyes. Still - at such a speed to get into the narrow "window" of the bridge arch (30 meters high and 120 wide) seemed simply impossible. Even a slight touch on the control stick changed the height of the car by whole meters.
But the worst was yet to come. Immediately after the Communal Bridge - just 950 meters away - there is already a railway bridge, the most important transport artery of Russia. Privalov had exactly five seconds before the collision. And during this time, he managed to drastically change course and, experiencing wild overload, screw into the sky.
And the next day he was arrested. During interrogation by the then Marshal of Defense of the USSR Rodion Malinovsky, Privalov said that he simply wanted to become a "real pilot."
And Malinovsky accused the ace of "Chkalovshchina": the test pilot also liked to misbehave at the helm. According to Alexander Kamanov, ironically, the marshal uttered these words at the Novosibirsk Aviation Plant named after Valery Chkalov ...
Privalov, without an airplane, but with a parachute (as it was supposed to be in form), went back to Kansk by train. He was threatened, if not by a tribunal, then by the end of his flying career. However, when the ace arrived in his native part, a telegram arrived there: “Pilot Privalov should not be punished. Limit yourself to the events that were carried out with him (meaning an educational conversation with the marshal. - Approx. ed.). If you haven't been on vacation, go on vacation. If there was, give ten days of rest at the unit. Minister of Defense of the USSR Marshal R. Malinovsky.
Apparently, the suicidal courage of the air hooligan subdued the marshal, who was familiar with both Chkalov and Pokryshkin. Which, by the way, were also not against demonstrating their aerial skills. And rightly so. Well, hide it, or what?
TTX Fighter MiG-17
Aircraft length: 11.264 m
Aircraft height: 3.8 m
Wingspan: 9.6 m
Maximum flight range: 1295 km
Maximum flight speed: 1114 km/h
Ceiling (maximum height): 15,600 m
Crew: 1 person
There is probably no person in Novosibirsk who has not heard about the passage under our Communal Bridge. This act evokes different feelings in different people. Some consider our “Siberian Chkalov” a hero, others a bully. Yes, and the then Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky, forgave the pilot, ordering not to punish him, but to “let him rest.” Even the Communist Party was not expelled. He, of course, is an aviation hooligan, but after all, ours!
Photo collage on demand
And although this story is absolutely true, it is already shrouded in a bunch of myths. This was also helped by the famous photo collage showing the very moment of the flight. But after all, in 1965, there were no mobile phones with cameras or “instant” cameras in each hand, no one deliberately sat in ambush and did not wait. This "photo" was made by order of the Museum of Novosibirsk, its designer Evgeny Sotsikhovsky. And deliberately with violations of proportions, so that no sane person could even think that this is a reality. The scale of the aircraft relative to the bridge is greatly increased, and the angle of flight suggests that it almost emerges from the water. And the embankment had not yet been built.
Nevertheless, some believed in photography, while for others, who were more attentive, the collage immediately evoked a feeling of untruth and the creation of another myth. But this is a real case, in contrast to the flight of Chkalov himself, allegedly invented for the film "Valery Chkalov". In any case, no such case was recorded in the ace's personal file. But during the filming of the film, pilot Yevgeny Borisenko actually made six takes of a flight under the Troitsky Bridge in Leningrad on a Sh-2 seaplane.
Tram number 13 and pilots under the bridges
But let's leave the dispute about Chkalov to Petersburgers. And our case was even recorded by the Soviet (!) press. We have two main legends in the city: avenging cars and pilots under bridges. In August 1965, the all-Union newspaper Izvestiya wrote in the article “They Stole a Tram”: “The incident in the tram depot really hurt the pride of Novosibirsk aviators. “Why are we worse than trams!” they exclaimed. And soon, on one of the hot days ... ”- well, and further in the text ...
Air Force Captain Privalov is also already overgrown with legends. First, it is not entirely ours. His unit was stationed in the city of Kansk in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, and in Novosibirsk he was on a business trip. There is also some confusion about the date of the flight - they are called June 3, 4, and 14. The version about conquering the girl on the beach (or on the bridge) is also romantic.
But the main thing is that we still consider this flight under the bridge on a jet plane the only one in the world and has not yet been repeated. That's what I thought, and that's what I've told others. But with the help of a distant overseas friend Misha Yudanin, who was still living in Novosibirsk in the late 1980s, they managed to find out that, it turns out, there is life abroad, and there are also “reckless” pilots there.
And the first flight on a jet aircraft was made 6 years before ours, on April 24, 1959. True, it was not a fighter, but a jet bomber. This hooligan overflight was made by a successful, experienced US Air Force pilot, 39-year-old Captain John S. Lappo (John S. Lappo). And it happened in Michigan, under the Mackinac suspension bridge. Lappo was also getting ready. According to him, he planned to fly under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, but another turned up.
In the early morning, also returning to base after completing a training mission, over Lake Michigan, Lappo descended to a height of 23 meters and slipped on a reconnaissance bomber RB-47E Stratojet under the brand new Mackinac Bridge. A 60-ton aircraft was separated from the water and the span of the bridge by a couple of tens of meters.
The commander of the crew was given under a military tribunal. But the former military merits saved the captain from prison - 28 sorties in Korea on a B-29 bomber, four military awards, the "Flight Cross" for several reconnaissance flights over the territory of the USSR. The court reprimanded Lappo and awarded a fine. At the same time, all American aircraft were prohibited from descending below 500 feet (153 m). John Lappo also received personal gratitude from the 1st Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Curtis LeMay: “I’m sorry that I don’t have a squadron of pilots like you,” but the hooligan could no longer sit at the helm of a military aircraft, although he still served in the Air Force 13 years old, having retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
The length of the main span of the Mackinac Bridge is 1158 m, the clearance from the carriageway to the water is 50 meters. The width of the span is 127 meters, the height is 30 meters. Agree that the eye of the needle is ten times smaller.
But the bomber has almost four times the wingspan - 35.4 meters against 9.83 MiGs. Almost 100 km higher stall speed -308 km/h against our 220-230. That is, it must fly faster, or it will fall, although cruising speed, of course, is a loser. But who is on the cruise and under the bridges!
"Subtle" English humor
Another jet overflight happened after ours in the very heart of good old England. On the afternoon of April 5, 1968, an RAF pilot, regimental commander of the 1st Squadron, 32-year-old Alan Pollock flew a Hawker Hunter FGA.9 fighter at a speed of 300 miles per hour (483 km / h) under the top of the Tower Bridge . Before that, he separated from the led group of aircraft, went towards London, circled the Houses of Parliament three times with a thunderous roar and circled over the Royal Air Force memorial on the Victoria Embankment. The pilot did this to protest the decision of the Labor government not to hold an air parade over London in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the RAF.
The width of the Tower Bridge is more than two times less than the Communal Bridge in Novosibirsk - 61 meters, and the height of the upper gallery above the main bridge is 42 meters. The pilot was not stopped by the fact that a double-decker bus was moving along the bridge, pedestrians were walking.
After landing, Pollock was arrested, and then, despite the support of his colleagues, was dismissed from the Air Force for health reasons without the right to appeal, which allowed him to avoid a military court.
For clarity, I have summarized the characteristics of aircraft and bridges that are most interesting to us in tables.
Of course, flight conditions also depend on many other conditions (wind, the actual weight of the aircraft, the skill of the pilot). But, whatever one may say, the risk is huge in all cases - a slight movement of the steering wheel - and you are in the bridge support or in the water, and in our case you still need to climb correctly, because ahead, after 950 meters, the next obstacle is the railway bridge across the Ob.
I must say that all three pilots were preparing in one way or another. The Englishman even made a preliminary map of his flight over London. All three are proud of their deed and colorfully describe it. But what was it like for ordinary people who were at the time of the heroic flight on the bridges. Didn't have time to understand? Maybe. A spokesman for the London Metropolitan Police concluded in 1968: “We do not see this as a joke, it could have serious consequences. There were pedestrians and vehicles on the bridge." Dry and sober.
The next day, June 5, 1965, all four pilots seconded from Kansk were in for a "surprise". According to a number of orders and instructions, the emergency was reported vertically, and soon everyone who was supposed to be in office learned about an incident unseen since the time of Valery Chkalov. They also reported to the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union R.Ya. Malinovsky.
Anticipating numerous thunders and lightnings from the General Staff Olympus and the near prospect of giving Privalov to the tribunal, 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 aviation biography, even in the most favorable scenario.,
Privalov, without an airplane, but with a parachute (as it was supposed to be in form), went back to Kansk by train. He was threatened, if not by a tribunal, then by the end of his flying career. However, when the ace arrived in his native part, a telegram arrived there: “Pilot Privalov should not be punished. Limit yourself to the events that were carried out with him (meaning an educational conversation with the marshal. - Approx. ed.). If you haven't been on vacation, go on vacation. If there was, give ten days of rest at the unit. Minister of Defense of the USSR Marshal R. Malinovsky.
Apparently, the suicidal courage of the air hooligan subdued the marshal, who was familiar with both Chkalov and Pokryshkin. Which, by the way, were also not against demonstrating their aerial skills. And rightly so. Well, hide it, or what?
Now it is difficult to say why the Minister of Defense made an unexpected decision regarding Privalov. Maybe, the marshal realized that such pilots in the event of war would be very useful to native aviation, or maybe something else happened, but Captain Privalov was ordered not to punish, but to send him on vacation, and if he already had, then provide a ten-day rest with parts! After that, the ex-communist was quickly returned to the ranks of the Leninist party, and the caliber of the stars on the shoulder straps of the desperate pilot soon changed. He became a squadron commander and even a deputy regiment commander, but not immediately.
They did not forget about the Chkalovsky follower in the capital either - in the early 70s, Major, and then Lieutenant Colonel Privalov, continued to serve in a training aviation regiment in the village of Savasleyka, Gorky Region. Soon, the training regiment became the 148th center for combat use and retraining of air defense aviation flight personnel. Only in 1977, a cardiovascular disease forced Valentin Vasilyevich to leave the flight service. He could not and did not want to remain in the ranks of the army without his favorite job - he had to retire, although there was an option to serve for some time in a rear position. In the late 80s, he underwent surgery to implant an electrical pacemaker to the heart muscle. Currently, Valentin Vasilyevich Privalov lives in Moscow.
