White Air Force General of Aviation Vyacheslav Matveyevich Tkachev. Vyacheslav Matveevich Tkachev

Born in a Cossack family in the village of Kellermesskaya in the Kuban in 1985. He graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod Cadet Corps and the Konstantinovsky Artillery School in 1906. He began his service in the 2nd Kuban battery. In 1911, having observed in Odessa the first flights of airplanes in Russia, he begged the command to send him at public expense to a private school at the local flying club. Then, on the recommendation of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, he entered the Sevastopol Aviation School, which he graduated with honors.

At the beginning of the First World War, he was commander of the 20th corps squadron. During a reconnaissance flight, his airplane came under fire, as a result of which one of the bullets pierced a tank of castor oil. Tkachev managed to close the hole with his foot and bring the plane to Russian territory. After this episode, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich became the first aviator to be awarded the Order of St. George, 4th class. Being an excellent pilot, Tkachev possessed outstanding organizational skills and the ability to make theoretical generalizations. It was he who was one of the initiators of the creation of special fighter units and even published the book Material on Air Combat Tactics. On June 19, 1917, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich took the post of Aviadarma.

During the Civil War, he commanded the aviation of the Kuban Rada with the rank of Major General, and in 1920 he headed the Air Force of the Russian Army, Lieutenant General Baron Wrangel. After evacuation from the Crimea, Tkachev settled in Yugoslavia, where he took up teaching. During World War II, Tkachev, unlike many other veterans of the White Movement, refused to cooperate with the Nazis in their war with the Soviet Union, and lived in Belgrade as a private citizen. However, after the capture of the city by Soviet troops, he was arrested by SMERSH and taken to Moscow, where he received 10 years as an "enemy of the people."

After serving his full term, Tkachev returned to his Kuban, where in the last years of his life he worked as a bookbinder with a meager salary. Peru Tkachev owns several notes, the story of Nesterov "Russian Falcon" and still unpublished memoirs "Wings of Russia". Died in 1965.

Vyacheslav Matveevich Tkachev, one of the oldest military pilots of the Russian army, was a complex and far from unambiguous figure. He lived a long, difficult, but interesting life and took a prominent place in the history of Russian aviation.

Born on September 24, 1885 in the Kuban, in the village of Kellermesskaya. There he spent his childhood. The Kuban Cossack, who sat on a horse from the age of 6, he could become a dexterous jtgit and a dashing grunt. But the craving for knowledge made him an educated horse artillery officer (it was not for nothing that they said then: handsome - cavalryman, smart - artilleryman) - after graduating from the Nizhny Novgorod Arakcheev Corps, he also graduated from the Konstantinovsky Artillery School.

Then, which was completely unexpected, Tkachev became an officer - educator in the Odessa Cadet Corps. This service required not only deep knowledge, but also organizational skills, and most importantly, pedagogical talent - the ability to understand human (especially boyish) souls. And the fact that the Cadets loved their Cossack - educator, speaks volumes.

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In Odessa, Tkachev first saw a flying airplane. The desire to participate in the process of conquering the sky led him in 1911 to the aviation school of the Odessa flying club. Having received a diploma as a civilian pilot, Tkachev seeks a referral to study at the Sevastopol officer school of the aviation department of the Air Fleet.

In 1913, he made a record flight on the Nieuport along the route Kyiv - Odessa - Kerch - Taman - Ekaterinodar and at the same time participated in the formation and training of the first large aviation unit of the Russian army - the 3rd aviation company in Kyiv, where he served in the 11th m corps squadron together with Peter Nesterov. By the beginning of the First World War, he received a new appointment: on August 1, 1914, he was already the commander of the 20th Corps Aviation Detachment, which was part of the aviation company located in Lida.

By the beginning of the war, Russian military aviation had only 236 airplanes, mostly of obsolete designs, not adapted to the fire defeat of the enemy in air combat. However, already in December 1914, in the sector of the South-Western Front, the commander of the Podyesaul aviation detachment V. M. Tkachev, who later played a prominent role in the development of domestic fighter aircraft, shot from a personal pistol, the first among Russian pilots, shot down a German Albatross airplane in an air duel ". [According to other sources, Vyacheslav Matveyevich Tkachev won his only victory in the summer of 1916, and he piloted the apparatus, and Ivan Dmitrievich Khrizoscaleo fired from a machine gun and they shot down an Austro-Hungarian. ] Other pilots soon followed suit. Former student and future commander of the 7th air squadron Ivan Orlov, having installed with his letnab in a gondola on a slow-moving and clumsy "Voisin" a Lewis machine gun, won his first victory after Tkachev ... [According to other sources, I. Orlov won his first victory (not confirmed) in May 1915]

However, such cases were the exception rather than the rule. On this occasion, Tkachev himself wrote:

"If in 1914 we had airplanes with machine guns mounted on them, which, by the way, Pyotr Nikolayevich Nesterov proposed to do at one time, then we would certainly be able to create such a barrier in the air to the enemy that they would not even stick their nose into our territory" .

In the initial period of the war, Tkachev made several very important reconnaissance flights for the Russian command, for which, by Order of the Army of the Southwestern Front dated November 24, 1914, No. 290, he was awarded the Order of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George IV degree. Tkachev became the first Russian pilot - the Knight of St. George.

V. M. Tkachev acted selflessly and skillfully in the period from June 4 to 7, 1915 - despite the obvious danger to life from the destructive fire of anti-aircraft batteries, he repeatedly made his way behind enemy lines, collecting important information. Having met with a German airplane armed with a machine gun, he entered into a duel with him and put him to flight. July 4, making aerial reconnaissance in the area of the Lina and Styr rivers, revealed the concentration of a strong German strike force.

On August 14, V. M. Tkachev shot down another Austrian airplane, and the device and both pilots fell into the hands of Russian soldiers.

Once, on a reconnaissance flight, a fragment of an anti-aircraft shell pierced an oil tank in Tkachev's plane. Having contrived, the pilot plugged the hole with one foot, and controlled the pedals with the other. Having flown to the front line, he sat down at our trenches, got hold of a gig, right before the eyes of the Austrians, tied an airplane to it and took it out of the fire ...

In August 1916, Tkachev headed the 1st fighter air group, which included the 2nd, 4th and 19th air squadrons. The pilots of the air group received their first baptism of fire during the breakthrough of the air blockade of German aviation in September 1916 near Lutsk. Then the brave Russian pilots managed to achieve a significant turning point in the struggle for air supremacy. The following episode testifies to the fact that she had a fierce character.

On September 13, 7 Russian fighters, patrolling the airspace over the second echelon of their troops, intercepted a group of 8 German aircraft that were trying to break through to Lutsk. A fight ensued. After the loss of 3 airplanes, the enemy was forced to turn back, but the Russian pilots continued to pursue him and destroyed several more enemy vehicles. Only one Russian pilot did not return from this flight.

Here is the assessment of the actions of the 1st Fighter Air Group in the Lutsk region given by the Iskra newspaper in one of its correspondence:

"On the Southwestern Front, a system of squadron air battles was carried out, which gave brilliant results: not a single enemy aircraft could penetrate the airspace above our troops, and our pilots flew reconnaissance quite successfully."

Over time, the situation on this sector of the front somewhat stabilized and the heat of air duels subsided. According to Tkachev, the enemy failed to achieve success in the confrontation with our fighters, which was also confirmed by the ratio of the number of downed German and Russian aircraft - 3: 1.

During the First World War, Vyacheslav Tkachev proved himself not only as an excellent organizer, but also as a brave, skilled pilot.

At the beginning of 1917, Lieutenant Colonel V. Tkachev was appointed commander of an aviation division, then - aviation inspector of the Southwestern Front, and from June 6, 1917, he became head of the Field Directorate of Aviation and Aeronautics at the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

In 1917, Tkachev completed work on the first of its kind in the history of the development of Russian aviation, a manual - "Materials on Air Combat Tactics", compiled on the basis of combat practice in the Lutsk region in the fall of 1916. At the same time, it was especially emphasized that the goal of active air assets (fighters) was a decisive battle at short distances, since only in this case one could count on victory with great confidence. In this document, as the subsequent course of events showed, he laid the foundation for the development of fighter aviation tactics in Russia, giving impetus to another remarkable pilot - Evgraf Kruten - to write the work "Air Combat", which became a real textbook for Russian aviators.

At the end of the First World War, Vyacheslav Tkachev found himself in the ranks of the White Guard and took an active part in the fight against the Soviets. In June 1920, in the south of Russia, when the Red Army pressed the Polish troops, General Wrangel advanced into the territory of Ukraine. At that time, assault squadrons armed with British DH-9 aircraft under the command of General V. M. Tkachev took an active part in the hostilities at that time. They managed to inflict serious damage on the ground forces of the Red Army. For this company, he was awarded a very rare award - the Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

During one of the battles of this company, V. M. Tkachev met in the air with the commander of the formation of the Red Air Fleet opposing him, Peter Mezheraup. This case, which brought the commanders of two aviation armies together in personal combat, was destined to become the only one in the history of aviation. This happened near Melitopol. Tkachev, leading a group of 6 DH-9s, was attacked by a pair of Nieuports, one of which was piloted by Mezheraup. After an air battle that lasted for 45 minutes (Tkachev's plane was damaged in 5 places), both sides left the battle and headed for their bases.

From November 1920, Tkachev spent many years in exile in Yugoslavia. There he distanced himself from anti-Soviet activities, withdrew from participation in numerous emigrant organizations and worked as a teacher in schools. Later, he showed demonstrative non-cooperation with the Nazis who occupied the country. After the Great Patriotic War, he returned to his homeland, completely served a 10-year term in the camps ("for the fight against the Soviets during the Civil War") and, becoming a full citizen of his country, did a great job, for which he had enough time and energy, - wrote the book "Wings of Russia" ("History of Russian military aviation 1914 - 1917") and the story "Russian Falcon" (dedicated to the life and work of Pyotr Nesterov). Last years he lived in Krasnodar. He died on March 25, 1965.

Vyacheslav Matveevich Tkachev is a native of the Kuban region, the village of Kelermesskaya, Maikop department. The future pilot and cavalier of the St. George Order was born in the family of a military foreman on September 24, 1885. Perhaps, for his achievements in aviation and military affairs, Vyacheslav Matveyevich should also be grateful to his father, who was also an excellent military man, and during the Crimean War of 1853-1856 he was also awarded the Knight of the St. George Cross IV degree.

Like his father, V.M. Tkachev was trained in military subjects at the Konstantinovsky Artillery School, from where in 1806 he was released and seconded to the second Kuban Cossack battery, in 1908 he was transferred here to the fifth brigade, and in 1910 he entered the position in the Odessa Cadet Corps. From 1910 to 1912 he was an educator officer.

TKACHEV Vyacheslav Matveevich.

However, already at this time, before the outbreak of the First World War, the artilleryman had an unquenchable passion for the sky. Following the call of his heart, Tkachev graduated from the Odessa Aviation School in 1911 and immediately in 1912 became a cadet of the Sevastopol School of the Air Fleet of the Aviation Department. As a man of athletic nature and soul, the cadet loved to enjoy and adrenaline from flying above the clouds, risking every moment of life spent in flight, falling and crashing. Thus, the pilot earned himself a reputation as a brave, fearless aviator who spared neither himself nor technology for the sake of progress in the field of glider piloting. The world knows the record for the duration of the flight at that time, set by Tkachev. It was a four-day uninterrupted flight on the route Kyiv - Birzulu - Odessa - Kherson - Kerch - Ekaterinograd.

It is logical that the future cavalier of the St. George Order passed the First World War as a pilot. The army command entrusted the ace with the most complex and responsible tasks. Tkachev possessed great piloting skills, was bold and courageous, so intelligence was his vocation. The military carried out the tasks received in full and on time, which gave the army an advantage over the enemy.

In one of his military sorties, the pilot managed to reconnoiter the location, the direction of movement of the enemy military corps, the approximate number of military personnel, uniforms, as well as cavalry and a division of aircraft along the way. In order to thoroughly study the positions and strength of the enemy, the ace had to completely fly over the positions of the enemy. As a result of the flyby, fire from "all guns" was opened on it, which led to numerous damage to the airframe. Due to the fact that the oil tank was damaged, the plane could not continue to work, so the pilot decided to dive. Having chosen a piece of wooded area, in the hope that it would be more difficult to catch him there, the pilot turned off the engine of the apparatus and directed it there. However, he suddenly had a brilliant idea. The pilot plugged the hole with his foot, started the engine and began to climb. Thus, he managed to drag the glider to the Allied positions and land it there. But his adventures did not end there either - Tkachev hardly managed to prove to the soldiers who aimed at him that he was also a Russian soldier. As a result of the flight, the pilot provided very important reconnaissance information. For courage, bravery, fulfillment of tasks Tkachev V.M. November 24, 1914 was awarded the title of Knight of the Order of St. George, 4th degree!

Vyacheslav Matveyevich went through this war. However, on the eve of the October Revolution of 1917, he submitted a resignation letter, not sharing the views of the Bolsheviks. In 1918, fearing reprisals, he had to flee to the Kuban, where he took part in the white partisan movement. Thus, as a result of confrontations, fate brought the soldier to Belgrade, where he met the Second World War as a teacher of aviation at the Higher Military Aviation Courses. In 1944, when the Soviet troops arrived, Tkachev was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In 1955, the Knight of the Order of St. George, having received the citizenship of the USSR, settled in Krasnodar, where he met his death on March 25, 1965.

St. George Knights of the 1st World War:

V.M. Tkachev was born on September 24 (October 6), 1885 in the Kuban, in the village of Kellermesskaya. He received his military education in the Nizhny Novgorod Arakcheev Corps, then in the Konstantinovsky Artillery School. In 1906, he served in the 2nd Kuban Battery (then, according to some sources, he was an educator officer in the Odessa Cadet Corps).

Seeing airplane flights in the sky, V.M. Tkachev is fond of aviation and in 1911, on his own initiative, he graduated from a private aviation school in Odessa.
The Russian army needed pilots, and in 1912, the centurion Tkachev was sent to study at the Sevastopol officer school of the aviation department of the air fleet, which he graduated with honors and the largest number of flight hours. After graduating from the Sevastopol school, Tkachev was assigned to the 11th Corps Squadron, where he served for some time together with the famous pilot P.N. Nesterov.

In Kyiv, Tkachev meets the legendary aircraft designer Igor Sikorsky and makes his flight on the route Kyiv-Odessa-Kerch-Taman-Ekaterinodar. In the capital of the Kuban army, a festive dinner was given on this occasion. For three days Tkachev demonstrated flying skills in the sky over Yekaterinodar.

By the beginning of the war, on August 1, 1914, he was already the commander of the 20th Corps Aviation Detachment in the area of Lida.

In August 1914, the captain Tkachev became the first pilot in Russia - the Knight of St. George (for successful reconnaissance of the Austrian rear and saving the airplane). And it was like that. Returning from a reconnaissance flight with valuable information, the captain Tkachev came under gunfire. One of the bullets pierced the oil tank. Realizing that he would not be able to fly to his own, the pilot slid to the floor, closed the hole with his foot and in this position reached the Russian positions.

Having landed the airplane in the field and taking a horse, he galloped to the nearest settlement, where there was a telephone, and transmitted intelligence data. Then, saving the airplane from the advancing Austrians, Tkachev loaded it onto a peasant cart and took it out from under the nose of the advancing enemy. For this intelligence, Tkachev was awarded the St. George Cross of the IV degree.

In December 1914, V.M. Tkachev becomes the first Russian pilot to shoot down an enemy plane in a dogfight. At the same time, he shot down a German "Albatross" from a personal weapon - a revolver "revolver" because. during that period of the war, airplanes were not yet equipped with machine guns. The example of the Cossack was followed by other pilots. A little later, when machine guns began to be installed on airplanes for these purposes.

In August 1916, Tkachev headed the 1st Fighter Air Group. The pilots of the air group received their first baptism of fire during the breakthrough of the air blockade of German aviation in September 1916 near Lutsk. Then the brave Russian pilots managed to achieve a significant turning point in the struggle for air supremacy, and Tkachev became the first ace of Russia (at that time an ace pilot who shot down at least five enemy aircraft).

At the beginning of 1917, already a colonel, Tkachev was appointed commander of an aviation division, then - aviation inspector of the Southwestern Front, and from June 6, 1917 - head of the Field Directorate of Aviation and Aeronautics at the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander, in fact - the head of Russian aviation.

In 1917, Tkachev completed work on the first of its kind in the history of the development of Russian aviation, a manual - "Materials on Air Combat Tactics", compiled on the basis of combat practice in the Lutsk region in the fall of 1916. In this document, he laid the foundation for the development of fighter aviation tactics in Russia.

During the civil war, Tkachev fought on the side of the "whites", was wounded in the battles near Tsaritsyn.

In 1920, he commanded the aviation of the army of Baron Wrangel. During one of the battles of this company, V. M. Tkachev met in the air with the commander of the formation of the Red Air Fleet opposing him, Peter Mezheraup. This case, which brought the commanders of two aviation armies together in personal combat, was destined to become the only one in the history of aviation. This happened near Melitopol. Tkachev, leading a group of 6 DH-9 (de Havilland), was attacked by a pair of Nieuports, one of which was piloted by Mezheraup. After an air battle that lasted for 45 minutes (Tkachev's plane was damaged in 5 places), both sides left the battle and headed for their bases.

Vyacheslav Matveyevich was forced to emigrate first to Turkey, from where he moved to Serbia and for some time served in the Aviation Inspectorate of the Kingdom of the CXC. Since the Russian army was not formally dissolved, Tkachev's career continued: in 1922 he received the rank of lieutenant general and the position of inspector general, and in 1927 he became the first and only general from aviation.

In Yugoslavia, V. M. Tkachev shows great concern for the arrangement of Russian pilots, being from 1924 to 1934 the chairman of the air fleet society of the 4th department of the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS). Works in the Russian Sokol organization (which aims at the physical and spiritual improvement of the Russian people as part of a single Slavic world), other emigrant organizations, serves in the Headquarters of the Yugoslav Aviation Inspection.

When Soviet troops approached Belgrade in October 1944, V.M. Tkachev flatly refused to evacuate. On October 20, 1944, he was arrested by SMERSH and sent to Moscow, where on August 4, 1945, he was sentenced to 10 years by a military tribunal.

After serving from "call to call", Tkachev returns to the Kuban. He works as a bookbinder, writes notes for newspapers, the book "Russian Falcon" about his friend Nesterov.

In 1956, he was found by his wife, who by that time was living in Paris. She called him to her, but he wrote to her: “The Motherland was too dear to me, you better move to me.” So they never met again.

On March 25, 1965, the legendary Russian aviator, the first fighter pilot of Russia, the first ace of Russia, the first general of aviation in Russia, the Kuban Cossack V.M. Tkachev is gone, but his memory lives on in the Kuban region.

Vyacheslav Matveevich Tkachev(1885-1965) - aviation general, military pilot, St. George's Cavalier.

Origin

Vyacheslav was born on September 24 (October 6), 1885 in the village of Kelermesskaya, Maikop department of the Kuban region (present-day Adygea) in the family of a military foreman. Father, Matvey Vasilyevich, received the Order of St. George of the 4th degree in the Crimean War of 1853-1856 and rose to the rank of military foreman. Great-grandfather - the captain Andrey Tkachev, being a member of one of the Don Cossack regiments operating in the Kuban, participated in the capture of the Turkish fortress of Anapa by Russian troops on June 22, 1791, was awarded for outstanding military merits by the letter of Catherine II with the assignment of hereditary nobility.

Biography

On August 30, 1904, he entered the service after graduating from the Nizhny Novgorod Cadet Corps and was enrolled as a rank-and-file cadet on the rights of a volunteer 1st category at the Konstantinovsky Artillery School.

On June 30, 1906, after graduating from college, a cornet was released into the 2nd Kuban Cossack artillery battery, and in the summer of 1908 he was transferred to the 5th Kuban Cossack battery. On May 6, 1909, by the highest order, he was promoted to centurion for long service.

On September 6, 1910, the centurion Tkachev was appointed an educational officer in the Odessa Cadet Corps. Seeing the flights of an airplane in the Odessa sky, he is fond of aviation and, with the permission of his superiors, enters a private aviation school, where he studies in his free time.

In 1911 he graduated from the aviation school of the Odessa flying club. Having received a diploma of a civilian pilot, Tkachev seeks in October to be sent to study at the Sevastopol officer school of the aviation department of the Air Fleet (OSHA OVF).

War pilot

On December 11, 1912, he passed the exam for the rank of pilot in the OSHA OVF and on January 5, 1913, he was assigned to the 7th Aeronautical Company. After the disbandment of the 7th aeronautical company in June 1913, he took part in the formation of the first major aviation unit of the Russian army - the 3rd aviation company in Kyiv, where he then served in the 11th corps aviation squadron together with Peter Nesterov. On October 5, 1913, by the highest order, he was promoted to sub-sauls with seniority from April 22, 1913.

On October 12 (25), 1913, he makes a record flight on the Nieuport along the route Kyiv - Odessa - Kerch - Taman - Yekaterinodar with a total length of 1500 miles. Despite the unfavorable autumn weather and other difficult conditions, Tkachev brilliantly completed this task, for which the Kiev Aeronautics Society awarded him a gold badge "For the most outstanding flight in Russia in 1913."

On March 10, 1914, he was seconded to the 4th aviation company for its formation, and on the same day the lieutenant Tkachev was appointed commander of the XX aviation detachment attached to the headquarters of the 4th Army. In the initial period of the war, Tkachev made several very important reconnaissance flights for the Russian command, for which, by Order of the Army of the South-Western Front dated November 24, 1914, No. 290, he was awarded the Order of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George IV degree (the first among pilots). Returning from a reconnaissance flight with valuable information, the captain Tkachev came under gunfire. One of the bullets pierced the oil tank. Realizing that he would not be able to fly to his own, the pilot slid to the floor, closed the hole with his foot and in this position reached the Russian positions. Having landed the airplane in the field and taking a horse, he galloped to the nearest settlement, where there was a telephone, and transmitted intelligence data. Then, saving the airplane from the advancing Austrians, Tkachev loaded it onto a peasant cart and took it out from under the nose of the advancing enemy.

In December 1914, in the sector of the South-Western Front, the commander of the aviation detachment drove up V. M. Tkachev, having only a Nagant pistol from his weapon, the first among Russian pilots, attacked the German Albatross airplane and forced the enemy to retreat with his actions.

In the period from 4 to 7 June 1915 - despite the obvious danger to life from the destructive fire of anti-aircraft batteries, he repeatedly made his way behind enemy lines, collecting important information. Having met with a German airplane armed with a machine gun, he entered into a duel with him and put him to flight.

On July 4, 1915, while conducting aerial reconnaissance in the area of the Lina and Styr rivers, he discovered the concentration of a strong German strike force.

On August 1, 1916, V. M. Tkachev shot down an Austrian Aviatik airplane, and the device and both pilots fell into the hands of Russian soldiers. In August 1916, Tkachev headed the 1st Fighter Air Group. The pilots of the air group received their first baptism of fire during the breakthrough of the air blockade of German aviation in September 1916 near Lutsk. Then the brave Russian pilots managed to achieve a significant turning point in the struggle for air supremacy, and Tkachev became the first ace of Russia (at that time an ace pilot who shot down at least five enemy aircraft).

In 1916, he was a military foreman and head of the 11th aviation division (since April 21, 1916), and then - aviation inspector of the Southwestern Front (since September 3, 1916). He was awarded the Golden Arms "For Bravery" (September 10, 1916).

On January 11, 1917, by the highest order of December 20, 1916, he was renamed from a military foreman to lieutenant colonel with enrollment in engineering troops. After the February Revolution, Tkachev became the head of Aviakanets (Aviation All Materials).

On June 9, 1917, Tkachev was appointed head of the Field Directorate of Aviation and Aeronautics at the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, abbreviated as air darm (aviation of the army, from June 26, 1917), in fact - the head of Russian aviation.

In 1917, Tkachev completed work on the first manual of its kind in the history of the development of Russian aviation - "Materials on Air Combat Tactics", compiled on the basis of combat practice in the Lutsk region in the fall of 1916. In this document, as the subsequent course of events showed, he laid the foundation for the development of fighter aviation tactics in Russia.

On August 25, 1917, he was promoted to colonel for military merit. In 1917, already a colonel, Tkachev was appointed commander of an air division, then - aviation inspector of the Southwestern Front.

On November 19, 1917, having learned about the upcoming occupation of the Headquarters by the arrived Petrograd soldiers, led by the new Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ensign Krylenko, Tkachev submitted a resignation report, and the next day, without waiting for an answer, he left for the front without permission. In the note he left behind, he addressed the Chairman of the Aviation Council with a final appeal, which, in fact, became a requiem for the Russian Air Force:

to the Chairman of the Aviation Council.
The capture of the Headquarters by the Bolsheviks put me in a hopeless situation. I faced a problem: to remain in my position, to submit to Krylenko and thus take part in the destruction of the state that the invaders of power bring with them, or to give myself up to the mercy of the winners, expressing my disobedience to them. However, the solution of this issue in the first way could not take place at all, since, according to the information I had, I should have been arrested even regardless of whether I obey the impostor Krylenko or not. Thus, with the appearance of the Bolsheviks in Headquarters, I died for aviation. Considering it my moral duty to the Motherland in its difficult days of trials to work, fighting with all my strength and means against the terrible poison borne by the criminals of the people and the state - the Bolsheviks, and not to be under arrest, I submitted a report on November 19 to the Chief of Staff with a request to dismiss me from my occupation. positions and the appointment of one of the following candidates as my deputy: Colonel Konovalov, Stepanov or Kravtsevich and, having temporarily handed over the position to Colonel Nizhevsky, on November 20 I left Headquarters, submitting a report on leaving for the front. In the face of the Aviation Council, I repent to all my dear aviation in my suffering now. I can be reproached for leaving my responsible post in a difficult moment, but by this I hastened my departure only by a few hours. I ask the Aviation Council to come to the aid of my deputy with all its authority and possible means to save aviation from complete collapse. I beg you to save at least a cell for the future renewed Russia, which will serve as the beginning for the future powerful air fleet.
Signed Colonel Tkachev.

Participation in the White movement

In December 1917, V. M. Tkachev, fearing reprisals from revolutionary-minded soldiers and sailors, fled to the Kuban, with two arrests and escapes along the way.

At the beginning of 1918, he participated as a private in the battles of the white partisan detachment of Colonel Kuznetsov against the troops of the North Caucasian Soviet Republic. The detachment was supposed to cover the crossing of the main forces across the Kuban under the command of V. L. Pokrovsky, but due to the circumstances it was surrounded, and Vyacheslav Matveevich was captured by the Reds. From March to August 1918, Colonel Tkachev was in the Maykop prison, and on September 7, the Bolsheviks were driven out of Maykop, after which Tkachev was placed at the disposal of the Regional Government. Since the Whites had practically no aviation, Vyacheslav Matveyevich was sent to Ukraine, to Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky, as a military foreman of the Kuban Emergency Mission. History is silent about how successful this mission was, but, in any case, he managed to get something out of aviation property, since after returning to Ekaterinodar, he began to form the 1st Kuban air squadron. At first, the detachment had only a few old, worn-out airplanes found in repair shops, but gradually the number of white aviation grew due to trophies and supplies of aircraft from England. By May 1919, there were already about a dozen combat-ready vehicles in the 1st Kuban. In May 1919, Tkachev's squadron supported the Caucasian Volunteer Army of Wrangel in battles with the 10th Army of the Red Army.

The commander of the Caucasian army highly appreciated Tkachev's abilities and on May 8, 1919, he was appointed head of the air squadron of the Caucasian army, in addition, he was actually subordinated to the 4th Volunteer air squadron, the 4th Don aircraft and even the 47th air division, which consisted of English volunteers, and 19 May was promoted to colonel, as reported on the pages of the newspaper "Free Kuban". In early 1920, he had already become a major general.

This month, the detachment passed its baptism of fire in the battle near the village of Velikoknyazheskaya. The pilots under the leadership of Tkachev attacked the red cavalry of Budyonny and Dumenko with bombs and machine-gun fire, sowing panic and chaos in the ranks of the enemy. This allowed the white cavalrymen of General Ulagai to easily break through the front and launch a swift attack on Tsaritsyn. Tkachev, as happened before, personally took part in the battles. During the attack, he was wounded by a bullet fired from the ground, but managed to return to his airfield and safely land the car. After a short treatment, Vyacheslav Matveevich returned to duty.

In June 1919, the 1st Kuban Squadron was transferred to Tsaritsyn to provide air support to the White Army during the assault on the city. On June 30, the heavily fortified city, nicknamed "Red Verdun", was taken. The Reds withdrew to the north, to Kamyshin. Airplanes bombed and fired at the retreating enemy, inflicting heavy losses on him. In the future, the 1st Kuban detachment was replenished with people and aircraft, which made it possible to transform it into an air division. The new air unit was still commanded by Vyacheslav Tkachev. On December 12, he was appointed commander of the newly created Kuban Aviation Detachment. The detachment by that time already had 8 aircraft with the corresponding number of pilots, and about 150 serving enlisted personnel. He fought with the Red Army, was wounded near Tsaritsin, recovered, returned to duty again.

In 1920, Tkachev commanded an air squadron of the Kuban Army, at the same time being (since 1919) a member of the Kuban regional government for internal affairs.

In April 1920, V. M. Tkachev was appointed chief of aviation of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, and after the resignation of the commander of the Volunteer Army Denikin on April 28, 1920, he was appointed chief of aviation of the Russian army, Lieutenant General Wrangel. There is a version, confirmed on the part of the whites by a flight report, and on the part of the reds by the oral stories of the participants in the events, that during one of the battles of this company, V. M. Tkachev met in the air with the commander of the 213th Kazan detachment of the 13th Army, Peter Mezheraup. This happened near Melitopol. Tkachev, who led a group of 6 DH-9 (de Havilland), was attacked by a pair of Nieuports, one of which was piloted by Mezheraup. After an air battle that lasted for 45 minutes (Tkachev's plane was damaged in 5 places), both sides left the battle and headed for their bases.

Tkachev devoted a lot of time to the combat training of pilots, teaching them the ability to fly in formation and act smoothly in a group, strictly following the orders of the commander. For better visibility in the air, command vehicles received special color markings (brightly colored hoods and wide stripes around the fuselages). In addition, each squadron received its own “quick identification elements” in the form of individual coloring of the rudders (multi-colored stripes, black and white squares, etc.). Tkachev developed a system for interaction between aviation and ground forces using visual signals, in those days there was no radio communication on airplanes. In particular, a technique was introduced for signaling pilots from the ground using geometric figures made of white panels, clearly distinguishable from a great height. For example, the letter "T" laid out near the headquarters of a regiment or division meant that the unit commander required the pilot to land immediately to convey an important message. The shape of the figures changed periodically in order to prevent the Reds from misleading the pilots or trapping them with false signals.

The aviators, in turn, transmitted reports and orders to the ground using dropped pennants or various combinations of colored flares. And when local craftsmen installed radio stations on two planes in the Simferopol air fleet, the efficiency and efficiency of air reconnaissance increased even more. It should be noted that such a clear and well-functioning system of interconnection "between heaven and earth", as the one organized by Tkachev, was not in any other white armies, nor among the red ones.

No less attention was paid to the strengthening of military discipline, which was noticeably shaken after the heavy defeats of the White Army in the winter of 1919-20. So, according to the order of the air force, aviators who allowed themselves to appear at the airfield in a state of intoxication were subjected to severe penalties (up to demolition to the rank and file and transfer to the infantry).

Organizational measures and training for white pilots had to be combined with almost continuous participation in battles. For example, in two days, June 7 and 8, they made more than 150 reconnaissance and bombing sorties, supporting the offensive of the white army. Taking into account the fact that under the command of Tkachev there were only 35 airplanes, and some of them were out of order, each crew performed at least three sorties per day.

V. M. Tkachev was awarded by the allies for military prowess with the English military order DSO (English Distinguished Service Order). And on June 22, 1920, one of the first representatives of the White movement was awarded the Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, 2nd degree.

By the end of June, the intensity of the fighting increased even more. The Red cavalry under the command of commander Zhloba broke through the front and rushed to Perekop, threatening to cut off the White Guards who fought in Northern Tavria from the Crimea. Redneck had over ten thousand cavalry, supported by artillery and armored vehicles. It seemed that it was impossible to stop them, since the White Guards had no reserves in this sector of the front. In this situation, Wrangel turned to aviation as his last hope. And the aviators did not disappoint. In the early morning of June 29, 13 De Havilland bombers, led by Tkachev himself, appeared over the Red cavalry camped for the night. At the first explosions of bombs, the horses rushed in all directions. Maddened by the roar, they threw down and trampled riders, overturned carts and artillery carts. Freed from the bomb load, the pilots poured machine-gun fire on the enemy. When the planes flew off to replenish their ammunition, the red commanders somehow managed to gather the surviving soldiers into a marching column, but then a new raid followed, and after it another one. Here is how Tkachev himself described one of the assaults in a combat report:

“Under my leadership, a column of the Zhloba corps near the village of Waldheim was attacked. After the bombing, the Reds rushed into the field in a panic. The pilots, descending to 50 meters, completely defeated the Reds with machine-gun fire, who fled to the east and northeast. The whole field was covered with black spots of dead horses and people. Almost all the carts and machine-gun carts they had were thrown by the Reds.

On June 30, the Redneck Corps ceased to exist as an organized fighting force. Small groups of riders, hiding from airstrikes, dispersed throughout the villages and farms, completely losing contact with the command. No more than two thousand of them were able to escape and go out to their own. The rest either died or surrendered to the soldiers of the Wrangel army who arrived in time for the breakthrough. The defeat of the Redneck cavalry was the highest achievement of white aviation in its entire history. Even Soviet military science recognized this fact, and on its example, the cadets of the flight schools of the Red Army studied the tactics of aircraft against cavalry. In fact, for the first time, aviators had a decisive influence on the entire course of the war, because if Zhloba had managed to break into the practically undefended Crimea, the Reds would have won already in July 1920.

But thanks to the pilots, the Crimea survived, and the war continued. In early August, the Reds crossed the Dnieper in the Kakhovka area and, without wasting a minute, began to build powerful defense lines on the captured bridgehead. When the Whites, having pulled up reserves, tried to counterattack, it was already too late - Kakhovka was covered with a network of trenches and barbed wire, bristling with artillery batteries and machine-gun nests. The counterattack failed, the Whites had to retreat with heavy losses. Wrangel again threw airplanes into battle, but here the Tkachevites failed for the first time. Against deep trenches, dugouts and well-defended artillery positions, machine guns and small bombs, which were in service with the white aviation, were powerless. The air raids produced no results. Then the white pilots began to bomb the crossings, along which the Kakhov group was supplied, but in response, the red ones began to deliver ammunition and reinforcements to the bridgehead at night.

In the meantime, the number of the White Guard Air Force was gradually dwindling, and not so much because of losses, but from accidents and breakdowns of vehicles extremely worn out by continuous combat work. If by the beginning of September Tkachev had about 30 airplanes left, then a month later - less than 20. With such forces, it was unrealistic to resist the Red Army, and no replenishment was expected, since the Western allies stopped deliveries back in the summer. The rest is known: on October 28, the Reds delivered a powerful blow from the Kakhovka bridgehead in the direction of Perekop. There was nothing to parry him. White had to hastily retreat to the Crimea. At the same time, they destroyed almost all of their aircraft at the front-line airfields, which, due to dilapidation, could no longer take to the air.

On November 11, the fortifications of the Turkish Wall fell, and on the morning of the 15th, the last steamer with soldiers of the White Army and refugees set sail from the Sevastopol wharf.

In exile

After the collapse of the White movement, General Tkachev, instructing his students, said: The aviator will not be left idle, but keep in mind: we must enter the aviation of such a state that will never be at war with our Motherland". Vyacheslav Matveyevich was forced to emigrate first to Turkey, from where he moved to Serbia and for some time served in the Aviation Inspectorate of the Kingdom SHS. Since the Russian army was not formally dissolved, Tkachev's career continued: in 1922 he received the rank of lieutenant general and the position of inspector general, and in 1927 he became the first and only aviation general.

After his resignation in 1934, Vyacheslav Matveevich settled in Novi Sad, teaching at the Russian men's gymnasium. Here he becomes the founder and first headman of the Sokolsky society. In 1937, Tkachev officially received the citizenship of Yugoslavia. From 1938 to 1941, he was the editor of the journal "Ways of the Russian Falconry" - the organ of the Regional Union of the Russian Falcon in Yugoslavia.

In 1941, he became a marching ataman of the Kuban Cossack Army, participating in the formation of the Cossack units of the Russian Corps. At the parade on October 29, 1941, dedicated to the arrival of the Guards Division in Belgrade, he addressed the Cossacks with the following words: “ The arrived Guards Division accomplished an unprecedented feat in the history of peoples, having preserved itself for 20 years of emigre stagnation. A heightened sense of duty, devotion and loyalty to their standards, as a symbol of the lost Motherland, inscribed an immortal page in the history of the Russian Army and the Cossacks».

At the beginning of World War II, Vyacheslav Matveevich moved to Belgrade, where he began to teach air force tactics at the Higher Military Scientific Courses organized in Belgrade by General N. N. Golovin, where officers of the Russian Corps were trained. According to contemporaries, the course of lectures he read had "special solidity and value."

Later, he distanced himself from anti-Soviet activities, withdrew from participation in numerous emigrant organizations, showed demonstrative non-cooperation with the Nazis who occupied the country, and worked as a teacher in schools. From the diary of V. M. Tkachev: “ I had to endure many disappointments in the camp of the Whites. I didn't find what I expected. But the die was cast. And as having absorbed the spirit of discipline from childhood, I submitted to the authorities in the South of Russia and conscientiously carried out all the instructions given to me. Thus, it was not selfish considerations, not political convictions, but only a feeling of patriotism that pushed me back in 1917 onto the anti-Soviet path. And as a result, for 24 years, yearning for my homeland, I lived as an emigrant in Yugoslavia».

Homecoming

When Soviet troops approached Belgrade in October 1944, V. M. Tkachev refused to evacuate.

On October 20, 1944, Vyacheslav Matveyevich was arrested by the SMERSH of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. He was sent to Moscow, to Lubyanka, where on August 4, 1945, by the verdict of a military tribunal, he was sentenced to 10 years under Article 58. They did not deport his wife to the USSR, and a few years after the war she ended up near Paris in a nursing home.

To perpetuate the memory of the outstanding aviator of Russia on the "Alley of Russian Aviators" in the Kachinsky air garrison, the Cossacks of the Maykop department handed over to the council of veterans of the 318th separate mixed air regiment earth from the native courtyard of a Cossack aviator, the first minister of military aviation of the Russian Empire, a native of the village of Kelermesskaya, Major General Vyacheslav Matveyevich Tkachev.

Awards

Order St. Stanislav 3rd degree (May 6, 1910)
Order St. Anna 3rd degree (February 14, 1913) granted by the highest order for the end of the OSHA OVF
Order St. George 4th degree (July 2, 1916) " By the highest order of February 3, 1916 ... The award is approved on November 24, 1914 ... of the Order of St. Great Martyr and Victorious George of the Kuban Cossack Battery Podjesaul Vyacheslav Tkachev for the fact that on August 12, 1914 he made a bold and decisive aerial reconnaissance in the area of Lublin - Belzhitse - Opole , Yuzefovka - Annapol - Borov - Gotsera - Dovo - Urzhendova - Krasnik - Lublin, penetrated into the rear and flanks of the enemy location and, despite the actual enemy fire on the device, which accompanied him throughout the flight and damaged the vital parts of the device, with exceptional resourcefulness, with a valiant presence of mind and selfless courage, he completed the task entrusted to him to reveal forces and determine the direction of movement of enemy columns, timely delivered information obtained by intelligence of paramount importance and thereby contributed to the adoption of strategic decisions that led to decisive success over the enemy».
Order St. Vladimir 4th degree with swords and a bow (February 25, 1915) for distinction in cases against the enemy from September 27 to October 27, 1914
Order of St. Anne 4th degree with the inscription "For Bravery" (August 1, 1915) Order No. 1077 to the troops of the 4th Army for distinction in cases against the enemy during the period of fighting from December 1, 1914 to June 1, 1915
Order of St. Anne 2nd class with swords (December 10, 1915) By order of the 12th Army on December 10. No. 158 for distinction in cases against the enemy at the headquarters of the Riga Fortified Region
Order of St. Stanislaus 2nd class with swords (December 24, 1915)
Golden Georgievsky weapon “For bravery” (September 10, 1916)

Proceedings

Tkachev V. M.(Comp.) Material on the tactics of air combat. Photo-litho-printing house at the Office of the Field Inspector General of the Air Force. .
Tkachev V. M. Issues of tactical use of aviation in maneuver war // Military collection. Book. 1. Belgrade, 1921. - S. 121-136.
Tkachev V. M. Air force tactics. The course given at the Higher Military Scientific Courses of General N. N. Golovin in Belgrade 1939-1943. - Belgrade, 1943, II p. tit.l.
Tkachev V. M. I'm trying wings. / From the preface. M. Andriasova. - Light, 1964, No. 12. - S. 12-14, ill.
Tkachev V. M. Wings of Russia. Memories of the past of Russian military aviation 1910-1917. - Publisher: New cultural space St. Petersburg, 2007.
Tkachev V. M."Russian Falcon" (dedicated to the life and work of Pyotr Nesterov)

Literature

Makhalin A.V. M. Tkachev - participant and historian of the air battles of the Great War // [Coll.] The First World War and Russia's participation in it. Part II. - M., 1994.
Nikolai Rutych Biographical reference book of the highest ranks of the Volunteer Army and the Armed Forces of the South of Russia. Materials for the history of the White movement. - M., 2002.

In the early spring of 1965, in a semi-basement communal apartment on the outskirts of Krasnodar, a lonely old man, whose name was Vyacheslav Matveyevich Tkachev, died. None of his neighbors knew that once this man wore gold general's shoulder straps and commanded the Russian Air Force on the fronts of the First World War, and then headed the aviation of the Russian army of General Wrangel ...

V.M. Tkachev was born on September 25, 1885 in the Kuban village of Kellermesskaya. A hereditary Cossack, he could, like most of his fellow villagers, become a dashing grunt rider. But the craving for knowledge led him first to the Nizhny Novgorod Cadet Corps named after Count Arakcheev, and then to the Konstantinovsky Artillery School, because it was the artillerymen who were considered the most educated representatives of the officer corps. In 1906, Tkachev began serving in the 2nd Kuban cavalry battery. Then he decided to try himself in pedagogy and became an officer-educator of the Odessa Cadet Corps.

In 1911, Vyacheslav Matveyevich first saw an airplane flying over the city, and since then he has been “sick” with aviation for the rest of his life. He begged the command to allow him to take a flight training course at the Odessa flying club. Having received a diploma as a civilian pilot, Tkachev, on the recommendation of the then "curator" of Russian aviation, Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich, entered the Sevastopol Military Aviation School, which he graduated with honors a year later. In 1913, V.M. Tkachev served in Kyiv, in the 11th corps squadron. His colleague and friend was the famous pilot P.N. Nesterov, who first performed the “dead loop” on an airplane (later this aerobatics was named after him), and in August 1914 he made the world's first air ram.

By the beginning of the First World War, the lieutenant Tkachev was appointed commander of the 20th Corps Squadron stationed in the city of Lida. The main and in fact the only combat mission of airplanes in those days was reconnaissance. The commander of the detachment, Tkachev, not only sent his subordinates on missions, but he himself often made the most risky reconnaissance flights over enemy rear lines. In one of these long-range raids, he found a large concentration of non-friendly troops, but on the way back, a fragment of an anti-aircraft shell pierced the oil tank of his aircraft. Oil began to flow out, and this threatened to stop the engine, forced landing behind the front line and captivity. However, Tkachev, not at a loss, managed to reach the tank with his foot, plug the hole with the toe of his boot and bring the airplane to his territory. For valuable intelligence delivered at the risk of his life, as well as for courage and resourcefulness, on November 24, 1914, he was the first among Russian aviators to be awarded an honorary award - the Order of St. George, 4th degree.

Tkachev (standing second from left) among the participants of the Odessa Aviation School, led by the commander of the OVO troops, Adjutant General N. P. Zarubaev and the president of the flying club A. A. Anatra, 1911

V.M. Tkachev in the cockpit of the reconnaissance officer "Moran-parasol", Russian-German front, winter 1914-1915

Yesaul Tkachev with aviators of the 20th Corps Squadron in the hangar near the Moran Parasol

In the future, Tkachev continued to participate in military operations, acting skillfully and selflessly, as evidenced by combat reports:

“From June 4 to June 7, 1915, despite the obvious danger to life from the destructive fire of anti-aircraft batteries, V.M. Tkachev repeatedly made his way behind enemy lines, collecting important information. Having met with a German airplane armed with a machine gun, he entered into a duel with him and put him to flight. July 4, making aerial reconnaissance in the area of the Lina and Styr rivers, revealed the concentration of a strong German shock group "

During the First World War, Tkachev proved himself to be a brave pilot and a skilled organizer, a theoretician of the combat use of aviation. Thanks to a combination of these qualities, he became the commander of an air division, and in August 1916, already with the rank of lieutenant colonel, he headed the first Russian combat air group (abbreviated as the 1st BAG), which consisted of three fighter squadrons. The purpose of the group was to cover ground troops from enemy air raids, protect their reconnaissance aircraft and bombers from an air enemy, and most importantly, destroy German-Austrian aircraft in the air.

And Tkachev's group coped brilliantly with this task. Starting from September 1916, the Germans had to stop the bombing of Russian troops in the Lutsk region, where the 1st BAG was based, and our intelligence officers could freely solve their tasks without fear of interception. The pilots of the air group in two months shot down more than a dozen enemy airplanes, and for the rest they reliably "closed" the sky over the front.

At first, the group included not only fighters, which were still lacking, but also two-seat scouts armed with machine guns. On one of these machines, the Morane-Parasole, Tkachev, together with the lieutenant Chrysoskoleo, won an air victory on August 14, 1916, shooting down the Austrian Aviatik B.II airplane. The success of the Russian pilots was confirmed by the ground troops, who recorded the fall of an enemy aircraft.

V.M.Tkachev in the cockpit of Nieuport IV with a high-explosive fragmentation bomb suspended under the fuselage

At the beginning of 1917, the thirty-two-year-old Tkachev became Inspector of Aviation of the Southwestern Front. At the same time, his book “Material on Air Combat Tactics” was published - the first textbook in Russia for a front-line pilot and commander of an air squadron. In this book, based on the successful combat experience of the 1st BAG, the author formulated the basics of the strategy and tactics of fighter aircraft, and also described the most important practical methods of air combat.

The pinnacle of V.M. Tkachev's service career during the years of the World War was the position of head of the Field Directorate of Aviation and Aeronautics (PUAiV), which he accepted on June 9, 1917. This name was given to the main headquarters of combat aviation, to which all air units concentrated on the Russian-German front, from the Black Sea to the Baltic, were subordinate. Vyacheslav Matveyevich became the head of the PUAiV while still a lieutenant colonel, but already in August he was awarded the rank of colonel. The position of Tkachev also had another name - the chief of aviation of the army in the field, abbreviated as the air force.

During the period when Tkachev headed the Russian front-line aviation, its highest achievements were noted. In a few months, Russian pilots shot down more enemy aircraft than in the three previous years of the war. Undoubtedly, this is a considerable merit of their commander.

Like most officers, Tkachev took the October coup with hostility. Yes, this is not surprising, given that the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks led to the disintegration of the army, a catastrophic drop in discipline and a wave of desertion. Cases of open disobedience to orders and even soldiers' reprisals against their officers became commonplace at the front.

At the same time, it should be noted that aviation managed to maintain combat effectiveness for much longer than other branches of the military. Even in November 1917, when the infantrymen massively abandoned the trenches and fled to the rear, the aviators continued to fly on missions and even shoot down enemy planes. However, the wholesale disorganization inevitably affected the air units. It was painful for Tkachev to see how something to which he devoted all his strength, knowledge and experience was dying.

The last straw that overflowed the colonel's patience was the arrival at his headquarters of the Bolshevik commissar Krylenko from the Baltic sailors, who was absolutely not versed in aviation, to whom Tkachev was supposed to surrender his powers. Vyacheslav Matveyevich filed a letter of resignation from his post, left the Aviation Administration and left for the Kuban, leaving a note in which were the following words:

“The capture of the Headquarters by the Bolsheviks put me in a hopeless situation. I faced a problem: to submit to Krylenko and thus take part in the state destruction that the invaders of power bring with them, or to give myself up to the mercy of the winners, expressing my insubordination to them. However, the solution of this issue in the first way could not take place, since, according to the information I had, I should have been arrested even regardless of whether I obey the impostor Krylenko or not. (...) I beg you to save for the future Russia at least a cell that will serve as the beginning for the future air fleet "

The story of how Tkachev made his way "through seething Russia" from the former front to the Kuban could become a plot for an adventure novel. He had to change into a soldier's uniform, he was arrested twice, but both times he managed to escape. In March 1918, Tkachev reached Maykop, occupied by the Reds, and there he was arrested for the third time. Vyacheslav Matveyevich spent more than four months in the city prison, until in August he and other prisoners were released by units of the Volunteer Army of General Denikin that entered the city.

V.M. Tkachev before the next sortie

Refueling the Moran airplane O. Vyacheslav Tkachev is standing on the right wheel

Immediately after his release, Tkachev joined the White Army without hesitation. In the summer of 1918, the first White Guard aviation detachments began to be created in the territory of southern Russia occupied by volunteers. One of these detachments, the 1st Kuban, was headed by a former air force. At first, the detachment had only a few old, worn-out airplanes found in repair shops, but gradually the number of white aviation grew due to trophies and supplies of aircraft from England.

By May 1919, there were already about a dozen combat-ready vehicles in the 1st Kuban. This month, the detachment passed its baptism of fire in the battle near the village of Velikoknyazheskaya. The pilots under the leadership of Tkachev attacked the red cavalry of Budyonny and Dumenko with bombs and machine-gun fire, sowing panic and chaos in the ranks of the enemy. This allowed the white cavalrymen of General Ulagai to easily break through the front and launch a swift attack on Tsaritsyn. Tkachev, as happened before, personally took part in the battles. During the attack, he was wounded by a bullet fired from the ground, but managed to return to his airfield and safely land the car. After a short treatment, Vyacheslav Matveevich returned to duty.

The victory at Tsaritsyn did not become a turning point in the Civil War. In the fall, Denikin's army, advancing on Moscow, was defeated by superior Red forces. The Whites had to withdraw further and further south, until in April 1920 they were locked up on the Crimean peninsula.

At that moment, the star of Tkachev's air force again rose in the military sky. General Wrangel, who replaced the retired Denikin, on April 14 appointed him commander-in-chief of all white aviation. At the same time, the 34-year-old pilot was awarded the rank of major general.

Planes Anatra "Anasal" of the Kuban air division, winter 1919-1920

This happened literally the next day after 12 airplanes under the command of Tkachev scattered the Red division, which was trying to break through Perekop. In the Crimea, Tkachev's organizational and military talent was fully revealed. Under his leadership, the small White Guard pilots became a formidable force.

Tkachev among the pilots of the 1st Kuban Cossack squadron organized by him, 1919

Fighter Sopwith "Camel" of the Kuban division and English pilot Samuel Kincaid. who fought together with the Kuban on the Volga in 1919

Tkachev developed a system of interaction between aviation and ground forces using visual signals, in those days there was no radio communication on aircraft. In particular, a technique was introduced for signaling pilots from the ground using geometric figures made of white panels, clearly distinguishable from a great height. For example, the letter "T" laid out near the headquarters of a regiment or division meant that the unit commander required the pilot to land immediately to convey an important message. The shape of the figures changed periodically in order to prevent the Reds from misleading the pilots or trapping them with false signals.

The aviators, in turn, transmitted reports and orders to the ground using dropped pennants or various combinations of colored flares. And when local craftsmen installed radio stations on two planes in the Simferopol air fleet, the effectiveness and efficiency of air reconnaissance increased even more. It should be noted that such a clear and well-functioning system of interconnection "between heaven and earth", as the one organized by Tkachev, was not in any other white armies, nor among the red ones.

Light bomber "De Havilland" OH. 9, which was in service with one of the aviation units of the Russian army, commanded by V.M. Tkachev

Pilots of the Russian army near the "De Havilland" with the original drawing on the hood, Crimea, 1920

In this situation, Wrangel turned to aviation as his last hope. And the aviators did not disappoint. In the early morning of June 29, 13 De Havilland bombers, led by Tkachev himself, appeared over the Red cavalry camped for the night. At the first explosions of bombs, the horses rushed in all directions. Maddened by the roar, they threw down and trampled riders, overturned carts and artillery carts. Freed from the bomb load, the pilots poured machine-gun fire on the enemy.

When the planes flew off to replenish their ammunition, the red commanders somehow managed to gather the surviving soldiers into a marching column, but then a new raid followed, and after it another one. Here is how Tkachev himself described one of the assaults in a combat report:

The defeat of the Goon's cavalry was the highest achievement of the white aviation in its entirety. Even Soviet military science recognized this fact, and on its example, the cadets of the flight schools of the Red Army studied the tactics of aircraft against cavalry. In fact, for the first time, aviators had a decisive influence on the entire course of the war, because if Zhloba had managed to break into the practically undefended Crimea, the Reds would have won already in July 1920.

Wrangel again threw airplanes into battle, but here the Tkachevites failed for the first time. Against deep trenches, dugouts and well-defended artillery positions, machine guns and small bombs, which were in service with the white aviation, were powerless. The air raids produced no results. Then the white pilots began to bomb the crossings, along which the supply of the Kakhovka group was going, but in response, the red ones began to deliver ammunition and reinforcements to the bridgehead at night.

The rest is known: on October 28, the Reds delivered a powerful blow from the Kakhovka bridgehead in the direction of Perekop. There was nothing to parry him. White had to hastily retreat to the Crimea. At the same time, they destroyed almost all of their aircraft at the front-line airfields, which, due to dilapidation, could no longer take to the air.

On November 11, the fortifications of the Turkish Wall fell, and on the morning of the 15th, the last steamer with soldiers of the White Army and refugees set sail from the Sevastopol wharf.

The civil war ended, and for Vyacheslav Tkachev, a long period of life in a foreign land began. He and his associates evacuated first to Galipoli, and then moved to Yugoslavia. There Tkachev, like many other emigrants, failed to find a job in his specialty. He changed several professions: he served as a consultant at the headquarters of the Yugoslav army, worked in a private Danube river shipping company, until he finally found his new vocation in pedagogy, becoming the head of extra-curricular education at the Russian gymnasium in Belgrade.

Memorial plaque on the house where V. M. Tkachev spent the last years of his life

In 1933 V.M. Tkachev, together with the engineer N. E. Kadesnikov, founded the society of "Russian Falcons" in the city of Novi Sad - a youth military-patriotic organization. The society was engaged in the spiritual and physical education of the younger generation, taught to remember and love the abandoned homeland. In the same year, Tkachev's book "Memo of the Russian Falcon" was published, addressed to the members of this organization.

When the Nazi troops occupied Yugoslavia in May 1941, many Russian emigrants, such as atamans Krasnov and Shkuro, began to cooperate with the Nazis. However, Vyacheslav Matveyevich flatly refused to put on a German uniform. However, in December 1944, shortly after the liberation of Belgrade by the Red Army, he was arrested by SMERSH of the 3rd Ukrainian Front and deported to the USSR, separated from his wife, who remained in Yugoslavia.

As a former White Guard and an implacable enemy of the Soviet regime, he was sentenced to 10 years in the camps. General Tkachev served his term "from call to call" and was released in 1955. After 35 years of wandering, he returned to his native Kuban and settled in Krasnodar, getting a job as a bookbinder in an artel of the disabled.

His wife, who had moved to Paris by that time, wrote him a letter with a proposal to emigrate again, promising to get permission to leave through the Soviet embassy. However, Vyacheslav Matveevich replied:

“It was too hard for me to return to my homeland, and I don’t want to lose it again”

Tkachev devoted the last years of his life to perpetuating the memory of fighting friends - pilots of the First World War. He managed to write and publish the book "Russian Falcon" about P.N. Nesterov, but the main work of his life is the book "Wings of Russia: memories of the past of Russian military aviation 1910-1917." never saw the light of day during the author's lifetime.

V.M.Tkachev died on March 25, 1965 and was buried at the Slavic cemetery in Krasnodar. In 1994, a memorial plaque was installed on the house where the life of the famous pilot ended. The Commander-in-Chief of Russian Aviation, General P. S. Deinekin, arrived at its opening, and during the solemn ceremony, pilots of the Russian Knights aerobatic team swept through the sky in a clear parade formation in the sky above the city.

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