From the very beginning of the war with the Soviet Union, the air force of the Third Reich (Luftwaffe) had to experience the wrath of the Soviet “falcons”. Heinrich Goering, Reich Minister of the Reich Air Ministry from 1935 to 1945, was forced to forget his boastful words that “No one will ever be able to achieve air superiority over the German aces!”
On the first day of the Great Patriotic War German pilots encountered such a technique as air ram. This technique was first proposed by the Russian aviator N.A. Yatsuk (in the journal “Bulletin of Aeronautics” No. 13-14 for 1911), and in practice it was also first used by the Russian pilot Pyotr Nesterov on September 8, 1914, when he shot down an Austrian plane - scout.
During the Great Patriotic War, aerial ramming was not provided for by the military regulations, any manuals or instructions, and Soviet pilots resorted to this technique not by order of the command. Soviet people were motivated by love for the Motherland, hatred of the invaders and the fury of battle, a sense of duty and personal responsibility for the fate of the Fatherland. As the Air Chief Marshal wrote (since 1944), twice Hero Soviet Union Alexander Aleksandrovich Novikov, who was the commander of the Soviet Air Force from May 1943 to 1946: “An air ram is not only a lightning-fast crew, exceptional courage and self-control. A ram in the sky is, first of all, a readiness for self-sacrifice, the final test of loyalty to one’s people, one’s ideals. This is one of the highest forms of manifestation of that very moral factor inherent in the Soviet man, which the enemy did not and could not take into account.”
During Great War Soviet pilots performed more than 600 aerial rams (their exact number is unknown, since research continues to this day, and new exploits of Stalin’s falcons are gradually becoming known). More than two-thirds of the rams occurred in 1941-1942 - this is the most difficult period of the war. In the fall of 1941, a circular was even sent out to the Luftwaffe, which prohibited approaching Soviet aircraft closer than 100 meters in order to avoid air ramming.
It should be noted that Soviet Air Force pilots used rams on all types of aircraft: fighters, bombers, attack aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft. Aerial rams were carried out in single and group battles, day and night, at high and low altitudes, over one’s own territory and over the enemy’s territory, in all weather conditions. There were cases when pilots rammed a ground or water target. Thus, the number of ground rams is almost equal to air attacks - more than 500. Perhaps the most famous ground ram is the feat that was performed by the crew of Captain Nikolai Gastello on June 26, 1941 in a DB-3f (Il-4, twin-engine long-range bomber). The bomber was hit by fire anti-aircraft artillery enemy and committed the so-called. “fiery ram”, hitting the enemy’s mechanized column.
In addition, it cannot be said that an air ram necessarily led to the death of the pilot. Statistics show that approximately 37% of pilots died during an aerial ramming. The remaining pilots not only remained alive, but even kept the plane in a more or less combat-ready condition, so many aircraft could continue the air battle and made a successful landing. There are examples when pilots made two successful rams in one air battle. Several dozen Soviet pilots performed the so-called. “double” rams are when the enemy’s plane could not be shot down the first time and then it was necessary to finish it off with a second blow. There is even a case when fighter pilot O. Kilgovatov had to make four ramming strikes to destroy the enemy. 35 Soviet pilots each made two rams, N.V. Terekhin and A.S. Khlobystov - three each.
Boris Ivanovich Kovzan(1922 - 1985) is the only pilot in the world who made four air rams, and three times he returned to his home airfield in his plane. On August 13, 1942, on a single-engine La-5 fighter, Captain B.I. Kovzan made the fourth ram. The pilot discovered a group of enemy bombers and fighters and engaged them in battle. In a fierce battle, his plane was shot down. An enemy machine-gun burst hit the fighter's cockpit, the instrument panel was smashed, and the pilot's head was cut by shrapnel. The car was on fire. Boris Kovzan felt a sharp pain in his head and one eye, so he hardly noticed how one of the German planes launched a frontal attack on him. The cars quickly approached. “If now the German can’t stand it and turns up, then we’ll have to ram,” thought Kovzan. The pilot, wounded in the head, was going to ram a burning plane.
When the planes collided in the air, Kovzan was thrown out of the cockpit by the sharp impact, as the belts simply burst. He flew 3,500 meters without opening his parachute in a semi-conscious state, and only just above the ground, at an altitude of only 200 meters, he woke up and pulled the exhaust ring. The parachute was able to open, but the impact on the ground was still very strong. The Soviet ace came to his senses in a Moscow hospital on the seventh day. He had several wounds from shrapnel; his collarbone and jaw, both arms and legs were broken. Doctors were unable to save the pilot’s right eye. Kovzan’s treatment continued for two months. Everyone understood well that in this air battle only a miracle saved him. The commission’s verdict for Boris Kovzan was very difficult: “You can’t fly anymore.” But this was a real Soviet falcon, who could not imagine life without flights and the sky. Kovzan has been achieving his dream all his life! At one time they didn’t want to admit him to the Odessa Military Aviation School, then Kovzan gave himself a year and begged the doctors of the medical commission, although he did not reach 13 kilograms of weight to the norm. And he achieved his goal. He was driven by firm confidence that if you constantly strive for a goal, it will be achieved.
He was wounded, but is now healthy, his head is in place, his arms and legs have recovered. As a result, the pilot reached the Air Force Commander-in-Chief A. Novikov. He promised to help. A new conclusion from the medical commission was received: “Fit to fly on all types of fighter aircraft.” Boris Kovzan writes a report with a request to be sent to the warring units, but receives several refusals. But this time he achieved his goal, the pilot was enlisted in the 144th Air Defense Division near Saratov. In total, during the years of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet pilot made 360 combat missions, took part in 127 air battles, shot down 28 German aircraft, 6 of them after being seriously wounded and being one-eyed. In August 1943 he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Kovzan Boris Ivanovich
Soviet pilots during the Great Patriotic War used various aerial ramming techniques:
Hitting an enemy's tail with an airplane propeller. An attacking aircraft approaches the enemy from behind and strikes its tail with its propeller. This blow led to the destruction of the enemy aircraft or loss of controllability. This was the most common aerial ramming technique during the Great War. If executed correctly, the pilot of the attacking aircraft had a pretty good chance of surviving. When colliding with an enemy aircraft, usually only the propeller suffers, and even if it failed, there were chances to land the car or jump with a parachute.
Wing strike. It was carried out both when aircraft approached head-on and when approaching the enemy from behind. The blow was delivered by the wing to the tail or fuselage of the enemy aircraft, including the cockpit of the target aircraft. Sometimes this technique was used to complete a frontal attack.
Fuselage strike. It was considered the most dangerous type of air ram for a pilot. This technique also includes the collision of aircraft during a frontal attack. Interestingly, even with this outcome, some pilots survived.
Impact with the tail of an airplane (ram by I. Sh. Bikmukhametov). The ramming that was carried out by Ibragim Shagiakhmedovich Bikmukhametov on August 4, 1942. He came out head-on to the enemy plane with a slide and a turn and struck the enemy’s wing with the tail of his fighter. As a result, the enemy fighter lost control, went into a tailspin and died, and Ibragim Bikmukhametov was even able to bring his LaGG-Z to the airfield and land safely.
Bikmukhametov graduated from the 2nd Borisoglebsk Red Banner Military Aviation Pilot School named after. V.P. Chkalova, in the winter of 1939 - 1940 participated in the war with Finland. The junior lieutenant took part in the Great Patriotic War from the very beginning, until November 1941 he served in the 238th Fighter Aviation Regiment (IAP), then in the 5th Guards IAP. The regiment commander noted that the pilot was “brave and decisive.”
On August 4, 1942, six single-seat and single-engine LaGG-Z fighters of the 5th Guards IAP, led by Guard Major Grigory Onufrienko, flew out to cover ground forces in the Rzhev area. This group also included flight commander Ibragim Bikmukhametov. Behind the front line, Soviet fighters met 8 enemy Me-109 fighters. The Germans followed a parallel course. A quick air battle began. It ended in victory for our pilots: 3 Luftwaffe aircraft were destroyed. One of them was shot down by squadron commander G. Onufrienko, the other two Messerschmitts by I. Bikmukhametov. The first Me-109 pilot attacked on a combat turn, hitting it with a cannon and two machine guns, the enemy plane went to the ground. In the heat of battle, I. Bikmukhametov late noticed another enemy plane, which came from above into the tail of his car. But the flight commander was not at a loss, he energetically made a slide and with a sharp turn went towards the German. The enemy could not withstand the attack head-on and tried to turn his plane away. The enemy pilot was able to avoid meeting the propeller blades of I. Bikmukhametov’s machine. But our pilot got creative and, sharply turning the car, struck a strong blow with the tail of his “iron” (that’s what the Soviet pilots called this fighter) on the wing of the “Messer”. The enemy fighter fell into a tailspin and soon fell into the thicket of a dense forest.
Bikmukhametov was able to bring the heavily damaged car to the airfield. This was the 11th enemy aircraft shot down by Ibragim Bikmukhametov. During the war, the pilot was awarded 2 Orders of the Red Banner and the Order of the Red Star. The brave pilot died on December 16, 1942 in Voronezh region. During the battle with superior enemy forces, his plane was shot down and during an emergency landing, trying to save the fighter, the wounded pilot crashed.
LaGG-3
The first rams of the Great Patriotic War
Researchers are still arguing about who carried out the first ram on June 22, 1941. Some believe that it was senior lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov, others call the author of the first ram of the Great Patriotic War, junior lieutenant Dmitry Vasilyevich Kokorev.
I. I. Ivanov (1909 - June 22, 1941) served in the Red Army from the fall of 1931, then was sent on a Komsomol ticket to the Perm Aviation School. In the spring of 1933, Ivanov was sent to the 8th Odessa Military Aviation School. Initially he served in the 11th Light Bomber Regiment in the Kiev Military District, in 1939 he participated in the Polish campaign to liberate Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, then in the “Winter War” with Finland. At the end of 1940 he completed fighter pilot courses. Received an appointment to the 14th Mixed Aviation Division, deputy squadron commander of the 46th IAP.
Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov
At dawn on June 22, 1941, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Ivanov took to the skies on combat alert at the head of the I-16 flight (according to another version, the pilots were on I-153) to intercept a group of enemy aircraft that were approaching the Mlynov airfield. In the air, Soviet pilots discovered 6 twin-engine He-111 bombers from the 7th detachment of the KG 55 “Grif” squadron. Senior Lieutenant Ivanov led a flight of fighters to attack the enemy. A flight of Soviet fighters dived onto the lead bomber. The bomber gunners opened fire on the Soviet planes. Coming out of the dive, the I-16s repeated the attack. One of the Heinkels was hit. The remaining enemy bombers dropped their bombs before reaching the target and began to fly west. After a successful attack, both of Ivanov’s wingmen went to their airfield, since, while maneuvering away from the fire of enemy riflemen, they had used up almost all the fuel. Ivanov let them board, continued the pursuit, but then also decided to land, because... the fuel was running out and the ammunition was gone. At this time, an enemy bomber appeared over the Soviet airfield. Noticing him, Ivanov went to meet him, but the German, firing machine guns, did not veer off course. The only way The only thing left to stop the enemy was a battering ram. From the impact, the bomber (the Soviet plane cut off the tail of the German aircraft with its propeller), which was driven by non-commissioned officer H. Wohlfeil, lost control and crashed into the ground. The entire German crew died. But I. Ivanov’s plane was also badly damaged. Due to the low altitude, the pilot was unable to use a parachute and died. This ramming occurred at 4:25 am near the village of Zagoroshcha, Rivne district, Rivne region. On August 2, 1941, senior lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov posthumously became a Hero of the Soviet Union.
I-16
Around the same time, junior lieutenant made his ramming Dmitry Vasilievich Kokorev(1918 - 10/12/1941). A native of the Ryazan region served in the 9th mixed aviation division, in the 124th IAP (Western Special Military District). The regiment was stationed at the border airfield Vysoko-Mazowiecki, near the city of Zambrov (Western Ukraine). After the war began, the regiment commander, Major Polunin, instructed the young pilot to reconnoiter the situation in the area of the state border of the USSR, which has now become the line of combat contact between Soviet and German troops.
At 4:05 a.m., when Dmitry Kokorev was returning from reconnaissance, the Luftwaffe made the first powerful attack on the airfield, as the regiment was preventing the flight into the interior of the country. The fight was brutal. The airfield was heavily damaged.
And then Kokarev saw the Dornier-215 reconnaissance bomber (according to other information, the Me-110 multi-purpose aircraft) leaving the Soviet airfield. Apparently, it was Hitler’s intelligence officer who was monitoring the results of the first strike on the fighter aviation regiment. Anger blinded the Soviet pilot, abruptly jerking the high-altitude MiG fighter into a combat turn, Kokorev went on the attack, in a fever he opened fire ahead of time. He missed, but the German shooter hit accurately - a line of tears pierced the right plane of his car.
The enemy plane was flying towards the state border at maximum speed. Dmitry Kokorev launched a second attack. He shortened the distance, not paying attention to the frantic shooting of the German shooter, coming within firing range, Kokorev pressed the trigger, but the ammunition ran out. The Soviet pilot didn’t think for a long time that he couldn’t let the enemy go, he suddenly increased his speed and threw the fighter at the enemy machine. The MiG slashed with its propeller near the tail of the Dornier.
This air ramming took place at 4:15 a.m. (according to other sources, at 4:35 a.m.) in front of the infantrymen and border guards who were defending the city of Zambrov. The fuselage of the German plane broke in half, and the Dornier crashed to the ground. Our fighter went into a tailspin, its engine stalled. Kokorev came to his senses and was able to pull the car out of the terrible spin. I chose a clearing for landing and landed successfully. It should be noted that Junior Lieutenant Kokorev was an ordinary Soviet private pilot, of whom there were hundreds in Air Force Red Army. The junior lieutenant had only flight school behind him.
Unfortunately, the hero did not live to see the Victory. He made 100 combat missions and shot down 5 enemy aircraft. When his regiment fought near Leningrad, on October 12, intelligence reported that a large number of enemy Junkers had been discovered at the airfield in Siverskaya. The weather was bad, the Germans did not take off in such conditions and did not wait for our planes. It was decided to strike the airfield. A group of 6 of our Pe-2 dive bombers (they were called “Pawns”), accompanied by 13 MiG-3 fighters, appeared over Siverskaya and came as a complete surprise to the Nazis.
Incendiary bombs from low altitude hit the target, machine-gun fire and fighter jets completed the rout. The Germans were able to lift only one fighter into the air. The Pe-2s had already bombed and were leaving, only one bomber was left behind. Kokorev rushed to his defense. He shot down the enemy, but at that time the German air defense woke up. Dmitry's plane was shot down and fell.
The first...
Ekaterina Ivanovna Zelenko(1916 - September 12, 1941) became the first woman on the planet to perform an aerial ram. Zelenko graduated from the Voronezh Aero Club (in 1933), the 3rd Orenburg Military Aviation School named after. K. E. Voroshilov (in 1934). She served with the 19th Light Bomber Aviation Brigade in Kharkov and was a test pilot. Over the course of 4 years, she mastered seven types of aircraft. This is the only female pilot who participated in the “Winter War” (as part of the 11th Light Bomber Aviation Regiment). She was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and flew 8 combat missions.
She participated in the Great Patriotic War from the first day, fighting as part of the 16th mixed aviation division, and was deputy commander of the 5th squadron of the 135th bomber aviation regiment. Managed to complete 40 combat missions, including night ones. On September 12, 1941, she made 2 successful reconnaissance sorties on a Su-2 bomber. But, despite the fact that her Su-2 was damaged during the second flight, Ekaterina Zelenko flew for the third time on the same day. Already returning, in the area of the city of Romny there are two Soviet aircraft were attacked by 7 enemy fighters. Ekaterina Zelenko was able to shoot down one Me-109, and when she ran out of ammunition, she rammed the second german fighter. The pilot destroyed the enemy, but died herself.
Monument to Ekaterina Zelenko in Kursk.
Viktor Vasilievich Talalikhin(1918 - October 27, 1941) made a night ram, which became the most famous in this war, shooting down a He-111 bomber on an I-16 in the Podolsk (Moscow region) on the night of August 7, 1941. For a long time it was believed that this was the first night ram in the history of aviation. Only later did it become known that on the night of July 29, 1941, a fighter pilot of the 28th IAP Pyotr Vasilievich Eremeev On a MiG-3 plane, a Junkers-88 bomber was shot down with a ramming attack. He died on October 2, 1941 in an air battle (September 21, 1995 Eremeev for courage and military valor, posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia).
On October 27, 1941, 6 fighters under the command of V. Talalikhin flew to cover our forces in the area of the village of Kamenki, on the banks of the Nara (85 km west of the capital). They encountered 9 enemy fighters, in the battle Talalikhin shot down one Messer, but another was able to shoot it down, the pilot died a heroic death...
Victor Vasilievich Talalikhin.
Crew of Viktor Petrovich Nosov from the 51st mine and torpedo regiment of the Baltic Fleet Air Force carried out the first ramming of a ship in the history of the war with the help of heavy bomber. The lieutenant commanded the A-20 torpedo bomber (American Douglas A-20 Havoc). February 13, 1945 in the southern part Baltic Sea When attacking an enemy transport of 6 thousand tons, the Soviet plane was shot down. The commander drove the burning car straight into the enemy's transport. The plane hit the target, an explosion occurred, and the enemy ship sank. The crew of the aircraft: Lieutenant Viktor Nosov (commander), Junior Lieutenant Alexander Igoshin (navigator) and Sergeant Fyodor Dorofeev (gunner-radio operator), died a heroic death.
Exactly 75 years ago, on the night of August 7, 1941, junior lieutenant Viktor Talalikhin was one of the first in Soviet aviation to ram an enemy bomber at night. The air battle for Moscow was just beginning.
Sinister plane
That night, the deputy squadron commander of the 177th Air Defense Fighter Aviation Regiment, Viktor Talalikhin, received an order to intercept the enemy who was heading towards Moscow. At an altitude of 4800 meters, the junior lieutenant overtook the enemy plane, came up behind it with lightning speed and began shooting at it.
However, it was not easy to shoot down the Heinkel 111 long-range bomber. Of the five crew members, three fought with the fighters. During flight, the ventral, rear and side gunners constantly kept their field of fire in sight and, if a target appeared, opened furious fire on it.
The ominous silhouette of Heinkel-111 was well known to residents of Poland, Denmark, Norway, France, and Great Britain. This bomber was considered one of the main ones in the Luftwaffe and took an active part in all military campaigns of the Third Reich in Europe. He took an active part in the attack on the USSR from the very first minutes.
Deprive the USSR of Moscow
In 1941, the Germans tried to bomb Moscow. They chased two strategic objectives: firstly, to deprive the Soviet Union of its largest railway and transport hub, as well as the center of command and control of troops and the country. Secondly, they hoped to help their ground troops break the resistance of the defenders of Moscow.
This task was entrusted by Hitler to the commander of the German 2nd Air Fleet, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring. This task force, numbering 1,600 aircraft, supported the advance of Army Group Center, whose main goal, according to the Barbarossa plan, was the Soviet capital.
The bomber crews had extensive combat experience in attacking major cities, including at night.
Unpleasant surprises for the Luftwaffe
The Fuhrer demanded that the pilots “strike the center of the Bolshevik resistance and prevent the organized evacuation of the Russian government apparatus.” Strong resistance was not expected, and therefore the military and political leadership of Germany was confident in their imminent parade on Red Square.
On the night of July 22, 1941, the first raid on Moscow took place. The Germans discovered that the Russians had a lot anti-aircraft guns, barrage balloons, which are installed much higher than usual, and quite a few fighter aircraft Air defense, which was active even at night.
Having suffered significant losses, the Luftwaffe pilots began to rise to new heights. Heinkeli-111 also actively participated in massive raids.
Trophies of the 177th Fighter Regiment
The German Air Force command did not learn a lesson from the air Battle of Britain in 1940, in which the Germans lost two and a half thousand aircraft. Of these, almost 400 are Heinkel 111s. Like a gambler, in the battles over Moscow the Nazis bet on their own luck, ignoring the combat potential of the enemy.
Meanwhile, the air defense fighter regiment under the command of Major Mikhail Korolev, in which Talalikhin served, opened a combat account of enemy losses on July 26, 1941.
On this day, the deputy regiment commander, Captain Ivan Samsonov, shot down a German bomber. Soon this military unit acquired other “trophies”.
Young but experienced pilot
The “impenetrable” Heinkel-111, which Talalikhin met in the night battle, did not have time to drop bombs on the target and began to leave. One of its engines caught fire. The Soviet pilot continued to shoot, but soon the air machine guns fell silent. He realized that the cartridges had run out.
Then the junior lieutenant decided to ram the enemy plane. At almost 23 years old, Victor had a low rank, but by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he was already an experienced pilot. Behind him was the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939/40 and the Order of the Red Star for four downed Finnish aircraft.
There, a young pilot fought on an obsolete I-153 biplane, nicknamed the “Chaika”. However, in the first battle he won an aerial victory. Another enemy plane was shot down by him when Talalikhin was covering his commander Mikhail Korolev.
Don't let the bastards get away
In a lightning-fast battle in the Moscow night sky, when the Soviet pilot aimed his plane to ram, his hand was suddenly burned. One of the enemy shooters wounded him.
Talalikhin later said that he “made the decision to sacrifice himself, but not to let the reptile go.” He gave full throttle and crashed his plane into the enemy’s tail. Heinkel 111 caught fire and began to fall down randomly.
The damaged I-16 fighter lost control after a terrible impact, and Talalikhin left it by parachute. He landed in the Severka River, from where they helped him get out local residents. The entire German crew was killed. The next day, Viktor Vasilyevich Talalikhin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Hellish air defense
Having lost for a short time 172 Heinkel-111 aircraft (not counting a significant number of bombers of other types), by the tenth of August 1941, German aviation abandoned the tactics of attacking in large groups from one or two directions.
Now the Luftwaffe pilots tried to “infiltrate” Moscow from different directions and often attacked the target, entering in turn, one after another. They had to strain all their strength and skill in the fight against the hellish air defense of the USSR capital for the Nazis.
The air struggle reached its apogee in the fall of 1941, when a grandiose ground battle unfolded on the outskirts of Moscow. The Germans relocated their airfields closer to the city and were able to increase the intensity of sorties, alternating night raids with daytime ones.
Death in battle
In fierce battles, the ranks of the 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment thinned. On October 27, 1941, Viktor Talalikhin died in an air battle, and on December 8, Ivan Samsonov died.
However, the Germans also suffered significant losses, breaking through a wall of anti-aircraft fire and fighting off Soviet fighters. During the period from July 26, 1941 to March 10, 1942, 4% of enemy aircraft broke through to the city. During this period, Moscow's air defense systems destroyed over a thousand enemy aircraft.
Those of the crews of German bombers who managed to drop bombs did so chaotically, rushing to quickly free themselves from the load and leave the shelling zone.
Failure of the air blitzkrieg
British journalist Alexander Werth, who was in the USSR since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, wrote that in Moscow the shrapnel of anti-aircraft shells drummed through the streets like hail. Dozens of spotlights illuminated the sky. He had never seen or heard anything like this in London.
The pilots, and not only the fighters, did not lag behind the anti-aircraft gunners. For example, the squadron commander of the 65th Attack Aviation Regiment, Lieutenant Georgy Nevkipely, during his 29 combat missions, burned not only six enemy aircraft, but also several tanks, and more than a hundred vehicles with infantry.
He died a heroic death on December 15, 1941 and was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The power of the air defense of the capital of the Soviet Union turned out to be generally insurmountable for the Luftwaffe. The air blitzkrieg that Goering's pilots were counting on failed.
For a long time, the authorship of the first air ram of the Great Patriotic War was attributed to various pilots, but now the studied documents of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation leave no doubt that the first at 04:55 on the morning of June 22, 1941 was the flight commander of the 46th IAP, Senior Lieutenant I. I. Ivanov , who destroyed a German bomber at the cost of his life. Under what circumstances did this happen?
The details of the ram were examined by the writer S.S. Smirnov back in the 60s of the last century, and 50 years later, a detailed book about the life and feat of a fellow countryman-pilot was written by Georgy Rovensky, a local historian from Fryazino near Moscow. However, in order to objectively cover the episode, both lacked information from German sources (although Rovensky tried to use data on Luftwaffe losses and a book on the history of the KG 55 squadron), as well as an understanding of the general picture of the air battle on the first day of the war in the Rivne region, in the area Dubno – Mlynów. Taking as a basis the research of Smirnov and Rovensky, archival documents and memories of participants in the events, we will try to reveal both the circumstances of the ram and the events that took place around.
The 46th Fighter Wing and its enemy
The 46th IAP was a personnel unit formed in May 1938 in the first wave of deployment of Red Army Air Force regiments at the Skomorokhi airfield near Zhitomir. After the annexation of Western Ukraine, the 1st and 2nd squadrons of the regiment were relocated to the Dubno airfield, and the 3rd and 4th to Mlynow (modern Mlynov, Ukrainian Mlyniv).
By the summer of 1941, the regiment arrived in pretty good shape. Many commanders had combat experience and had a clear idea of how to shoot down the enemy. Thus, the regiment commander, Major I. D. Podgorny, fought at Khalkhin Gol, the squadron commander, Captain N. M. Zverev, fought in Spain. The most experienced pilot, apparently, was the deputy commander of the regiment, Captain I. I. Geibo - he even managed to take part in two conflicts, flew more than 200 combat missions at Khalkhin Gol and Finland and had downed enemy aircraft.
High-altitude reconnaissance aircraft Ju 86, which made an emergency landing in the Rovno area on April 15, 1941, and was burned by the crew
Actually, one of the proofs of the fighting spirit of the pilots of the 46th IAP is the incident with the forced landing of a high-altitude German reconnaissance aircraft Ju 86, which occurred on April 15, 1941 northeast of Rivne - the flag navigator of the regiment, senior lieutenant P. M. Shalunov, distinguished himself. This was the only case when a Soviet pilot managed to land a German reconnaissance aircraft from the “Rovel group”, which flew over the USSR in the spring of 1941.
By June 22, 1941, the regiment was based with all units at the Mlynów airfield - construction of a concrete runway had begun at the Dubno airfield.
The weak point was the condition of the equipment of the 46th IAP. The 1st and 2nd squadrons of the regiment flew I-16 type 5 and type 10, whose service life was ending, and their combat characteristics could not be compared with the Messerschmitts. In the summer of 1940, the regiment, according to the plan for the rearmament of the Red Army Air Force, was among the first to receive modern fighters I-200 (MiG-1), however, due to delays in the development and deployment of mass production of new machines, the unit never received it. Instead of the I-200, the personnel of the 3rd and 4th squadrons in the summer of 1940 received the I-153 instead of the I-15bis and rather sluggishly worked on mastering this “newest” fighter. By June 22, 1941, there were 29 I-16s (20 serviceable) and 18 I-153 (14 serviceable) available at the Mlynów airfield.
Commander of the 46th IAP Ivan Dmitrievich Podgorny, his deputy Iosif Ivanovich Geibo and commander of the 14th SAD Ivan Alekseevich Zykanov
By June 22, the regiment was not fully provided with personnel, since at the end of May - beginning of June 12 pilots were transferred to newly formed units. Despite this, the unit’s combat effectiveness remained virtually unchanged: of the remaining 64 pilots, 48 served in the regiment for more than a year.
It so happened that the 14th Air Force Aviation Division of the 5th Army KOVO, which included the 46th IAP, was right at the forefront of the German attack. The two main “Panzerstrasse”, allocated by the German command for the movement of the 3rd and 48th motorized corps of the 1st Panzer Group of Army Group South, passed through the directions Lutsk - Rivne and Dubno - Brody, i.e. through populated areas where the division's command and control and its 89th IAP, 46th IAP and 253rd ShAP were based.
The opponents of the 46th IAP on the first day of the war were the bomber group III./KG 55, which was part of the V Air Corps of the 4th Air Fleet of the Luftwaffe, whose formations were supposed to operate against the KOVO Air Force. To do this, on June 18, 25 Heinkel He 111 groups flew to the Klemensov airfield, 10 km west of the city of Zamosc. The group was commanded by Hauptmann Heinrich Wittmer. The other two groups and the squadron headquarters were located at the Labunie airfield, 10 km southeast of Zamosc - literally 50 km from the border.
Commander of Bomber Group III./KG 55 Hauptmann Heinrich Wittmer (1910–1992) at the helm of the Heinkel (right). On November 12, 1941, Wittmer was awarded the Knight's Cross and ended the war with the rank of colonel.
The headquarters of the V Air Corps, the fighter group III./JG 3 and the reconnaissance squadron 4./(F)121 were located in Zamosc. Only units of JG 3 were based closer to the border (headquarters and II group 20 km away at the Khostun airfield, and I group 30 km away at the Dub airfield).
It is difficult to say what the fate of the 46th IAP would have been if all these German units had been sent to gain air superiority over the axis of advance of the 48th Motorized Corps, which ran through the Dubno-Brody area. More likely, Soviet regiments would have been destroyed like the ZapOVO Air Force units that came under crushing blows from aircraft of the II and VIII Air Corps, but the command of the V Air Corps had broader goals.
Hard first day of the war
Units concentrated in the Zamosc area were to attack airfields from Lutsk to Sambir, focusing on the Lvov area, where the Messerschmitts from JG 3 were first sent on the morning of June 22, 1941. In addition, for some fantastic reasons I. /KG 55 was sent in the morning to bomb airfields in the Kyiv area. As a result, the Germans were able to detach only III./KG 55 to attack airfields in Brody, Dubno and Mlynów. A total of 17 He 111s were prepared for the first flight, each equipped to attack airfields and carrying 32 50-kg SD-50 fragmentation bombs . From the combat log of III./KG 55:
“...The start of 17 cars of the group was envisaged. By technical reasons two cars were unable to start, another one returned due to engine problems. Start: 02:50–03:15 (Berlin time - author's note), target - airfields Dubno, Mlynov, Brody, Rachin (north-eastern outskirts of Dubno - author's note). Attack time: 03:50–04:20. Flight altitude – low level flight, method of attack: links and pairs...”
As a result, only 14 aircraft out of 24 combat-ready ones took part in the first flight: six aircraft from the 7th, seven from the 8th and one from the 9th squadrons, respectively. The group commander and headquarters made a serious mistake when they decided to operate in pairs and units to maximize target coverage, and the crews had to pay a high price for it.
Takeoff of a pair of He 111s from the KG 55 squadron on the morning of June 22, 1941
Due to the fact that the Germans operated in small groups, it is impossible to determine exactly which crews attacked which Soviet airfield. In order to restore the picture of events, we will use Soviet documents, as well as the memories of participants in the events. Captain Geibo, who actually led the regiment on June 22 in the absence of Major Podgorny, indicates in his post-war memoirs that the first collision occurred on the approaches to the Mlynow airfield at about 04:20.
A combat alert was declared in all units of the KOVO Air Force around 03:00–04:00 after the district headquarters received the text of Directive No. 1, and the personnel of the units and formations managed to prepare equipment for combat operations even before the first raids of German aviation. The planes were dispersed at the airfields as early as June 15. However, it is not possible to talk about full combat readiness, primarily due to the controversial text of Directive No. 1, which, in particular, stated that Soviet pilots should not succumb to “provocations” and have the right to attack enemy aircraft only in response to fire from the German side.
These instructions on the morning of the first day of the war were literally fatal for a number of units of the Kaliningrad Air Force, whose aircraft were destroyed on the ground before they could take off. Several dozen pilots died, shot down in the air while trying to oust Luftwaffe aircraft from Soviet territory with evolutions. Only a few commanders of various ranks took responsibility and gave orders to repel German attacks. One of them was the commander of the 14th SAD, Colonel I. A. Zykanov.
Aerial photograph of Mlynów airfield taken on June 22, 1941 from a He 111 bomber from the KG 55 squadron
IN post-war years Through the efforts of unscrupulous authors, this person was unfairly denigrated and accused of non-existent mistakes and crimes. It should be noted that there were reasons for this: in August 1941, Colonel Zykanov was under investigation for some time, but was not convicted. True, he was not restored to his previous position, and in January 1942 he headed the 435th IAP, then commanded the 760th IAP, was an inspector pilot of the 3rd Guards IAK and, finally, became the commander of the 6th ZAP.
In the post-war memoirs of Aviation Major General I. I. Geibo, it is clearly seen that the division commander announced the alarm in time, and after the VNOS posts reported that German planes were crossing the border, he ordered them to be shot down, which brought even such an experienced fighter as Geibo into a state of prostration. It was this firm decision of the division commander that literally at the last moment saved the 46th IAP from a sudden attack:
“The interrupted sleep came back with difficulty. Finally, I began to doze off a little, but then the telephone came to life again. Cursing, he picked up the phone. Divisional commander again.
- Announce a combat alert to the regiment. If German planes appear, shoot them down!
The phone rang and the conversation was interrupted.
- How to shoot down? – I got worried. - Repeat, Comrade Colonel! Not to expel, but to shoot down?
But the phone was silent..."
Considering that we have before us memoirs with all the inherent shortcomings of any memoir, we will make a short comment. Firstly, Zykanov’s order to sound the alarm and shoot down German planes actually consists of two received in different time. The first, an alarm, was apparently given around 03:00. The order to shoot down German planes was clearly received after receiving data from VNOS posts, around 04:00–04:15.
I-16 fighters type 5 (above) and type 10 (below) from the 46th IAP (reconstruction from photo, artist A. Kazakov)
In this regard, it becomes clear further actions Captain Geibo - before this, the duty unit was raised into the air with the goal of expelling border violators, but Geibo took off after him with the order to shoot down German planes. At the same time, the captain was clearly in great doubt: within an hour he was given two completely contradictory orders. However, in the air he understood the situation and attacked the German bombers they met, repelling the first strike:
“At approximately 4:15 a.m., VNOS posts, which were constantly monitoring the airspace, received a message that four twin-engine aircraft at low altitude they head east. The duty unit of Senior Lieutenant Klimenko rose into the air according to routine.
–You know, commissioner,–I told Trifonov,–I'll fly myself. And then you see, the darkness is falling, as if something, like Shalunov, had been messed up again. I'll figure out what kind of planes it is. And you are in charge here.
Soon I was already catching up with Klimenko’s flight in my I-16. As he approached, he gave the signal: “Get close to me and follow me.” I glanced at the airfield. A long white arrow stood out sharply at the edge of the airfield. It indicated the direction to intercept unknown aircraft... A little less than a minute passed, and ahead, a little lower, in the right bearing, two pairs of large aircraft appeared...
“I’m attacking, cover!”–I gave a signal to my people. A quick maneuver - and in the center of the crosshairs is the leading Yu-88 (an identification error typical even for experienced pilots of all countries - author's note). I press the trigger of the ShKAS machine guns. Tracer bullets rip open the fuselage of the enemy plane, it somehow reluctantly rolls, makes a turn and rushes towards the ground. A bright flame rises from the place of its fall, and a column of black smoke stretches towards the sky.
I glance at the onboard clock: 4 hours 20 minutes in the morning...”
According to the combat log of the regiment, Captain Geibo was credited with victory over the Xe-111 as part of the flight. Returning to the airfield, he tried to contact division headquarters, but was unable to do so due to communication problems. Despite this, further actions of the regiment command were clear and consistent. Geibo and the regiment's political officer no longer doubted that war had begun, and clearly assigned tasks to their subordinates to cover the airfield and settlements Mlynów and Dubno.
Simple name - Ivan Ivanov
Judging by the surviving documents, by order of the regiment headquarters, the pilots began to take off for combat duty at about 04:30. One of the units that was supposed to cover the airfield was led by Senior Lieutenant I. I. Ivanov. Extract from the ZhBD regiment:
“At 04:55, being at an altitude of 1500–2000 meters, covering the Dubno airfield, we noticed three Xe-111s going to bomb. Going into a dive, attacking the Xe-111 from behind, the flight opened fire. After expending its ammunition, Senior Lieutenant Ivanov rammed the Xe-111, which crashed 5 km from the Dubno airfield. Senior Lieutenant Ivanov died the death of the brave during the ramming, having defended the Motherland with his chest. The task of covering the airfield was completed. Xe-111s went west. 1500 pcs used. ShKAS cartridges."
The ram was seen by Ivanov’s colleagues, who at that moment were on the road from Dubno to Mlynow. This is how the former technician of the 46th IAP squadron, A.G. Bolnov, described this episode:
“...Machine gun fire was heard in the air. Three bombers were heading towards the Dubno airfield, and three fighters dived at them and fired. A moment later the fire stopped on both sides. A couple of fighters fell off and landed, having shot all their ammunition... Ivanov continued to pursue the bombers. They immediately bombed the Dubna airfield and went south, while Ivanov continued the pursuit. Being an excellent shooter and pilot, he did not shoot - apparently there was no more ammunition: he shot everything. A moment, and... We stopped at the turn of the highway to Lutsk. On the horizon, to the south of our observation, we saw an explosion - clouds of black smoke. I shouted: “We collided!”– the word “ram” has not yet entered our vocabulary ... "
Another witness to the ram, flight technician E.P. Solovyov:
“Our car was rushing from Lviv along the highway. Having noticed the exchange of fire between the “bombers” and our “hawks”, we realized that this was war. The moment when our “donkey” hit the “Heinkel” on the tail and it fell down like a stone, everyone saw it, and so did ours. Arriving at the regiment, we learned that Bushuev and Simonenko had left in the direction of the subsided battle without waiting for the doctor.
Simonenko told reporters that when he and the commissioner carried Ivan Ivanovich out of the cabin, he was covered in blood and unconscious. We rushed to the hospital in Dubno, but there we found all the medical staff in panic - they were ordered to urgently evacuate. Ivan Ivanovich was nevertheless accepted, and the orderlies carried him away on a stretcher.
Bushuev and Simonenko waited, helping to load equipment and patients into cars. Then the doctor came out and said: “The pilot died.” "We buried him in the cemetery,–recalled Simonenko,–They put up a post with a sign. We thought that we would drive the Germans away quickly,–Let's erect a monument."
I. I. Geibo also recalled the ram:
“Even in the afternoon, during a break between flights, someone reported to me that the flight commander, senior lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov, had not returned from the first combat mission... A group of mechanics was equipped to search for the fallen aircraft. They found the I-16 of our Ivan Ivanovich next to the wreckage of the Junkers. An examination and stories from the pilots who took part in the battle made it possible to establish that Senior Lieutenant Ivanov, having used up all the ammunition in the battle, went to ram..."
With the passage of time, it is difficult to establish why Ivanov carried out the ramming. Eyewitness accounts and documents indicate that the pilot fired all the cartridges. Most likely, he piloted an I-16 type 5, armed with only two 7.62 mm ShKAS guns, and it was not easy to shoot down a He 111 with a more serious weapon. In addition, Ivanov did not have much shooting practice. In any case, this is not so important - the main thing is that the Soviet pilot was ready to fight to the last and destroyed the enemy even at the cost of his own life, for which he was deservedly posthumously nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Senior Lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov and the pilots of his flight on the morning flight on June 22: Lieutenant Timofey Ivanovich Kondranin (died 07/05/1941) and Lieutenant Ivan Vasilyevich Yuryev (died 09/07/1942)
Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov was an experienced pilot who graduated from the Odessa Aviation School back in 1934 and served for five years as a light bomber pilot. By September 1939, already as a flight commander of the 2nd Light Bomber Aviation Regiment, he took part in the campaign against Western Ukraine, and at the beginning of 1940 he carried out several combat missions during the Soviet-Finnish War. After returning from the front, the best crews of the 2nd LBAP, including Ivanov’s crew, took part in the May Day parade of 1940 in Moscow.
In the summer of 1940, the 2nd LBAP was reorganized into the 138th SBAP, and the regiment received SB bombers to replace the outdated P-Z biplanes. Apparently, this retraining served as a reason for some of the pilots of the 2nd LBAP to “change their role” and retrain as fighters. As a result, I. I. Ivanov, instead of the SB, retrained on the I-16 and was assigned to the 46th IAP.
Other pilots of the 46th IAP acted no less bravely, and the German bombers were never able to bomb accurately. Despite several raids, the regiment's losses on the ground were minimal - according to the report of the 14th SAD, by the morning of June 23, 1941 “...one I-16 was destroyed at the airfield, one did not return from the mission. One I-153 was shot down. 11 people were wounded, one was killed. Regiment at the Granovka airfield." Documents from III./KG 55 confirm the minimal losses of the 46th IAP at the Mlynów airfield: “Result: Dubno airfield is not occupied (by enemy aircraft - author’s note). At the Mlynow airfield, bombs were dropped on approximately 30 biplanes and multi-engine aircraft standing in a group. Hit between planes..."
Downed Heinkel He 111 from the 7th squadron of the KG 55 Greif bomber squadron (artist I. Zlobin)
The greatest losses in the morning flight were suffered by 7./KG 55, which lost three Heinkels due to the actions of Soviet fighters. Two of them did not return from the mission along with the crews of Feldwebel Dietrich (Fw. Willi Dietrich) and Non-Commissioned Officer Wohlfeil (Uffz. Horst Wohlfeil), and the third, piloted by Oberfeldwebel Gründer (Ofw. Alfred Gründer), burned out after landing at the airfield Labunie. Two more bombers of the squadron were seriously damaged, and several crew members were injured.
In total, the pilots of the 46th IAP declared three aerial victories in the morning. In addition to the Heinkels shot down by Senior Lieutenant I. I. Ivanov and Captain I. I. Geibo’s flight, another bomber was credited to Senior Lieutenant S. L. Maksimenko. The exact timing of this application is not known. Considering the consonance between “Klimenko” and “Maksimenko” and that there was no pilot with the surname Klimenko in the 46th IAP, we can confidently say that in the morning it was Maksimenko who headed the duty unit mentioned by Geibo, and as a result of the attacks it was his unit that was shot down and burned “ Heinkel" Chief Sergeant Major Gründer, and two more aircraft were damaged.
Hauptmann Wittmer's second attempt
Summing up the results of the first flight, the commander of III./KG 55, Hauptmann Wittmer, had to be seriously concerned about the losses - out of 14 aircraft that took off, five were out of action. At the same time, entries in the group’s ZhBD about allegedly 50 Soviet aircraft destroyed at airfields seem to be a banal attempt to justify heavy losses. We must pay tribute to the commander of the German group - he made the right conclusions and tried to take revenge on the next flight.
Heinkel from the 55th squadron in flight over Mlynów airfield, June 22, 1941
At 15:30, Hauptmann Wittmer led all 18 serviceable Heinkels of III./KG 55 in a decisive attack, the only target of which was the Mlynów airfield. From the ZhBD group:
“At 15:45, a group in close formation attacked the airfield from a height of 1000 m... Details of the results were not observed due to strong attacks by fighters. After the bombs were dropped, no further launch of enemy aircraft took place. It was a good result.
Defense: a lot of fighters with retreat attacks. One of our vehicles was attacked by 7 enemy fighters. Boarding: 16:30–17:00. One I-16 fighter was shot down. The crews watched him fall. Weather: good, some clouds in places. Ammo used: 576SD 50.
Losses: Corporal Gantz's plane disappeared, being attacked by fighters after dropping bombs. He disappeared downstairs. Further fate could not observe due to strong attacks by fighters. Non-Commissioned Officer Parr has been wounded."
A later note in the description of the raid mentions a real triumph: “According to clarification on the spot, after the capture of Mlynów, complete success was achieved: 40 aircraft were destroyed in the parking lot.”
Despite another “success” both in the report and later in the note, it is obvious that the Germans again received a “warm welcome” over the Mlynów airfield. Soviet fighters attacked the bombers as they approached. Due to the continuous attacks, the German crews were unable to record either the results of the bombing or the fate of the lost crew. This is how I. I. Geibo, who led the interception group, conveys the atmosphere of the battle:
“At an altitude of about eight hundred meters, another group of German bombers appeared... Three of our flights went out to intercept, and with them I did. As we approached, I saw two nines in the right bearing. The Junkers also noticed us and instantly closed ranks, huddled together, preparing for defense - after all, the denser the formation, the denser, and therefore more effective, the air gunners’ fire...
I gave the signal: “We go on the attack all at once, everyone chooses their own target.” And then he rushed at the leader. Now he's already in sight. I see flashes of return fire. I press the trigger. The fiery path of my bursts goes towards the target. It’s time for the Junkers to fall on its wing, but as if enchanted it continues to follow its previous course. The distance is rapidly closing. We need to get out! I make a sharp and deep turn to the left, preparing to attack again. And suddenly - a sharp pain in the thigh..."
Results of the day
Summing up and comparing the results, we note that the pilots of the 46th IAP managed to cover their airfield this time, not allowing the enemy to stay on the combat course and bomb accurately. We must also pay tribute to the courage of the German crews - they acted without cover, but the Soviet fighters did not manage to break up their formation, and they were able to shoot down one and damage another He 111 only at the cost of the same losses. One I-16 was hit by rifle fire, and Junior Lieutenant I.M. Tsibulko, who had just shot down a bomber, jumped out with a parachute, and Captain Geibo, who damaged the second He 111, was wounded and had difficulty landing the damaged plane.
I-16 fighters type 5 and 10, as well as training UTI-4, were destroyed as a result of flight accidents or abandoned due to malfunctions at the Mlynów airfield. Perhaps one of these vehicles was piloted by Captain Geibo in the evening battle on June 22, and then made an emergency landing due to combat damage
Together with the downed Heinkel from 9./KG 55, the crew of Corporal Ganz (Gefr. Franz Ganz) of five people was killed, another aircraft of the same squadron was damaged. On this fighting On the first day, the air war in the Dubno and Mlynów area actually ended.
What have the opposing sides achieved? Group III./KG 55 and other units of the V Air Corps failed to destroy the materiel of the Soviet air units at the Mlynów airfield, despite the possibility of a first surprise strike. Having destroyed two I-16s on the ground and shot down another one in the air (except for Ivanov’s plane, which was destroyed during the ramming), the Germans lost five He 111s destroyed, and three more damaged, which is a third of the number available on the morning of June 22. In fairness, it should be noted that the German crews operated in difficult conditions: their targets were located 100–120 km from the border, they operated without fighter cover, being about an hour above the territory controlled by Soviet troops, which, along with the tactically illiterate organization of the first flight, led to big losses.
The 46th IAP was one of the few air force regiments whose pilots were able to not only reliably cover their airfield on June 22 and suffer minimal losses from assault strikes, but also inflict serious damage on the enemy. This was a consequence of both competent management and the personal courage of the pilots, who were ready to repel enemy attacks at the cost of their lives. Special mention should be made of the outstanding leadership skills Captain I.I. Geibo, who fought magnificently and exemplary for young pilots of the 46th IAP.
The pilots of the 46th IAP who distinguished themselves on June 22, 1941, from left to right: deputy squadron commander, senior lieutenant Simon Lavrovich Maksimenko, an experienced pilot who took part in combat operations in Spain. In the memoirs, Geibo is listed as Klimenko’s “commander.” Later - squadron commander of the 10th IAP, died on 07/05/1942 in an air battle; junior lieutenants Konstantin Konstantinovich Kobyzev and Ivan Methodievich Tsibulko. Ivan Tsibulko died in a plane crash on 03/09/1943, being the commander of the 46th IAP squadron with the rank of captain. Konstantin Kobyzev was wounded in September 1941, and after recovery did not return to the front - he was an instructor at the Armavir pilot school, as well as a pilot at the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry
The number of victories declared by Soviet pilots and actually destroyed German aircraft is almost the same, even without taking into account damaged aircraft. In addition to the losses mentioned, in the afternoon in the Dubno area a He 111 from 3./KG 55 was shot down, along with which five members of the crew of non-commissioned officer Behringer (Uffz. Werner Bähringer) were killed. Probably the author of this victory was junior lieutenant K.K. Kobyzev. For his successes in the first battles (he was the only pilot of the regiment to claim two personal victories in the June battles), on August 2, 1941, he was awarded the highest award of the USSR - the Order of Lenin.
It is gratifying that all other pilots of the 46th IAP, who distinguished themselves in the battles of the first day, were awarded government awards by the same decree: I. I. Ivanov posthumously became a Hero of the Soviet Union, I. I. Geibo, I. M. Tsibulko and S. L. Maksimenko received the Order of the Red Banner.
It is a well-known fact that the first aviators did not fight in the sky, but greeted each other.
In 1911, both the French and Russians simultaneously equipped aircraft with machine guns and the era began air battles. In the absence of ammunition, the pilots used a ram.
Ramming is an air combat technique designed to disable an enemy aircraft, a ground target, or an unwary pedestrian.
It was first used by Pyotr Nesterov on September 8, 1914 against an Austrian reconnaissance aircraft.
There are several types of rams: a landing gear strike on the wing, a propeller strike on the tail, a wing strike, a fuselage strike, a tail strike (I. Sh. Bikmukhametov’s ram)
A ram committed by I. Sh. Bikmukhametov during the Great Patriotic War: going out into the enemy’s forehead with a slide and a turn, Bikmukhametov struck the enemy’s wing with the tail of his plane. As a result, the enemy lost control, went into a tailspin and crashed, and Bikmukhametov was even able to bring his plane to the airfield and land safely.
Ram by V. A. Kulyapin, ram by S. P. Subbotin, ram on jet fighter, used in air combat in Korea. Subbotin found himself in a situation where his enemy was catching up with him while descending. Having released the brake flaps, Subbotin slowed down, essentially exposing his plane to attack. As a result of the collision, the enemy was destroyed, Subbotin managed to eject and remained alive.
1
Pyotr Nesterov was the first to use an aerial ram on September 8, 1914 against an Austrian reconnaissance aircraft.
2
During the war, he shot down 28 enemy aircraft, one of them in a group, and shot down 4 aircraft with a ram. IN three cases Kovzan was returning to the airfield on his MiG-3 plane. On August 13, 1942, on a La-5 aircraft, Captain Kovzan discovered a group of enemy bombers and fighters. In a battle with them, he was shot down and injured in his eye, and then Kovzan directed his plane at an enemy bomber. The impact threw Kovzan out of the cabin and from a height of 6,000 meters, with his parachute not fully opening, he fell into a swamp, breaking his leg and several ribs.
3
He directed the damaged plane to a higher target. According to the reports of Vorobyov and Rybas, Gastello’s burning plane rammed a mechanized column of enemy equipment. At night, peasants from the nearby village of Dekshnyany removed the corpses of the pilots from the plane and, wrapping the bodies in parachutes, buried them near the crash site of the bomber. Gastello's feat was to some extent canonized. The first ram in the history of the Great Patriotic War was carried out by the Soviet pilot D.V. Kokorev on June 22, 1941 at approximately 4 hours 15 minutes (for a long time I.I. Ivanov was considered the author of the first ram in the history of the Great Patriotic War, but in fact he carried out his ram 10 minutes later than Kokorev)
4
The Su-2 light bomber shot down one German Me-109 fighter and rammed the second. When the wing hit the fuselage, the Messerschmitt broke in half, and the Su-2 exploded, and the pilot was thrown out of the cockpit.
The first used a night ram on August 7, 1941, shooting down a He-111 bomber near Moscow. At the same time, he himself remained alive.
6
On December 20, 1943, in his first air battle, he destroyed two American B-24 Liberator bombers - the first with a machine gun, and the second with an air ram.
7
On February 13, 1945, in the southern part of the Baltic Sea, during an attack on a terminal transport with a displacement of 6,000 tons, V.P. Nosov’s plane was hit by a shell, the plane began to fall, but the pilot directed his burning plane directly into the transport and destroyed it. The crew of the plane died.
8
On May 20, 1942, he flew on an I-153 plane to intercept an enemy Ju-88 reconnaissance aircraft, which was photographing military installations in the city of Yelets, Lipetsk Region. He shot down an enemy plane, but it remained in the air and continued to fly. Barkovsky aimed his plane at the ram and destroyed the Ju-88. The pilot died in the collision.
9
On November 28, 1973, on a MiG-21SM jet fighter, Captain G. Eliseev rammed an F-4 “Phantom” of the Iranian Air Force (when the latter violated the State Border of the USSR in the area of the Mugan Valley of the AzSSR).
10 Kulyapin Valentin (Taran Kulyapin)
He rammed a CL-44 transport aircraft (number LV-JTN, Transportes Aereo Rioplatense airline, Argentina), which was making a secret transport flight on the Tel Aviv - Tehran route and unintentionally invaded Armenian airspace.
Contrary to frequent statements, the first night air ram was carried out not by Viktor Talalikhin, but by another Russian pilot. Evgeniy Stepanov rammed an SM-81 bomber over Barcelona in October 1937.
He fought in Spain on the Republican side during Civil War. Soon after the start of the Great Patriotic War, the night ram will glorify the young pilot Talalikhin.
Now historians write that during the Great Patriotic War the first night ram was carried out by Pyotr Eremeev, who served in the Moscow region in the 27th air regiment. He shot down a Ju-88 on the night of July 28-29 over the Istra region. Eremeev died a few weeks before Talalikhin - in early October 1941. However, his feat never became widely known, and he received the title of Hero posthumously only in 1995. Talalikhin became a symbol of the heroism of Soviet pilots.
Dreams of heaven
At the age of seventeen in September 1935, Talalikhin enrolled in a gliding club. By this time, the future ace had behind him a high school and a factory apprenticeship school at the Moscow meat processing plant, where the young man later worked. Perhaps his older brothers served as an example for Talalikhin: they were drafted into the army, and both ended up in aviation. But in the 30s, many Soviet boys dreamed of heaven.
A few months after the start of training in the circle, Talalikhin wrote in the factory newspaper that he made his first flight on a glider, completed the first stage of training with “good” and “excellent” marks, and hoped to continue studying. He declared that he wanted to fly like Chkalov, Belyakov and Baidukov - the names of these pilots were well known throughout the Soviet Union.
First flight and military school
In October 1936, Talalikhin was sent to the flying club. Despite his small stature, he successfully passed the medical examination and began training. The instructor noted that the young man has talent, but he needs a “cool head.” Talalikhin will gain composure and prudence during military service.
Talalikhin made his first flight on a U-2 in 1937, a few months before being drafted into the army. There the dream of the future ace came true - he was sent to the Chkalov military aviation school in Borisoglebsk. He studied diligently: Talalikhin later recalled that he got up at sunrise and returned to the barracks right before lights out. In addition to his studies, he spent a lot of time in the library: reading specialized literature, studying maps and instructions.
However, Talalikhin once had to end up in the guardhouse for violating flight safety regulations: during training, he performed several more aerobatic maneuvers than prescribed by the rules.
In 1938, he graduated from college with the rank of junior lieutenant and began serving in the 27th Fighter Aviation Regiment. Officers and teachers of the school noted that Talalikhin has courage, he makes the right decisions in difficult situations.
In the Finnish war
During Soviet-Finnish War Talalikhin carried out 47 combat missions. Already in the first battle, the junior pilot of the third squadron destroyed an enemy plane. Then Talalikhin flew the Chaika - I-153 (biplane). For his valor, the future ace received the Order of the Red Star.
In total, during the campaign Talalikhin shot down four planes. In one of the battles, he covered commander Mikhail Korolev, who was trying to intercept a German bomber and came under fire from a Finnish anti-aircraft battery. Talalikhin “separated” from the commander’s plane and destroyed the German Fokker (F-190). After the end of the Finnish campaign
Talalikhin spent about a month on vacation with his parents, and then was sent for retraining - advanced training courses for flight personnel. In the description at the end of them, Talalikhin was called worthy of becoming a flight commander. It was also said that he "flies boldly", is smart in the air, and successfully flies fighter planes.
In the spring of 1941, Korolev and Talalikhin met again: the young pilot was sent to the first squadron of the 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment, commanded by Korolev. His immediate commander was Vasily Gugashin.
The beginning of the Great Patriotic War
Soviet pilots carried out their first rams immediately after the start of the war. It is recorded that on June 22, 1941, seven pilots risked their lives and sent their planes to enemy aircraft. Ramming was a fatal risk for the pilot. Few survived - for example, Boris Kovzan shot down four planes in this way and each time landed successfully by parachute.
The squadron in which Talalikhin served was based near the city of Klin. Pilots began flying combat missions on July 21, after the first German air raid on Moscow. Then, thanks to the successful work of air defense and Soviet aviation, out of 220 bombers, only a few reached the city.
The task of the Soviet pilots was to detect fascist bombers and fighters, cut them off from the group and destroy them.
Talalikhin's regiment took its first battle on July 25. At that time, the ace was already deputy squadron commander, and soon Gugashin was unable to exercise command, and Talalikhin had to take over.
Night ram
On August 7, one of the last major German air attacks on Moscow took place. This was the sixteenth raid.
Talalikhin received an order to fly out to intercept bombers in the Podolsk area. The pilot later told reporters that he noticed a Heinkel-111 at an altitude of 4800 meters. He attacked and knocked out the right engine. The German plane turned around and flew back. The pilots began their descent. Talalikhin realized that he had run out of ammunition.
The search engines that discovered Talalikhin’s plane in 2014 have a version that the firing system was disabled. The ammunition was half spent, and the instrument panel was shot through. At the same time, Talalikhin was wounded in the arm.
He decided to go for a ram: at first there was a plan to “chop off” the tail of the German plane with a propeller, but in the end Talalikhin rammed the bomber with his entire I-16, which he called a “hawk.”
The Soviet pilot parachuted into a lake near the village of Mansurovo (now in the area of Domodedovo Airport). He chose a long jump, fearing that the parachute canopy would be shot through by the Germans.
A German plane crashed near the village of Dobrynikha, its crew was killed. The Heinkel was commanded by a forty-year-old lieutenant colonel. The crash site of the downed plane had to be recorded, otherwise, according to the rules of Red Army aviation, the feat would not have been recognized. Local residents helped the military find him. There is even a photograph in which Talalikhin is captured in front of the Heinkel.
Radio interception recorded that the Germans called Talalikhin a “crazy Russian pilot” who destroyed a heavy bomber.
Talalikhin's feat was immediately reflected in newspapers and was talked about on the radio. The Soviet state needed heroes: stories about such actions raised the morale of soldiers. The day after the ram, Talalikhin received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A decree about this appeared in the newspapers on August 9. Ace wrote to his brother Alexander that the award was a great honor for him. However, it seemed to him that he had not done anything special and that his brother in his place would have done the same.
August 7, the day of Talalikhin’s feat, distant Soviet aviation carried out the first bombing of Berlin, infuriating the Nazi government.
Death of Talalikhin
While undergoing treatment, Talalikhin communicated a lot with young people and workers, and spoke at anti-fascist rallies. As soon as he was able to return to duty, he again began to shoot down enemy aircraft. By the end of October, he had shot down four German aircraft.
On October 27, Talalikhin’s group flew to cover the troops in the area of the village of Kamenki. Approaching their destination, the pilots noticed Messerschmitts. Talalikhin managed to shoot down one of them, but soon three german plane They were very close to him and opened fire. With the help of his partner Alexander Bogdanov, they managed to shoot down the second one, but almost immediately after this Talalikhin received a severe bullet wound to the head and was unable to control the plane.
Fragments of the plane were found. The pilot's body was sent to Moscow. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
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