Aerial ram by Peter Nesterov. Heroes of Fire Rams

Ramming as a method of air combat has never been and will not be the main one, since a collision with an enemy very often leads to the destruction and fall of both vehicles. A ramming attack is only permissible in a situation where the pilot has no other choice. The first such attack was carried out in 1912 by the famous pilot Pyotr Nesterov, who shot down an Austrian reconnaissance aircraft. His light Moran hit the heavy enemy Albatross, on which the pilot and observer were located, from above. As a result of the attack, both planes were damaged and fell, Nesterov and the Austrians were killed. At that time, machine guns had not yet been installed on airplanes, so ramming was the only way to shoot down an enemy airplane.

After the death of Nesterov, the tactics of ramming strikes were carefully worked out; the pilots began to strive to shoot down an enemy aircraft while preserving their own. The main method of attack was hitting the tail of the enemy aircraft with the propeller blades. The rapidly spinning propeller damaged the plane's tail, causing it to lose control and crash. At the same time, the pilots of the attacking aircraft often managed to land their planes safely. After replacing the bent propellers, the aircraft were ready to fly again. Other options were also used - impact with the wing, keel, fuselage, landing gear.

Night rams were especially difficult, since it is very difficult to carry out a strike in conditions of poor visibility. For the first time, a night air ram was used on October 28, 1937 in the skies of Spain by the Soviet Yevgeny Stepanov. At night over Barcelona on an I-15 he managed to destroy the Italian Savoia-Marchetti bomber with a ramming attack. Since the Soviet Union did not officially take part in the civil war in Spain, they preferred not to talk about the pilot’s feat for a long time.

During the Great Patriotic War, the first night air ram was carried out by fighter pilot of the 28th Fighter Air Force Pyotr Vasilyevich Eremeev: on July 29, 1941, on a MiG-3 aircraft, he destroyed an enemy Junkers-88 bomber with a ramming attack. But the night ram of fighter pilot Viktor Vasilyevich Talalikhin became more famous: on the night of August 7, 1941, on an I-16 plane in the area of ​​Podolsk near Moscow, he shot down a German Heinkel-111 bomber. The Battle of Moscow was one of the key moments of the war, so the pilot’s feat became widely known. For his courage and heroism, Viktor Talalikhin was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. He died on October 27, 1941 in an air battle, having destroyed two enemy aircraft and was mortally wounded by a fragment of an exploding shell.

During the battles with Nazi Germany, Soviet pilots carried out more than 500 ramming attacks; some pilots used this technique several times and remained alive. Ramming attacks were also used later, already on jet vehicles.

For the first time in the world, a night air ram was carried out by a Soviet fighter pilot, Senior Lieutenant Evgeniy Stepanov, on October 28, 1938, in the skies of Spain.

For a long time it was believed that the first night ram was attributed to the Soviet pilot Viktor Talalikhin, who rammed a fascist He-111 bomber near Moscow on August 7, 1941. Without in any way detracting from his primacy in this matter within the framework of the Great Patriotic War, we will also pay tribute to our great ace pilot Evgeniy Nikolaevich Stepanov.

So, the first night ram in the history of aviation was carried out on October 28, 1938. That night, the commander of the 1st Chatos squadron, senior lieutenant Evgeniy Stepanov, who took off in his I-15, saw an enemy bomber illuminated by the moon and went on the attack. During the battle, the top turret gunner was killed. Meanwhile, the Savoy turned towards Barcelona, ​​the lights of which were already clearly visible. Stepanov decided to go for the ram. Trying to preserve the propeller and engine as much as possible, he struck with the wheels, which hit the tail of the Savoy. Having lost its stabilizer, the bomber immediately crashed down just a few kilometers from the city.

Although the I-15 was damaged, Stepanov, after checking the control and operation of the engine, decided to continue patrolling and soon discovered another Savoy. Having fired at the bomber several times, he forced its crew to turn towards the open sea, over the waves of which the bomber was finally finished off. Only after this did our pilot return to the Sabadell airfield, where he safely landed his damaged fighter.

In total, Stepanov conducted 16 air battles in Spain and shot down 8 enemy aircraft.

Yevgeny Stepanov fought his last battle in Spanish skies on January 17, 1938. That day, he led a squadron to the Universales Mountains to intercept Junkers flying to bombard Republican troops, accompanied by a large group of Fiats. A battle broke out over the city of Ojos Negros. The enemy outnumbered Stepanov's group by almost 3 times. Eugene successfully attacked and shot down the Fiat and thereby saved the Austrian volunteer pilot Tom Dobiash from apparent death. After that, Stepanov chased after the second enemy fighter, got behind him, caught him in his sights and pressed the triggers. But the machine guns were silent. The cartridges are out. I decided: “Ram!” At that second, several anti-aircraft shells exploded in front of the I-15’s nose. The Nazis cut off fire. The second series of explosions covered Stepanov’s car. The control cables were broken by shrapnel and the engine was damaged. Not obeying the will of the pilot, the plane went steeply towards the ground. Stepanov jumped out of the cockpit and opened his parachute. He landed close to the forward positions and was captured by the Moroccans. This probably would not have happened if Stepanov had not hit a rock upon landing and lost consciousness.

Enemy soldiers tore off the Soviet pilot's uniform, stripped him down to his underwear, and tied his hands with wire. Interrogations, beatings, torture and abuse followed. He was kept in solitary confinement for a month and was not given food for several days. But the officer did not even tell the enemies his real name. Stepanov went through prisons in Zaragoza, Salamanca and San Sebastian.

Six months later, the government of the Spanish Republic exchanged him for a captured fascist pilot.

After returning from Spain, Stepanov received the rank of captain and was appointed inspector of piloting technology of the 19th IAP of the Leningrad Military District.

From the biography: Evgeny Stepanov was born on May 22, 1911 in Moscow, into the family of a marble worker. At the age of 6 he was left without a father. In 1928 he graduated from 7 classes, and in 1930 he graduated from the FZU railway school. He worked as a blacksmith. He studied at the factory radio club. In 1932, he completed his studies at the Moscow Osoaviakhim Pilot School with 80 hours of flight time. In the same year, on a Komsomol voucher, he was sent to the Borisoglebsk Military Pilot School. After graduation, in March 1933, he was assigned to serve on a bomber, but after numerous applications he managed to secure an assignment to a fighter. He served in the 12th Fighter Aviation Squadron, part of the 111th Fighter Aviation Brigade of the Leningrad Military District. He was a senior pilot and flight commander.

From August 20, 1937 to July 27, 1938, he took part in the national revolutionary war of the Spanish people. He was a pilot, squadron commander, and then commander of a group of I-15 fighters. He had pseudonyms: “Eugenio” and “Slepnev”. Had 100 hours of combat flight time. Having carried out 16 air battles, he shot down 8 enemy aircraft personally, including 1 by ram, and 4 in a group. On November 10, 1937 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

From May 29 to September 16, 1939, he took part in battles with the Japanese in the Khalkhin-Gol River area. Flew on I-16 and I-153. His task was to transfer combat experience to pilots who had not yet met the enemy in the air. In total, in the skies of Mongolia, the piloting equipment inspector of the 19th Fighter Aviation Regiment (1st Army Group), Captain E. N. Stepanov, made more than 100 sorties, conducted 5 air battles, and shot down 4 enemy aircraft. On August 29, 1939, for courage and military valor shown in battles with enemies, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. On August 10, 1939 he was awarded the Mongolian Order “For Military Valor”.

As part of the 19th Fighter Aviation Regiment, he participated in the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939 - 1940. Then he was an inspector for piloting technology at the Air Force Directorate of the Moscow Military District.

During the Great Patriotic War he worked in the Air Force Directorate of the Moscow Military District. In 1942 - 1943 he was the head of the department of military educational institutions of the Air Force of this district. After the war, he retired to the reserve, worked as an inspector, instructor and head of a department in the DOSAAF Central Committee, then was deputy head of the Central Aero Club named after V.P. Chkalov. Died September 4, 1996. He was buried at Troekurovskoye Cemetery.

Everyone knows that the first ram was carried out by staff captain P. N. Nesterov back in 1914. Many people know that the world's first night ram was carried out on October 27, 1941 by Soviet pilot V.V. Talalikhin. However, the names of Stalin's falcons, which carried out a ramming attack on the very first day of the Great Patriotic War, for some reason remain in the shadows for many years. It is difficult not to agree that their exploits, their willingness to give their lives for the freedom of their native land are no less significant. The very first who went to ram during the Great Patriotic War were pilots of the Leningrad Military District - P. T. Kharitonov and S. I. Zdorovtsev. Which is not surprising: after all, Leningrad was behind them. It was these pilots who became the first Heroes of the Soviet Union, who received this title on July 8, 1941 by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for the feat accomplished in the Great Patriotic War. But there were other heroes who committed the ramming attack on June 22, 1941, and their names are no longer practically known to a wide circle of people. Let us reconstruct the events of that time and name their names.

Literally in the first moments of the war, at 4 o’clock in the morning, a flight of fighter aviation regiment No. 124 under the command of junior lieutenant D.V. Kokarev rose to intercept the enemy. Almost above the runway, he saw the fascist Dornier Do 215. Having made a turn, Kokarev’s MiG-3 took an advantageous position to open fire. And then it turned out that the machine guns had failed. What should I do? The Nazi was already turning the car on the opposite course. The decision was made instantly: Kokarev increased the engine speed, came close to Dornier and over the city of Zambrów hit him on the tail with the propeller blades. The bomber, having lost control, spun and crashed to the ground. So at 4 hours 15 minutes on June 22, 1941, one of the first rams in the skies of the Great Patriotic War was carried out. Kokarev managed to land his damaged plane. After the ramming, the brave pilot fought in the skies of Moscow and Leningrad, made more than 100 combat missions and shot down 5 fascist planes. He died in the battle for the city of Lenin on October 12, 1941.

Almost simultaneously with Dmitry Vasilyevich Kokarev, piloting an I-16 fighter, the flight commander of fighter aviation regiment No. 46, senior lieutenant I. I. Ivanov, carried out the ram. He committed it at 4 hours 25 minutes in the area of ​​​​the city of Zhovkva (now part of the Lviv region of Ukraine). It is significant that in the same place, in 1914, Pyotr Nesterov also carried out his aerial ramming. On August 2, 1941, Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Ivanov’s feat was also immortalized by the fact that his name was given to one of the streets in the city of Shchelkovo.

At dawn on June 22, 1941, the deputy squadron commander for political affairs of fighter aviation regiment No. 127, senior political instructor A. S. Danilov, and his pilots were patrolling over the city of Grodno (Belarus). Suddenly, fascist bombers and fighters began approaching the city from different directions. The squadron dispersed. Group air battles ensued. Danilov shot down two enemy planes. But in the whirlwind of the air battle, they used up all the ammunition. Then, approaching the enemy aircraft closely, A.S. Danilov directed his I-153 at the enemy aircraft and cut off its wing with a propeller. The fascist plane burst into flames and began to fall. Soon, Pravda published a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on awarding A.S. Danilov the Order of Lenin posthumously. But Andrei Stepanovich did not die. Seriously wounded, he landed the plane. The collective farmers of the village of Cherlen delivered the brave pilot to the medical battalion. After recovery, senior political instructor Danilov returned to duty and fought air battles on the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts. The end of the war found A.S. Danilov on the Transbaikal Front.

At 5:15 a.m., near the airfield located near the city of Stanislav (now the Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankovsk), the pilot of the 12th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Komsomol member, junior lieutenant L. G. Butelin took part in an air battle. Having shot down one Junkers Ju-88, he rushed to pursue another enemy plane trying to break through to the airfield. The Junkers were quite durable vehicles; it was not so easy to shoot them down, having only machine guns on the fighter. It was not possible to shoot down the second plane with airborne fire. All ammunition was used up. And then Butelin directed his plane into the bomber.

At 5 hours 20 minutes, the deputy squadron commander of Fighter Aviation Regiment No. 33, Lieutenant S. M. Gudimov, took off with the task of repelling a raid by Henkel He-111 bombers on the Belarusian city of Pruzhany. S. M. Gudimov managed to shoot down one bomber. During the battle, the lieutenant's fighter was hit and caught fire. S. M. Gudimov rammed the second Henkel with a burning fighter.

At 7.00, over the airfield in the Belarusian village of Cherlen, which was raided by 54 enemy aircraft, the commander of the squadron of high-speed bomber aviation regiment No. 16, Captain A. S. Protasov, took off under fire. In an air battle, despite the fact that his plane was being attacked by Me-109 fighters, Protasov’s crew managed to shoot down an enemy bomber. The captain rammed the second fascist bomber with his Pe-2. This was the first ram in the air by a bomber during the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War.

At 8:35 a.m., pilots of Fighter Aviation Regiment No. 126 Evgeniy Panfilov and Grigory Alaev began an air battle with nine Me-110s in the area of ​​their airfield. Two Nazi vehicles were shot down. Lieutenant Alaev died in an unequal battle. Panfilov went to ram. Upon impact with the enemy aircraft, he was thrown out of the cockpit. He landed safely with a parachute. Subsequently, Panfilov fought as part of the 148th and then the 254th fighter aviation regiments on the Southwestern Front. The brave pilot died in an air battle on August 12, 1942.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, Pyotr Sergeevich Ryabtsev accomplished his feat over Brest. Here is what is written about it in the history of fighter aviation regiment No. 123: “4 fighters, captain Mozhaev, lieutenants Zhidov, Ryabtsev and Nazarov, entered into battle with eight German Me-109 fighters. Lieutenant Zhidov's plane was hit and began to descend. Three fascists from above began to attack him, but Captain Mozhaev, covering Zhidov’s exit from the battle, shot down one of the fascist fighters with a well-aimed machine-gun burst, and the second “Messer” was intercepted by Lieutenant Zhidov and set on fire. At the end of the battle, Lieutenant Ryabtsev's entire ammunition was used up. But Ryabtsev, regardless of the danger to life, flew the plane to ram the enemy.”

The deputy squadron commander of Fighter Aviation Regiment No. 67, Senior Lieutenant A.I. Moklyak, continued counting the ramming strikes of the first day of the war. In an aerial duel over Moldova, he shot down two enemy vehicles. Having used up all the ammunition, Moklyak rammed the third fascist bomber.

On the first day of the Great Patriotic War, a ramming attack destroyed a fascist plane and the flight commander of fighter aviation regiment No. 728, junior lieutenant N.P. Ignatiev. “Where, in what country could such an attack technique as a ram be born,” wrote the famous ace, three times Hero of the Soviet Union A. I. Pokryshkin. - Only among us, among pilots who are infinitely devoted to their Motherland, who put it above everything, above their own lives... A ram is not daring, not a senseless risk, a ram is a weapon of brave Soviet soldiers who masterfully controlled an airplane. The ram required masterful control of the machine.”

During the Great Patriotic War, more than five hundred pilots carried out ramming attacks on the enemy. Rams were carried out not only on fighters, but also on attack aircraft and bombers. More than half of our pilots managed to save their combat vehicles after ramming enemy aircraft. During the war, 25 pilots made two rams. There were pilots who also carried out three rams: the deputy squadron commander, senior lieutenant A. S. Khlobystov and senior lieutenant B. I. Kovzan.

Studying the history of the air rams committed on June 22, 1941, it is impossible to ignore one more detail. All the pilots who decided to ram were either Komsomol members, communists, or party candidates. Let everyone draw their own conclusions.

Sources:
Burov A.V. Your heroes, Leningrad.
Abramov A.S. Courage is a legacy.
Immortal feats. Digest of articles.
Burov A.V. Fiery sky.
Zhukova L.N. I choose a ram.
History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. 1941-1945.
Wings of the Motherland. Digest of articles.
Smirnov S.S. There was a great war.
Shingarev S.I. I'm going to ram.
Aviation and Cosmonautics 1971 No. 6.
Aviation and Cosmonautics 1979 No. 8.
Aviation and astronautics 1991 No. 6.

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 pursued 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 target, according to Plan Barbarossa, was the Soviet capital.

The bomber crews had extensive combat experience in attacking large 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 many anti-aircraft guns, barrage balloons, which were installed much higher than usual, and a lot of air defense fighter aircraft, which were actively operating 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 local residents helped him get out. 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 172 Heinkel-111 aircraft in a short time (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.

This happened on June 26, 1941, on the fifth day of the war, when the plane of Captain Nikolai Gastello was shot down while bombing a column of enemy tanks. The squadron commander did not leave the battle and continued to fight the Nazis to the end. With a firm hand, the pilot directed the bomber, engulfed in flames, into the thick of enemy tanks and gas tanks. There, in the raging fire of enemy vehicles, he finished his last flight together with the commander and his combat crew (lieutenants Grigory Skorobogaty, Anatoly Burdenyuk and Sergeant Alexey Kalinin).

The hero's name became famous. Central newspapers wrote about the feat and talked about it on the radio. The throw of a set fire bomber onto a ground target, first performed by the regimental commissar M. Yuyukin back in 1939, and the feat of Captain Gastello showed the Soviet pilots the last means of struggle, which nothing could take away from them - neither damage to the aircraft, nor a depleted supply of shells, nor heavy wound.

For many years it was believed that the crew of Captain N. Gastello was the first to ram a ground target in battles with the Nazis. But the work of historians made it possible to make adjustments. It has been established that one of the first to carry out a fiery ramming of a ground target was the bomber crew under the command of Captain G. Khrapay. The crew included navigator Lieutenant V. Filatov and gunner-radio operator Senior Sergeant G. Tikhomirov. And this happened on June 24, 1941 near the city of Brody, Lviv region. On the same day, the fire ram was carried out by senior political instructor S. Airapetov. He directed his plane at a convoy of enemy vehicles near the city of Taurage in Lithuania.

On June 27, 1941, near the Polish city of Hrubieszow, a new fiery explosion hit a fascist motorized column like a tornado. This was the farewell salute of the pilot Lieutenant D. Tarasov and the navigator Lieutenant B. Eremin, who repeated the feat of the crew of Captain Gastello. A day later, on June 29, 1941, the flames of a violent explosion now shot up on Belarusian soil. It was Senior Lieutenant I. Preiszen who brought down his bomber into the very center of a group of Nazi tanks.

On July 4, 1941, on the Rezekne-Ostrov highway, squadron commander Captain L. Mikhailov attacked enemy tanks with his bomber. On August 28, pilot junior lieutenant I. Vdovenko and navigator lieutenant N. Gomonenko sent their burning plane to the enemy’s crossing of the Dnieper and destroyed it.

On September 19, 1941, near Leningrad, junior lieutenant V. Bondarenko aimed his crippled fighter at an enemy anti-aircraft battery. On September 23, senior lieutenant I. Zolin rammed the Berislav dam on the Dnieper. On September 28, Sergeant D. Koryazin crashed his plane into a column of fascist tanks near Tula.

Recently, some military historians have begun to come across the assertion that the ground ram was caused by the accidental fall of out-of-control aircraft. But the facts tell a different story. Testimony of our pilots, who heard in their headsets through the roar of the battle the last words of the heroes: “For the Motherland, I’m going to ram!” and those who saw their fiery dive, finally, the very circumstances of the ramming convincingly prove that the wrecked vehicles were deliberately directed towards the target by the firm hand of the pilots.

“On January 17, 1945, accompanying a group of attack aircraft,” fighter pilots Major Gontarenko and Captain Makarov reported about the last combat mission of Junior Lieutenant A. Kolyado, “we observed how the fourth wingman, whose engine caught fire in the air, turned his “silt” and crashed into a concentration of enemy manpower and equipment. According to our observation, the plane was controllable, and the pilot, if desired, could land on fascist territory.”

The lines of combat documents confirm that the roar of explosions and the avalanche of flames that tore apart the tank wedges of the Nazis, raised their guns into the air, broke bridges and crossings, were not caused by the accidental fall of out-of-control aircraft. No, the planes were thrown at the target by living people who decided, even at the cost of their lives, to strike at the hated enemy.

The flames rose above the engine and fuselage of the downed bomber, rushing towards the gas tanks - senior political instructor A. Anikin did not deviate from the combat course. As if not noticing the mortal danger that threatened him, the pilot boldly attacked the fascist tanks concentrated to cross the Velikaya River. The pilots he led broke through a barrage of anti-aircraft explosions and for the second and third time brought down a deadly load on the Nazis. The fourth dive was the last for the senior political instructor - with the fiery comet of his plane, he crashed into a formation of tanks with crosses on their armor. The enemy was unable to reach the right bank of the Velikaya River on that July day in 1941.

Did those heroes, like A. Kolyado, have the opportunity to save their lives? Certainly. They could land or jump out of the burning cars using parachutes. The last target could not have been chosen at random. Otherwise, would the pilot Lieutenant V. Kovalev have been able to ram an enemy anti-aircraft battery on December 14, 1941, located away from the Rumyantsev station, over which he was shot down? The pilot saw that the battery blocked the path of his wingmen to the enemy tanks moving along the Volokolamsk Highway with a barrage of fire, and headed for it. A flying fire fell on the enemy's firing position, V. Kovalev's fighter crushed the guns along with their crews, and the fascist tanks, having lost their anti-aircraft screen, were burned by the pilots of the flight of the heroically deceased commander.

Matching the feat of V. Kovalev was the fiery ram of the squadron commander, Captain V. Shiryaev. On September 4, 1942, during an attack by Nazi tanks rushing across the Kalmyk steppe towards Stalingrad, his plane was overtaken by a volley of anti-aircraft guns. The pilot separated from his group and, finding a large concentration of enemy vehicles, directed the wounded attack aircraft at them. On October 21, 1943, mortally wounded by a fragment of an anti-aircraft shell, the pilot dived onto enemy firing points that were hindering the advance of our advancing infantry near the city of Melitopol.

In the name of Victory, Lieutenant V. Aleinikov, Captain S. Borodkin, Captain K. Zakharov, Lieutenant P. Kriven, Senior Lieutenant P. Nadezhdin and other Soviet pilots rammed ground targets. A ground ram is a feat that only Soviet pilots, brought up with a sense of patriotism and the habit of putting the interests of the country above personal ones, were able to accomplish.

The path to this feat can be traced along the battle routes of Major D. Zhabinsky. On October 9, 1943, in one of the sorties on the Western Front, under continuous anti-aircraft fire, together with his wingmen, he attacked an enemy artillery battery seven times and still suppressed its fire. Wounded in the chest, neck, and right arm, D. Zhabinsky fights with his last strength for life, for the preservation of the plane, believing that in the formidable “silt” he will “iron” the Nazis more than once. And the pilot, in spite of all the deaths, returned to duty.

When, on February 15, 1945, during the assault on the Nazi airfield, D. Zhabinsky’s plane was hit by an anti-aircraft machine gun, the pilot rejected the opportunity to escape, because this could only mean captivity. Zhabinsky decided to bring down all the steel power of his “silt” on the enemy - to die in such a way that there would be benefit from death. "Farewell, Motherland!" - with these words, heard on the radio by his comrades in arms, the pilot gave away the control stick of the burning car.

Yes, ramming of ground targets was carried out at the end of the war. And D. Zhabinsky was not the only one. On March 19, 1945, during an attack on a fascist airfield in Heiligenbeil (East Prussia), the plane of Captain K. Ivanov was shot down. The fearless pilot deliberately, without hesitation, directed his attack aircraft towards a concentration of enemy aircraft.

The self-sacrifice of the heroes of the fiery rams was the highest manifestation of heroism, moreover, collective heroism. After all, in bombers or attack aircraft, pilots led towards the enemy, all crew members were united with them by hatred of the enemy and front-line friendship. Navigators and gunners-radio operators Nazar Gubin, Boris Eremin, Boris Kapustin, Semyon Kosinov, Sergei Kovalsky, Nikolai Pavlov, Pyotr Sologubov, Stepan Shcherbakov and others - all of them fulfilled their duty until the last second of their lives, until their last breath. During the war, Soviet pilots carried out 446 fire rams. Almost all of these heroes did not return from the war, but their memory lives on in the names of streets, factories, schools and courts.

Sources:
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