The only pilot who was able to fly over the bridge in a jet plane. The bridge, under which valery chkalov flew the plane under the bridge

AND Pilot ace Valentin Privalov
Memories of an elderly person

Valery Chkalov flew a Fokker D.XI fighter under the Troitsky Bridge in St. Petersburg, the motivation for the act was a woman. Whether this is so is not known for certain. On this topic:

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It is known for certain that in 1941, on the set of Mikhail Kalatozov's film “Valery Chkalov,” pilot Yevgeny Borisenko had to repeat this trick six times for the picture needed by the filmmakers. He performed it on the Sh-2 amphibious aircraft, the wingspan of which is greater than that of Chkalov's fighter, so the flight was more difficult than the hero himself. During the war, Hero of the Soviet Union, pilot Nikolai Andreevich Rozhnov, after working out as an attack aircraft on the front line, began to return home, five Me-109s sat on his tail, he shot down one, leaving the rest, flew at low level under a railway bridge, left, fought until victory. The newspaper "Pravda" published an article about him: "The feat of the pilot Rozhnov." It was Chkalov's daring trick that inspired him to this maneuver.

Eyewitness account: “And now, when we were somewhere in the middle of the bridge, something happened that could not be imagined in the most terrible dream. Suddenly, a silvery silhouette of an airplane flashed from under the bridge and immediately soared into the sky at a large angle to the horizon, exposing the bottom of the river for a second! A wave went to the beach, washing away the clothes and shoes of careless bathers. The man walking in front of me and I stopped and, spellbound, watched the amazing action, and the corporal with both hands pressed his cap to his head, fearing the loss of the official property. ”Later we smelled kerosene.

By the evening, almost all of the Left Bank knew about what had happened, although there was "the effect of a damaged telephone". Instead of the MiG-17 fighter, the passenger Tu-104 already appeared. They said that a plane flew under the bridge from the plant. Chkalov, who allegedly lost control during the tests. "

The flight accident had a wide resonance not only in the USSR, but also abroad. After this flight, the pilot was arrested, they wanted to be prosecuted for air hooliganism, but the Minister of Defense of the USSR R. Ya. Malinovsky ordered to allow V. Privalov to fly again. In the future, Valentin Privalov continued to serve in the legendary squadron of aces in Kubinka near Moscow.

Valentin Privalov

The thirty-year-old captain Privalov did this act not on a dispute and not because of a woman. The reason was different. He wanted to show that there are still pilots in the Armed Forces with a capital letter, that the ill-conceived dashing "control" of his native army during the Khrushchev thaw did not eradicate the Chkalov traditions and pilot daring. In addition, it was a kind of protest against the Kholuy suppression of innovation, initiative and the "mashing" of combat pilots.

But a dashing act for the sake of a woman - I also understand that.
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By the way, is it a real photo? Of course not, here and there

Who in our country does not know that Chkalov flew near Troitsky

bridge over the Neva? If not from books, then from the famous film by Mikhail Konstantinovich Kalatozov. But few people know that in Chkalov's times, the Trinity Bridge in Leningrad was the Bridge of Equality. And under this very bridge of Equality Valery Pavlovich Chkalov never flew. It is not at all difficult to make sure of this. It is enough to look attentively and impartially at the biography of V.P. Chkalov and the history of Russian aviation. According to documents, of course, and not according to falsified materials from Soviet publications.

Let's take the initial data: it is stated that Chkalov flew under the bridge in 1928, and in a number of sources that in 1927. All of them say that Chkalov did it on a Fokker D.XI fighter, in front of his future wife Olga Erazmovna. For "recklessness" was seriously punished by the regiment commander I. Antoshin - put in the guardhouse!

About the date of flight

In Podolsk, in the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense (TsAMO), the personal file of the famous pilot V.P. Chkalov No. 268818. It has long been declassified and is now available for comprehensive study. In the personal file, as it should be, there is a track record of the pilot. It follows from it and many other documents that in 1928 V.P. Chkalov served in the 15th Air Squadron of the Bryansk Aviation Brigade and never flew to Leningrad. He could not unofficially make such a flight either. It was IMPOSSIBLE to fly to Leningrad without landing and refueling on any of the fighters in service with the brigade. 1928 absolutely disappears!

On January 19, 1929, the doors of the prison cell were kindly thrown open in front of Chkalov for the second time. His prison diary is kept to this day in the memorial museum of the legendary pilot in the city of Chkalovsk, Nizhny Novgorod region, where you can easily familiarize yourself with it. Chkalov was demobilized from the army. He could not fly under the bridge in 1929.

Consider other dates.

Not a single source says that Chkalov made a flight under the bridge in 1924. Everyone understands that only the pilot who came to the combat unit was not able to throw out such a trick.

1925 ... In St. Petersburg, where I live, there are three unique libraries: the Russian National Library, the Library of the Academy of Sciences and the Central Naval Library. In a compartment, these three huge book depositories have in their collections everything that has ever been published about Valery Pavlovich in our country. Anyone can look into them and see for themselves: in all their numerous interviews and books, when and how her husband flew under the bridge in Leningrad, Chkalov's second wife is Olga Erazmovna. for the sake of which, according to the film, Valery Pavlovich flew under the bridge of Equality, always answered: "I did not fly ...".

By the way. Valery Pavlovich and Olga Erasmovna met on the last day of 1924! In her last book "The Life of Valery Chkalov" iM 1979) Olga Erazmovna wrote: "... it happened in 1925" which contradicts her own words, all official statements and the personal file of V.P. Chkalov.

“In 1925 he was demobilized by court” - from personal file No. 268818. Here is another extract from this document: “VERDICT IN THE NAME OF THE RSFSR .. Exit session on November 16 (1925) ... examined in open session at the location of the 1st squadron ... case No. 150 on charges of citizen Chkalov Valery Pavlovich ... recognized as proven: September 7, 1925 in Leningrad, gr. Chkalov, being in the position of a military flyer of the 1st squadron ... and being obliged to appear at the airfield for a training group flight by 3 o'clock in the afternoon. appeared at the indicated time in a completely drunken state, as a result of which not only could not fly, but generally behaved unacceptably, shouted, made noise, etc., which attracted the attention of those present at the airfield.

Arrested and then sent home in a car with pilots Blagin and Bogdanov, Chkalov was very unhappy on the way that he was sent from the airfield and not allowed to fly on the apparatus, loudly expressed his displeasure with shouts and gestures ...

By these actions Chkalov discredited the authority and rank of the commander-soldier of the Red Army, i.e. committed a crime, and therefore the visiting committee of the VT LVO SENTENCED gr. Chkalov Valery Pavlovich to imprisonment with strict isolation for ONE year, without affecting his rights.

Taking into account Chkalov's first conviction, voluntary service in the Red Army, youth and proletarian origin, remove strict isolation and lower Chkalov's prison term to SIX months. " Chkalov appealed against the verdict, but the reply "Determination" read: "The verdict should be left in force."

Drunkenness in our country is a common phenomenon. And in the aviation of the RKKAF of those years, it was generally indiscriminate and ubiquitous - the legacy of the civil war, when, for lack of gasoline, it was necessary to refuel the engines of frayed airplanes-coffins with a mixture of alcohol and ether. In the 1st Red Banner Squadron, the young soldier Valery Chkalov was quickly turned into a drunkard. How this happened is described in sufficient detail in the book of his daughter V. Chkalova “Valery Chkalov. Aviation Legend "(M 2005).

For drunken brawls, they were imprisoned in a guardhouse or given fifteen days. And then 6 months in prison! .. One can only guess how outstanding Chkalov's drinking parties were. It’s boiling, you see, at the command ...

1926 ... In 1926 V.P. Chkalov practically did not serve. At first he was in a "correctional house", as the prison was called then, and then he knocked over the doorsteps of the offices of military leaders and military enlistment offices, trying to recover in military service. Persistence was crowned with success. As follows from his personal file: “... in 1926 he was taken back to Kr. Ar. to the 1st squadron ... ". After recovery, Chkalov behaved "quieter than water and lower than grass", during this period he had only positive characteristics. That year Chkalov had no time for hooligan flights under bridges. And when he began to fly again, the Neva was already frozen in ice A. Chkalov was allegedly flying over the water. 1926 is dropped.

1927 ... From January to spring there is ice on the Neva. The first quarter is eliminated. On March 24, Chkalov, during a training battle, had an accident on the Fokker D-XI fighter: "A collision in the air, after which he planned." Official proceedings follow. Chkalov, naturally, was temporarily suspended from flights. In May, another service characteristic was requested for him, and already in June the pilot was sent to Lipetsk for training. From where, of course, he could not fly to the Leningrad Equality Bridge in any way. It is worth adding to all the above that in 1927 Chkalov was already married to O.E. Chkalova, and she, as noted above, always claimed that her husband under the bridge over the Neva "did not fly with her."

It turns out that V.P. Chkalov could fly under the Equality Bridge only in 1925.

About serious punishment

The famous "dad" - I.P. Antoshin, commander of the 1st Red Banner Squadron, did NOT PUNISH for any span under the Chkalov Bridge! In his memoirs (see: I. Antoshin "First flights in a squadron", Moscow 1969), he does not mention a word about Chkalov's flight under the bridge over the Neva. Moreover, all his life he claimed that he had heard about this flight only from third parties. After the arrest of Chkalov in November 1925, Antoshin was sent for further service in Turkestan. So, under Antoshin Chkalov did not fly under the Equality Bridge. Especially in 1928.

It is erroneously stated that V.P. Chkalov flew under the bridge on a Fokker D.XI fighter

V.P. Chkalov (second from left) among colleagues. First left - mechanic Ivanov

In the personal file of V.P. Chkalov, NO punishment for flying under the bridge was recorded. There are a lot of punishments:

- “Penalties in the court and disciplinary, announced in the order in part and above: 2 times tried by the Military Tribunal. He was repeatedly disciplined "...

- As a member of the RKSM, he was "expelled for 6 months for lack of discipline." There is no data on reinstatement in the RKSM in the personal file ...

There are many punishments ... But punishment for unauthorized flight over Leningrad and flying under the bridge is not among them. Generally! Not in any year of his service!

About witnesses of the flight

You can fly under the bridge only during the day. In broad daylight, near the Summer Garden, Petropavlovka, the embankments are always full of people. There must have been many eyewitnesses. But they are not. No one! It was officially registered that there were 106 people who were dragging with V.I. Lenin had a log on a subbotnik There the date was known, when Lenin was dragging the log, it was easy for false assistants to lie. But there are no witnesses of Chkalov's flight under the bridge! No real eyewitnesses, no “sons of Lieutenant Schmidt. For the exact date of passage under the bridge DOES NOT EXIST None!

The flight of the plane under the bridge what then what now is a stunning phenomenon, a sensation! All newspapers should have written about such an event. Here the Petrograd newspapers in 1916 excitedly reported about the flight of the naval pilot Lt. G.A. Fride under the Troitsky bridge by plane M-5. And in the fall of 1916, they enthusiastically described the flight of the naval pilot l-ta A.E. Gruzinov under all bridges at once !!! In 1940, Leningrad newspapers with the same admiration wrote about the flights under the Kirov Bridge by the pilot of the Northern Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet Yevgeny Borisenko during the filming of the film "Valery Chkalov". Borisenko flew under the Kirovsky bridge on an LU-2 plane four times. Two on the first day of shooting, two on the second. But about the flight under the Chkalov bridge NEVER wrote ANY Leningrad newspaper, not a single city magazine.

About span descriptions

All the descriptions of Chkalov's passage under the bridge over the Neva (there are only 3-4 of them) in the literature are dated much later than 1940. That is, they are given by the authors who saw the film "Valery Chkalov". And all these descriptions are retelling shots from the film ... None of the authors witnessed that flight.

On the vigilant OGPU and the command of the Air Force of the Leningrad Military District

To fly under the Equality Bridge, Chkalov had to build an approach from the side of Smolny. It is alleged that he tried on the bridge span several times. That is, it circled over Smolny, over Liteiny, where the leadership of the OGPU was located, over Shpalernaya, where the prison was the OGPU, and the house of the Political prisoners, in which the entire top of the Bolshevik power of the city lived. Such a flight should have been followed by proceedings in the OGPU, at least. Wasn't the morally unstable pilot Chkalov, expelled from the RKSM, the son of a steamship owner - a socially alien element, going to bomb Smolny? Shoot at party members-Leninists? Didn't you want to take revenge for your arrest, take out your anger? Nothing of the sort happened. There was no such trial.

Following Troitsky is the Palace Bridge. After flying under the Equality Bridge, Chkalov immediately had to transfer the car to climb. Just opposite Palace Square, where the headquarters of the Air Force of the Leningrad Military District has been located since the first years of Soviet power. Respectively. Chkalov had to do this also during test runs. Really no one from the command of the Air Force of the Leningrad Military District inquired. What kind of fighter is this roaring under their windows, in the most flagrant manner violating the ban on military aircraft flying over Leningrad? But there is no information about the punishment of Chkalov for this flight in his personal file. I have not seen anything like this in the reporting documentation of the Air Force LenVO.

About the magic power of art

Thorough and comprehensive study of the library funds today allows us to assert with one hundred percent accuracy that before 1939, there were NO publications about V.P. Chkalov did not exist under any bridge.

The first story about the flight of V.P. Chkalov under, mind you, the "Troitsky" bridge appears ... in "Roman-Gazeta" № 13/1939. The magazine published a novel by the novice writer G. Baidukov entitled "About Chkalov", which was a literary version of the film script "Valery Chkalov".

In this description, Chkalov is flying under the bridge for high flying motives. The colorful, detailed description of the flight ends with the phrase that the tired, but contented pilot returns home to his loving wife. How can one fail to recall the statement of O.E. Chkalova, that with her Chkalov did not fly under the bridge.

From "Roman-Gazeta" the description of the flight migrated to all other books, including those published by O.E. Chkalova on behalf of V.P. Chkalov's book “High above the ground. Pilot's Stories "(1939)

But back to the scenario. The director was not happy with the original script. There was no main thing without which a good movie cannot exist - a love line. The reasons for Chkalov's expulsion from the ranks of the Air Force were also vague. The script for the propaganda film was repeatedly revised, but Mikhail Kalatozov (real name - Kalatozishvili) did not like it.

How, in the film, the flight scene acquired a chivalrous and heroic appearance - for the sake of the heart of the beloved woman! - established from the original source. Outstanding historian, fighter pilot of the Navy Air Force, WWII participant Nikolai Andreevich Goncharenko managed to find the members of that film crew. And they told him who was the author of this plot twist: Once in the smoking room, during a break in filming, the pilots who were consulting the film told the details of how the pilots had flown under the Troitsky bridge back in tsarist times. There were legends about this among aviators.

Kalatozov sat with us and listened attentively to this story. The very next day, according to his vision, the script was redone again. Now Chkalov was kicked out of the Air Force for a hooligan flight under the bridge, perfect to win the heart of his beloved. "

Since then, this invention of the director has gone “to the people”. Kind of like how the shots of the "storming of the Winter Palace" from Eisenstein's film "October" began to be passed off as documentary chronicles.

The famous pilot and friend of Chkalov, Georgy Baidukov, the main author of the screenplay, in fact, the creator of the myth about "flying under the bridge", then admitted: "Chkalov himself told me about this! ..". Which is not surprising, because G. Baidukov did not serve in Leningrad and could not see it himself ...

About the truth of life

In 1939, after the death of V.P. Chkalov, in the publishing house "Children's Literature" of the Central Committee of the Komsomol published a very interesting book: Valery Chkalov, Hero of the Soviet Union "High above the ground. Pilot's Stories ”. Foreword by Olga Erasmovna Chkalova. In it, Olga Erasmovna, with her own hand, described how, when and under what circumstances V.P. Chkalov flew under the bridge. And under what bridge:

“One morning - it was several years ago in Leningrad - Valery Pavlovich returned from the flight. He greeted me and his son and looked around the room with a strange strange look. This is how a person looks who has just experienced a great danger and still does not believe that he is again in a familiar, familiar environment

- Has anything happened to you?

He quickly ran his hand over his forehead and smiled:

- Nothing, nothing. Go to work, you'll be late, I'll tell you in the evening.

In fact, these "trifles" looked like this.

The plane was threatened with inevitable death. Winter fog pressed him to the ground, his wings were icy, there was a forest all around. Not far off is a railway bridge, across which a train was going, blocking the path to the only and pitiful likeness of a landing site. And Valery Chkalov landed the plane on this small saving island, flying ... under the arch of the railway bridge. "

In her last book, Olga Erasmovna was more frank: “Once he and a mechanic were instructed to overtake a plane from Novgorod. And suddenly again an accident! He returned home bruised.

“I can’t believe that I’m at home, alive,” he told me when I came home from school.

For the first time I saw that Chkalov's nerves, as they say, were losing.

Departing from Novgorod, he found himself in difficult meteorological conditions. The plane was frozen over, and it was impossible to gain the desired altitude. I had to fly low, over the forest itself. A railroad track stretched under the wing. The moment came when Valery realized that he needed to make an emergency landing. And nowhere to sit. You can try to sit on the tops of trees - there is a chance to save your own life, but Valery rejected this option right away. Even then, he developed a principle for himself - to fight for the life of a machine, as for his own, to the last.

While Valery was thinking, a train appeared in the distance. Suddenly, a bridge flashed ahead. It was already a stone's throw from him. There is only one way out - to dive under the bridge and sit down. Chkalov dived, but a semaphore prevented him from sitting behind the bridge. A moment later, he and the mechanic were lying on the ground among the aircraft debris.

A special commission established that if the pilot tried to choose another option for a forced landing, the car would crash into a railway platform and the death of the crew would be inevitable "(OE Chkalova" Life of Valery Chkalov ", M. 1979).

This bridge stands near the Vyalka station, which was located on the 225-km track of the October railway Leningrad-Moscow. In the documents, this event does not look as beautiful as in the stories of Olga Erasmovna.

In 1929 V.L. Corwin (maternal, first surname, paternal - Kerber) designed and built an amphibious aircraft in his own apartment. During the civil war, from 1919, he was in the ranks of the Donskoy seaplane division of the whites, worked at the Taganrogr aircraft plant, where the Dobrarmia planes were repaired. After the war, Corvin ended up in Leningrad, where he proposed his own seaplane project, but he was not accepted - the Soviet government did not have confidence in the designer. And then he started building a car in his apartment. He was assisted by VB Shavrov, a graduate of the Institute of Railways. When the work came to an end, Corwin feared that he, a former White Guard officer, would be credited with the construction of the aircraft as an attempt to prepare a terrorist attack against the leaders of the city and country. Then the creator of the aircraft suggested to his assistant Shavrov to pass off the aircraft as his own, and then apply to Osoaviakhim of the North-Western Region with a request for financing the final work. Shavrov agreed with pleasure. The amphibian received the Sh-1 index (photo on the splash screen) and the 85 hp Walter motor, bought with Osoaviakhim's money. The plane was successful. Shavrov instantly became a famous aircraft designer, however, until the end of his life he never managed to create any of his serial machines. Corwin did not see all this. He was arrested.

State tests were carried out in Moscow. The plane was piloted by test pilot B.V. Glagolev. In February 1930 he flew the plane home to Leningrad, but because of the disgusting weather he got stuck in Borovichi. A few days later, Glagolev was recalled to Moscow, and Osoaviakhim of the North-Western Region was offered to pick up his car by the Leningrad Aeroclub-Museum of Osoaviakhim of the North-West Region, whose employee Chkalov was then, sent him for the plane together with mechanic Ivanov.

Ivanov, like Valery Pavlovich, was a big drinker (after a few years he would be fired from Osoaviakhim for regular drinking). Either they had it with them, or they had a good time in the dining car, but when the train reached Borovichi, the sea was already knee-deep for them. Despite the snowfall, almost complete absence of visibility and very low clouds, they boarded the plane and, despite the advice not to fly, took off.

At first everything went well, but the further they flew away from Borovichi, the worse the weather became. Chkalov did not even try to rise above the clouds - he did not know the art of instrument flight. He could only navigate by ground. And so he had to push the car lower and lower to the ground so as not to lose sight of the railroad bed. In addition, icing began. After a while, they were already flying at low level. Valery Chkalov later liked to tell his listeners about this “And once, on a hazy day, I had to put the ice-covered amphibian on its hind legs dozens of steps in front of a speeding steam locomotive, frosty haze ".

The locomotive rushed forward, illuminating the space with a powerful headlight. Her light was noticed in time. But, having jumped over the train, the crew of Sh-1 finally realized that every minute they were catching up with the train going in front of them to Leningrad. And they will not be able to notice the dim light of the red lights of his last car in time. With all my desire! I had to sit down. They began to look for a place to land. At the next railway bridge, a suitable shore flashed. The clearing made it possible to land, but it was necessary to enter it from the side of the railway bridge. Having made a U-turn, Chkalov led the amphibian to land, trying to fly over the canvas as low as possible in order to have more space for a run. The engine was already turned off when, unexpectedly, another train jumped out of the forest onto the bridge. The collision could only be avoided by diving under the bridge. There was no other way out. We fit safely into the span. But it was no longer possible to sit on the bank of the frozen river. It was required to go on a second run. Turning on the engine, Chkalov put the car into a bend while trying to gain altitude. But the icy plane stubbornly did not go up. Ahead on the course was a railway platform and a semaphore sticking out. Chkalov chose a semaphore. (Later, the commission investigating the causes of the disaster would establish that a blow to the platform would have been fatal for the crew). The blow of the wing on the semaphore broke the car to pieces. The crew was thrown into the snow. They miraculously survived. Having regained consciousness from what they had endured, Ivanov and Chkalov bandaged each other and set off on foot to the Vyalka station.

A criminal case was opened into the plane crash. During the investigation, the crew was acquitted. In the flight book of V.P. Chkalov No. 279, issued by the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet under the USSR Council of People's Commissars (GUGVF) on July 10, 1933, this disaster was recorded with the wording: "The weather conditions are to blame."

Not a single pilot will talk about his failures, but apparently he really wanted to tell about the flight under the bridge. Most likely, Chkalov talked about his flight with a fair amount of fantasy, replacing the true scene with a fictional, more effective one. As they say, "I hunted airfield bikes." It was not difficult to change the bridge across Vyalka to Troitsky. Every aviator in those years knew about the phenomenal flights under the Neva bridges by the pilots of the naval aviation Frida and Gruzinov.

Anatoly Ivanin /

khutor Krasnochervonny, Stavropol Territory

On June 4, 1965, a MIG-17 jet fighter flew under the communal bridge across the Ob River.

This case was regarded ambiguously and reached the highest ranks. The culprit of this incident was Valentin Privalov. For his irrepressible prowess, the pilot almost paid with freedom, but not a single pilot in the world can repeat this.

Eyewitnesses of this episode claim that the plane seemed to emerge from the river. Huge waves were raised and a gutter formed.
However, questions involuntarily arise ... Why did the pilot risk so much? Why did he do such a trick without a command? After all, people who did not have to this circumstance could have suffered.

They say that this trick was due to a dispute between the pilot and his comrades. But later it became clear that Privalov wanted to prove to himself that he was capable of something more than ordinary flights and flew a meter above the water surface.

Upon arrival at the airport, the pilot appeared in the division's staff, as if nothing had happened. But soon the pilot was ordered to be arrested, the plane was sealed. And the routine interrogations began. The film in the barospidograph (a device that records the flight) turned out to be old. They interrogated not only him, but his flight comrades. The news began to rise higher and higher until it reached the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal R. Malinovsky.

The Marshal decided to personally communicate with the pilot and their meeting took place at the Chkalov Aviation Plant.

Later, the pilot was removed from the flying profession.

The next day, June 5, 1965, a "surprise" awaited all four pilots seconded from Kansk. According to a number of orders and instructions, the emergency was reported vertically, and soon everyone who was supposed to be in office learned about a case unprecedented since Valery Chkalov's time. They also reported to the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union R. Ya. Malinovsky.

Anticipating numerous thunders and lightning from the General Staff Olympus and the imminent prospect of giving Privalov to court, the regiment's communists hurriedly expelled the desperate pilot from the ranks of the CPSU. And this in those years meant the end of the aviation biography, even in the most favorable scenario.,

Privalov, without an airplane, but with a parachute (as it was supposed to be in the form), went back to Kansk by train. He was threatened, if not by a tribunal, then the end of his flying career. However, when the ace arrived at his home unit, a telegram arrived there: “Pilot Privalov should not be punished. To limit ourselves to the activities that were carried out with him (meaning an educational conversation with the marshal. - Ed.). If you have not been on vacation, send on vacation. If there was, give ten days of rest at the unit. USSR Minister of Defense Marshal R. Malinovsky. "

Apparently, the suicidal courage of the air hooligan conquered the marshal, who was familiar with both Chkalov and Pokryshkin. Who, by the way, were also not against demonstrating their aerial skills. And rightly so. Well, hide it, or what?

Now it is difficult to say why the Minister of Defense made an unexpected decision regarding Privalov. Perhaps, the marshal realized that such pilots in the event of a war would be very useful to the native aviation, or maybe something else happened, but Captain Privalov was ordered not to be punished, but to send on vacation, and if he already had, then to provide a ten-day rest when parts! After that, the ex-communist was quickly returned to the ranks of the Leninist party, and the caliber of the stars on the epaulettes of the desperate pilot soon changed. He became squadron commander and even deputy regiment commander, but not immediately.

They did not forget about the Chkalov follower in the capital - at the beginning of the 70s, Major, and then Lieutenant Colonel Privalov continued his service in the training air regiment in the village of Savasleika, Gorky Region. Soon, the training regiment became the 148th center for combat use and retraining of air defense aviation flight personnel. Only in 1977, cardiovascular disease forced Valentin Vasilyevich to leave the flight service. He could not and did not want to remain in the ranks of the army without his favorite work - he had to resign, although there was an option to serve some time in a rear position. In the late 1980s, he underwent surgery to implant an electrical pacemaker in the heart muscle. Currently, Valentin Vasilyevich Privalov lives in Moscow.

P chkalov's failure haunts our pilots.
On June 4, 1965, military ace Valentin Privalov, who served in the Kansk garrison, flew in a MiG-17 jet aircraft under the bridge, just a couple of meters from the water surface.

At the beginning of June 1965, the anti-aircraft artillery of two motorized rifle divisions of the Siberian Military District began passing a kind of combat exam at a training ground near the city of Yurga. In order for everything to be natural, as in a real battle, a link of four MiG-17s was transported from the 712th Guards Aviation Regiment to Tolmachevo. Captain Privalov was among the pilots.

72-year-old Valentin Privalov today.

Ground anti-aircraft gunners from 57-mm guns fired at the mirror image of MiG-17 fighters, and the authorities with large stars on their shoulder straps drew conclusions about the degree of preparedness of each of the divisions. After such an imitation of the defeat of an air enemy, Privalov, following to the airfield in Tolmachevo, saw under him the Communal bridge across the Ob River in Novosibirsk, connecting the Leninsky and Oktyabrsky districts of the city.

Built in 1952-55, the bridge consisted of seven 128-meter spans.

The pilot Privalov noticed the communal bridge long ago. Having arrived from Kansk to Novosibirsk for flight training, the ace immediately thought to himself: "I will definitely fly under this bridge!" And such a case presented itself.

The pilot approached the target in the direction of the Ob, at a speed of about 700 kilometers per hour.

In Novosibirsk, that day on June 4, 1965 turned out to be hot. On a lazy Friday afternoon, it was crowded on the embankment, and on the city beach - in general, the apple had nowhere to fall. Young Novosibirsk citizens - students and schoolchildren have just started their holidays. The city was preparing to fall into an afternoon doze, when suddenly ... a roar came from the sky. The sound grew and quickly became threatening. And suddenly a silvery lightning appeared over Otdykha Island (the Obsk island closest to the Kommunalny Bridge). And ... began to fall into the Ob, but not vertically, like a stone, but along a smooth descending. When there were a few meters to the water, the silver car leveled off and went straight.

The citizens of Novosibirsk were alarmingly silent: if an unknown hooligan at the helm of a fighter plane makes a mistake even by a millimeter, tragedy will occur. On the bridge, hundreds of people in cars, trolleybuses and buses are rushing about their business. God forbid, the ace crashes into the support of the Communal ...

The plane dove right under the central arch of the bridge and immediately exited on the other side. From the shore it seemed like an unprecedented trick. Someone sighed with relief. But then the jet engine whined, and there, behind the bridge, silvery lightning rushed upward, pouring water and hot air onto the bridge.

It was fortunate that there were no boats or repairs under the bridge and next to it.

People on the other side of the embankment, where the City Principle Park is located today, were numb: now the plane emerging from under the Kommunalny Bridge was flying straight to the railway bridge.

MIG missed the railway bridge by only a dozen meters. The plane went into the sky, and the whole embankment, without saying a word, crossed itself and, having changed diapers, applauded.

The next day, June 5, 1965, all four pilots seconded from Kansk were arrested. The emergency was reported vertically, and soon everyone who was supposed to be in office learned about a case unprecedented since the time of Valery Chkalov.

They also reported to the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky. Anticipating numerous thunders and lightning from the General Staff Olympus and the imminent prospect of giving Privalov to court, the regiment's communists hurriedly expelled the desperate pilot from the ranks of the CPSU. And this in those years meant the end of the aviation biography, even in the most favorable scenario.

When interrogated by the then Marshal of Defense of the USSR Rodion Malinovsky, Privalov said that he simply wanted to become a "real pilot." Privalov, without an airplane, but with a parachute (it was supposed to be in the form), went back to Kansk by train. He was threatened, if not by a tribunal, then the end of his flying career.

However, when the ace arrived in his home part, a telegram came there:

“Pilot Privalov should not be punished. Limit yourself to the activities that were carried out with him. If you have not been on vacation, send on vacation. If there was, give ten days of rest with the unit. Minister of Defense of the USSR Marshal of the Soviet Union R. Ya. Malinovsky. "