Moscow, 04/28/1938

On the evening of February 5, 1938, the airship "USSR V-6", under the command of Comrade Gudovantsev, took off from Moscow on a test, training flight along the route Moscow - Murmansk - Moscow so that if this flight and testing of the material part of the airship were successful, USSR V-6" to resolve the issue of sending it to remove Papanin's expedition, for which the crew of the airship filed a special petition to the government.

Following the route and having regular radio contact with Moscow, Leningrad and other points, the airship safely passed over Petrozavodsk, Kemyu and by 19 o'clock on February 6 it was approaching Kandalaksha station (277 km to Murmansk).

The progress of the airship along the route was recorded by radiograms from Comrade Gudovantsev, as well as observations from the ground, and at 18:00. 56 min. On February 6, an airship flight was recorded in the area of ​​the station. Zhemchuzhnaya (39 km to Kandalaksha).

Upon receipt at 6 p.m. 56 min. radiograms from Comrade Gudovantsev about the successful progress of the flight, the work of the USSR V-6 radio station suddenly stopped, and the airship did not respond to calls from numerous ground radio stations.

On the route to Yandozero, the airship traveled at an altitude of 300 m, at the lower edge of the clouds, then to Kem in the clouds and approached Kandalaksha during snowfall, which, in the conditions of darkness, worsened visibility.

Around 8 p.m. alarming messages have been received from local residents, observed around 7 p.m. airship flight in the area of ​​st. White Sea (19 km to Kandalaksha). Residents heard some kind of strong hum, after which the noise of the airship's engines ceased to be heard and the airship itself disappeared from sight.

Search groups consisting of local citizens and military personnel of the Red Army units on reindeer and skis were immediately sent to the area of ​​the alleged accident. At the same time, the search for the airship's radio station on the air was intensified and continuously carried out, but did not give positive results.

At dawn on February 7, one of the search groups discovered that the USSR V-6 airship had indeed crashed 18 km west of the station. White Sea.

According to preliminary data, the disaster occurred as a result of the CCCP B-6 airship hitting the top of a mountain due to insufficient flight altitude and poor visibility, with the equipment operating without failure during the entire flight.

Of the total crew of the airship "USSR V-6" of 19 people, 13 people died as a result of the disaster, three were slightly injured and three were unharmed.

Comrades were killed in the disaster: Gudovantsev N.S. - the first commander of the airship "USSR V-6", Pankov I.V. - the second commander, Demin S.V. - first assistant commander, Lyanguzov V.G. - second assistant commander, Kulagin T.S. - third assistant commander, Ritslyand A.A. - first navigator, Myachkov G.N. - second navigator, N.A. Konyashin - senior flight mechanic, Shmelkov K.A. - first flight mechanic, Nikitin M.V. - flight mechanic, Kondrashev N.N. - flight mechanic, V.D. Chernov - flight radio operator, Gradus D.I. - on-board weather forecaster.

Lightly wounded: Pochekin V.I. - fourth assistant commander, Novikov K.P. - flight mechanic, Burmakin A.N. - flight mechanic.

Unharmed: Ustinovich V.A. - naval engineer, Matyunin I.D. - flight mechanic and Vorobiev - radio operator engineer.

A government commission consisting of the commander of the N air squadron, Comrade Kirsanov, and several airship construction workers was sent to the scene of the disaster from Murmansk. The bodies of the dead comrades will be delivered to Moscow for funeral.

The funerals of the victims are carried out at the state expense. The government decided to give the families of the deceased balloonists 10,000 rubles. a one-time benefit and establish increased pension provision.

The story of the fourth assistant of the airship "USSR V-6" T. V. I. Pochekin

Before flying to Murmansk, we carried out a large preparatory work. The ship was prepared for a long winter flight from Moscow to Novosibirsk. At this time, a message arrived that the Papanin ice floe had split and it was necessary to speed up the operation to remove the heroic four.

Representatives of the USSR V-6 crew petitioned the government for permission to make a training flight Moscow - Murmansk - Moscow so that, in case of favorable results, they would fly to the Papanin ice floe. The ship had all the capabilities for this.

The government met us halfway and allowed us to make a training flight.

On February 5, we took off from an airship airfield near Moscow and headed for Petrozavodsk. The flight to Petrozavodsk took place in difficult conditions: there was low cloudiness, it was snowing in places, and the metal parts of the ship were covered with ice.

About two hours before our appearance above Petrozavodsk, the ship entered continuous fog. Almost all the way to Petrozavodsk we walked in blind flight. From here we headed for Murmansk.

The weather remained unfavorable. Our onboard weather forecaster D.I. Gradus said that after some time there would be improvement. In fact, after about three hours of flight from Petrozavodsk, the clouds rose and visibility increased to 20-30 km. This weather was favorable for the flight. There was a tailwind blowing, and we were traveling at a speed of over 100 km per hour. About two hours later we again found ourselves in a band of low clouds, visibility deteriorated sharply, darkness fell, and snow began to fall. Despite this, we were right on course. Navigators G.N. Myachkov and A.A. Ritsland strictly and tirelessly monitored the correctness of the course. Sometimes our flight coincided with the direction of the railway line.

At first we were flying at an altitude of 300-350 m. It seemed to me that we were flying too low, and I told commander N.S. Gudovantsev about this. He gave the order to the second commander I.V. Pankov to rise higher. We rose to 450 meters and continued our flight.

Suddenly I heard a sharp cry from navigator Myachkov: “We’re flying up the mountain!” I.V. Pankov sharply raised the nose of the airship to ascend, and ordered me to turn the rudder to the right. A few seconds later I heard a noise: the ship was hitting the trees. Then a sharp crash was heard, and the ship, having flown into a mountain, fell onto it.

I found myself among a pile of fragments of metal parts of the nacelle and keel of the ship, and a shell covered me on top. A fire immediately started, possibly caused by a short circuit in the electrical and radio equipment. I started to get out of the ship. Suddenly, I completely accidentally fell into some hole, and this turned out to be my salvation. Novikov, Ustinovich, Matyunin, Vorobiev were also here.

My comrades were in such a state that they could not utter a word. Having come to our senses, we lit several fires so that we could be discovered.

At dawn on February 7, a group of skiers led by forester Nikitin approached the scene of the disaster, which was located in the 91st quarter of the Prolivsky logging station. They provided us with first aid. One of the skiers returned to the barracks and reported our location. They sent deer to us, and we left for the nearest lumberjack barracks. Here we warmed up and thanked the loggers for their help. From here we were sent to the Straits station, and then brought to Kandalaksha in a special carriage.

The story of flight mechanic K. P. Novikov

The entire crew of the airship was preparing for a flight with a huge rise. February 5, at 7 p.m. 35 minutes, rose above Moscow. After flying over the city for two hours, we corrected the deviation and set on a course from Moscow to Murmansk via Petrozavodsk.

We flew from Petrozavodsk in unfavorable conditions in fog; From time to time wet snow fell. At 12 o'clock on February 6 they passed over Petrozavodsk.

After 6 pm I went on watch in the aft gondola. The material part of the ship worked brilliantly all the time. The team's mood was wonderful. Approaching Kandalaksha, we considered the possibility of refueling as quickly as possible in Murmansk and checked the flight routes to the Papanin crew.

There were two hours and a half left to go to Murmansk. Pilot Pochekin was on watch at the directional control wheel, and second commander of the airship Pankov and navigator Myachkov were at the depth control wheel. A few seconds before the disaster, Comrade Pochekin heard the navigator’s voice: “Mountain!” Following this, the first blow occurred.

In the aft gondola I watched the machine, sitting in a chair with my back to the bow of the ship. At the first impact I was thrown out of my chair and hit my head on the water radiator. The next moment, the second blow threw me with my chest onto the engine. The lights in the gondola went out. Feeling the need to turn off the engine, I groped for the switch. At that moment the third blow followed, and my back and then my head hit the engine. Trying to rest my hands on something hard, I felt pain in my left hand: apparently, I cut it on something sharp.

Then came a moment of peace. The gondola stopped shaking. I'm trying to get my bearings. I look for the door on the left, but I don’t find it. The hot gondola cover burns your head. I bend over. I see snow and the burning shell of the airship. With my bare hands I lift the burning material, squeeze through to my waist, then brace myself with my hands and pull out my stuck leg. Finally freed. My hair and clothes are burning. Burying myself in the snow. I can’t get up and decide to roll away from the burning airship.

Having rolled about 25 m, I lie under a tree, after a while I hear Ustinovich’s voice: “Who is still alive?” Ustinovich lifted me up and laid a piece of cloth on me, after a while Burmakin and Vorobyov came up.

Ustinovich shouted continuously, calling for the survivors. Six people gathered. They made a fire. When it dawned, they began to raise their voices occasionally, knowing that they were looking for us. At about 7 am they answered us. At 8 o'clock. I was given first aid. Now I'm in the hospital, I feel quite well. Once again, as soon as I recover, I am ready to take on any task of the party and government. I mourn the loss of dear friends, but I know that in their place the country will nominate hundreds of new heroes and will always honor the memory of the dead.

On February 12, 1938, the funeral of 13 brave balloonists who died in the crash of the USSR B-6 airship took place. In the morning, access was opened to the Column Hall of the House of Unions, where urns with the ashes of fallen comrades were installed: Gudovantsev, Pankov, Demin, Lyanguzov, Kulagin, Ritsland, Myachkov, Konyashin, Shmelkov, Nikitin, Kondrashev, Chernov, Gradus. Workers, office workers, scientists, students, Red Army soldiers, and schoolchildren pass through the hall. Changes every five minutes guard of honor at the urn Honor watch was carried out by: Heroes Soviet Union vol. Molokov, Slepnev, Alekseev, Spirin and Smushkevich; Secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee A.V. Kosarev, Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks G.A. Bratanovsky, Corporal Commander Loktionov, etc.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, wreaths and urns are taken out of the House of Unions. The funeral procession, stretching for many blocks, headed to the Novo-Devichy cemetery.

4 hours 45 minutes. A funeral meeting begins at the cemetery. The first to speak is Hero of the Soviet Union, Head of the Main Directorate of Civil Air Fleet V. S. Molokov.

On behalf of the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet, its command staff and all employees, says Comrade. Molokov, - I express my deep sorrow over the death of the brave aeronauts from the crew of the airship “USSR V-6”. Today we bury thirteen devoted sons of the socialist homeland. The country will not forget the names of brave balloonists. They selflessly gave everything to their homeland - knowledge, youth, life.

The entire history of Soviet airship construction is associated with their names. The ship's commander, Comrade Gudovantsev was one of the brilliant representatives of modern aeronautics. Under his leadership, Soviet airships made a number of brilliant flights. He tirelessly developed the technique of driving airships, showing examples of knowledge of the matter, personal courage and bravery. Names of vols. Pankova, Demina, Lyanguzova, Kulagina will also forever be written down on the pages of the history of the development of Soviet aviation.

In the person of Comrade Ritslyand, we have lost one of the best navigators of the Soviet Union, a wonderful aeronavigator and a wonderful comrade. He was a man of enormous knowledge and experience, (extreme modesty and impeccable honesty.

All these wonderful qualities that characterize the new man of the Stalin era fully apply to other comrades who died a brave death at a combat post.

We bow our heads to the memory of our fallen comrades and promise over their graves to make every effort to continue and develop the cause for which they fought. We promise over their grave to serve our homeland and our party as honestly and faithfully as they served, and, if necessary, to give our lives for the good and integrity of the Soviet land.

Then Comrade Belkin speaks on behalf of the flight crew of the airship squadron; on behalf of the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route - Hero of the Soviet Union comrade. Alekseev.

They talk about young brave students of Soviet aviation who died the death of heroes; about the Lenin-Stalin party, which raised thousands and thousands of proud Stalinist falcons, ready at any moment, at the first call, to fulfill their duty to the socialist homeland; that thousands of new pilots will take the place of the dead and continue to fight for new victories for Soviet aviation.

The rally is over. The last minutes of farewell are coming. Urns are installed in niches. Three fireworks are fired. The Internationale sounds solemnly. On ancient wall thirteen black granite plaques with the names of brave balloonists appeared in the cemetery.

The homeland will not forget their names.

Moscow, Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks to Comrade STALIN

Council of People's Commissars vol. MOLOTOV, MIKOYAN Comrade. Yezhov

From Kandalaksha, 10/II 1938

I'm heartbroken that our flight ended so tragically. Burning with the desire to carry out a responsible government task, we gave all our strength to successfully complete a test training flight, in order to then receive the honorable task of removing the brave four Papanins from the ice floe; To complete this task, the government provided us with everything necessary. The entire crew was firmly convinced that we would achieve our goal without any risk. It hurts to put up

with the thought that we did not fulfill the government’s task, the task of our beloved Stalin. An absurd incident cut short our flight. We deeply mourn our fallen comrades.

We thank our government, dear Stalin, for the fatherly care for the families of our fallen comrades. The death of the airship will not break our will, our determination to carry out any order of the party and government. Airship construction has a great future; accidents that occur cannot reduce the dignity of the airship. We will continue to work hard with redoubled energy to build even more powerful and improved airships. Soviet airship construction is developing successfully, and will develop even more under the leadership of our government, our beloved party, the great leader Comrade Stalin.

Crew group of the airship "USSR V-6":

Matyunin, Novikov

Ustinovich, Pochekin

Burmakin, Vorobiev

Our dear father, friend and beloved leader, Comrade Stalin!

In days of grief and sorrow in connection with the bereavement of our dear husbands, brothers and sons, we turn to you with deep gratitude for the care, attention and assistance provided to us, the families of the deceased members of the USSR V-6 crew. Your concern eases our suffering. Our relatives, members of the USSR V-6 crew who died tragically, passionately loved their homeland. Their flight was caused by ardent patriotism for the glory of our homeland. They were eager to take part in the removal of the brave four Papaninites. On the day of the departure of the USSR V-6 ship, we shared joyful excitement with them and were deeply confident in the success of this endeavor. An accident tore away from us our dear and beloved, devoted to the cause of the Lenin-Stalin party, ardent patriots of the socialist homeland.

Our grief is great, but the consolation is that the team of aeronauts, all as one, will continue to develop the cause of aeronautics with even greater persistence, which was so dearly loved by the heroes who died in combat.

We are confident that tens and hundreds of aeronautics heroes will take the place of each dead one, and dozens of new powerful ships will be built to take the place of the lost ships.

Thank you, dear comrade Stalin, thank you to the Soviet government for your help, attention and care to us, the families of the dead airships.

Gudovantsev - mother, brothers, sisters.

Chernov - wife, daughter.

Lyanguzovs - wife, daughter, mother, father, sisters.

Degree - wife, daughter, mother, father, brothers.

The Pankovs are wife, daughter, mother, father, brother.

Nikitin is a wife, mother.

Ritsland - mother, father, brother, sisters.

Konyashins - daughter's wife, brother.

Kulagina is the mother.

Shmelkovs - mother, father, brothers, sisters.

Myachkovs - wife, mother.

Demina - wife, mother, brothers.

Kondrashevs - wife, mother, brothers, sisters.

N.S. Gudovantsev

The first commander of the airship "USSR V-6"

The remarkable airship driver Nikolai Semenovich Gudovantsev was born in 1909 into the family of a worker at the Chulym station, Omsk railway. d.

He began his working life at the age of 15 as a roofer's assistant. At the same age he joined the Komsomol.

The inquisitive, capable, ardent young man was attracted to the field of aviation. He was sent to study by the Komsomol at the Omsk Industrial College. Here he showed great ability and created a number of snowmobiles and gliders.

Energetic, persistent, with rare organizational skills, Nikolai Gudovantsev chooses airship construction as his specialty. In 1935, he graduated from a course at the Airship Construction Training Center and received the title of airship mechanical engineer.

N. S. Gudovantsev is an indispensable participant in all major airship flights. He spent more than 2 thousand hours in the air on an airship, including over 200 hours at night and in blind flights, commanding the airships “USSR V-2” and “USSR V-8”.

This unusually demanding pilot had no accidents. Simple and modest, he was capable of heroic deeds. For his selfless act of saving the airship and people in October 1935 in Donbass, Gudovantsev was awarded the Order of the Red Star.

For high flight performance and organizational skills Comrade Gudovantsev in 1937 was appointed commander of an airship squadron and approved by the Council of People's Commissars of the Union as a member of the council under the head of Aeroflot.

With great enthusiasm, Gudovantsev proposed using his ship to rescue the brave four Papanins. But an accident absurdly cut short the life of a fearless, talented commander, a devoted son of his homeland, Komsomol member Nikolai Gudovantsev.

I.V. Pankov

Second commander of the airship

Ivan Vasilyevich Pankov was born in 1904 into the family of a poor Mordovian peasant. Until the age of 18, Pankov worked in the fields with his parents. In 1922, he became a lubricant worker at the Yakovlev textile factory in Ivanovo region. There, in 1924, he joined the Komsomol, and in 1926, the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).

An energetic, capable young man greedily sought knowledge. In 1926, after graduating from the workers' faculty, he entered the Moscow Higher Technical School at the aeromechanical faculty, which was reorganized into the aeronautical department of the aviation institute. In 1932, while continuing his studies, he worked first as an assistant ship commander, then as a commander on the airships “B-1” and “B-6”. Comrade Pankov's total flight time on airships is over 1000 hours. He gains fame as a knowledgeable, courageous, always calm and fearless ship driver. For a number of flights, Ivan Vasilyevich receives thanks and bonuses. He gets award badge Central Council of Osoaviakhim.

Ivan Vasilievich - active participant public life squadron, a permanent member of the party committee, and recently a member of the district party committee. In 1937, Comrade Pankov defended his diploma project and received the title of engineer of the 1st degree.

A modest, charming man, a wonderful comrade and commander - this is how he will forever remain in the hearts of all who knew him.

S.V. Demin

First mate of the airship commander

S.V. Demin was born in 1906 in Sebezh. Like many other Soviet aeronauts, Sergei Vladimirovich was a graduate of the Airship Training Center. He entered here in 1929 from the workers' faculty. Before that, he worked in the Komsomol, led pioneer detachments.

In 1927 he joined the CPSU(b). Comrade Demin graduated from the institute in 1934. But two years before that, he was entrusted with driving one of the airships. He commands the airships "B-1", "B-4" and most recently was the first assistant to the commander of "B-6". His total flight time on airships is over 1000 hours. He did a lot of work to train airship operators.

Comrade Demin showed himself not only to be a most capable aerobatic master, but also an outstanding inventor. His project for the mechanization of entry and exit of airships, towing, and numerous rationalization proposals were successfully put into practice.

Sergei Vladimirovich is an active participant in the social life of the squadron. How much more could this talented aeronaut-engineer have accomplished if the tragic catastrophe had not cut short his young life.

V.G. Lyanguzov

Second assistant to the airship commander

The second assistant commander of the airship "USSR V-6" Vladimir Georgievich Lyanguzov in 1934, at the age of 25, received the title of mechanical engineer, graduating from the Institute of Airship Construction Training Combine.

Like the airship commander, he came from a working environment, began his working life early, and just as early, at the age of 15, he joined the Komsomol. A former student at a tannery, Vladimir Lyanguzov persistently and persistently mastered the art of aerobatics. He did not know forced landings and accidents. He exceptionally loved his job, constantly working to improve his technical level in order to be always ready to carry out important tasks, such as faithful son of his wonderful country, like a faithful son Lenin Komsomol. He was repeatedly elected to the governing bodies of the Komsomol organization of the airship squadron. He flew on the airships "B-3", "B-5" and "B-6". The total flight time exceeded 750 hours.

T.S. Kulagin

Third mate of the airship

Taras Sergeevich Kulagin was born in 1911 in Rostov-on-Don. His father was a mechanic, his mother was a professional revolutionary.

At the age of 14, working as an assistant in a mechanical workshop at the power plant. Klasson, he was already a cultural leader of the Komsomol committee.

Comrade Kulagin graduated from the Airship Training Center in 1935 with a degree in mechanical engineering. He worked as a ship technician, then as a ship engineer. While studying in 1931, he joined the party. Taras Sergeevich successfully mastered the technique of his favorite business, he was a party organizer of the flight group, actively participated in party life, being deputy secretary of the party committee of the Aeroflot Aeronautics Directorate. He flew on the airships "B-1" and "B-6", on the latter he was a naval engineer. His total flight time was more than 600 hours.

A.A. Ritsland

The first navigator of the airship

Alexey Alexandrovich Ritslyand deservedly enjoyed the reputation of the best navigator of the Union. On the historic flight to the North Pole, he was on the USSR N-171 aircraft. For participation in this expedition, Comrade Ritslyand was awarded the Order of Lenin. In 1936, Comrade Ritslyand, together with Hero of the Soviet Union V.S. Molokov, made a long Arctic flight on the USSR N-2 aircraft. The government then awarded him the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

Comrade Ritslyand was born in 1904 into a peasant family in the village of Aleksandrov, Kudirevsky district, Kalinin region. In 1922 he graduated from high school. In 1923 he worked in agriculture. In the fall of this year, he entered the Leningrad Artillery School as a cadet, from where in 1926 he was sent to the school of pilot observers. After graduating from school in 1928, Alexey Alexandrovich was appointed as a flight engineer to the N-sky aviation squadron. Then he is sent to school special services to the communications instructors department. After graduating, he again works in his unit as a flight engineer and also as a communications instructor. In 1929, Comrade Ritslyand was appointed head of the fleet's communications and the following year - head of the squadron's electrical and radio service. Alexey Alexandrovich held this job until 1932. In 1933, he entered the Main Northern Sea Route as a navigator-radio operator and worked until recently in polar aviation.

The name of the remarkable Soviet pilot, the proud falcon of our homeland, Alexei Ritslyand, is forever inscribed in the golden pages of the history of the conquest of the Arctic.

G.N. Myachkov

Airship second navigator

The son of a Cossack, Georgy Nikolaevich Myachkov, dreamed of becoming a pilot. As a 20-year-old boy, he arrived in Leningrad in 1925. But he managed to enroll in pilot school only a year later. After graduation, he worked as a pilot instructor. In 1933 he began working as a navigator on an airship.

Comrade Myachkov’s knowledge of the matter and accuracy were reflected in the well-prepared and carried out long-term test flight of the airship “USSR V-6”. In 1937, Georgy Nikolaevich flew on the airships “V-1”, “V-2” and “V-8”. His total flight time on airships is over 1000 hours. The navigator, Comrade Myachkov, put his whole soul into what he loved.

He died at his post as a faithful son of his homeland.

ON THE. Konyashin

Airship senior flight mechanic

Nikolai Konyashin began his studies at the Moscow Aeronautical School without interrupting his work. At that time (1930) he worked as a motor mechanic at the construction of the Moskomstroy trust.

In 1932, Komsomol member and candidate of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Comrade Konyashin graduated from school early and was sent as a flight mechanic to the Komsomolskaya Pravda airship.

In 1933, Comrade Konyashin was drafted into the Red Army, where he continued to improve in his specialty. After demobilization from the ranks of the Red Army, Konyashin continued to work in the airship squadron, flying on the airships "V-1" and "V-6", having flown about 1000 hours. Nikolai Alekseevich is an active participant in the social life of the squadron, most recently he was the chairman of the trade union committee of the squadron and a member of the Komsomol committee. Energy, perseverance, resourcefulness, especially during difficult flights, fast, accurate execution of tasks - these are the traits of the untimely death of the Bolshevik Comrade Konyashin.

K.A. Shmelkov

The first flight mechanic of the airship

Konstantin Alekseevich Shmelkov was born in Moscow in 1903. From the age of 16, he worked for hire as a courier, then as an artisan shoemaker at home. He has been studying at art school for four years. In 1925 he was drafted into the Red Army. At the beginning of 1926 he was demobilized due to illness.

In 1932, Shmelkov graduated from aeronautical school. From now on, Konstantin Alekseevich is the airship's flight mechanic. Comrade Shmelkov copes brilliantly with the most important tasks. He dreams of studying, improving his qualifications, and long-distance flights. Comrade Shmelkov flew as a flight mechanic on the airships "V-3", "V-4", "V-6" and "V-8", having flown about 1000 hours.

That is why with such joy he accepted the offer to fly to Murmansk, and then to help the Papaninites.

M.V. Nikitin

Airship flight mechanic

Until 1926, Mikhail Vasilyevich Nikitin was engaged in agriculture in his home village on the Okhotniki farm, Zaraisky district, Ryazan province.

As a 17-year-old boy, he came to Moscow, where he entered school at the 1st calico printing factory. In 1928, he went to work in municipal construction, first as a laborer, then as an electrician. In 1929, Comrade Nikitin was sent by the Komsomol organization to an aeronautical school, from which he graduated 3 years later. At the same time, he graduated from gliding school, receiving the title of soar pilot. In 1932, Mikhail Vasilyevich worked as a flight mechanic. He has been repeatedly awarded for his impact work. 1933-34 he spends time in the ranks of the Red Army.

Since 1935, Comrade Nikitin was again on the airship. He flew on the airships "B-4" and "B-6", his flight time on airships exceeded 500 hours.

The image of this simple and modest man will never be erased from the memory of his friends and comrades.

N.N. Kondrashev

Airship flight mechanic

Nikolai Nikitich Kondrashev was born in 1907 in the Izdeshkovsky district, Western region, in the family of a railway worker. After graduating from a rural school and then a city one, he studied at the Moscow Aviation Technical School and the Leningrad Military Technical School.

Since 1932, Comrade Kondrashev has been an airship flight mechanic. Nikolai Nikitich did an excellent job with his duties and was rightfully considered a Stakhanovite in aeronautics, and was repeatedly awarded. Comrade Kondrashev flew on the airships "V-1", "V-2" and "V-6", having flown about 800 hours.

V.D. Chernov

Airship flight operator

Komsomol member Vasily Dmitrievich Chernov was born in 1913. His father was a shoemaker, his mother a housewife. In 1931 he graduated from nine-year school.

Since 1934, Chernov has been the flight operator of the airship squadron. He always performed his duties impeccably. The operation of the radio is trouble-free and good, - note the test reports of the airships on which Comrade Chernov worked. Vasily Dmitrievich flew on airships "V-1", "V-2", "V-7", "V-8" and "V-6", his total flight time was about 700 hours.

Vasily Dmitrievich worked tirelessly on himself, increasing his technical knowledge.

A terrible catastrophe ended the life of this modest man early, good friend, a talented radio operator.

DI. Degree

Airship flight forecaster

In 1928, 20-year-old baker Davyd Gradus decided to change his profession. He entered a military school for meteorological courses and a year later became a meteorologist.

Since 1930, Davyd Isaevich has been working in units of the Red Army Air Force; after demobilization, he goes to work in an airship squadron. In 1933, he was appointed head of the meteorological service at the airship port. Comrade Gradus is a permanent participant in all long flights of the USSR V-6 airship.

V. Chertkov. Pravda newspaper, 1988.

I kept trying to imagine Ustinovich in a deep forest among his dead comrades, among the wreckage of an airship, but I couldn’t, and then I asked Agafon Vasilyevich Moshnikov, who led me to the scene of the disaster five years ago:

What did he say when he saw you?

I remember looking at the worn-out piece of paper handed to me by Moshnikov, which he had kept since 1938. There were six names on it: Ustinovich - naval engineer, Pochekin - fourth assistant commander, Novikov, Burmakin, Matyunin - flight mechanics, Vorobiev - radio operator engineer. He copied them then, miraculously surviving, and for many years he remembered how he went out to the wreckage of the airship, how he met Ustinovich, shocked by what had happened, in a coniferous thicket near the White Sea.

There were nineteen of them in total on board. The dead aeronauts have been looking at me from the pages of Pravda fifty years ago. Thirteen young lives were cut short on Neblo Mountain near Kandalaksha. I get acquainted with the biographies of heroes published in the newspaper on February 9, 1938. All of them are somewhere around or a little over thirty. How little they lived, but how much these people did.

Not without excitement, I read: “For the last six years, Ritsland has worked in polar aviation. He carried out ice reconnaissance in the Barents and Kara Seas, participated in an expedition to rescue the Chelyuskinites, laid out air routes over the Yenisei... In 1935, together with Molokov, he made an exceptionally difficult flight along the route Krasnoyarsk - Yakutsk - Nogaevo - Uelen - Nordvik - Krasnoyarsk. The next year, together with his commander, he made an unprecedented voyage along the entire coast Soviet Arctic, covering 30,000 kilometers by air. Exceptional skill of A.A. Ritsland showed in the air expedition to the North Pole."

“On the evening of September 6, 1935, the airship B2 Smolny landed at the airfield in Donbass. People were running to the landing site from all directions. They surrounded the airship and climbed into the gondola. Meanwhile, the team was busy strengthening the airship on the ground. Suddenly a sharp, gusty wind blew in. The iron corkscrews holding the airship were instantly torn out of the ground, and the ship began to rise. A man separated from the crowd. He quickly grabbed the dangling rope and began to climb up it, constantly risking falling. The airship was already at an altitude of 120 meters when the daredevil reached the gondola. This was the commander of the ship N.S. Gudovantsev. He immediately took control of the ship, and after some time the Smolny landed safely at the airfield.”

Lines from only two biographies, although an example is each of nineteen. They were entrusted with a trial, training flight on the route Moscow - Murmansk - Moscow. On the evening of February 5, fifty years ago, the airship "SSSR-B6" set off on this flight in order to, if it was successful, resolve the issue of sending this airship to the Papaninites and removing them from the collapsing ice floe.

TASS reported: “The airship safely passed over Petrozavodsk, Kemyu and by 19 o’clock on February 6 it was approaching the Kandalaksha station... At about 20 o’clock alarming messages were received from local residents who observed the flight of the airship at about 19 o’clock in the area of ​​the White Sea station (19 km to Kandalaksha ). Residents heard some kind of strong rumble, after which the noise of the airship's engines died down, and it itself disappeared from sight. Search teams were immediately sent to the area of ​​the alleged accident.”

Agafon Vasilievich Moshnikov, who was among the first to discover the surviving balloonists, left with one of them. In my notebooks from five years ago, I still have lines about this man. When I asked about his fate in the city party committee, they told me:

Ours, Kandalaksha, is alive and well. We can go see him, he lives nearby, and then we’ll look at Aeronauts Street - named in memory of them.

A few minutes later I met Moshnikov, a strong, quick man beyond his years. He skied on 37 Northern holidays until he was 70 years old, when he covered 27 kilometers. And got into the war ski battalion, defended the Kola Peninsula. He was wounded in one of the reconnaissance operations and did not know that he had been nominated for the Order of Glory for a raid behind enemy lines: the award found him only in peacetime.

Agafon Vasilyevich went through a difficult life. At the age of nine, I became an apprentice at a timber mill, then tried myself in various jobs - I was a fisherman, a driver, a loader, and a cash collector... The owner of the apartment dressed quickly, with jokes, when he asked him to go with me to the place where the airship crashed.

Yes, it’s very close! - he reassured, obviously remembering his difficult journey there in 1938.

If we had not had an experienced driver behind the wheel, we would not have covered those forest kilometers. Boulders, a broken track, sometimes humping, sometimes carrying the wheels of the car into gullies with muddy slurry - a typical logging route. We peered down the road with the hope of catching our eye on at least one flat spot, but it was never found before the geological village of Neblo-Gora.

“Wow, where did I find them,” Moshnikov pointed to a hill crushed by the fog. - They selected good skiers, and I always ran like crazy, and three parties were sent by rail to the White Sea station. From there we went searching in the snow, through windbreaks, until we came across them, those six, on the traces of the disaster. There's still debris there. It’s a pity, it was bad weather, the light was obscured, otherwise we would have gotten to the place itself... As I said, I met Ustinovich first. Is he alive now?

I know, I know that you were five years ago at the site of the death of “B6”...

What is the fate of the rest of the survivors? - I can’t wait.

I'll come and tell you.

I must admit, I was somewhat embarrassed when I saw him. It seemed to me quite powerful (after all, it broke through the keel skin and got out of the burning airship), although, of course, it was necessary to look back at the past years - they will change anyone, after all, fifty years have passed since the day of the disaster. No, in front of me was not a man crushed by time, but simply not one of those who was both tall and successful. But there is still so much life, soul, and fire in him that he would envy other young people.

And only now I understood why then, five years ago, having met Moshnikov, I fiddled with my imagination, trying to see Ustinovich in the forest after the fall of the airship. I was tormented by the question: “What were they like, these people?” The answer was partly found at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow, where thirteen aeronauts are buried. On the bronze plate of the monument is engraved: “The best sons of the Motherland, the founders of Soviet aeronautics, who devoted themselves to the advanced ideas of the great Soviet people to the end, perished in the disaster.” And now, when Ustinovich, explaining the need for the voyage, noticed that the Papaninites had an ice floe fifty by thirty meters left, I fully understood the basic formula of their life: “When you die, help your comrades.”

What was the fate of those who survived with you?

Not everyone remained unharmed. Novikova was squeezed chest, and he was sick for a long time. Pochekin, Vorobyov, Burmakin served, like me, in air force, passed the front. Pochekin was shot down and ended up in the Bryansk forests, where he commanded a partisan detachment. Of them, only there is no information about Burmakin, no one is alive.

But that's not all...

And Dmitry Ivanovich Matyunin only recently, just a month or two, retired. He worked as a test mechanic at one of the enterprises. I live next door to him in the city of Dolgoprudny, Moscow region, where, by the way, the ship “USSR-B6” was born. It was created under the leadership of Umberto Nobile, an Italian airship builder and famous polar explorer who worked in our country for several years. The main consultant was K.E. Tsiolkovsky, whose ideas in the field of airship construction are widely known and are expressed in such works as “The airship is the basis of air transport”, “What an airship should be”, “My airship and stratoplane”, “Steel airship”...

I think the time of airships has not passed. Or maybe they are the future. Then, in the twenties and thirties, their raids amazed and excited the imagination. The first trans-Arctic flight was made by R. Amundsen on the Norway. Umberto Nobile reaches the North Pole in Italy. “SSSR-V6” remained continuously in the air for 130 hours and 27 minutes, setting a world record for flight duration. The world's first female airship crew appears, the commander of which is V.F. Demina, the wife of the assistant commander of the USSR-B6, S.V. Demina.

So what happened to your ship? - I ask Ustinovich. - And where were you at the time of the impact on the mountain?

About thirty to forty minutes before the disaster I was standing at the helm. The airship commander Gudovantsev says: “Murmansk is coming soon. Go sleep. As an engineer, you will have a lot of work to do on the ground.” And I went to my hammock. Then there was a blow, another, another... And a sea of ​​fire.

At that moment, when Ustinovich was settling down to rest, a chain of fires appeared to the side. “We need to ask Murmansk what kind of lights they are,” said Gudovantsev, but did not have time to fulfill his intention... Although at the last moment he threw the airship up.

We flew on ten-verst maps compiled according to data from the beginning of the century. They did not show a single high mountain in the Kandalaksha area. They walked quite low, so the railway workers became worried - no one had ever flown this route, so they laid fires along the steel track, inviting them to orient themselves towards them. But it was too late. Sky Mountain appeared in the path of the airship.

In the “Collection of scientific and technical works on airship construction and aeronautics” for 1938, published in a circulation of five hundred copies, I find stories of other witnesses to the disaster.

Fourth assistant commander V.I. Pochekin: “I heard navigator Myachkov shout: “We’re flying up the mountain!” They sharply lifted the nose up and ordered me to turn the steering wheel to the right. A few seconds later I heard a noise: the ship was touching the trees. Then there was a sharp crack. I found myself among a pile of ship wreckage, and a shell covered me on top. A fire started immediately. Suddenly I fell out of the airship into some hole. Novikov, Ustinovich, Matyunin, Vorobiev were also here. My comrades were in such a state that they could not utter a word.”

Flight mechanic K.P. Novikov: “The light went out. Feeling the need to turn off the engine, I groped for the switch. I search, but I don’t find the door. With my bare hands I lift the burning material, squeeze through to the waist, and pull out my stuck leg. Finally freed. My hair and clothes are burning, I’m burying myself in the snow. I can’t get up and decide to roll away from the burning airship. I hear Ustinovich’s voice: “Who is still alive?” Six people gathered. They made a fire. On the morning of February 7 we were found.”

It seemed that all of Moscow came out to say goodbye to the dead balloonists. Urns with the ashes of thirteen aeronauts were carried in their arms from the House of Unions to the Novodevichy Cemetery. Those who did not die in the forest near the White Sea remained devoted to heaven.

P.P. Polezhaev. Newspaper "Forward" dated 02.02.1988

1953 I then served in the North in Soviet army. We had to ski 47 km.

The commander drove to the head of the column and gave the command to follow him. He decided to show us, who arrived from different garrisons 300-900 km away, something that we did not know about.

Coming out into a small clearing, our officers saw modest monument. There are 13 names on the marble tablet. Imagine my surprise: all the names are familiar to me. Here, in the distant Arctic, the heroes laid down their lives. These were the people - the beauty and pride of the plant where I had previously worked. I drive closer to make sure again and again. There was no doubt. I took off my hat. All senior and junior commanders followed me, as if on command. Everyone wanted to know the details of the death of their comrades, ask about it from those who served here before the war and from local residents. I also had to answer hundreds of questions.

As is known, after the October socialist revolution The Soviet government began studying and developing the Northern Sea Route. Along with this, in the thirties, the central Arctic was also studied by all kinds of expeditions.

In May 1937, a group of four scientific workers, which collected very valuable material. After a nine-month drift, by the end of January 1938, the station approached the eastern shores of Greenland. Ice conditions in the area of ​​the first Soviet station “North Pole”, where the brave four polar explorers, led by D.I. Papanipym, has deteriorated sharply. The ice floe was torn apart by a storm, and the polar explorers were left on its wreckage. Cracks appeared all around.

The Soviet government made a decision: to urgently remove the winterers from the ice floe. The icebreakers Taimyr, Murmansk, and Ermak were sent to rescue the Papaninites. The path is long. The question arose: will they have time?

Then the crew of the airship "USSR V-6" turned to the Party Central Committee with a request to send them to save the brave four. "USSR V-6" was at that time the best airship in the world. It was designed at the factory where I worked. It was built by our workers and engineers and rolled off the stocks in 1930. The handsome airship sailed several times over the jubilant festive Red Square, took part in parades in Tushino, and set several world records for duration, flight range and cargo lifting. The flight crew was confident that the task of the party and government would be fulfilled.

On February 5, 1938, a lot of people gathered on the airfield. Plant workers and members of their families came to see off the brave souls, and members of the government commission headed by L.P. came. Mikoyan. It's already dark. Illuminated by the beams of a searchlight, the airship disembarked, made a farewell circle and headed north.

Communication was maintained with the ship. He safely passed Leningrad, Petrozavodsk, Medvezhyegorsk... But suddenly a tragic message about the disaster arrived...

The place where the USSR V-6 airship crashed is Mount Neblo, whose height is more than 550 meters above sea level, semi-rocky, with steep slopes. In 1972, together with D.I. Matyunin, I had the opportunity to attend the opening of a monument to brave airship pilots on this mountain.

Participants in the opening of the monument on September 2 climbed Mount Neblo along the steep slope of the mountain, under a piercing wind, under cutting rain. The strong wind seemed to try to drown out the voices of those speaking at the rally, but it was unable to do so, just as time cannot erase in our memory the names of the brave aeronauts who died here.

Yuri Grigorievich Eremin, aeronautics historian, member of the Geographical Society.

Fifth International Scientific Readings dedicated to the memory of I. I. Sikorsky and the creative heritage of outstanding Russian aviators.

Volume I - Reports of the Aviation History Section. St. Petersburg, 2004

Many years of experience in the construction of semi-rigid airships at the beginning of the 20th century. reached its peak in Italy. The first type of such devices, created in France by Joliot (the “Lebodi” type), was successfully developed by the Italian engineers Crocco and Riccaldoni, and then by Forlanini. Since 1917, U. Nobile became involved in this work. Together with Uzuelli, Prassone and Crocco, he participated in the design and construction of the T-34 (Roma) 34,000 cc airship. m. After U. Nobile became director of the aeronautical structures plant in Rome in 1920, he made many improvements to the design of the new SC, RM and OS airships. And finally, the airship N-1, built in 1923, with a volume of 18,500 cubic meters. m can be considered the creation exclusively of Nobile (the initial letter of his surname is the name of this type of airship). It should be noted that the airship N-1 was built in two copies. The first, operated by the Italian Navy, was built from cheap but heavier materials and therefore had limited autonomy. The second copy was built in 1926 to participate in the Amundsen-Ellsworth-Nobile polar expedition and was greatly improved and lightened. Purchased by the Norwegian Aero Club, the airship was named "Norway". His successful flight along the route Spitsbergen - North Pole - Alaska took place on May 11-14, 1926.

The next airship Nobile N-2 (7100 cubic meters) was sold to Japan, and N-3 (7500 cubic meters) was built in Japan itself with consultation from the designer. Airships were built based on the designs of Nobile's metal keels in Germany, France, and the USSR.

The airship N-4 (18,500 cubic meters), built in 1927 according to the N-1 type, but lighter, was named “Italy”. In May 1928, starting from Kingsbay (Spitsbergen), this airship made three research flights. In the latter, when returning from the North Pole on May 25, he suffered a disaster.

It is worth mentioning the airship N-5 (55,000 cubic meters), which was built in 1925-1926. and which was supposed to fly to Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. But the Italian Ministry of Aviation unexpectedly stopped construction of the almost finished airship.

One of the last airships built according to Nobile's design was the Soviet USSR V-6 (Osoaviakhim) with a volume of 18,500 cubic meters. m. U. Nobile first visited our country in January 1926 in connection with the upcoming flight from Europe to America via the North Pole. In 1931, he visited the USSR again to take part in the search for the airship "Italy" on the icebreaker "Malygin". Unfavorable ice conditions in the Arctic did not allow this expedition to be carried out at that time. That same year, Nobile entered into an agreement with the Soviet government to work at Dirigiblestroy. For five years (1932-1936) he was involved in the design and construction of aircraft as a designer and consultant, as well as in flight training as a chief pilot. According to his projects and with his participation, such airships as the USSR V-5 (2340 cubic meters) and the mentioned USSR V-6 were created. In the Soviet Union, Nobile carried out extensive educational work on aeronautics: He gave lectures in Russian to students at the Airship Training Center (DUK), published articles in newspapers and magazines, and taught flight practice to the first aircraft commanders. According to test engineer K. G. Sedykh, Nobile had a dream to build an airship with a volume of 52,000 cubic meters. m, for which a project had already been made in working drawings, but since 1939, airship construction in our country was curtailed, and completed and unfinished ships were dismantled.

The USSR airship V-6, despite a number constructive changes and technological innovations, basically repeats the N-1 type. Here are some of its characteristics: length 104.5 m, midsection diameter 18.85 m, height 25.5 m; total power of power plants is 810 hp. (three Maybach engines of 270 hp each); flight weight 21,340 kg, of which dead weight 11,700 kg; payload 9640 kg. Maximum speed at an altitude of 300 m - 111 km/h, operating speed 92 km/h.

In connection with the entry into operation of this largest airship in the country, the leadership grew stronger in the idea of ​​​​using it in the Arctic, especially since, according to the terms of Nobile’s agreement with Dirigiblestroy, he was supposed to lead the flight on this airship to the North Pole. After its first flight on November 5, 1934, the following year the airship made a training flight north to Arkhangelsk; Nobile also took part in this flight as chief pilot. At the same time, lines of communication with Western and Eastern Siberia were conceived. In 1936, the project of permanent flights along the route Moscow - Arkhangelsk - Dikson - Igarka was seriously considered. For this purpose, it was brought to Dikson Island, Amderma and Igarka necessary equipment along with fuel and lubricants. According to the testimony of aeronautics veterans, on September 25, 1936, this project was reported to I.V. Stalin, and he allegedly said: “Why do we need to go into these deserted areas when we need to connect industrial centers?” In addition, in the spring of 1936, the gas shell of the B-6 began to “leak,” which was the reason for its long repair. After repairs and modernization of the airship, its volume increased to 19,500 cubic meters. m. The first control flight took place only on January 27, 1937.

However, the management of Dirigiblestroy did not abandon the thought of Arctic flights. Thus, in May 1937, it was planned to use the B-6 for a flight to the North Pole from Kingsbay Bay (Spitsbergen), where there was a metal mooring mast and a boathouse. The starting team of 200-300 people was supposed to be formed from workers of Soviet coal mines. But this plan also did not come true - planes flew to the pole. But the whole of 1937 was spent in preparation for the opening of the Moscow-Sverdlovsk airship line, for which the B-6 crew made several large training flights. So, in September there was a flight to Sverdlovsk with mooring to the mast. Then, on September 29 - October 4, the B-6 crew under the command of I.V. Pankov set a world record for flight duration (130 hours 27 minutes) on a circular route. And in December, a flight to Sverdlovsk without landing took place again. Then, for the first time in winter conditions, a catalytic furnace was used to heat the passenger gondola. In January 1938, B-6 began to be prepared to repeat the world record in a straight line on the Moscow-Novosibirsk-Moscow route, and from April 1, it was decided to put it into permanent operation on the Moscow-Sverdlovsk route (three flights per month).

And yet, emergency circumstances once again connected the balloonists with the Arctic: urgent assistance was required to the polar explorers of our first drifting station under the leadership of I. D. Papanin. The SP-1 station began operating immediately after the landing on May 21, 1937 by Aeroflot aircraft. It was assumed that the drift of the ice floe would last at least a year, but after just seven months the ice floe was in the waters of the Greenland Sea, and in another month, in January 1938, it sank 625 kilometers to the south. After numerous storms and compression, by February the ice field of the station had spread into small ice floes. The polar explorers found themselves on a piece of debris 50 m long and 30 m wide. Icebreakers and submarines. The B-6 crew appealed to the head of the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet, V.S. Molokov, with a request for the participation of the airship in the rescue operation. The application was considered by the country's leadership, and on February 3, by order of the government, the B-6 flight to Novosibirsk was canceled and a flight to the drifting ice floe was scheduled no later than February 5. On the day of launch, due to bad weather, it was only in the evening that the airship was difficult to remove from the boathouse. At night the Moscow-Cherepovets section was covered. Fog and icing were observed when approaching Petrozavodsk, where the airship arrived at 12 o'clock on February 6. The further route to Murmansk had to go along the railway line, since the crew had no other means of orientation other than visual. Telegraph communication was maintained only with the base in Dolgoprudny. On the approach to Kandalaksha, in the conditions of the polar night and the beginning of snowfall, the crew lost their way in the area of ​​​​the Zhemchuzhnaya station, where they had to change the direction of movement. Through the blizzard, the crew saw fires, but did not know their purpose. In the last radiogram from 18 hours 56 minutes, the crew asked the base about this, where they also knew nothing about the fires, since they were burned on orders from Leningrad. Some time later, the airship collided with Mount Neblo and crashed. 13 people died in the disaster, six survived.

As soon as the news of the death of the airship was received, a Government Commission was formed to investigate the causes of the disaster. According to press reports, its composition was as follows: chairman - A.I. Mikoyan, deputy chairman - K.G. Kirsanov; members of the commission were G.B. Kharabkovsky, leading designer of Dirigiblestroy, A. M. Baibakov, senior starter of the airship squadron, and employees of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs Porudko and Toshchenko. K. G. Kirsanov recalls only one of them, but claims that the military commissar of his squadron, I. O. Samokhvalov, was also a member of the commission. The conclusions of the Government Commission were as follows: the inaccuracy of the map, which did not indicate the mountain. There was unfavorable weather and darkness. But it is enough to look at the map of this area to be convinced: the cause of the disaster is not that the mountain was not marked on the map, but that the bend in the road went unnoticed. At the Pearl Railway station, it makes a turn from NW to NE. And Mount Neblo is located exactly on the continuation of the previous direction NW 320° (the wreckage of the airship on the mountain is approximately oriented in the same way). The airship simply should not have been in the area of ​​this mountain. It is quite understandable why the crew did not notice the turn: darkness, snowfall, blind flight. The distance from Zhemchuzhnaya station to Mount Neblo is 18.5 km. At a speed of 100 km/h, the airship overcomes them in 12 minutes. Perhaps the crew was not yet aware of the missed turn. The statement that the airship maintained a height of 500-600 m contradicts the actual position of the debris on the mountain between 320-340 m (with a mountain height of 446.5 m). The insufficient flight altitude can be explained by one circumstance: it is impossible to visually navigate in cloudy conditions, and going beyond the lower edge of the clouds involuntarily “presses” the airship to the ground. In addition, we must take into account that the airship had 140 m of “false” altitude due to the reduced atmospheric pressure in cyclone conditions (calculation was made based on data from the Kovd and Kandalaksha weather stations). Without communication with local data, it was impossible to make adjustments to the data from the altitude instruments on board the airship. Even having flown past Neblogogora, the airship could have flown into Mount Gremyakha (height 525 m) a little later. Therefore, contrary to the conclusion of the Government Commission, we see the causes of the disaster in the wrong choice of route, bad weather and the lack of reliable navigation aids.

There are several ambiguities and confusion in the history of the death of the airship, which give rise to various myths and speculation about the causes of the disaster. Let us turn to the analysis of some particular and controversial issues, which may clarify real reasons death of B-6.

Route selection. The shortest route to the ice floe ran through Leningrad and Scandinavia. But then our country had tense relations with Finland. This option was rejected. The second option is to fly to Arkhangelsk and then along the coast to Murmansk; there the airship had to replenish gas, fuel, food and partially change the crew, as well as take on board journalists and a cameraman. The crew mastered this route back in May 1935; the terrain here is flat and calm. An ardent supporter of this direction was 1st Assistant Commander S.V. Demin, who even dared to argue with Yezhov himself. The person responsible for sending the airship, A. I. Mikoyan, stopped the argument: fly the shortest route. Therefore, we settled on the third option: Moscow - Cherepovets - Petrozavodsk and then along the railway to Murmansk. This route was chosen only because it was somewhat shorter than the second and passed through more populated and settled areas. The lack of exploration of the route and the mountainous terrain were not taken into account. Many people were pessimistic about this decision. Veterans of "Dirizhablestroy" recalled that someone among the mourners said: they flew to their death. After the disaster, this man was tracked down and arrested.

Communications and navigation. The ship operated a transceiver shortwave radio station, which in flight was powered by a windmill located on board the gondola. The batteries used to light the ship were also charged from the windmill. In case the engines stopped, a battery-powered umformer was installed. A spare engine for the radio station was taken for the flight to the ice floe. Unfortunately, contact was maintained only with the base in Dolgoprudny. There were no reliable guidance devices on board, which is why we had to walk along the road, relying only on keen eyesight. But to access the SP-1 radio station, the American RC-3 radio half-compass was urgently installed. Radio operator A.V. Vorobyov, who installed this device on the V-6, said: “At that time we only had magnetic gyrocompasses, and in the Arctic they worked with large errors. We rejected the German ones due to their short range (30 km), the RC-3 could guide 100 km with great accuracy up to 2-3° (only at night there were large distortions). We walked to Petrozavodsk in complete fog, but thanks to this device we passed directly over the radio station. Unfortunately, it could only be used by tuning into a powerful station. And our semi-compass was specially tuned to Krenkel’s transmitter.” Aeronautics veteran D.S. Spassky is right when he stated: “The disaster was not the fault of either the ship or the crew. It fell on the organizers of the flight, who made a number of mistakes in navigation support” (Komsomolskaya Pravda dated October 15, 1978).

Unfavorable circumstances. A serious factor influencing the fate of the airship was time. If not for the delay at the start, the ship would have made the ill-fated turn at the Zhemchuzhnaya station six hours earlier, in good weather and during daylight hours. Or, on the contrary, if the flight had been delayed for two hours, there would have been no snowfall and the moon would have been shining. It was also a matter of chance that the airship was heading up the mountain in its very middle.

If it had deviated by 100-150 meters, the collision with the mountain would not have occurred. The same is with the flight altitude: if an adjustment had been made to 140-150 m of the “false” altitude, the airship would not have even touched the top. By the way, the calculation was made according to data from the Kovd weather station, where the pressure differed from the norm by 17.55 mb. towards the downside. With a pressure level of 8 m, this gives 140.4 m. These were precisely what was not enough for a safe flight: the airship lies on a slope at 320-340 m above sea level. It is known that history does not know the conditional mood, and it would be possible not to mention these untapped possibilities. But they are an indicator of an excess of risk, bordering on a gamble. You will inevitably agree with the nameless prophet on the wires of the airship.

Low flight altitude sometimes raises the question: was the ship overloaded? Indeed, in a hurry it was loaded to the limit: fuel, oils, tents, ropes, clothing, catalytic furnace, guns, cartridges, aerial bombs, etc. The crew of 19 people is also larger than usual - 16 people. At launch, the airship surfaced with difficulty, and in order not to touch the trees at the edge of the airfield, we even had to dump some of the ballast. On the approach to Petrozavodsk, icing was observed. But by the time of the collision with the mountain, the airship had already lost 3,750 kg of spent fuel. And the loss of gas, according to V. A. Ustinovich, is completely excluded. No one doubted the material part of the ship.

An important and mysterious circumstance is the fact that no maps were attached to the act of the Government Commission. From a note from navigator G.N. Myachkov to his wife, it is clear that the route maps were received the day before departure, and some were handed over just before the start. The navigators got to know them almost as they went along. And during the flight some inaccuracies became clear. V. A. Ustinovich, who was on watch with A. A. Ritsland, shows that the navigator constantly winced when he discovered errors on the map. During interrogations, both V.A. Ustinovich and V.I. Pochekin claimed that the mountain was not on the map. However, A. M. Kuznetsov, the head of the Kandalaksha regional district of the NKVD, who had access to such maps, objects: “There was a mountain on the map.” But Kuznetsov was not a member of the Commission and did the inspection later, on his own initiative. K.G. Kirsanov recalled: “From Moscow our commission was given the command to go to Leningrad and find the flight map.” The charred remains of the “ten-verstka” discovered in Ritsland’s briefcase did not make it possible to find out even the nomenclature of the card. But in Leningrad they were refused cards. According to A.M. Baibakov, in Moscow the same refusal followed at the flight headquarters. Therefore, the commission’s act was presented to the head of the Civil Air Fleet Main Directorate, V.S. Molokov, without maps. In the presence of the commission, he called I.V. Stalin, who ordered the materials to be delivered to him and the commission to be released. So the opinion of the crew members about the absence of the mountain became official. Apparently, this option suited everyone.

The media often claim that the airship hit the top of a mountain, fell and caught fire. This myth has also penetrated the pages of serious literature. Thus, M. Ya. Arie and A. G. Polyanker in the book “The New Generation Airship” write: “The ship, in poor visibility conditions, touched the top of a mountain in the Kandalaksha area and suffered a disaster.” However, elsewhere in the book they correctly assess the situation: “The airship collided with a mountain that was not on the navigator’s map. The fire that started destroyed the ship.”

The authors explain the reason for the collision with the mountain as follows: “On the airship B-6, before the collision with the mountain, they did not have time to turn off the engines.” But such a maneuver makes sense if there is a sufficient distance to the obstacle. All the facts of the real disaster indicate that the crew did not have time to turn off the engines. A distance of 100-150 m (which is 4-6 seconds of flight at a speed of 25 m/s) is enough to turn off the engines, but to avoid a collision with a mountain, this time is not enough, since it is impossible to extinguish inertia during this time. And you can’t turn off the engines instantly. The distance to the mountain is determined by us by the limit to which the searchlight beam could penetrate during a snowfall. We take it as 100 m - with a conscious allowance. Under similar conditions, N.S. Gudovantsev conducted experiments on the B-2 airship. There, the spotlight penetrated the fog at 30 m. If in our case we take into account that the falling snow creates a “screen,” as some crew members pointed out before turning on the spotlight, then it becomes clear that they saw the mountain in close proximity. The only right decision that I.V. Pankov made was to turn away from the mountain in dynamic mode. Having given the command “right rudder” to Pochekin, he tried to raise the ship with the elevator. It was not possible to avoid a meeting with the mountain, but the airship first hit the slope with its stern, and only then fell flat on it. This saved the lives of most crew members. Unfortunately, not everyone managed to escape from the fire and smoke from under the shell. The six people who survived were saved precisely because, for various reasons, they found themselves outside the burning shell. Professor of Aeronautics A.G. Vorobyov confirmed that the inertia of airships can be so great that turning off the engines is advisable only when there is a sufficient distance from the obstacle. He gave an example of piloting errors during the Roma airship disaster. By the way, during the Italia disaster, the engines were also turned off, but the inertia was so strong that when it encountered a hummock, the passenger gondola was torn out.

About ballast. The crew was reproached on this issue as well. Some even experienced balloonists (Kharabkovsky, Belkin) saw his mistake in the fact that the ballast was not supplied. Let's consider how realistic it was to do this in 5 seconds (even in 10). On board there were 4 tanks with water ballast with a capacity of 300 liters. If you drop all these 1200 kilograms at once, you can get a good effect - the airship will “bounce”. The flow rate of water from the tank is only 10 l/s. This means that the tank can be emptied in only 30 seconds. It is not difficult to calculate that all 4 tanks will dump only 200 liters in 5 seconds. According to the unanimous opinion of the majority of experienced balloonists (V.A. Ustinovich, A.M. Baibakov, K.G. Sedykh, A.G. Vorobyov), dumping ballast was useless.

One of the mistakes of the Dirigiblestroy command is the recruitment of a prefabricated crew. It was believed that they were flying “for orders,” so the crew was formed along party lines. Yezhov really did not want to include the non-partisan Myachkov in the crew, who also had a criminal record for the accident. Pankov, the main commander of the B-6, was not included in the crew because he was on vacation. Having learned about the flight, he returned to Moscow and only thanks to the intervention of the district party committee was included in the crew as second commander. In addition to two commanders, the crew included four assistant commanders and a naval engineer. These seven people represented almost the entire command staff squadrons. Such a “ceremonial” composition did not cause the disaster, but the death of most of the commanders almost decapitated the squadron’s command staff.

Naturally, the crew, which was not composed on professional grounds, aroused mistrust. At the first interrogation of the surviving crew members by the NKVD in Kandalaksha, attention was drawn to the relationships between individual crew members. The interrogation was tough and partial. They wondered if there was any hostility between the participants in the flight. Suspicions, of course, also affected those who stood on the last watch. Fortunately, Myachkov’s letter to his wife dated February 5 has been preserved and Pankov’s note to his wife is known, which completely removes any suspicion from them.

But if suspicions towards the crew have dissipated, then suspicions towards the leading employees of Dirigiblestroy have not diminished. According to the logic of the suspects, sabotage could have been carried out at the level of decisions, flight preparation, manning, etc. Then the Tukhachevsky “case” had just ended, in which corps commander Tkachev, who was the head of the Civil Air Fleet Main Directorate before his arrest, had just ended. Molotov’s words were reported, allegedly said by him after the B-6 disaster: “Here they are, the Tkachev affairs!” Therefore, many of those repressed at Dirigablestroy were involved in the case of Tukhachevsky and Tkachev. Among those arrested after the death of B-6 was G. B. Kharabkovsky, a member of the Government Commission. A. M. Baibakov recalled about him: “When we arrived from Kandalaksha to Leningrad, Kharabkovsky went to see his wife - she lived here. He returned depressed and upset. I ask what happened, he is silent. And in Moscow I walked around lost, not like myself. 2-3 days after talking with him about the monument to the guys, I called him, he was no longer there. I ask the secretary, and she is afraid to talk on the phone. Come, he says, to the gate. There she said: “He was taken away. No one knows who came, why or why, they took him - and nothing more was heard about him.” At Dirigablestroy, denunciations and expulsions from the party were commonplace at that time. One of these injured commanders, Pomerantsev, recalled: “The “confessions” of Tkachev and Tukhachevsky were fabricated, as if I was a member of their organization.”

But against the backdrop of arbitrariness and confusion, there are truly suspicious facts. The reason for the refusal to issue cards to the commission is unclear, and the inconsistency between different services on the issue of bonfires is unclear. The same Baibakov said regarding possible sabotage: “At one time, something was constantly burning in our Dirigiblestroy. The airships had to be kept on the airfield - they were afraid of fires. Someone organized all this.” It is quite plausible that the phosphorus aeronautical bombs, the explosion of which started the fire on the airship, were taken with intent. By the way, Gudovantsev was against their loading, but someone insisted and ordered them to be placed above the galley. It is puzzling that ether was placed in the passenger gondola, next to the catalytic furnace. Taken at the last moment, ostensibly to start engines in the cold, it was in an unprotected glass bottle. The combination of these facts does not seem accidental. But without familiarity with the NKVD archives, it is still impossible to understand these guesses.

This is the fate of the last of the airships that the outstanding Italian designer Umberto Nobile designed and built. The fate is tragic and still not sufficiently clarified.

Material from Wikipedia - free encyclopedia

Construction

The correct identification mark of the airship is “USSR-V6”, however, in most documents of that time and in the literature, the incorrect spelling was fixed: “USSR V-6”.

The design of the ship began in the fall of 1932, construction began with the manufacture of gasoline and ballast tanks in January 1933 and was carried out in parallel with the design. The general management of the construction was carried out by Nobile, the leading engineer was the young Soviet airship designer Mikhail Kulik. The launch date for the airship was repeatedly moved: May 1, 1933, then the 16th anniversary of the October Revolution (November 1933), but construction could not be completed due to numerous design and technological difficulties, lack of materials, equipment, and qualified labor. The release date of the airship was once again postponed to October 1, 1934; by January 1934 it was on average 70-75% ready.

On February 12, 1938, the airship crew members were buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.

Crew

• Gudovantsev N.S. - first commander;
• Pankov I.V. - second commander;
• Demin S.V. - first assistant commander;
• Lyanguzov V.G. - second assistant commander;
• Kulagin T.S. - third assistant commander;
• Ritsland A. A. - first navigator;
• Myachkov G.N. - second navigator;
• Konyashin N. A. - senior flight mechanic;
• Shmelkov K. A. - first flight mechanic;
• Nikitin M.V. - flight mechanic;
• Kondrashev N.N. - flight mechanic;
• Chernov V.D. - flight radio operator
• Gradus D.I. - on-board weather forecaster.

Lightly wounded:

• Pochekin V.I. - fourth assistant commander;
• Novikov K.P. - flight mechanic;
• Burmakin A.N. - flight mechanic.

No damage received:

• Ustinovich V. A. - naval engineer;
• Matyunin D.I. - flight mechanic;
• Vorobiev A.V. - radio engineer (was seconded to the crew for the duration of the flight on the section between Moscow and Murmansk).

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Notes

Literature

• (documentary story)
• (selected chapters)
• (collection of articles, 1938)
• (newspaper article, 1988)
• Obukhovich V. A., Kulbaka S. P. Airships at war. - M.: ACT, 2000. - ISBN 5-17-001637-9.
• Belokrys A."Dirigiblestroy" on Dolgoprudnaya: 1934, one year in the life. - M.: "Paulsen", 2011. - ISBN 978-5-98797-060-7.
• (article)

Links

An excerpt characterizing the USSR V-6 (Osoaviakhim)

On March 3, in all the rooms of the English Club there was a groan of talking voices and, like bees on spring migration, scurried back and forth, sat, stood, converged and dispersed, in uniforms, tailcoats and some others in powder and caftans, members and guests of the club . Powdered, stockinged and booted footmen in livery stood at every door and strained to catch every movement of the guests and members of the club in order to offer their services. Most of those present were old, respectable people with wide, self-confident faces, thick fingers, firm movements and voices. This kind of guests and members sat in well-known, familiar places and met in well-known, familiar circles. A small part of those present consisted of random guests- mainly young people, among whom were Denisov, Rostov and Dolokhov, who was again a Semyonov officer. On the faces of the youth, especially the military, there was an expression of that feeling of contemptuous respect for the elderly, which seems to say to the old generation: we are ready to respect and honor you, but remember that after all, the future belongs to us.
Nesvitsky was there, like an old member of the club. Pierre, who, at the orders of his wife, had let his hair grow, had taken off his glasses and was dressed fashionably, but with a sad and despondent look, walked through the halls. He, as everywhere else, was surrounded by an atmosphere of people who worshiped his wealth, and he treated them with the habit of kingship and absent-minded contempt.
According to his years, he should have been with the young; according to his wealth and connections, he was a member of the circles of old, respectable guests, and therefore he moved from one circle to another.
The most important old men formed the center of the circles, to which even strangers respectfully approached to listen to famous people. Large circles were formed around Count Rostopchin, Valuev and Naryshkin. Rostopchin talked about how the Russians were crushed by the fleeing Austrians and had to make their way through the fugitives with a bayonet.
Valuev confidentially said that Uvarov was sent from St. Petersburg in order to find out the opinion of Muscovites about Austerlitz.
In the third circle, Naryshkin spoke about a meeting of the Austrian military council, in which Suvorov crowed the rooster in response to the stupidity of the Austrian generals. Shinshin, who was standing right there, wanted to joke, saying that Kutuzov, apparently, could not learn this simple art of cock-crow from Suvorov; but the old men looked sternly at the joker, letting him feel that here and today it was so indecent to talk about Kutuzov.
Count Ilya Andreich Rostov, anxiously, hurriedly walked in his soft boots from the dining room to the living room, hastily and in exactly the same way greeting important and unimportant persons whom he knew all, and occasionally looking for his slender young son with his eyes, joyfully resting his gaze on him and winked at him. Young Rostov stood at the window with Dolokhov, whom he had recently met and whose acquaintance he valued. The old count approached them and shook Dolokhov's hand.