Airplane under the bridge. Air hooligan valentin halts and his moment of glory

October 8th, 2013

Here is a photo and a story that has been circulating on the Internet for more than a year. Have you ever wondered if she is real? Could it be that much of what is written on the Internet is a fake? Let's try to figure it out...

In the Guinness Book of Records, we will not find any mention of the Novosibirsk Communal Bridge, nor the name of Privalov - this is not surprising, because the Soviet press did not write about the incident that occurred on June 3 (according to some sources - June 4), 1965.
Rumors spread throughout the country, and even leaked abroad, already acquiring some completely ridiculous details, but since there was no official message, there was no official recognition. Moreover, the only flight of a jet fighter under the bridge in world history was not recorded by the on-board equipment, you will not be able to detect film and photo documents either.

Let's see how they describe it artistically:

As eyewitnesses recall, the day of 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, there was nowhere for an apple to fall. Young Novosibirsk students and schoolchildren have just started their holidays. Silence, calmness and goodness - summer in the Soviet Novosibirsk.

The city was preparing to fall into an afternoon slumber, when suddenly… a roar came from the sky. The sound grew and quickly turned into a menacing one. On the embankment, they began to look around anxiously: what is making noise?

And suddenly a silvery lightning appeared over Otdykha Island (the Ob island closest to the Communal Bridge). And ... began to fall into the Ob, but not vertically, like a stone, but in a smooth downward direction. When the water was a few meters away, the silver car leveled off and went straight.

Yes, it's an airplane! A real combat fighter! - exclaimed someone on the embankment.

The crowd fell silent in horror: the fighter flew low over the waves straight to the Communal Bridge. The water under the plane boiled with white breakers - either from the incredible speed of the machine, or from the blows of a jet stream from a nozzle. It seemed that a silver boat was flying over the water, and a white trail stretched behind it (it is called a wake).

Novosibirsk was anxiously silent: if an unknown hooligan at the helm of a fighter makes a mistake even by a millimeter, a tragedy will occur. On the bridge - hundreds of people in cars, trolleybuses and buses hurry about their business. God forbid, the ace will crash into the support of the Communal ...

The plane dived 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 breathed a sigh of relief. But then the jet engine howled like a fool, and there, behind the bridge, silvery lightning darted upwards.

People on the other side of the embankment, where the Gorodskoe Nachalo park is located today, were dumbfounded: a silver plane that emerged from under the Communal Bridge was flying straight at the railway bridge. The city history began with it, the fate of the country depends on it, and just now a freight train with a forest is going along it!

Silvery lightning missed the railway bridge by only a dozen meters. The plane went into the sky, and the whole embankment, without saying a word, applauded.

Clickable 2500 px

So, on June 4, 1965, in the company of friends, I was heading to the city beach. Then the tram route 6 ran from the left bank to the right bank. This is how we got to the resting place. The trams did not run very often and therefore were packed full of passengers. June 4 was no exception, and not everyone managed to get off at the Beach stop. Thus, I moved to the right bank and from there, without waiting for the return tram, I was forced to cross the bridge to the left bank of the Ob. A few other people were walking in the same direction besides me. A man of athletic build walked first, I followed him, and behind me was a corporal of internal troops in dress uniform. Unbuttoning his tunic and pushing his cap back on the back of his head, the servant moved with measured steps towards the sandy shore.

And so, 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 the clothes and shoes of careless bathers into the water. The man walking ahead of me and I stopped and, as if spellbound, looked at the amazing action, and the corporal held his cap tightly to his head with both hands, fearing the loss of government property. A little later we smelled kerosene.

By evening, almost all of the Left Bank knew about what had happened, although there was a "damaged telephone effect." Instead of the MiG-17 fighter, the passenger Tu-104 has already appeared. They said that under the bridge a plane flew from the plant. Chkalov, who allegedly lost control during the tests. But there were obvious inconsistencies, since in those years the plant was already producing the Su-15, and the tests of new aircraft were carried out far outside the city. Local media did not report anything about the incident, and curious citizens after 2-3 days learned some details from transoceanic enemy radio broadcasts. But the Maoist mouthpiece from Beijing, the passage under the Communal Bridge announced the beginning of the development of new tactics for the destruction of bridges and crossings by Soviet pilots. Not somewhere on the training ground, but in the center of a large city!

Of course, the main event was the flight, but the MiG-17 is not a rocket, which means there was a pilot. There were a lot of rumors about him then. Popular rumor reported that the desperate flight under the bridge was the result of a dispute. It was also said that the pilot took the extra risk because of the inaccessible beauty.

Captain Privalov's argument

Rumors were rumors, but it was not at all like that. On June 4, 1965, thirty-year-old captain Valentin Vasilyevich Privalov made his flight under the bridge not on a dare and not because of a woman. The reason was different. He wanted to show that there are still pilots with a capital letter in the Armed Forces, that the ill-conceived dashing "cutting" of the native army during the Khrushchev thaw did not eradicate Chkalovsky traditions and pilot dashing. In addition, it was also a kind of protest against the kholuy suppression of innovation, initiative and the “rubbing out” of combat pilots.

The peak of “cutting” and reduction Valentin Vasilyevich experienced while serving in naval aviation, in the 691st Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet in the city of Mamonovo, Kaliningrad Region. The very west of the USSR, flights over the sea, a black naval uniform, and suddenly - a transfer to the depths of Siberia, a change from a naval uniform to an all-army one ... Service in the Chernigov Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment in the city of Kansk, Krasnoyarsk Territory was much more prosaic and, moreover, Siberia is not the Baltic .

In early June 1965, anti-aircraft artillery of two motorized rifle divisions of the Siberian Military District began to pass 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 flight of four MiG-17s was sent from the 712th Guards Aviation Regiment to Tolmachevo. Among the pilots was Captain Privalov.
Ground anti-aircraft gunners from 57-millimeter guns fired at the mirror reflection of fighters, and the authorities with large stars on shoulder straps drew conclusions about the degree of preparedness of each of the divisions. After such an imitation of the defeat of the air enemy, Privalov, following to the airfield in Tolmachevo, “subdued” the Communal Bridge.

As Alexander Kamanov (a Novosibirsk resident who met and talked with Valentin Privalov) tells in his memoirs, the pilot noticed the Communal Bridge a long time ago. The ace, who came from Kansk to Novosibirsk for flight training, immediately thought to himself: “I will definitely fly under this bridge!”.

After one of the training sessions, Privalov was going to return to the airfield. But, flying over the Ob, he decided to fulfill his promise to himself.

The target was approached in the direction of the Ob, at a speed of about 700 kilometers per hour. It was scary - to darkening in the eyes. Still - at such a speed to get into the narrow "window" of the bridge arch (30 meters high and 120 wide) seemed simply impossible. Even a slight touch on the control stick changed the height of the car by whole meters.

But the worst was yet to come. Immediately after the Communal Bridge - just 950 meters away - there is already a railway bridge, the most important transport artery of Russia. Privalov had exactly five seconds before the collision. And during this time, he managed to drastically change course and, experiencing wild overload, screw into the sky.

The next day, June 5, 1965, all four pilots seconded from Kansk were in for a "surprise". 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 an incident unseen since the time of Valery Chkalov. They also reported to the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union R.Ya. Malinovsky.

Anticipating numerous thunders and lightnings from the General Staff Olympus and the near prospect of giving Privalov to the tribunal, the communists of the regiment hastily expelled the desperate pilot from the ranks of the CPSU. And in those years, this meant the end of aviation biography, even in the most favorable scenario.,

Privalov, without an airplane, but with a parachute (as it was supposed to be in form), went back to Kansk by train. He was threatened, if not by a tribunal, then by the end of his flying career. However, when the ace arrived in his native part, a telegram arrived there: “Pilot Privalov should not be punished. Limit yourself to the events that were carried out with him (meaning an educational conversation with the marshal. - Approx. ed.). If you haven't been on vacation, go on vacation. If there was, give ten days of rest at the unit. Minister of Defense of the USSR Marshal R. Malinovsky.

Apparently, the suicidal courage of the air hooligan subdued the marshal, who was familiar with both Chkalov and Pokryshkin. Which, 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. Maybe, the marshal realized that such pilots in the event of war would be very useful to native aviation, or maybe something else happened, but Captain Privalov was ordered not to punish, but to send him on vacation, and if he already had, then provide a ten-day rest with parts! After that, the ex-communist was quickly returned to the ranks of the Leninist party, and the caliber of the stars on the shoulder straps of the desperate pilot soon changed. He became a squadron commander and even a deputy regiment commander, but not immediately.

They did not forget about the Chkalovsky follower in the capital - in the early 70s, Major, and then Lieutenant Colonel Privalov, continued to serve in a training air regiment in the village of Savasleyka, Gorky Region. Soon, the training regiment became the 148th center for combat use and retraining of air defense aviation flight personnel. Only in 1977, a cardiovascular disease forced Valentin Vasilievich to leave the flight service. He could not and did not want to remain in the ranks of the army without his favorite job - he had to retire, although there was an option to serve for some time in a rear position. In the late 80s, he underwent surgery to implant an electrical pacemaker to the heart muscle. Currently, Valentin Vasilyevich Privalov lives in Moscow.

Not everyone is given

It would be wrong to say that no one else tried to fly the Chkalovsky route under the bridge. Despite the bans, such attempts in Soviet aviation took place. You can already talk about one of them. In the late 80s, Senior Lieutenant K. was transferred from the west to the bomber regiment stationed near the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Quite a decent pilot with a worthy biography for those times. Even then, flights became a holiday for aviators - either there was no kerosene, or something else. In general, the pilots yearned for the sky.

In the spring of 1988, the aforementioned senior lieutenant went on vacation from Khabarovsk to Dnepropetrovsk. The intermediate landing in Tolmachevo dragged on for several hours. For a nonresident person to sit at the airport and not see the capital of Siberia is simply unacceptable, so the Far Eastern pilot made an excursion by taxi. When driving along the Communal Bridge, the taxi driver said that when he was still a kid, a MiG flying under the trusses of the bridge washed away his trousers in the Ob. Prior to this, the pilot heard all sorts of stories, but then the “victim” told. Immediately there was a desire to repeat Chkalovsky's trick, but not in Novosibirsk, but in the Far East.

The target was a railway bridge near the village of Pivan, Khabarovsk Territory. The means is the native Su-24. The starley also persuaded his friend, Captain R., to perform the trick, because the crew of the aircraft was supposed to consist of two people. For more than a month, friends drew diagrams, calculated parameters, angles of approach, and so on. We were not too lazy to go to the Pivan bridge, but the sailors from the internal troops unit, who were guarding an important object, prevented us from looking around.

They decided to combine the conquest of the bridge with a flight to the training ground in the Khabarovsk region. A day before the proposed flight, “kind” people were found, they reported where necessary and even attached copies of the diagrams and calculations during the span of the bridge, as many as four options, depending on wind speed and other factors. As a result, instead of the airfield, the pilots ended up in a special department of the air division, where, after a series of preventive measures, they abandoned the risky event. In the early 90s, starley, without receiving another star, joined the military aviation of independent Ukraine and even rose to the rank of colonel, and the captain, having retired to the reserve, organized a private company.

Years passed, no one else conquered the Communal Bridge. A commemorative plaque telling about the events of June 1965 did not appear either.

Victor MININ, especially for "G-S"
The author is grateful for the help in preparing the material to retired colonels L.A. Agafonov (Novosibirsk), G.F. Selivanov (Moscow), Yu.P. Makarov (N. Novgorod)

Yes, by the way, is the photo real? Of course not, here it says that this is a collage (see the lower right corner of the central photo):

Yes, and on the Internet you can easily find 100,500 reasons that this particular photo is a montage.

BY THE WAY

"Suicide Bridge" or "Guardian Angel Bridge"?

Alas, in recent years, the symbol of Novosibirsk has gained a bad reputation. Say, it turned into a "suicide bridge". How many cases there were when the townspeople tried to commit suicide by jumping from it, no one counted. We tried to do this and found that all known cases ended ... happily.

According to the workers who maintain the bridge, suicide jumps are most active between ten in the evening and one in the morning.

In the summer of 2001, a car stopped in the middle of the bridge. A man stepped out of it and, taking a few steps to the parapet, jumped into the water. Rescuers from the city beach noticed the unfortunate and pulled him out of the water. And the man who had suffered fear decided not to repeat the jump.
A little later, in winter, another person jumped from the bridge onto the ice. They say that he badly damaged the bones, but, thank heavens, he survived.
On City Day 2002, a desperate thirty-year-old woman jumped from the bridge, but already in the water she changed her mind about taking her own life and swam herself to the right bank of the river.
The incident, which occurred in the fall of 2002, is still considered unique to this day. Then a twenty-year-old guy jumped from the Communal Bridge to the Ob, fleeing an unhappy love. The water did not soften his fall - the young man hit the bottom. Later, when he was rescued and taken to the hospital, the doctors were surprised for a long time: the young man fell from the height of a 12-story building (considering the fall that he continued under water) and escaped with only a couple of bruises.

And here's how jet planes really fly over water.

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

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 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.

Pilot Privalov noticed the communal bridge a long time ago. The ace, who came from Kansk to Novosibirsk for flight training, immediately thought to himself: “I will definitely fly under this bridge!”. And so such a case presented itself.

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

In Novosibirsk, that day, 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, there was nowhere for an apple to fall. Young Novosibirsk students and schoolchildren have just started their holidays. The city was preparing to fall into an afternoon slumber, when suddenly… a roar came from the sky. The sound grew and quickly turned into a menacing one. And suddenly a silvery lightning appeared over Otdykha Island (the Ob island closest to the Communal Bridge). And ... began to fall into the Ob, but not vertically, like a stone, but in a smooth downward direction. When the water was a few meters away, the silver car leveled off and went straight.

Novosibirsk was anxiously silent: if an unknown hooligan at the helm of a fighter makes a mistake even by a millimeter, a tragedy will happen. On the bridge - hundreds of people in cars, trolleybuses and buses hurry about their business. God forbid, the ace will crash into the support of the Communal ...

The plane dived 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 breathed a sigh of relief. But then the jet engine roared, and there, beyond the bridge, silvery lightning darted skyward, bringing water and hot air down on the bridge.

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

People on the other side of the embankment, where the Gorodskoe Nachalo park is located today, were dumbfounded: now the plane that emerged from under the Communal Bridge was flying straight at the railway bridge.

The MIG missed the railway bridge by only ten meters. The plane went into the sky, and the entire embankment, without saying a word, crossed themselves and applauded the diapers.

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 an incident that had not been seen 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 lightnings from the General Staff Olympus and the near prospect of giving Privalov to the tribunal, the communists of the regiment hastily expelled the desperate pilot from the ranks of the CPSU. And in those years, this meant the end of aviation biography, even in the most favorable scenario.

During interrogation 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 (as it was supposed to be in form), went back to Kansk by train. He was threatened, if not by a tribunal, then by the end of his flying career.

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

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

In the Guinness Book of Records, we will not find any mention of the Novosibirsk Communal Bridge, nor the name of Privalov - this is not surprising, because the Soviet press did not write about the incident that occurred on June 3 (according to some sources - June 4), 1965. Rumors spread throughout the country and even leaked abroad, already acquiring some completely ridiculous details, but since there was no official message, there was no official recognition. Moreover, the only flight of a jet fighter under the bridge in world history was not recorded by the on-board equipment, you will not be able to detect film and photographic documents either.

Let's see how they describe it artistically:

As eyewitnesses recall, the day of June 4, 1965 turned out to be hot. On a lazy Friday afternoon, the embankment was crowded, and on the city beach there was nowhere for an apple to fall. Young Novosibirsk students and schoolchildren have just started their holidays. Silence, calmness and goodness - summer in the Soviet Novosibirsk.

Yes, it's an airplane! A real combat fighter! someone on the embankment exclaimed.

Silvery lightning missed the railway bridge by only a dozen meters. The plane went into the sky, and the whole embankment, without saying a word, applauded.

Clickable 2500 px

Captain Privalov's argument

Ground anti-aircraft gunners from 57-millimeter guns fired at the mirror reflection of fighters, and the authorities with large stars on shoulder straps drew conclusions about the degree of preparedness of each of the divisions. After such an imitation of the defeat of the air enemy, Privalov, following to the airfield in Tolmachevo, “subdued” the Communal Bridge.

After one of the training sessions, Privalov was going to return to the airfield. But, flying over the Ob, he decided to fulfill his promise to himself.

The target was approached in the direction of the Ob, at a speed of about 700 kilometers per hour. It was terrifying - until darkening in the eyes. Still - at such a speed to get into the narrow "window" of the bridge arch (30 meters high and 120 wide) seemed simply impossible. Even a slight touch on the control stick changed the height of the car by whole meters.

Not everyone is given

Years passed, no one else conquered the Communal Bridge. A commemorative plaque telling about the events of June 1965 did not appear either.

Victor MININ, especially for "G-S"

Yes, by the way, is the photo real?

Of course not, here it says that this is a collage (see the lower right corner of the central photo).

On June 3 (according to some sources - June 4), 1965, the whole of Novosibirsk was agitated by an extraordinary incident. The townspeople shared the news with each other: the trick was repeated in the city, which was done 30 years ago (either in 1927, or in 1928) by Valery Chkalov in Leningrad, namely: flying under one of the city's bridges!

Whether such a thing (a flight in a fighter plane under the Trinity Bridge) was actually carried out by Chkalov or not - history, frankly, is silent. We know about this only from the film "Valery Chkalov", but in Novosibirsk it was a real action. And this was done on the wrong antediluvian fighter I-5(1) , on which Chkalov flew in his years, and on a fairly modern car for that time, especially a jet one: on the MiG-17 fighter. And military pilot Valentin Privalov did it.

On that day, many saw how a red-star silver combat aircraft at great speed descended to the water surface of the Ob so low that waves dispersed behind it like a boat, and in this position flew exactly into the alignment of the central arch (30 by 120 meters) of the Communal Bridge. There were only a few seconds left before the next bridge, along which a freight train was going, but the fighter managed to soar up with a “candle” and disappeared into the clouds without a trace. The deaf and dumb witnesses of the fantastic spectacle on both sides of the Ob applauded in unison...

MiG-17 fighters; Valentin Privalov flew on an airplane of this type in 1965:

Communal bridge of Novosibirsk

As it turned out later, it was the MiG of the captain of the Air Force, sniper pilot Valentin Privalov, sent to Novosibirsk. Then he was 30 years old, and he had a reputation as a recognized ace, although his colleagues ironically called him Jack among themselves.

Valentin was born in the Moscow region, his childhood fell on wartime. While still at school, he was involved in the flying club. After college, he served in naval aviation, in Kaliningrad and the Arctic, was awarded the Order of the Red Star. Later he was transferred to the city of Kansk, Krasnoyarsk Territory. In June 1965, as part of a flight of 4 MiGs, Privalov was seconded to the exercises taking place in the Siberian Military District - anti-aircraft divisions conducted training firing at the training ground near Yurga. Returning from a mission in Tolmachevo, Valentine flew under the Communal Bridge. (For reference: the size of the arch is approximately 30 by 120 meters, the wingspan of the MiG-17 is 9.6 meters).

MiG-17 flying under the Communal Bridge, according to one version, the picture was taken by a foreign photojournalist who happened to be in the right place at the right time ...

Recalls Anatoly Maksimovich Rybyakov, retired Air Force Major:

“From the third turn, he descended and passed under the bridge. Speed - somewhere around 400 km / h. It was a clear, sunny day. People on the beach were swimming, sunbathing, and suddenly - a roar, and the plane soared up like a candle, avoiding a collision with the railway bridge. It was clear that this could not be hidden. Air Marshal Savitsky flew in and set up an investigation. They asked Privalov what his motives were. He replied that he wrote two reports about being sent to Vietnam, but they remained unanswered. That's why I decided to fly under the bridge to draw attention. This act was evaluated in different ways. Young pilots are like heroism, the older generation is like aerial hooliganism.

Privalov could be severely punished, up to the tribunal, but still pardoned. It is known that the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal Malinovsky, personally participated in his fate, and sent a telegram with approximately the following content:

“Pilot Privalov should not be punished. Limit yourself to the activities that were carried out with him. If you haven't been on vacation, go on vacation. If there was, give ten days of rest at the unit.

Approximately, because popular rumor stubbornly adds one more line to the telegram:

"The regimental commander to announce a reprimand."

And there were also rumors that a call to Moscow by the first secretary of the Novosibirsk Regional Committee of the CPSU Goryachev, who was on good terms with L.I., saved the pilot from punishment. Brezhnev.

And although Privalov was never sent to Vietnam, his further career was generally successful. He was transferred to the Gorky region (some sources claim that Privalov served further in Kubinka), rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, was both a squadron commander and deputy regiment commander, but in 1977, due to heart disease, he was forced to leave for "citizen".

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In fact, the task that Valentin Privalov set for himself was daunting. The speed of the fighter on the approach to the bridge was 700 km per hour, and it was necessary to hit the target of the arch of the bridge 30 meters high and 120 meters wide. One wrong movement of the steering wheel - and the mistake will be fatal. And people walk on the bridge, trucks, buses drive, the embankment is full of people.

Moreover, from the Communal Bridge to Zheleznodorozhny is only 950 meters, or 5 seconds of flight. To avoid a collision with him, you need to "candle" go up, withstanding the heaviest overload.

An additional complication was the fact that the flight took place over the water surface, but it was precisely this circumstance that Privalov worried about the least. After all, he started in naval aviation and knew the intricacies of flying over the water surface to perfection.

Valentin Privalov himself said that he was absolutely confident in himself, in his training and in his combat vehicle. He only noticed an unexpected effect - according to all the laws of physics, the “window” of the bridge through which the pilot had to fly should increase when approaching the target, but on the contrary, it visually decreased.

Nevertheless, the MiG-17 confidently swept under the bridge, immediately rushed up, after which it again headed for the airfield.

State of emergency of the allied scale

Valentin Privalov recalled that everything went so quickly, easily and smoothly that he even believed that no one noticed his maneuver.

The next day, the pilots arrived at the division headquarters, where, at first glance, everything was quiet and calm. Actually, Privalov's three colleagues did not know that there was cause for concern. In fact, an unprecedented scandal was raging in the military authorities. The military, who witnessed Privalov's flight, reported to the command, which immediately assembled a special commission to investigate the emergency. Incredible rumors circulated in Novosibirsk about what had happened - they said that the pilot flew under the bridge on a dare, others claimed that he thus decided to win the heart of his beloved, who was standing on the bridge.

The state of emergency was reported to the very top, personally to the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal Rodion Malinovsky.

All four pilots were arrested just in case, and Privalov was preparing to be expelled from the party and handed over to the tribunal.

Meanwhile, there were those who came to the defense of Privalov, - the first secretary of the Novosibirsk Regional Party Committee Goryachev supported the pilot. The fact is that an aircraft factory worked in Novosibirsk, where Su planes were built, and the head of the regional committee, for which aircraft production was one of the most important things, appreciated cool pilots, desperate daredevils.
Rating for "Chkalovshchina" at the Chkalov factory

Privalov was taken "on the carpet" to Air Marshal Yevgeny Savitsky, an outstanding ace, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, who was in Novosibirsk. Savitsky, the father of cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya, piloted the most modern military aircraft until his 70th birthday and also appreciated great pilots. But as a boss, he could not condone aviation hooliganism, so he gave Privalov a noble scolding for "Chkalovism" using all the wealth of the great and mighty Russian language.

A piquant moment - the separation took place at the Novosibirsk aircraft plant, which bore the name ... Valery Chkalov.

When Savitsky finished, the officers accompanying the marshal whispered to Privalov: there would be no reprisal, he would be left in aviation.

After that, Privalov was ordered, leaving the plane and taking a parachute with him, to depart by train from Novosibirsk to a permanent duty station in Kansk.
Minister's "Sentence"

A week after returning to Kansk, a telegram arrived from Moscow containing a “sentence” issued by Defense Minister Rodion Malinovsky: “Pilot Privalov should not be punished. Limit the activities that were carried out with him. If he was not on vacation, send him on vacation, if he was, give 10 days of rest with the unit.

As a result, Valentin Privalov suffered the most serious punishment along the party line - a severe reprimand with entry into the registration card. And in the service they punished the regiment commander and the head of the political department, who were reprimanded.

Pilot Valentin Privalov continued his service in aviation, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel and the position of deputy regiment commander. Maybe he would have risen to the rank of general, but at the age of 42 his health failed - due to a cardiovascular disease he was suspended from flying. It was possible to remain in the army in a position not related to flights, but the born pilot chose to retire.

For another quarter of a century, Valentin Privalov worked in the civil aviation dispatch service, where he was awarded the honorary badge "Excellent Air Transport Worker".

In 1965, there were no mobile phones or video cameras, so no one captured the incredible flight of Valentin Privalov. It exists on the Internet only in the form of photo collages.

Over the past half century, no one in the world has been able to repeat what the Soviet pilot did. Maybe it's for the best. To do what Valentin Privalov did, it is not enough to be a good pilot, you need to be born to fly.