For the first time in the world, a night air ram was made by a Soviet fighter pilot, Senior Lieutenant Evgeny Stepanov, on October 28, 1938, in the sky of Spain.

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

So, the first night ram in the history of aviation was made on October 28, 1938. That night, the commander of the 1st Chatos Squadron, Senior Lieutenant Yevgeny Stepanov, who took off on his I-15, saw an enemy bomber illuminated by the moon and went on the attack. During the battle, the shooter of the upper turret was killed. Meanwhile, the Savoy turned towards Barcelona, ​​the lights of which were already clearly visible. Stepanov decided to ram. Trying to save the propeller and engine as much as possible, he struck with the wheels, which fell on the tail of the Savoy. Having lost the stabilizer, the bomber immediately crashed down just a few kilometers from the city.

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

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

Evgeny Stepanov fought his last battle in the Spanish sky on January 17, 1938. On that day, he led a squadron to the mountains of Universales to intercept the Junkers flying to bombard the Republican troops, accompanied by a large group of Fiats. A battle broke out over the city of Ojos Negros. The enemy outnumbered Stepanov's group by almost 3 times. Eugene successfully attacked and shot down the Fiat, and thereby saved the Austrian pilot, volunteer Tom Dobias, from apparent death. After that, Stepanov chased the second enemy fighter, went into his tail, caught him in the sight and pressed the triggers. But the machine guns were silent. The ammo has run out. Decided: "Ram!" At that moment, several anti-aircraft shells exploded in front of the nose of the I-15. The Nazis gave a cut-off fire. The second series of explosions covered Stepanov's car. Shrapnel broke the control cables, damaged the engine. Not obeying the will of the pilot, the plane went steeply to the ground. Stepanov jumped out of the cockpit and opened the parachute. He landed close to the forward positions and was taken prisoner by the Moroccans. This certainly would not have happened if, upon landing, Stepanov had not hit a rock and lost consciousness.

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

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

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

From the biography: Evgeny Stepanov was born on May 22, 1911 in Moscow, in the family of a worker - a marble worker. At the age of 6, he lost his father. In 1928 he graduated from the 7th grade, and in 1930 - the railway school of the FZU. He worked as a blacksmith. He was engaged in a factory radio club. In 1932 he completed his studies at the Moscow Osoaviakhim Pilot School with 80 flight hours. In the same year, on a ticket from the Komsomol, he was sent to the Borisoglebsk school of military pilots. After graduation, in March 1933, he was assigned to serve on a bomber, but after numerous applications he managed to get an appointment to a fighter. He served in the 12th Fighter Aviation Squadron, which was part of the 111th Fighter Aviation Brigade of the Leningrad Military District. He was a senior pilot and flight commander.

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

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

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

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

Exactly 75 years ago, on the night of August 7, 1941, junior lieutenant Viktor Talalikhin was one of the first in Soviet aviation to ram an enemy bomber at night. The air battle for Moscow was just beginning.

sinister plane

That night, Viktor Talalikhin, deputy squadron commander of the 177th Air Defense Fighter Aviation Regiment, received an order to intercept the enemy, who was heading for Moscow. At an altitude of 4800 meters, the junior lieutenant overtook an enemy aircraft, went into its tail with lightning speed and began to shoot at it.

However, it was not easy to shoot down the Heinkel-111 long-range bomber. Of the five crew members, three fought the fighters. The ventral, rear and side gunners in flight constantly kept their sector of fire in sight and, in the event of a target appearing, opened furious fire at it.

The ominous silhouette of "Heinkel-111" was well known to the inhabitants of Poland, Denmark, Norway, France, Great Britain. This bomber was considered one of the main ones in the Luftwaffe and took an active part in all military campaigns of the Third Reich in Europe. He took an active part in the attack on the USSR from the very first minutes.

Deprive the USSR of Moscow

In 1941 the Germans tried to bomb Moscow. They pursued two strategic objectives: firstly, to deprive the Soviet Union of the largest railway and transport hub, as well as the center of command and control of the country. Secondly, they hoped to help their ground troops break the resistance of Moscow's defenders.

This task was entrusted by Hitler to Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, commander of the German 2nd Air Fleet. This task force, numbering 1,600 aircraft, supported the offensive of Army Group Center, whose main goal, according to the Barbarossa plan, was the Soviet capital.

The bomber crews had extensive combat experience in strikes against large cities, including at night.

Unpleasant surprises for the Luftwaffe

Weapons of the winners: special, secret, universal "Katyusha"The famous Katyushas made their first salvo 75 years ago, and then all the years of the Great Patriotic War, these rocket launchers were a lifesaver for infantry and tankers. The history of the development and use of Katyushas is recalled by Sergei Varshavchik.

The Fuhrer demanded from the pilots "to strike at the center of the Bolshevik resistance and prevent the organized evacuation of the Russian government apparatus." Strong resistance was not expected, and therefore the military and political leadership of Germany was confident in their imminent parade on Red Square.

On the night of July 22, 1941, the first raid on Moscow took place. The Germans found that the Russians had a lot of anti-aircraft guns, barrage balloons, which were installed much higher than usual, and a lot of air defense fighter aircraft, which were active at night.

Having suffered significant losses, the Luftwaffe pilots began to rise to new heights. Actively participated in massive raids and "Heinkels-111".

Trophies of the 177th Fighter Regiment

The command of the German Air Force did not learn the lesson from the air battle for Britain in 1940, in which the Germans lost two and a half thousand aircraft. Of these, almost 400 "Heinkel-111". As a gambler, in the battles over Moscow, the Nazis bet on their own luck, ignoring the combat potential of the enemy.

Meanwhile, the air defense fighter regiment under the command of Major Mikhail Korolev, in which Talalikhin served, opened a combat account for enemy losses on July 26, 1941.

On this day, the deputy commander of the regiment, Captain Ivan Samsonov, shot down a German bomber. Soon this military unit had other "trophies".

Young but experienced pilot

The "impenetrable" "Heinkel-111", which Talalikhin met in a night battle, did not have time to drop bombs on the target and began to leave. One of his engines caught fire. The Soviet pilot continued to shoot, but soon the machine guns fell silent. He realized that the cartridges ran out.

Then the junior lieutenant decided to ram the enemy aircraft. At almost 23, Victor had a low rank, but by the beginning of World War II he was already an experienced pilot. Behind him was the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939/40 and the Order of the Red Star for four downed Finnish aircraft.

There, the young pilot fought on an obsolete I-153 biplane, nicknamed "The Seagull". However, in the first battle he won an air victory. Another enemy plane was shot down by him when Talalikhin was covering for his commander, Mikhail Korolev.

Don't let the bastards get away

In a lightning fight in the Moscow night sky, when a Soviet pilot aimed his plane at a ram, his hand was suddenly burned. One of the enemy shooters wounded him.

Talalikhin later said that he "decided to sacrifice himself, but not to miss the reptile." He gave full throttle and his plane crashed into the tail of the enemy. "Heinkel-111" caught fire and randomly began to fall down.

The damaged I-16 fighter lost control after a terrible blow, and Talalikhin left it on a parachute. He landed in the river Severka, from where he was helped to get out by local residents. The entire German crew was killed. The next day, Viktor Vasilyevich Talalikhin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Infernal air defense

Having lost 172 Heinkel-111 aircraft in a short time (not counting a significant number of other types of bombers), by the tenth of August 1941, German aviation abandoned the tactics of raiding in large groups from one or two directions.

Now the Luftwaffe pilots tried to "leak" into Moscow from different directions and often attacked the target, entering in turn, one after the other. They had to exert all their strength and skill in the fight against the hellish for the Nazis air defense of the capital of the USSR.

The air struggle reached its apogee in the fall of 1941, when a grandiose ground battle unfolded on the outskirts of Moscow. The Germans relocated their airfields closer to the city and were able to increase the intensity of sorties, interspersing night raids with daylight ones.

Death in battle

In fierce battles, the ranks of the 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment thinned out. On October 27, 1941, Viktor Talalikhin died in an air battle, and on December 8, Ivan Samsonov died.

However, the Germans also suffered significant losses, breaking through the wall of anti-aircraft fire and fighting off Soviet fighters. During the period from July 26, 1941 to March 10, 1942, 4% of enemy aircraft broke through to the city. During this period, over a thousand enemy aircraft were destroyed by Moscow's air defense systems.

Those of the crews of the German bombers who managed to drop bombs did it chaotically, in a hurry to get rid of the cargo as soon as possible and leave the shelling zone.

The failure of the air blitzkrieg

British journalist Alexander Werth, who had been in the USSR since the beginning of World War II, wrote that in Moscow shrapnel from anti-aircraft shells drummed through the streets like hail. Dozens of searchlights illuminated the sky. In London, he had never seen or heard anything like it.

Pilots did not lag behind the anti-aircraft gunners, and not only fighters. For example, the squadron commander of the 65th Assault Aviation Regiment, Lieutenant Georgy Nevkipely, burned not only six enemy aircraft, but also several tanks and more than a hundred vehicles with infantry in his 29 sorties.

He died a heroic death on December 15, 1941 and was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. The power of the air defense of the capital of the Soviet Union proved to be generally insurmountable for the Luftwaffe. The air blitzkrieg, which Goering's pilots counted on, failed.

When was the first air ram of the Great Patriotic War made?

Sofia Vargan

When it comes to ramming committed by Soviet pilots during the Great Patriotic War, Nikolai Gastello is usually remembered, who threw his plane at a German convoy on June 26, 1941 near Radoshkovichi.

True, they still argue - who exactly turned out to be the author of the ram, captain or captain Maslov - both aircraft did not return to the airfield. But that's not the point. Widely known as the “Gastello feat”, the ram is not an air ram, it is a ground target ram, it was also called a fire ram.

And now we will talk specifically about air rams - a targeted collision of an aircraft with a target in the air.

For the first time in the world, an aerial target was rammed on August 26, 1914 by a famous pilot (he was also the author of the “dead loop”, which is also called the “Nesterov loop”). Nesterov was rammed by a heavy Austrian Albatross in a Moran light aircraft. As a result of the ramming, the enemy plane was shot down, but Nesterov also died. The ramming was inscribed in the history of the art of piloting aircraft, but was considered an extreme measure, fatal for the pilot who decided on this.

And now - the first day of the Great Patriotic War. “Today, June twenty-second, at 4 o’clock in the morning, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country ...” - the voice of the one who read out the statement of the Soviet government about the German attack on the USSR was heard in all corners of the country, except for those where fighting was already going on . Well, yes, those who suddenly found themselves on the front line did not need additional messages. They have already seen the enemy.

Many airfields were lost in the first minutes of hostilities - in accordance with the well-established blitzkrieg tactics, German aircraft bombed sleeping airfields. But not all. Part of the equipment was saved by lifting the planes into the air. So they entered the battle - in the first minutes from the beginning of the war.

The Soviet pilots had only a theoretical idea about the ramming. It is understandable, no one has yet thought of working out this technique in practice. Moreover, the history of aviation clearly defined a ram strike as fatal for a pilot. And now - in the very first minutes of the war, rams began! And, most interestingly, not all of them were fatal.

Who exactly made the first air ram in the war is almost impossible to determine. June 22 at about 5 a.m. Senior Lieutenant Ivan Ivanov, who served in the 46th Fighter Aviation Regiment, rammed the Heinkel-111 in the Mlynov region (Ukraine). The pilot died while ramming, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.

First ram? Maybe. But now - on June 22 at about 5 o'clock in the morning, junior lieutenant Dmitry Kokorev, who served in the 124th Fighter Aviation Regiment, rammed the Messerschmitt in the Zambrova area. Kokorev remained alive after the ramming, was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for his feat, and died on October 12, 1941 near Leningrad.

June 22 at 5:15 a.m. junior lieutenant Leonid Buterin, who served in the 12th Fighter Aviation Regiment, rammed the Junkers-88 in the Stanislav region (Western Ukraine). Died while ramming. On June 22, at about 6 o'clock in the morning, an unknown pilot on a U-2 plane (they were also affectionately called "ears") rammed the Messerschmitt in the Vygoda area (near Bialystok). Died while ramming.

June 22 at about 10 a.m. Lieutenant Petr Ryabtsev, who served in the 123rd Fighter Aviation Regiment, rammed the Messerschmitt-109 over Brest. The pilot survived after a ramming blow - he jumped out with. Pyotr Ryabtsev died on July 31, 1941 in the battles near Leningrad.

Young guys decided on ramming, protecting their land from the enemy. They did not think that the ram was fatal. Moreover, they expected to destroy the enemy and survive. And, as it turned out, this is quite real. They wrote not only heroic pages in the history of the Great Patriotic War, but also a new page in the history of aviation - a ram strike is no longer a technique that unequivocally leads to the death of a pilot! Moreover, it later turned out that even a plane could be saved with a ram - after some rams, the pilots even managed to land a completely combat-ready car (unless the landing gear was broken off as a result of a ram).

But that was later. And in the first minutes and hours of the war, the pilots going to ram knew only one example - Pyotr Nesterov, the hero of the First World War. And they took a mortal risk. Not for glory, for victory. The pilots, who threw their cars at the ram, believed in what they said to the whole country: “Our cause is just! The enemy will be defeated, victory will be ours!”

“And we need only one victory, one for all, we will not stand up for the price,” they did not stand behind the price, paying the maximum, giving their own lives for this one for all. They did not think which of them would be the first with his ram, it is interesting for us, the descendants, to find that same Hero. They didn't even feel like heroes. Pyotr Ryabtsev wrote to his brother about his ramming: “I have already gone nuts in the sky with one Hitlerite thug. He drove him, a scoundrel, into the ground, ”this is not a description of a feat, he was not proud of a battering ram, but that he destroyed one enemy!

“A deadly fire awaits us, and yet it is powerless ...” - the fire was really deadly, but it turned out to be powerless against them, such amazing people.

Neither the Covenant nor the Koran will help now.
What to press on an empty trigger? ..
Ahead of the plane - I'm going to ram,
The brain feeling every cell.
Morozovlit

AT the air ram of World War II is not always a gesture of despair and heroic suicide.
For an experienced Soviet pilot, this is a type of combat, a maneuver during which the enemy died, and the pilot and his car remained unharmed.

On November 5, 1941, a circular was received by the combat units of the German Air Force Reichsmarschall Goering, which demanded: "... do not approach Soviet aircraft closer than 100 meters in order to avoid ramming." This decision was made at the direction of Hitler after a long "persuade" of the commanders of aviation units, who considered such "tactics" humiliating for the famous aces of the Reich. After all, quite recently the Fuhrer himself told them: "The Slavs will never understand anything in an air war - this is a weapon of powerful people, a German form of combat." "No one will ever be able to achieve an advantage in the air over the German aces!" - echoed the commander of the fascist Air Force Goering.

But the air ramming of the first days of the war made these boastful speeches forgotten. And this was the first disgrace of the "German form of combat" and the first moral victory of the Soviet pilots.

Until June 22, 1941, fascist pilots did not have to meet in Europe with such a tactic as an air ram. But on the very first day of the attack on the USSR, the Luftwaffe lost 16 aircraft at once as a result of ram attacks by Soviet pilots.

On June 22, 1941, at 4:25 am, the first air ram of the Second World War was carried out near the city of Dubno, Rivne region.

It was made by a native of the village of Chizhovo, Shchelkovsky District (now part of the city of Fryazino), Moscow Region, Deputy Squadron Commander of the 46th Fighter Aviation Regiment senior lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov.

At dawn on June 22, 1941, Senior Lieutenant Ivanov flew out on alert at the head of the I-16 flight to intercept a group of German aircraft approaching the Mlynov airfield. In the air, our pilots found 6 Xe-111 bombers. Ivanov led the link in the attack on the enemy. Arrows "Heinkel" opened fire on the fighters. Coming out of the dive, our planes repeated the attack. One of the bombers was shot down. The rest, dropping bombs indiscriminately, began to leave to the west. After the attack, both wingmen went to their airfield, as, while maneuvering, they used up almost all the fuel. Ivanov also decided to land. At this time, another Xe-111 appeared over the airfield. Ivanov rushed towards him. Soon he ran out of ammunition and was running out of fuel. Then, in order to prevent the bombing of the airfield, Ivanov went to ram. From the impact, the Heinkel, piloted, as it turned out later, by non-commissioned officer H. Volfeil, lost control, crashed into the ground and exploded on his bombs. The entire crew died in the process. But Ivanov's plane was also damaged. Due to the low altitude, the pilot was unable to use the parachute and died.

On August 2, 1941, Senior Lieutenant Ivanov I.I. posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

Around the same time as Ivanov, near the Polish city of Zambrow Dmitry Kokorev ram shot down a fascist intelligence officer, who was leaving to the west with a captured film. Then the Soviet pilot made an emergency landing and returned to his regiment on foot.

At 5.15 near Galich, destroying one "Junkers" by fire, rammed the second Leonid Butelin. The Soviet light aircraft was killed, but the enemy's bombs did not fall on the combat positions of our troops.

At 5.20, repelling a raid of enemy aircraft on Pruzhany, near Brest, he shot down a Xe-111, and the second one destroyed his burning "hawk" with a ram, mortally wounded Stepan Gudimov.

Between six and seven o'clock in the morning, a fascist plane was struck by a ram Vasily Loboda in the Shavli region in the Baltics. Died…

At 7.00 over the airfield in Cherlyany, having shot down an enemy plane, rammed the second one and died the death of a hero Anatoly Protasov.

At 8.30, having driven away a group of "Junkers" from the airfield and continuing to patrol over it, Evgeny Panfilov and Georgy Alaev entered into battle with a group of "Messers", and when Alaev's plane was shot down, and Panfilov ran out of ammunition, he went to ram, driving the enemies away from the airfield. He landed by parachute.

At 10.00 in an unequal battle over Brest (four of our aircraft against eight fascist ones) rammed the enemy Petr Ryabtsev, soon ascended into the sky again.

The list of heroic rams of the first day of the war was continued on different sectors of the front, Alexander Moklyak over Bessarabia, Nikolai Ignatiev near Kharkov, Ivan Kovtun over the city of Stryi...

June 22, 1941 pilot Andrey Stepanovich Danilov single-handedly took the fight with nine enemy aircraft. He managed to shoot down two bombers, but at that time enemy fighters appeared. A fascist shell hit the wing of the "gull", Danilov was wounded by shrapnel. The watch, which was in his breast pocket, saved his life, protected him from a bullet. The pilot saw the self-confident face of the German pilot and understood that his plane would soon be shot down by the Nazis. And then Danilov, having squandered all the ammunition, sent his "seagull" to the enemy and rammed the wing of the "Messerschmitt" with a propeller.

The enemy fighter began to fall. The Seagull also lost control, but by a desperate effort of will, the experienced pilot Danilov, bleeding, brought the plane into level flight and, with the landing gear retracted, managed to land it on a field with rye.

The first air ram in the sky of the Moscow region was made by the deputy squadron commander of the 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps of the Air Defense Forces Junior Lieutenant Viktor Vasilyevich Talalikhin. On the night of August 7, 1941, on an I-16 near Podolsk, he shot down a Xe-111 bomber. On August 8, 1941, "for the exemplary performance of the combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against German fascism and the courage and heroism shown at the same time," he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The first ram by an aircraft of a mechanized enemy column was made by a resident of the village of Khlebnikovo near Moscow (now part of the city of Dolgoprudny), during the war years - squadron commander Captain Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello.

On June 26, 1941, a unit under the command of Captain Gastello, consisting of two DB-3f heavy bombers, flew to the Molodechno area. The second plane was controlled senior lieutenant Fyodor Vorobyov, flew with him as a navigator Lieutenant Anatoly Rybas. During the attack of a cluster of German vehicles, Gastello's plane was shot down. According to the reports of Vorobyov and Rybas, Gastello's burning plane rammed a mechanized column of enemy equipment. At night, peasants from a nearby village removed the corpses of the pilots from the plane and, wrapping the bodies in parachutes, buried them near the bomber's crash site.

On July 5, 1941, the feat of Gastello was first mentioned in the evening report of the Soviet Information Bureau: “The squadron commander Captain Gastello performed a heroic feat. An enemy anti-aircraft gun shell hit the gasoline tank of his aircraft. The fearless commander sent the plane engulfed in flames to the accumulation of vehicles and gasoline tanks of the enemy. Dozens of German vehicles and tanks exploded along with the hero's plane.

July 26, 1941 Gastello was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In Dolgoprudny, next to school number 3, bearing the name of Nikolai Gastello, a monument was erected to the Hero.

Contrary to frequently encountered statements, the first night air ramming was carried out not by Viktor Talalikhin, but by another Russian pilot. Evgeny Stepanov in October 1937 rammed an SM-81 bomber over Barcelona.

He fought in Spain for the Republicans during the Civil War. Shortly after the start of the Great Patriotic War, the night ram would glorify the young pilot Talalikhin.
Now historians write that in the Great Patriotic War the first night ram was carried out by Peter Yeremeev, who served in the Moscow region in the 27th air regiment. He shot down a Ju-88 on the night of July 28-29 over the Istra region. Eremeev died a few weeks before Talalikhin - in early October 1941. However, his feat did not become widely known, and he received the title of Hero posthumously only in 1995. Talalikhin became a symbol of the heroism of Soviet pilots.

Dreams of the sky

At the age of seventeen in September 1935, Talalikhin enrolled in a glider circle. By this time, the future ace had a secondary school and a factory apprenticeship school at the Moscow Meat Processing Plant, where the young man later worked. Perhaps his older brothers served as an example for Talalikhin: they were drafted into the army, and both ended up in aviation. But in the 1930s, many Soviet boys dreamed of heaven.
A few months after the start of training in the circle, Talalikhin wrote in the factory newspaper that he had made his first flight in a glider, completed the first stage of training with "good" and "excellent", hopes to continue his studies. He declared that he wanted to fly like Chkalov, Belyakov and Baidukov - the names of these pilots were heard by the entire Soviet Union.

First flight and military school

In October 1936, Talalikhin was sent to the flying club. He, despite his small stature, successfully passed the medical examination and began training. The instructor noted that the young man has talent, but he needs a "cold head". Talalikhin will acquire composure and prudence during military service.
Talalikhin made his first flight on a U-2 in 1937, a few months before being drafted into the army. There, the dream of the future ace came true - he was sent to the Chkalov military aviation school in Borisoglebsk. He studied diligently: later, Talalikhin recalled that he got up at sunrise, and returned to the barracks exactly at the end. In addition to classes, he spent a lot of time in the library: he read special literature, studied maps and instructions.
However, Talalikhin once had to end up in a guardhouse - for violating flight safety rules: during training, he performed several more aerobatics than was prescribed by the rules.
In 1938, he graduated from college with the rank of second lieutenant and began service in the 27th Fighter Aviation Regiment. The officers and teachers of the school noted that Talalikhin has courage, he makes the right decisions in difficult situations.

in the Finnish war

During the Soviet-Finnish war, Talalikhin made 47 sorties. Already in the first battle, the junior pilot of the third squadron destroyed the enemy aircraft. Then Talalikhin flew on the "Seagull" - I-153 (biplane). For valor, the future ace received the Order of the Red Star.
In total, four aircraft were shot down by Talalikhin during the campaign. In one of the battles, he covered commander Mikhail Korolev, who was trying to intercept a German bomber and came under fire from a Finnish anti-aircraft battery. Talalikhin "cut off" the commander's aircraft and destroyed the German Fokker (F-190). After the end of the Finnish campaign
Talalikhin spent about a month on vacation with his parents, and then he was sent for retraining - refresher courses for flight personnel. In the characterization at their end, Talalikhin was named worthy of becoming a flight commander. It was also said that he "flies boldly", is quick-witted in the air, and successfully flies fighters.
In the spring of 1941, Korolev and Talalikhin met again: the young pilot was sent to the first squadron of the 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment, commanded by Korolev. His immediate commander was Vasily Gugashin.

The beginning of the Great Patriotic

The first rams were carried out by Soviet pilots immediately after the start of the war. It was recorded that on June 22, 1941, seven pilots risked their lives and sent their planes to the enemy. The ram was a fatal risk for the pilot. Few survived - for example, Boris Kovzan shot down four planes in this way and each time successfully landed by parachute.
The squadron in which Talalikhin served was based near the city of Klin. Pilots began to fly sorties on July 21, after the first German air raid on Moscow. Then, thanks to the successful work of air defense and Soviet aviation, out of 220 bombers, only a few flew to the city.
The task of the Soviet pilots was to detect fascist bombers and fighters, cut them off from the group and destroy them.
The Talalikhin regiment took the first battle on July 25. Then the ace was already deputy squadron commander, and soon Gugashin was unable to exercise command, and Talalikhin had to take over.

night ram

On August 7, one of the last major German air attacks on Moscow took place. It was the sixteenth raid.
Talalikhin was ordered to fly out to intercept the bombers in the Podolsk area. The pilot later told reporters that he noticed the Heinkel-111 at an altitude of 4800 meters. He attacked and knocked out the right engine. The German plane turned around and flew back. The pilots began their descent. Talalikhin realized that he had run out of ammunition.
The search engines who discovered the Talalikhin plane in 2014 have a version that the firing system was disabled. The ammunition was used up to half, and the dashboard was shot through. Then Talalikhin was wounded in the arm.
He decided to go for a ram: at first there was a plan to “chop off” the tail of a German aircraft with a propeller, but in the end, Talalikhin rammed the bomber with all his I-16, which he called a “hawk”.
The Soviet pilot glided by parachute into the lake near the village of Mansurovo (now it is the area of ​​Domodedovo Airport). He chose a long jump, fearing that the parachute canopy would be shot through by the Germans.
A German plane crashed near the village of Dobrynikha, its crew died. The Heinkel was commanded by a forty-year-old lieutenant colonel. The crash site of the downed aircraft had to be fixed, otherwise, according to the rules of the Red Army aviation, the feat would not have been recognized. The military was helped to find it by local residents. There is even a photograph in which Talalikhin is captured against the background of the Heinkel.
Radio interception recorded that the Germans called Talalikhin a "crazy Russian pilot" who destroyed a heavy bomber.
The feat of Talalikhin was immediately reflected in the newspapers, they talked about him on the radio. The Soviet state needed heroes: stories of such deeds raised the morale of the soldiers. The day after the ramming, Talalikhin received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The decree about this appeared in the newspapers on 9 August. As wrote to his brother Alexander that the award was a great honor for him. However, it seemed to him that he did nothing special and his brother in his place would have done the same.
On August 7, the day of Talalikhin's feat, long-range Soviet aviation carried out the first bombardment of Berlin, which infuriated the Nazi government.

The death of Talalikhin

While being treated, Talalikhin talked a lot with youth and workers, spoke at anti-fascist rallies. As soon as he was able to return to duty, he again began to shoot down enemy aircraft. By the end of October, he had four downed German aircraft on his account.
On October 27, the Talalikhin group flew out to cover the troops in the area of ​​​​the village of Kamenki. Flying up to their destination, the pilots noticed the Messerschmites. Talalikhin managed to shoot down one of them, but soon three German planes were very close to him and opened fire. With the help of his partner Alexander Bogdanov, the second one was also shot down, but almost immediately after that, Talalikhin received a severe bullet wound in the head and was unable to fly the plane.
Fragments of the plane were found. The pilot's body was sent to Moscow. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.