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

IN 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, directed his “gull” at 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 ramming by an aircraft of an enemy mechanized 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 flew to the Molodechno area, consisting of two DB-3f heavy bombers. The second aircraft 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.

For a long time, the authorship of the first air ram of the Great Patriotic War was attributed to different pilots, but now the studied documents of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation leave no doubt that the first at 04:55 on the morning of June 22, 1941 was the commander of the 46th IAP, Senior Lieutenant I. I. Ivanov , at the cost of his life destroyed a German bomber. Under what circumstances did this happen?

The details of the ram were considered by the writer S. S. Smirnov back in the 60s of the last century, and 50 years later, Georgy Rovensky, a local historian from Fryazino near Moscow, wrote a detailed book about the life and exploits of a fellow pilot. Nevertheless, in order to objectively cover the episode, both lacked information from German sources (although Rovensky tried to use data on the losses of the Luftwaffe and a book on the history of the KG 55 squadron), as well as an understanding of the general picture of the air battle on the first day of the war in the Rivne region, in the area Dubno - Mlynow. Taking as a basis the research of Smirnov and Rovno, archival documents and memoirs of the participants in the events, we will try to reveal both the circumstances of the ram and the events that took place around.

46th Fighter Aviation Regiment and its enemy

The 46th IAP was a personnel unit formed in May 1938 in the first wave of deployment of the Red Army Air Force regiments at the Skomorokha airfield near Zhytomyr. After the annexation of Western Ukraine, the 1st and 2nd squadrons of the regiment were relocated to the Dubno airfield, and the 3rd and 4th to Mlyniv (modern Mlyniv, Ukrainian Mliniv).

By the summer of 1941, the regiment arrived in fairly good shape. Many commanders had combat experience and were fully aware of how to shoot down the enemy. So, the regiment commander, Major I. D. Podgorny fought at Khalkhin Gol, the squadron commander, Captain N. M. Zverev, in Spain. The most experienced pilot, apparently, was the deputy commander of the regiment, Captain I. I. Geibo - he even managed to take part in two conflicts, made more than 200 sorties on Khalkhin Gol and in Finland and had downed enemy aircraft on his account.

High-altitude reconnaissance Ju 86, which made an emergency landing in the Rovno region on April 15, 1941, burned by the crew

Actually, one of the proofs of the fighting spirit of the pilots of the 46th IAP is the incident with the forced landing of a high-altitude German reconnaissance Ju 86, which occurred on April 15, 1941 northeast of Rovno - the flag navigator of the regiment, Senior Lieutenant P. M. Shalunov, distinguished himself. This was the only case when a Soviet pilot managed to land a German reconnaissance officer from among the "Rovel group", which flew over the USSR in the spring of 1941.

By June 22, 1941, the regiment was based at the Mlynow airfield with all units - the construction of a concrete runway began at the Dubno airfield.

The weak point was the state of the material part of the 46th IAP. The 1st and 2nd squadrons of the regiment flew I-16 type 5 and type 10, the resource of which was ending, and the combat characteristics could not be compared with the Messerschmitts. In the summer of 1940, the regiment, according to the plan for the rearmament of the Red Army Air Force, was among the first to receive modern I-200 (MiG-1) fighters, however, due to delays in fine-tuning and deployment of mass production of new machines, the units did not wait. Instead of the I-200, the personnel of the 3rd and 4th squadrons in the summer of 1940 received the I-153 instead of the I-15bis and rather sluggishly engaged in the development of this "newest" fighter. By June 22, 1941, 29 I-16s (20 serviceable) and 18 I-153s (14 serviceable) were available at the Mlynow airfield.

The commander of the 46th IAP Ivan Dmitrievich Podgorny, his deputy Iosif Ivanovich Geibo and the commander of the 14th SAD Ivan Alekseevich Zykanov

By June 22, the regiment was not fully provided with personnel, since in late May - early June, 12 pilots were transferred to the newly formed units. Despite this, the combat effectiveness of the unit practically did not decrease: of the remaining 64 pilots, 48 ​​served in the regiment for more than a year.

It so happened that the 14th Aviation Division of the Air Force of the 5th Army of the KOVO, which included the 46th IAP, was right at the forefront of the German attack. The two main "panzerstrasse" allocated by the German command for the movement of the 3rd and 48th motorized corps of the 1st tank group of the army group "South" passed through the directions Lutsk - Rovno and Dubno - Brody, i.e. through the settlements where the division's headquarters and its 89th IAP, 46th IAP and 253rd ShAP were based.

Opponents of the 46th IAP on the first day of the war were the III./KG 55 bomber group, which was part of the V Air Corps of the 4th Luftwaffe Air Fleet, whose formations were to operate against the KOVO Air Force. To do this, on June 18, 25 Heinkels of the He 111 group flew to the Klemensov airfield, 10 km west of the city of Zamosc. The group was commanded by Hauptmann Heinrich Wittmer (Hptm. Heinrich Wittmer). The other two groups and the headquarters of the squadron were located at the Labunie airfield, 10 km southeast of Zamosc - literally 50 km from the border.

The commander of the bomber air group III./KG 55 Hauptmann Heinrich Wittmer (1910-1992) at the helm of the Heinkel (right). November 12, 1941 Wittmer was awarded the Knight's Cross, and ended the war with the rank of colonel.

The headquarters of the 5th Air Corps, the fighter group III./JG 3 and the reconnaissance squadron 4./(F)121 were located in Zamość. Closer to the border, only parts of JG 3 were based (headquarters and II group 20 km away at the Khostun airfield, and Group I - 30 km away at the Dub airfield).

It is difficult to say how the fate of the 46th IAP would have developed if all these German units had been thrown to gain air supremacy over the axis of attack of the 48th motorized corps, which ran through the Dubno-Brody region. Most likely, the Soviet regiments would have been defeated like the units of the ZapOVO Air Force, which fell under the crushing blows of the aircraft of the II and VIII Air Corps, but the command of the V Air Corps had broader goals.

The hard first day of the war

The units concentrated in the Zamostye region were to attack the airfields from Lutsk to Sambir, with the main emphasis on the Lviv region, where the Messerschmitts from JG 3 were sent in the morning of June 22, 1941. In addition, for some fantastic reasons, I. /KG 55 was sent in the morning to bomb airfields in the Kiev area. As a result, the Germans were able to detach only III./KG 55 to attack airfields in Brody, Dubno and Mlynuv. In total, 17 He 111s were prepared for the first flight, each was equipped to attack airfields and carried 32 50-kilogram fragmentation bombs SD-50 . From the combat log III./KG 55:

“... The start of 17 cars of the group was envisaged. For technical reasons, two cars could not start, another one returned due to engine problems. Start: 02:50–03:15 (Berlin time - author's note), target - Dubno, Mlynov, Brody, Rachin airfields (north-eastern outskirts of Dubno - author's note). Attack time: 03:50–04:20. Flight altitude - strafing flight, attack method: links and pairs ... "

As a result, only 14 aircraft out of 24 combat-ready took part in the first sortie: six aircraft from the 7th, seven from the 8th and one from the 9th squadrons, respectively. The commander and headquarters of the group made a serious mistake, deciding to operate in pairs and links for maximum coverage of targets, and the crews had to pay a high price for it.

Takeoff of a pair of He 111s from the KG 55 squadron on the morning of June 22, 1941

Due to the fact that the Germans operated in small groups, it is impossible to determine exactly which crews attacked which of the Soviet airfields. In order to restore the picture of events, we will use Soviet documents, as well as the memories of the participants in the events. Captain Geibo, who actually led the regiment on June 22 in the absence of Major Podgorny, in his post-war memoirs indicates that the first clash occurred on the outskirts of the Mlynow airfield at about 04:20.

A combat alert was announced in all units of the KOVO Air Force around 03:00–04:00 after the district headquarters received the text of Directive No. 1, and the personnel of the units and formations managed to prepare the materiel for combat operations even before the first German air raids. The planes were dispersed at the airfields on June 15th. Nevertheless, one cannot speak of full combat readiness, primarily because of the controversial text of Directive No. 1, which, in particular, stated that Soviet pilots should not succumb to “provocations” and have the right to attack enemy aircraft only in response on fire from the German side.

These instructions on the morning of the first day of the war were literally fatal for a number of units of the SC Air Force, whose planes were destroyed on the ground before they could take off. Several dozen pilots were killed, shot down in the air while trying to force the Luftwaffe planes out of Soviet territory by evolution. Only a few commanders of various ranks took responsibility and gave orders to repel German attacks. One of them was the commander of the 14th SAD, Colonel I. A. Zykanov.

Aerial photograph of the Mlynów airfield taken on June 22, 1941 from a He 111 bomber from the KG 55 squadron

In the post-war years, through the efforts of unscrupulous authors, this man was undeservedly denigrated and accused of non-existent mistakes and crimes. It should be noted that there were reasons for this: in August 1941, Colonel Zykanov was under investigation for some time, but was not convicted. True, he was no longer reinstated in his previous position, and in January 1942 he headed the 435th IAP, then commanded the 760th IAP, was an inspector pilot of the 3rd Guards IAK and, finally, became commander of the 6th ZAP.

In the post-war memoirs of Major General of Aviation I. I. Geibo, it is clearly seen that the division commander announced the alarm in time, and after the VNOS posts reported that German aircraft had crossed the border, he ordered them to be shot down, which brought even such an experienced fighter like Geibo into a state of prostration. It was this firm decision of the divisional commander literally at the last moment that saved the 46th IAP from a sudden blow:

“The interrupted dream returned with difficulty. Finally, I began to doze a little, but then the telephone came to life again. Cursing, he picked up the phone. Division commander again.

– Declare a combat alert for the regiment. If German planes appear - shoot down!

The phone rang and the conversation ended.

- How to shoot down? I got excited. “Repeat, Comrade Colonel!” Not to expel, but to shoot down?

But the tube was silent ... "

Considering that we have before us memories with all the shortcomings inherent in any memoirs, we will make a small comment. Firstly, Zykanov's order to raise an alarm and shoot down German aircraft actually consists of two orders received at different times. The first, about the announcement of the alarm, was obviously given around 03:00. The order to shoot down the German aircraft was clearly received after the data from the VNOS posts arrived, around 04:00–04:15.

Fighters I-16 type 5 (above) and type 10 (below) from the 46th IAP (photo reconstruction, artist A. Kazakov)

In this regard, the further actions of Captain Geibo become clear - before that, the duty link was raised into the air in order to expel violators of the border, but Geibo took off after him with the order to shoot down German aircraft. At the same time, the captain was clearly in great doubt: within an hour he was given two completely contradictory orders. However, in the air, he figured out the situation and attacked the German bombers that met, repelling the first blow:

“At about 4 hours 15 minutes from the VNOS posts, which were constantly monitoring the airspace, a message was received that four twin-engine aircraft were heading east at low altitude. The duty link of senior lieutenant Klimenko rose into the air according to routine.

–You know, commissioner–I said to Trifonov,–I'll fly by myself. And then you see, the darkness descends, as if something again, like Shalunov, were not confused. I'll figure out what kind of planes. And you are in charge here.

Soon I was already catching up with Klimenko's flight in my I-16. Approaching, gave a signal: "attach to me and follow me." He glanced at the airfield. A long white arrow stood out sharply at the edge of the airfield. She indicated the direction to intercept unknown aircraft ... A little less than a minute passed, and ahead, a little lower, in the right bearing, two pairs of large aircraft appeared ...

"Attack, cover!"–I signaled mine. A quick maneuver - and in the center of the crosshairs of the sight, the leading Yu-88 (identification error, typical even for experienced pilots of all countries - author's note). I press the trigger of the ShKAS machine guns. Tracer bullets rip open the fuselage of an enemy aircraft, it somehow reluctantly rolls, makes a turn and rushes to the ground. A bright flame rises from the place of its fall, a column of black smoke stretches to the sky.

I glance at the onboard clock: 4 hours 20 minutes in the morning ... "

According to the combat log (ZhBD) of the regiment, Captain Geibo was credited with the victory over the Xe-111 precisely as part of the link. Returning to the airfield, he tried to contact the division headquarters, but due to communication problems he could not do this. Despite this, the further actions of the command of the regiment were clear and consistent. Geibo and the political officer of the regiment no longer doubted that the war had begun, and clearly set tasks for their subordinates to cover the airfield and the settlements of Mlynow and Dubno.

Simple name - Ivan Ivanov

Judging by the surviving documents, by order of the headquarters of the regiment, around 04:30, the pilots began to take off on combat duty. One of the units that was supposed to cover the airfield was led by Senior Lieutenant I.I. Ivanov. Extract from the ZhBD regiment:

“At 04:55, being at an altitude of 1500-2000 meters, covering the Dubno airfield, we noticed three Xe-111s going to the bombing. Going into a dive, attacking Xe-111 from behind, the link opened fire. After the ammunition was used up, Senior Lieutenant Ivanov rammed the Xe-111, which fell 5 km from the Dubno airfield. Senior Lieutenant Ivanov died during a ramming death of the brave, defending the Motherland with his chest. The task of covering the airfield has been completed. Xe-111 went west. Used 1500 pcs. ShKAS cartridges.

The ram was seen by Ivanov's colleagues, who at that moment were on the road from Dubno to Mlyniv. Here is how the former squadron technician of the 46th IAP A. G. Bolnov described this episode:

“... Machine-gun fire was heard in the air. Three bombers went to the Dubno airfield, and three fighters dived on them and fired. In a moment the fire ceased on both sides. A couple of fighters rolled off and left to land, having shot all the ammunition ... Ivanov continued to pursue the bombers. They immediately bombed the Dubna airfield and went south, while Ivanov continued the pursuit. Being an excellent shooter and pilot, he did not shoot - apparently, there was no more ammunition: he shot everything. A moment, and ... We stopped at the turn of the highway to Lutsk. On the horizon, to the south of our observation, we saw an explosion - puffs of black smoke. I shouted: "Clashed!"– the word "ram" has not yet entered our lexicon ... "

Another witness of the ram, flight technician E. P. Solovyov:

“Our car raced from Lvov along the highway. Noticing the skirmish between the "bombers" and our "hawks", we realized that this was a war. The moment when our “donkey” hit the “Heinkel” on the tail and it fell down like a stone was seen by everyone, and that ours went to land too. Arriving at the regiment, we learned that Bushuev and Simonenko had left in the direction of the silent battle without waiting for the doctor.

Simonenko told reporters that when he and the commissar carried Ivan Ivanovich out of the cab, he was covered in blood, unconscious. They rushed to the hospital in Dubno, but there they found all the medical staff in a panic - they were ordered to urgently evacuate. Nevertheless, they accepted Ivan Ivanovich, the orderlies carried him away on a stretcher.

Bushuev and Simonenko were waiting, helping to load equipment and patients into the trucks. Then the doctor came out and said: "The pilot died." "We buried him in the cemetery,–recalled Simonenko,–set up a signpost. It was thought that we would drive the Germans away quickly,–Let's set up a monument.

I. I. Geibo also recalled the ram:

“Even in the afternoon, during a break between sorties, someone reported to me that the flight commander senior lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov had not returned from the first sortie ... A group of mechanics was equipped to search for fallen aircraft. They found the I-16 of our Ivan Ivanovich next to the wreckage of the Junkers. An inspection and the stories of the pilots participating in the battle made it possible to establish that Senior Lieutenant Ivanov, having used up all the ammunition in the battle, went to ram ... "

As time passes, it is difficult to establish for what reason Ivanov committed a ram. Eyewitness accounts and documents indicate that the pilot fired all the cartridges. Most likely, he piloted an I-16 type 5, armed with only two 7.62 mm ShKAS, and shooting down a He 111 was not easy and a more serious weapon. Besides, Ivanov didn't have much shooting practice. In any case, this is not so important - the main thing is that the Soviet pilot was ready to fight to the last and destroyed the enemy even at the cost of his own life, for which he was deservedly posthumously presented to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Senior Lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov and the pilots of his flight on the morning flight on June 22: Lieutenant Timofey Ivanovich Kondranin (died 07/05/1941) and Lieutenant Ivan Vasilyevich Yuryev (died 09/07/1942)

Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov was an experienced pilot who graduated from the Odessa Aviation School back in 1934 and served as a light bomber pilot for five years. By September 1939, already being a flight commander of the 2nd Light Bomber Aviation Regiment, he participated in a campaign against Western Ukraine, and in early 1940 he flew several sorties during the Soviet-Finnish war. After returning from the front, the best crews of the 2nd LBAP, including Ivanov's crew, took part in the May Day parade of 1940 in Moscow.

In the summer of 1940, the 2nd LBAP was reorganized into the 138th SBAP, and the regiment received SB bombers to replace the obsolete R-Z biplanes. Apparently, this retraining served as an excuse for some of the pilots of the 2nd LBAP to "change their role" and retrain as fighters. As a result, I. I. Ivanov, instead of the Security Council, retrained for the I-16 and was assigned to the 46th IAP.

Other pilots of the 46th IAP acted no less courageously, and the German bombers did not manage to bombard accurately. Despite several raids, the losses of the regiment on the ground were minimal - according to the report of the 14th SAD, by the morning of June 23, 1941 “... one I-16 was destroyed at the airfield, one did not return from the mission. One I-153 shot down. 11 people were injured, one was killed. Regiment at the Granovka airfield. Documents III./KG 55 confirm the minimal losses of the 46th IAP at the Mlynow airfield: “Result: The Dubno airfield is not occupied (by enemy aircraft - ed.). At the Mlynów airfield, bombs were dropped on about 30 biplanes and multi-engine aircraft standing in a group. Hits between planes ... "

Downed "Heinkel" He 111 from the 7th squadron of the bomber squadron KG 55 "Greif" (artist I. Zlobin)

The greatest losses in the morning sortie were suffered by 7./KG 55, which lost three Heinkels due to the actions of Soviet fighters. Two of them did not return from the mission along with the crews of Sergeant Dietrich (Fw. Willi Dietrich) and non-commissioned officer Wohlfeil (Uffz. Horst Wohlfeil), and the third, piloted by Chief Sergeant Major Gründer (Ofw. Alfred Gründer), burned down after landing at the airfield Labunie. Two more bombers of the squadron were seriously damaged, several crew members were injured.

In total, the pilots of the 46th IAP claimed three air victories in the morning. In addition to the Heinkels, shot down by senior lieutenant I.I. Ivanov and the link of captain I.I. Geibo, one more bomber was credited to senior lieutenant S.L. Maksimenko. The exact time of this application is not known. Given the consonance of “Klimenko” - “Maximenko” and that there was no pilot with the surname Klimenko in the 46th IAP, we can confidently say that it was Maksimenko who in the morning headed the duty link mentioned by Geibo, and as a result of the attacks, it was his link that was shot down and burned down " Heinkel" Oberfeldwebel Grunder, and two more aircraft were damaged.

Hauptmann Wittmer's second attempt

Summing up the results of the first flight, the commander of III./KG 55, Hauptmann Wittmer, should have been seriously concerned about the losses - out of 14 aircraft taking off, five failed. At the same time, the records in the group's railway data about the allegedly 50 Soviet aircraft destroyed at the airfields seem to be a banal attempt to justify the heavy losses. We must pay tribute to the commander of the German group - he made the right conclusions and tried to take revenge on the next sortie.

"Heinkel" from the 55th squadron in flight over the Mlynow airfield, June 22, 1941

At 15:30, Hauptmann Wittmer led all 18 serviceable Heinkel III./KG 55s in a decisive attack, the only target of which was the Mlynów airfield. From the ZhBD group:

“At 15:45, a group in close formation attacked the airfield from a height of 1000 m ... Details of the results were not observed due to strong fighter attacks. After the bombs were dropped, the further launch of enemy aircraft did not take place. It was a good result.

Defense: a lot of fighters with attacks on the way out. One of our cars was attacked by 7 enemy fighters. Boarding: 16:30-17:00. One I-16 fighter shot down. Crews watched him fall. Weather conditions: good, in some places small clouds. Ammunition used: 576SD 50.

Losses: Corporal Gantz's plane was lost, fighters fired after dropping bombs. Hid down. Further fate could not be observed due to strong fighter attacks. Wounded non-commissioned officer Parr.

Later, in a note to the description of the raid, a real triumph is mentioned: "According to clarification on the spot, after the capture of Mlynuv, a complete success was achieved: 40 aircraft were destroyed in the parking lot."

Despite another “success” both in the report and later in the note, it is obvious that a “warm welcome” again awaited the Germans over the Mlyniv airfield. Soviet fighters attacked the bombers on their way. Due to continuous attacks, the German crews were unable to record either the results of the bombardment or the fate of the lost crew. Here is how I. I. Geibo, who led the interception group, conveys the atmosphere of the battle:

“At an altitude of about eight hundred meters, another group of German bombers appeared ... Three of our links came out to intercept, and with them I did. As we approached, I saw two nines in the right bearing. The "Junkers" also noticed us and instantly closed up, clung to each other, preparing for defense - after all, the denser the formation, the denser, and therefore more effective, the fire of air gunners ...

I gave the signal: "Let's go on the attack all at once, each one independently chooses a target for himself." And then he rushed to the leader. Here he is already in sight. I see flashes of return fire. I press the trigger. The fiery route of my bursts goes to the target. It's time for the Junkers to fall on its wing, but it continues to follow its previous course like a bewitched one. The distance is rapidly shrinking. Gotta get off! I make a steep and deep lapel to the left, preparing to attack again. And suddenly - a sharp pain in the thigh ... "

Results of the day

Summing up and comparing the results, we note that the pilots of the 46th IAP this time also managed to cover their airfield, not allowing the enemy to stay on the combat course and bombard accurately. We must pay tribute to the courage of the German crews - they acted without cover, but the Soviet fighters did not manage to break their system, and they could shoot down one and damage another He 111 only at the cost of the same losses. One I-16 was hit by gunners, and junior lieutenant I. M. Tsibulko, who had just shot down a bomber, jumped out with a parachute, and Captain Geibo, who damaged the second He 111, was wounded and landed the damaged aircraft with difficulty.

I-16 fighters type 5 and 10, as well as training UTI-4, broken as a result of flight accidents or left due to malfunctions at the Mlynow airfield. It is possible that Captain Geibo piloted one of these vehicles in the evening battle on June 22, and then, due to combat damage, made an emergency landing.

Together with the downed Heinkel from 9./KG 55, the crew of Corporal Ganz (Gefr. Franz Ganz) was killed, consisting of five people, another aircraft of the same squadron was damaged. On this, the fighting of the first day of the war in the air in the region of Dubno and Mlynuv actually ended.

What did the opposing sides achieve? Group III./KG 55 and other units of the V Air Corps failed to destroy the material part of the Soviet air units at the Mlynow airfield, despite the possibility of a first surprise strike. Having destroyed two I-16s on the ground and shot down another one in the air (except for Ivanov’s plane, which was rammed), the Germans lost five He 111s destroyed, and three more damaged, which is a third of the number available on the morning of June 22. In fairness, it should be noted that the German crews operated in difficult conditions: their targets were located 100–120 km from the border, they operated without fighter cover, being for about an hour over the territory controlled by the Soviet troops, which, along with the tactically illiterate organization of the first sortie, led to big losses.

The 46th IAP was one of the few regiments of the KA Air Force, whose pilots on June 22 were able not only to reliably cover their airfield and suffer minimal losses from assault strikes, but also inflict serious damage on the enemy. This was the result of both competent management and the personal courage of the pilots, who were ready to repel enemy attacks at the cost of their lives. Separately, it is necessary to note the outstanding leadership qualities of Captain I. I. Geibo, who fought superbly and was an example for young pilots of the 46th IAP.

Pilots of the 46th IAP who distinguished themselves on June 22, 1941, from left to right: Deputy squadron commander, Senior Lieutenant Simon Lavrovich Maksimenko, an experienced pilot, a participant in hostilities in Spain. In the memoirs, Geibo is listed as "commander Klimenko." Later - squadron commander of the 10th IAP, died on 07/05/1942 in an air battle; junior lieutenants Konstantin Konstantinovich Kobyzev and Ivan Methodievich Tsibulko. Ivan Tsibulko died in a plane crash on 03/09/1943, being a squadron commander of the 46th IAP with the rank of captain. Konstantin Kobyzev was wounded in September 1941, and after being cured he did not return to the front - he was an instructor at the Armavir Pilot School, as well as a pilot of the People's Commissariat of Aviation Industry

The number of victories declared by Soviet pilots and actually destroyed German aircraft is practically the same even without taking into account damaged aircraft. In addition to the losses mentioned, in the afternoon in the Dubno region, He 111 from 3./KG 55 was shot down, with which five people of the crew of non-commissioned officer Beringer (Uffz. Werner Bähringer) were killed. Probably, the author of this victory was junior lieutenant K.K. Kobyzev. For success in the first battles (he was the only regiment pilot who claimed two personal victories in the June battles), on August 2, 1941, he was awarded the highest award of the USSR - the Order of Lenin.

It is gratifying that all other pilots of the 46th IAP, who distinguished themselves in the battles of the first day, were awarded government awards by the same decree: I. I. Ivanov posthumously became a Hero of the Soviet Union, I. I. Geibo, I. M. Tsibulko and S L. Maksimenko received the Order of the Red Banner.

Design and research work on the topic: Air ram - Russian weapon

Plan

I Introduction
II. What is an air ram?
III. From the history of air rams
A. The first air rams
B. Air rams during the Great Patriotic War
B. Air rams in the USSR in the post-war period
IV. How dangerous is an air ram?
V. Why is the air ram called the “weapon of the Russians”?
VI. Conclusion
VII. Bibliography

I Introduction

We often talk about heroes, but rarely about how they achieved victories that perpetuated their names. I was interested in the proposed topic, because ramming is one of the most dangerous types of air combat, leaving the pilot with minimal chances of survival. The subject of my research is not only interesting, but important and relevant: after all, the topic of the exploits of heroes who defended our grandparents at the cost of their own lives will never become obsolete. They will not be forgotten! Their patriotism and courage will serve as an example to us!
Subject of study: the history of military aviation, mainly of the Soviet period.

Purpose of the study:
. Understand what contribution Russian-Soviet aviators made to the development of the theory and practice of air rams and thus establish how true the statement is that "air ramming is a Russian weapon." Research objectives:
. Reveal the motives that motivate pilots to go for an air ram;
. Determine how deadly an air ram is, and what factors influence its successful outcome;
. Investigate the dynamics of the use of air rams in wartime and find out why the "lion's share" of rams falls on the period 1941 - 1942;
. Compare the rams made by Soviet pilots during the Great Patriotic War with the rams of the Japanese kamikaze.

Hypothesis:
. The air ram is rightly called the "weapon of the Russians."

Problem questions:
. Is the frequency of using a ram in the first years of the Great Patriotic War an indicator of the dedication of Soviet pilots, or is it proof of the technical backwardness of domestic aviation?
. Is it possible to identify types of air ramming that are safe for a pilot?

Research methods:
. analysis of historical material, comparison and generalization.

II. What is an air ram?

Taran is an old Russian word. Initially, this was the name of the wall-beating weapon. It is mentioned in the Ipatiev Chronicle under 1234. This is how Vladimir Dal interprets this word in his famous dictionary: “a log bound from the toe on weight, which is swayed and beaten against the wall.” Dahl does not give other meanings of this term.

Ram - battering ram

Apparently at the end of the 19th century, with the spread of new types of military equipment, new interpretations of this word appeared. In the XX explanatory dictionaries, we meet with a new, more familiar meaning for us: “a blow by the fuselage, propeller or wing of an aircraft, the hull of a ship, a tank on an enemy aircraft, ship, tank, as well as a fall in a burning car on a concentration of enemy troops.”

From this definition, we see that there are sea, tank and aviation rams. History knows three types of rams using aircraft: air, fire and ramming ground objects. Let's look at each of these types separately.

A fire ram is a type of ram in which a damaged aircraft is sent to air, land or sea targets. The most famous fire ram was made on June 26, 1941 by Nikolai Gastello.

Fire ram by Nicholas Gastello

Ramming ground targets - ramming ground targets by aircraft. The first ramming of a ground object was made by Soviet pilot Mikhail Yukin in 1939 during the fighting on the Khalkhin Gol River.

Air ramming is a deliberate collision with an enemy vehicle in the air with the aim of damaging or destroying it. It is this type of ram that my study is devoted to.

III. From the history of air rams

A. The first air rams

The author of the idea of ​​using aircraft for ramming is Nikolai Alexandrovich Yatsuk (1883 - 1930) - one of the first Russian aviators. He was a participant in the Russo-Japanese War, including the Battle of Tsushima and the First World War. In the 1920s, Yatsuk taught at the VVIA them. NOT. Zhukovsky.

Nikolai Alexandrovich Yatsuk

Nikolai Alexandrovich is the author of several works on the theory of aviation and aeronautics and the book Aeronautics in Naval Warfare. In 1911, an article about the possibility of "pilots ramming their airplanes into strangers" appeared in the journal Aeronautics Bulletin. It follows from this that the idea to ram an aircraft appeared thanks to a Russian aviator.

The first to bring Yatsuk's ideas to life was the legendary Pyotr Nikolaevich Nesterov (1887 - 1914) - the great Russian pilot, hero of the First World War, Knight of St. George, founder of aerobatics. On September 8, 1914, near the town of Zhovkva, Pyotr Nesterov accomplished his last feat - he rammed an Austrian reconnaissance aircraft "Albatross", whose pilots conducted aerial reconnaissance of the movement of Russian troops. The heavy "Albatross" flew at a height inaccessible to shots from the ground. Nesterov on a light high-speed "Moran" went to cut him off. The Austrians tried to avoid the collision, but Nesterov overtook them and crashed his plane into the tail of the Albatross. Both planes fell to the ground, and the pilots died.

It should be noted that Nesterov's ramming was forced. The fact is that at the beginning of the First World War, the aircraft of all the warring countries (except for the Russian "Ilya Muromets") did not have machine guns. The command believed that the main task of aviation was reconnaissance, and the presence of machine guns would distract the pilots from the main task. Therefore, the first air battles were fought with the help of carbines and revolvers. Under these conditions, the ram was the most effective way to shoot down an enemy aircraft.

Ram of Pyotr Nikolaevich Nesterov

Let us also note that Nesterov was not going to destroy the enemy aircraft at the cost of his own life. The “Act of Investigation into the Circumstances of the Heroic Death of the Chief of the 11th Corps Aviation Detachment, Staff Captain Nesterov” stated: “Staff Captain Nesterov has long expressed the opinion that it is possible to shoot down an enemy air vehicle by hitting the supporting surfaces of the enemy vehicle with the wheels of his own vehicle from above, moreover, he allowed the possibility of a successful outcome for the ramming pilot. Thus, Nesterov believed in the successful outcome of the ram. But due to an incorrectly calculated speed, a fuselage hit occurred, which led to damage to the aircraft and the subsequent death of the pilot. Those. the reason for the death of the famous pilot is an inaccuracy in the calculations.

B. Air rams during the Great Patriotic War

The air ram was widely used during the Great Patriotic War. Senior Lieutenant Ivan Ivanov opened the account for them. His watch, stopped at the moment of the collision, showed 4 hours 25 minutes on June 22, 1941. Less than half an hour has passed since the beginning of the war.

Let us dwell on the most notable rams of the war years, paying attention to the reasons that forced the pilots to go for a deliberate collision.

On the night of August 7, 1941, having shot all his ammunition, wounded in the arm, fighter pilot Viktor Talalikhin rammed a German bomber. Victor was lucky: his I-16, which cut off the tail of the Non-111 (enemy aircraft) with a propeller, began to fall, but the pilot was able to jump out of the falling plane and land on a parachute. Let us pay attention to the reason for this ram: due to the wound and lack of ammunition, Talalikhin had no other opportunity to continue the battle. Undoubtedly, Victor Talakhin demonstrated courage and patriotism by his act. But it is also clear that before ramming, he was losing an air battle. The battering ram was Talalikhin's last, albeit a very risky means of retaking the victory.

Viktor Talalikhin

On September 12, 1941, the first aerial ramming by a woman took place. Ekaterina Zelenko and her crew on the damaged Su-2 were returning from reconnaissance. They were attacked by 7 enemy Me-109 fighters. Our plane was alone against seven enemies. The Germans took the Su-2 into the ring. A fight ensued. "Su-2" was hit, both crew members were injured, in addition, the ammunition ran out. Then Zelenko ordered the crew members to leave the plane, and she continued to fight. Soon she ran out of ammo. Then she entered the course of the fascist who attacked her and led the bomber to approach. From a wing strike on the fuselage, the Messerschmitt broke in half, and the Su-2 exploded, while the pilot was thrown out of the cockpit. Thus, Zelenko destroyed the enemy car, but at the same time she herself died. This is the only case of aerial ramming committed by a woman!

Ekaterina Zelenko

The ram, which was carried out by the senior political instructor of the 1st squadron of the 127th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Andrey Danilov, is indicative. It happened in the sky over Grodno. On the I-153 aircraft, the pilots of the squadron in which Danilov fought fought an unequal battle with the enemy Messerschmitts. The wingman, having received damage in the previous battle, lagged behind and could not cover his comrade. And Danilov single-handedly accepted the battle with nine Messers. A Nazi shell hit the wing of his plane, the pilot was wounded. Danilov ran out of ammunition, he sent the plane to the enemy, ramming the wing of the Messerschmitt with a propeller. The enemy fighter began to fall. The I-153 also lost control, but the bleeding Danilov brought the plane into level flight and, with the landing gear retracted, managed to land it.

This case shows us that even in the most hopeless rams, there was still a chance to survive. Combat pilots knew about this and hoped to escape, save the aircraft and "return to service."

Andrey Danilov

Note that these cases have a lot in common:
1. Soviet pilots were left without cover;
2. The enemy had a numerical superiority;
3. The pilots were wounded;
4. Ammunition ran out;
5. Soviet aircraft were inferior in maneuverability and technical parameters to the German Messerschmitts, the best fighters of the first years of the war.

Thus, the rams of Talalikhin, Danilov and Zelenko were forced, only risking their own lives and the survivability of their aircraft, the pilots could shoot down the enemy.

In 1942, the number of rams did not decrease.

Boris Kovzan rammed enemy planes three times in 1942. In the first two cases, he safely returned to the airfield on his MiG-3 aircraft. In August 1942, Boris Kovzan discovered a group of enemy bombers and fighters on a La-5 aircraft. In a battle with them, he was hit, injured in the eye, and then Kovzan sent his plane to an enemy bomber. From the impact, Kovzan was thrown out of the cockpit and from a height of 6000 meters, with a parachute not fully opened, he fell into a swamp, breaking his leg and several ribs. Partisans came to the rescue and pulled him out of the swamp. The heroic pilot was in the hospital for 10 months. He lost his right eye but returned to flying duty.

Boris Kovzan

Here is another case. On August 13, 1942, not far from Voronezh, Lieutenant Sergei Vasilyevich Achkasov, paired with the squadron commander, entered the battle against 9 enemy bombers and 7 fighters. Achkasov ran out of ammunition, and at that time two Messerschmitts entered the tail of the commander's plane. Then the lieutenant, with a confident and skillful maneuver, forced one fascist to turn away, and on the second he went to ram. At an altitude of 5000 meters, he fell on the enemy. The blow was so strong that the Me-109 began to fall apart in the air.

We see that in 1942 the picture does not change: the pilots went to ram only in a hopeless situation, when other means of fighting the enemy were exhausted.

Sergei Achkasov

Now let's see how the number of rams changed with the stabilization of the situation on the Soviet-German front. In total, over the years of the war, Soviet pilots made more than 600 pilots (the exact number of rams is unknown, research on this issue is still underway). Of these, more than 2/3 of the rams fall on 1941-1942. In subsequent years of the war, rams are used less and less. So in the first year of the war, Soviet pilots produced 192 rams, in 1945 - only 22. From these statistics we see that most of the rams were made in the first two years of the Great Patriotic War.

This can be explained by the lack of ammunition (at first, the vehicles were not equipped with equipment for air combat at all), the poor maneuverability of Soviet fighters and, at the same time, the dedication of our fighters to their faith in Victory. As soon as the situation in the sky levels off and Soviet aircraft become more “competitive”, and the pilots gain experience, the number of rams noticeably decreases.

Let us give an example of one of the last rams of the Great Patriotic War. On March 10, 1945, pilot I.V. Fedorov took off on a Yak-1B fighter and immediately entered into battle with six Bf-109 fighters. In an unequal battle, Fedorov's plane caught fire, and he himself was wounded. Then he sent his fighter across the pair, which was in a turn. One of the Nazis tried to turn away, moving the plane from the left turn to the right. At some point, the Bf-109 froze in place. Fedorov took advantage of this. With the left wing of his fighter, he struck at the cockpit of the Messerschmitt. Both planes began to fall. At the moment of impact, Fedorov, breaking his belts and breaking through a closed canopy, was thrown out of the cockpit and landed by parachute at the location of the medical battalion.

"Yak-1B". On such a machine, Ivan Fedorov fought with the Bf-109

It can be seen that, firstly, the Soviet pilot fought on equal terms with a numerically superior enemy and even shot down two enemy aircraft. Secondly, unlike the first years of the war, when mostly clumsy bombers rammed, one of the best fighters, the Messerschmitt, became the object of I. Fedorov's ramming. Thirdly, our pilots, without losing their readiness for self-sacrifice, gained the necessary experience of survival after ramming.

Intermediate conclusions on the section "Air rams during the Great Patriotic War"

Summarizing the above, we can draw the following intermediate conclusions:

The air ram was used quite often during the Great Patriotic War;

Rams were used by brave pilots who understood that at the slightest inaccuracy they would die;

There were chances to stay alive and land the car. The technique of ramming was improved taking into account the characteristics of each type of aircraft. The pilots knew how and where to ram the enemy aircraft;

Rams for Soviet pilots were the "last resort" to hit the enemy, which they resorted to in case of complete impossibility to continue air combat;

A large number of rams committed by Soviet pilots in the first two years of the war is an indicator of the technical backwardness of Soviet aviation. German aircraft were more maneuverable, better protected and armed;

As the technical characteristics of aircraft improve, the number of aerial rams made by Soviet pilots decreases markedly.

B. Air rams in the USSR in the post-war period

After the Victory over Nazi Germany, rams continued to be used by Soviet pilots, but this happened much less frequently:

• 1951 - 1 ram
• 1952 - 1 ram
• 1973 - 1 ram
• 1981 - 1 ram

The reason is related to the absence of wars on the territory of the Soviet Union and the fact that powerful vehicles equipped with firearms and maneuverable and light interceptor aircraft appeared.

Here are some examples of the use of a battering ram in the post-war period:

G.N. Eliseev

November 28, 1973 Captain Eliseev G.N. carried combat duty in the region of the Mugan Valley (Azerbaijan SSR). The state border of the USSR was violated by the aircraft “F-4. Phantom" Iranian Air Force. On command from the command post, Captain Eliseev first took up readiness No. 1, and then took off on a MiG-21 fighter to intercept the intruder. Captain Eliseev overtook the intruder not far from the border. An order came from the ground: “Destroy the target!”. Eliseev fired 2 missiles, but they missed. An order was received from the command post to stop the enemy's flight at any cost. Eliseev replied: "I'm doing it!". He approached the intruder and the wing of his fighter struck at his tail. He went down. The crew, consisting of an American instructor and an Iranian accountant, ejected and was detained by border guards. Eliseev's plane crashed into a mountain after a ram, the pilot died. G. Eliseev was awarded posthumously.

Consider the last ram in the history of the Soviet Union.

On July 18, 1981, the Canader CL-44 transport aircraft of the Argentinean airline with a Swiss crew violated the state border of the USSR on the territory of Armenia, transporting a batch of weapons to Iran. Two pairs of Su-15 fighters were raised to intercept. Guard captain V.A. Kulyapin was directed to the target. He was given the task of planting the violator on our territory. Having found the intruder, Kulyapin went in a parallel course and began to give signs to the intruder to follow him. He did not react and continued to fly in the direction of the border. Then the command came from the command post to shoot down the intruder. Kulyapin's Su-1 was armed with R-98M long-range missiles. The distance was insufficient for their launch, and there was no longer enough time to make a new approach for the attack - the intruder was approaching the border. Then Kulyapin decided to ram. He approached the intruder aircraft and, on the second attempt, hit the fuselage on the right stabilizer of the transporter. After that, Kulyapin ejected, and the CL-44 went into a tailspin and fell 2 km from the border. The crew died. The pilot was presented with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Valentin Aleksandrovich Kulyapin

On the issue of the need for rams Eliseev and Kulyapin, different points of view are expressed. I think that the pilots justifiably went for a ram. The state border is sacred, and it was impossible to stop the intruding aircraft except for a ram.

IV. How dangerous is an air ram?

In this study, examples of only the most famous rams are given. But this list can be supplemented with another hundred names of people who were not afraid to go to the ram as to certain death.

Meanwhile, the history of aviation knows quite a few examples when pilots who used a ram survived:

Victor Talalikhin remained alive after a night ramming in 1941;
. Andrey Danilov in 1941 not only survived, but also kept the car;
. Four times in 1941-1942, Boris Kovzan rammed enemy planes;
. I.E. made a ram six times and survived. Fedorov in 1945;

In total, during the years of the Great Patriotic War, 35 pilots repeatedly rammed. Therefore, not all rams are as dangerous as is commonly believed. Often the pilots remained alive, less often, they even landed the planes on the ground with minor damage.

I will name the factors that, in my opinion, contributed to the survival of the pilot who made the ram and the preservation of the aircraft:
. A lot depended on the personal qualities of the pilot: courage, determination. If the pilot had changed his mind about ramming at the last moment, then, most likely, he would have been doomed to failure. Much was decided by such qualities as the restraint and prudence of the pilot, who had to, without panicking, cold-bloodedly damage the enemy’s car and land his damaged aircraft on the ground;
. The skill of the pilot played no less important role;
. Thirdly, the correct choice of ramming technique contributed to the successful outcome of the ram.
. Auxiliary factors include favorable weather conditions, technical and flight qualities of the machine and the number of enemy aircraft.

Let's think about whether there are relatively safe ways to ram.

The following methods of air ramming are distinguished:

1. Chassis impact on the wing

It was used on early biplanes with weak wings and non-retractable landing gear. The attacking aircraft approaches the target from above and hits the upper wing of the target with its landing gear wheels.

It was this method of ramming that Nesterov used. Later, Alexander Kazakov successfully used this type of ram. With this ram, the pilot's chances of a successful, but not very soft landing were great. Even with the worst execution of this type of ramming, the worst thing that could happen to a car was damage to the chassis. In an emergency, the pilot had time to eject from the damaged car. There were chances to save the emergency aircraft. It could, for example, be put on water.

2. Screw strike on the tail unit

The attacking aircraft approached the target from behind and struck the tail of the target with a propeller. Such an impact leads to the destruction or loss of controllability of the target aircraft.

If performed correctly, the pilot of the attacking aircraft has a fairly good chance: in a collision, only the propeller suffers, and even if it is damaged, it remains possible to land the car or leave it with a parachute.

This is the most common type of air ram during the Great Patriotic War. It was widely used on piston aircraft of various designs. Recall that Andrei Danilov used a ram of this type and not only survived, but was able to save the plane.

3. Wing strike

It was carried out both in frontal approach and when approaching a target from behind. The blow was delivered by the wing to the tail or fuselage, including the cockpit of the target aircraft. Sometimes such rams ended in frontal attacks.

Ivan Fedorov and Ekaterina Zelenko used this particular method of ramming during the Great Patriotic War. Zelenko died, Fedorov survived.

In the event of such an impact, the plane could lose balance, and it was almost impossible to land such a car, but the pilot could eject, albeit with great difficulty.

4. Striking the fuselage

The most dangerous type of ram for a pilot. The fuselage is the body of the aircraft. The most important mechanisms are located in the fuselage itself. Such a ram led to the destruction of the aircraft, often to immediate fire. The pilot could not have had time to leave the car.

However, there are known cases of pilots surviving after such a ram. Valentin Kulyapin in 1981 made such a ram and managed to eject.

Thus, all battering rams are extremely risky. But there was always a chance to survive! The greatest chance for the pilot to escape was when the landing gear hit. The most dangerous type of ram is the fuselage strike.

V. Why is the air ram called the “weapon of the Russians”?

There is an opinion in the literature that the ram cannot be called a weapon of the Russians. Allegedly, the Russians only came up with a ram and that's it. For example, Aleksey Stepanov and Pyotr Vlasov, the authors of the work “Air ramming is a weapon not only of Soviet heroes,” became the spokesmen for this point of view.

In this section, I will give arguments in favor of the fact that the ram is indeed the weapon of the Russians.

No doubt pilots from many countries used the ramming technique. December 22, 1941, fighting in the British Air Force, Australian Sergeant Reid, having used up all the cartridges, rammed a Japanese Ki-43 fighter and died in a collision with it.

In 1942, the Dutchman J. Adam rammed a Japanese fighter and survived.

In December 1943, the Bulgarian Dimitar Spisarevski, fighting on the side of Germany, crashed into the fuselage of the American Liberator on his Bf-109G-2, breaking it in half! Both planes crashed to the ground. Dimitar Spisarevski died. This ram made an indelible impression on the Americans - after the death of Spisarevski, the Americans were afraid of every approaching Bulgarian Messerschmitt ....

Ramming Dimitar Spisarevski

Of course, the Japanese kamikaze deserved the greatest fame. This phenomenon arose in October 1944 during air battles over the Pacific Ocean. Kamikaze is a detachment of suicide pilots who sent their planes to enemy vehicles, rammed them and died themselves.

They had practically no chance of surviving, because. most often their planes were stuffed with explosives. Despite the initial setting to die while performing the mission, there have been cases of suicide pilots returning to base or picked up at sea. In most cases, this was due to aircraft and engine malfunctions. In the event that the target was not detected, or for some other reason the attack failed, the kamikaze was expressly ordered to return.

Let's pay attention, unlike kamikaze, Russian pilots tried to stay alive after the attacks. This confirms the number of different techniques of aircraft strikes on vehicles, invented in wartime. In addition, the kamikaze phenomenon appeared much later, which means that they are just followers of Russian pilot heroes.

There is no doubt that the use of air ramming is typical not only for Soviet pilots - rams were made by pilots of almost all countries participating in the battles.

And yet, in my opinion, a ram can be called a “Russian weapon”, because:
. It was the Russians who came up with the idea of ​​using a ram in the air (N. Yatsuk).
. The Russian pilot (P. Nesterov) for the first time carried out an air ram in practice;
. Nesterov was the first pilot to die during a ram;
. Russian pilots came up with several techniques, and theoretically justified the dependence of the type of ram on the structure of the aircraft;
. The first woman to ram was the Soviet pilot Yekaterina Zelenko; . Victor Talalikhin was the first to use a night ram;
. The "lion's share" of air rams of World War II was carried out by Soviet pilots;
. Even in the peaceful post-war years, our pilots used the air ram as a means of combating violators of the State Border.

Soviet propaganda poster of the war years

Thus, the aerial ramming can be called the "weapon of the Russians", not because only the Russians were able to perform it, but because they made the greatest contribution to the theory and practice of ramming.

VI. Conclusion

We examined the history of air ramming in our country and can conclude that domestic aviators were the first to come up with this air combat technique and put it into practice. They also have the honor of working out the technique of ramming and making a ram at night. The only woman who has committed a night ramming is our compatriot. During World War II, Soviet pilots crashed into enemy aircraft about 600 times. No country can compete with the USSR in this indicator. And finally, cases of rams were recorded in the USSR even in peacetime.

Thus, our hypothesis was confirmed: the ram can indeed be called the "weapon of Russian heroes."

The study of the dynamics of the use of rams and the motives that prompted the pilots to use them led us to the conclusion that Soviet pilots were going to collide with an enemy aircraft when their car was irreversibly damaged and (or) they themselves were seriously injured. Those. the ram was the last resort to inflict damage on the enemy, albeit at the cost of one's own life.

We compared the rams made by Japanese kamikaze and Soviet pilots and we can talk about the fundamental differences between them. In kamikaze, it was considered a shame not to die. Russian pilots were focused on survival and rescue of the car. Staying alive for them is a sign of skill!

In conclusion, we will answer the problematic questions:

. Is the frequency of using a ram in the first years of the Great Patriotic War an indicator of the dedication of Soviet pilots, or is it proof of the technical backwardness of domestic aviation?

I believe that the pilots who decided to ram demonstrated true courage and patriotism. They are real heroes, their feat should not be forgotten! However, the frequency of ramming in 1941-1942 is an indicator of the superiority of German aircraft in flight performance and firepower.

. Is it possible to identify safe types of air ramming?

I came to the conclusion that there are no safe ways to ram. The survival of the pilot and his car depended on many factors, and above all, on the accuracy of the maneuver. And yet, the greatest chances of salvation put aside the impact of the chassis.

VII. Bibliography

Abramov A.S. Twelve rams. Sverdlovsk, 1970;
Babich V.K. Air combat: Origin and development. M., 1991;
Immortal deeds. M., 1980;
Vazhin F.A. Air ram. M., 1962;
Valtsefer V.N., Koron T.K., Krivosheev A.K. Sky-storming school: essays. Krasnodar, 1974;
Volkov V. Ram weapon of Russians. //website;
Gorbach V. Aviation in the Battle of Kursk. M., 2008;
Friends P.D. History of aeronautics and aviation in Russia (July 1914 - October 1917). // Mashinostroenie, 1986;
Zhukova L.N. I choose ram. M., 1985;
Zablotsky A., Larintsev R. Air ram - the nightmare of German aces. //topwar.ru;
Zalutsky G.V. Outstanding Russian pilots. M., 1953;
Zimin G.V. Tactics in Combat Examples: Fighter Aviation Division. M., 1982;
Inozemtsev I.G. Rams in the northern sky. - M.: Military Publishing, 1981;
Hero of air rams. M., 1980;
Wings of the Motherland: essays. M., 1983; Peter Nesterov. Legend of Russian aviation. //nesterovpetr.narod.ru;
Samsonov A. Russian method of air combat. //topwar.ru;
Stepanov A., Vlasov P. Air ram - a weapon not only of Soviet heroes. //www.liveinternet.ru;
Shingarev S.I. I'm going to ram. Tula, 1966;
Shumikhin V.S., Pinchuk M., Bruz M. Air power of the motherland: essays. M., 1988;
Corner of the sky. Aviation encyclopedia. // www.airwar.ru.

Ramming as a method of air combat remains the last argument that pilots resort to in a hopeless situation. Not everyone manages to survive after it. Nevertheless, some of our pilots resorted to it several times.

The world's first ram

The world's first air ram was made by the author of the "dead loop" staff captain Pyotr Nesterov. He was 27 years old, and having made 28 sorties at the beginning of the war, he was considered an experienced pilot.
Nesterov had long believed that an enemy airplane could be destroyed by hitting the planes with wheels. This was a forced measure - at the beginning of the war, aircraft were not equipped with machine guns, and aviators flew on missions with pistols and carbines.
On September 8, 1914, in the Lvov region, Pyotr Nesterov rammed a heavy Austrian aircraft under the control of Franz Malina and Baron Friedrich von Rosenthal, who was flying over Russian positions, making reconnaissance.
Nesterov on a light and fast airplane "Moran" took off, caught up with the "Albatross" and rammed it, striking down on the tail. It happened in front of the locals.
The Austrian plane crashed. Upon impact, Nesterov, who was in a hurry to take off and did not fasten his seat belts, flew out of the cockpit and crashed. According to another version, Nesterov jumped out of the crashed plane himself, hoping to survive.

The first ram of the Finnish war

The first and only ram of the Soviet-Finnish war was made by senior lieutenant Yakov Mikhin, a graduate of the 2nd Borisoglebsk military aviation school named after Chkalov. It happened on February 29, 1940 in the afternoon. 24 Soviet aircraft I-16 and I-15 attacked the Finnish airfield Ruokolahti.

To repel the attack, 15 fighters took off from the airfield.
A fierce battle ensued. Flight commander Yakov Mikhin in a frontal attack with the wing of the aircraft hit the keel of the Fokker, the famous Finnish ace, Lieutenant Tatu Guganantti. The keel broke off on impact. The Fokker crashed to the ground, the pilot was killed.
Yakov Mikhin, with a broken plane, managed to reach the airfield and safely landed his donkey. I must say that Mikhin went through the entire Great Patriotic War, and then continued to serve in the Air Force.

The first ram of the Great Patriotic

It is believed that the first ramming of the Great Patriotic War was carried out by 31-year-old senior lieutenant Ivan Ivanov, who on June 22, 1941 at 4:25 am on I-16 (according to other sources - on I-153) over the Mlynov airfield near Dubno rammed a Heinkel bomber ”, after which both planes fell. Ivanov is dead. For this feat he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
His superiority is contested by several pilots: junior lieutenant Dmitry Kokorev, who rammed the Messerschmitt in the Zambro area 20 minutes after Ivanov's feat and survived.
On June 22 at 5:15, junior lieutenant Leonid Buterin died over Western Ukraine (Stanislav), taking the Junkers-88 on a ram.
After another 45 minutes, an unknown U-2 pilot died over Vygoda, having rammed the Messerschmitt.
At 10 am, a Messer rammed over Brest and Lieutenant Pyotr Ryabtsev survived.
Some pilots resorted to ramming several times. Hero of the Soviet Union Boris Kovzan made 4 rams: over Zaraisk, over Torzhok, over Lobnitsa and Staraya Russa.

The first "fiery" ram

A “fire” ram is a technique when a pilot directs a downed aircraft to ground targets. Everyone knows the feat of Nikolai Gastello, who directed the plane to a tank column with fuel tanks. But the first "fiery" ram was made on June 22, 1941 by 27-year-old senior lieutenant Pyotr Chirkin from the 62nd assault aviation regiment. Chirkin directed the wrecked I-153 to a column of German tanks approaching the city of Stryi (Western Ukraine).
In total, over 300 people repeated his feat during the war years.

First female ram

Soviet pilot Ekaterina Zelenko became the only woman in the world to ram. During the war years, she managed to make 40 sorties, participated in 12 air battles. September 12, 1941 made three sorties. Returning from a mission in the Romny area, she was attacked by German Me-109s. She managed to shoot down one plane, and when the ammunition ran out, she rammed the enemy plane, destroying it. She herself died. She was 24 years old. For the feat, Ekaterina Zelenko was awarded the Order of Lenin, and in 1990 she was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

First jet ramming

A native of Stalingrad, Captain Gennady Eliseev made his ram on a MiG-21 fighter on November 28, 1973. On this day, an Iranian Phantom-II invaded the airspace of the Soviet Union over the Mugan Valley of Azerbaijan, which carried out reconnaissance on the instructions of the United States. Captain Eliseev flew to intercept from the airfield in Vaziani.
Air-to-air missiles did not give the desired result: the Phantom released heat traps. In order to fulfill the order, Eliseev decided to ram and hit the tail of the Phantom with his wing. The plane crashed and its crew was detained. MiG Eliseev began to decline and crashed into a mountain. Gennady Eliseev was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The crew of the reconnaissance aircraft, an American colonel and an Iranian pilot, were handed over to the Iranian authorities 16 days later.

First ramming of a transport aircraft

On July 18, 1981, a transport plane of the Argentinean airline "Canader CL-44" violated the border of the USSR over the territory of Armenia. There was a Swiss crew on board the plane. The squadron deputy, pilot Valentin Kulyapin, was tasked with landing the violators. The Swiss did not respond to the pilot's demands. Then came the order to shoot down the plane. The distance between the Su-15TM and the "transporter" was small for launching R-98M missiles. The intruder went towards the border. Then Kulyapin decided to go to the ram.
On the second attempt, he hit the fuselage on the stabilizer of the Canader, after which he safely ejected from the damaged aircraft, and the Argentine fell into a tailspin and fell just two kilometers from the border, his crew died. Later it turned out that the plane was carrying weapons.
For the feat, the pilot was awarded the Order of the Red Star.

"I want everyone..."

This post is the result of my long-term collaboration with the Samara historian Alexei Stepanov, who owned the idea of ​​this topic. We worked on the topic at the turn of the 80-90s, but at that time youth, youthful maximalism and lack of information did not allow us to complete the study with serious scientific work. Now, for more than 20 years, a lot of new information has been revealed, but the intensity of passions has subsided. Therefore, this article has lost its then indignantly accusatory pathos, addressed to the Soviet historical "pseudo-science", but has significantly replenished with specific information. Moreover, today I have absolutely no desire to engage in scientific activities and create serious but boring scientific work, dotted with references to sources that make it difficult to read. Therefore, I present to everyone who is interested a simple journalistic article about the heroes of air rams who were not lucky to be born in the USSR, and therefore they lost the right to respect for their courage among Russian people, who, in fact, always appreciated courage and heroism. I warn you right away, since a lot has been written about Soviet rams, I will only talk about foreign "rams", mentioning ours only if they are superior - "not for the sake of humiliation, but for justice" ...

For a long time, Soviet official historical science, using the example of air rams, emphasized the special patriotic heroism of Soviet pilots, which was unattainable for representatives of other nations. In our literature in Soviet times, only domestic and Japanese air rams were always mentioned; moreover, if the rams of Soviet pilots were presented by our propaganda as a heroic conscious self-sacrifice, then the same actions of the Japanese were for some reason called "fanaticism" and "doom". Thus, all Soviet pilots who made a suicidal attack were surrounded by a halo of heroes, and Japanese "kamikaze" pilots were surrounded by a halo of "anti-heroes". Representatives of other countries were generally denied the heroism of air ramming by Soviet researchers. This prejudice persisted until the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the legacy of many years of suppression of the heroism of the pilots of other countries is still felt today. “It is deeply symbolic that in the vaunted Hitlerite Luftwaffe there was not a single pilot who, at a critical moment, deliberately went for an air ram ... There is also no data on the use of a ram by American and British pilots,” he wrote in 1989 in a special work about rams, Major General of Aviation A.D. Zaitsev. “During the war, such a truly Russian, Soviet form of air combat as an air ram became widespread,” says the fundamental work on the history of domestic aviation “Air Power of the Motherland”, published in 1988. “Air ram is the standard of feat of arms. The diametrically opposite attitude to the ram was the first moral defeat of the vaunted Nazi aces, a harbinger of our victory ”- this is the opinion of the best Soviet ace of the Great Patriotic War, Ivan Kozhedub, expressed by him in 1990 (by the way, Kozhedub himself did not make a single ram for the war). There are many examples of such a nationalist approach to this problem. Soviet specialists in the history of aviation either did not know, or deliberately lied and hushed up data on rams committed by foreign pilots, although it was enough to turn to the memoirs of Soviet pilots or to foreign works on the history of aviation to make sure that air ramming is a wider phenomenon, as imagined by our historians. Against the background of this attitude to history, the confusion in Russian literature on such issues as: who made the second and third air rams in the world, who first rammed the enemy at night, who made the first ground ram (the so-called "Gastello feat"), no longer seemed surprising, etc. and so on. Today, information about the heroes of other countries has become available, and all people interested in the history of aviation have the opportunity to refer to the relevant books to learn about their exploits. I am publishing this post for those who are not familiar with aviation history, but would like to know something about respectable people.

Russian pilot Pyotr Nesterov; ram Nesterov (postcard from the 1st World War); Russian pilot Alexander Kozakov

It is well known that the world's first air ram was made by our compatriot Pyotr Nesterov, who destroyed on September 8, 1914, at the cost of his life, the Austrian reconnaissance aircraft Albatross. But the honor of the world's second ram for a long time was attributed either to N. Zherdev, who fought in Spain in 1938, or to A. Gubenko, who fought in China that same year. And only after the collapse of the Soviet Union, information appeared in our literature about the real hero of the second air ramming - the Russian pilot of the 1st World War, Alexander Kozakov, who on March 18, 1915 over the front line shot down an Austrian Albatross aircraft with a ramming attack. Moreover, Kozakov became the first pilot to survive after a suicidal strike on an enemy plane: on a damaged Moran, he managed to make a successful landing at the location of Russian troops. The long hushing up of Kozakov's feat is due to the fact that later this most productive Russian ace of the 1st World War (32 victories) became a White Guard and fought against Soviet power. Such a hero, of course, did not suit Soviet historians, and for many decades his name was deleted from the history of domestic aviation, it turned out to be simply forgotten ...
However, even taking into account the hostility of Soviet historians to the White Guard Kozakov, they did not have the right to assign the title of “rammer No. 2” to either Zherdev or Gubenko, since even during the 1st World War several foreign pilots also made air rams. So, in September 1916, the captain of the British aviation, Aizelwood, who flew a D.H.2 fighter, shot down a German Albatross by hitting the landing gear of his fighter, and then landed “on his belly” at his airfield. In June 1917, Canadian William Bishop, having shot all the cartridges in battle, deliberately cut the wing struts of the German Albatross with the wing of his Nieuport. The wings of the enemy folded from the blow, and the German collapsed to the ground; Bishop made it safely to the airfield. Subsequently, he became one of the best aces of the British Empire: he finished the war with 72 air victories on his account ...
But perhaps the most amazing air ram in World War I was made by the Belgian Willy Coppens, who rammed the German Draken balloon on May 8, 1918. Having unsuccessfully shot all the cartridges in several attacks on the balloon, Coppens hit the wheels of his Anrio fighter on the skin of the Draken; propeller blades also slashed across the tightly inflated canvas, and the Draken burst. At the same time, the HD-1 motor choked due to gas rushing into the hole of the torn cylinder, and Coppens literally did not die by a miracle. He was saved by the oncoming airflow, which spun the propeller with force and started the Anrio's engine as it rolled off the falling Draken. It was the first and only ram in the history of Belgian aviation.

Canadian ace William Bishop; HD-1 "Anrio" Coppens breaks down from the "Draken" rammed by him; Belgian ace Willy Coppens

After the end of the 1st World War in the history of air rams, of course, there was a break. Once again, ramming, as a means of destroying enemy aircraft, was remembered by pilots during the Spanish Civil War. At the very beginning of this war - in the summer of 1936 - the Republican pilot Lieutenant Urtubi, who found himself in a hopeless situation, shot all the cartridges at the Franco planes surrounding him, rammed an Italian Fiat fighter from a frontal angle on a low-speed Nieuport. Both aircraft disintegrated on impact; Urtubi managed to open his parachute, but on the ground he died from wounds received in battle. And about a year later (in July 1937) on the other side of the globe - in China - for the first time in the world, a sea ram was carried out, and a massive ram: at the very beginning of Japan's aggression against China, 15 Chinese pilots sacrificed themselves by falling from the air on enemy landing ships and sinking 7 of them!
On October 25, 1937, the world's first night aerial ramming took place. It was carried out in Spain by the Soviet volunteer pilot Yevgeny Stepanov, who under the most difficult conditions destroyed the Italian Savoy-Marcheti bomber with the landing gear of his Chato (I-15) biplane. Moreover, Stepanov rammed the enemy, having almost full ammunition - an experienced pilot, he understood that it was impossible to shoot down a huge three-engine aircraft with his small-caliber machine guns in one go, and after a long line of bombers he went to ram so as not to lose the enemy in the dark. After the attack, Yevgeny returned safely to the airfield, and in the morning, in the area indicated by him, the Republicans found the wreckage of Marcheti ...
On June 22, 1939, the first ram in Japanese aviation was made by pilot Shogo Saito over Khalkhin Gol. Clamped "in tongs" by Soviet aircraft, having shot all the ammunition, Saito went for a breakthrough, cutting off part of the tail of the fighter closest to him with his wing, and escaped from the encirclement. And when a month later, on July 21, saving his commander, Saito tried to ram the Soviet fighter again (the ram did not work - the Soviet pilot dodged the attack), his comrades gave him the nickname "King of Rams". The “King of Rams” Shogo Saito, who had 25 victories on his account, died in July 1944 in New Guinea, fighting in the ranks of the infantry (after the loss of the aircraft) against the Americans ...

Soviet pilot Evgeny Stepanov; Japanese pilot Shogo Saito; Polish pilot Leopold Pamula

The first air ram in the 2nd World War was made not by a Soviet pilot, as is commonly believed in our country, but by a Polish pilot. This ram was fired on September 1, 1939 by Lieutenant Colonel Leopold Pamula, Deputy Commander of the Interceptor Brigade covering Warsaw. Having knocked out 2 bombers in a battle with superior enemy forces, he went on his damaged aircraft to ram one of the 3 Messerschmitt-109 fighters that attacked him. Having destroyed the enemy, Pamula escaped by parachute and made a safe landing in the location of his troops. Six months after the feat of Pamula, another foreign pilot made an air ram: on February 28, 1940, in a fierce air battle over Karelia, a Finnish pilot, Lieutenant Hutanantti, rammed a Soviet fighter and died in the process.
Pamula and Hutanantti were not the only foreign pilots to ram at the start of World War II. During the German offensive against France and Holland, the pilot of the British Battle bomber N.M. Thomas accomplished the feat that we today call "Gastello's feat." Trying to stop the rapid German offensive, on May 12, 1940, the allied command gave the order to destroy the crossings across the Meuse north of Maastricht at any cost, along which enemy tank divisions were crossing. However, German fighters and anti-aircraft guns repelled all British attacks, inflicting horrific losses on them. And then, in a desperate desire to stop the German tanks, flight officer Thomas sent his Battle, shot down by anti-aircraft guns, into one of the bridges, having managed to inform his comrades about the decision ...
Six months later, another pilot repeated the "feat of Thomas." In Africa, on November 4, 1940, another Battle bomber pilot, Lieutenant Hutchinson, was hit by anti-aircraft fire during the bombing of Italian positions in Nyalli (Kenya). And then Hutchinson sent his "Battle" into the thick of the Italian infantry, at the cost of his own death, destroying about 20 enemy soldiers. Eyewitnesses claimed that Hutchinson was alive at the time of the ramming - the British bomber was controlled by the pilot until the very collision with the ground ...
During the Battle of England, British fighter pilot Ray Holmes distinguished himself. During the German raid on London on September 15, 1940, one German Dornier 17 bomber broke through the British fighter screen to Buckingham Palace, the residence of the King of Great Britain. The German was already preparing to drop bombs on an important target when Ray appeared in his path in his Hurricane. Diving on top of the enemy, Holmes cut off Dornier's tail with his wing, but he himself received such severe damage that he was forced to escape by parachute.

Ray Holmes in the cockpit of his Hurricane; ramming ray holmes

The next fighter pilots who took mortal risk for the sake of victory were the Greeks Marino Mitralekses and Grigoris Valkanas. During the Italo-Greek war on November 2, 1940, over Thessaloniki, Marino Mitralexes rammed the Italian Kant Zet-1007 bomber with the propeller of his PZL P-24 fighter. After the ramming, Mitralexes not only landed safely, but also managed, with the help of local residents, to capture the crew of the bomber he had shot down! Volkanas accomplished his feat on November 18, 1940. During a fierce group battle in the Morova region (Albania), he shot all the cartridges and went to ram an Italian fighter (both pilots died).
With the escalation of hostilities in 1941 (attack on the USSR, entry into the war of Japan and the United States), rams became quite common in air warfare. Moreover, these actions were typical not only for Soviet pilots - pilots of almost all countries participating in the battles made rams.
So, on December 22, 1941, Australian Sergeant Reed, who fought in the British Air Force, having used up all the cartridges, rammed a Japanese army Ki-43 fighter with his Brewster-239, and died in a collision with him. At the end of February 1942, the Dutchman J. Adam, on the same Brewster, also rammed a Japanese fighter, but survived.
US pilots also made rams. The Americans are very proud of their Captain Colin Kelly, who in 1941 was presented by propagandists as the first "rammer" of the United States, who rammed the Japanese battleship Haruna on December 10 with his B-17 bomber. True, after the war, the researchers found that Kelly did not commit any ramming. Nevertheless, the American really accomplished a feat, which, due to the pseudo-patriotic inventions of journalists, was undeservedly forgotten. On that day, Kelly bombed the Nagara cruiser and diverted all the fighters covering the Japanese squadron, leaving other aircraft to bombard the enemy calmly. When Kelly was shot down, he tried to the end to maintain control of the aircraft, allowing the crew to leave the dying car. At the cost of his life, Kelly saved ten comrades, but he himself did not have time to escape ...
Based on this information, the first American pilot who actually made a ram was Captain Fleming, commander of the Vindicator bomber squadron of the US Marine Corps. During the Battle of Midway on June 5, 1942, he led his squadron's attack on Japanese cruisers. On approach to the target, his plane was hit by an anti-aircraft shell and caught fire, but the captain continued the attack and bombed. Seeing that the bombs of his subordinates did not hit the target (the squadron consisted of reservists and had poor training), Fleming turned around and dived again at the enemy, crashing into the Mikuma cruiser on a burning bomber. The damaged ship lost combat capability and was soon finished off by other American bombers.
Another American who went on a ram was Major Ralph Cheli, who on August 18, 1943 led his bomber group to attack the Japanese airfield Dagua (New Guinea). Almost immediately, his B-25 Mitchell was hit; then Cheli sent his flaming plane down and crashed into the formation of enemy aircraft standing on the ground, breaking five cars with the Mitchell's hull. For this feat, Ralph Cheli was posthumously awarded the United States' highest honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor.
In the second half of the war, air rams were also used by many British, although, perhaps, somewhat peculiarly (however, at no less risk to their own lives). The German Lieutenant General Erich Schneider, when describing the use of V-1 projectiles against England, testifies: "the brave English pilots shot down projectiles either in the attack with cannon and machine gun fire, or rammed them from the side." This method of fighting was not chosen by the British pilots by chance: very often, when firing, a German projectile exploded, destroying the pilot who attacked him - after all, during the explosion of the "V" the radius of absolute destruction was about 100 meters, and to hit a small target moving at great speed from a greater distance is very difficult, almost impossible. Therefore, the British (also, of course, at the risk of dying) flew up close to the Fau and pushed it to the ground with a blow of wing to wing. One wrong move, the slightest mistake in calculation - and only a memory remained of the brave pilot ... This is exactly how the best English V-hunter Joseph Berry acted, destroying 59 German shells in 4 months. On October 2, 1944, he went on the attack on the 60th V, and this ram was his last ...

"V Killer" Joseph Berry
so Berry and many other British pilots rammed German V-1 projectiles

With the beginning of the American bomber raids on Bulgaria, Bulgarian aviators also had to carry out air ramming. On the afternoon of December 20, 1943, while repulsing a raid on Sofia by 150 Liberator bombers, which were accompanied by 100 Lightning fighters, Lieutenant Dimitar Spisarevski fired all the ammunition of his Bf-109G-2 into one of the Liberators, and then, slipping over the dying machine , crashed into the fuselage of the second Liberator, breaking it in half! Both planes crashed to the ground; Dimitar Spisarevski died. Spisarevski's feat made him a national hero. This ram made an indelible impression on the Americans - after the death of Spisarevski, the Americans were afraid of every approaching Bulgarian Messerschmitt ... Nedelcho Bonchev repeated the feat of Dimitar on April 17, 1944. In a fierce battle over Sofia against 350 B-17 bombers, covered by 150 Mustang fighters, Lieutenant Nedelcho Bonchev shot down 2 of the three bombers destroyed by the Bulgarians in this battle. Moreover, Bonchev's second plane, having used up all the ammunition, rammed it. At the moment of the ramming strike, the Bulgarian pilot, along with the seat, was thrown out of the Messerschmitt. Having hardly freed himself from the seat belts, Bonchev escaped by parachute. After the transition of Bulgaria to the side of the anti-fascist coalition, Nedelcho took part in the battles against Germany, but in October 1944 he was shot down and taken prisoner. During the evacuation of the concentration camp in early May 1945, the hero was shot by a guard.

Bulgarian pilots Dimitar Spisarevski and Nedelcho Bonchev

As noted above, we have heard a lot about the Japanese kamikaze suicide bombers, for whom the ram was actually the only weapon. However, it must be said that ramming was carried out by Japanese pilots even before the advent of "kamikaze", but then these acts were not planned and were usually carried out either in the heat of battle, or when the aircraft was seriously damaged, excluding its return to base. A prime example of such a ramming attempt is Japanese naval aviator Mitsuo Fuchida's dramatic description in his book The Battle of Midway Atoll of Lieutenant Commander Yoichi Tomonaga's last attack. On June 4, 1942, at the critical moment for the Japanese in the battle for Midway, the commander of the torpedo bomber detachment of the Hiryu aircraft carrier, Yoichi Tomonaga, who could well be called the predecessor of the kamikaze, flew into battle on a heavily damaged torpedo bomber, in which one of the tanks was shot through in the previous battle. At the same time, Tomonaga was fully aware that he did not have enough fuel to return from battle. During a torpedo attack on the enemy, Tomonaga tried to ram the American flagship aircraft carrier Yorktown with his Kate, but, shot by all the ship’s artillery, fell to pieces literally a few meters from the side ...

The predecessor of the "kamikaze" Yoichi Tomonaga
Attack of the torpedo bomber "Kate", filmed from the aircraft carrier "Yorktown" during the battle off Midway Atoll.
This is what the last attack of Tomonaga looked like (it is quite possible that it was his plane that was filmed)

However, not all attempts to ram ended for the Japanese pilots so tragically. So, for example, on October 8, 1943, fighter pilot Satoshi Anabuki, on a light Ki-43 armed with only two machine guns, managed to shoot down 2 American fighters and 3 heavy four-engine B-24 bombers in one battle! Moreover, the third bomber, which used up all the ammunition of Anabuki, destroyed it with a ramming blow. After this ramming, the wounded Japanese managed to land his wrecked plane “on forced” on the coast of the Gulf of Burma. For his feat, Anabuki received an award that was exotic for Europeans, but quite familiar to the Japanese: General Kawabe, commander of the troops of the Burmese district, dedicated a poem of his own composition to the heroic pilot...
A particularly "cool" "ram" among the Japanese was 18-year-old junior lieutenant Masajiro Kawato, who made 4 air rams during his combat career. The first victim of the Japanese suicide attacks was a B-25 bomber, which Kawato shot down over Rabaul with a strike from his Zero, which was left without cartridges (the date of this ram is unknown to me). On November 11, 1943, Masajiro, who escaped by parachute, again rammed an American bomber, while being wounded. Then, in a battle on December 17, 1943, Cavato rammed an Airacobra fighter in a frontal attack, and again escaped by parachute. The last time Masajiro Kawato rammed over Rabaul on February 6, 1944 was a four-engine B-24 Liberator bomber, and again used a parachute to save him. In March 1945, the seriously wounded Kavato was captured by the Australians, and the war ended for him.
And less than a year before the surrender of Japan - in October 1944 - "kamikaze" entered the battle. The first kamikaze attack was carried out on October 21, 1944 by Lieutenant Kuno, who damaged the ship "Australia". And on October 25, 1944, the first successful attack of an entire kamikaze unit under the command of Lieutenant Yuki Seki took place, during which an aircraft carrier and a cruiser were sunk, and another 1 aircraft carrier was damaged. But, although the main targets of the "kamikaze" were usually enemy ships, the Japanese had suicide formations to intercept and destroy heavy American B-29 Superfortress bombers by ramming. So, for example, in the 27th regiment of the 10th air division, a unit of specially lightweight Ki-44-2 aircraft was created under the command of Captain Matsuzaki, which bore the poetic name "Shinten" ("Sky Shadow"). These "sky shadow kamikaze" became a real nightmare for the Americans who flew to bomb Japan ...
From the end of the 2nd World War to the present day, historians and amateurs have been arguing: did the kamikaze movement make sense, was it successful enough. In official Soviet military-historical works, 3 negative reasons for the appearance of Japanese suicide bombers were usually singled out: lack of modern equipment and experienced personnel, fanaticism, and the “voluntary-compulsory” method of recruiting performers of a deadly sortie. While fully agreeing with this, one must, however, admit that under certain conditions this tactic brought certain advantages. In a situation where hundreds and thousands of untrained pilots died uselessly from the crushing attacks of superbly trained American pilots, from the point of view of the Japanese command, it was undoubtedly more profitable if they, with their inevitable death, would cause at least some damage to the enemy. It is impossible not to take into account here the special logic of the samurai spirit, planted by the Japanese leadership as a model among the entire Japanese population. According to it, a warrior is born in order to die for his emperor, and a “beautiful death” in battle was considered the pinnacle of his life. It was this logic, incomprehensible to a European, that prompted Japanese pilots at the beginning of the war to fly into battle without parachutes, but with samurai swords in the cockpits!
The advantage of suicide tactics was that the range of "kamikaze" in comparison with conventional aircraft doubled (it was not necessary to save gasoline to return back). The losses of the enemy in people from suicide attacks were much greater than the losses of the "kamikaze" themselves; in addition, these attacks undermined the morale of the Americans, who were so terrified of suicide bombers that the American command during the war was forced to classify all information about the "kamikaze" in order to avoid complete demoralization of the personnel. After all, no one could feel protected from sudden suicide attacks - even the crews of small ships. With the same grim obstinacy, the Japanese attacked everything that could swim. As a result, the results of the kamikaze activities were much more serious than the allied command tried to imagine at that time (but more on that in the conclusion).

Similar kamikaze attacks terrified American sailors

In Soviet times, not only was there never even a mention of air rams committed by German pilots in Russian literature, but it was also repeatedly stated that it was impossible for “cowardly fascists” to perform such feats. And this practice continued already in the new Russia until the mid-90s, when, thanks to the appearance in our country of new Western studies translated into Russian, and the development of the Internet, it became impossible to deny the documented facts of the heroism of our main enemy. Today it is already a proven fact: during the 2nd World War, German pilots repeatedly used a ram to destroy enemy aircraft. But the long-term delay in the recognition of this fact by domestic researchers only causes surprise and annoyance: after all, to be convinced of this, even in Soviet times, it was enough just to take a critical look at least at the domestic memoir literature. In the memoirs of Soviet veteran pilots, from time to time there are references to head-on collisions over the battlefield, when the aircraft of the opposing sides collided with each other at opposite angles. What is this if not a mutual ram? And if in the initial period of the war the Germans almost did not use such a technique, then this does not indicate a lack of courage among the German pilots, but that they had at their disposal quite effective weapons of traditional types, which allowed them to destroy the enemy without exposing their lives to unnecessary additional risk.
I don’t know all the facts of ramming committed by German pilots on different fronts of the 2nd World War, especially since even the participants in those battles often find it difficult to say for sure whether it was a deliberate ramming, or an accidental collision in the confusion of high-speed maneuverable combat (this also applies to Soviet pilots , which recorded rams). But even when listing the cases of ramming victories of the German aces known to me, it is clear that in a hopeless situation the Germans boldly went to a deadly clash for them too, often not sparing their lives for the sake of harming the enemy.
If we talk specifically about the facts known to me, then among the first German "rammers" we can name Kurt Sochatzi, who on August 3, 1941 near Kiev, repelling the attack of Soviet attack aircraft on German positions, destroyed the "unbreakable Cement bomber" Il-2 with a frontal ramming blow. In the collision, Messerschmitt Kurt lost half of his wing, and he had to hastily make an emergency landing right on the flight path. Sokhatzi landed on Soviet territory and was taken prisoner; nevertheless, for the accomplished feat, the command in absentia awarded him the highest award in Germany - the Knight's Cross.
If at the beginning of the war the ramming actions of German pilots, who were victorious on all fronts, were a rare exception, then in the second half of the war, when the situation was not in favor of Germany, the Germans began to use ramming attacks more and more often. So, for example, on March 29, 1944, in the skies of Germany, the famous Luftwaffe ace Hermann Graf rammed an American Mustang fighter, while receiving severe injuries that put him in a hospital bed for two months. The next day, March 30, 1944, on the Eastern Front, the German assault ace, holder of the Knight's Cross Alvin Boerst, repeated the "feat of Gastello". In the Yass area, he attacked a Soviet tank column on the anti-tank version of the Ju-87, was shot down by anti-aircraft guns and, dying, rammed the tank in front of him. Bourst was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross of Swords. In the West, on May 25, 1944, a young pilot, Oberfenrich Hubert Heckman, in a Bf.109G, rammed Captain Joe Bennett's Mustang, decapitating an American fighter squadron, after which he escaped by parachute. And on July 13, 1944, another famous ace - Walter Dahl - shot down a heavy American B-17 bomber with a ramming blow.

German pilots: fighter ace Herman Graf and attack ace Alvin Boerst

The Germans had pilots who made several rams. For example, in the skies of Germany, while repelling American raids, Hauptmann Werner Gert rammed enemy planes three times. In addition, the pilot of the assault squadron of the "Udet" squadron, Willy Maksimovich, who destroyed 7 (!) American four-engine bombers with ramming strikes, was widely known. Vili was killed over Pillau in a dogfight against Soviet fighters on April 20, 1945.
But the cases listed above are only a small part of the air rams committed by the Germans. In the conditions of the complete technical and quantitative superiority of the allied aviation over the German aviation, which was created at the end of the war, the Germans were forced to create units of their "kamikaze" (even before the Japanese!). Already at the beginning of 1944, the formation of special fighter-assault squadrons began in the Luftwaffe to destroy American bombers bombing Germany. The entire personnel of these units, which included volunteers and ... penalized, gave a written obligation to destroy at least one bomber in each sortie - if necessary, by ramming! It was in such a squadron that Vili Maksimovich, mentioned above, was included, and these units were headed by Major Walter Dahl, already familiar to us. The Germans were forced to resort to mass ramming tactics precisely at a time when their former air superiority was nullified by hordes of heavy Allied Flying Fortresses advancing from the west in a continuous stream and armadas of Soviet aircraft pressing from the east. It is clear that the Germans adopted such tactics not from a good life; but this does not in the least detract from the personal heroism of the German fighter pilots, who voluntarily decided to sacrifice themselves to save the German population, who were dying under American and British bombs ...

Commander of fighter-assault squadrons Walter Dahl; Werner Gert, who rammed 3 "Fortresses";
Vili Maksimovich, who destroyed 7 "Fortresses" with rams

The official adoption of ramming tactics required the Germans to create appropriate equipment. So, all fighter-assault squadrons were equipped with a new modification of the FW-190 fighter with reinforced armor that protected the pilot from enemy bullets at the moment of approaching the target closely (in fact, the pilot sat in an armored box that completely covered him from head to toe). The best test pilots practiced methods of rescuing a pilot from an aircraft damaged by a ramming attack with attack aircraft - the commander of German fighter aircraft, General Adolf Galland, believed that attack fighters should not be suicide bombers, and did everything possible to save the lives of these valuable pilots ...

The assault version of the FW-190 fighter, equipped with a fully armored cockpit and solid armored glass, allowed German pilots
get close to the "Flying Fortresses" and make a deadly ram

When the Germans, as allies of Japan, learned about the tactics of "kamikaze" and the high performance of Japanese suicide pilots, as well as the psychological effect produced by "kamikaze" on the enemy, they decided to transfer the eastern experience to the western lands. At the suggestion of Hitler's favorite, the famous German test pilot Hanna Reitsch, and with the support of her husband, Oberst General of Aviation von Greim, a manned projectile with a cabin for a suicide pilot was created on the basis of the V-1 winged bomb at the end of the war ( which, however, had a chance to use a parachute over the target). These man-bombs were intended for massive strikes on London - Hitler hoped to use total terror to force Britain out of the war. The Germans even created the first detachment of German suicide bombers (200 volunteers) and began their training, but they did not have time to use their "kamikaze". The inspirer of the idea and the commander of the detachment, Hana Raitsch, came under another bombing of Berlin and ended up in the hospital for a long time, and General Galland immediately disbanded the detachment, considering the idea of ​​​​death terror to be insanity ...

The manned analogue of the V-1 rocket - Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg, and the inspirer of the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe "German kamikaze" Hana Reitsch

Conclusion:

So, based on the foregoing, we can conclude that ramming, as a form of combat, was characteristic not only of Soviet pilots - pilots of almost all countries participating in the battles made ramming.
Another thing is that our pilots carried out much more ramming than the "foreigners". In total, during the war, Soviet aviators, at the cost of the death of 227 pilots and the loss of over 400 aircraft, managed to destroy 635 enemy aircraft in the air by ramming. In addition, Soviet pilots made 503 land and sea rams, of which 286 were performed on attack aircraft with a crew of 2 people, and 119 - bombers with a crew of 3-4 people. Thus, in terms of the number of pilots who died in suicide attacks (at least 1000 people!), the USSR, together with Japan, undeniably dominates the gloomy list of countries whose pilots sacrificed their lives extensively to achieve victory over the enemy. However, it must be admitted that the Japanese still surpassed us in the field of "purely Soviet form of combat." If we evaluate only the effectiveness of the "kamikaze" (operating since October 1944), then at the cost of the lives of more than 5000 Japanese pilots, about 50 enemy warships were sunk and about 300 warships were damaged, of which 3 sunk and 40 damaged were aircraft carriers with a huge number of aircraft on board .
So, in terms of the number of rams, the USSR and Japan are far ahead of the rest of the warring countries. Undoubtedly, this testifies to the courage and patriotism of the Soviet and Japanese pilots, however, in my opinion, it does not detract from the same merits of the pilots of other countries participating in the war. When a hopeless situation developed, not only the Russians and the Japanese, but also the British, Americans, Germans, Bulgarians, and so on. and so on. went to the ram, risking their own lives for the sake of victory. But they went only in a hopeless situation; regularly using complex expensive equipment in the role of a banal "cleaver" is a stupid and costly business. My opinion: the massive use of rams speaks not so much of the heroism and patriotism of a particular nation, but of the level of its military equipment and the preparedness of the flight personnel and command, which constantly put their pilots in a hopeless situation. In the air units of countries in which the command skillfully led the units, creating a superiority of forces in the right place, whose aircraft had high combat characteristics, and the pilots were well trained, the need to ram the enemy simply did not arise. But in the air units of countries in which the command was not able to concentrate forces on the main direction, in which the pilots did not really know how to fly, and the planes had mediocre or even low flight characteristics, ramming became almost the main form of combat. That is why at the beginning of the war, having the best aircraft, the best commanders and pilots, the Germans actually did not use rams. When the enemy created more advanced aircraft and outnumbered the Germans, and the Luftwaffe lost the most experienced pilots in numerous battles and no longer had time to really train the newcomers, the ramming method entered the arsenal of German aviation and reached the absurdity of "man-bombs" ready to fall on the heads civilian population...
In this regard, I would like to note that just at the time when the Japanese and Germans began the transition to the "kamikaze" tactics, in the Soviet Union, which also widely used air rams, the commander of the USSR Air Force signed a very interesting order. It said: “To explain to all personnel of the Red Army Air Force that our fighters are superior in flight and tactical data to all existing types of German fighters... exceptional cases." Leaving aside the qualities of Soviet fighters, whose advantages over the enemy, it turns out, had to be "explained" to front-line pilots, let's pay attention to the fact that at a time when the Japanese and German commands were trying to develop a line of use of suicide bombers, the Soviet was trying to stop the already existing trend Russian pilots to suicidal attacks. And there was something to think about: only in August 1944 - the month preceding the appearance of the order - more air rams were made by Soviet pilots than in December 1941 - during the critical period of fighting for the USSR near Moscow! Even in April 1945, when Soviet aviation had absolute air supremacy, Russian pilots used as many rams as in November 1942, when the offensive near Stalingrad began! And this is despite the "explained superiority" of Soviet technology, the undoubted advantage of the Russians in the number of fighters and, in general, the number of air rams that has been decreasing year by year (in 1941-42 - about 400 rams, in 1943-44 - about 200 rams , in 1945 - more than 20 rams). And everything is explained simply: with an acute desire to beat the enemy, most young Soviet pilots simply did not know how to fly and fight properly. Remember, this was well said in the film “Only Old Men Go to Battle”: “They still don’t know how to fly, shoot too, but EAGLES!”. It was for this reason that Boris Kovzan, who did not know how to turn on the onboard weapons at all, made 3 of his 4 rams. And it is precisely for this reason that the former instructor of the aviation school Ivan Kozhedub, who knew how to fly well, never rammed the enemy in 120 battles he fought, although he had very unfavorable situations. But Ivan Nikitovich coped with them even without the “axe method”, because he had high flight and combat training, and his plane was one of the best in domestic aviation ...

Alexey Stepanov, Petr Vlasov
Samara

Hubert Heckmann 25.05. 1944 rams Captain Joe Bennett's Mustang, depriving an American fighter squadron of leadership