(1904-1938) Soviet pilot
Today it is difficult for us to imagine what Chkalov did in the field of aviation. Since his flights, not only airplanes have changed, but also the very idea of long distances. At the time of Chkalov, aviation was just in its infancy and not only airplanes, but also people had no idea what awaited them in the future.
Valery Chkalov was born in the settlement of Vasilevo near Nizhny Novgorod. There was a small river boat repair plant where his father worked. After graduating from the parish school, Valery went to Cherepovets, where he entered a technical school. He wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and was interested in metalworking while still at school and even took a course to work on a lathe.
After graduating from the Cherepovets School, Valery worked for several years as a hammer hammer at one of the factories with his father, but soon realized that this profession was too difficult for a teenager. Therefore, six months later he began working as a fireman at the Volga Shipping Company. Just at this time, a friend brought him to the aviation park stationed in Nizhny Novgorod, as the air squadron was then called. After this, Valery Chkalov became ill with aviation for the rest of his life. He joins the Red Army and begins working as a mechanic repairing damaged aircraft.
After some time, the park management sent the smart mechanic to the Yegoryevsk Aviation School. At this time, Valery had just turned seventeen years old. He successfully passed the entrance exams and began studying along with the cadets who went through the Civil War.
It seemed that any science was easy for him. Therefore, after a year of theoretical training, they decided to send the young man to a special school for military pilots. In April 1923, Valery Pavlovich Chkalov arrived in the city of Borisoglebsk, where he began to learn to fly an Avro plane. He quickly mastered the necessary program and was one of the first to be allowed to fly independently. But limited opportunities training aircraft soon ceased to satisfy him, and he began to ask his superiors for a transfer.
After a year of studying in Borisoglebsk, among the ten best students of the school, Valery Chkalov was sent to the Moscow School of Aerobatics. There he completed a full course of training and received a military pilot certificate. In Moscow, Chkalov mastered several types of aircraft and acquired the skills of commanding a group of cadets.
To complete his education, he was sent to the Serpukhov Bombing School. There he first met another famous pilot - M. M. Gromov. After graduating from school, Valery Pavlovich Chkalov qualified as a fighter pilot and was sent to Leningrad, where fighter units for the Red Army were then being formed.
In the training squadron where Chkalov served, he soon proved that he had completely mastered the technique of flying training aircraft, and was one of the first to independently fly the most modern German fighter at that time, the Focke-Wulf D-7.
But everyday orderly service always depressed Valery Chkalov. Despite the prohibitions that existed at that time, he practiced aerobatics, improving the methods of training pilots, and also came up with a special device for teaching aimed shooting. During the flights, he tried to squeeze the maximum possible out of the machine and from himself as a pilot and set himself seemingly impossible tasks.
In 1925, Chkalov got married. Many thought that his family would cool his passion for experimentation. But he turned out to be inexhaustible in inventions. One day he decided to do something extraordinary even in our time - he flew an airplane under the span of the Trinity Bridge in Leningrad. For this, Valery Chkalov was deprived of the right to fly and put in a guardhouse.
A chance saved him from a more severe punishment: an order came from Moscow to send the best pilots to participate in the air parade dedicated to the anniversary of the revolution. The squadron command had to urgently send Chkalov to Moscow.
After a brilliant performance at the Central Airfield, Valery Pavlovich Chkalov was sent to Bryansk as a flight commander. However, even there he continued to practice aerobatics, and one day it ended tragically: while mastering flights at low altitudes, Chkalov touched wires with his wheels and damaged the plane. In accordance with the laws of the time, he was arrested and soon sentenced to a year in prison.
But the pilot’s fame was already so great that he was soon released from prison, although he was dismissed from the Red Army. Returning to Leningrad to his family, Chkalov began working at the local branch of Osoaviakhim, flying on a pleasure plane.
Only six months later, thanks to the help of M. Gromov, Chkalov was accepted as a test pilot at the newly organized scientific testing institute in Moscow. Here he had to learn to fly again, since the institute tested aircraft of various brands and types.
In a short time, Chkalov mastered a new technique for piloting heavy aircraft and became their leading test pilot. At the same time, as always, he continued to perform aerobatics during the May and October holidays.
As a full-time factory test pilot of N. Polikarpov's design bureau, Valery Chkalov tested new types of fighters. It was interesting job. Thanks to Chkalov, who worked in extreme conditions, the hidden capabilities of aircraft were revealed. Thus, he proved that the I-16 fighter is not only a formidable fighting machine, but also an excellent aerobatic aircraft.
But Chkalov wanted to prove himself even more professionally. After S. Levanevsky’s unsuccessful flight, he was invited to evaluate the ANT-25 aircraft designed by A. Tupolev. Chkalov liked the plane, and soon after working on it, the pilot turned to the command with a request to allow him to fly through the North Pole along Levanevsky’s route.
However, the management decided not to risk it and proposed to fly the same distance, but along a route that passed over the territory of the USSR from Moscow to Kamchatka. This flight took place in the summer of 1936.
Valery Pavlovich Chkalov even exceeded the planned program, since, having flown to Kamchatka, the pilots encountered bad weather, turned towards the mainland and a few hours later landed on Udd Island near the city of Nikolaevsk-on-Amur. By making this flight, Chkalov proved that it was possible to make ultra-long-distance flights on an airplane designed by Tupolev.
In early 1937, permission was finally received to fly over the North Pole to the United States. The preparation took more than six months. Only on June 16, 1937, a plane with a crew consisting of pilots Valery Chkalov, G. Baidukov and navigator A. Belyakov took off from an airfield near Moscow to the north.
The flight lasted sixty-three hours and sixteen minutes. On the evening of June 20, 1937, Chkalov landed in Vancouver. Appearance soviet plane shocked not only the Americans, but the whole world, since at that time no country had such aircraft technology. In addition, an inspection of the plane after the flight showed that Chkalov could fly to San Francisco and even Los Angeles, staying in the air for several more hours.
After landing, the pilots made a short tour of US cities, and on June 27, 1937, they were received by the country's President F. Roosevelt. In America, they learned that they had all been awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union.
Upon returning to the USSR, Valery Pavlovich Chkalov continued his work at the plant, but in December 1938 he died during testing of the I-180 fighter. After this, many legends arose that the accident was deliberately staged. But the cause of Chkalov’s death was determined by time itself. In an effort to report on the fulfillment of the government task as quickly as possible, the plant workers handed over the aircraft for testing with a large number of defects, which led to its crash and the death of the famous pilot.
Many streets, educational institutions and other organizations bear the name of Chkalov. Who was this man? What did he do to deserve such a memory of himself?
For people who are at least a little familiar with the history of their country, Valery Chkalov is, first of all, the commander of the crew who managed to make the first flight over the North Pole on an airplane without landing. An event happened back in 1937. The course was laid out from Moscow (USSR) to Vancouver (USA).
Childhood
Valery Chkalov was born on January 20, 1904 in one of the villages. Today the village where the pilot was born is the city of Chkalovsky. His father worked as a boilermaker in state-owned workshops. Very little is known about the mother; she died when the boy was six years old.
At the age of seven, Valery began studying in elementary school, and after graduating he moved to a technical school, which now bears his name. His father sent him to study in 1916. After two years of study he had to return home because educational institution was closed.
From that time on, Valery became his father's assistant. He worked as a hammerman in a forge, and later as a fireman on a dredge. At the same time, navigation was actively developing, which attracted the young man with its capabilities.
Start of service
Valery Chkalov made the decision to change jobs after he saw an airplane for the first time in 1919. And he went to serve in the Red Army as an aircraft assembler. Its aviation fleet was located in Nizhny Novgorod.
The young man wanted to develop further, so in 1921 he received a referral and entered the Air Force School of Military Theoretical Studies (Egorovskaya). After graduation, he went to the military pilot school (Borisoglebskaya) in 1922. He also completed an internship at the aerobatics school (Moscow), and the shooting and air combat school (Serpukhovsk).
By 1924, pilot Valery Chkalov was accepted into the Nesterov squadron. He was so keen on flying that he very often showed excessive insolence and courage. He was often suspended from flying for excessive risks.
In addition, the young man had problems with discipline on the ground. In 1925, he was imprisoned for one year by a military tribunal for a drunken brawl. Subsequently, the period was reduced to six months. Unfortunately, this experience did not produce positive results, and three years later, in 1928, the military tribunal again convicted the pilot. This time, for air recklessness and repeated violations of discipline, he was sentenced to one year in prison. He was also fired from the Red Army.
Thanks to his talent, Alksnis and Voroshilov immediately began to intercede on his behalf, and a month later they managed to replace the sentence with a suspended one. The pilot became an instructor and head of a glider school
Test pilot
By November 1930, Valery Chkalov was restored to his rank and was sent to the NNI Air Force in Moscow. After working for two years, he managed to make more than eight hundred test flights and master the technique of piloting thirty types of aircraft.
Since 1933, Valery Chkalov's life changes again - he is transferred to test pilot at an aircraft plant in Moscow. Here he tested various fighters and bombers. He did not abandon his aerial recklessness either, having mastered the figure of an ascending corkscrew, as well as a slow roll.
In 1935, he was awarded the Order of Lenin along with designer Nikolai Polikarpov for creating the best fighter aircraft. This was the highest government award.
Flight from Moscow to the Far East
The flight was supposed to show the capabilities of developing aviation. Chkalov Valery Pavlovich, at the head of his crew, started on July 20, 1936. The flight lasted fifty-six hours without landing, until it ended up on the island of Udd (Sea of Okhotsk). During this time, more than nine thousand kilometers were covered. There, on the island, the inscription “Stalin’s route” was put on the side of the plane. It will last until the next flight, which Chkalov’s crew dreamed of most, namely from the USSR to the USA via the North Pole.
For the successful flight, the crew was awarded the title of Heroes and Valery Pavlovich Chkalov received a personal plane as a gift, which has survived to this day and is kept in the Chkalovsk Museum.
The importance of this flight was emphasized by the fact that Stalin personally met the crew at the Shchelkovo airfield in August 1936. After this, Valery Pavlovich gained national fame throughout the Union.
Flight from the USSR to the USA
The crew initially wanted to fly from the USSR to the USA via the North Pole, but it was not immediately possible to obtain permission for this. Stalin did not want a repeat of the failure that befell Levanevsky in the summer of 1935. But after a successful flight to the Far East, permission was received.
The plane took off on June 18, 1937 and two days later landed in Vancouver (USA). The flight conditions turned out to be much more difficult than expected. This was due to poor visibility, or rather its absence, and icing. The crew covered eight and a half thousand kilometers and were awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
Valery Chkalov, whose photo is presented in the article, was able to carry out his plans. Despite the fact that he was elected as a deputy, and Stalin offered him the position of People's Commissar of the NKVD, he did not stop doing flight tests, considering this his main job.
Death
In winter, Valery Chkalov, whose biography is discussed in the review, was urgently recalled from vacation in connection with testing a new fighter. Two weeks later, the pilot died (12/15/1938) during his first flight.
According to existing information, the flight was prepared in a hurry because they wanted to get everything done before the end of the year. Almost two hundred defects were identified in the assembled aircraft. Polikarpov was against unnecessary haste. For this he was suspended from work. The tests were first carried out on the ground, then without retracting the landing gear. As a result, the go-ahead was given to fly, but only to an altitude of seven thousand meters with the landing gear retracted. After this, the test vehicle was to be transferred to another pilot.
On the day of the tests, the air temperature was minus twenty-five degrees Celsius, but Chkalov decided to fly out. The engine stopped during landing. The pilot tried to land, but the plane caught on the wires on a pole. The cause of death was trauma due to hitting his head on metal fittings. After this, the pilot lived no more than two hours. He died on the way to the hospital. At this time, his wife was carrying their third child under her heart. She was informed about what had happened only late in the evening.
Chkalov was buried in Moscow, and the urn with his ashes was placed in the Kremlin wall. Some plant managers who were involved in the hasty test were sentenced to long prison terms.
Family and Children
Valery Chkalov, whose biography is the topic of our review, met his wife in his youth. In 1927 they got married and soon had their first child. Olga Erasmovna was born Orekhova and worked as a teacher.
Valery Chkalov's wife survived him by fifty-nine years. She wrote a number of works and memoirs about her husband. Olga Erasmovna lived ninety-six years and never married again.
In their marriage they had three children:
- Igor (1928-2006).
- Valeria (1935-2013).
- Olga (1939).
Son of a pilot
Igor Valerievich did not become a tester, like his father. But his life was connected with airplanes - he was an Air Force engineer. He also replenished the fund of the museum dedicated to his father in Chkalovsk. Many in interviews were interested in how Valery Chkalov died. To this the son replied that his father was eliminated because he had significant influence on Stalin. The son of a famous pilot was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
Daughters about the death of their father
Valery Pavlovich's son was almost ten years old when the tragedy happened. He remembered his father from personal memories, even flew on an airplane with him. The daughters had no such memories. Valeria was only three years old, and Olga was born only after the death of her father.
At the same time, all the children of Valery Chkalov retained the memory of him. Regarding the death of her father, in her interviews, her daughter Olga adhered to the version that everything happened due to haste and the launch of a “crude” plane. Valeria adhered to the version that her father was removed by deliberately testing a defective aircraft.
In 1938, there was a peak of repression, including in aviation, so the sisters do not see anything surprising in the fact that their father could have been pushed into an obviously dangerous flight.
Memory of a hero
Valery Chkalov (life - 1904-1938) was one of famous people Soviet Union. The organization's stations and military squadrons were named in his honor. One of the islands in the Sea of Okhotsk, where the crew landed during the flight from Moscow to the Far East, as well as the celestial body of our system (number 2692) was named after him.
The city in which he was born is named after him. At that time it was the village of Vasilevo. Many settlements in Russia, Ukraine, and Tajikistan bear his name. In different cities there are busts and also microdistricts, avenues, streets, and educational institutions that bear his name. At one time, stamps and coins dedicated to Chkalov were issued.
Biographical films about the life of the pilot were released over the years. The most modern are the TV series “Chkalov” (2012) and “The People Who Made the Earth Round” (2014).
Valery Pavlovich lived only thirty-four years. During this time, he graduated from several flight schools, made two difficult flights over the North Pole, was sentenced to imprisonment twice, and was expelled from the ranks of the Red Army several times with subsequent reinstatement. He and his wife had three children who preserved the memory of their father. The wife, who lived as a widow for more than fifty years, never remarried, preserving the memory of her husband.
For many, he was and remains a hero of his time. This speaks of the person’s originality, of all his talents and unwillingness to live peacefully like everyone else. His life was short but eventful, and his death was tragic.
At the age of fifteen, he saw a plane in the sky, and it changed his life forever. Valery Chkalov became a real hero, an outstanding fearless pilot of the Soviet army, made more than 800 flights on 70 types of aircraft.
In Moscow in 1936, his crew was met by Joseph Stalin himself, and a year later Valery Chkalov was received by US President Franklin Roosevelt at the White House.
His life was a triumph, but his death remains a mystery.
From fireman to pilot
About successful career Valery Chkalov could only dream of becoming a pilot as a child. He was born into the family of a boilermaker, lost his mother early and grew up in rather difficult conditions. After studying at the river vocational school, he got a job, first as a blacksmith, and then as a fireman on a dredge, while simultaneously helping his father in the service.
At the age of fifteen, he saw a plane in the sky, and it changed his life forever.
After quitting his job, Valery Chkalov joined the Red Army to study flying and be closer to his new high passion.
Reckless
After completing his training, Valery Chkalov went to serve in the Leningrad Air Squadron named after Nesterov, where he showed himself to be a very brave, and sometimes even daring, pilot. His obstinate character was also evident in the way he controlled the plane - he received disciplinary sanctions many times, was suspended from flying and even went to prison for his behavior.
His famous flight under the Trinity Bridge across the Neva, which he performed without permission from his superiors, is widely known, and in 1940 it was repeated by another Soviet pilot Evgeniy Borichenko for a biographical film about Chkalov.
In 1928, Valery Chkalov was completely convicted of his aerial recklessness, which led to the accident, and sentenced to a year in prison. Luckily, he found influential defenders in the persons of Kliment Voroshilov and Yakov Alksnis, and a month later he was released, and a year later he got a job as an instructor pilot.
Tester
During his service at the Air Force Research Institute, where he was sent to work after his imprisonment, the greatest pilot did truly titanic work - he mastered the technique of piloting 30 aircraft (in total, he tested about 70 aircraft during his life) and made more than 800 test flights .
He continued to engage in testing as a pilot at Moscow Aviation Plant No. 39, where he tested heavy bombers and fighters, and also developed new aerobatics, including the most famous - the upward corkscrew and the slow roll.
Record holder
The name of Valery Chkalov became truly widely known in 1936, when he, in the company of pilots Georgy Baidukov and Alexander Belyakov, made an unprecedented flight from Moscow to the Far East. In 56 hours of non-stop flight in the most difficult weather conditions, 9,374 kilometers were covered. The importance of this achievement can be judged by the fact that Comrade Stalin personally went to meet the crew returning to Moscow.
Chkalov left the plane already in the status of a national hero (including officially - for the flight, all crew members were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and awarded the Order of Lenin).
World fame
Following national fame came world fame. In June 1937, Valery Chkalov, together with his crew, made a non-stop flight “Moscow - North Pole - Vancouver” on an ANT-25 aircraft, with a length of 8504 km.
In the United States they were greeted as heroes, photographs of Soviet pilots appeared on the front pages of newspapers, banquets and dinner parties were held in their honor, and United States President Franklin Roosevelt personally congratulated them at the White House. According to rumors, Marlene Dietrich, who was traveling with him on the same ship from the USA to Europe, was jealous of Valery Chkalov’s fame and honors. The famous actress was shocked and dissatisfied with the excessive attention that was given to Soviet pilots instead of her.
Mysterious death
At the end of 1938, Chkalov was going to test the new I-180 fighter.
The preparations took place in extreme haste - testing of the aircraft was going to be closed before the New Year. Despite the fact that at the time of testing 190 defects were identified in the car and ignoring the arguments of the designers, on December 15 Valery Chkalov decided to conduct flight tests. During landing approach, the engine of the aircraft stalled. Chkalov made it to the airfield, but did not see the curtained pole at the entrance and crashed into it. He died two hours later in the hospital.
The official version stated that the cause of the accident was significant design flaws in the aircraft. For negligence and disorganization in work that led to the death of the pilot, most of the management of the aircraft plant was sent to trial. There are also supporters of another version, including Chkalov’s children, who believe that it was a fake death planned by the NKVD and Lavrenty Beria.
Great Legacy
The scale of the figure of Valery Chkalov is, of course, impressive - a personal friend and protégé of Stalin, a national figure, world celebrity, a record holder, hung from head to toe with orders and awards.
It is not surprising that his memory is preserved not only in official documents and dusty archives, but also in cultural objects, architecture and monuments named after him. Thus, several cities and villages, countless streets and squares, metro stations and factories were named after him, and several biographical films were made based on his life.
“If there is to be, then to be the first” - V.P. Chkalov
Where is Chkalova Street? This question can be heard in different cities. Not only streets, but also settlements, factories, ships and educational institutions are named after Chkalov.
Films have been made about Chkalov, books have been written, but not many people know about the outstanding exploits of this man.
Valery Chkalov. Biography
Valery Pavlovich Chkalov - test pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, who made the first non-stop flight across the North Pole to America.
Pilot Chkalov was born on January 20, 1904 in the village of Vasilevo, Nizhny Novgorod province. Now this is the city of Chkalovsk, Nizhny Novgorod region. Chkalov is Russian by nationality and came from a working-class family. His father, Pavel Grigorievich, worked as a boilermaker, and his mother, Irina Ivanovna, was a housewife and died when the boy was only 6 years old.
Education
Valery Pavlovich studied at Vasilevskaya elementary school. He had average grades, but was distinguished by a good memory and a penchant for the exact sciences. The character of the future pilot was calm and balanced. Chkalov was a good swimmer, swam across the Volga and dived under ships and rafts.
In 1916, Valery Chkalov entered the Cherepovets Technical School (now it is the Cherepovets Forestry Mechanical College named after V.P. Chkalov). Two years later, the educational institution was closed due to lack of funding, and the future pilot returned to his father and began working as a hammerman in the Vasilevsky backwater, and later, with the beginning of navigation, he worked as a fireman on the Volzhskaya-1 dredge and the Bayan steamship.
Chkalov's life turned upside down in 1919, when he first saw an airplane. His dreams of aviation brought him to Nizhny Novgorod, where he volunteered for the Red Army at the age of 15 and began working as an apprentice aircraft assembler at the 4th Kanavinsky Aviation Park.
In 1921, Chkalov was sent to the Yegoryevsk Military Theoretical School of the Air Force (Air Force). After graduation, he was transferred to the Borisoglebsk Aviation School, where Valery Pavlovich made his first independent flight. Next, among the best cadets, Chkalov was sent to the Moscow Aerobatics School, and then to the Serpukhov School high school aerial shooting and bombing.
Pilot Valery Chkalov
Chkalov served in the Leningrad 1st Red Banner Fighter Squadron. During his service he proved himself to be a daring and courageous pilot. He made risky flights, for which he received penalties and was repeatedly suspended from flying. In 1925, “for behavior discrediting the rank of a Red Army soldier,” he was demobilized and sentenced to six months.
In 1926, the 1st Red Banner Fighter Aviation Squadron was relocated from the Komendantsky airfield to the Trotsk (Gatchina) airfield, where Chkalov, reinstated in the army, served from 1926 to 1928.
In 1927, as the best pilot of the Leningrad air squadron, Chkalov was sent to the capital to participate in the parade in honor of the decade October revolution. For his brilliant flying skills, he received gratitude in the order of the People's Commissar of Defense Kliment Voroshilov.
In March 1928, Chkalov was transferred to serve in the 15th Bryansk aviation squadron. There was an accident here, Chkalov’s plane crashed into telegraph wires while ferrying aircraft from Gomel to Bryansk on a low-level flight. Chkalov led a group of planes, so he was sentenced to a year. True, he served only 16 days; Ya. I. Alksnis and K. E. Voroshilov interceded for him. At the same time, he was dismissed from the army.
Chkalov continued in reserve labor activity. Returning to Leningrad, he worked at the Leningrad Osoaviakhim, where he headed a glider school and was an instructor pilot.
Tester Valery Chkalov
In 1930, Chkalov was reinstated in the Air Force and appointed as a test pilot at the Moscow Air Force Scientific Testing Institute. During his time at the research institute, Valery Pavlovich made more than 800 test flights, mastering the technique of piloting 30 types of aircraft, and participated in tests of an aviation unit consisting of a heavy bomber (airplane), carrying up to five fighter aircraft on its wings.
In 1932, he was transferred from Khodynsky Field in Moscow to the Shchelkovo airfield in the Moscow region. Chkalov's flight during the relocation turned into the first air parade with a flyover over Red Square. The column of 46 winged aircraft, lined up three in a row, was led by a TB-3 aircraft with tail number 311, flown by the crew of Valery Chkalov.
In 1933, Chkalov again fell into the reserves and was transferred to work as a test pilot at the Moscow Aviation Plant. Menzhinsky. Here he tested fighter aircraft designed by aircraft designer Nikolai Polikarpov:
- biplane fighter I-15,
- I-16 fighter (one of the first monoplanes),
- tank destroyers "VIT-1", "VIT-2",
- heavy bombers “TB-1”, “TB-3” and others.
Aerobatics by Chkalov
- upward corkscrew
- slow kick
In 1935, aircraft designer Nikolai Polikarpov and test pilot Valery Chkalov were awarded the highest government award - the Order of Lenin for creating the best fighter aircraft.
Hero Chkalov
Flight to the Far East
On July 20-22, 1936, the crew of Valery Chkalov with co-pilot Georgy Filippovich Baidukov and navigator Alexander Vasilyevich Belyakov made a non-stop flight across the Arctic Ocean from Moscow to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and further to the Far Eastern island of Udd (now Chkalov Island), covering a distance of 9374 km in 56 h 20 minutes.
Already on the island of Udd, the inscription “Stalin’s route” was painted on the side of the plane, which was retained during the next flight - through the North Pole to America.
On July 24, 1936, all participants in the flight were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. In addition, Chkalov was given a personal U-2 aircraft. Now this plane is in a museum in Chkalovsk.
Flight over the North Pole
On June 18-20, 1937, with the same crew, Chkalov flew from Moscow to Vancouver (USA) via the North Pole (8504 km in 63 hours 16 minutes). The crew was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
In 1937, Valery Chkalov was elected to the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from the Gorky Region and the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
In 1938 he received the rank of brigade commander. Stalin personally invited Chkalov to take the position of head of the NKVD, but he refused, preferring to engage in flight test work.
Death of Chkalov
Chkalov died very young, at the age of 34, while testing the new I-180 fighter designed by Polikarpov, on December 15, 1938. The engine of the plane failed during landing. While avoiding a collision with residential buildings, the pilot crashed into a high-voltage support, was injured and died 2 hours later in the Botkin hospital.
The urn with the ashes of Valery Chkalov is located in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow.
Documentation about the investigation into the disaster was classified as “Top Secret”. Chkalov's death is still shrouded in secrecy. Disputes about whose fault the tragedy occurred are still ongoing.
Chkalov’s son, Igor Valerievich, was convinced that his father’s death was a deliberate murder: “Father was removed because he had big influence on Stalin."
Chkalov family
In the 1920s, Chkalov gained the reputation of an “air hooligan” in the sky and a desperate womanizer on the ground.
Chkalov's wife
But everything changed in 1924, when he met his soulmate, Olga Orekhova, at a drama club. Tender feelings immediately flared up between the air hooligan and the beautiful teacher of Russian language and literature.
For a long time Olga could not decide to marry Chkalov. But Chkalov’s courtship, his courage and courage did their job. The young people got married in 1927. Chkalov asked his wife never to keep him from flying and not to worry about him. Olga took this agreement seriously and never violated it. Chkalov really appreciated this and was glad that his family supported him.
By the way, Valery and Olga did not just sign at the registry office. Despite the persecution of the Church, they got married - out of respect for the feelings of Chkalov’s father, Pavel Grigorievich, who was a church elder in his native village.
Chkalov's children
The Chkalovs lived together for 11 years, and the following children were born in their marriage:
- Son - Igor (1928-2006), followed in his father’s footsteps, graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Colonel. Air Force engineer.
- Daughter - Valeria (1935—2013)
- Daughter - Olga (b. 1939)
Memory
Monument to Chkalov in Nizhny Novgorod
In August 1937, during the lifetime of Valery Chkalov, the village of Vasilevo in the Nizhny Novgorod region was renamed Chkalovsk.
In 1938, the city of Orenburg was named after him (the historical name was returned in 1957).
On July 7, 1940, a memorial museum for Valery Chkalov was opened in the city of Chkalovsk, combining the house where the pilot was born and a pavilion with an exhibition of aircraft from the 1930s.
Streets in many cities, ships, schools, the Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots in Orenburg, the Central Aero Club in Moscow, aircraft factories in Tashkent and Novosibirsk, and an island in the Far East are named after Chkalov. Monuments to Chkalov were erected in Nizhny Novgorod and many other cities, and in Moscow there is a memorial sign at the site of his death.
There is a memorial plaque installed on the house at Zemlyanoy Val, 14, where Chkalov lived in Moscow.
On June 20, 1975, in the city of Vancouver (Washington State, USA), thanks to the efforts of the Chkalov Transpolar Flight Committee, later renamed the Valery Chkalov Cultural Exchange Committee, in the presence of crew members Baidukov and Belyakov, as well as the son of the pilot Igor Chkalov, a monument to Valery Chkalov was erected, and a new street was named after him. The city aviation museum houses a model of the ANT-25 aircraft.
Films about Chkalov
- "Valery Chkalov", 1941. Historical and biographical film
- "Flight through Memory", 1987. Documentary
- “Stalin. Live", 2007, TV series
- “Chkalov” (“Wings”), 2012, biographical series
- “The People Who Made the Earth Round”, 2014, four-part film about record flights
Film "Valery Chkalov"
During non-stop flights: Moscow - o. Udd (Far East) and Moscow - North Pole - Vancouver (USA).
Valery Pavlovich Chkalov was born on February 2 (January 20, old style) 1904 in the village of Vasilevo, Nizhny Novgorod province (now the city of Chkalovsk), in the family of a boilermaker at the Vasilevo state-owned workshops - Pavel Grigorievich Chkalov. His mother died early, when Valery was 6 years old.
At the age of seven, Valery went to study at Vasilevskaya primary school, then to school.
In 1916, after graduating from school, his father sent him to study at the Cherepovets Technical School.
In 1918, the school was closed and Valery had to return home. He began working as his father’s assistant, as a hammerman in a forge, and with the beginning of navigation he began working as a fireman on a dredger.
During the navigation of 1919, Valery Chkalov worked as a fireman on the steamship "Bayan" on the Volga and then saw an airplane for the first time. After that, he made a decision and, having resigned from the ship, went to serve in the Red Army that same year. He was sent as an aircraft assembler to the 4th Kanavinsky Aviation Park in Nizhny Novgorod.
In 1921, Chkalov was sent to study at the Yegoryevsk Military Theoretical School of the Air Force; after graduating in 1922, he was sent to further study at the Borisoglebsk Military Aviation School of Pilots, graduating in 1923.
In 1923-1924, in accordance with the prevailing practice of training military pilots at that time, he also underwent training at the Moscow Military Aviation School of Aerobatics, and then at the Serpukhov Higher Aviation School of Shooting, Bombing and Air Combat.
In June 1924, military fighter pilot Chkalov was sent to serve in the Leningrad Red Banner Fighter Squadron named after P.N. Nesterov. During his service in the squadron, he proved himself to be a daring and courageous pilot. He made risky flights, for which he received penalties and was repeatedly suspended from flying.
In 1927, Chkalov married Leningrad teacher Olga Orekhova. In March 1928, he was transferred to serve in the 15th Bryansk Aviation Squadron; his wife and son Igor remained in Leningrad.
Cadet V.P. Chkalov, far right, near the U-1 training aircraft.
V.P. Chkalov with his wife and son.
In Bryansk, Chkalov had an accident and was accused of air recklessness and numerous violations of discipline. By the verdict of the military tribunal of the Belarusian Military District of October 30, 1928, Chkalov was convicted under Article 17, paragraph “a” of the Regulations on Military Crimes and under Article 193-17 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to 1 year in prison, and was also dismissed from the Red Army. He served his sentence for a short time; at the request of Ya.I. Alksnis and K.E. Voroshilov, less than a month later the sentence was replaced with a suspended sentence and Chkalov was released from Bryansk prison.
Being in the reserve, at the beginning of 1929 Chkalov returned to Leningrad and until November 1930 he worked at the Leningrad OSOAVIAKHIM, where he headed the glider school and was an instructor pilot.
In November 1930, Chkalov was restored to military rank and sent to work at the Moscow Research Institute of the Red Army Air Force.
During two years of work at the research institute, he made more than 800 test flights, mastering the technique of piloting 30 types of aircraft. On December 3, 1931, Chkalov participated in tests of the “Zvena” (aircraft carrier), which was a heavy bomber that carried up to five fighter aircraft on its wings and fuselage.
Since January 1933, Valery Chkalov was again in the reserve and transferred to work as a test pilot at Moscow Aviation Plant No. 39. He tested the latest fighter aircraft of the 30s, I-15 and I-16, designed by Polikarpov. He also took part in testing the VIT-1, VIT-2 tank destroyers, as well as the TB-1, TB-3 heavy bombers, and a large number of experimental and experimental vehicles from the Polikarpov Design Bureau. The author of new aerobatic maneuvers - an upward corkscrew and a slow roll.
On May 5, 1935, aircraft designer Nikolai Polikarpov and test pilot Valery Chkalov were awarded the highest government award - the Order of Lenin - for creating the best fighter aircraft.
V.P. Chkalov with his son Igor. 1936
The exceptional importance of this flight for that time is evidenced by the fact that the plane returning to Moscow came to personally meet I.V. Stalin at the airfield. From that moment on, Chkalov gained national fame in the USSR.
V.P. Chkalov and I.V. Stalin.
Chkalov continued to seek permission to fly to the United States, and in May 1937 permission was received. The launch of the ANT-25 aircraft took place on June 18. The flight took place in much more difficult conditions than the previous one (lack of visibility, icing, etc.), but on June 20 the plane made a safe landing in the American city of Vancouver (Washington State, USA). The flight length was 8504 kilometers.
A.V. Belyakov, G.F. Baidukov, V.P. Chkalov after landing in North America.
A.V. Belyakov, V.P. Chkalov, G.F. Baidukov after landing in North America.
For this flight the crew was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
On December 12, 1937, Valery Chkalov was elected to the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from the Gorky Region and the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. At the request of the residents of Vasilyov, their village was renamed Chkalovsk.
Chkalov was offered a government position, but he continued to do test work. On December 1, 1938, he was urgently called back from vacation to test the new I-180 fighter.
Valery Chkalov died on December 15, 1938 during the first flight on an I-180 aircraft at the Central Airfield. This was the first flight of the new fighter designed by Polikarpov.
A stone installed at the site of the death of V.P. Chkalov.
Awards:
- title of Hero of the USSR (07/24/1936);
-2 Orders of Lenin (5/5/1935, 07/24/1936);
-Order of the Red Banner (July 1937);
-Medal “XX Years of the Red Army” (February 1938).
Associated with the name Chkalov:
Settlements:
- the city of Chkalovsk in the Nizhny Novgorod region,
-the city of Chkalovsk in the Sughd region of Tajikistan.
-Chkalovo village in the North Kazakhstan region of Kazakhstan,
-urban-type settlement Chkalovskoye in the Kharkov region,
-from 1938 to 1957 the name “Chkalov” was borne by the city of Orenburg.
-Island in the Sakhalin Bay of the Sea of Okhotsk. Chkalov's crew landed on this island, formerly called Udd, on July 22, 1936.
-Chkalov Peak (4150 m) - Bogossky Range, Greater Caucasus (Dagestan).
Streets in many cities, in particular:
-Chkalovsky Avenue in St. Petersburg,
-Chkalova Street in Ishimbay,
as well as streets in a number of other cities:
in Russia - in Azov, Borisoglebsk, Bryansk, Vladivostok, Voronezh, Gatchina, Gorno-Altaisk, Yekaterinburg, Zhukovsky, Irkutsk, Kemerovo, Kolomna, Miass, Kanavinsky district of Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Petrozavodsk, Perm, Rybinsk, Samara , Tomsk, Kharkov, Khimki, Cherepovets, Yaroslavl;
abroad - in Vancouver (USA), in Minsk (Belarus), in Nikolaev and Kherson (Ukraine).
-The name of Chkalov was previously borne by the Moscow street Zemlyanoy Val (part of the Garden Ring), where the house in which Chkalov lived stands. There is a plaque on this house with the words “The great pilot of our time, Hero of the Soviet Union Valery Pavlovich Chkalov lived in this house.”
Educational establishments:
-Cherepovets Forestry Mechanical College named after. V.P. Chkalova.
-Borisoglebsk Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots in Borisoglebsk, Voronezh Region. (Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars USSR dated December 28, 1938). A bronze bust of the hero is also installed there.
-Egoryevsk Aviation Technical College of Civil Aviation named after. V.P. Chkalova.
-School No. 1397 named after V.P. Chkalov, Moscow.
-School No. 3 named after V.P. Chkalov, Arzamas, Nizhny Novgorod region.
-Secondary school named after. Chkalov in the working village of Shugurovo (Tatarstan).
-Secondary school named after. Chkalov in Naryn (Kyrgyzstan).
-Chkalovskaya metro stations: in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Tashkent and Yekaterinburg.
-District of the city - Chkalovsky administrative district in Yekaterinburg.
Microdistricts of cities:
-Village named after Chkalov in the city of Kamensk-Uralsky, Sverdlovsk region;
- the village of Chkalovsk as part of Kaliningrad;
-Chkalovsky microdistrict in Omsk.
-The village of Chkalovsky as part of the city of Rostov-on-Don.
Enterprises:
-Chkalovsky Airport.
-Aviation plant in Novosibirsk. (NAPO named after V.P. Chkalov).
-Aviation plant in Tashkent. (Tashkent Aviation Production Association named after V.P. Chkalov).
-Memorial Museum of V.P. Chkalov in Chkalovsk, Nizhny Novgorod region.
-Palace of Culture named after V.P. Chkalov in Novosibirsk.
Monuments have been erected in many settlements:
-In Dnepropetrovsk, Kyiv, Kstovo, St. Petersburg (two busts on Chkalovsky Prospekt and a memorial plaque on the house where Chkalov lived), Novosibirsk, Khimki.
-Memorial plaque in Gatchina, on house number 4 on Krasnoarmeysky Avenue, in which Chkalov lived in 1926-1928.
-Memorial stone at the site of Chkalov’s death - Moscow, intersection of Khoroshevskoye highway and Khoroshevskoye dead end, Polezhaevskaya metro station.
-Several monuments were installed in Nizhny Novgorod: a monument on the Volga slope near the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin and on the street. Countrymen, where the pilot’s ancestors lived.
-Bust in the park “Wings of the Soviets” in the Aircraft Construction District of Kazan.
-Bronze bust at the entrance to the Boeing Air Museum in Seattle.
-A six-meter bronze sculpture on a seven-meter pedestal stands on the embankment of the Ural River in Orenburg.
-On May 20, 1974, the Chkalov Transpolar Flight Committee was created in Vancouver (Washington State, USA), a public non-profit organization that included representatives of the business community and the local elite. On June 20, 1975, a monument called the Chkalov Monument was unveiled in this city “as a sign of respect for the great Russian people.”
-Boris Grebenshchikov wrote the song “Under the Bridge, Like Chkalov.”
-The famous Nizhny Novgorod rock band is named “Chkalov”.
-Valery Pavlovich Chkalov is the only real character in the musical “Nord-Ost”. The creators of the play portrayed the great pilot as a strong and sympathetic person who agreed to help the main character, Sanya Grigoriev, in carrying out an expedition to search for the ship “St. Mary”.
-The Bank of Russia issued commemorative coins: in 1995 - “Transarctic flight of V.P. Chkalov”; in 2004 - “100th anniversary of the birth of V.P. Chkalov.”
-In 2004, the Russian Post issued the “Test Pilot V.P. Chkalov” stamp.
-The Volga three-deck motor ship bears the name of Chkalov.
-The name “V. Chkalov” is borne by one of the Il-96-300 (RA-96005) aircraft of Aeroflot - Russian Airlines.
-The asteroid (2692) Chkalov is named after V.P. Chkalov.
Il-96-300 named after Valery Chkalov.
List of sources:
Chkalov, Valery Pavlovich. Website "Heroes of the Country".
M.V. Vodopyanov. Pilot Valery Chkalov.
