Probably, there was no louder epic in our history than the drift and rescue of the Chelyuskinites. For several weeks the whole country lived from news to news, without leaving the loudspeakers. How is Schmidt's camp? Did the pilots manage to take the polar explorers back to the mainland? 85 years ago On April 13, 1934, the rescue operation was completed. Polar pilots have done the impossible. It was for them that the most honorary title of the country was established - Hero Soviet Union. Izvestia remembers how it was.
Columbus of the North
The Northern Sea Route is both an economic and a military necessity. But in the early 1930s, many did not take him seriously. The Arctic Ocean was considered practically impassable. And the sky of the Arctic by and large remained unconquered.
But Otto Schmidt, the indefatigable head of the Main Northern Sea Route, undertook to prove that modern technology could overcome the harsh temper of the Arctic Ocean, and on August 2, 1933, the Chelyuskin icebreaking steamer set off from Murmansk to Vladivostok. The expedition was led by Schmidt himself. In the 20th of September in the Chukchi Sea, "Chelyuskin" was captured by ice. For almost five months the ship drifted - and ended up in the Bering Strait. The crew included pilot Mikhail Babushkin: on board was a small Sh-2 seaplane, on which he made reconnaissance flights, directing the ship.
But it was not possible to cope with the elements. February 13 at 15:30 155 miles from Cape North and 144 miles from Cape Uelen "Chelyuskin" sank, crushed by ice. Shmidtovtsy, with an unusually organized manner, transferred to the ice a long-prepared emergency food supply, tents, sleeping bags, and most importantly, an airplane and radio equipment. During the accident, one person died - the supply manager Boris Mogilevich, the best hunter of all the expedition members. He died by accident: he fell into the water and was crushed by a log.
Rest 104 members of the expedition, including children, ended up on a drifting ice floe. Radio operator Ernst Krenkel sent a radiogram to the nearest village of Uelen, from which the mainland learned about what happened in the ice. Krenkel's call sign - RAEM - was soon recognized by the whole world.
Schmidt proved to be a real leader. Chelyuskinites not only survived. They published a wall newspaper with the characteristic title “We Will Not Surrender!”, composed songs, drew cartoons, organized rallies ... Schmidt enthusiastically lectured his comrades-in-arms on dialectical materialism and mathematics.
A government commission to assist the Chelyuskinites was already created on February 14th. A great responsibility fell on the shoulders of the experienced polar explorer Georgy Alekseevich Ushakov, who was appointed commissioner for rescue. He developed the operation strategy.
The ships "Krasin", "Stalingrad" and "Smolensk" were thrown to rescue the Chelyuskinites. The aviators got down to business. Two famous pilots - Levanevsky and Slepnev - went to the USA to buy planes there to search for Schmidtov's followers. According to the government's plan, it was necessary to use all the possibilities of both domestic and imported aircraft. Blind Arctic search flights will prove the advantages of Soviet aircraft.
Find and rescue
February and March are the hardest times in the Arctic. A snowstorm, no visibility, even clearing the runway is sometimes an impossible task.
The crew of pilot Anatoly Lyapidevsky was the first to go on a search flight. He made 29 flights on his ANT-4 to no avail. The pilots peered painfully into the horizon - and did not see either the camp or any other signs of life in the icy desert ... But on March 5, in a 40-degree frost, Lyapidevsky not only discovered the camp, but also sat down safely on a tiny area of even ice, which cleared for the plane by the Chelyuskinites. For them it was a day of fantastic happiness. Seeing a plane in the sky, they - almost sentenced to death - believed in their salvation. Lyapidevsky barely managed to accommodate ten women and two little girls in the ANT salon., one of which - Karina Vasilyeva - was born on board the Chelyuskin and received her name in honor of the Kara Sea. No wonder Krenkel nicknamed the dashing Lyapidevsky a ladies' pilot. Two hours later, the plane, overloaded with passengers, landed flawlessly at the base in Uelen.
The plane of the Chelyuskinites rescuer Anatoly Lyapidevsky after landing in Provideniya Bay
The country rejoiced. But the second time it was possible to get to the Chelyuskinites only on April 7th. And then the sky cleared up, and the matter began to argue. Molokov managed to take out 6 people on his two-seater R-5 aircraft, adapting parachute boxes for passengers. It was Molokov - Uncle Vasya, as they called him in the polar camp - who brought 39 Chelyuskinites to the mainland, the most. Nikolai Kamanin, the youngest and most energetic of the pilots, took 35 people out of ice captivity on his P-5 in nine successful flights. Vodopyanov managed to evacuate ten people in three trips. Mauritius Slepnev took out 6 polar explorers, including Otto Schmidt, who suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis, who, by order of the Council of People's Commissars, had to be sent to a hospital in Alaska. Ivan Doronin flew away with two more on his Junkers.
Babushkin and flight mechanic Georgy Valavin flew on their own from the ice floe to Vankarem on April 2. When they flew up to the airfield, the polar explorers, who were preparing to meet the heroes, saw with horror that one of the plane's skis was hanging, almost dangling. “However, at the very last moment, when the car lost speed, the ski straightened out and the plane glided easily to the Vankarem airfield.”
On April 13, 1934, Vodopyanov, Kamanin and Molokov flew to the ice camp for the last time. They delivered the last Chelyuskinites to the mainland: Schmidt's deputy Alexei Bobrov, radio operators Krenkel and Serafim Ivanov, boatswain Anatoly Zagorsky, minder Alexander Pogosov and captain Vladimir Voronin, who, according to tradition, was the last to leave the tent camp. On the last voyage, eight dogs were also taken from the ice floe, which helped the Chelyuskinites all the days of the drift. The ice camp was emptied forever to dissolve into the Northern Ocean.
The result exceeded the most optimistic forecasts: everyone was saved. “In the battle of Vankarem we won!” Ushakov reported. He had the right to be pathetic. It is difficult even to imagine a more spectacular bloodless victory. The chirping of aircraft engines in the 1930s sounded like heavenly music of the future - and our compatriots managed to pick it up.
Fanfares and praises
After the Chelyuskin epic, it became clear: our country came to the Arctic. The popularity of polar explorers in those years can only be compared with the glory of the first cosmonauts. They were vied with each other to be invited to work collectives to treat, honor, and glorify.
In metrics of newborn girls in 1934, a new name for Oyushminalda appeared - "Otto Yulievich Schmidt on an ice floe." As "Giant Generation Beard" (not otherwise!) Schmidt became the hero of a kind of epics - novelties that were composed and sung in those years by the famous storytellers Martha Kryukova and Pyotr Ryabinin-Andreev. And to the tune of "Murka" the city rake sang: "Schmidt sits on an ice floe, as if on a raspberry and shakes his long beard ..." And this is also glory.
In the 20th century, it became clear to the most perspicacious: it was not enough to accomplish a feat, it was still necessary to tell about it. Otherwise, everything will sink without a trace. It is customary to write about Lev Mekhlis in gloomy tones: a tyrant, a satrap, an initiator of repressions, one of Stalin's least charming nominees. But he was also a real professional, a talented organizer of the press, saying modern language- PR man. At that time, he occupied the office of the editor-in-chief of Pravda and oversaw the propaganda campaign that unfolded around the rescue of the Chelyuskinites. It turned out brilliant. In almost every yard, children played Chelyuskinites, Lyapidevsky and Vodopyanov. Yes, children, the whole world looked at the Arctic drama and its happy ending through the eyes of Mehlis. Even before the end of 1934 (unheard of efficiency!) The book “How We Saved the Chelyuskinites” was published with the memoirs of all the participants in the epic, with drawings and photographs of Schmidtovites - Fedor Reshetnikov, Anatoly Shafran, Pyotr Novitsky ... The book was translated into several European languages.
“What kind of country are you!.. You turned the polar tragedy into a national celebration!” exclaimed Bernard Shaw. His irony was always double-edged, but this time it still benefited the reputation of the USSR. It was after the rescue of the Chelyuskinites that the world believed in the Soviet Union. One has to reckon with a power that arranges grandiose scientific expeditions and can rescue its citizens from ice captivity with the help of aviation ... It was hard to brush aside the fact that in this operation, aircraft designed and manufactured in the USSR. This inspired respect for both the Soviet industry and the Red Army.
“The last people and even dogs were taken off the ice floe. This epic is one of the greatest among those heroic epics with which the history of Arctic exploration is so rich,” wrote the British newspaper Daily Herald. “Russian pilots put an end to the terrible drama, which at times seemed to lead to a tragic denouement. Their courage, endurance, devotion to the cause deservedly arouse the admiration of the whole world,” French journalists echoed the British. They wrote even more colorfully about Soviet polar exploits in the States.
The Magnificent Seven
The pilots who ferried the polar explorers from the ice camp to the mainland became the first Heroes of the Soviet Union. The Magnificent Seven - Anatoly Lyapidevsky, Vasily Molokov, Nikolai Kamanin, Mauritius Slepnev, Mikhail Vodopyanov, Ivan Doronin and Sigismund Levanevsky. Without exaggeration, this was an unprecedented feat. For the first time in history, polar aviation has shown itself so convincingly. They became the first heroes of the Soviet Union. At first it was just a title, without gold stars. But in 1939, all the first heroes were awarded the Golden Stars of the Heroes of the USSR. Sign No. 1 deservedly received Lyapidevsky.
As usual, the list of heroes raised some questions. It was striking that Levanevsky was included in the heroic clip with a stretch: it so happened that he did not take out a single Chelyuskin from the ice floe. True, he managed under difficult conditions to deliver Georgy Ushakov and the surgeon Leontiev to Vankarem, who performed an emergency operation on Schmidt's deputy Bobrov. In addition, an experienced, enterprising, determined pilot was considered Stalin's favorite. A year before, Levanevsky found on Anadyr and delivered to Alaska the American pilot James Mattern, who had crashed. The "Leader of the Peoples" knew that Levanevsky was popular in the States, and this increased the shares of the pilot.
The first Heroes of the Soviet Union (from left to right): Sigismund Levanevsky, Vasily Molokov, Mauritius Slepnev, Nikolai Kamanin, Mikhail Vodopyanov, Anatoly Lyapidevsky, Ivan Doronin - polar pilots who saved the crew members of the Chelyuskin steamer
In the line of heroes could be the eighth - Babushkin, of course, worthy of a high rank. His merits in saving his comrades are comparable to the exploits of other hero pilots. But he found himself in an ambiguous position: on the one hand - a rescuer, on the other - one of the participants in the drift, a Chelyuskin man, and they were awarded more modestly than pilots. The title of Hero of Babushkin was awarded three years later, in June 1937, for participating in the Papanin landing at the North Pole. May 18, 1938 Hero of the Soviet Union, polar pilot Babushkin died in a plane crash near Arkhangelsk. He was a passenger on that flight.
But in 1934 there were no accidents. And we remember those events as one of the few "clean victories". No reservations.
70 years ago, on July 14, 1933, a brand new, handsome cargo ship, the legendary Chelyuskin, set sail from the port of Leningrad. It was just built at the Danish shipyard of the Burmeister and Vine shipyard on a special order for our northern latitudes and was originally called Lena. Preparing for the first voyage, Lena became Chelyuskin.
The polar expedition on the Chelyuskin was supposed to repeat the voyage of the icebreaking steamer Sibiryakov, which took place in 1932, for the first time in history that passed in one navigation along the Northern Sea Route from Arkhangelsk to the Bering Strait. Choosing a vessel for a polar expedition is far from an easy thing. The icebreakers "Krasin", "Ermak", "Lenin", which were first-class for that time, were available in our country and were not intended for long-distance navigation.
They could take on board only a limited amount of fuel, not to mention additional cargo. And the new expedition was faced with the task of delivering a large cargo of food and equipment for the winterers of Wrangel Island. In addition, it was necessary to have enough fuel on board not only to go all the way without reloading coal, but also to supply it to the rescue icebreaker if needed. The Chelyuskin, which received the highest class of the British Lloyd, seemed to meet these requirements. Sending it on its way, the Soviet government set itself the goal of finding the type of polar cargo vessel, on the model of which it would be possible to later build the entire transport flotilla of the North, delivering supplies and transporting goods along the entire Arctic coast of the country.
The expedition was led by Otto Yulievich Schmidt, professor of mathematics, editor of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia; Voronin Vladimir Ivanovich became the captain of the Chelyuskin. Both were experienced polar explorers. 112 people went with them to the next polar expedition. In addition to the ship's crew, there were experienced hydrographers, hydrobiologists, hydrochemists, physicists, personnel who went to Wrangel Island for the winter, and builders to build houses on this island.
In addition to specialists, there were also writers, film workers, and an artist at Chelyuskin. Some Wrangel men went on such a long business trip with their wives, and the head of the polar station, Pyotr Buyko, took the risk of taking even a one-year-old daughter with him.
The first ice met "Chelyuskin" in the Kara Sea. The ice strip turned out to be melted, and the steamer easily coped with it. But already on August 14, the Chelyuskinites found themselves among heavy six-point ice. Here the real test of the ship began. From a running start, the Chelyuskin flew onto the ice, advancing only five to ten meters per hour. Here he received the first damage: a seam parted on the starboard side, and a stringer burst on the left side. Obviously, the ship's fastenings were calculated inaccurately. For three days, the crew dragged cargo from bow to stern, pumped out water. Under the guidance of engineer Remov, additional wooden fasteners were supplied, which turned out to be very reliable. In order to get rid of excess cargo, the Krasin icebreaker was urgently called in and part of the coal was loaded onto it. Soon "Chelyuskin" was able to continue independent navigation.
Having overcome most of the way, "Chelyuskin" made its way to Cape Billings. To the north of it lay Wrangel Island - the first goal of the expedition. Before reaching the island, the ship stopped. Aerial reconnaissance from an aircraft showed that it was impossible to approach Wrangel Island - the path to it was blocked by solid heavy ice. We decided to go to the Bering Strait, and then try again from the east side.
The ice of the Chukchi Sea turned out to be much heavier than the Kara Sea. Masses perennial ice the most bizarre forms surrounded by small specks of clear water. "Chelyuskin" was moving with difficulty pushing 20 - 50-ton blocks of ice. The bow and sides of the ship received many dents. It was necessary to additionally strengthen the existing fastenings with huge logs. The wood was springy, and the action of the blows became not so sharp.
To the island of Kolyuchin "Chelyuskin", squeezed by ice, was carried by the current. The ice rose, and the steamer stopped with it. He was immobilized. For three days, the crew tried to break through the road, blowing up the ice with ammonal, but the attempts remained unsuccessful. Only 14 days later, the ice finally released the ship from captivity, allowing it to continue its journey east - to the Bering Strait. And so, when only 5-6 kilometers remained to free water in the Bering Strait, Chelyuskin, along with ice, was carried north by a strong current.
The insidious Arctic began to circle the steamer in a drift, forcing him to describe the most intricate zigzags. We walked at the very borders of the current, which could carry it so far to the north that a two-year wintering would have been provided for the expedition. The Litke ice cutter, which was in Provideniya Bay, called by radio for help, managed to approach only the border of the ice field that fettered the Chelyuskin. He failed to pass the remaining 60 kilometers of solid ice to himself.
November 26 "Chelyuskin" experienced the first compression of the ice, which made people think about a possible catastrophe. After that, the entire expedition was divided into emergency teams, in which each person knew what he needed to do in case of trouble. Compressions followed one after another. It was necessary to unload the necessary cargo onto the ice floe, then again load it onto the ship. A bulky wooden ladder descended from the side onto the ice. They went along it to replenish the supply of water (again from ice), sometimes - to hunt. In the lanes formed, seals appeared, from which a good roast was obtained. Arctic foxes ran across the ice, and once, near the ship, ice captives shot a polar bear.
Telegram after telegram flew ashore to the pilots who worked in Chukotka. But the engines of low-power aircraft did not always start in cold weather, and blizzards and fogs “cancelled” flights. Nevertheless, the Chelyuskinites went every day to clear the airfield equipped on the ice floe.
On the fatal day for Chelyuskin, the wind jumped from 5 to 7 in the morning. A huge ice shaft was advancing on the ship like a living monster. At 12 o'clock the first blow hit, so strong that the ship shuddered and gnashed. A machine-gun crack was heard from the left side - the ice broke through the skin and crawled into the cabins through the gaping gaps. People, quickly divided into groups, began to unload everything they needed onto the ice. The work was clearly organized, no panic. Due to the fact that the ice that squeezed the Chelyuskin remained in place for two hours, a lot was unloaded. As soon as the ice parted a little, the ship sank, taking with it into the abyss the lingering supply manager of the ship, Mogilevich. Everyone else managed to escape, including infant Karina and one-year-old Alla Buiko.
The hard, full of dangers life of the Chelyuskinites on the ice floe began. In the black hole of ice the next morning after the death of the ship, logs, boards, boxes surfaced. They were cut out of the ice and a barrack was built, followed by a galley and an observation tower. After the completion of these construction works, people could sleep, take hot food in a warm room. From metal barrels built stoves, boilers, dishes. Scientists did not stop their scientific work for a single day, determining the location of the ice floe using instruments, studying weather conditions and the behavior of ice.
Women sewed mittens for work from tarpaulin - fur under the prevailing conditions immediately got wet and became useless. On the board, nailed to two poles stuck in the snow, there was a wall newspaper “We won’t give up!”. Drifting on an ice floe at the behest of the wind, it didn’t even occur to people that they could be left to the mercy of fate in icy silence, they firmly believed that they would be saved, that the Motherland would not leave them in trouble.
The ice under the Chelyuskin camp meanwhile lived its own life. It suddenly cracked under tents with food, then it pulled apart, tore apart a residential barrack in half, then it rose like hummocks on the airfield cleared with such difficulty. We had to drag the property to another place and start construction again.
Finally, on March 5, pilot Lyapidevsky on his ANT-4 made his way to the camp and removed 10 women and two children from the ice floe. What a holiday it was! People started dancing on the ice. Lyapidevsky was not destined to make the second flight - the engine failed in the air. But by this time, to save the Chelyuskinites, Smolensk had already left Vladivostok with 7 aircraft on board, the Krasin icebreaker was preparing for the campaign, they were carrying tractors, sledges and even airships.
Only on April 7 did they wait for the next planes on the ice floe. For a week, the pilots Levanevsky, Molokov, Kamanin, Slepnev, Vodopyanov, Doronin, showing miracles of heroism, took the rest of the Chelyuskinites to the mainland. On April 13, 1933, the Schmidt camp ceased to exist.
"Chelyuskin" was crushed by ice before reaching the Pacific Ocean. But he nevertheless reached the Bering Strait, proving that the Northern Sea Route can be mastered. Scientific work, done by a team of scientists, gave the most valuable material: observations on the study of the currents of the northern seas, measurement of ice fluctuations, ice chemistry, hydrobiology, meteorology and other useful information. The Chelyuskin expedition showed how to place the icebreaker fleet in order to ensure the passage of ships along the Northern Sea Route, and gave a number of valuable recommendations on the design of steamships for the Arctic.
70 years ago, the Chelyuskinites, risking their lives, embarked on an unknown path with the sole purpose of increasing the power and wealth of their country, realizing that its future depends on the correct use of natural resources.
And it's great that Russian Government again turns to face the problems of the North, that the words “Northern Sea Route” flashed again on the pages of newspapers and magazines, the polar station “North Pole-32” was launched, a project for an underwater Arctic transport system was being created, and ice-class tankers were being built. The Russian flag has again risen over the Arctic, which means that the Chelyuskinites' cause was not in vain.
Olga Timofeeva.
Pilot Anatoly Lyapidevsky received the gold star No. 1. For the rescue operation, seven pilots received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union - Nikolai Kamanin, Mikhail Vodopyanov, Ivan Doronin, Sigismund Levanevsky, Vasily Molokov and Mauritius Slepnev.
Nikolai Kamanin (1908-1982)
Nikolai Kamanin was only 25 years old when he was appointed commander of a mixed group of aircraft, which was to rescue 104 people from a sunken icebreaker. “Short gatherings at night,” Kamanin wrote in his memoirs. “My wife calmly helps to pack up. No tears, no complaints. However, she knows that at any moment I can receive an order to go on a different expedition…”
The pilots were given the task of breaking into the ice camp of the Chelyuskinites and taking them to the continent. The way by air to the Schmidt camp along the route Olyutorka - Maina - Pylgin - Provideniya Bay (through the Anadyr Bay) - Cape Uelen was more than 2000 km.
Not so much. But in the 30s of the last century, the Arctic was not yet explored. Therefore, it was necessary to fly for good luck: without information about weather conditions, without radio communications, without topographic maps(on the sea charts available to the pilots, the outlines of the mountain ranges over which they were to fly were simply plotted, without an exact indication of their heights).
In addition, the weather constantly presented surprises: either a continuous cloud cover appeared on the path of the pilots, or a hurricane-force wind swept in. And yet, the young pilot Kamanin flew several times a day to Schmidt's camp. For the transportation of Chelyuskins, even parachute boxes tied to the wing plane were used.
The most difficult was the last night - from 12 to 13 April 1934. Only six people remained on the ice floe. The pilots were worried - would the ice floe-airfield go to the bottom during the night. Rescuing the remaining six, who considered it their duty to be the last to leave, was a matter of honor. And Kamanin and his comrades performed this operation brilliantly.
Personally, Nikolai Kamanin saved 34 people in 9 flights.
Mikhail Vodopyanov (1899-1980)
A civilian pilot who was the first to open an air route to Sakhalin in 1929, Mikhail Vodopyanov, got into the Kamanin rescue operation thanks only to his perseverance.
In 1933, while participating in a research flight on the route Moscow - Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky, Vodopyanov's plane fell into a snowstorm, iced up and fell into Lake Baikal. The aircraft mechanic died, and Vodopyanov received a concussion and many fractures. Five months after that he was treated. When Vodopyanov applied with a request to participate in the rescue of the Chelyuskinites, he was refused due to an injury. But perseverance and perseverance played their part. For three and a half weeks, he flew from Khabarovsk to the researchers in distress on a wooden, percale-covered R-5 aircraft without a navigator, without radar. Vodopyanov's path was many times more dangerous than that of the rest of the pilots who participated in the operation. If the engine had failed in the air, there would be nowhere to land among the rocks and gorges. Vodopyanov flew three times to those in distress and took out 10 people.
After the successful completion of the operation, Vodopyanov did not want to rest on his laurels at all. He set himself the goal of landing at the North Pole. Opponents of this idea tried to prove that drifting ice would not withstand the weight of the aircraft. Stalin put an end to the disputes by allowing preparations for the flight to the North Pole.
In the summer of 1936, Mikhail Vodopyanov landed on a P-5 on Rudolf Island - only 900 km from the North Pole. And on May 21, 1937, under the command of Vodopyanov, an aviation detachment of 4 ANT-6 aircraft for the first time in the world delivered a scientific station to the Arctic, landing on a floating ice floe at the North Pole. Vodopyanov's plane delivered a group of winterers who organized the first drifting station "North Pole" (SP-1). For this he was awarded the Order of Lenin (the status of twice Hero of the Soviet Union did not exist at that time).
Ivan Doronin (1903-1951)
The first serious merit of the naval pilot Ivan Doronin was the establishment of communication between Yakutsk and Kolyma. It was a difficult route - the pilots did not have enough gasoline.
In June 1933, Doronin and flight mechanic Daragan continued the route to its final destination - Srednekan. Doronin wrote about this flight: “We had to fly through the Verkhoyansk Range. Its total height reaches three thousand meters, and individual mountains are higher. It takes an hour to fly through the mountains ... Imagine our situation: we are flying in an unfamiliar area, mountains around, the maps are inaccurate. Alysardakh Lake is located at an altitude of 1150 meters above sea level, mountains over 3000 follow it. engine, and for the further flight it was necessary to raise gasoline for at least 6 hours.Still broke away and went through the mountains...
On the way back from Srednekan, in addition to everything, I had to fly with the wrong grade of fuel, the detonation of which could burn the engine."
For the impeccable performance of this flight, the Yakut government awarded the crew with certificates, and Doronin was also presented with a hunting rifle. On it was engraved: "For the first historic flight."
To rescue the Chelyuskinites in the most difficult weather conditions, on a PS-3 aircraft, Doronin made a flight along the route Khabarovsk - Vankarem with a length of 5860 km. He flew in March, and, as he later recalled, he got into such a "chatter" when the altitude was lost by several hundred meters almost instantly. The flight was complicated by a strong headwind. The plane seemed to be hovering in the air. In Nagaevo Bay, the pilots had to wait six days for good weather. Nikolai Kamanin wrote in his memoirs: “Having returned from the next flight, I saw another new car at the airport in Vankarem, and five minutes later I met pilot Ivan Doronin. "evil stepmother" - snowstorms, and immediately expressed a wish to fly with me to the camp tomorrow at dawn ...
In the evening we had a long talk with Ivan Vasilyevich Doronin. He is an experienced pilot and knows well that you can’t joke with the Arctic. We finally agreed that tomorrow we will fly to the camp together, my car will be the leader.
We left on the morning of April 12th. I landed on the ice first. Following me, Doronin sat down quite safely. Passengers were taken on board and takeoff began. And then something happened to Doronin's car that I was so afraid of every time: the plane ran into hummocks and, having broken the landing gear, awkwardly stopped in the middle of the airfield, dividing the already narrow runway in half.
For take-off, there was a narrow corridor, no more than 30 meters wide. Never in my life have I taken off under such conditions. Doronin's car with a broken chassis was too much to pull aside, and waiting for the chassis to be repaired meant losing the whole day for sure. Decided to take off.
Was Doronin's fault in this accident? Of course not. A zastruga formed on the ice strip, or rather, a hillock frozen at night. On the run, the ski hit him directly, and the plane turned sharply by inertia, after which the skis crashed into another obstacle. The end result is a breakdown.
Ivan Vasilyevich was acutely worried about what had happened. More than once or twice he told me how it all happened. To him, an experienced pilot, this breakdown seemed especially offensive.
Then ingenuity came to the rescue - the tubular landing gear was connected using a piece of ordinary scrap. Lightening the plane and taking only two passengers, the pilot took off. But the rack again could not stand it, and the ski hung in the air. In Vankarem, Doronin masterfully landed the plane with a roll on one ski.
Sigismund Levanevsky (1902-1937)
The naval pilot of Polish origin Sigismund Levanevsky first became famous for the fact that in 1933 he saved the American pilot James Mattern, who planned to fly around the globe, but at the final stage of the round-the-world flight Mattern, unloading the radio station and taking as much fuel as possible, flew out of Khabarovsk in the direction Anadyr and disappeared. During the search, it turned out that he landed on the banks of the Anadyr River - 80 kilometers from the district center and his plane was damaged. Levanevsky and navigator Levchenko were given the task of taking Mattern on board the plane in Anadyr and taking him to Alaska. In July 1933, Levanevsky flew to Chukotka on the USSR N-8 seaplane, passing over the tundra for the first time from Nagaev Bay to Anadyr and, thus, laying a new route to Chukotka. On July 20, the American was taken to Nome, Alaska. For courage and heroism, both the pilot and the navigator were awarded the Order of the Red Star.
Newspapers of that time wrote: "The flight of Levanevsky's crew from Khabarovsk to Anadyr to help the American pilot Mattern, who had an accident, will go down in the history of northern aviation as a heroic flight made in unprecedentedly difficult conditions."
He recalled his participation in the rescue of the Chelyuskinites: “On February 13, I learned on the radio that the Chelyuskin had been crushed by ice. I am telegraphing to Moscow that I was ready to fly to the aid of the Chelyuskinites. boy) also raised a roar. But nothing. I reassured them. And the next day I receive a telegram - "lightning": "Leave for Moscow immediately." Two hours later - a second telegram: "Leave for Moscow immediately." One telegram was from the Chief of the Northern Sea Route, the other - from Ushakov. I arrive in Moscow, and they tell me that tomorrow I have to go abroad ... It amazed me. I thought to fly on a P-5 plane from Moscow directly to the North. But the government decided: Ushakova , Slepnev and me should be sent to America in order to get to the North from Alaska as soon as possible.
True, one has to doubt that the pilots' overseas journey turned out to be shorter. Ushakov, Levanevsky and Slepnev first went to Berlin, then flew to London to cross the Atlantic on a steamboat. Arriving in New York, they took an express train, crossed the States from west to east, and from Seattle along the coast of Canada on a steamboat went to Alaska.
On March 29, 1934, despite severe weather conditions, Levanevsky flew from Nome to Vankarem together with Ushakov and flight engineer Armistead Clyde. However, the element was stronger. Due to heavy icing, he made an emergency landing near Kolyuchinskaya Bay. "People survived only thanks to the exceptional self-control of the pilot Levanevsky," Ushakov reported in his telegram to Moscow.
The plane, however, was wrecked. Levanevsky was unable to take part in flights to the Chelyuskin camp. However, he still managed to deliver the head of the rescue operation, Ushakov, to Vankarem.
Levanesky really wanted to fly from the USSR to the USA. But on domestic aircraft, he did not succeed. Therefore, in the summer of 1936, Levanevsky went to the States to purchase an American-made aircraft for a new flight. Finding nothing better there, he purchased a Valti seaplane.
On August 5, 1936, Valti took off from Los Angeles. The flight along the American coast took place with landings in San Francisco, Seattle and Nome. The first part of the route passed in favorable conditions. Difficulties awaited over the ocean. However, the pilot managed to fly his car in almost continuous cloud cover and successfully splashed down in Uelen. The plane flew over the Arctic coast to Tiksi Bay with a landing in Ambarchik Bay. In Krasnoyarsk, the "water" part of the route ended, and the seaplane was put on a wheeled chassis. September 13, 1936 Levanevsky landed in Moscow.
On the same day, Stalin sent a greeting telegram to the crew: "To the Hero of the Soviet Union, pilot Levanevsky, navigator Levchenko. Fraternal greetings to the brave sons of our country! I congratulate you on the successful completion of the plan for a historic flight. I firmly shake your hands. I. Stalin."
For this flight, Levanevsky was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and Viktor Levchenko - the Order of Lenin.
Vasily Molokov (1895 -1982)
The aerial biography of Vasily Molokov is unique. From the beginning of the 1930s, he laid the first air routes in the Arctic along the Yenisei. In the summer of 1932, Vasily Molokov flew from Krasnoyarsk to Igarka. The pilot's track record includes the first winter flight to Dikson, the opening of the Krasnoyarsk-Yakutsk-Kolyma-Chukotka route over 30,000 kilometers long, and a flight to the North Pole. One of Molokov's colleagues, pilot Yevgeny Fedorov, wrote in his diary after landing at the North Pole: "Vasily Sergeevich Molokov is unusually modest. He carries cargo more than anyone, lands and takes off better than anyone and always keeps in the shadows."
During the rescue of the Chelyuskinites from the ice floe, most of all - 39 people - were taken out by Molokov - Uncle Vasya, as the wrecked people affectionately called him. On his two-seater R-5 plane, he managed to take out 6 people each, adapting, like Kamanin, parachute boxes suspended under the planes for passengers.
Mauritius Slepnev (1896-1965)
Former instructor pilot Mavriky Slepnev was sent to the United States in February 1934, together with Ushakov and Levanevsky, in order to come to the aid of the Chelyuskinites from there.
Levanevsky was the first to fly to Chukotka with the American flight mechanic Armistead Clyde and Ushakov. Despite very difficult weather conditions, he continued to fly. But, almost at the very goal, a few kilometers from Vankarem, due to heavy snow, he crashed.
A more experienced polar explorer, Slepnev flew out several times, but, having fallen into bad weather, returned. In the end, he, along with the American flight mechanic William Levari, managed to get safely to Vankarem.
Departing from Vankarem, Slepnev said on the radio: "I will be in the camp in 36 minutes." After 37 minutes, Slepnev's plane appeared on the horizon. He approached the camp at high speed, made a sharp turn, and then, for some reason, circled for a long time over the makeshift airfield. The camp was confused.
It soon became clear that the plane had crashed while landing. But Slepnev was not injured. With him he brought a box of American beer, chocolate, cigarettes. Having repaired the plane, Slepnev took 5 people out of the ice floe in one flight. Later, he took the sick Schmidt to Nome, Alaska. In Nome, Mauritius Slepnev was handed a government radiogram from Moscow, which said: "We are delighted with your heroic work in saving the Chelyuskinites."
Once upon a time, the history of the first and only voyage of the Chelyuskin steamer, as well as the rescue of the Chelyuskinites after the death of the ship, was known to the whole world. But decades have passed, and today the names say nothing to most Otto Schmidt, Ernst Krenkel and captain Vladimir Voronin…
Meanwhile, the events of 80 years ago have much in common with today. Then, as now, the question was about the development of the North and about proving the rights of our country to vast territories in the Arctic Ocean.
The country needs the north
The Soviet Union began to defend domestic priority in the Arctic at the dawn of its existence: in 1923, the Soviet government announced that all lands located in the Soviet sector of the Arctic belong to the USSR. Not all neighbors agreed with this, and other countries, such as Norway, also had their own claims.
It is not enough to declare a priority - one must also convincingly prove that the state is able to solve the problem of developing the coast of the Arctic Ocean.
To do this, it was necessary to establish navigation along the so-called Northern Sea Route - the shortest route from Europe to the Far East, which runs through the seas of the Arctic Ocean.
The main difficulty was the perennial Arctic ice, which hindered navigation. Nevertheless, the Northern Sea Route was partially functioning by the beginning of the 1930s. In the section from the Yenisei to the White Sea, as well as from the Kolyma to Vladivostok, industrial transportation was carried out. The next stage was to be the passage of the entire Northern Sea Route in one navigation.
One of the main enthusiasts involved in the study of the North during this period was Otto Yulievich Schmidt, a world-famous scientist.
In 1932, the expedition of Otto Schmidt on the icebreaking steamer "Alexander Sibiryakov" under the command of Captain Vladimir Voronin managed to pass from the White to the Barents Sea in one navigation, thereby for the first time carrying out through navigation along the Northern Sea Route. True, during the voyage, due to a meeting with heavy ice, the steamer lost its propeller, having passed the last part of the journey under sail and in tow, but the significance of the achievement did not decrease from this.
The success inspired the Soviet leaders, who, following the results of the voyage, decided to create the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route. The task of management included the final preparation and arrangement of the Northern Sea Route for its industrial operation. Otto Schmidt became the head of the Glavsevmorput.
The head of the expedition on the Chelyuskin steamer, one of the organizers of the development of the Northern Sea Route, Otto Yulievich Schmidt (1891-1956). Photo: RIA Novosti
big gamble
The 1930s were a time of enthusiasts and adventurers, and Otto Yulievich Schmidt certainly belonged to this cohort. In an effort to achieve a result as soon as possible, he did not take into account the difficulties and dangers. Sometimes the risk he took became excessive.
In 1933, Schmidt decided to prove that not only icebreaking and specially trained ships, but also ordinary heavy dry cargo ships could pass along the Northern Sea Route. It was supposed to work out the interaction of a cargo ship and icebreakers in practical conditions.
As a vessel for the expedition, the transport steamship Lena, which had just been built in Denmark by order of the USSR, was chosen, which was renamed Chelyuskin, in honor of the famous Russian explorer of the Arctic.
Captain Vladimir Voronin, having studied the new vessel, drew attention to a number of significant design flaws, as well as to the fact that the Chelyuskin was not adapted to sailing among the ice.
But Voronin's cautious remarks could not compete with Schmidt's enthusiasm. The success of the upcoming expedition was not so doubted that the surveyor Vasiliev, for example, went sailing with his pregnant wife. As part of the expedition, according to historians, in general there were a lot of “extra” people, without whom such a serious voyage could well have done.
Fatal mistake
The ship left Leningrad for Murmansk on July 16, 1933, and on the way was forced to call at Copenhagen for minor repairs. The ship left Murmansk for Vladivostok on August 2. It was heavily overloaded, as there were cargoes for winterers, prefabricated houses for the village on Wrangel Island, as well as a seaplane for aerial reconnaissance.
The steamer "Chelyuskin" departs from the port of Arkhangelsk, 1933. Photo: RIA Novosti
Already on August 15, at the first serious encounter with heavy ice, the ship was damaged. However, the icebreaker "Krasin" called for help broke through the "Chelyuskin" road. At the same time, the ship was still under serious load, since the channel pierced by the Krasin was narrow for a heavy cargo ship.
However, the expedition continued, and without incident, the Chelyuskin reached the Chukchi Sea, where it was squeezed by perennial ice. In view of this, Chelyuskin could not approach Wrangel Island, as planned. From mid-October to early November, the ship drifted towards the Bering Strait and reached it on November 4. In fact, the Northern Sea Route was completed. The ice became noticeably thinner, and Chelyuskin was only a few kilometers away from clear water. Nearby was the icebreaker "Litke", which offered to make a passage for the "Chelyuskin" to clean water.
And here Otto Schmidt made a fatal mistake. Believing, apparently, that "Chelyuskin" would be free on his own within a few hours, he rejected the help of "Litka". The icebreaker set off to carry out its tasks, and already on the evening of November 4, the Chelyuskin began to be demolished from clear water into the depths of the ice fields.
The captain of the steamer "Chelyuskin" Vladimir Voronin on the bridge. Photo: RIA Novosti
The situation began to deteriorate rapidly, but Schmidt turned to Litka for help only ten days later. Time was lost - between the ships there were now fields of multi-year ice that even an icebreaker could not overcome. It became clear that the crew of the Chelyuskin was waiting for wintering in the ice.
The death of "Chelyuskin"
Even worse was the fact that there were serious concerns for the safety of the ship. The ice pressed harder and harder, and the expedition management decided to place all the important cargo on the deck in case of an emergency evacuation.
The ordeals of Chelyuskin continued until February 13, 1934, when the denouement came. A powerful pressure of ice broke through a crack a meter wide and 30 meters long in the left side. It became clear that Chelyuskin would soon sink to the bottom.
The evacuation was hasty, but not panicked. Everything needed to create a camp was transferred to the ice. Tragedy, however, could not be avoided. One of the members of the expedition was late with the evacuation, was crushed by a shifting cargo and died.
Around 4 pm on February 13, the Chelyuskin sank. 104 people remained on the Arctic ice, including two children, one of whom was the newborn daughter of surveyor Vasiliev Karina. The message about the catastrophe was transmitted to the mainland by the radio operator of the expedition Ernst Krenkel.
A government commission was set up in Moscow to save the Schmidt expedition under the leadership of Valeriana Kuibysheva. Under the circumstances, it was possible to save people only with the help of aviation. On an emergency basis, planes and the most experienced pilots were transferred to Chukotka.
As such, there was no Arctic aviation in the country, and indeed in the world, by that time, and pilots had to learn a new profession by trial and error.
Air bridge
One of the first to search for the Chelyuskin camp was the pilot Anatoly Lyapidevsky, who made 28 unsuccessful attempts to find him. Only on March 5, Lyapidevsky's crew noticed the expedition's seaplane and people next to it on the ice.
The area cleared for the airfield was extremely small, nevertheless Lyapidevsky managed to land his ANT-4. Having taken all the women and children (12 people), Lyapidevsky safely delivered them to the mainland.
It seemed that the salvation of all Chelyuskinites was a matter of several days, but the engine of Lyapidevsky's plane failed. The rescue operation was resumed only a month later, on April 7. Pilots participated in the evacuation of the Chelyuskinites Nikolai Kamanin(future head of the first detachment of astronauts), Mikhail Vodopyanov(it is he who will soon land on the ice the winterers of the first drifting station "North Pole-1"), Vasily Molokov, Mauritius Slepnev And Ivan Doronin. Another pilot Sigismund Levanevsky, will have an accident on the way to the place of the rescue expedition and become the object of rescue itself. Despite this, he will be among the pilots awarded as a result of the operation.
The pilots who took part in the rescue of the expedition from the Chelyuskin steamer. Left: Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Kamanin. Photo: RIA Novosti
People were taken to the Vankarem Chukchi camp, which became the center of the rescue operation, and from there they were sent further inland.
The seaplane pilots made their way out of the camp on their own, flying to Vankarem on April 2. Most of the Chelyuskinites were rescued between April 7 and 13, under increasingly deteriorating conditions. The ice field on which the camp was located was destroyed, on April 9 the runway was seriously damaged. Despite this, the pilots continued to fly.
The last to leave the camp on April 13 was the captain of the Chelyuskin, Vladimir Voronin. The pilots made it on time - a day later, a powerful storm completely destroyed the Chelyuskin camp.
Honoring the Saviors and the Saved
The story of Chelyuskin and the rescue of its crew shocked the whole world. The very rescue in polar conditions of such a large number of people had no analogues in history. The success of the pilots was duly noted - all the pilots who saved people, as well as Levanevsky, became the first to be awarded the newly established title of "Hero of the Soviet Union". A little-known fact, but, in addition to the pilots, two American flight mechanics who served American aircraft purchased for the rescue operation were also awarded. Clyde Armstead And William Levery were awarded the Order of Lenin. All wintering participants, except children, were awarded the Order of the Red Star.
The country honored the Chelyuskins and their saviors as heroes. The general enthusiasm was even reflected in the appearance of original names for newborns, such as Oyushminald(Otto Yulievich Schmidt on an ice floe).
The jubilant crowds of Muscovites meet the participants of the Chelyuskin ice epic. Photo: RIA Novosti
At the official level, it was stated that the voyage of the Chelyuskin proved the reality of the complete development of the Northern Sea Route. Foreign experts, however, were not so optimistic, believing that the Chelyuskin disaster just proved the complexity of this task.
However, even in the USSR, without saying too much about it aloud, the appropriate conclusions were drawn. From that moment, ships prepared much better than the Chelyuskin were sent to the Northern Sea Route, the icebreaking fleet began to grow, the pilotage of cargo ships by icebreakers was worked out heavy ice. The development of the Northern Sea Route continued.
famous British playwright Bernard Show, speaking about the epic of the Chelyuskinites, he remarked: "The USSR is an amazing country: you turned even a tragedy into a triumph."
Conqueror of the Arctic
The biography of the Chelyuskin steamer was very short. The Soviet government ordered this vessel from the well-known Danish company Burmeister and Vine, it left the stocks in 1933. The ship was modern, had a reinforced hull and could reach a speed of 12 knots.
It was planned that the ship would open regular navigation along the Northern Sea Route and thereby confirm the priorities of the Soviet Union in the Arctic. A world-famous scientist Otto Yulievich Schmidt became a great enthusiast of this project. In 1932, he managed to pass the Northern Sea Route in one navigation on the icebreaking steamer Alexander Sibiryakov, however, at the end of the voyage, the steamer lost its propeller, and he traveled the remaining miles in tow.
Steamship "Chelyuskin" in the summer of 1933 in Leningrad. Source: https://ru.wikipedia.org/
Drift in the ice
The first success inspired the leadership of the country, the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route was created, and preparations began for its development. Schmidt was appointed to lead the expedition of the Chelyuskin steamer, and Vladimir Voronin was appointed captain. On August 2, 1933, thousands of people saw off the ship from Murmansk to Vladivostok. There were 112 passengers on board. The ship during the movement worked out practical tasks for the future. In difficult situations, the participation of icebreakers was envisaged.
Most of the way was covered safely, but everything changed in the Chukchi Sea. Here the road was blocked by solid ice, the icebreaker was far away and could no longer help, and one could not count on rapid warming either. September 23 "Chelyuskin" was completely blocked by ice. An unprecedented drift of the ship began, lasting five months. It seemed that the worst was already over, several miles remained to the clear water of the Bering Strait, when, as a result of powerful compression, the steamer was crushed by ice and sank.
F. Reshetnikov. Doom "Chelyuskin". Source: http://www.cheluskin.ru/
The feat of the pilots
Almost all passengers and crew were landed on the ice. Prepared food supplies, tents, sleeping bags, etc. were also unloaded. During unloading, the only dead was the supply manager B.G. Mogilevich. The shipwrecked were able to organize clear discipline and order in the ice camp, thanks to which it was possible to save people's lives and create conditions for further evacuation.
The tragedy in the Bering Strait shook the whole country. Thousands of people rushed to save the expedition. A headquarters was created in Moscow, headed by Valerian Kuibyshev. After considering various proposals, they considered the use of aviation as the best option. The first aircraft to land on the ice floe was Anatoly Lyapidevsky's ANT-4. It is noteworthy that before that he made 28 sorties and only the 29th was successful. The search for the expedition was hampered by very bad weather conditions, especially heavy fog. Lyapidevsky accomplished a feat, he managed to land in a 40-degree frost on a site 150 by 400 meters. For the first time, 10 women and two children were taken out. The second time the plane let down, and Lyapidevsky was forced to stay on the ice floe.
The pilots who took part in the rescue of the expedition from the Chelyuskin steamer. Left: Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Kamanin.