Chelyuskin pilot. Seven brave ones: the first Heroes of the Soviet Union. Honoring Saviors and the Saved

On July 16, 1933, the icebreaking steamship Chelyuskin left northern capital USSR, along the route: Leninagrad - Murmansk - Vladivostok, and was supposed to pass it along the Northern Sea Route in one summer navigation. The ship had 112 people on board.

Vasily Gavrilovich Vasiliev, a surveyor and researcher at the All-Union Arctic Institute, and his wife Doroteya Ivanovna, a model maker by profession, a participant in the Chukotka-Anadyr expedition of 1931-1932, were heading to Wrangel Island for the winter. During the cruise on the Chelyuskin, on August 31, 1933, they had a girl, who was named after the place where she appeared - the Kara Sea - Karina. Karina Vasilyevna Vasilyeva (married, Mikeladze) is still alive! She is 84 years old. We found her!

She is a participant in the heroic Chelyuskin epic, because the passengers and crew of the steamship “Chelyuskin” had to be rescued; the “Chelyuskin” never made it all the way along the Northern Sea Route. On February 13, 1934, in the Chukchi Sea, as a result of strong compression, the Chelyuskin was crushed by ice and sank. Camp Schmitd (named after the leader of the expedition, Otto Yulievich Schmidt) remained to live on the ice.

The Chelyuskinites were evacuated by air. On March 5, 1934, pilot Anatoly Lyapidevsky, on an ANT-4 plane, was the first to make his way to Schmidt’s camp and took him off the ice floe to the village. Whalen immediately 10 women and two children. Among them was Karina Vasilyeva (the second girl Alla Buiko was a little older than Karina, she was born in August 1932 in Leningrad and traveled with her parents on the Chelyuskin, also to Wrangel Island; on the ship she began to walk and began to talk!).

On the red day of the calendar, November 7, 2017, we talked with Karina Vasilievna about the Chelyuskinites and their destinies. Karina Vasilyeva lives in St. Petersburg - the cradle of the revolution, is a geologist by profession, followed in her father’s footsteps, but worked not in the north, but in the south. And in my life I never took advantage of the status of “participant in the Chelyuskin epic.”

Anatoly Lyapidevsky took us off the ice floe on March 5, 1934 on an airplane, then Ivan Doronin gave us a lift, we also rode on dogs, but I didn’t know that border guard pilot Alexander Svetogorov took us to Providence Bay, says Karina Vasilievna, which we told about the forgotten participant in the rescue operation, Alexander Svetogorov, and that he was given an award, and that he crashed in 1935 in the taiga Khabarovsk Territory and was not buried for eighty years, and only in 2016 the last Chelyuskinite found peace in a graveyard in Khabarovsk.

We ourselves learned only recently from the historical record for 1934 of the Second (now Fifth) United Aviation Detachment of the FSB of Russia in the city of Elizovo, Kamchatka the edges. It was the Kamchatka border guard pilots who were sent to save the Chelyuskinites. We read a fragment of the form to Karina Vasilyeva.

You see, I can’t remember any details,” says Karina Vasilievna. - Of course, I am a participant, but not an eyewitness. I was there, I was present. Such historical fact, no more. I was so little - a baby, I don’t remember anything, I don’t know anything. My mother later told me how it all happened, and recently I re-read her notes.

When my mother, Doroteya Ivanovna, was still alive (she died in 1994), they were interested in the fate of the Chelyuskinites, maintained contacts with some, and were interested in communicating,” she continues. - I knew Allochka Buiko - the same little girl who also traveled on the Chelyuskin steamship. But she has also been dead for several years now. In general, I am one of the Chelyuskinites left, one might say, the last of the Mohicans.

Karina Vasilievna says that at one time she maintained relations with the Chelyuskinites: the pilot and the first Hero Soviet Union just for the rescue of the Chelyuskinites by Anatoly Lyapidevsky, the artist Fyodor Reshetnikov, who became an academician and vice-president of the USSR Academy of Arts, the author of the famous painting “Deuce Again”, Viktor Gurevich - a mechanic from "Chelyuskin", mechanic Alexander Pogosov - the commandant of the runway in the camp Schmidt, he received and dispatched planes, supervised the actions of construction crews and was the last to fly out of the ice camp, with the pilot and Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Molokov.

Karina also saw Academician Otto Yulievich Schmidt himself, the head of the expedition of the Chelyuskin steamship, of course, not when she was born and he could even nurse her, but already in adulthood.

According to Karina Vasilievna, “it was in 1952, when Schmidt came to Leningrad, to the university, and gave mathematical lectures “on the creation of the world” (laughs).” And more from the memoirs: “He asked the audience for me to come up to him after the lecture, since he knew my parents and that I was studying here, but after the lecture he was surrounded by people, and I was shy and couldn’t come up...”

But they all died a long time ago..,” Karina Vasilievna is sad. - I haven’t gone to Moscow for a long time. Age, excuse me!.. Every year here, on February 13, the day when the Chelyuskin steamship sank, the Chelyuskin people gathered in the Prague restaurant on Arbat. Celebrated our second birthday. Now this watch has been taken up by relatives of the Chelyuskinites. But I don’t know them anymore, nothing connects me with them...

Karina Vasilievna remembers how she already visited adult life in Chukotka, where the steamer Chelyuskin was in disaster. It was in 1984 - on the fiftieth anniversary of the Chelyuskin epic.

The propaganda flight to Chukotka was organized by the Moscow Central Committee of the Komsomol, says Karina Vasilievna. - Several Chelyuskinites were with us (mother, me): ichthyologist Anna Sushkina, mechanic Alexander Pogosov, German Gribakin - flight mechanic on the R-5 aircraft in the detachment of the pilot Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Kamanin (in the link of Boris Pivenshtein), later, design engineer in KB A.N. Tupolev, correspondents. We were in Anadyr, Vankarem, Uelen, Cape Schmidt, in a word, at those points where the rescue operation took place. I remember how the plane flew along the coastline of the then Soviet Union, the Chukchi Sea. So, at some time during the flight they called me into the cockpit to the pilots and showed me the point (coordinates of the ship) where and when I was born in the Kara Sea... Since then, no one has organized anything. Now only the Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic in St. Petersburg holds Chelyuskin readings.

But Karina Vasilievna does not feel forgotten. He says there are people who are still interested in learning something about the Chelyuskinites.

We are not forgotten! - Karina Vasilyevna is sure. - To those who remember the Chelyuskinites, especially to the Far Easterners, I convey my best regards! Hello to the crew from Kamchatka (Klyuchi-1) named aircraft An-12 with the name “Rescuer of Chelyuskinites pilot Svetogorov”, which appeared in the 11th Air Force and Air Defense Army. You are doing a great job - preserving the memory of our country and the exploits of our people. Thank you!

Konstantin Pronyakin.

How it happened on the ship "Chelyuskin"

Karina Vasilyeva remembers:

I was born on Chelyuskin. It was interesting event and everyone took part in choosing the name. There were many different proposals. But then the name Karina passed away. They thought that this was the most successful name, since I was born in the Kara Sea. I even have it written down in my passport - my place of birth, the Kara Sea.

My birth happened before the Chelyuskin was captured by the ice. But I was born on board a ship. Then a difficult ice situation developed. When a strong compression occurred, the side tore apart, and the expedition landed on the ice. Through a huge hole it was possible to go out onto the ice.

The first 3 days were very harsh, as everyone lived in rag tents at temperatures below 30 degrees below zero. Then the barracks were ready. It was insulated with snow and ice. We made a stove out of a barrel. Mom and I were placed near the stove. Water was heated from ice. They bathed me in it. We lived on the ice floe for 21 days.

An extract from the historical record for 1934 of the Fifth (then Second) United Aviation Detachment of the FSB of Russia (Elizovo, Kamchatka Territory) is published for the first time:

“...In February 1934, the squadron sent three aircraft to help the Chelyuskinites: two ASh-2 and one Savoy-S62bis, piloted by pilot Svetogorov.

There were many more people willing to fly, everyone was willing to fly, but “comrades,” said the Pompolit, “we must ensure the inviolability of our borders, and thereby the success of the operation to rescue the Chelyuskinites.” And everyone understood that the political leader was right and worked even harder, studied, and explored new places.

On March 28, the steamship Stalingrad departed from Petropavlovsk on its second voyage to the north. On board were powerful rescue equipment: two airships, an snowmobile, a sled, and a Bolotov plane. Our expedition loaded the Savoy C-62 bis aircraft on board the steamer - pilot Svetogorov, flight engineer - Tesakov, technician - Lukichev, gunner-motor operator - Zhuk.

Trying to go north, the ship found itself in a difficult situation. For 20 days it stood, compressed on all sides by ice. The compression reached such an extent that 27 frames were damaged in the bow. It could be expected that the expedition itself would have to land on the ice. But the wind turned, and gaps formed in the ice field. The steamer was able to reach clean water.

A day later, the ship again encountered strong soldered ice, which was impossible to get around. We decided to take off from an ice airfield [near about. St. Matthew in the Bering Sea]. On April 29, the plane was unloaded and assembled three hours later. Early in the morning of April 30, the plane took off, taking with it medicines and the polar doctor Starokadomsky. Within a few minutes the ship disappeared into the fog.

For 4 hours the low-level flight continued over an ice field covered with hummocks and waterfalls. The birds, frightened by the plane, took off from the breeding grounds. At 8 o'clock they landed in Provideniya Bay, where the base of the expedition to rescue the Chelyuskinites was located. A day later, the plane flew to Uelen Bay, from where the Chelyuskin residents were delivered to Provideniya Bay on the first flight, among whom were a woman and a girl, Karina, who was born on the Chelyuskin steamship in the Kara Sea. In total, 29 Chelyuskinites were transported by plane from different points. In addition, the plane’s mission was to supply the Chelyuskinites with provisions. And the crew completed this task with honor.

To complete the task of providing assistance to the Chelyuskinites, the crew completed a government assignment to fly to Cape Schmidt. The plane delivered doctor Starokadomsky and medicines to Cape Schmidt to help the local population: the Chukchi and Eskimos. Six people suffering from scurvy from those spending the winter on the ship "Khabarovsk" were transported from Cape Schmidt to Provideniya Bay. This was the end of the flights in the Far North...”

We have collected all the famous and little-known participants in the rescue of the Chelyuskinites.

Chelyuskin Rescue Headquarters

Kuibyshev Valerian Vladimirovich (1888-1935)- Chairman of the government commission for assistance to the Chelyuskinites (Moscow).

Ushakov Georgy Alekseevich (1901-1963)- Commissioner of the government commission for the rescue of the crew and passengers of the Chelyuskin steamship and the purchase from Pan American Airways Corporation - the national carrier of the USA - aircraft for pilots S. A. Levanevsky and M. T. Slepnev.

Petrov Gavriil Gerasimovich (1895-1984)- head of the polar station GUSMP Cape Severny (now Cape O. Schmidt) of the Chaunsky district (now the district of Egvekinot), chairman of the emergency troika for providing assistance to passengers of "Chelyuskin" (in the area of ​​​​Cape Severny - Uelena, headquarters - Cape Severny, intermediate rate - Vankarem trading post , then - Cape Onman, the village of Ilkhetan, 35 km from Vankarem, Chukotka National District).

Nebolsin Andrey Vladimirovich (1900-1944)- Head of the Uelen maritime checkpoint, member of the emergency troika to provide assistance to Chelyuskin passengers.

Natauge- Chairman of the Eskimo District Executive Committee (Chaplino, Chukotka District, formerly Chairman of the Yanrakynnot Native Council/Providence, Chairman of the first Sirenikovsky Partnership), member of the emergency troika for providing assistance to Chelyuskin passengers.

Pogorelov Yakov Gavrilovich (1903-1941)- head of the border checkpoint in Dezhnevo (Manual checkpoint "Dezhnev" UPVO UNKVD DVK) in Uelen, member of the emergency troika for providing assistance to passengers of "Chelyuskin". Drowned while crossing the river. Neva on November 1, 1941, found and buried in 1999, the Nevsky Piglet memorial.

Beloborodov Mikhail Ivanovich- head of the border guard in Dezhnevo (Manual checkpoint "Dezhnev" UPVO UNKVD DVK) in Uelen, member of the emergency troika to provide assistance to passengers of "Chelyuskin" (on replacement).

Trudolyubov- Chairman of the Chukotka Regional Executive Committee (Uelen), member of the emergency troika to provide assistance to Chelyuskin passengers.

Khvorostyansky N. N.- meteorologist at Cape Severny station, deputy head of Uelen station, member of the emergency troika to provide assistance to Chelyuskin passengers.

Pilots

first group, Chukotka

Kukanov Fedor Kuzmich (1904-1964)- reserve pilot, commander of the Chukotka air group for the rescue of Chelyuskinites, base - Cape Severny.

Lyapidevsky Anatoly Vasilievich (1908-1983) - line pilot of the Chukotka air group for the rescue of Chelyuskinites (base - Cape Severny), on March 5, 1934, on the Ant-4 No. 1 plane, flew from Uelen, was the first to discover the Schmidt camp and took out 12 people - 10 women and 2 children (Ant-4 No. 2 in Uelene failed on February 21, 1934; the landing gear and both propellers broke during landing). Hero of the Soviet Union No. 1.

Petrov Lev Vasilievich (1900-1945)- pilot observer of the Lyapidevsky crew, first head of the Chukotka flight expedition.

Konkin Evgeniy Mikhailovich- second pilot of the ANT-4 aircraft for Lyapidevsky, flight commander and political leader.

Rukovsky Mikhail A., flight mechanic of Lyapidevsky.

« Polar Sea, Schmidt camp. (Radio.) Today, March 5, is a great joy for the Chelyuskin camp and at the same time a holiday of Soviet aviation. The ANT-4 aircraft, under the control of pilot Lyapidevsky, with pilot observer Petrov, flew from Wellen to our camp, descended to the airfield we had prepared and safely delivered to Wellen all the women and both children who were on Chelyuskin. The plane took direction over the ice and with amazing confidence went straight to the airfield. The landing and ascent were carried out surprisingly accurately and with a distance of only two hundred meters.

The success of Comrade Lyapidevsky’s flight is all the more significant because it was almost forty degrees below zero.

A large ice hole had formed between the camp and the airfield, so to cross it we had to drag the boat from the camp through the ice for three kilometers.

The successful start of the rescue operation further raised the spirit of the Chelyuskinites, who were confident of attention. and the care of the government and the whole country. Deeply grateful.

Head of the expedition Schmidt».

second group of pilots from Vladivostok

Kamanin Nikolai Petrovich (1909-1982)- military pilot, on an R-5 plane (Pivenstein plane) made a group flight from Cape Olyutorka - Vankarem, April 7, 1934, landed third at the Schmidt camp (navigator Matvey Shelyganov), took out 34 people (he was nicknamed Aachek, i.e. young man, young man). Hero of the Soviet Union No. 4, Star No. 2.

Molokov Vasily Sergeevich (1895-1982)- pilot, on April 7, 1934, on an R-5 plane, he was the fourth to land at Schmidt’s camp, took out 39 people on an unscheduled flight, and on April 11, 1934, evacuated the sick Schmidt from the ice floe to Vankarem (he was nicknamed Ympenachen, which means old man). Hero of the Soviet Union No. 3. Flight mechanic Pilyutov Petr Andreevich (1906-1960), Hero of the Soviet Union (1943).

Pivenshtein Boris Abramovich (1909-?)- reserve pilot, April 1, 1934 near the village. Valkalten, gave the plane to Kamanin (at Kamanin’s plane / flight mechanic Konstantin Anisimov/ the shock-absorbing connecting rod of the landing gear burst), flew six times from Uelen to Providence Bay and twice from Providence Bay to Lawrence Bay, transferring 22 people in total.

Bastanzhiev Boris Vladimirovich (1909-1974)- military reserve pilot from the Kamanin aviation detachment, April 1, 1934, plane accident near Anadyr.

Demirov Ivan M.- military reserve pilot, April 1, 1934, plane accident near Anadyr.

Farikh Fabio Brunovich (1896-1985)- reserve pilot, suspended from flying by Kamanin.

Shelyganov Matvey Petrovich (1909-1982) - navigator Kamanina.

third group of civilian pilots from Khabarovsk

Galyshev Viktor Lvovich (1892-1940)- reserve pilot, flight commander, on April 11, the plane (fuel pump) broke down in Anadyr.

Vodopyanov Mikhail Vasilievich (1899-1980)- pilot, on April 12 he took out 10 people on an R-5 plane (flight mechanics Aleksandrov and Ratushkin). Hero of the Soviet Union No. 6.

Doronin Ivan Vasilievich (1903-1951)- pilot, deputy flight. On April 12, on a PS-4 plane (assigned a “four” after assembling from broken PS-3/Junkers W33 aircraft in the Irkutsk repair workshops of Dobroleta), tail number L-735 took out 2 people (flight mechanics Y. Savin and V. Fedotov) . Hero of the Soviet Union No. 7.

fourth group from the USA

Levanevsky Sigismund Alexandrovich (1902-1937)- pilot, on March 29, 1934, taking off from Fairbanks - Nome (USA) on a Flitster plane (17AF Consolidated Fleetster), onboard "USSR-SL - USSR-Sigismund Levanevsky", was supposed to land in Uelen, but flew further, to Vankarem, 30 km away, he had an accident in the area of ​​Cape Onmana. Plenipotentiary G.A. Ushakov was on board. On April 29, 1934, on a U-2 plane, surgeon Leontyev was delivered from Uelen to the Bay of Laurentia for emergency surgery for an acute attack of appendicitis to the deputy head of the Chelyuskin steamship expedition, Alexei Bobrov. Hero of the Soviet Union No. 2, Star No. 4.

On the occasion of the anniversary of the rescue of the Chelyuskin expedition, I am posting my article published in our magazine "Picturesque Russia"

Once upon a time, every Soviet schoolchild knew about the expedition of the Chelyuskin steamship. 80 years separate us from the Chelyuskin epic. Few remember this story. And the majority, living in another country, know little at all about this dramatic and heroic event. Although once upon a time films were made about the heroes of the Chelyuskinites and songs were composed that were sung throughout the country. This is an amazing epic of courage and dedication.

Since the 30s. last century, a lot of work was launched in the Soviet Union to develop the Northern Sea Route as a transport route. The Soviet government carried out the traditional Russian idea of ​​​​developing the eastern and northern regions countries. It started back in the 16th century. Ermak Timofeevich. It was scientifically formulated by Mikhail Lomonosov. But only in Soviet time this idea was able to come true. In 1928, by resolution of the Council people's commissars The Arctic Government Commission was established. It was headed by the former commander-in-chief of the country's Armed Forces S.S. Kamenev. The commission included scientists and pilots. The commission supervised the creation of naval and aviation bases and weather stations on the coast of the Arctic Ocean and regulated the navigation of ships. The first practical result of the commission’s work was the rescue of the Nobile expedition, which suffered an accident on the airship “Italy”. Thanks to her efforts, the Soviet steamship Stavropol and the American schooner Nanuk, which had wintered in the ocean ice, were saved.

Expedition on the steamship "Chelyuskin"

The Soviet government was tasked with ensuring reliable navigation of merchant ships from Leningrad and Murmansk to Vladivostok in the northern by sea for one navigation, for the summer-autumn period.

In 1932, the icebreaker Sibiryakov was able to complete this task. The head of the expedition was Professor Otto Yulievich Schmidt, and the captain of the icebreaker was Vladimir Ivanovich Voronin. Immediately after the end of the expedition, the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route (Glavsevmorput) was created, which was tasked with mastering this route and ensuring it technical equipment, build villages and much more. O.Yu. was appointed head of the Main Northern Sea Route. Schmidt.

On the slipway in Copenhagen

In 1933, the transport ship Chelyuskin was sent along the Northern Sea Route. “Chelyuskin” was supposed to travel from Leningrad to its home port of Vladivostok in one navigation. It was assumed that the ship would be accompanied by icebreakers. But that did not happen.

The expedition on the Chelyuskin was headed by O.Yu. Schmidt, and V.I. was appointed captain. Voronin. There were 111 people on board - the ship's crew, scientists, journalists, a shift of winterers and builders for Wrangel Island. On February 13, 1934, crushed by ice in the Chukchi Sea, the ship sank. One person died, and 104 crew members landed on the ocean ice. Some of the cargo and food were removed from the ship. The rescue of the Chelyuskin crew became one of the most exciting and heroic pages of the Soviet era.

The Chelyuskin expedition was supposed to prove the suitability of the Northern Sea Route for supplying everything necessary to Siberia and the Far East. “Chelyuskin” was named in honor of Semyon Ivanovich Chelyuskin (1700-1764), a member of the Great Northern Expedition, who discovered the northernmost point of continental Eurasia (now Cape Chelyuskin). The ship was built at the shipyards of Burmeister and Wein (B&W, Copenhagen) in Denmark, commissioned by the Soviet Union. The steamship was intended to sail between the mouth of the Lena (hence the original name of the ship “Lena”) and Vladivostok. In accordance with the technical data, the ship was the most modern cargo-passenger ship for that time. In accordance with Lloyd's classifications, she was classified as an icebreaker class steamship. The ship had a displacement of 7,500 tons.

Scheme of Schmidt's expedition routes

On July 16, 1933, “Chelyuskin” sailed from Leningrad to Murmansk, stopping at the docks in Copenhagen on the way to eliminate defects identified during the first voyage.

In Murmansk, the team was completed - those who did not show their best side were brought ashore. They loaded on board additional cargo that they did not have time to take in Leningrad. Preparing for a polar expedition is a separate topic. This is what the deputy head of the expedition, Ivan Kopusov, who was responsible for supplies, wrote: “It’s no joke: the amplitude is from a primus needle to a theodolite! All this came for “Chelyuskin” from all over our great country. We received cargo from Siberia, Ukraine, Vologda, Arkhangelsk, Omsk, Moscow. We sent representatives to all parts of the Union to speed up the execution of orders and their promotion throughout railways. All people’s commissariats participated in the preparation of the expedition.”

The expedition also took food issues seriously. To supply the crew with fresh meat, they took with them 26 live cows and 4 small piglets, which then turned into healthy hogs and helped diversify the ship's menu. On August 2, 1933, Chelyuskin left the port of Murmansk for Vladivostok, while working out a scheme for delivering cargo along the Northern Sea Route during one summer navigation.

The passage in the open sea showed the shortcomings of the Chelyuskin’s special shape - it rocked, like a real icebreaker, strongly and rapidly. At the very first encounters with ice in the Kara Sea, the ship was damaged in the bow. The fact is that it was overloaded (carrying coal for the icebreaker Krasin), and the reinforced ice belt was below the waterline, so the steamer encountered ice floes with a less protected upper part of the hull. To install additional wooden fastenings, it was necessary to unload the bow hold from coal.

How this was done was described by the head of the expedition, Otto Schmidt: “This operation had to be done quickly, and here for the first time in this voyage we used the same method of general rush operations, which already on the Sibiryakov and in previous expeditions turned out to be not only necessary for a quick end work, but also an excellent means of team building. All participants in the expedition, both scientists and builders, sailors and business executives, carried coal, breaking into teams, between which the competition took place brightly and with great excitement.”

The voyage was successful all the way to Novaya Zemlya. Then “Chelyuskin” entered the Kara Sea, which immediately showed both its “bad” character and the defenselessness of “Chelyuskin” in front of real polar ice. Serious deformation of the hull and a leak appeared on August 13, 1933. The question of returning back arose, but the decision was made to continue the journey.

An important event took place in the Kara Sea - Dorothea Ivanovna (maiden name Dorfman) and surveyor Vasily Gavrilovich Vasilyev, who were heading to Wrangel Island for the winter, had a daughter. The birth record was made by V.I. Voronin in the ship's log "Chelyuskin". It read: “August 31st. 5 o'clock 30 m. The Vasiliev couple had a child, a girl. Countable latitude 75°46’51” north, longitude 91°06’ east, sea depth 52 meters.” The girl was named Karina.

“The fate of this girl is curious, who was born at 75° latitude and in the first year of her life suffered a shipwreck, life on ice, a flight to Uelen and a solemn return to Moscow, where she was caressed by Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin and Maxim Gorky,” Otto Schmidt later wrote .

The fate of Karina Vasilievna Vasilyeva is really interesting. She now lives in St. Petersburg and her passport actually says her birthplace is the Kara Sea. “My birth happened before Chelyuskin was captured by the ice,” recalls Karina Vasilievna. - But I was born on board a ship. Then a difficult ice situation developed. When a strong compression occurred, the side tore apart, and the expedition landed on the ice. Through a huge hole it was possible to go out onto the ice. The first 3 days were very harsh, as everyone lived in rag tents at temperatures below 30 degrees below zero. Then the barracks were ready. It was insulated with snow and ice. We made a stove out of a barrel. Mom and I were placed near the stove. Water was heated from ice. They bathed me in it. We lived on the ice floe for 21 days.”

The Laptev and East Siberian seas "Chelyuskin" passed relatively freely. But the Chukchi Sea was occupied by ice. Pyotr Buyko, who was to become the head of the polar station on Wrangel Island, recalls: “The ship fought, it fought, moving towards the east. Vladimir Ivanovich Voronin sat longer and longer in a barrel on Mars, nicknamed the “crow’s nest,” from the height of the foremast, looking with binoculars for the blue strings of mines along which “Chelyuskin” was making his way. More and more often, the road was blocked by heavy, bull-like ice of a different, stronger type than was found in the seas they had traversed. But Vladimir Ivanovich did not give up, and “Chelyuskin” pushed away the jelly sludge with its cheekbones and crashed into the ice fields with its stem, like a wedge. Schmidt does not leave the bridge, his hands are in the pockets of his seal coat, and from under his cap his eyes vigilantly search the horizon. He is outwardly calm. But he is also worried about the pace of progress.”
In the East Siberian Sea they began to come across heavy ice. On September 9 and 10, the Chelyuskin received dents on the starboard and port sides, one of the frames burst, and the ship’s leak intensified. The experience of Far Eastern captains who sailed the northern seas said that September 15-20 is the latest date for entering the Bering Strait. Swimming in the Arctic in the fall is difficult. In winter - impossible. The ship froze in the ice and began to drift.

Last photo - the death of "Chelyuskin"

On November 4, 1934, thanks to a successful drift, the Chelyuskin entered the Bering Strait. There were only a few miles left to clear water. But no effort by the team could save the situation. Movement to the south became impossible. In the strait, ice began to move in the opposite direction, and “Chelyuskin” again found itself in the Chukchi Sea. The fate of the ship depended entirely on the ice conditions. Otto Schmidt recalled: “At noon, the ice wall on the left in front of the steamer moved and rolled towards us. The ice rolled over each other like the scallops of sea waves. The height of the shaft reached eight meters above the sea.” The ship, trapped by ice, could not move independently. Fate was not merciful.

All this preceded the famous radiogram from O.Yu. Schmidt: “Polar Sea, February 14. On February 13 at 15:30, 155 miles from Cape Severny and 144 miles from Cape Wells, the Chelyuskin sank, crushed by compression of the ice. Already the last night was alarming due to frequent compression and strong hummocking of the ice. On February 13, at 13:30, a sudden strong pressure tore the left side over a long distance from the bow hold to the engine room. At the same time, the steam pipes burst, which made it impossible to run drainage equipment, which, however, was useless due to the size of the leak. Two hours later it was all over. During these two hours, the long-prepared emergency supply of food, tents, sleeping bags, an airplane and a radio were unloaded onto the ice in an organized manner, without a single sign of panic. Unloading continued until the bow of the ship was already submerged under water. The leaders of the crew and expedition were the last to leave the ship, a few seconds before complete immersion. While trying to get off the ship, the caretaker Mogilevich died. He was crushed by a log and carried into the water. Head of the expedition Schmidt."

Boris Mogilevich became the only one killed during the entire Chelyuskin expedition.

Rescue of Chelyuskinites

104 people, led by O.Yu., were captured by the ice. Schmidt. Among the ice captives were two very young children - Alla Buiko, born in 1932, and the previously mentioned Karina Vasilyeva. To save people, a government commission was created under the leadership of Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V.V. Kuibysheva. On her instructions, on the Chukotka Peninsula, rescue issues were dealt with by an emergency “troika” headed by the head of the station at Cape Severny (now Cape Schmidt) G.G. Petrov. They were tasked with mobilizing dog and reindeer sleds and alerting the planes that were in Chukotka at that moment. The animals were needed to transport fuel from the bases at Cape Severny and the Uelen polar station to the Vankarem point closest to Schmidt’s camp. Airplanes were intended to save people.

Photo of Otto Schmidt on an ice floe in the camp

The rescue of the Chelyuskinites is a truly glorious page in the history of polar aviation. Her actions were constantly reported in the press. Many experts did not believe in the possibility of salvation. Some Western newspapers wrote that people on the ice were doomed, and raising hopes of salvation in them was inhumane, it would only worsen their suffering. There were no icebreakers that could sail in the winter conditions of the Arctic Ocean at that time. The only hope was in aviation. The government commission sent three groups of aircraft to rescue. Apart from two “Fleisters” and one “Junkers”, the rest of the aircraft were domestic.

The first landing at the expedition camp on March 5, 1934 was made by the crew of Anatoly Lyapidevsky on an ANT-4 aircraft. Before that, he made 28 missions, but only the 29th was successful. It was not easy to find a drifting ice floe with people in the fog. Lyapidevsky managed to land in 40-degree frost on an area measuring 150 by 400 meters. It was a real feat.

Pilots M.V. Vodopyanov, I.V. Doronin, N.P. Kamanin, S.A. Levanevsky, A.V. Lyapidevsky, V.S. Molokov and M.T. Slepnev, who took part in this operation, rightfully became the first Heroes of the Soviet Union. Their names in those years, and even more late time, the whole country knew. However, not everyone, especially now, knows that the pilots seconded to carry out the extremely dangerous mission of evacuating the O.Yu. Schmidt, there were significantly more than seven. Only a third of them were awarded the title of Hero.
However, there were few available means of air evacuation: on Cape Severny there was a damaged N-4 aircraft with pilot Kukanov, and on Uelen there were two ANT-4 aircraft with pilots Lyapidevsky and Chernyavsky and one U-2 with pilot Konkin. The technical condition of the last three cars was also cause for concern. At the proposal of the government commission, additional air transport was allocated for the operation. It was decided to transfer part of it as far north as possible by water, so that further to the area rescue work the planes departed “under their own power.”

In accordance with this plan, two light aircraft "Sh-2" on the steamship "Stalingrad" were supposed to begin sailing from Petropavlovsk; five R-5 aircraft and two U-2 aircraft, which were to be flown by a group of pilots of the reconnaissance regiment of the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army (OKDVA), led by Kamanin, were intended to be transported by the Smolensk steamer from Vladivostok; From there, but by the steamer "Soviet", it was planned to relocate the planes of the pilots Bolotov and Svyatogorov. From the very beginning, the remaining aircraft faced difficult flights: three aircraft (two PS-3 and one R-5), at the controls of which the pilots Galyshev, Doronin and Vodopyanov were supposed to be, had to overcome a distance of almost 6000 km over unexplored mountain ranges and tundra, departing from Khabarovsk. Finally, the reserve group of pilots (Levanevsky and Slepnev) was required to get into the rescue area from US territory, namely from Alaska. As a result, in addition to the four aircraft available in the disaster zone, sixteen more aircraft were brought in to evacuate the Chelyuskinites.

Lyapidevsky took out 10 women and two children, and the second time his engine failed and he joined the Chelyuskinites. The mass evacuation began 13 days later and lasted two weeks. The pilots made 24 flights in difficult weather conditions. All of them then became the first Heroes of the Soviet Union - Anatoly Lyapidevsky, Mavriky Slepnev, Vasily Molokov, Nikolai Kamanin, Mikhail Vodopyanov and Ivan Doronin (the Gold Star medal appeared later), they were then awarded the Order of Lenin. The rest were presented with orders and medals.

Upon returning home, all participants in the ice epic basked in the glory. Streets were named in their honor geographical features. They say that in the list of Soviet names, among Dazdravperma and Vladilen, a new one has appeared - “Otyushminald” - “Otto Yulievich Schmidt on the ice floe.”

Political information in the Chelyuskin camp, drawing by P. Reshetnikov

All participants in the ice drift, as well as G.A. Ushakova and G.G. Petrov, were awarded the Order of the Red Star and a six-month salary. The same orders, but without conferring the title of Hero, were also awarded to members of their crews, including American mechanics. The recipients of the country's highest award then became L.V. Petrov, M.A. Rukovsky, W. Lavery, P.A. Pelyutov, I.G. Devyatnikov, M.P. Shelyganov, G.V. Gribakin, K. Armstedt, V.A. Alexandrov, M.L. Ratushkin, A.K. Razin and Ya.G. Savin. In addition, all of the named aviators, unlike the Chelyuskinites, received bonuses in the amount of an annual salary. The authorities noted more modestly the other pilots who participated in the rescue operation and also risked their lives.

The same resolution of the USSR Central Executive Committee, in accordance with which G.A. was awarded. Ushakov and G.G. Petrov, the Order of the Red Star and a six-month salary were awarded to V.L. Galyshev, B.A. Pivenshtein, B.V. Bastanzhiev and I.M. Demirov. These pilots various reasons stopped literally a step away from the ice camp, did no less than, for example, Levanevsky, who also did not break through to the Chelyuskinites and did not take a single person from the ice floe, but, nevertheless, became a Hero (according to the official version, it is believed that the high rank Sigismund Aleksandrovich received Ushakov for transferring him to Vankarem, unofficially - for giving a radiogram to I.V. Stalin on time, where he expressed his readiness to carry out further tasks of the government). The rest of the pilots, who were involved in the rescue operation but, not of their own free will, were unable to take an effective part in it, were much less fortunate. They were simply forgotten...

80 years have passed since the names of the Chelyuskin heroes became a legend and a symbol of human feat and dedication. And this is one of the few cases when the state and the entire Russian, then Soviet, people empathized with the drama of the pioneers of the North. This is a rare case when everyone felt not like expendable material of history, which, sadly, is very specific to Russian history, but part of one state and people, about whom they think and for the sake of whose salvation they strain all their strength. Perhaps this is the most important lesson of the feat of the Chelyuskinites and the rescue expedition.

The article was written specifically for the magazine "Picturesque Russia"

Photo from the Schmidt family archive

Pilot Anatoly Lyapidevsky received 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 Mavriky Slepnev.

Nikolai Kamanin (1908-1982)

Nikolai Kamanin was only 25 years old when he was appointed commander of a mixed group of aircraft that had to rescue 104 people from a sunken icebreaker. “Short preparations at night,” Kamanin wrote in his memoirs. “My wife calmly helps me get ready. 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 air route to Schmidt’s camp along the route Olyutorka - Maina - Pylgin - Provideniya Bay (via 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 studied. Therefore, we had to fly by luck: without information about weather conditions, without radio communications, without topographic maps(on the nautical charts available to the pilots, the outlines of the mountain ranges over which they were to fly were simply drawn, without an exact indication of their heights).

In addition, the weather constantly presented surprises: either continuous clouds appeared on the pilots’ path, or hurricane winds blew in. And yet the young pilot Kamanin flew to Schmidt’s camp several times a day. Even parachute boxes tied to the wing plane were used to transport Chelyuskinites.

The hardest night was the last night - from April 12 to 13, 1934. Only six people remained on the ice floe. The pilots were worried whether the airfield ice floe would sink overnight. It was a matter of honor to save the remaining six, who considered it their duty to be the last to leave. And Kamanin and his comrades carried out this operation brilliantly.

Personally, Nikolai Kamanin saved 34 people over 9 flights.

Mikhail Vodopyanov (1899-1980)

The civilian pilot who was the first to open the air route to Sakhalin in 1929, Mikhail Vodopyanov, got into Kamanin’s rescue operation thanks only to his perseverance.

In 1933, while participating in a research flight on the route Moscow - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Vodopyanov’s plane got into a snowstorm, became icy 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 asked to participate in the rescue of the Chelyuskinites, he was refused due to the trauma he had suffered. But persistence and perseverance paid off. For three and a half weeks he flew from Khabarovsk to the researchers in distress on a wooden, percale-covered R-5 plane without a navigator, without radar. Vodopyanov’s path was many times more dangerous than that of the other pilots who participated in the operation. If the engine had failed in the air, there would have been nowhere to land among the rocks and gorges. Vodopyanov flew to those in distress three times and took out 10 people.

After the successful completion of the operation, Vodopyanov did not want to rest on his laurels. He set himself the goal of landing at the North Pole. Opponents of this idea tried to prove that drifting ice would not support the weight of the aircraft. Stalin put an end to the disputes by allowing preparations for a flight to the North Pole.

In the summer of 1936, Mikhail Vodopyanov landed the R-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 delivered for the first time in the world 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 there was awarded the order Lenin (the status of twice Hero of the Soviet Union did not yet exist at that time).

Ivan Doronin (1903-1951)

The first serious achievement 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 ridge. Its total height reaches three thousand meters, and individual mountains are higher. We have to fly through the mountains for an hour... Imagine our situation: we are flying in an unfamiliar area, there are mountains all around, the maps are inaccurate. There is only one place for landing, and there is only so much gas. Lake Alysardakh is located at an altitude of 1150 meters above sea level; behind it there are mountains over 3000. I refueled with gasoline, but when I wanted to fly to Kolyma, I could not tear myself away from the water: the high altitude reduced the power. engine, and for the further flight it was necessary to increase the gasoline for at least 6 hours. Still, I broke away and went through the mountains...

On the way back from Srednekan, in addition to everything else, we had to fly with the wrong type of fuel, the detonation of which could cause the engine to burn out.”

For the flawless execution of this flight, the Yakut government awarded the crew with certificates, and Doronin was also given a hunting rifle. It was engraved: “For the first historical flight.”

To save Chelyuskin residents in difficult weather conditions, Doronin flew on a PS-3 plane along the route Khabarovsk - Vankarem with a length of 5860 km. He was flying in March, and, as he later recalled, he got into such a “bumpiness” when he almost instantly lost altitude by several hundred meters. The flight was complicated by a strong headwind. The plane seemed to be hanging 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 airfield in Vankarem, and five minutes later I met the pilot Ivan Doronin. He told me how hard it took him to get to Vankarem, how many days he spent in captivity “evil stepmother” - blizzards, and immediately expressed his wish to fly with me to the camp at dawn tomorrow...

In the evening we had a long conversation with Ivan Vasilyevich Doronin. He is an experienced pilot and knows well that the Arctic is not to be trifled with. We finally agreed that tomorrow we will fly to the camp together, my car will be the lead one.

On the morning of April 12 we took off. I sat on the ice floe first. Doronin sat down quite safely after me. Passengers were accepted on board and takeoff began. And then something happened to Doronin’s car that I was so afraid of every time: the plane hit hummocks and, breaking the landing gear, awkwardly stopped in the middle of the airfield, dividing the already narrow runway in half.
For take-off there was only a narrow corridor, no more than 30 meters wide. Never in my life have I taken off under such conditions. It was beyond his strength to pull Doronin’s car with a broken chassis to the side, and waiting for the chassis to be repaired would certainly mean losing the whole day. I decided to take off.

Was this accident Doronin's fault? Of course not. A sastruga, or rather a mound frozen at night, formed on the ice strip. During the run, the ski hit him directly, and the plane, by inertia, turned sharply, after which the skis crashed into another obstacle. The 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. Having lightened the plane and taking only two passengers, the pilot took off. But the stand gave way again, and the ski hung in the air. In Vankarem, Doronin masterfully landed the plane with a roll on one ski.

Sigismund Levanevsky (1902-1937)

A naval pilot of Polish origin, Sigismund Levanevsky, first became famous for saving the American pilot James Mattern in 1933, who planned to fly around the globe, but final stage flight around the world, Mattern, having unloaded the radio station and taking as much fuel as possible, took off from Khabarovsk in the direction of 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 delivering it to Alaska. In July 1933, Levanevsky flew to Chukotka on the USSR N-8 seaplane, for the first time passing over the tundra from Nagaev Bay to Anadyr and, thus, laying new route to Chukotka. On July 20, the American was delivered 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 suffered 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 saving the Chelyuskinites: “On February 13, I learned on the radio that the Chelyuskin was crushed by ice. I telegraphed to Moscow that I was ready to fly to the aid of the Chelyuskinites. My wife, having learned about this, was crying, and the guys (I have a girl and boy) also started roaring. But nothing. I calmed them down. And the next day I received a “lightning” telegram: “Go to Moscow immediately.” Two hours later, a second telegram: “Go to Moscow immediately.” management of the Northern Sea Route, the other - from Ushakov. I arrive in Moscow, and they tell me that tomorrow I have to go abroad... This amazed me. I thought I would fly on the R-5 plane from Moscow directly to the North. But the government decided: Ushakova. , Slepnev and I should be sent to America in order to quickly get to the North from Alaska.”

True, one has to doubt that the pilots’ journey abroad turned out to be shorter. Ushakov, Levanevsky and Slepnev first went to Berlin, then flew to London to cross the Atlantic by ship. Arriving in New York, they boarded an express train, crossed the States from west to east, and from Seattle along the coast of Canada by steamship to Alaska.

On March 29, 1934, despite difficult weather conditions, Levanevsky flew from Nome to Vankarem together with Ushakov and flight mechanic Armistead Clyde. However, the elements turned out to be stronger. Due to severe icing, he made an emergency landing in the Kolyuchinskaya Bay area. “People survived only thanks to the exceptional self-control of the pilot Levanevsky,” Ushakov reported in his telegram to Moscow.

The plane was still crashed. Levanevsky was unable to take part in the 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 nothing worked for him on domestic aircraft. 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 navigate his car in almost completely cloudy conditions and successfully splashed down in Uelen. To Tiksi Bay, the plane flew over the Arctic coast with a landing in Ambarchik Bay. In Krasnoyarsk, the “water” part of the route ended, and the seaplane was placed on a wheeled chassis. On September 13, 1936, Levanevsky landed in Moscow.

On the same day, Stalin sent a welcoming telegram to the crew: “To the Hero of the Soviet Union, pilot Levanevsky, navigator Levchenko. Fraternal greetings to the brave sons of our homeland! I congratulate you on the successful completion of the plan for the historic flight. I shake your hands tightly. I. Stalin.”

For this flight, Levanevsky was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and Viktor Levchenko was awarded 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 to 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 thousand kilometers long, and a flight to the North Pole. One of Molokov’s colleagues, pilot Evgeniy Fedorov, wrote in his diary after landing at the North Pole: “Vasily Sergeevich Molokov is unusually modest. He carries the most cargo, lands and takes off better than anyone else, and always keeps in the shadows.”

During the rescue of the Chelyuskinites from the ice floe, the most - 39 people - were taken out by Molokov - Uncle Vasya, as the shipwrecked people lovingly called him. On his two-seater R-5 plane, he managed to take out 6 people at a time, adapting, like Kamanin, parachute boxes suspended under the planes for passengers.

Mauritius Slepnev (1896-1965)

In February 1934, former instructor pilot Mauritius Slepnev, together with Ushakov and Levanevsky, was sent to the United States in order to come to the aid of the Chelyuskinites from there.

Levanevsky was the first to fly to Chukotka with American flight mechanic Armistead Clyde and Ushakov. Despite very difficult weather conditions, he continued his flight. But, almost at the very goal, a few kilometers from Vankarem, I suffered an accident due to heavy snowfall.

A more experienced polar explorer, Slepnev flew out several times, but when he encountered bad weather, he returned. In the end, he and American flight mechanic William Levari managed to reach Vankarem safely.

Departing from Vankarem, Slepnev radioed: “I’ll be at the camp in 36 minutes.” After 37 minutes, Slepnev’s plane appeared on the horizon. At high speed he approached the camp, made a sharp turn and then for some reason circled for a long time over the improvised airfield. The camp was perplexed.

It soon became clear that the plane crashed during landing. But Slepnev was not injured. He brought with him a box of American beer, chocolate, and cigarettes. Having repaired the plane, Slepnev took 5 people off the ice floe in one flight. He later took the ailing Schmidt to Nome, Alaska. In Nome, Mauritius Slepnev was presented with a government radiogram from Moscow, which said: “We are delighted with your heroic work to save the Chelyuskinites.”

Lazarus Freudheim

“CHELYUSKIN” AND “TANDY”: ALL THE DOTS ABOVE “i”

More than 70 years is not a short period of time. However, the history of the Chelyuskin expedition continues to attract attention. Sometimes the significance of the goals of the expedition and the heroic resistance of people to the cruel northern nature, sometimes the husk of speculation. The Chelyuskin epic became one of the first campaigns of Stalinist propaganda, emphasizing the heroism of Soviet reality, providing “spectacles” to the masses. Moreover, the effect of national celebration was achieved in a situation of failure of the planned expedition. This situation raises additional difficulties in analyzing the events that took place, since information from those years could be radically distorted, and the memories of the participants carried the burden of contemporary prohibitions.

A little history

In February 1934, the steamship Chelyuskin sank, crushed by ice in the Chukchi Sea. One person died, and 104 crew members landed on the ocean ice. Some of the cargo and food were quickly removed from the ship. Such a colony of people on the ice of the Arctic Ocean is unheard of. How did it happen?

To ensure the delivery of goods to the easternmost areas of the coast via the Northern Sea Route, it was necessary to try to travel the entire route from Europe to Chukotka in one short summer navigation. The icebreaker Sibiryakov was the first to do this in 1932. But the icebreakers had insufficient cargo transportation capabilities. For cargo and commercial transportation, corresponding to the tasks of the development of the North, ships with a larger commercial load, adapted to sailing in northern conditions, were needed. This led the Soviet leadership to the idea of ​​using the Chelyuskin steamship to develop the Northern Sea Route. It was built in 1933 in Denmark at the shipyards of the company "Burmeister and Wain", B&W, Copenhagen by order of Soviet foreign trade organizations.

In the weekly magazine “New Siberia”, No. 10 (391) on March 9, 2000, published in Novosibirsk, an essay by E.I. Belimov “The Mystery of the “Chelyuskin” Expedition”, which introduced into circulation the myth about the existence of the ship “Pizhma”, built according to the same design and sailing as part of the “Chelyuskin” expedition with 2000 prisoners to work in the tin mines. After the death of the main steamer, this second ship was allegedly sunk. Such a gloomy horror story attached to the idea of ​​a scientific expedition quickly spread. The essay was reprinted by many publications and many Internet sites. This epidemic continues to this day. Thanks to the efforts of journalists greedy for sensations, the version has acquired a whole series of witnesses and participants, in whose memory the events of those distant years allegedly surfaced. All these details exactly repeat fragments of Belimov’s literary opus. The same names, the same miraculous salvation, the same priests and shortwave record holders... Noteworthy is the fact that without exception, all interviews, memoirs and publications of this kind appeared later than the publication of Belimov’s work.

I began a detailed analysis of the events described in comparison with other known sources. My initial opinion about the reality of Belimov’s version has changed dramatically. The result of this was a large analytical article on the versions of the Chelyuskin expedition, first published at the end of September 2004. It clearly concluded that Belimov’s work is a literary fiction. A year later, based on additional data, I published the results of continuing the search, resolving the remaining unclarified questions. This article combines the analysis of all documents and evidence found.

Main official version

A steamship with a displacement of 7,500 tons called "Lena" set off on its first voyage from Copenhagen on June 3, 1933. It made its first voyage to Leningrad, where it arrived on June 5, 1933. On June 19, 1933, the steamship "Lena" was renamed. It received a new name - "Chelyuskin" in memory of the Russian navigator and explorer of the north S.I. Chelyuskin.

The steamer immediately began to be prepared for a long voyage in northern seas. On July 16, 1933, with 800 tons of cargo, 3,500 tons of coal and more than a hundred crew members and expedition members on board, Chelyuskin left the Leningrad port and headed west, to its birthplace - Copenhagen. At the shipyard, shipbuilders eliminated the noticed defects within six days. Then transfer to Murmansk with additional loading. The equipment was replenished in the form of the Sh-2 amphibious aircraft. On August 2, 1933, with 112 people on board, Chelyuskin set out from Murmansk on its historic voyage.

The voyage was successful all the way to Novaya Zemlya. "Chelyuskin" entered the Kara Sea, which was not slow to show its bad character. Serious hull deformation and a leak appeared on August 13, 1933. The question arose about going back, but it was decided to continue the journey.

An important event brought the Kara Sea - Dorothea Ivanovna (maiden name Dorfman) and Vasily Gavrilovich Vasilyev, who were heading to Wrangel Island for the winter, had a daughter. The birth record was made by V.I. Voronin in the ship's logbook "Chelyuskin". This entry read: "August 31. 5:30 am. The Vasiliev couple had a child, a girl. Countable latitude 75°46"51" north, longitude 91°06" east, sea depth 52 meters." On the morning of September 1 The ship’s broadcast said: “Comrades, congratulations on the arrival of a new member of our expedition. Now we have 113 people. The wife of surveyor Vasiliev gave birth to a daughter."

On September 1, 1933, six Soviet steamships were anchored off Cape Chelyuskin. These were icebreakers and steamships "Krasin", "Sibiryakov", "Stalin", "Rusanov", "Chelyuskin" and "Sedov". The ships greeted each other.

Heavy ice began to appear in the East Siberian Sea; On September 9 and 10, Chelyuskin received dents on the starboard and left sides. One of the frames burst. The ship's leak intensified... The experience of Far Eastern captains who sailed the northern seas stated: September 15-20 is the latest date for entering the Bering Strait. Swimming in the Arctic in the fall is difficult. In winter - impossible.

Already at this stage, the leadership of the expedition had to think about a possible winter in the ice. On one of the autumn-winter days in September (autumn according to the calendar, winter due to the cold) several dog sleds arrived at “Chelyuskin”. It was a visit of politeness and friendship from the Chukchi, whose village was located 35 kilometers from the ship. No one knew how long the confinement on ice would last, where every extra person could pose quite a serious problem. Eight Chelyuskinites, sick, weak, or simply not needed in the conditions of drift, were sent on foot... There were 105 people left on the ship.

On November 4, 1933, thanks to a successful drift, the Chelyuskin entered the Bering Strait. There were only a few miles left to clear water. But no effort by the team could save the situation. Movement to the south became impossible. In the strait, ice began to move in the opposite direction, and “Chelyuskin” again found itself in the Chukchi Sea. The fate of the ship depended entirely on the ice conditions. The ship, trapped by ice, could not move independently. Fate was not merciful... All this preceded the famous radiogram from O.Yu. Schmidt, which began with the words: “On February 13 at 15:30, 155 miles from Cape Severny and 144 miles from Cape Wellen, the Chelyuskin sank, crushed by compression of the ice...”

When people found themselves on the ice, a government commission was formed to rescue the Chelyuskinites. Her actions were constantly reported in the press. Many experts did not believe in the possibility of salvation. Some Western newspapers wrote that people on the ice were doomed, and raising hopes of salvation in them was inhumane, it would only worsen their suffering. There were no icebreakers that could sail in the winter conditions of the Arctic Ocean at that time. The only hope was in aviation. The government commission sent three groups of aircraft to rescue. Note that, except for two “Fleisters” and one “Junkers”, the rest of the aircraft were domestic.

The results of the crews’ work are as follows: Anatoly Lyapidevsky made one flight and took out 12 people; Vasily Molokov for nine flights - 39 people; Kamanin for nine flights - 34 people; Mikhail Vodopyanov made three flights and took out 10 people; Mauritius Slepnev made five people on one flight, Ivan Doronin and Mikhail Babushkin each made one flight and took out two people each.

For two months, from February 13 to April 13, 1934, 104 people fought for life, carried out heroic work to establish an organized life on the ocean ice and build an airfield, which was constantly breaking up, covered with cracks and hummocks, and covered with snow. Preserving the human team in such extreme conditions is a great feat. The history of Arctic exploration knows cases when people in such conditions not only lost the ability to collectively fight for life, but even committed serious crimes against their comrades for the sake of personal salvation. The soul of the camp was Otto Yulievich Schmidt. There, on the ice floe, Schmidt published a wall newspaper and gave lectures on philosophy, which was reported daily throughout the central Soviet press. The entire world community, aviation specialists and polar explorers gave Chelyuskin's epic the highest score.

In connection with the successful completion of the epic, the highest degree of distinction was established - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. It was awarded to pilots A. Lyapidevsky, S. Levanevsky, M. Slepnev, V. Molokov, N. Kamanin, M. Vodopyanov, I. Doronin. At the same time, they were all awarded the Order of Lenin. Subsequently, Gold Star No. 1 was awarded to Lyapidevsky. All flight mechanics were awarded, including two American ones. All members of the expedition who were on the ice floe, except for children, were awarded the Order of the Red Star.

Additional unofficial version

In 1997, the first public mention of the secrets associated with the Chelyuskin expedition, known to me, appeared in the Izvestia newspaper. Its author was Anatoly Stefanovich Prokopenko, a historian-archivist, in the past he headed the famous Special Archive (now the Center for the Storage of Historical and Documentary Collections) - a huge top-secret repository of captured documents of twenty European countries. In 1990, Prokopenko presented irrefutable documentary evidence of the execution at Katyn to the CPSU Central Committee Polish officers. After the Special Archive - Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Archives of the Government of the Russian Federation, consultant to the Commission for the Rehabilitation of Victims political repression under the President of the Russian Federation. The newspaper literally said the following: “From the collection of the famous polar pilot Molokov, you can find out why Stalin refused foreign help in rescuing the crew of the icebreaker Chelyuskin.” And because, by the will of fate, a grave barge with prisoners was frozen into the ice nearby.”

The version about the presence of a second ship in the Chelyuskin expedition is described by Eduard Ivanovich Belimov in his work “The Mystery of the Chelyuskin Expedition.” The author of the work, E. Belimov, is a candidate of philological sciences, worked at NETI in the department of foreign languages ​​for more than twenty years, then left for Israel. He presented his version of events in the form of a story from the son of a man who survived the death of the second steamship Pizhma, led by the ship Chelyuskin. This man also became a close friend of Karina, who was born on Chelyuskin. Such a source of information makes you take every word and detail very seriously.

An almost identical version appeared in the Versty newspaper on behalf of Israeli citizen Joseph Zaks, to whose information St. Petersburg journalists referred. He claims that in the winter of 1934, in the Chukchi Sea, on the instructions of Stalin, the ship "Pizhma", which accompanied the legendary "Chelyuskin", was blown up and scuttled. According to Sachs, on board this ship, or rather, in the holds, there were 2,000 prisoners who were taken to work in the mines of Chukotka under the escort of NKVD officers. Among the prisoners on the Pizhma there was a large group of cool shortwave radio amateurs. After the explosions on the Pizhma, they got to a spare set of radio transmitters, and their call signs were heard at American aviation bases. True, the pilots managed to save a few. Later, all those rescued, including the father of Joseph Sachs, allegedly adopted a different citizenship. It seems that E. Belimov’s Yakov Samoilovich corresponds exactly to Joseph Sachs, quoted by the St. Petersburgers.

Correspondent of the newspaper “Trud” in Kazan on July 18, 2001. referred to the story of the famous Kazan radio amateur V.T. Guryanov that his mentor, a polar aviation pilot, said that in 1934 he intercepted a radio session of American pilots based in Alaska. The story was like a legend. It was about rescuing Russians in the area where the Chelyuskin was lost, but not the crew members, not the participants of Otto Schmidt’s scientific expedition, but some mysterious political prisoners who found themselves in the area of ​​the famous drift of the Chelyuskin. After getting acquainted with Belimov’s version, it became clear to him what it was about.

On August 30, 2001, the Russian television channel TV-6 in the Segodnya program showed a story about the Pizhma, which went to sea along with the Chelyuskin and on which there were 2,000 prisoners and guards. Unlike the previously published version of Belimov, in the television version the guards took their families with them. The purpose of "Pizhma" is to check the possibility of delivering the ZK along the sea route at this time. When "Chelyuskin" was captured by ice and the operation to rescue it began, it was decided to blow up "Pizhma". The families of the guards were transported on sleighs to the Chelyuskin, and 2,000 prisoners went to the bottom along with the ship.

In mid-September 2004, another statement appeared about the possible voyage of a second ship. Alexander Shchegortsov wrote that, in his opinion, the hypothesis about the second ship following the Chelyuskin has a right to exist. Perhaps the ship had a different name (not “Pizhma”) and it is likely that it did not sink like “Chelyuskin”. However, the author did not provide any additional reasons for his opinion. Unfortunately, this message is very similar to the old “Armenian” joke: Is it true that Academician Ambartsumyan won one hundred thousand in the lottery? We answer: true, but not an academician, but a janitor, and he didn’t win, but lost, and not in the lottery, but in cards, and not a hundred thousand, but a hundred rubles. (I apologize for such a deviation from the serious spirit of the presentation).

Discussion of versions

Let us first note that neither version excludes the other. The official version seems to be unaware of the existence of other options and lives (or pretends) independently. The second version gloomily complements the first, giving a broad, inhuman interpretation of the implementation of the expedition’s goals. Mentally returning to the time of the Chelyuskin’s voyage, one can imagine that Otto Yulievich Schmidt, the scientific director of the expedition, set himself the most interesting scientific problem studying the Northern Sea Route and could not refuse the imposed conditions of this expedition. This could not be a question of the scientific future, but a question of life.

Our task is to try to create a true picture based on the information available today. If possible, disassemble these two decks and throw away the fake cards.

Within the framework of the official version, perhaps only three questions arise: about the suitability of the ship for the tasks of the expedition, about the number of people and the coordinates of the death of the ship.

"Chelyuskin" and its characteristics.

For the expedition along the Northern Sea Route, a vessel was used, specially designed by Soviet ship designers for navigation in the ice of the Arctic basin. According to technical data, the steamship was the most modern cargo-passenger ship for that time. The steamship was designed to sail between the mouth of the Lena (hence the original name of the ship “Lena”) and Vladivostok. The construction order was placed at one of the most famous European shipyards, Burmeister&Wain (B&W) Copenhagen.

A year ago, attempts were made to obtain information about this order from the builder. The reason for the unsuccessful attempts was as follows. The Burmeister&Wain (B&W) Copenhagen shipyard went bankrupt in 1996, and at the same time a large number of documentation was lost. The surviving part of the archives was transferred to the B&W museum. The head of the museum, Christian Hviid Mortensen, kindly gave the opportunity to use the preserved materials related to the construction of Chelyuskin. These include photographs of the launching of the Lena and the test voyage of the ship (published for the first time), as well as a press release describing the Chelyuskin, giving an idea of ​​the technical perfection of the ship.

A fragment of the photograph of the launching was posted by me on the website www.cheluskin.ru in
hoping to identify the names of the participants in this event. However, we were unable to identify anyone in the image. In 1933, only one steamship was built for the Soviet Union, intended for navigation in the ice conditions of the seas of the Arctic Ocean. The company did not build any other steamships for these sailing conditions either in 1933 or later. The steamship "Sonja", which is referred to on the website www.cheluskin.ru, was intended for other operating conditions and may have only had an external resemblance to the "Lena". In addition, B&W supplied the USSR with two more refrigerated vessels and two self-unloading cargo vessels. B&W's next supply to the USSR included three timber transport vessels in 1936.

In accordance with the manufacturer's data, a steamship with a displacement of 7,500 tons called "Lena" was launched on March 11, 1933. The test voyage took place on May 6, 1933. The ship was built to the specific specifications of Lloyd's, the world's most venerable and respected shipbuilding organization, with the note "Reinforced for Ice Navigation." We also note that in the press release of the B&W company “Cargo-passenger ship “Chelyuskin”” the steamer was classified as an ice breaking type vessel.

We have obtained copies of the Lloyd Register books for 1933-34. from London. The SS Lena was registered to Lloyd's in March 1933 as 29274.

Tonnage 3607 t
Built in 1933
Builder Burmeister&Wain Copenhagen
Owner Sovtorgflot
Length 310.2’
Width 54.3’
Depth 22.0’
Home port Vladivostok, Russia
Engine (special version)
Attribute +100 A1 strengthened for navigation in ice
Explanation of class symbols:
+ (Maltese cross) - means that the ship was built under the supervision of Lloyd;
100 - means that the ship was built according to Lloyd's rules;
A1 - means that the ship was built for special purposes or for special merchant shipping;
The number 1 in this symbol means that the ship is well and efficiently equipped in accordance with Lloyd's rules;
strengthened for navigation in ice – strengthened for navigation in ice.

After the renaming, a new entry was made in the Register under the number 39034. The name of the ship is given in the following transcription “Cheliuskin”. All main characteristics were repeated.

In the list of lost ships in Lloyd's Register, the Chelyuskin with registration number 39034 is listed with the following cause of death: “Destroyed by ice on the northern coast of Siberia on February 13, 1934.” There are no other entries relating to this period in the register.

After the first voyage to Leningrad and back, the shortcomings noted at the shipyard in Copenhagen were eliminated Soviet side. Compliance with all the terms of the contract for the construction of the vessel is also indirectly confirmed by the fact that there is no data on the claims of the Soviet side to the manufacturer after the death of Chelyuskin, as well as by further orders from Soviet foreign trade organizations to this company. This is also evidenced by the inspection report of the vessel on July 8, 1933 in Murmansk according to the standards of the Soviet Maritime Register, which did not contain any comments.

Thus, the assertion of many, including members of the expedition, that the ship was an ordinary cargo-passenger steamer, not intended for passage in ice conditions, is certainly erroneous. According to E. Belimov, the Danish government sent notes protesting against the use of steamships manufactured in Copenhagen for navigation in ice. Why were there no other demarches when the death of one of them was reported and the disappearance of the other? (We were unable to find confirmation of the existence of such interstate notes. Their presence contradicts the logic international relations, since the customers of the ships and their manufacturers were trading companies, and not the USSR and the Kingdom of Denmark). But the main thing: the Chelyuskin steamship, as stated above, was designed and built specifically for sailing in the ice of the Northern Basin. There could not be not only diplomatic, but also technical grounds for the Danish government’s notes to the USSR government regarding the inadmissibility of using the Chelyuskin in the northern seas. One can not conjecture, but unequivocally state that this part of E. Belimov’s story, allegedly documented secret archive“Secret folder of the CPSU Central Committee” is a fiction.

When sailing from Murmansk, according to I. Kuksin, there were 111 people on the ship, including one child - the daughter of the new head of the winter quarters on Wrangel Island. This number included 52 crew members of the steamship, 29 members of the expedition and 29 members of the staff of the Wrangel Island research station. On August 31, 1933, a girl was born on the ship. There were 112 people on Chelyuskin. The above number of 113 people is more accurate. As stated above, before the start of the drift in mid-September, 8 people on dogs were sent to the ground. After this, 105 people were supposed to remain on the ship. One person died when the ship sank into the depths of the sea on February 13, 1934. The given data, to within 1 person, coincides with the number of people according to the decree on rewarding participants in the Schmidt camp. The reason for the discrepancy could not be determined.

Of particular interest is the question of the coordinates of the death of Chelyuskin. It would seem that this question should have been unambiguously defined. These coordinates, of course, were entered in the ship's log, reported to the mainland to ensure the search and rescue of people from the ice floe, and should have been known to every crew of the aircraft participating in the rescue of the polar explorers.

However, in August 2004, the expedition to search for “Chelyuskin” with the help of the scientific vessel “Akademik Lavrentyev” ended in failure. The study used data from a 1934 navigator's log. Then the expedition leader, Otto Schmidt, reported the exact coordinates in a radiogram. All coordinates known in the archives left by the expeditions of 1974 and 1979 were checked. The head of the expedition, director of the Russian Underwater Museum, Alexey Mikhailov, said that the reason for the failure was the falsification of data about the location of the ship's sinking. The assumption arises that for some reason or due to the tradition of classifying any information, the changed coordinates were reflected in the press. In this regard, the author made an attempt to find this data in the foreign press of the period of salvation of the Chelyuskinites. The Los Angeles Times newspaper of April 12, 1934 gave the following coordinates: 68o 20’ north. latitude and 173o 04’ west. longitude The navigation charts of the Far Eastern Shipping Company indicate that the Chelyuskin sank at coordinates 68 degrees 17 minutes north latitude and 172 degrees 50 minutes west longitude. This point lies 40 miles from Cape Vankarem, on which the village of the same name is located.

15 years ago, in September 1989, the sunken Chelyuskin was found by Sergei Melnikoff on the hydrographic vessel Dmitry Laptev. He published the updated coordinates of the death of the Chelyuskin, verified as a result of the dive to the ship. In connection with the statement about the falsification of coordinates after the end of Mikhailov’s expedition, he wrote: “I will allow myself to object and cite the exact coordinates of the Chelyuskin settlement at the disposal of the Russian Academy of Sciences, obtained by me as a result of a week-long search on the hydrographic vessel “Dmitry Laptev” using systems satellite orientation "Magnavox" and military system"Mars": 68° 18; 05; north latitude and 172° 49; 40; western longitude. With numbers like these, don’t drop anchors there! These are coordinates accurate to one meter.”

Considering the contradictory estimates of the coordinates of the sunken Chelyuskin, the author attempted to clarify the controversial issues from Sergei Melnikoff, who claims that he dived to the sunken steamer and took photographs in the immediate vicinity of the ship at a depth of 50 meters. When asked about the significance of the discrepancies in coordinates and the presence of falsification of the initial data, S. Melnikoff replied that “the discrepancy is not significant. Half a nautical mile. Due to the fact that in those days coordinates were taken using a manual sextant, and I used a satellite system, this is a normal mistake.” The search was carried out “using maps of the General Staff, which do not show other sunken ships in the area. And they found it half a mile from where it was marked on the map. Therefore, we can say with almost 100% confidence that this is “Chelyuskin”. Echolocation also speaks about this - the object is 102 meters long and 11 meters high. Apparently, the ship is slightly tilted to the left side and is practically not immersed in silt or bottom sediments. The insufficient validity of Mikhailov’s statement about data falsification was confirmed by a participant in the Chelyuskin-70 expedition, the head of the apparatus of the Federation Council Commission on Youth Affairs and Sports, Doctor of Sociological Sciences Alexander Shchegortsov.

Since we undertake the task of conducting an independent investigation, when analyzing the factual side of the case we will proceed from the “presumption of innocence”, i.e. We will assume that all the basic information presented by the author E. Belimov in “The Mystery of the Chelyuskin Expedition” reflects real facts known to the author and is not burdened by conscious literary fiction.

Let us note that until today it was believed that the first publication of the work “The Mystery of the Chelyuskin Expedition” was on the Chronograph website, published under the slogan “XX century. Documents, events, persons. Unknown pages stories…". In the preface to the site, editor Sergei Shram points out: “Many pages of this site will seem unusually harsh to some, and even offensive to others. Well, this is the peculiarity of the genre in which I work. This feature is the authenticity of the fact. What is the difference between fiction and history? Fiction tells what could have been. History is only what happened. At turning points of eras, people are more willing to spend time reading historical publications that tell “what happened.” Before you is just such a publication...” Therefore, it is not surprising that such a problematic article, which makes public the statements of expedition members on a very pressing issue, was republished by many publications and Internet sites.

A search shows that the traditional reference to “Chronograph” as the primary source is not correct. The publication in “Chronograph” dates back to August 2001. The first publication of E. Belimov’s work was in the weekly “New Siberia”, No. 10 (391) March 9, 2000, published in Novosibirsk. In addition, this publication has a link: “especially for “New Siberia”. In this case, the author’s place of work in NETI becomes completely clear, the abbreviation of which did not say anything during repeated publications. NETI is the Novosibirsk Electrotechnical Institute, later renamed the Novosibirsk State Technical University (NSTU). Let us also pay attention to the fact that the Israeli version also appeared in print later than the publication in “New Siberia”, but it also precedes the publication in “Chronograph”.

Anti-tansy

When we're talking about When comparing different versions, there may always be a danger that the versions refer to different objects and their inconsistencies are not mutually exclusive. In this case, there are two unique and isolated events, considered in both versions, information about which cannot be dual. Only OR-OR. This is the only, first and last, campaign of “Chelyuskin”, for which there cannot be different dates. And the only case of a girl being born in the Kara Sea: there cannot be different dates of birth and different parents.

Therefore, we will first turn to comparing information on these issues.

According to the official version, the ship left Murmansk on August 2, 1933. Already on August 13, 1933, a serious deformation of the hull and a leak appeared in the Kara Sea. November 7, 1934 The leader of the expedition, O. Schmidt, while in the Bering Strait, sent Soviet government congratulatory radiogram. After this, the ship was no longer able to sail independently and drifted in the ice in a northerly direction until the day of its death. E. Belimov writes: “So, let’s go back to the distant past of December 5, 1933. At around 9 or 10 in the morning, Elizaveta Borisovna (Karina’s future mother, according to Belimov – LF’s note) was brought to the pier and helped to board the Chelyuskin. The departure began almost immediately. Steamboats were humming, rockets were bursting in the black sky, music was playing somewhere, everything was solemn and a little sad. Following the Chelyuskin, the Tansy floats, all in lights, like a fairy-tale city.” One can additionally cite a whole series of time milestones showing that “Chelyuskin” could not begin sailing from Murmansk on December 5, 1933. In accordance with this, it can be firmly stated that the dating of the “Chelyuskin” expedition in the work of E. Belimov is erroneous.

In the Kara Sea, a girl was born on the Chelyuskin, named Karina after her place of birth. Most sources in this regard refer to the following entry in the ship's log: “August 31. 5 o'clock 30 m. The Vasiliev couple had a child, a girl. Countable latitude 75°46"51" north, longitude 91°06" east, sea depth 52 meters." The work of E. Belimov states: "And only once did the twin ships moor to each other. This happened on January 4, 1934 year, on Karina’s birthday, the head of the convoy, Kandyba, wanted to see her newborn daughter in person. Elizaveta Borisovna occupied luxury cabin No. 6, the same as the captain and head of the expedition. Karina was born in the farthest corner of the Kara Sea. to Cape Chelyuskin, and beyond it another sea begins - the East Siberian Sea. At the place of birth in the Kara Sea, Captain Voronin immediately wrote a birth certificate on the ship’s form, indicating the exact coordinates - northern latitude and eastern longitude. , - signed and attached the ship’s seal.” A comparison of these records allows us to distinguish two. fundamental differences. In the first version, the girl was born on August 31, 1934. According to the second, on January 4, 1934, the Chelyuskin approached Cape Chelyuskin on the border of the Kara Sea on September 1, 1933. In January 1934, the Chelyuskin steamer was already trapped in ice near the Bering Strait and in no way could he independently approach another ship, moreover, in the Kara Sea. This makes the only possible version about Karina’s birth on August 31, 1933. In the first version, the Vasilievs are indicated as the girl’s parents. The group of winterers included surveyor V.G. Vasiliev. and his wife Vasilyeva D.I. In E. Belimov’s version, the parents are named Kandyba (without indicating the first and patronymic) and Elizaveta Borisovna (without indicating the last name). It should also be noted that in the second version, in the quoted entry about the girl’s birth, there is no mention of parents at all. Many memoirs talk about Karina’s birth in the Vasiliev family. Ilya Kuksin writes about this in especially detail, as about his teacher’s family. According to documentary data and memories, there is no place for another child with other parents to appear on the ship. Participants in the voyage with the surname Kandyba or with the name Elizaveta Borisovna could not be found either in the studied documents or in the memoirs. All this clearly allows us to conclude that E. Belimov’s version of Karina’s birth is unsubstantiated. To confirm the reality of the girl born on the ship to members of the Vasilyev expedition, we present a photograph of Karina Vasilyeva in our time. Photo courtesy of the website www.cheluskin.ru. For her, who lived her whole life with her parents, the far-fetched version of other parents and the other life described by Belimov was especially obvious.

The question of the number of winterers on a drifting ice floe, taking into account the voyage of two ships, is a very serious one. This issue has not been addressed in any of the publications known to me. After the death of "Chelyuskin" there were 104 people on the ice. These included 52 members of the Chelyuskin team, 23 members of the expedition of O.Yu. Schmidt and 29 participants of the proposed wintering on the island. Wrangel, including 2 children. At the same time, the regular number of ship's crew members should be somewhat larger, since on the eve of wintering in September 1933, several crew members were sent to land for health reasons. This is exactly the number of people - 104 people - that were taken to the ground by the pilots of the rescue expedition. E. Belimov hints that the number of people transported to the ground could have been greater, taking into account the significant number of aircraft involved in the rescue. Therefore, we considered it necessary to so scrupulously provide the data on the number of flights and the number of people transported by each pilot. Among the rescued winterers there is no place even for the mythical Kandyba and his wife Elizaveta Borisovna. At the same time, to escort a second ship similar to the Chelyuskin, a team of the same size was needed. We're not even talking about protecting prisoners. What is their fate in the presence of a second steamer, sunk on orders carried out personally by Kandyba?

The cruelty of the Stalinist regime and the methods of treatment of prisoners by the NKVD officers have long ceased to be a secret. Repeated cases of execution of prisoners by drowning them in the holds of old barges have been published and documented.

Let us assume that in order to destroy all witnesses to the transportation of prisoners and their drowning, a decision was made, difficult to implement by one person, to destroy, along with the prisoners, all the guards and crew members of the steamship. But even the implementation of such a decision does not eliminate dangerous witnesses. The Northern Sea Route in those years was no longer an ice desert. The months-long voyage was accompanied by repeated meetings with other ships, and the periodic participation of icebreakers in guiding the expedition. We pointed to a meeting of six ships at Cape Chelyuskin, a meeting with a large group of Chukchi. E. Belimov describes repeated contacts between the Chelyuskin and Pizhma teams, both before the death of Chelyuskin and after. To destroy the witnesses, it would be necessary to take equally radical measures in relation to all people who were or could have witnessed the voyage of the second ship. Moreover, from these positions, sending O.Yu. Schmidt, an old intellectual, a man with an impeccable reputation in scientific world, for treatment in the United States immediately after evacuation from the ice floe. It is well known that the holders of secrets in no case had the opportunity to travel abroad, especially without reliable escort.

In 1932, the Special Expedition of the People's Commissariat for Water was created within the NKVD structure. She served the Gulag, transporting people and goods from Vladivostok and Vanino to Kolyma and the mouth of the Lena. The flotilla consisted of a dozen ships. In one navigation they did not have time to go to Lena and back, they spent the winter in the ice. Documents relating to the activities of the Special Expedition are kept in the closed funds of the NKVD. It is quite possible that there is information about a sunken steamer there. But they are unlikely to have anything to do with Chelyuskin’s epic. The famous English researcher Robert Conquest devoted many years to studying the processes of violence against his own people in the USSR. Some works are devoted to death camps in the Arctic and the transport of prisoners. He compiled a complete list of ships used to transport prisoners. There is not a single Arctic voyage in 1933 on this list. The name of the ship “Pizhma” (“Pizhma” - “Tansy”) is missing.

The author looked through the set of the Los Angeles Times newspaper from the first page to advertisements for the period from February 1 to June 30, 1934. The search made it possible to discover photographs of the death of the Chelyuskin, the coordinates of the sunken ship, a number of reports about the drifting ice camp, stages of preparation and the rescue of the Chelyuskinites, the participation of the Americans in this, the transportation and treatment of O. Schmidt. Not a single newspaper report was found about other SOS signals from the Soviet Arctic or the location of surviving prisoners. The only mention of radio signals associated with prisoners is a note by a Trud correspondent from Kazan, dating back to 2001. No such reports were found in foreign studies about the Soviet Arctic. Over the past 70 years, we are not aware of a single publication in the foreign press about prisoners who survived or died in 1934, who were in the northern seas at the same time as Chelyuskin.

Soviet leaders often applied the principle that the end justifies the means. Both in peace and in war time turning people into camp dust was common. From this side, sacrificing masses of people for the development of the North would be commonplace. But for all the recognized cruelty of power in major undertakings, it was not stupid. To implement the same task with greater benefit, a simple way out catches your eye. With even greater fanfare, the passage of the Northern Sea Route in one navigation is announced by not one, but two steamships. Openly, legally, to the sounds of orchestras, as Belimov said, two ships proudly sail along given route. They are not afraid of witnesses and encounters with other ships. Only the “filling” of one of the ships remains a mystery: instead of timber, food and coal reserves, living building materials are hidden in the holds. There is no disappearance of a newly built ship, there are not many problems... It is difficult to imagine that the arbiters of fate chose such a more vulnerable option than was possible. All this leads us to assume that there were no problems because there was no second ship in the expedition. The above information from the shipbuilder's archives indicates that in 1933 only one steamship, the Lena, was built for the USSR, renamed Chelyuskin before leaving on its only voyage. The English Lloyd's register books allow us to establish the presence of only this ship.

It was possible to attract shortwave operators to actively participate in the search. According to Belimov, a large group of cool shortwave radio amateurs were on Pizhma and they were assigned a significant role. The early 1930s were a time of widespread interest in shortwave communications. Many hundreds and thousands of radio amateurs in the USSR and abroad received personal call signs and went on the air. It was honorable to establish large number connections, competitions were held among shortwave operators. Proof of the establishment of two-way communication was the presence in the received information of a call sign belonging to the sender of the signal. References to the presence of distress signals from shortwave carriers that did not belong to Chelyuskin were given by journalists from third parties after the publication of the Pizhma version. Each of them included details that exactly repeated Belimov’s text. Well-known shortwave operator Georgy Chliants (call sign UY5XE), author of the recently published book “Leafing through the old<> (1925-1941)", Lvov; 2005, 152 pp., searched for a shortwave operator by the name Zaks, given in the so-called “Israeli” version as main character versions. There was no personal call sign registered for this surname. This name is not found among participants in shortwave competitions in 1930-33; such a surname is unknown among shortwave operators.

Let us dwell on some less significant details of E. Belimov’s story, which do not fit well with reality. The obvious discrepancy is related to the name of the ship. The author points out that on a small copper plate in English it was written something like this: “Chelyuskin” was launched on June 3, 1933.” The date fixed by the builder for launching the steamship is March 11, 1933. When launched, the ship had a different name - “Lena”. No similar information is provided about the second ship at all, although in essence Belimov’s essay it was precisely this that was necessary. With mathematics, the philologist Belimov, apparently, was not doing well. The next two episodes, in particular, speak about this. He writes: “Five people took part in the meeting: four men and one woman.” And immediately after this he says that Karina’s mother spoke, followed by Karina herself. After the death of “Chelyuskin,” according to Belimov, “Pizhma” turns out to be a new home for women and children: “On the evening of February 14, snowmobiles rolled up to the starboard side of “Pizhma,” first one, and then the other. The doors swung open, and children of all ages fell out like peas.” And this despite the fact that there were only two girls on the ship, one of whom was less than 2 years old, and the second a few months old.

The documentary essay, the form of which “The Secret of the Chelyuskin Expedition” claims to be, requires precision in determining characters. Belimov does not have a single person with a first name, patronymic and last name. The main character of the essay, unwinding the whole intrigue of the ghost ship, remains Yakov Samoilovich without a surname - a short, stocky man, with a round head, as is the case with mathematicians. One could assume that the author does not want to reveal his identity, but the essay was written in the 90s, and the author and his main character are in Israel. Therefore, there are no objective reasons for this. At the same time, information about Yakov Samoilovich’s connection with Karina would be quite enough for the KGB (Ministry of Internal Affairs) to disclose incognito. In contrast, the captain of the Pizhma has only the surname Chechkin without a first name or patronymic. An attempt to find such a captain in the northern fleet, who piloted ships in the 1930s, did not yield results.

Frank “literaryism” is manifested in the detailed presentation of conversations about “Chelyuskin’s” campaign against the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the leaders of the NKVD. In some episodes, the nature of the presentation of the material in “The Secret of the Chelyuskin Expedition” is similar to cases of making counterfeit dollars with the manufacturer’s own portrait.

Chelyuskinets Ibragim Fakidov calls the Israeli version “fiction.” A graduate of the Faculty of Physics and Mechanics of the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, whose dean was Academician Ioffe, remained to work at the institute as a research assistant. In 1933, I. Fakidov was invited to join the scientific expedition to the Chelyuskin. The Chelyuskinites, quick to give nicknames, nicknamed the young physicist Faraday as a sign of respect. In 2000, I.G. Fakidov was indignant: “This is some kind of colossal misunderstanding! After all, if everything were true, I, being on the Chelyuskin, could not help but find out about it. I had close contact with everyone on the ship: I was a great friend of the captain and the head of the expedition, I knew every researcher and every sailor. Two ships got into trouble, and they are being crushed to death by ice, and they don’t know each other - some kind of nonsense!” The last participant in the Chelyuskin expedition was Ekaterinburg professor Ibragim Gafurovich Fakidov, who headed the laboratory electrical phenomena at the Sverdlovsk Institute of Metal Physics, died on March 5, 2004.

The awarding of Chelyuskinites has several interesting features. Non-expedition members were awarded for completing some tasks and scientific research, and the participants of the Schmidt camp, “for the exceptional courage, organization and discipline shown by a detachment of polar explorers in the ice of the Arctic Ocean at the time and after the death of the steamer Chelyuskin, which ensured the preservation of people’s lives, safety scientific materials and the property of the expedition, which created the necessary conditions for providing them with assistance and rescue.” The list does not include eight participants and specialists who went through the entire difficult main route during extreme swimming and work, but were not among the winterers on the ice floe.

All participants in the Schmidt camp - from the leader of the expedition and the captain of the sunken ship to the carpenters and cleaners - were awarded the same - the Order of the Red Star. Likewise, all the pilots initially included in the rescue group were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, including Sigismund Levanevsky, who, due to the plane crash, did not directly participate in the rescue of the Chelyuskinites. They did the same with the aircraft mechanics, awarding them all the Order of Lenin. At the same time, the Sh-2 pilot and his mechanic, who provided air support for the entire sailing route and independently flew to the mainland, were awarded only as winter participants.

In connection with the awarding of S. Levanevsky, it was suggested that he deliberately made a kind of forced landing in order to prevent the American mechanic Clyde Armstead from seeing the ship with the prisoners. In this case, it becomes difficult to explain the participation of the second American mechanic Levari William in the flights almost at the same time together with Slepnev.

On the advice of one of the search participants, Ekaterina Kolomiets, who assumed that she had a relative who was a clergyman at Pizhma, we contacted representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR) in the United States. We were unable to obtain additional information. A similar request was made by our correspondent in the circles of the Moscow Patriarchate - also with zero results.

The participation of E. Kolomiets and her information are very typical of attempts to restore the truth from memories. In the first letter, she wrote: “In my family, from generation to generation, a story was passed down about my great-grandfather, who was on the Pizhma at the time of its crash among political prisoners, he was an Orthodox priest, lived in Moscow and, according to him, held a high rank. In 1933 he was repressed along with his family.” The specificity of the information made it possible to rely on it as a guiding thread. However, later it turned out that the legend contradicts the facts. After some time, in response to our questions, the correspondent wrote: “I learned the fact that my great-great-grandfather knew E.T. Krenkel. He often came to them in Kimry. And Nikolai Georgievich himself (the son of his great-grandfather), he is now 76 years old, worked all the time in the naval ship under Papanin’s protégé.” The legend was replaced by the truth of life, in which there was no place for either “Chelyuskin” or “Pizhma”. Specifically, she herself admitted that this data has nothing to do with Chelyuskin and Pizhma. These are the problems of yet another family drawn into the whirlpool of Stalinist repressions.

Many people involved in the problems surrounding Chelyuskin after the publication of E.I. Belimov, we would like to clarify serious issues in communication with the author. I also made persistent attempts to find an opportunity to find out the relationship between literary fiction and fact directly from the author. No attempts to establish contact with the author E. Belimov over the years since the publication of his work have been successful, which is reflected on many websites and Internet forums. My appeals to the editor of Chronograph, Sergei Shram, who was considered the first publisher of the material, and to the editors of the weekly New Siberia, remained unanswered. Unfortunately, I can report that to find out the opinion of E.I. No one will succeed in Belimov. According to his old colleagues, he died in Israel in 2002.

The verification of all the main provisions of E. Belimov’s work, or the Israeli version, as some authors call it, has been completed. Facts and publications were reviewed and witnesses' recollections were heard. This allows us to put an end to the investigation of the “secrets” of the Chelyuskin expedition today. The presumption of innocence has come to an end. In accordance with all the information known today, it can be argued that the version of “Tansy” is a literary fiction.

IN modern conditions With greater openness, an attempt was made to find out whether the families of the expedition participants had any assumptions about the presence of any ship or barge with prisoners in the Chelyuskin drift zone. In the families of O.Yu. Schmidt and E.T. Krenkel answered unequivocally that such a version had never arisen. Apart from the ice ridges around the ship, nothing last period swimming, there was nothing and no one during the drift of the camp - an ice desert.

We were unable to find any facts or information confirming the presence of a second steamer, sailing as part of the same expedition with the Chelyuskin. I would like to quote Confucius: “It is difficult to look for a black cat in a dark room, especially if it is not there.” We have done this hard work and bear witness responsibly: it was not there! There was no ship with prisoners as part of the Chelyuskin expedition. The specially designed cargo-passenger ship “Chelyuskin”, reinforced for navigation in ice, under the leadership of strong and courageous people, tried to solve the problem of laying the Northern Sea Route for ships of non-icebreaking type. The problem was half a step away from being solved. But she didn’t give in. The risk of such a passage without icebreaker support turned out to be so serious that no further attempts were made.

In conclusion, I would like to express my deep gratitude for the responsiveness and participation, the desire to help the head of the museum of the company B&W, Copenhagen Christian Mortensen, employee of the Lloyd’s Register information department Anna Kovn, publisher and traveler Sergei Melnikoff, director of the Russian Underwater Museum Alexei Mikhailov, T.E. Krenkel - son of radio operator E.T. Krenkel, V.O. Schmidt - son of the expedition leader O.Yu. Schmidt, shortwave writer Georgy Chliants, Ekaterina Kolomiets, as well as many other correspondents who took part in the discussion and responded to difficult questions of Russian history.

Reviews

Of course, the history of the expedition of a huge steamship, which had just been manufactured at a colossal expense, and which sailed into the polar night at the whim of Schmidt, overflowing with enthusiasm, is falsified, and the history of the feat of 28 Panfilov men is acquiring more and more new historical details.
This is our time.
From the author's page Tansy ():
"Eduard Belimov was born in Siberia in 1936 in the family of a historian. At the age of sixteen he completely lost his sight, but despite this, he graduated with honors from the Novosibirsk Pedagogical Institute and received a philological education. Within thirty three years taught German in Novosibirsk technical university and at the same time studied science: languages ​​and ethnography of the small peoples of Siberia. Candidate of Philology. Made ten expeditions to the Far North.

10 expeditions while blind. Fiction of course!

PS. “The country is experiencing the greatest famine in history. 32-33. At the same time, the country is spending an enormous amount of money to order a non-standard and expensive ship. Which, in incredible haste, neglecting all the proven methods of such travel, without really checking it, is sent on a very dubious voyage and it sinks.
An accident with loss of life is called a disaster.
Schmidt is responsible. I could resist and not swim until the next navigation begins. . I would have found an excuse. In an extreme case, one bearded head would fly and would not risk a hundred lives.
The question is: what is the urgency and priority? It seems like there weren’t any other problems facing the country, science and industry? I don't understand. There are only assumptions.
An attempt to pave the way to the DB, besides the Trans-Siberian?
BAM was built for the same purpose starting in 1938.
Was it hot with Japan? It’s not for nothing that the Koreans were evicted to Wed. Asia already in 37m.
Just don’t say that the goal was to explore the Arctic and a station on the island. Wrangel with a nursing mother and baby, a toilet on the outskirts of the polar night and with a furious wind.

April 13, 2014 marked 80 years since the successful completion of an unprecedented Arctic expedition to rescue the 104-member crew and scientific expedition of the Chelyuskin steamship crushed by ice in Chukotka.

This humanitarian mission had a powerful political resonance throughout the world. It is no coincidence that three days after its successful completion, on April 16, 1934, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the USSR established by its decree highest degree distinctions - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The first Heroes were seven pilots who took the winterers off the ice:

• Lyapidevsky Anatoly Vasilievich (Hero Star No. 1)
• Kamanin Nikolai Petrovich (Hero Star No. 2)
• Molokov Vasily Sergeevich (Hero Star No. 3)
• Levanevsky Sigismund Alexandrovich (Hero Star No. 4)
• Vodopyanov Mikhail Vasilievich (Hero Star No. 6)
• Slepnev Mavriky Trofimovich (Hero Star No. 5)
• Doronin Ivan Vasilievich (Hero Star No. 7)

The remaining aviators - pilots and flight mechanics - were awarded orders. Subsequently, more than 12 thousand people in the USSR received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for courage and heroism. IN new Russia this highest distinction was transformed into the title of Hero of Russia.

Meanwhile, flights to the ice floe and the evacuation of people from the ice camp are the heroic, but only the “above-water” part of the “iceberg” of the work done, while its “underwater” or “working” part has remained practically forgotten.

A fairly complete and “uninvented” picture of the collective feat was preserved only by the collection of memoirs “How we saved the Chelyuskinites.” On the eve of the celebration of November 7, 1933, the head of the scientific expedition on the ship “Chelyuskin” O.Yu. Schmidt radioed to Moscow that they were in the Bering Strait near Diomede Island, only two miles from clear water.

The steamship "Chelyuskin" under the Danish flag is heading to Leningrad, 1938.

The development of the vast expanses of the North and Chukotka at that time was one of the most important national economic tasks. In 1928, to solve it, under the leadership of the former commander-in-chief of the Red Army Armed Forces S.S. Kamenev created the Arctic Government Commission. Built in 1933 in Denmark by order of the USSR, Chelyuskin was intended for commercial voyages in the Arctic, although it was not an icebreaker.

Shipping in the area of ​​the Chukotka coast became more and more active from year to year. If in the 1920s American schooners and steamships “Stavropol” and “Kolyma” from Vladivostok only occasionally visited Chukotka, then in 1931 6 steamships arrived in Chukotka, in 1932 - 12, and in 1933 - no less than 20. That year there was a particularly difficult ice situation there. Three ships, including the Chelyuskin, were unable to escape from the ice captivity and wintered. Residents of the village of Wellen saw how the Chelyuskin, frozen in the ice, drifted into the Bering Strait. After Schmidt’s “work report,” several days of intense anticipation passed, but hopes were not destined to be justified. As the storm began, the ice was carried in the opposite direction.

The Chukchi again saw the Chelyuskin in the area of ​​Cape Serdtse-Kamen, 10-15 miles from the coast. He was helpless; the ice was dragging the ship east. The hunters then said that if the steamer could break through the edge and approach the shore, then a clear path would be guaranteed. The Litke ice cutter came out from Providence Bay to help the wintered steamships, but it was unable to get through to the Chelyuskin.

To remove people from wintered ships, a small air group began to be transferred to Chukotka in October. On the recommendation of the pilot Kukanov, who subsequently took some of the people from the Sever ship on a U-2, A.V. got into it. Lyapidevsky. In response to his letter, he received a radiogram from the head of the flight sector of the Northern Sea Route, M.I. Sheveleva: “I petition Unshlikht, I give my consent.” In October 1933, Lyapidevsky received another radiogram from Shevelev: “Unshlikht issued an order to go to Vladivostok at the disposal of a special representative for Far East Pozhidaev to fulfill a government task.” It was about removing people from three ships who had spent the winter in the ice.

On October 21, the steamship Sergei Kirov left Vladivostok, carrying two dismantled ANT-4s. The commissioner of the Northern Sea Route appointed pilot-observer Petrov as the head of the expedition. Lyapidevsky became the commander of one of the aircraft, pilot Konkin became the flight commander and political leader. In Petropavlovsk, the planes were loaded onto the hospital ship Smolensk. It was supposed to deliver coal to Provideniya Bay for the Litke, Lieutenant Schmidt and Sverdlovsk steamships stationed there and then serve as a base for transferring patients from wintering ships.

By the end of November, the planes were unloaded onto the ice, assembled and flown. On the 29th, Lyapidevsky tested the first plane in the air and landed on the ice near the ship. Some defects were discovered and mechanics began to fix them. Lyapidevsky was the most experienced pilot, in 1932 he trained on the ANT-4 at the Air Force Research Institute. Konkin did not fly the ANT-4, learning on the fly while testing the second aircraft. A total of seven landings were made.

Upon arrival, G.D. was appointed head of the expedition. Krasinsky, an experienced polar explorer who knew the ice conditions very well. In 1927-1929 he took part in three long-distance flights Eastern Siberia and Chukotka. Lyapidevsky recalled that it was Krasinsky who first told him “that Chelyuskin probably won’t get out of the ice - it will sink” and suggested removing people from Chelyuskin first.

The pilot of the Sh-2 amphibious aircraft on board the Chelyuskin is M.S. Babushkin

The complexity of the situation was aggravated by the polar night. It took about seven flight hours to get to the ship one way, and there were days when the sun did not rise at all. Having received permission from Schmidt, they tried to fly to Chelyuskin, despite the fact that there was an area of ​​only 600 by 50 m, and the ANT-4 required at least three times wider. The intermediate base was to be the village of Uellen on Cape Dezhnev. They were able to fly there only on December 20, although they flew out several times, but returned due to unreliable operation of the engines. Several times the polar day was not enough to have time to start and warm up both engines.

Upon arrival in Wellen at the end of December, Lyapidevsky made two attempts to fly to Chelyuskin, but due to engine failure he returned both times. On takeoff, he caught something with his right ski, but there were no incidents. On the second flight in frosty weather of 34°, Lyapidevsky was severely frostbitten, and it was necessary to return to Providence Bay for the second plane, since the supply of compressed air to start the engines had run out. The journey on dogs to Providence Bay lasted for a whole week, from January 11 to 18. Due to a blizzard, it was possible to fly to Uellen on the second ANT-4, loaded with ten compressed air cylinders, with a water and oil heater attached to the fuselage, only on February 6, but due to deteriorating weather, Lyapidevsky landed in the Gulf of Lawrence.

On February 13, Chukotka was the first to learn about the death of Chelyuskin. While the steamer, crushed by ice, was slowly sinking, they managed to remove everything necessary from it onto the ice floe, including the Sh-2 M.S. amphibious aircraft. Babushkina. During the evacuation, only the boatswain Mogilevich died, on whom a log fell.

The message that more than 100 people were on the ice spread around in a matter of hours and shocked the world. The next day in Moscow, immediately after receiving Schmidt’s radiogram, on behalf of the deputy. Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR V.V. Kuibyshev held a meeting with S.S. Kamenev, where the first steps were outlined to organize the rescue of the Chelyuskinites. The meeting had not yet ended, the draft resolution on the planned events was still being edited, as it became known that, on the initiative of I.V. Stalin created a government commission to provide assistance to the Chelyuskinites. A few hours later she got to work.

The main difficulty was the enormous distances separating Schmidt’s camp not only from Moscow, but also from the industrial regions of our country in general. In those years, about 15,000 Chukchi and Eskimos lived on the vast territory of Chukotka. A chain of camps and villages, at least 50, stretched along the entire coast. Two-thirds of the total population lived near the sea, which fed, clothed and warmed the aborigines. They were mainly engaged in hunting sea animals, which provided skins, meat, and fat. In the depths of Chukotka, in the tundra, there are nomads. Their wealth is deer and fur-bearing animals. In summer, the means of communication was water, and in winter, dogs.

The life and customs of the Chukchi living in yarangas was figuratively described by Lyapidevsky: “A yaranga is a round tent. The inner surface of the yaranga is divided into two halves: the first is the vestibule. Dogs are usually kept here, a pantry is located, and fresh prey is located. The second half is residential. It is separated from the first by a special canopy. To get into the second half, you need to crawl under the canopy. It’s very hot in the residential half, the Chukchi walk around naked here. The housing is heated with seal or walrus fat. There is something like a cauldron: a trough with two partitions is hewn out, fat is poured into the trough, and moss is placed around the edges, which is soaked in fat. And now this cauldron shines and warms...

When you enter behind the curtain, the woman undresses you. To refuse is to offend. The owner will not budge, they fuss, only women work. The man says: “I have to think where the beast went.” They are treated to tea and copalgin, this is walrus meat from spring and autumn slaughter. The walrus is killed, cut into pieces and thrown into pits. The meat begins to decompose, but does not have time to decompose completely - it freezes. It is eaten in this frozen form. Behind the curtain, men and women walk almost naked. Two women were dressed in European dresses, but this did not change the situation, because they do not take off the dress until it falls apart: there is nowhere and nothing to wash it with. Tea boils on the fire day and night. The women wipe the tea mug with a dirty hem and pour tea into the mug for the guest. After everyone has drunk, the rest is poured back into the kettle until next time.”

It is not surprising that when S. Levanevsky flew to Anadyr to pick up the American pilot Mattern, who had crashed in Chukotka during a round-the-world flight, the local population complained “that Mattern does not eat anything, as if he were not dead. They ask us if we brought any food - he only eats chocolate...” Levanevsky gave him his emergency ration - 10-15 bars and flew with Mattern to Nome. When he put the American ashore, “Mattern fell to the ground and began to slam his hands on the ground, exclaiming: “America! America!" So Levanevsky became Mattern’s “savior” in America and almost a folk hero.

At the very first meeting, the government commission proposed that the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route establish uninterrupted radio communications with the Schmidt camp and the Chukotka Peninsula. Moscow decided to mobilize and use local funds from Chukotka to help Schmidt. The commission immediately appointed an emergency troika in Chukotka, chaired by the head of the station at Cape Northern, Red Banner Petrov. This troika was tasked with mobilizing dog and deer transport, as well as immediately bringing the planes located in Chukotka to flight readiness.

Such an aircraft was the U-2 (“N-4”) piloted by Kukanov at Cape Severny. In the fall of 1933, he did a great job transporting passengers from the People's Commissariat of Water supply ships that wintered near Cape Shelagsky. On one of the last flights, the plane damaged its landing gear. At the Wellen polar station there was another U-2 with an unreliable engine, initially assigned to the pilot Konkin, who flew as Lyapidevsky’s co-pilot (one crew for two ANT-4s). The second ANT-4 was initially assigned to Chernyavsky; no information has been preserved about his participation in the expedition. There was also a completely worn-out YUG-1 (three-engine Junkers G.23), they didn’t even try to use it. The condition of the equipment, including Lyapidevsky’s planes, aroused fear in everyone.

While in Moscow they quickly created a government commission and discussed an action plan, in Chukotka local authorities tried to save the Chelyuskinites on their own. The very next day after the death of “Chelyuskin,” an emergency troika was created in the area, which included the chairman of the RIK Trudolyubov, the meteorologist at the Uellen station Khvorostansky and the head of the border checkpoint in Dezhnev Pogorelov. The troika decided to mobilize 60 sledges and send them to Cape Onman, and from there straight across the ice to Schmidt’s camp. The path on the ice was 140-150 km, and 500 km from Cape Onman from Wellen. In a straight line from Wellen to the Schmidt camp - 265 km, from Cape Northern - 287 km. The plane had to indicate the direction to the sledges. They were going to drop food for dogs and food for people along the way and convey all orders. Such an expedition under the command of Khvorostansky set out on February 14, taking 21 sledges from Uellen and planning to collect the rest along the way.

On February 18, the Wellen troika received a telegram signed by the chairman of the government commission, Kuibyshev, that Petrov had been appointed their chairman. From Wellen to Northern Cape - 750-800 km. The next day, by order of Kuibyshev, the head of the Chukotka checkpoint, A. Nebolsin, was added to the emergency troika. He arrived in Uellen on February 18 and did not approve of the expedition idea: “Gathering 60 sledges meant exposing the entire area. In addition, the expedition was supposed to take two months, its success is doubtful, and at this time, here on the spot without dogs, no other measures of assistance would be possible. We also had to remember the needs of the population. To mobilize all the dogs for two months would mean leaving the Chukchi without hunting, i.e. doom them to hunger." Soon Petrov ordered the detention of Khvorostansky’s expedition. Four days later, Nebolsin caught up with him halfway and ordered him to go to Cape Onman, choosing landing sites along the way and preparing food.

On February 28, they arrived at Onman, where the village of Ilkhetan and seven farms (yarang) were located. There was no connection here with other areas. Nebolsin prevented another attempt at an expedition to Schmidt's camp. The Northern Sea Route worker Yegoshin also wanted to immediately move to the ice camp, but the Chukchi refused to go with him. The idea of ​​creating a base on Cape Onman was rejected, limiting it to the installation of signal masts with flags on Onman and Kolyuchin Island. 35 km from Onman there was the village of Vankarem, where there was a trading post, a school, and 12 farms. As a result, the commission decided to create a base in Vankarem. There was no landing site there yet. The emergency troika in Chukotka was tasked with using mobilized dog and deer transport to transport fuel to Vankarem. Fuel bases were located in Providence Bay, Wellen and Cape North. On the Chukchi coast, the Chukchi did not use reindeer as transport; everything had to be carried by dogs; 15 dog sleds were allocated for this purpose. The normal load of one team is 150 kg, and in total they transported more than 6 tons of gasoline and 1.5 tons of oil. Only by March 9, the radio station and service personnel were delivered to Vankarem on three sledges.

Along the coast we collected more than 100 sledges (about 1200 poods) of the main fuel - driftwood. 12 sleds were sent to the tundra for venison, but a special problem arose with the procurement of food for the Chelyuskinites. The fact is that the Chukchi did not sell live reindeer; meat was welcome, but it still had to be transported. This was due to a local belief that arose due to the fact that at the beginning of the century, when the Chukchi sold live reindeer to Alaska, they experienced an epidemic and death of reindeer. With the help of local Komsomol members, they carried out explanatory work and concluded special agreements for the supply of meat by the Chukchi themselves in exchange for scarce goods.

From Petrov’s first reports, the commission came to the conclusion that local funds were not enough to save the Chelyuskinites, so they immediately outlined a number of measures. On the night of February 16, a decree appeared on travel through Europe, Atlantic Ocean and America to Alaska pilots S.A. Levanevsky and M.T. Slepneva, headed by the commissioner of the government commission G.A. Ushakov. Their task was to purchase two American 9-seater Consolidated Flitster passenger aircraft and fly from Alaska to Chukotka to rescue the Chelyuskinites. Both pilots had previously visited Alaska. Levanevsky, as already mentioned, took Mattern there, and Slepnev with flight mechanic F.B. In 1929, Farihom discovered the crash site of an American plane in Chukotka and transported the bodies of pilot Ben Eielson and flight mechanic Borland to Alaska. Already on the evening of the 17th, this group arrived in Berlin, from where a flight to London followed, then a transatlantic flight by steamship to New York, a trans-American express to the Pacific coast, a steamship to the north, a train to Canada, and finally a flight to Fairbanks, where they were already Two brand new Flitsters were waiting. Such a trip around the world was considered faster and more reliable than traveling around one’s home country.

The most numerous second group consisted of military pilots led by N.P. Kamanin, “reinforced” by experienced civilian pilots who had experience in the North. Originally it was B.C. Molokov, F.B. Farikh, V. Galyshev and Lipp. Kamanin took his colleagues Demirov and Bastanzhiev with him, and a little later they were joined by military pilots Gorelov and B. Pivenshtein with two P-5s. Initially, three P-5 groups of Kamanin were loaded onto the Smolensk steamer; on February 22, Kuibyshev received an order to load three more. But in the end, “Smolensk” left Vladivostok on March 2, having on board five R-5s and two U-2 pilots Pindyukov and Tishkov. Apparently, the “sharing” of the planes began even before departure, since Lipp and Galyshev remained on the shore.

“Flitster” by pilot M.A. Slepneva at the airfield in Vankarem

The latter a little later ended up in the third group formed from civilian pilots. Besides him and I.V. Doronin on two PS-4, M.V. entered it. Vodopyanov on R-5. Initially, this group was also going to be sent by steamship from Vladivostok, but they did not have time to board the “Sovet”, which went to Chukotka with two airships, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles. Because of this, three planes “under their own power” reached Chukotka, starting an almost 6,000-km flight in Khabarovsk. This entire armada of ships and aircraft off the coast of Chukotka was supposed to be supported in the ice off the coast of Chukotka by the leader of the Soviet icebreakers “Krasin”. By resolution of the commission he was sent to circumnavigation across two oceans and the Panama Canal. But while numerous “rescue forces” were urgently transferred to Chukotka, A.V. was closest to Schmidt’s camp. Lyapidevsky. The blizzard, which began on February 6, subsided only by the morning of the 18th. The thermometer shows -19°, not a cloud in the sky, no wind. In 40 minutes, the pilot flew to Wellen, where he boarded the first ANT-4 and flew. After takeoff, it was discovered that “the instruments were not working again. The saf, oil pressure gauge, and water thermometer do not work. In addition, the left engine was interrupted...” I had to return. The next attempt took place only on February 21 due to weather. Lyapidevsky, according to his calculations, flew to the camp, but did not find the ice floe with the Chelyuskinites: “This flight will be remembered for the rest of my life.” Having depleted the mixture to the limit, so that “shooting” began in the carburetors and having used up all the gasoline, the pilot, with the last drops, in sharply deteriorating weather at an altitude of 100-150 m, reached Wellen, landed on the move, breaking the landing gear in the process. Repairs required welding work, and there was no welder in Chukotka.

Using the second car, he made a number of more attempts to get to the camp, making a total of 36 flights during the expedition. These included one flight from Providence Bay to Lawrence Bay and only one flight to the camp. The remaining flights, as Lyapidevsky himself wrote, “were all unsuccessful, either the weather or something else.” He wrote that “on March 5 I became completely furious.” At a temperature of -36°, we heated water and oil in the evening and flew to camp at dawn. The crew, along with Lyapidevsky, included co-pilot Konkin, flight engineer Petrov and flight mechanic Rukovsky. The car was loaded with batteries, since Schmidt was running out of power for the radio station. The route, taking into account the experience of unsuccessful searches, was changed; Cape Serdtse-Kamen was used as a “lighthouse”, from there heading 56°. Petrov was the first to notice Schmidt’s camp and Babushkin’s plane on the ice floe. The site was 450 by 150 m, “all approaches to it were lined with high ropacas two or three meters long.” Having made two circles, Lyapidevsky managed to land successfully: “If I had missed a little, I would have climbed onto the ropaki.”

Having unloaded the batteries, deer carcasses, picks, crowbars, shovels, and loaded the discharged batteries, the pilots began to land the people. All women and children were taken on that flight - 12 people: “Boarding the women was more like loading. They were taken by the legs and arms and put on the plane... On the plane, the women sat cramped, but they still sat.” Due to a slight overload, the plane was moved by hand to the very edge of the cleared clearing. During the general enthusiasm, the captain of “Chelyuskin” was almost crippled: “Everyone got down to business so zealously that Voronin was hit on the head with a propeller.”

The flight to the camp took 2 hours 15 minutes, we stayed in the camp for 1 hour 50 minutes, the return flight to Wellen took 2 hours 20 minutes. The successful flight gave everyone hope for a speedy rescue, but at the same time showed the need to move the main base to Vankarem as soon as possible. At best, one flight could be made from Wellen per day, and from Vankarem, in good weather and proper organization works - three. We constantly had to catch the weather. The next day it snowed again and a blizzard began. From March 10 to 13, in “variable” weather, Lyapidevsky “flew out every day, but returned due to the weather and due to engine malfunction.” On March 14, having replaced the carburetor of the left engine, he flew to Vankarem, taking on board 2200 kg of gasoline. The crew also included flight mechanic Kurov and mechanic Geraskin. After unloading, we planned to immediately fly to the camp, but did not even reach Vankarem. In the cold -39° above the throat of Kolyuchinskaya Bay, the crankshaft of the left engine burst: “Suddenly, some extraneous sound struck my ears. A second - and the front part of the radiator began to move, the engine began to rattle, and the car fell heavily.” Having turned off the second engine, Lyapidevsky went to the forced ice. On the giant sastrugi, the plane traced its right wing across the ice. It turned out that the right vertical chassis truss had broken, the ears of the components were bent, and one eye of the axle shaft had come off. When examining the engine, we saw that the sub-engine frame was torn off, the ends of the radiator mounts had burst, and the front engine bolts and the radiator were actually held on by the hose connection. So Lyapidevsky turned from “savior No. 1” into a “victim”; he himself needed help. The Chukchi discovered them almost immediately and the next day they took them to Vankarem: “We came across endless lines of sledges that were returning from Vankarem after transporting gasoline.” During a snowstorm, the mast of the radio station there broke and the antenna was torn off. Therefore, until the 18th, the Lyapidevsky crew was considered dead throughout the world. Subsequently, Slepnev showed American newspapers with reports of their deaths.

On March 16, the emergency troika decided to first repair the Wellen ANT-4 No. 2, but in fact they began to repair the first machine on the ice of Kolyuchinskaya Bay. In Vankarem, after a conversation with Lyapidevsky, the head of the troika, Petrov, gave the order to deliver a disassembled spare M-17 engine by dogs from Cape Severny to Kolyuchin. It weighed about half a ton, and it was the heaviest load ever carried by dog ​​sleds. Kukanov on the U-2 took Lyapidevsky to Wellen for the sub-engine frame, but only on April 7 Slepnev delivered it to Vankarem on his Flitster, then on sledges to Kolyuchin.

While Lyapidevsky “worked as a supplier” and obtained spare parts, the rest of the crew began repairs. The entire “repair kit” consisted of one jack, a hand chisel, a blowtorch, two barrels and two two-meter logs. The Chukchi were brought in to help, there were nine people in total. To disassemble and remove the engine and repair the chassis, a large snow mountain was built. The engine was removed for five days. The vertical chassis truss, folded “into a ram’s horn,” had to be unbent and cooked, but instead, a “cold forge” was opened on a huge stone. In one of the yarangs they found a steel pipe with a diameter of about 60 mm, it seemed like a miracle. By the time Lyapidevsky arrived with the motor mount, the chassis had been repaired and they began installing the motor. There were not enough workers, but then sleigh parties of rescued Chelyuskinites began to move along the coast, three of them - V. Agapitov, G. Durasov and S. Leskov - remained with the plane and turned into repairmen. With the next batch, a message came about rewarding all participants in the epic and awarding Lyapidevsky the title of Hero. Finally, on April 23, the new motor was installed and tested. It took two more days to dig up the plane and prepare the runway. 42 days after the accident we flew to Wellen.

Lyapidevsky's accident disrupted all rescue plans. Ushakov's group sailed to America on February 28 and stayed in New York for 10 days. Negotiations on the purchase of aircraft dragged on, but Amtorg finally agreed with Pan American Company on the sale of two Flitsters. The pilots reached Fairbanks only on the 20th of March. During acceptance, the cars were repainted red, the American inscriptions were painted over, and “U.S.S.R.” was written in black on the wings. and, for Mauritius Slepnev - “M.S.”, and for Sigismund Levanevsky - “S.L”. The Americans were hired as flight mechanics: Clyde Armstedt to Levanevsky and Bill Lavery to Slepnev.

Due to the weather, Levanevsky and Ushakov managed to fly out of Fairbanks only on March 26, but only reached Nome on the 28th. Here Ushakov was already waiting for a telegram from a government commission concerned about the state of affairs: to immediately fly with Levanevsky to Vankarem, and wait for Slepnev in Nome until the situation clears up.

Having departed from Nome on March 29, Levanevsky, Ushakov and Armstidt never reached Vankarem. This flight and the accident that occurred were subsequently widely discussed, considering that Levanevsky had violated the order to land in Wellen. and flew to Vankarem without permission. Neither Ushakov nor Levanevsky confirms this “ticklish” point. Both write that, according to the report received in Nome, it was cloudless to Wellen, and in Vankarem the height of the lower edge was 500 m. According to Ushakov, “not noticing any warning signs over the Wellen airfield, the pilot directed the car further west to Vankarem.” Levanevsky himself wrote that he dropped to 150 m, but “no signals were posted at the airfield.” Having stumbled upon a large cloud wall over Kolyuchinskaya Bay, the pilot was unable to climb above it and switched to low level flight when the plane began to ice up. Having twice happily avoided a collision with the rocks, the pilot nevertheless knocked his right ski off a hummock, after which he made an emergency landing on the fuselage at Cape Onman. During landing, Levanevsky broke his head and lost consciousness, the rest were not injured. The plane was beyond repair, but there is information that later, after changing the engine, it was restored.

Having reached Vankarem on dogs, Ushakov took charge of the rescue efforts, and Levanevsky, having recovered a little, sent to the address “Moscow. Kremlin. Stalin" radiogram: "I feel efficient and ready to work again." It was later claimed that she expressed in pompous terms her readiness to further carry out government assignments. But he didn’t have a plane, so the pilot was taken by dogs to Wellen, he never got onto the ice floe and didn’t take anyone out of Schmidt’s camp. In the end, Levanevsky made two more flights in Chukotka. In one, he took a U-2 with an unreliable engine to Laurentia Bay to visit a patient with a doctor, and in another, at Petrov’s request, he drove “a heavy machine that he had never flown or seen closely” to Providence Bay to the steamer. She was sent because “the mechanic didn’t want to stay with her.” It is unclear whether it was a YUG-1 or a refurbished second ANT-4.

The second accident heated the situation in Chukotka to the limit. People were on the ice for a month and a half, and again the question of a rescue party with dogs arose. Such an expedition was prepared; it could set out within 2-3 days, but many weak and elderly people remained on the ice floe. It was necessary to transport at least 30-40 people on planes.

On March 31, Slepnev tried to make his way from Alaska to Chukotka, but due to bad weather he returned; he reached Wellen only on April 5. By this time, the population of the ice camp had decreased by two people: on April 2, pilot Babushkin and mechanic Valavin flew off the ice floe in their Sh-2. Those watching them experienced several unpleasant moments: “While still looking through binoculars, we saw that one of the plane’s skis was hanging. The entire population of Vankarem, watching the car as it landed, froze in anticipation of a disaster. It seemed that the hanging ski would inevitably fall into the snow and the plane would crash. However, at the very last moment, when the car lost speed, the ski straightened, and the plane easily slid onto the Vankarem airfield.”

As Ushakov writes, “a few minutes later the car was surrounded by spectators. The appearance... of her was so unusual that many, busy inspecting her, forgot to say hello to the arrivals... Babushkin’s plane, which traveled aboard the Chelyuskin from Murmansk, unloaded several times among the ice and was again loaded aboard the ship, was often damaged. He received no less damage in the ice camp. The plane was repaired either on board the Chelyuskin, or in even more difficult conditions of the ice camp. The nose was all broken and reconstructed from plywood and sealed with adhesive tape. The posts supporting the planes were broken and held together with thin twine. The chassis was also tied with twine, although of a larger diameter. General form the plane was more reminiscent of Trishkin’s famous caftan than a modern car.”

The Arctic “air wolf” Babushkin, who flew most of the time over the polar ice in the harsh and capricious conditions of the polar night, was eager to immediately return to camp. But given the condition of his car and its low carrying capacity, even in that situation they did not risk it. Ushakov appointed Babushkin as the head of the Vankarem airfield, and his plane was left in case of local flights and a possible dog trip, in order to show the party the direction and keep in touch with it.

The large-scale evacuation of people from the ice floe began only on April 7, when Slepnev, Kamanin and Molokov flew to Vankarem. Only two planes of Kamanin’s group managed to reach the ice camp; along the way they had many “adventures” and unpleasant “showdowns”. They started at Smolensk. The hope that the ship would take them to Providence Bay did not materialize due to heavy ice conditions. The steamship Stalingrad with two Sh-2s on board, which returned due to a lack of coal, was also stuck in Olyutorka. A “production meeting” of sailors and pilots from both ships was held in the Smolensk wardroom. There were many opinions: the sailors wanted to unload the planes, the pilots insisted on continuing the voyage. Molokov suggested that both captains try again. The chief mate of "Stalingrad" suggested going around the ice on the American coast, and Farikh was going to sail to America and fly from the American coast. The pilots from the shavrushki intervened in the dispute, wanting to fly on their own. As B. Pivenshtein wrote, “it was both funny and annoying. Everyone wanted to be their own boss.”

While the disputes were going on, the planes were unloaded ashore. The nervous situation led to a conflict between Kamanin and Farikh. He did not agree with the proposed route. According to Pivenshtein, the following dialogue took place in Kamanin’s cabin:

“Kamanin. ...So, Comrade Farikh. Do you refuse to march in formation and do not want to fly through the Gulf of Anadyr?
Farikh. Yes, I think there is no point in going in formation. In my opinion, it’s better to go around the Gulf of Anadyr. In general, why make the route mandatory for everyone?
Kamanin. Without confidence in you, I am removing you from the flight.
Farikh (biting his lip). Okay, just tell the government first.
Kamanin. Let me know if you need it. I am responsible for my actions as a commander."

Farikh and Molokov were the most experienced in this “team”, but Kamanin’s army unity of command won. Although in the end Farikh turned out to be right, the Gulf of Anadyr had to be skirted along the coast, Kamanin, by removing him, risked little. He returned the plane to the pilot from his squadron, Bastanzhiev, and there was another “horseless” Gorelov, who flew as a flight mechanic. Judging by the memoirs of Molokov, who received a shabby “blue deuce”, “very old, and, they say, the engine has already 108 hours of flight time,” he was always afraid that the car would be taken away from him. Following the example of the commander, Pivenstein removed his navigator Ulyanov, who doubted the success, from participating in the expedition. He could not even imagine that the same fate would soon await him.

Five of Kamanin’s planes, loaded to the limit (each carried a navigator and a flight mechanic), began their flight from the harbor of the fish canning plant on March 21. We flew along the coast of Kamchatka and Chukotka along the route Maina Pylgin - Anadyr - Kainergin - Natapelmen - Valkalten - Providence Bay - Uellen - Vankarem with a length of more than 2500 km. Most of all, in those days they resembled musketeers, despite all the obstacles and losses of their comrades hurrying to England for diamond pendants. After the first flight, we lost Bastanzhiev’s plane, which failed to start due to dirty local gasoline. Molokov’s propeller spinner collapsed in flight and flew off; fortunately, the propeller survived. During the next flight, Demirov's plane was lost in the clouds, which then landed on an emergency landing on the Opukha River and waited out the snowstorm for several days. He returned to Maina Pylgin, from where he and Bastanzhiev tried to fly to Vankarem five times, but returned due to the weather. On April 1, they again flew to Anadyr, but in the fog they crashed into hills, one 15 km from the city, the second 50 km. Demirov’s plane burned down, and upon impact Bastanzhiev was thrown about 30 meters with the gas sector in his hand. Luckily, no one was hurt. We reached the city safely in three days, only technician Romanovsky’s two frostbitten toes were amputated.

The remaining Kamanin trio took off from Anadyr on March 28 and tried to directly make their way to Vankarem through the mountain range, so the path was shortened by more than 1000 km, but due to the weather they did not take risks, and landed in the village of Kainergin in the Gulf of Anadyr. A second attempt to break through was made on April 1, but when about 60 km remained to Van-karem, at an altitude of 2800 m they were unable to overcome the cloud wall and returned. The gas supply was running low, so we took a detour along the coast. When Pivenstein's plane had about 15 minutes of fuel left in its tanks, Kamanin went to land on the ice of the river near the village of Valkalten. Either due to the rough landing or the twisting run on his plane, the shock-absorbing connecting rod of the landing gear burst. The remaining fuel was divided into two cars; Kamanin left the mechanic Anisimov and the pilot Pivenshtein assigned to him at his faulty plane, and then the two of them flew on. Subsequently, this “moral and ethical” situation was widely discussed. Pivenstein later wrote that he himself understood: “As a flight commander, Kamanin cannot do otherwise.” Molokov’s comments are interesting: “And again my mood is spoiled: I’m afraid that they might take my car away... That’s a thing of the past, but if they decided to take my car away, I wouldn’t give it away. The conditions of the North dictate their own laws...” There is a legend that Molokov had to defend his right to the car by “baring the trunk”...

While Pivenstein went for gasoline, Anisimov adapted a “connecting rod” carved from wood to the chassis. His main “merit” was the search for a piece of wood among the Chukchi yarangs. On a “wooden leg” they flew to Providence Bay, where by April 13 the landing gear was repaired. On this day, a snowstorm began that lasted a week. An attempt on April 21 to fly further due to bad weather ended in an emergency landing and a broken center section tape. While traveling with dogs for repairs, we learned that the rescue work had been completed. However, Pivenstein still made it to Wellen, where he learned that he had been awarded the Order of the Red Star. To rejoice among those “resting on their laurels,” he “with his old car” flew six times from Wellen to Providence Bay and twice from Providence Bay to Lawrence Bay, transferring 22 people in total.

Kamanin and Molokov flew to Wellen, where they could announce their arrival via radio station, on April 5. On the 7th, together with Slepnev, they flew to Vankarem and immediately flew to the camp. Slepnev’s “Flitster” was faster, its maximum speed was 265 km/h, cruising speed was 200-210 km/h. Therefore, two P-5s took off first, and 15 minutes later Ushakov took off with Slepnev, loading a team of dogs onto the plane. It was believed that the dogs would transport cargo from the camp to the airfield and would be able to get to the place of emergency landing, but, apparently, they were preparing for a sleigh expedition. Soon they caught up with both R-5s, but then the engine on Kamanin’s car malfunctioned. Ushakov noted that “a dark tail of smoke was writhing behind the car.” Navigator M. Shelyganov wrote that the gasoline supply was interrupted. The plane almost landed on the hummocks, but about 20 meters from the ice the engine started working normally, and they returned safely to Vankarem. Molokov accompanied them on the second R-5.

Thus, Slepnev’s “Flitster” became the second aircraft, after Lyapidevsky’s ANT-4, to fly to the camp. Let me remind you that more than a month has passed since that moment. However, an accident occurred during landing. Having made several circles in a crosswind, Slepnev, as Ushakov wrote, “flighted the plane, cutting off the line of wind direction. The car quickly passed the cleared area, flew into the ropaki and, already losing speed, began to make jumps. Thanks to the braking devices on the skis, the pilot was sometimes able to avoid oncoming ropes. Finally, the car made a big leap upward and stood motionless near a large ropak, like a wounded bird, raising its right wing high and placing its left wing on the ice.”

First of all, the dogs were thrown out of the plane so as not to interfere with the inspection of the damage. This shocked the Chelyuskinites, who watched the landing through binoculars from the signal tower: “They saw the car jumping over the ropes and finally stopped in a clearly emergency position. Not knowing about our fate, they tried to use binoculars to see the appearance of living beings from the plane, but when these living beings appeared, the Chelyuskinites involuntarily began to wipe the glasses of the binoculars: living beings that got out of the plane ran away from it on all fours...” Having blinded this landing in no way commented, writing only that “... the ties on my plane broke. It needed to be repaired."

Half an hour later, when the Chelyuskin men were dragging his car to level ground like barge haulers, Molokov and Kamanin arrived. Kamanin sat down normally, and Molokov turned around in front of the ropaks and started the car at a spin. The landing gear and skis were saved, but the center section shackle was torn off. He tied her with a rope. That day, two planes took five people off the ice floe. Ushakov and Slepnev’s plane remained in the camp. The next day, in the fog, Molokov did not make it into the camp, and at night the ice began to compress and hummocking. The ice wall almost collapsed on the camp, dying down just fifteen meters from the tents. The airfield was completely destroyed. On April 9, while the Chelyuskinites were repairing the plane, a new site was cleared a kilometer away, but while they were getting ready to move the car, a crack of several meters appeared. Within an hour, an ice bridge was “built” across it. While forty Chelyuskinites were dragging the car to the bridge, a new compression began, and an ice shaft several meters high formed at the crossing site. Having cut a hole, the plane was dragged to a new airfield, and there the end of the runway was torn off.

At this time, Ushakov and everyone were very worried about O.Yu.’s sharply deteriorating health. Schmidt. He was delirious, his temperature rose above 39°, but he did not want to fly away. The question of waiting until he lost consciousness and evacuating him like that was seriously discussed. But they didn’t go for it. On April 10, as soon as the weather cleared and the “air bridge” started working again, Ushakov returned to Vankarem and gave a telegram to Kuibyshev. The next day, after a categorical order from above, Molokov took Schmidt and the doctor out on the fourth “unscheduled” flight. Spare parts were brought to Slepnev and he flew off the ice floe, putting five people in the 9-seater Flitster. They didn’t want to take any more risks with “imported equipment purchased for foreign currency,” and on April 12, Slepnev and Ushakov took the sick Schmidt to Nome, Alaska, for treatment.

April 10 and 11 turned out to be decisive days. Kamanin and Molokov, as if competing, flew continuously and took out more than 50 people, leaving only 28 people on the ice floe. In those days, pilots significantly increased the “passenger capacity” of their two-seat P-5s. Quickly calculating that 3 people per flight would be a lot to fly, they began putting passengers into underwing parachute boxes. If on April 7 no one wanted to fly in them, then on the 10th a lean sailor was the first to sit in the box: “They put him in there head first, folded the man’s arms and, like a Whitehead mine, pushed him into a narrow box... It wasn’t particularly spacious for him to lie, but, perhaps it’s better than four people sitting in one cabin.” Molokov even tried to place one on his lap and pedals, but this idea had to be abandoned. In one flight, 4-5, and even 6 people were taken out, and they sat in the parachute boxes more willingly than in the cockpit.

On April 12, Vankarem’s “aircraft fleet” was replenished with aircraft from Doronin and Vodopyanov. Their entire unprecedented flight from Khabarovsk took place under the motto “At least they had time to get one out.” At the beginning of 1934, Vodopyanov flew in a special detachment to deliver matrixes of the Pravda newspaper from Moscow. After his accident last year in the area of ​​Lake Baikal, he gradually prepared for new long-distance flights. Under the guise of an “experimental flight”, with the help of Komsomol members of aircraft plant No. 89, he equipped his P-5 for long-distance flights: he installed an additional gas tank, heated drainage pipes, etc. In mid-February during works XVII During the party congress, Vodopyanov flew four times with matrices from Moscow to Leningrad. He was denied an attempt to fly to the aid of the Chelyuskinites, and a flight to the Caspian Sea was scheduled for February 26 to rescue fishermen from the ice floe. Only a written appeal “to the editors of Pravda” to Comrade Mehlis helped. From Pravda drummer pilot Vodopyanov.” On the eve of the flight, he was picked up in the middle of the night and sent by train to Khabarovsk, where his plane was also delivered. Here Vodopyanov met with Doronin and Galyshev.

I. Doronin with flight mechanics Y. Savin and V. Fedotov and two cars were sent on March 1 from Irkutsk to Vladivostok, where V. Galyshev had previously flown. When they got there, it turned out that Smolensk had already left, but Galyshev remained. In the confusion, the planes were sent at “low speed,” so they soon decided to delay the planes in Khabarovsk and fly from there.

The aircraft were assembled by the best technical team of the Far Eastern Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet under the leadership of engineer Petrov. The chief engineer of the department, Filippovich, and the head of the department, Polyakov, took the most direct part. The brigade included engineer Linderman, aircraft technician Tyutin, senior technician Samofalov, technicians Bezymyansky, Domkin, Nygarden, mechanics Chernenko, Shishkin, Zuev, Konoplev, Zhuravlev, Schastlivtsev, tankers Sokolov, Kazakov, Varlamov, political department workers Monichev and Kuznetsov. For six days they worked 16 hours, some even 27-33 hours. By March 16, additional gas and oil tanks were installed on all vehicles and tested in the air. Galyshev was appointed flight commander, Doronin was appointed deputy.

The group started on March 17, and before Nikolaevsk they were led by the pilot of the local airline Khabarovsk - Sakhalin Ivanov. Flight mechanics Alexandrov and Ratushkin flew with Vodopyanov. The R-5, faster than the Junkers, created additional problems. From the very first section, Vodopyanov returned to Khabarovsk, afraid of colliding in the fog. All this was perceived as a good sign and the “maturation” of Vodopyanov himself, known for his daring. Sometimes lagging behind the Junkers, sometimes overtaking them, and sometimes flying together in some areas, the pilots reached Anadyr by April 4. Their flight, 5850 km long, followed the route Khabarovsk - N.-Tambovsk - Nikolaevsk - Shantar Islands - Ayan - Okhotsk - Nogaevo - Gizhiga - Kamenskoye - Anadyr. There were almost no “adventures” along the way, but there was one breakdown in Gizhiga.

Giving instructions on the preparation of airfields, they suggested lining their boundaries with pine needles and branches. Here they went overboard and covered it with thick logs, and the panels of the landing “T” across the runway, so as not to be blown away by the wind, were also covered with logs. Vodopyanov, who arrived first, noticed suspicious spots from the air and ceded the “right of the first night” (landing) to Doronin, who, after several jumps, broke the landing gear and sat on his stomach. The rest sat down normally.

There were spare parts, there were enough mechanics, the car was repaired in one day, but there was a blizzard for four days. On April 11, in Anadyr they learned that Molokov and Kamanin were taking people off the ice. We urgently decided to fly directly to Vankarem, but it turned out that the gas pump on Galyshev’s plane did not hold pressure. It took at least a day to remove it (it was necessary to raise the engine). Vodopyanov took off first, Doronin waited for about an hour, maybe he would need some spare parts, but Galyshev himself suggested that he fly: “Fly away, you are needed there. We can handle this ourselves.” Three planes carried a welding machine for Lyapidevsky, its parts were transferred from Galyshev to Doronin. On the same day he flew to Vankarem, and Vodopyanov “missed” in his flight over the ridge and ended up on Cape Severny. This made everyone very happy, since the fuel supply in Vankarem was coming to an end, and in Severny there was a fuel base. The next day Vodopyanov and Pronin flew to the camp. The landing was normal, but on takeoff, Doronin’s plane with four Chelyuskinites jumped and lay on its side. It turned out that the stand had broken, broken in Gizhiga or somewhere along the route. In addition, the ball head of the landing gear burst in the neck, and the crutch broke. The Chelyuskinites had a lot of experience in repairing Babushkin’s plane, and work soon began to boil. They “ordered” a ball joint and tools for Kamanin, borrowed a crowbar from the Chelyuskinites, and with great difficulty sawed it into three pieces. Two hours later, Kamanin returned “with the order”; flight mechanic Ya. Savin inserted the pieces of scrap into the crutch and stand and assembled everything. Out of caution, only two were taken on board. They took off normally, but after takeoff Doronin did not find the skis in place. It turned out that at the end of the run, pieces of scrap flew out and the ski hung on the shock absorber. During landing, the plane, having lost speed, plowed its left wing through the snow, but everything turned out okay. In addition to Doronin, that day Kamanin and Vodopyanov took out 20 people, leaving only six on the ice floe. Molokov did not fly on April 12 while repairing a radiator.

By morning the landing gear was properly repaired, but there was no need to fly onto the ice floe - everyone was taken out. Then the passenger PS-4 was used to transport the sick and weak from Vankarem to Providence Bay. On the second flight with three patients, the fuel pump, clogged with snow, failed, as before with Galyshev. Having landed on the forced one, cleared it and, together with a healthy passenger, trampled the runway in the snow, we took off successfully. From Wellen, Doronin flew five times and transported about 20 people.

On the night of April 13, in Vankarem they were very worried about the remaining six - radio operators Krenkel and Ivanov, captain Voronin, boatswain Zagorsky, Schmidt’s deputy Bobrov and “chief of the airfield” Pogosov remained on the ice floe. Many, especially the local population, were very concerned about the fate of the dogs on the ice floe; they were one of the best in the area. In the end, they even sent lightning about the dogs to the camp. In the morning, Vodopyanov was the first to go to the camp, but did not find the camp and returned. Many began to get nervous, and the chairman of the troika, Petrov, even shouted at the mechanics: “Why are you digging around, why aren’t you flying?” Kamanin tried to calm him down, but everyone breathed a sigh of relief only when three planes of Kamanin, Molokov and Vodopyanov reached the camp in the fog. All the people and dogs were taken out, and Vodopyanov was not even too lazy to pick up and bring back a “souvenir” - pieces of scrap that flew out of the landing gear of Doronin’s plane.

Thus ended the “heroic epic”, the “working” part remained - to evacuate everyone from Vankarem. Despite the fact that they even organized a “socialist competition” for the cleanliness of the yarangas - they were swept, the walrus skins were cleaned, washed, aired, and the Chelyuskinites themselves later said that Vankarem was the cleanest village, no one wanted to stay there. Healthy people were collected in batches of 10-12 people, given 3-4 sledges, a guide, and sent to Uellen and the Laurentian Bay. On April 10-13, the parties of Stakhanov (5 people), Rytsk (15), Filippov (12), Shirshov (8) and Buyko (13) set out on the road. They walked from 9 to 16 days. By this time, “Smolensk” had made its way into Providence Bay with the help of “Krasin”; on the way to it from “Sovet” they overloaded all the “aeronautical-airplane-all-terrain” transport, but it was not needed. In the general bustle, the flight of the pilot Svetogorov from Fr. went completely unnoticed. Matvey in the Bering Sea to Wellen on the “shavrushka” - this is about 350 km above the slush ice in the ocean. Vankarem was “closed” by border guard Nebolsin on April 26. He rode through the camps and yarangas on dogs, paying the Chukchi for the work done. He paid about 50,000 rubles in money. In addition, for personal bonuses, they allocated wood and iron necessary for the construction of yarangs, guns, binoculars, which, like a hard drive, are the most valuable thing for the Chukchi, with which he tracks down the beast. As Nebolsin wrote, “I must say, the Chukchi fully deserved all this, they worked truly selflessly, sparing neither themselves nor the dogs. But for the Chukchi, dogs are the most valuable thing he has. ...It seems to me that many still underestimate the major role that dogs played in saving the Chelyuskin residents. After all, it was the dogs that made it possible for aviation to engage only in its immediate business - removing the Chelyuskinites from the camp. Having reached Vankarem, the planes no longer needed to be diverted for any other flights other than flights to the camp. All the auxiliary work - the delivery of fuel, oil, the transfer of the first batches of people to Uellen - was done by dogs. But in our conditions, every extra plane flight, especially over long distances, meant an extra possibility of an accident, an extra risk of losing the plane. About 1,000 dogs were involved in the rescue operations of the Chelyuskinites. Among them were not only Chukchi dogs, but also border guard dogs. It’s hard to even take into account the enormous amount of work the dogs have done.” Some of the dog sleds have run up to 13,000 km. Nebolsin himself traveled at least 3,000 km on dogs. Fatigue of the dogs led to the cancellation of the sled dog races that were regularly held on May 1st. Nebolsin's team, which claimed championship, previously usually covered the Uellen-Lavrentiy route in ten hours, in May dragged along empty for exactly 24 hours.

On May 1, we limited ourselves to a demonstration in Uellen; there were a lot of people, and the wing of Lyapidevsky’s plane served as the “tribune.” The political resonance from the rescue operation throughout the world was enormous, but the most curious thing was the strong impression the planes made on the Chukchi, who had never seen them in such numbers. As Nebolsin wrote, “The Chukchi know most about America. Many of them sailed on American schooners, most of them came into contact with the Americans who traded in Chukotka and bought furs until 1930. They saw American planes in 1929, when with their help the Americans exported furs to Alaska. There was talk among them that our Russian planes would not be able to do anything. Maybe it's the American ones!.. Outwardly, our planes really looked quite rough next to the American ones. But when the opportunity arose to compare them in work, the results turned out completely different. Here Levanevsky arrives in a plane as beautiful as a picture and is almost smashed to pieces. And then Lyapidevsky boards a Russian plane and repairs the damage without much difficulty.

Slepnev, Kamanin and Molokov arrive. Their cars differ from each other like heaven from earth. Slepnev’s American plane flew in from Alaska, where there is an airfield and hangars. He was all shiny. And right there next to them stood the cars of Molokov and Kamanin, who spent two months in the open air. The planes were dirty, covered in oil, peeling, with paint cracked from 50-degree frosts. When landing, the cars demonstrated their qualities. Slepnev's plane zoomed in with enormous mileage. He climbed straight onto the hummock and was unable to turn, as the car was difficult to turn while taxiing. The people who ran up had to help turn the car around. At the same time, Kamanin came down and sat down safely. Molokov spun around and sat down as if he had lived on this site all his life. I stopped as if I had arrived on the dogs, exactly where I needed it. The Chukchi saw how Slepnev flew to the camp and did not return for three days. And Molokov and Kamanin carry everything and carry it.

Faith in the impeccable properties of all things coming from America was greatly shaken. But with great attention the Chukchi began to listen to stories about the achievements of Soviet industry.”

Dispassionate statistics confirm this conclusion. Most of all - 9 flights each on the ice floe were made by "Old Man" and "Young Man" (as the Chukchi christened Molokov and Kamanin; they were not interested in the names of the pilots). The first took out 39 people on the R-5, the second - 34. Vodopyanov took out 10 people on the R-5 in three flights, the rest: Lyapidevsky (ANT-4) - 1 flight (12 people), Slepnev (Flitster) - 1 flight (5), Doronin (PS-4) - 1 flight (2), Babushkin (Sh-2) - 1 one-way flight (2 people). Only the simple and reliable R-5s flew off without major damage, although the tension bands in the center section were constantly breaking. Without them, neither ANT-4, nor the “Americans”, nor the “Germans” would have done anything. The Chelyuskinites lived on the ice floe for exactly two months, waiting for the weather and planes. All the pilots who flew to the camp received the title of Hero, plus Levanevsky “for diplomatic reasons,” minus Babushkin “who saved himself” (he later received this title for participating in the expedition to the North Pole). The rest received orders. The experience of using aircraft acquired in such difficult conditions was very important. Lyapidevsky later wrote about the operation of engines in the North: “There are no air bases in Chukotka, flight mechanics had to heat water for the engine by cutting out the bottom of a gasoline barrel. This barrel was inserted into another barrel with a door cut out at the bottom. They heated it with driftwood and poured oil on it. And when there was no driftwood, water had to be poured into cans and heated with blowtorches. The engines had to be heated with felt and asbestos, and we lined the oil tanks with sheepskin and reindeer fur. At low temperatures it changes especially sharply specific gravity

gasoline. But we eliminated this by appropriate selection of jets.” After he delivered a water-oil heater from Wellen to Vankarem “with transfers”, from the beginning of April it worked around the clock, this significantly simplified the launch and increased the number of flights. “What kind of motor is needed for the North? - wrote Lyapidevsky. - Here I express only my point of view. In my opinion, the North needs an air-cooled motor of the Wright-Cyclone type with self-starting Eclipse. If you have such a motor there will be no need hot water

, which is very difficult to obtain during forced landings.

The ceremonial meeting of the Chelyuskinites all the way from Vladivostok, where they were taken on the steamer "Stalingrad", to Moscow was grandiose. The pilots even complained that there were many Chelyuskinites, and there were few of them, so they had to often “be on duty” - they had to go out at each station around the clock and accept congratulations and gifts.

Happyend The Chelyuskin epic, which literally the whole world watched with bated breath, showed everyone “the high professionalism, courage, bravery and fortitude of all the people who took part in it - both Chelyuskin residents and rescuers. The Chelyuskin epic remains in our memory as an example of nobility, courage and courage. The unparalleled skill of Soviet pilots and the technical perfection of Soviet aircraft evoked enthusiastic responses all over the world.”

It is no coincidence that the Chief Political Commissar of the Red Army, Lev Mehlis, wrote in the preface to the collection “How We Saved the Chelyuskinites,” published “hot on the heels” after the return of the participants of the heroic epic to Moscow, the following: “Literally tens of millions of people warily followed the heroic struggle of the fearless detachment of the Chelyuskinites, led by Bolshevik-scientific comrade Schmidt. A new man, brought up great Country Soviets, took the test in front of the whole world for stamina, endurance, and ability for collective action in the conditions of the greatest tragedy - the death of “Chelyuskin”. Will the expedition members withstand such a long ice captivity? Will they lose self-control, and will they not suffer the fate of many, many expeditions, when everyone saved themselves personally, and the majority died?

The news of the death of the steamship Chelyuskin and the people on the ice floe literally spread like lightning Earth and shocked the whole world. As L. Mehlis argued, “even bourgeois figures who were sympathetic to the Chelyuskinites were pessimistic about the situation. Many remembered tragic death Amundsen, who flew out in a seaplane to rescue Nobile's northern expedition. They considered the death of all or most of the participants in Schmidt's expedition inevitable. “Rapid rescue by aircraft,” wrote Prager Press, “is impossible not only because in such remote places There is never a sufficient number of necessary aircraft, but also because the time of year discourages flights: fogs, snowstorms, strong winds.” The Danish newspaper Politiken hastened to print an obituary dedicated to the glorious leader of the Chelyuskinites, Otto Yulievich Schmidt. “On the ice floe,” she wrote, “Otto Schmidt met an enemy whom no one could defeat before. He died as a hero, a man whose name will live among the conquerors of the Arctic Ocean."

Mehlis did not forget how “the fascist press laughed at the Bolshevik rescue plan. “Velkischer Beobachter,” a nasty National Socialist officialdom, wrote that “the measures taken so far to save the Chelyuskinites are being carried out too hastily and without a plan.” But no matter what measures you take, nothing will work for the Bolsheviks. The planes are sent to certain death, they are faced with icing, “every landing is a risk and depends on a lucky chance.” We need to leave people to their own devices. Do not maintain radio contact with the Schmidt camp, the Völkischer Beobachter insists, because “from a psychological point of view, a radio installation is harmful because it arouses false hopes in the shipwrecked, which will not be realized later.” Go on foot, the enemy urged, maybe then something will succeed. The expedition members showed an unsurpassed example of perseverance and discipline. They have passed the global exam.”

“We will not sacrifice a single person to the Arctic” - this was Stalin’s password. And the Bolshevik organization launched an offensive against the ice, the storm, the harsh winter of Chukotka, and the Anadyr ridge.”

The political significance of Chelyuskin’s epic was most accurately reflected by G.A. Ushakov, together with the recovered O.Yu. Schmidt returned to Moscow “along the western” route: “...And let our enemies remember: if Soviet pilots in Soviet aircraft managed to fly to Schmidt’s camp, then they will be able to fly to the capitalist camp... Let them remember that our homeland, if necessary, with the same ease, instead of seven, it can give millions of heroes”...

The fates of the pilots - the first Heroes and the “main losers” - turned out differently. At first, upon arrival in Moscow, they were not even particularly distinguished. As Mehlis wrote, “...they rose to the call of the government the best people- Lyapidevsky, Levanevsky, Molokov, Kamanin, Slepnev, Vodopyanov, Doronin, Galyshev, Pivenshtein...”

Praised by Mehlis as “an exemplary student of the glorious Red Army” N.P. Kamanin “distinguished himself” twice - first, strengthening unity of command, he removed the most experienced polar pilot F.B. from flying. Fariha, then, having “unfolded” his plane at the landing, took the car away from B.A. Pivenshtein.

Farikh Fabio Brunovich (1896-1985) volunteered to join the Red Army in 1918 and took part in Civil War and after demobilization in 1923-1928. worked as a mechanic on the Central Asian Air Lines of the Civil Air Fleet. In 1928, Farikh graduated from the Moscow school of flight mechanics and began flying in the crew of the experienced polar pilot M.T. Slepnev, mastering the air line Irkutsk - Yakutsk.

In 1930, the crew of Slepnev-Farikh found the wreckage of the plane and the bodies of American pilots Eielson and Borland who went missing in the Chukotka region. At the request of the Americans, our pilots delivered the remains of the dead to Alaska. In the same year, Farikh graduated from the Moscow Aviation School of the Civil Air Fleet and received the right to fly independently.

In the 1930s in the Arctic, as a ship commander, Farikh made several difficult flights, including the first long-distance flight on the newly opened Krasnoyarsk-Dudinka route (1931) and the first flight on the newly opened Moscow-Arkhangelsk-Ust-Kut route on airplane K-5 (1932). The flights took place in difficult weather conditions, without maps or navigation support.

In 1932, Farikh received the task of flying to Vaygach Island and bringing the head of the OGPU expedition, F. Eichsmann, to Moscow. Due to poor weather conditions, which led to forced landings and equipment failure, the mission took several months. For carrying out this work in difficult conditions, by Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in August 1934, Farikh was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

In 1934, after failure to save the Chelyuskinites, F.B. Farikh made a flight from Cape Schmidt to Wrangel Island in winter conditions. In 1935-1936 he served in the propaganda squadron named after. Maxim Gorky.

In 1937, from February 9 to June 14, the G-1 "N-120" aircraft with the crew of F.B. Farikh and three passengers flew along the route Moscow - Kazan - Sverdlovsk - Omsk - Novosibirsk - Krasnoyarsk - Irkutsk - Verkholensk - Yakutsk - Anadyr - coast of the Arctic Ocean - Amderma - Arkhangelsk - Yaroslavl - Moscow, covering 23,000 km, making 47 landings. This was the first flight on a Soviet-designed aircraft across all of Siberia and along the entire Northern Sea Route. The crew members were awarded orders, Farikh received “his” Order of Lenin. That same year, the pilot took part in the search for Levanevsky’s plane, but without success.

In November 1939, Major F.B. Farikh was drafted into the ranks of the Air Force, he took part in, trained young pilots, and flew combat missions in the rear of the Finnish army. During the Great Patriotic War Lieutenant Colonel Farikh made eighteen combat missions deep behind enemy lines and was testing new types of aircraft. In 1944 he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree.

IN post-war years Farikh worked on the Arctic air routes - transporting mail, cargo, and passengers. On July 1, 1948, he was arrested and sentenced to 25 years in forced labor camps as an “enemy of the people.” Only on July 26, 1956, Farikh was released, completely rehabilitated and restored to his rights. In 1957, due to health reasons, he left the air fleet. From 1962 to 1975, the former outstanding polar pilot F.B. Farikh worked as a standard setter and then as a watchman at the Krasny Metalist plant.

Fabio Brunovich Farikh died in Moscow on June 2, 1985 at the age of 89, buried at Novodevichy Cemetery.

No less interesting and tragic is the fate of another Kamanin “godson” - Boris Abramovich Pivenshtein, born in 1909 in Odessa. In 1937, Pivenstein also participated in the search for Levanevsky’s missing plane, in November on the island. Rudolf was replaced by Vodopyanov's detachment as a pilot and secretary of the party committee of the ANT-6 squadron.

Before the war, Pivenstein lived in the notorious house on the Embankment. There is a museum in it where he is listed as killed at the front.

Since the beginning of the war, Lieutenant Colonel Pivenstein was at the front, commanding the 503rd assault air regiment (shap). And here he was unlucky: after an accidental strike on one of the air groups, the leader was court-martialed, and the regiment commander was demoted and appointed commander of the 504th squadron. It was formed in Voronezh in early September 1941 on the basis of the 103rd short-range bomber regiment. In 1941-1942 The regiment successfully fought on the Volkhov and Bryansk fronts, and on March 18, 1943 received honorary title Guards and was reorganized into the 74th Guards Regiment.

Commander Pivenstein also fought bravely, in particular, during the most difficult period of the Battle of Stalingrad, he flew about one and a half dozen combat missions in two weeks of fighting.

And again misfortune. Soon after receiving the Guards banner, in April 1943, the Nazis shot down an attack aircraft of the Guard Lieutenant Colonel Pivenshtein and the Guard Sergeant Major A.M. in the sky of Donbass. Kruglova. The crew was captured. At the time of capture, the wounded Pivenstein tried to shoot himself. Kruglov died while trying to escape from the camp.

By the way, Pivenstein’s “godson”, General N.P. Kamanin, at that time, commanded the assault air corps and, naturally, did not personally fly on combat missions.

However, there is also evidence that Pivenstein voluntarily flew over to the Nazi side, and he is even named among the active employees of Lieutenant Colonel G. Holters, the head of one of the intelligence units at the Luftwaffe headquarters.

Historian V. Zvyagintsev managed to discover in the archives materials from the court proceedings in the case of B.A. Pivenshtein, from which it follows that until 1950 he was indeed listed as missing, and his family, who lived in Moscow, received a pension from the state. But soon the state security authorities established that Pivenstein, “until June 1951, living in the territory of the American zone of occupation of Germany in the mountains. Wiesbaden, being a member of the NTS, served as secretary of the Wiesbaden emigrant committee and was the head of the temple, and in June 1951 he left for America ... ".

April 4, 1952 Military Collegium convicted B.A. in absentia Pivenshtein under Art. 58-1 paragraph “b” and 58-6 part 1 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR and sentenced to death with confiscation of property and deprivation military rank. The verdict stated: “Pivenstein in 1932-1933, while on military service in the Far East, had a criminal connection with the resident of German intelligence Waldman. In 1943, being the commander of an air squadron, he flew out on a combat mission to the rear of the Germans, from where he did not return to his unit...

While in the pilot prisoner-of-war camp in Moritzfeld, Pivenstein worked in the Vostok counterintelligence department, where he interviewed Soviet pilots captured by the Germans, treated them in an anti-Soviet spirit and persuaded them to betray the Motherland.

In January 1944, Pivenstein was sent by the German command to the counterintelligence department stationed in Konigsberg...”

The verdict further noted that Pivenstein’s guilt in treason and collaboration with German counterintelligence was proven by the testimony of arrested traitors to the Motherland B.C. Moskalets, M.V. Tarnovsky, I.I. Tenskova-Dorofeev and the documents available in the Case. This whole “Case” is clearly fabricated, but nevertheless...

The further fate of B.A. Pivenshtein after his departure to America is unknown.

Based on materials: Anatoly Demin. Glory to the heroic pilots or... Ode to sled dogs and extraordinary troikas (forgotten pages of Chelyuskin’s epic) // Legends and myths of domestic aviation. Digest of articles. Editor-compiler A.A. Demin. Issue 4. - M., 2012.