From the very beginning of the war with the Soviet Union, the air force of the Third Reich (Luftwaffe) had to experience the wrath of the Soviet “falcons”. Heinrich Goering, Reich Minister of the Reich Air Ministry from 1935 to 1945, was forced to forget his boastful words that “No one will ever be able to achieve air superiority over the German aces!”

On the very first day of the Great Patriotic War, German pilots were faced with such a technique as an air ram. This technique was first proposed by the Russian aviator N.A. Yatsuk (in the journal “Bulletin of Aeronautics” No. 13-14 for 1911), and in practice it was also first used by the Russian pilot Pyotr Nesterov on September 8, 1914, when he shot down an Austrian plane - scout.

During the Great Patriotic War, aerial ramming was not provided for by the military regulations, any manuals or instructions, and Soviet pilots resorted to this technique not by order of the command. Soviet people were motivated by love for the Motherland, hatred of the invaders and the fury of battle, a sense of duty and personal responsibility for the fate of the Fatherland. As the Chief Marshal of Aviation (since 1944), twice Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Aleksandrovich Novikov, who was the commander of the Soviet Air Force from May 1943 to 1946, wrote: “An air ram is not only lightning-fast calculation, exceptional courage and self-control. A ram in the sky is, first of all, a readiness for self-sacrifice, the final test of loyalty to one’s people, one’s ideals. This is one of the highest forms of manifestation of that very moral factor inherent in the Soviet man, which the enemy did not and could not take into account.”

During Great War Soviet pilots performed more than 600 aerial rams (their exact number is unknown, since research continues to this day, and new exploits of Stalin’s falcons are gradually becoming known). More than two-thirds of the rams occurred in 1941-1942 - this is the most difficult period of the war. In the fall of 1941, a circular was even sent out to the Luftwaffe, which prohibited approaching Soviet aircraft closer than 100 meters in order to avoid air ramming.

It should be noted that Soviet Air Force pilots used rams on all types of aircraft: fighters, bombers, attack aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft. Aerial rams were carried out in single and group battles, day and night, at high and low altitudes, over one’s own territory and over the enemy’s territory, in all weather conditions. There were cases when pilots rammed a ground or water target. Thus, the number of ground rams is almost equal to air attacks - more than 500. Perhaps the most famous ground ram is the feat that was performed by the crew of Captain Nikolai Gastello on June 26, 1941 in a DB-3f (Il-4, twin-engine long-range bomber). The bomber was hit by enemy anti-aircraft artillery fire and committed the so-called. “fiery ram”, hitting the enemy’s mechanized column.

In addition, it cannot be said that an air ram necessarily led to the death of the pilot. Statistics show that approximately 37% of pilots died during an aerial ramming. The remaining pilots not only remained alive, but even kept the plane in a more or less combat-ready condition, so many aircraft could continue the air battle and made a successful landing. There are examples when pilots made two successful rams in one air battle. Several dozen Soviet pilots performed the so-called. “double” rams are when the enemy’s plane could not be shot down the first time and then it was necessary to finish it off with a second blow. There is even a case when fighter pilot O. Kilgovatov had to make four ramming strikes to destroy the enemy. 35 Soviet pilots each made two rams, N.V. Terekhin and A.S. Khlobystov - three each.

Boris Ivanovich Kovzan(1922 - 1985) is the only pilot in the world who made four air rams, and three times he returned to his home airfield in his plane. On August 13, 1942, on a single-engine La-5 fighter, Captain B.I. Kovzan made the fourth ram. The pilot discovered a group of enemy bombers and fighters and engaged them in battle. In a fierce battle, his plane was shot down. An enemy machine-gun burst hit the fighter's cockpit, the instrument panel was smashed, and the pilot's head was cut by shrapnel. The car was on fire. Boris Kovzan felt a sharp pain in his head and one eye, so he hardly noticed how one of the German planes launched a frontal attack on him. The cars quickly approached. “If now the German can’t stand it and turns up, then we’ll have to ram,” thought Kovzan. The pilot, wounded in the head, was going to ram a burning plane.

When the planes collided in the air, Kovzan was thrown out of the cockpit by the sharp impact, as the belts simply burst. He flew 3,500 meters without opening his parachute in a semi-conscious state, and only just above the ground, at an altitude of only 200 meters, he woke up and pulled the exhaust ring. The parachute was able to open, but the impact on the ground was still very strong. The Soviet ace came to his senses in a Moscow hospital on the seventh day. He had several wounds from shrapnel; his collarbone and jaw, both arms and legs were broken. Doctors were unable to save the pilot’s right eye. Kovzan’s treatment continued for two months. Everyone understood well that in this air battle only a miracle saved him. The commission’s verdict for Boris Kovzan was very difficult: “You can’t fly anymore.” But this was a real Soviet falcon, who could not imagine life without flights and the sky. Kovzan has been achieving his dream all his life! At one time they didn’t want to admit him to the Odessa Military Aviation School, then Kovzan gave himself a year and begged the doctors of the medical commission, although he did not reach 13 kilograms of weight to the norm. And he achieved his goal. He was driven by firm confidence that if you constantly strive for a goal, it will be achieved.

He was wounded, but is now healthy, his head is in place, his arms and legs have recovered. As a result, the pilot reached the Air Force Commander-in-Chief A. Novikov. He promised to help. A new conclusion from the medical commission was received: “Fit to fly on all types of fighter aircraft.” Boris Kovzan writes a report with a request to be sent to the warring units, but receives several refusals. But this time he achieved his goal, the pilot was enlisted in the 144th Air Defense Division near Saratov. In total, during the years of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet pilot made 360 ​​combat missions, took part in 127 air battles, shot down 28 German aircraft, 6 of them after being seriously wounded and being one-eyed. In August 1943 he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Soviet pilots during the Great Patriotic War used various techniques air ram:

Hitting an enemy's tail with an airplane propeller. An attacking aircraft approaches the enemy from behind and strikes its tail with its propeller. This blow led to the destruction of the enemy aircraft or loss of controllability. This was the most common aerial ramming technique during the Great War. If executed correctly, the pilot of the attacking aircraft had a pretty good chance of surviving. When colliding with an enemy aircraft, usually only the propeller suffers, and even if it failed, there were chances to land the car or jump with a parachute.

Wing strike. It was carried out both when aircraft approached head-on and when approaching the enemy from behind. The blow was delivered by the wing to the tail or fuselage of the enemy aircraft, including the cockpit of the target aircraft. Sometimes this technique was used to complete a frontal attack.

Fuselage strike. It was considered the most dangerous type of air ram for a pilot. This technique also includes the collision of aircraft during a frontal attack. Interestingly, even with this outcome, some pilots survived.

Impact with the tail of an airplane (ram by I. Sh. Bikmukhametov). The ramming that was carried out by Ibragim Shagiakhmedovich Bikmukhametov on August 4, 1942. He came out head-on to the enemy plane with a slide and a turn and struck the enemy’s wing with the tail of his fighter. As a result, the enemy fighter lost control, went into a tailspin and died, and Ibragim Bikmukhametov was even able to bring his LaGG-Z to the airfield and land safely.

Bikmukhametov graduated from the 2nd Borisoglebsk Red Banner Military Aviation Pilot School named after. V.P. Chkalova, in the winter of 1939 - 1940 participated in the war with Finland. The junior lieutenant took part in the Great Patriotic War from the very beginning, until November 1941 he served in the 238th Fighter Aviation Regiment (IAP), then in the 5th Guards IAP. The regiment commander noted that the pilot was “brave and decisive.”

On August 4, 1942, six single-seat and single-engine LaGG-Z fighters of the 5th Guards IAP, led by Guard Major Grigory Onufrienko, flew out to cover ground forces in the Rzhev area. This group also included flight commander Ibragim Bikmukhametov. Behind the front line, Soviet fighters met 8 enemy Me-109 fighters. The Germans followed a parallel course. A quick air battle began. It ended in victory for our pilots: 3 Luftwaffe aircraft were destroyed. One of them was shot down by squadron commander G. Onufrienko, the other two Messerschmitts by I. Bikmukhametov. The first Me-109 pilot attacked on a combat turn, hitting it with a cannon and two machine guns, the enemy plane went to the ground. In the heat of battle, I. Bikmukhametov late noticed another enemy plane, which came from above into the tail of his car. But the flight commander was not at a loss, he energetically made a slide and with a sharp turn went towards the German. The enemy could not withstand the attack head-on and tried to turn his plane away. The enemy pilot was able to avoid meeting the propeller blades of I. Bikmukhametov’s machine. But our pilot contrived and, sharply turning the car, struck swipe the tail of his “iron” (as the Soviet pilots called this fighter) along the wing of the “Messer”. The enemy fighter fell into a tailspin and soon fell into the thicket of a dense forest.

Bikmukhametov was able to bring the heavily damaged car to the airfield. This was the 11th enemy aircraft shot down by Ibragim Bikmukhametov. During the war, the pilot was awarded 2 Orders of the Red Banner and the Order of the Red Star. The brave pilot died on December 16, 1942 in the Voronezh region. During the battle with superior enemy forces, his plane was shot down and during an emergency landing, trying to save the fighter, the wounded pilot crashed.

The first rams of the Great Patriotic War

Researchers are still arguing about who carried out the first ram on June 22, 1941. Some believe that it was senior lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov, others call the author of the first ram of the Great Patriotic War, junior lieutenant Dmitry Vasilyevich Kokorev.

I. I. Ivanov (1909 - June 22, 1941) served in the Red Army from the fall of 1931, then was sent on a Komsomol ticket to the Perm Aviation School. In the spring of 1933, Ivanov was sent to the 8th Odessa Military Aviation School. Initially he served in the 11th Light Bomber Regiment in the Kiev Military District, in 1939 he participated in the Polish campaign to liberate Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, then in the “Winter War” with Finland. At the end of 1940 he completed fighter pilot courses. Received an appointment to the 14th Mixed Aviation Division, deputy squadron commander of the 46th IAP.

At dawn on June 22, 1941, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Ivanov took to the skies on combat alert at the head of the I-16 flight (according to another version, the pilots were on I-153) to intercept a group of enemy aircraft that were approaching the Mlynov airfield. In the air, Soviet pilots discovered 6 twin-engine He-111 bombers from the 7th detachment of the KG 55 “Grif” squadron. Senior Lieutenant Ivanov led a flight of fighters to attack the enemy. A flight of Soviet fighters dived onto the lead bomber. The bomber gunners opened fire on the Soviet planes. Coming out of the dive, the I-16s repeated the attack. One of the Heinkels was hit. The remaining enemy bombers dropped their bombs before reaching the target and began to fly west. After a successful attack, both of Ivanov’s wingmen went to their airfield, since, while maneuvering away from the fire of enemy riflemen, they had used up almost all the fuel. Ivanov let them board, continued the pursuit, but then also decided to land, because... the fuel was running out and the ammunition was gone. At this time, an enemy bomber appeared over the Soviet airfield. Noticing him, Ivanov went to meet him, but the German, firing machine guns, did not veer off course. The only way to stop the enemy was a ram. From the impact, the bomber (the Soviet plane cut off the tail of the German aircraft with its propeller), which was driven by non-commissioned officer H. Wohlfeil, lost control and crashed into the ground. The entire German crew died. But I. Ivanov’s plane was also badly damaged. Because of low altitude the pilot was unable to use a parachute and died. This ramming occurred at 4:25 am near the village of Zagoroshcha, Rivne district, Rivne region. On August 2, 1941, senior lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov posthumously became a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Around the same time, junior lieutenant made his ramming Dmitry Vasilievich Kokorev(1918 - 10/12/1941). A native of the Ryazan region served in the 9th mixed aviation division, in the 124th IAP (Western Special Military District). The regiment was stationed at the border airfield Vysoko-Mazowiecki, near the city of Zambrov (Western Ukraine). After the war began, the regiment commander, Major Polunin, instructed the young pilot to reconnoiter the situation in the area of ​​the state border of the USSR, which has now become the line of combat contact between Soviet and German troops.

At 4:05 a.m., when Dmitry Kokorev was returning from reconnaissance, the Luftwaffe made the first powerful attack on the airfield, as the regiment was preventing the flight into the interior of the country. The fight was brutal. The airfield was heavily damaged.

And then Kokarev saw the Dornier-215 reconnaissance bomber (according to other information, the Me-110 multi-purpose aircraft) leaving the Soviet airfield. Apparently, it was Hitler’s intelligence officer who was monitoring the results of the first strike on the fighter aviation regiment. Anger blinded the Soviet pilot, abruptly jerking the high-altitude MiG fighter into a combat turn, Kokorev went on the attack, in a fever he opened fire ahead of time. He missed, but the German shooter hit accurately - a line of tears pierced the right plane of his car.

Enemy plane on maximum speed went to the state border. Dmitry Kokorev launched a second attack. He shortened the distance, not paying attention to the frantic shooting of the German shooter, coming within firing range, Kokorev pressed the trigger, but the ammunition ran out. The Soviet pilot didn’t think for a long time that he couldn’t let the enemy go, he suddenly increased his speed and threw the fighter at the enemy machine. The MiG slashed with its propeller near the tail of the Dornier.

This air ramming took place at 4:15 a.m. (according to other sources, at 4:35 a.m.) in front of the infantrymen and border guards who were defending the city of Zambrov. The fuselage of the German plane broke in half, and the Dornier crashed to the ground. Our fighter went into a tailspin, its engine stalled. Kokorev came to his senses and was able to pull the car out of the terrible spin. I chose a clearing for landing and landed successfully. It should be noted that Junior Lieutenant Kokorev was an ordinary Soviet private pilot, of whom there were hundreds in the Red Army Air Force. The junior lieutenant had only flight school behind him.

Unfortunately, the hero did not live to see the Victory. He made 100 combat missions and shot down 5 enemy aircraft. When his regiment fought near Leningrad, on October 12, intelligence reported that a large number of enemy Junkers. The weather was bad, the Germans did not take off in such conditions and did not wait for our planes. It was decided to strike the airfield. A group of 6 of our Pe-2 dive bombers (they were called “Pawns”), accompanied by 13 MiG-3 fighters, appeared over Siverskaya and came as a complete surprise to the Nazis.

Incendiary bombs from low altitude hit the target, machine-gun fire and fighter jets completed the rout. The Germans were able to lift only one fighter into the air. The Pe-2s had already bombed and were leaving, only one bomber was left behind. Kokorev rushed to his defense. He shot down the enemy, but at that time the German air defense woke up. Dmitry's plane was shot down and fell.

The first...

Ekaterina Ivanovna Zelenko(1916 - September 12, 1941) became the first woman on the planet to perform an aerial ram. Zelenko graduated from the Voronezh Aero Club (in 1933), the 3rd Orenburg Military Aviation School named after. K. E. Voroshilov (in 1934). She served with the 19th Light Bomber Aviation Brigade in Kharkov and was a test pilot. Over the course of 4 years, she mastered seven types of aircraft. This is the only female pilot who participated in the “Winter War” (as part of the 11th Light Bomber Aviation Regiment). She was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and flew 8 combat missions.

She participated in the Great Patriotic War from the first day, fighting as part of the 16th mixed aviation division, and was deputy commander of the 5th squadron of the 135th bomber aviation regiment. Managed to complete 40 combat missions, including night ones. On September 12, 1941, she made 2 successful reconnaissance sorties on a Su-2 bomber. But, despite the fact that her Su-2 was damaged during the second flight, Ekaterina Zelenko flew for the third time on the same day. Already returning, in the area of ​​​​the city of Romny, two Soviet aircraft were attacked by 7 enemy fighters. Ekaterina Zelenko was able to shoot down one Me-109, and when she ran out of ammunition, she rammed a second German fighter. The pilot destroyed the enemy, but died herself.

Viktor Vasilievich Talalikhin(1918 - October 27, 1941) made a night ram, which became the most famous in this war, shooting down a He-111 bomber on an I-16 in the Podolsk (Moscow region) on the night of August 7, 1941. For a long time it was believed that this was the first night ram in the history of aviation. Only later did it become known that on the night of July 29, 1941, a fighter pilot of the 28th IAP Pyotr Vasilievich Eremeev On a MiG-3 plane, a Junkers-88 bomber was shot down with a ramming attack. He died on October 2, 1941 in an air battle (September 21, 1995, Eremeev was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia for courage and military valor).

On October 27, 1941, 6 fighters under the command of V. Talalikhin flew to cover our forces in the area of ​​​​the village of Kamenki, on the banks of the Nara (85 km west of the capital). They encountered 9 enemy fighters, in the battle Talalikhin shot down one Messer, but another was able to shoot it down, the pilot died a heroic death...

Crew of Viktor Petrovich Nosov from the 51st mine and torpedo regiment of the Baltic Fleet Air Force carried out the first ramming of a ship in the history of the war using a heavy bomber. The lieutenant commanded the A-20 torpedo bomber (American Douglas A-20 Havoc). On February 13, 1945, in the southern part of the Baltic Sea, during an attack by an enemy transport of 6 thousand tons, a Soviet plane was shot down. The commander drove the burning car straight into the enemy's transport. The plane hit the target, an explosion occurred, and the enemy ship sank. The crew of the aircraft: Lieutenant Viktor Nosov (commander), Junior Lieutenant Alexander Igoshin (navigator) and Sergeant Fyodor Dorofeev (gunner-radio operator), died a heroic death.

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

Plan

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

I. Introduction

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

Purpose of the study:
. To understand what contribution Russian - Soviet aviators made to the development of the theory and practice of aircraft rams and thus establish how true the statement is that “the air ram is a Russian weapon.” Research objectives:
. Identify the motives that encourage pilots to engage in air ramming;
. Determine how deadly an air ram is and what factors influence its successful outcome;
. Investigate the dynamics of the use of air ramming in war time and find out why the “lion’s share” of rams occurred in the period 1941 - 1942;
. Compare the rams committed by Soviet pilots during the Great Patriotic War with the rams of Japanese kamikazes.

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

Problematic issues:
. The frequency of use of rams in the first years of the Great Patriotic War - is this an indicator of the dedication of Soviet pilots, or proof of the technical backwardness of domestic aviation?
. Is it possible to identify types of air ramming that are safe for a pilot?

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

II. What is an air ram?

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

Ram - battering ram weapon

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

A fire ram is a type of ram in which a damaged aircraft is directed at air, ground or sea targets. The most famous fire ram was committed on June 26, 1941 by Nikolai Gastello.

Fiery ram of Nikolai Gastello

An aerial ram is a deliberate collision with an enemy vehicle in the air with the goal of damaging or destroying it. It is this type of ram that my research is devoted to.

III. From the history of air rams

A. The first aerial rams

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

Nikolai Alexandrovich Yatsuk

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

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

Taran of Pyotr Nikolaevich Nesterov

B. Aerial rams during the Great Patriotic War

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

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

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

Victor Talalikhin

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

Ekaterina Zelenko

This incident shows us that even in the most hopeless rams, there was still a chance to survive. The combat pilots knew about this and hoped to escape, save the plane and “return to duty.”

Andrey Danilov

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

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

In 1942, the number of rams did not decrease.

Boris Kovzan rammed enemy planes three times in 1942. In the first two cases, he returned safely to the airfield on his MiG-3 plane. In August 1942, on a La-5 plane, Boris Kovzan discovered a group of enemy bombers and fighters. In a battle with them, he was shot down and injured in his eye, and then Kovzan directed his plane at an enemy bomber. The impact threw Kovzan out of the cabin and from a height of 6,000 meters, with his parachute not fully opening, he fell into a swamp, breaking his leg and several ribs. The partisans who arrived in time pulled him out of the swamp. The heroic pilot was in the hospital for 10 months. He lost his right eye but returned to flying duty.

Boris Kovzan

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

Sergey Achkasov

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

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

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

Interim conclusions on the section “Aerial rams during the Great Patriotic War”

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

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

Rams were used by brave pilots who understood that the slightest inaccuracy would kill them;

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

For Soviet pilots, rams were the “last resort” to hit the enemy, which they resorted to if it was completely impossible to continue the air battle;

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

As you improve technical characteristics aircraft, the number of air rams carried out by Soviet pilots is noticeably decreasing.

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

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

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

Here are some examples of the use of rams in the post-war period:

G.N.Eliseev

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

On July 18, 1981, the state border of the USSR on the territory of Armenia was violated by a Canadair CL-44 transport plane of an Argentine airline with a Swiss crew, transporting a shipment of weapons to Iran. Two pairs of Su-15 fighters were scrambled to intercept. Guard captain V.A. Kulyapin was directed to the target. He was given the task of putting the offender on our territory. Having discovered the intruder aircraft, Kulyapin set off on a parallel course and began giving signs to the intruder to follow him. He did not react and continued to fly towards the border. Then the command came from the command post to shoot down the intruder. Kulyapin's Su-1 was armed with R-98M long-range missiles. The distance was insufficient to launch them, and there was no longer enough time to make a new attack - the intruder was approaching the border. Then Kulyapin decided to ram. He approached the intruder aircraft and, on the second attempt, struck the right stabilizer of the transport aircraft with his fuselage. After this, Kulyapin ejected, and the CL-44 went into a tailspin and fell 2 km from the border. The crew died. The pilot was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Valentin Aleksandrovich Kulyapin

IV. How dangerous is an air ram?

This study provides examples of only the most famous rams. But this list can be supplemented with a hundred more names of people who were not afraid to be rammed as certain death.

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

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

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

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

Let's think about whether there are relatively safe methods of ramming.

The following methods of air ramming are distinguished:

1. Impact of the landing gear on the wing

Used on early biplanes with fragile wings and non-retractable landing gear. The attacking airplane approaches the target from above and strikes the upper wing of the target with its landing gear wheels.

2. Impact of the propeller on the tail unit

The attacking aircraft approached the target from behind and struck the target's tail with its propeller. Such a strike leads to destruction or loss of controllability of the target aircraft.

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

3. Wing strike

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

Ivan Fedorov and Ekaterina Zelenko used exactly this method of ramming during the Great Patriotic War. Zelenko died, Fedorov remained alive.

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

4. Fuselage strike

The most dangerous type of ram for a pilot. The fuselage is the body of the aircraft. The fuselage itself contains the most important mechanisms. Such a ram led to the destruction of the aircraft, often leading to immediate fire. The pilot might not have time to leave the car.

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

V. Why is an air ram called a “Russian weapon”?

There is an opinion in the literature that the ram cannot be called a Russian weapon. Allegedly, the Russians just came up with a battering ram and that’s it. The exponents of this point of view were, for example, Alexey Stepanov and Pyotr Vlasov, authors of the work “Aerial ram - a weapon not only of Soviet heroes.”

In this section I will present arguments in favor of the fact that the ram is indeed a Russian weapon.

Without a doubt, pilots from many countries have used the ramming technique. On December 22, 1941, while fighting as part of the British Air Force, Australian Sergeant Reed, having used up all his ammunition, rammed a Japanese Ki-43 fighter and died in a collision with it.

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

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

Taran Dimitar Spisarevski

They had practically no chance to survive, because... most often their planes were packed with explosives. Despite the initial intention to die while carrying out the mission, there have been recorded cases of suicide pilots returning to base or being picked up at sea. In most cases this was due to faulty aircraft and engines. If the target was not detected, or the attack was disrupted for some other reason, the kamikaze was directly ordered to return.

Let us note that, unlike kamikazes, Russian pilots tried to stay alive after the attacks. This confirms the number of different techniques for striking aircraft against vehicles that were invented during wartime. In addition, the phenomenon of kamikazes appeared much later and this means that they are just followers of Russian hero pilots.

There is no doubt that the use of aerial ramming is typical not only for Soviet pilots - ramming was carried out by pilots from almost all countries participating in battles.

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

Soviet wartime propaganda poster

VI. Conclusion

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

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

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

We compared the rams committed by Japanese kamikazes and Soviet pilots and can talk about the fundamental differences between them. Among kamikazes it was considered a shame not to die. Russian pilots were focused on survival and saving the car. Staying alive for them is a sign of skill!

In conclusion, we will answer problematic questions:

. The frequency of use of rams in the first years of the Great Patriotic War - is this an indicator of the dedication of Soviet pilots, or proof of the technical backwardness of domestic aviation?

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

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

I came to the conclusion that there are no safe methods of ramming. The survival of the pilot and his vehicle depended on many factors, and above all, on the accuracy of the maneuver. And yet, the greatest chance of salvation was the impact of the landing gear.

VII. Bibliography

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

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

It is well known that the world's first aerial ram was carried out by our compatriot Pyotr Nesterov, who destroyed the Austrian Albatross reconnaissance aircraft on September 8, 1914 at the cost of his life. But the honor of the world's second ram for a long time was attributed either to N. Zherdev, who fought in Spain in 1938, or to A. Gubenko, who fought in China the same year. And only after the collapse of the Soviet Union did information appear in our literature about the real hero of the second air ram - the Russian pilot of the 1st World War, Alexander Kozakov, who on March 18, 1915, shot down an Austrian Albatross aircraft with a ram attack over the front line. Moreover, Kozakov became the first pilot to survive a suicidal strike on an enemy plane: on a damaged Moran, he managed to make a successful landing at the location of Russian troops. The long-term silence about Kozakov’s feat is due to the fact that later this most productive Russian ace of the 1st World War (32 victories) became a White Guard and fought against Soviet power. Such a hero, naturally, did not suit Soviet historians, and his name was erased from the history of domestic aviation for many decades, it was simply forgotten...

Even during the 1st World War, several foreign pilots also carried out aerial ramming. So, in September 1916, British aviation captain Aiselwood, flying a D.H.2 fighter, shot down a German Albatross with a blow from the landing gear of his fighter, and then landed “on his belly” at his airfield. In June 1917, Canadian William Bishop, having fired all his cartridges in battle, deliberately cut off the wing struts of the German Albatross with the wing of his Nieuport. The enemy’s wings folded from the impact, and the German fell to the ground; Bishop arrived safely at the airfield. Subsequently, he became one of the best aces of the British Empire: he ended the war with 72 aerial victories to his name...

But perhaps the most amazing aerial ramming in World War I was performed by the Belgian Willie Coppens, who rammed the German Draken balloon on May 8, 1918. Having fired all the cartridges in several attacks on the balloon to no avail, Coppens hit the Draken's skin with the wheels of his Anrio fighter; the propeller blades also slashed across the tightly inflated canvas, and the Draken burst. At the same time, the HD-1 engine choked due to gas, poured into the hole of the ruptured cylinder, and Coppens literally miraculously did not die. He was saved by the oncoming air flow, which forcefully spun the propeller and started the Anrio engine when it rolled off the falling Draken. This was the first and only ram in the history of Belgian aviation.

Canadian ace William Bishop; Coppens's HD-1 "Henrio" breaks away from the "Draken" it rammed; Belgian ace Willie Coppens

After the end of the 1st World War, there naturally came a break in the history of air rams. Again, ramming as a means of destroying an enemy aircraft, the pilots remembered during Civil War in Spain. At the very beginning of this war - in the summer of 1936 - the republican pilot, Lieutenant Urtubi, who found himself in a hopeless situation, having fired all the cartridges at the Francoist planes that surrounded him, rammed an Italian Fiat fighter from a frontal angle in a low-speed Nieuport. Both planes disintegrated from the impact; Urtubi managed to open his parachute, but on the ground he died from wounds received in battle. And about a year later (in July 1937) on the other side globe- in China - for the first time in the world, a sea ram was carried out, and a massive ram at that: at the very beginning of Japan’s aggression against China, 15 Chinese pilots sacrificed themselves by attacking enemy landing ships from the air and sinking 7 of them!

On October 25, 1937, the world's first night air ram took place. It was carried out in Spain by Soviet volunteer pilot Evgeniy Stepanov, who, under difficult conditions, destroyed the Italian Savoia-Marceti bomber with a blow from the landing gear of his Chato (I-15) biplane. Moreover, Stepanov rammed the enemy, having almost full of ammunition - an experienced pilot, he understood that it was impossible to shoot down a huge three-engine plane with his small-caliber machine guns in one go, and after a long burst of fire at the bomber, he went to ram so as not to lose the enemy in the dark. After the attack, Evgeniy returned safely to the airfield, and in the morning, in the area he indicated, the Republicans found the wreckage of the Marcheti...

On June 22, 1939, the first ram in Japanese aviation was carried out over Khalkhin Gol by pilot Shogo Saito. Pressed “in pincers” by Soviet planes, having shot all the ammunition, Saito made a breakthrough, cutting off part of the tail of the fighter closest to him with his wing, and escaped from the encirclement. And when a month later, on July 21, saving his commander, Saito tried to ram a Soviet fighter again (the ram did not work - the Soviet pilot dodged the attack), his comrades gave him the nickname “King of Rams.” “King of Rams” Shogo Saito, who had 25 victories to his name, died in July 1944 in New Guinea, fighting in the ranks of the infantry (after losing his plane) against the Americans...

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

The first aerial ram in World War II was not carried out by a Soviet pilot, as is commonly believed in our country, but by a Polish pilot. This ram was carried out on September 1, 1939 by the deputy commander of the Interceptor Brigade covering Warsaw, Lieutenant Colonel Leopold Pamula. Having knocked out 2 bombers in a battle with superior enemy forces, he went on his damaged plane to ram one of the 3 Messerschmitt-109 fighters that attacked him. Having destroyed the enemy, Pamula escaped by parachute and made a safe landing at the location of his troops. Six months after Pamula’s feat, another foreign pilot committed an air ram: on February 28, 1940, in a fierce air battle over Karelia, the Finnish pilot Lieutenant Hutanantti rammed a Soviet fighter and died in the process.

Pamula and Hutanantti were not the only foreign pilots who carried out ramming missions at the beginning of World War II. During the German offensive against France and Holland, the pilot of the British Battle bomber N.M. Thomas accomplished a feat that we today call “Gastello’s feat.” Trying to stop the rapid German offensive, on May 12, 1940, the Allied command gave the order to destroy at any cost the crossings across the Meuse north of Maastricht, along which enemy tank divisions were transported. However, German fighters and anti-aircraft guns repelled all British attacks, inflicting horrific losses on them. And then, in a desperate desire to stop the German tanks, Flight Officer Thomas sent his Battle, hit by anti-aircraft guns, into one of the bridges, having managed to inform his comrades about the decision...

Six months later, another pilot repeated “Thomas’ feat.” In Africa, on November 4, 1940, another Battle bomber pilot, Lieutenant Hutchinson, was shot down by anti-aircraft fire while bombing Italian positions in Nyalli (Kenya). And then Hutchinson sent his Battle into the midst of the Italian infantry, destroying about 20 enemy soldiers at the cost of his own death. Eyewitnesses claimed that Hutchinson was alive at the time of the ramming - the British bomber was controlled by the pilot until the collision with the ground...

British fighter pilot Ray Holmes distinguished himself during the Battle of Britain. During the German raid on London on September 15, 1940, one German Dornier 17 bomber broke through the British fighter barrier to Buckingham Palace, the residence of the King of Great Britain. The German was already preparing to drop bombs on an important target when Ray appeared on his path in his Hurricane. Having dived from above on the enemy, Holmes, on a collision course, cut off the tail of the Dornier with his wing, but he himself was so seriously injured that he was forced to bail out by parachute.

Ray Holmes in the cockpit of his Hurricane; Ray Holmes ram

The next fighter pilots to take mortal risks for victory were the Greeks Marino Mitralexes and Grigoris Valkanas. During the Italo-Greek War, on November 2, 1940, over Thessaloniki, Marino Mitralexes rammed the propeller of his PZL P-24 fighter into an Italian bomber Kant Z-1007. After the ramming, Mitralexes not only landed safely, but also managed, with the help of local residents, to capture the crew of the bomber he shot down! Volkanas accomplished his feat on November 18, 1940. During a fierce group battle in the Morova region (Albania), he used up all the ammunition and went to ram an Italian fighter (both pilots were killed).

With the escalation of hostilities in 1941 (the attack on the USSR, the entry of Japan and the United States into the war), ramming became a fairly common occurrence in air warfare. Moreover, these actions were characteristic not only of Soviet pilots - ramming was carried out by pilots almost

So, on December 22, 1941, the Australian Sergeant Reed, who was fighting as part of the British Air Force, having used up all his cartridges, rammed his Brewster-239 into a Japanese army fighter Ki-43, and died in a collision with it. At the end of February 1942, the Dutchman J. Adam, flying the same Brewster, also rammed a Japanese fighter, but survived.

US pilots also carried out ramming attacks. Americans are very proud of their captain Colin Kelly, who in 1941 was presented by propagandists as the first “rammer” of the United States, who rammed the Japanese battleship Haruna on December 10 with his B-17 bomber. True, after the war, researchers found that Kelly did not commit any ramming. However, the American actually accomplished a feat that was undeservedly forgotten due to the pseudo-patriotic fabrications of journalists. That day, Kelly bombed the cruiser Nagara and distracted all the covering fighters of the Japanese squadron, giving other aircraft the opportunity to calmly bomb the enemy. When Kelly was shot down, he tried to maintain control of the plane until the end, giving the crew the opportunity to leave the dying car. At the cost of his life, Kelly saved ten comrades, but did not have time to save himself...

Based on this information, the first American pilot to actually carry out a ram was Captain Fleming, commander of the Vindicator bomber squadron of the US Marine Corps. During the Battle of Midway on June 5, 1942, he led his squadron's attack on Japanese cruisers. On approaching the target, his plane was hit by an anti-aircraft shell and caught fire, but the captain continued the attack and bombed. Seeing that the bombs of his subordinates did not hit the target (the squadron consisted of reservists and had poor training), Fleming turned around and again dived at the enemy, crashing the burning bomber into the cruiser Mikuma. The damaged ship lost its combat capability and was soon finished off by other American bombers.

Another American who went to ram was Major Ralph Cheli, who on August 18, 1943 led his bomber group to attack the Japanese airfield of Dagua (New Guinea). Almost immediately his B-25 Mitchell was shot down; then Cheli sent his flaming plane down and crashed into a formation of enemy aircraft standing on the ground, smashing five aircraft with the body of the Mitchell. For this feat, Ralph Celi was posthumously awarded the United States' highest honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor.

In the second half of the war, many British also used aerial rams, although perhaps in a somewhat unique way (but with no less risk to their own lives). German Lieutenant General Erich Schneider, when describing the use of V-1 projectile aircraft against England, testifies: “brave English pilots shot down projectile aircraft either in an attack with cannon and machine gun fire, or by ramming them from the side.” This method of fighting was not chosen by the British pilots by chance: very often, when firing, a German shell exploded, destroying the pilot who attacked it - after all, when a V-V exploded, the radius of absolute destruction was about 100 meters, and to hit a small target moving at great speed from a greater distance it is very difficult, almost impossible. Therefore, the British (also, of course, risking death) flew up close to the Fau and pushed it to the ground with a blow from wing to wing. One wrong move the slightest mistake in the calculation - and only a memory remained of the brave pilot... This is exactly how the best English V-hunter, Joseph Berry, acted, destroying 59 German shell aircraft in 4 months. On October 2, 1944, he launched an attack on the 60th V-V, and this ram became his last...

"Killer Fau" Joseph Berry
So Berry and many other British pilots rammed German V-1 missiles

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

Bulgarian pilots Dimitar Spisarevski and Nedelcho Bonchev

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

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

However, not all ramming attempts ended so tragically for Japanese pilots. For example, on October 8, 1943, fighter pilot Satoshi Anabuki, flying a light Ki-43, armed with only two machine guns, managed to shoot down 2 American fighters and 3 heavy four-engine B-24 bombers in one battle! Moreover, the third bomber, having used up all its ammunition, was destroyed by Anabuki with a ramming strike. After this ramming, the wounded Japanese managed to land his crashed plane “forced” on the coast of the Gulf of Burma. For his feat, Anabuki received an award that was exotic for Europeans, but quite familiar to the Japanese: the commander of the troops of the Burma district, General Kawabe, dedicated a poem of his own composition to the heroic pilot...

A particularly “cool” “rammer” among the Japanese was 18-year-old junior lieutenant Masajiro Kawato, who completed 4 air rams during his combat career. The first victim of the Japanese suicide attacks was a B-25 bomber, which Kawato shot down over Rabaul with a strike from his Zero, which was left without ammunition (the date of this ram is unknown to me). Masajiro, who escaped by parachute, again rammed an American bomber on November 11, 1943, and was wounded in the process. Then, in a battle on December 17, 1943, Kawato rammed an Airacobra fighter in a frontal attack, and again escaped by parachute. The last time Masajiro Kawato rammed a four-engine B-24 Liberator bomber over Rabaul on February 6, 1944, and again used a parachute to escape. In March 1945, the seriously wounded Kawato was captured by the Australians, and the war ended for him.

And less than a year before the surrender of Japan - in October 1944 - kamikazes entered the battle. The first kamikaze attack was carried out on October 21, 1944 by Lieutenant Kuno, who damaged the ship Australia. And on October 25, 1944, the first successful attack of an entire kamikaze unit under the command of Lieutenant Yuki Seki took place, during which an aircraft carrier and a cruiser were sunk, and another aircraft carrier was damaged. But, although the main targets of kamikazes were usually enemy ships, the Japanese also had suicide formations to intercept and destroy heavy American B-29 Superfortress bombers with ramming attacks. For example, in the 27th Regiment of the 10th Air Division, a flight of specially lightweight Ki-44-2 aircraft was created under the command of Captain Matsuzaki, which bore the poetic name “Shinten” (“Heavenly Shadow”). These “kamikazes of the Heavenly Shadow” became a real nightmare for the Americans who flew to bomb Japan...

Since the end of World War 2 until today, historians and amateurs have debated whether the kamikaze movement made sense and whether it was successful enough. In official Soviet military historical works, 3 negative reasons for the appearance of Japanese suicide bombers were usually identified: lack of modern equipment and experienced personnel, fanaticism and the “voluntary-forced” method of recruiting the perpetrators of the deadly mission. While fully agreeing with this, we must, however, admit that under certain conditions this tactic also brought some advantages. In a situation where hundreds and thousands of untrained pilots were dying uselessly from the crushing attacks of superbly trained American pilots, from the point of view of the Japanese command it was undoubtedly more profitable for them to cause at least some damage to the enemy during their inevitable death. It is impossible not to take into account here the special logic of the samurai spirit, which was implanted by the Japanese leadership as a model among the entire Japanese population. According to it, a warrior is born to die for his emperor, and a “beautiful death” in battle was considered the pinnacle of his life. It was precisely this logic, incomprehensible to a European, that prompted Japanese pilots at the beginning of the war to fly into battle without parachutes, but with samurai swords in the cockpits!

The advantage of suicide tactics was that the kamikaze’s range doubled compared to conventional aircraft (there was no need to save gasoline to return). The enemy's losses in people from suicide attacks were much greater than the losses of the kamikazes themselves; Moreover, these attacks undermined the morale of the Americans, who experienced such horror in front of suicide bombers that the American command during the war was forced to classify all information about the “kamikaze” in order to avoid complete demoralization of the personnel. After all, no one could feel protected from surprise attacks suicide bombers - even the crews of small ships. With the same grim stubbornness, the Japanese attacked everything that could float. As a result, the results of the kamikaze’s activities were much more serious than the allied command tried to imagine at the time (but more on that in the conclusion).

Similar kamikaze attacks terrified American sailors

In Soviet times, in Russian literature not only was there never even a mention of air rams committed by German pilots, but it was also repeatedly stated that it was impossible for “cowardly fascists” to accomplish such feats. And this practice continued in the new Russia until the mid-90s, until, thanks to the emergence in our country of new Western studies translated into Russian, and the development of the Internet, it became impossible to deny documented confirmed facts of the heroism of our main enemy. Today it is already a proven fact: German pilots during the 2nd World War repeatedly used rams to destroy enemy aircraft. But the long-term delay in the recognition of this fact by domestic researchers only causes surprise and disappointment: after all, to be convinced of this, even in Soviet times it was enough to simply take a critical look at at least the domestic memoir literature. In the memoirs of Soviet veteran pilots, from time to time there are references to head-on collisions over the battlefield, when aircraft of the opposing sides collided with each other from opposing angles. What is this if not a double ram? And if in the initial period of the war the Germans almost did not use this technique, then this does not indicate a lack of courage among the German pilots, but that they had at their disposal quite effective weapons of traditional types, which allowed them to destroy the enemy without exposing their lives to unnecessary additional risk.

I do not know all the facts of ramming committed by German pilots on different fronts of the 2nd World War, especially since even participants in those battles often find it difficult to say for sure whether it was a deliberate ramming, or an accidental collision in the confusion of high-speed maneuverable combat (this also applies to Soviet pilots , with which rams are recorded). But even when listing the cases of ramming victories of German aces known to me, it is clear that in a hopeless situation the Germans boldly entered into a deadly collision for them, often not sparing their lives in order to harm the enemy.
If we specifically talk about the facts known to me, then among the first German “rammers” we can name Kurt Sochatzy, who on August 3, 1941 near Kiev, repelling an attack by Soviet attack aircraft on German positions, destroyed the “unbreakable Cementbomber” Il-2 with a frontal ramming blow. During the collision, Kurta's Messerschmitt lost half of its wing, and he had to hastily make an emergency landing directly along the flight path. Sohatzi landed on Soviet territory and was captured; nevertheless, for the accomplished feat, the command awarded him in absentia the highest award in Germany - the Knight's Cross.

If at the beginning of the war the ramming operations of German pilots, who were victorious on all fronts, were a rare exception, then in the second half of the war, when the situation was not in Germany’s favor, the Germans began to use ramming strikes more and more often. For example, on March 29, 1944, in the skies of Germany, the famous Luftwaffe ace Hermann Graf rammed an American Mustang fighter, receiving serious injuries that put him in a hospital bed for two months. The next day, March 30, 1944, on Eastern Front The “feat of Gastello” was repeated by the German assault ace, holder of the Knight's Cross Alvin Boerst. In the Iasi area, he attacked a Soviet tank column in an anti-tank Ju-87 variant, was shot down by anti-aircraft guns and, dying, rammed the tank in front of him. Boerst was posthumously awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross. In the West, on May 25, 1944, a young pilot, Oberfenrich Hubert Heckmann, in a Bf.109G rammed Captain Joe Bennett's Mustang, beheading an American fighter squadron, after which he escaped by parachute. And on July 13, 1944, another famous ace, Walter Dahl, shot down a heavy American B-17 bomber with a ramming attack.

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

The Germans had pilots who carried out several rams. For example, in the skies of Germany, while repelling American raids, Hauptmann Werner Gert rammed enemy planes three times. In addition, the pilot of the attack squadron of the Udet squadron, Willie Maksimovich, who destroyed 7 (!) American four-engine bombers with ramming strikes, became widely known. Vili was killed over Pillau in an air battle against Soviet fighters on April 20, 1945.

But the cases listed above are only a small part of the air rams committed by the Germans. In the conditions of the complete technical and quantitative superiority of allied aviation over German aviation at the end of the war, the Germans were forced to create units of their “kamikazes” (and even before the Japanese!). Already at the beginning of 1944, the Luftwaffe began forming special fighter-attack squadrons to destroy American bombers bombing Germany. The entire personnel of these units, which included volunteers and... penal prisoners, gave a written commitment to destroy at least one bomber on each flight - if necessary, then through ramming strikes! It was precisely such a squadron that the above-mentioned Vili Maksimovich belonged to, and these units were headed by Major Walter Dahl, already familiar to us. The Germans were forced to resort to mass ramming tactics precisely at a time when their former air superiority was negated by hordes of heavy Allied “Flying Fortresses”, advancing in a continuous stream from the west, and armadas of Soviet aircraft attacking from the east. It is clear that the Germans did not adopt such tactics out of good fortune; but this in no way detracts from the personal heroism of the German fighter pilots, who voluntarily decided to sacrifice themselves to save the German population, who were dying under American and British bombs...

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

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

The assault version of the FW-190 fighter, equipped with a fully armored cabin and solid armored glass, allowed German pilots
get close to the “Flying Fortresses” and carry out a killer ram

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

A manned analogue of the V-1 rocket - Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg, and the inspiration for the idea of ​​​​the “German kamikaze” Hana Reich

Conclusion:

So, based on the above, we can come to the conclusion that ramming, as a form of combat, was characteristic not only of Soviet pilots - ramming was carried out by pilots almost of all countries participating in the battles.

Another thing is that our pilots carried out much more rams than the “foreigners.” In total, during the war, Soviet aviators, at the cost of the death of 227 pilots and the loss of over 400 aircraft, managed to destroy 635 enemy aircraft in the air with ram attacks. In addition, Soviet pilots carried out 503 land and sea rams, of which 286 were carried out on attack aircraft with a crew of 2 people, and 119 by bombers with a crew of 3-4 people. Thus, in terms of the number of pilots killed in suicide attacks (at least 1000 people!), the USSR, together with Japan, undeniably dominates the grim list of countries whose pilots extensively sacrificed their lives to achieve victory over the enemy. However, it must be admitted that the Japanese still surpassed us in the field of “purely Soviet form of combat.” If we evaluate only the effectiveness of the “kamikazes” (operating since October 1944), then at the cost of the lives of more than 5,000 Japanese pilots, about 50 were sunk and about 300 enemy warships were damaged, of which 3 sunk and 40 damaged were aircraft carriers with a huge number of aircraft on board .

So, in terms of the number of rams, the USSR and Japan are far ahead of the other countries at war. Undoubtedly, this testifies to the courage and patriotism of Soviet and Japanese pilots, however, in my opinion, it does not detract from the same merits of the pilots of other countries participating in the war. When a hopeless situation developed, not only the Russians and Japanese, but also the British, Americans, Germans, Bulgarians, etc. and so on. went to ram, risking their own lives for the sake of victory. But they only walked in a hopeless situation; regularly use complex expensive technique in the role of a banal “cleaver” is a stupid and expensive thing. My opinion: the massive use of rams speaks not so much about the heroism and patriotism of a certain nation, but about the level of its military equipment and the preparedness of the flight personnel and command, which constantly put their pilots in a hopeless situation. In air units of countries in which the command skillfully managed units, creating a superiority in forces in in the right place, whose aircraft had high combat characteristics and whose pilots were well trained, the need to ram the enemy simply did not arise. But in air units of countries in which the command was unable to concentrate forces on the main direction, in which the pilots did not really know how to fly, and the aircraft had mediocre or even poor flight characteristics, ramming became almost the main form of combat. That is why at the beginning of the war, the Germans, who had the best aircraft, the best commanders and pilots, did not actually use rams. When the enemy created more advanced aircraft and outnumbered the Germans, and the Luftwaffe lost its most experienced pilots in numerous battles and no longer had time to properly train newcomers, the ramming method entered the arsenal of German aviation and reached the point of absurdity of “human bombs” ready to fall on their heads. civilian population...

In this regard, I would like to note that just at the time when the Japanese and Germans began the transition to kamikaze tactics, in the Soviet Union, which also widely used aerial rams, the commander of the USSR Air Force signed a very interesting order. It said: “Explain to all personnel of the Red Army Air Force that our fighters are superior in flight tactical data to all existing types German fighters... The use of a “ram” in air combat with enemy aircraft is inappropriate, therefore the “ram” should be used only in exceptional cases.” Leaving aside quality Soviet fighters, whose advantages over the enemy, it turns out, had to be “explained” to front-line pilots, let us pay attention to the fact that at a time when the Japanese and German command was trying to develop the line of using suicide bombers, the Soviet was trying to stop the already existing tendency of Russian pilots to commit suicide attacks. And there was something to think about: in August 1944 alone - the month preceding the appearance of the order - Soviet pilots carried out more air rams than in December 1941 - during the critical period of the battles near Moscow for the USSR! Even in April 1945, when Soviet aviation had absolute air supremacy, Russian pilots used as many rams as in November 1942, when the offensive at Stalingrad began! And this despite the “explained superiority” of Soviet technology, the undoubted advantage of the Russians in the number of fighters and, in general, the number of air rams decreasing from year to year (in 1941-42 - about 400 rams, in 1943-44 - about 200 rams , in 1945 - more than 20 rams). And everything is explained simply: with a strong desire to beat the enemy, most young Soviet pilots simply did not know how to properly fly and fight. Remember, this was well said in the film “Only Old Men Go to Battle”: “They don’t know how to fly yet, neither can they shoot, but EAGLES!” It was for this reason that Boris Kovzan, who did not even know how to turn on the on-board weapons, carried out 3 of his 4 rams. And it is for this reason that former aviation school instructor Ivan Kozhedub, who knew how to fly well, never rammed an enemy in 120 battles he conducted, although he had situations that were very unfavorable. But Ivan Nikitovich coped with them even without the “axe method”, because he had a high flight and combat training, and his plane was one of the best in domestic aviation...

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

Ramming as a method of air combat has never been and will not be the main one, since a collision with an enemy very often leads to the destruction and fall of both vehicles. A ramming attack is only permissible in a situation where the pilot has no other choice. The first such attack was carried out in 1912 by the famous pilot Pyotr Nesterov, who shot down an Austrian reconnaissance aircraft. His light Moran hit the heavy enemy Albatross, on which the pilot and observer were located, from above. As a result of the attack, both planes were damaged and fell, Nesterov and the Austrians were killed. At that time, machine guns had not yet been installed on airplanes, so ramming was the only way to shoot down an enemy airplane.

After the death of Nesterov, the tactics of ramming strikes were carefully worked out; the pilots began to strive to shoot down an enemy aircraft while preserving their own. The main method of attack was hitting the tail of the enemy aircraft with the propeller blades. The rapidly spinning propeller damaged the plane's tail, causing it to lose control and crash. At the same time, the pilots of the attacking aircraft often managed to land their planes safely. After replacing the bent propellers, the aircraft were ready to fly again. Other options were also used - impact with the wing, keel, fuselage, landing gear.

Night rams were especially difficult, since it is very difficult to carry out a strike in conditions of poor visibility. For the first time, a night air ram was used on October 28, 1937 in the skies of Spain by the Soviet Yevgeny Stepanov. At night over Barcelona on an I-15 he managed to destroy the Italian Savoia-Marchetti bomber with a ramming attack. Since the Soviet Union did not officially take part in the civil war in Spain, they preferred not to talk about the pilot’s feat for a long time.

During the Great Patriotic War, the first night air ram was carried out by fighter pilot of the 28th Fighter Air Force, Pyotr Vasilyevich Eremeev: on July 29, 1941, on a MiG-3 aircraft, he destroyed an enemy Junkers-88 bomber with a ramming attack. But the night ram of fighter pilot Viktor Vasilyevich Talalikhin became more famous: on the night of August 7, 1941, on an I-16 plane in the area of ​​Podolsk near Moscow, he shot down a German Heinkel-111 bomber. The Battle of Moscow was one of key points war, so the pilot’s feat became widely known. For his courage and heroism, Viktor Talalikhin was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. He died on October 27, 1941 in an air battle, having destroyed two enemy aircraft and was mortally wounded by a fragment of an exploding shell.

During the battles with Nazi Germany, Soviet pilots carried out more than 500 ramming attacks; some pilots used this technique several times and remained alive. Ramming attacks were also used later, already on jet vehicles.

When was the first air ram of the Great Patriotic War carried out?

Sofia Vargan

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

True, they are still arguing about who exactly was the author of the ram, the captain or captain Maslov - both planes did not return to the airfield. But that's not the point. The ram, widely known as the “Gastello feat,” is not an air ram, it is a ram for a ground target, it was also called a fire ram.

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

For the first time in the world, the ramming of an air target was carried out on August 26, 1914 by the famous pilot (he was also the author of the “dead loop”, which is also called the “Nesterov loop”). Nesterov, in a light Moran aircraft, rammed a heavy Austrian Albatross. As a result of the ramming, the enemy plane was shot down, but Nesterov was also killed. A ramming strike was written into the history of the art of piloting aircraft, but was considered an extreme measure, fatal for the pilot who decided to do it.

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

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

Soviet pilots had only a theoretical idea about a ramming attack. This is understandable; it has never occurred to anyone to practice this technique in practice. Moreover, the history of aviation clearly defined a ramming strike as fatal to the pilot. And so - in the very first minutes of the war, the ramming began! And, most interestingly, not all of them turned out to be fatal.

It is almost impossible to determine who exactly carried out the first aerial ramming in the war. June 22 at about 5 a.m. senior lieutenant Ivan Ivanov, who served in the 46th Fighter Aviation Regiment, rammed a Heinkel-111 in the Mlynov area (Ukraine). The pilot died during the ramming; he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.

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

June 22 at 5:15 a.m. junior lieutenant Leonid Buterin, who served in the 12th Fighter Aviation Regiment, rammed a Junkers-88 in the Stanislav area (Western Ukraine). He died during the ramming. On June 22, at about 6 a.m., an unknown pilot on a U-2 plane (they were also affectionately called “ears”) rammed a Messerschmitt in the Vyhoda area (near Bialystok). He died during the ramming.

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

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

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

“And we need only one victory, one for all, we will not stand behind the price,” they did not stand behind the price, paying the maximum, giving their own lives for the sake of this one for all. They didn’t think which one of them would be the first with his ram; it’s for us, the descendants, who are interested in finding that very Hero. And they didn’t even feel like heroes. Pyotr Ryabtsev wrote to his brother about his ram like this: “I’ve already clinked glasses in the sky with one of Hitler’s fellows. He drove him, the scoundrel, into the ground,” this is not a description of the feat, he was not proud of the ram, but of the fact that he destroyed one enemy!

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