Kamanin A.N. is known as the youngest pilot participating in the Great Patriotic War. His name can be found on the pages of the book "Heroes of the War of 1941-1945." What is the feat of a young man? What merits to compatriots belong to the young pilot?
Biography
Kamanin Arkady Nikolaevich was born on November 2, 1928 in the Far East. Father - Nikolai - was a famous pilot and military commander, Hero of the Soviet Union. This title was awarded to him for saving the passengers of the Chelyuskin steamboat. Kamanin was the commander of an aviation detachment. In the most difficult conditions, the aircraft made a flight length of 1,500 km. It was decided to transport the polar explorers under the wings of an airplane in parachute boxes.
The younger brother, Lev Kamanin, did not participate in hostilities. After studying at the Zhukovsky Academy, he worked at the Research Institute of the Air Force. Later he taught at his native academy. With his help, his father’s diaries were published under the name “Hidden Space”.
After many relocations, the family lived in the famous “House on the Embankment” in Moscow for a long time. As a very young boy, Arkady showed great interest in his father's service. During the summer holidays, the boy regularly visited the airfield, where his father served. In addition to flying, he was interested in books, music and sports. He knew how to play the accordion and button accordion.
Before World War II, the family moved to live in Tashkent. The reason is the military transfer of Pope Arkady to the service. In 1943, the boy joined the ranks of the Soviet Komsomol. At the age of 13, at the beginning of the war, he got a job at an aviation factory, and later at an airfield. I took every opportunity to take a plane to the sky with pilots.
Already at the age of 14, Arkady went to the Kalinin Front to his father, who commanded the air corps at that time. It would seem that why the minor guy was not sent to the rear? How could father allow this? It turns out that Arkady himself said his firm no. Nikolai Kamanin reluctantly resigned himself to the desire of his son. Moreover, he, like no one else, knew that mechanics with good aviation knowledge were needed at the front.
After working as a equipment mechanic at the communications headquarters for a short time, Arkady began to fly on a U-2 aircraft as a navigator. This aircraft had control in two cabins. After takeoff, the young pilot piloted the aircraft himself and received practice.
First independent flight
Experienced pilots sometimes trusted him with a helm for a short period of time. Arkady began to seriously study flight business after one incident. The main pilot was blinded by an explosion from a shell, and the youngest pilot of World War II, Arkady Kamanin, landed the plane on his own.
Merits in time of war
In April 1943, with the rank of senior sergeant, Arkady joined the ranks of the Soviet army. And in July of the same year made the first independent flight to the U-2.
Kamanin Arkady Nikolayevich during his entire service in the army made about 400 flights on military missions. Most of them took place in bad weather in the immediate vicinity of the front. During the war, he carried out various orders from the headquarters related to the work of signalmen. He transmitted radio elements to partisans, flying across the front line. Since June 1943, the pilot went into service in the First and then Second Ukrainian Fronts.
By the end of the war, Kamanin Arkady Nikolaevich could boast six and a half hundred flights. The young man was not afraid of difficult tasks and suspense. Many sorties were carried out in bad weather conditions and at the risk of shelling by the enemy army.
One of the most outstanding flights was carried out on a little-studied route over the Czech Republic. The task was to deliver a secret package to the partisan detachment. For more than an hour and a half Arkady was flying over the mountainous terrain. For the successful completion of the mission he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Kamanin in 1944 as part of the Second Ukrainian Front received the Order of the Red Star.
The feat was accomplished when the Bandera attacked the headquarters. Without hesitation for a minute, the boy lifted the plane and bombarded the Nazis with hand grenades . Later called for reinforcements. The attack was completely eliminated.
Arkady Kamanin: feat
The young man was first awarded the Order of the Red Star for the salvation of a colleague. Pilot Arkady Kamanin from a height of flight saw the IL-2 lined by the Germans. Realizing that the cockpit was closed and the pilot may have been injured, Arkady decided to save his comrade. Despite the strongest mortar bombardment, Kamanin managed to land the plane next to the wrecked aircraft. The boy was not distinguished by height and great strength. However, he managed in a short time to transplant a wounded soldier and pick up photo equipment on the plane. At the same time, artillerymen, attack aircraft and tank crews distracted attention from the maize. Kamanin managed to escape from the shelling and brought to the hospital, as it turned out, an army officer, Lieutenant Berdnikov, who was carrying out the task of taking pictures from an airplane.
The rescue of another comrade occurred in Poland. Arkady was waiting for permission to land and saw a fighter take off in the air with a man on its tail. It was a mechanic who sat on his tail so that the equipment would not rest his nose on the ground, flying up on wet ground. Simple practice. But the main thing is to jump off the tail in time, which the mechanic did not have time to do. Kamanin was distinguished by the speed of decision-making; he quickly fired a rocket launcher, thereby warning the pilot about an undesirable passenger.
Post-war time
After the victory of the Soviet Army, Kamanin Arkady Nikolayevich began to work hard, thereby replenishing the missing school knowledge. With his usual perseverance and zeal, he achieved a certificate for 1 year.
After the foreman, Kamanin entered the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy as a student at the preparatory course. He began to study the program thoroughly and with great interest, because it was his dream. It would seem that the future of the young guy was brilliant and promised a lot of feats. The young man could become one of the first astronauts. But life dictated other rules.
At the age of 18, Arkady fell ill with meningitis. The hero died in April 1947. They buried the youngest pilot of World War II in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery.
In art
The exploits and merits in the Great Patriotic War of Arkady Kamanin became the basis of the plot of the film “And You Will See the Sky”.
Articles were published in newspapers and magazines. The sculptor G.N. Postnikov performed in 1966 two busts of a young man.
Conclusion
Arkady Kamanin, whose biography so abruptly cut short, could achieve even greater mastery in flight business and control other types of aircraft and, possibly, spaceships. During his short and heroic life, the young man managed to do the most important thing - to take part in the defense of the Motherland. He showed himself as a fearless and valiant warrior. In the memory and chronicles of the people are the heroes of the war of 1941-1945. must stay forever.