We can say that Alexander Anisimov, a pilot with incredible talent, is unjustly forgotten today. Most often, mention of it can be found in other people's memoirs. The print media recall this legendary fighter pilot almost always casually and only as the best friend of another, more famous Soviet pilot, Valery Chkalov.
This state of affairs is completely unfair, since Alexander Anisimov is a test pilot, whose biography is worth attention, and he himself is worthy to be remembered.
The aerobatics performed by this truly talented person were not able to be repeated by many.
Alexander Anisimov is a pilot. Biography, brief data preserved to this day
Unfortunately, to this day there is very little information about the family, childhood, and youth of a person who during his lifetime was not shy to call a brilliant pilot. In some sources, the date of his birth is indicated on November 16, 1897, in others - July 16, 1897. It is known for certain that he was born in a small village called Rides, which now territorially refers to the Novgorod region.
Family history
Unfortunately, details from Anisimov’s youth have not survived to this day. Perhaps some interesting and significant facts are still stored in the archives, but there is no free access to them. It is known that his family was poor because she was on the lists of the Entry Labor. Alexander Anisimov (a pilot whose talent will be admired by thousands in the future), along with his brothers and sister Alexandra, were designated as a family of poor people in this list.
To such a deplorable situation, the head of the family and father of the future test pilot, Frol Yakovlevich, was led by the revolution. Prior to this, he was a very large and successful entrepreneur-merchant, whose main area of ​​income was the processing of flax. But after the revolution, he was first arrested, and then shot. The same fate befell one of Alexander’s brothers, Vasily, who was executed in 1937 and then rehabilitated posthumously.
Primary education
The future pilot Alexander Anisimov (a biography, the photo of which is given in our article) studied at the Medvedsky College at one time, after completing three departments of which he continued his studies at the Novgorod city four-year school. He graduated from this institution in 1912 and after graduation received the specialty of a driver-mechanic. It was to them that he worked in the next two years.
The call to the first war
In 1914, Alexander Anisimov (a pilot known throughout the Soviet Union in the near future, and then still a simple ordinary young guy minder) was drafted into the ranks of the Russian army. Since the First World War broke out during this period, the guy unwittingly took part in it.
After Anisimov joined the army, he was able to use his specialty. In 1915, Alexander graduated from the motor class at the Polytechnic Institute in Petrograd. From February 1915 until October 1916, he was a mechanic in the IV mechanical detachment and eventually received the rank of senior non-commissioned officer.
It is known that during World War I, Russia rapidly lost a lot of its pilots in air battles. The tsarist government decided to train pilots from the most gifted and best soldiers. Having shown himself to be a talented minder and a reliable soldier, Alexander passed the selection and was sent to study at the Petrograd flight school. It would seem that for the young man everything turned out in the best way, and before him there were prospects for becoming a conqueror of the sky (which many of his peers could only dream of). But in 1918, everything changed.
Civil War Voluntary Care
After the revolution begins in 1917, Anisimov decides to give up his studies. He decides to volunteer for the Civil War that hit Russia. Anisimov was of peasant origin and sincerely believed in the bright future promised by the power of the Soviets. It is natural that he went to war to fight for the Reds. In 1918 he became a member of the Red Army.
Service in the Red Army
Over the next year after joining the Civil War, Alexander Anisimov (a pilot in the near future) served on the Eastern Front and took part in battles with the Czechoslovak corps.
He served as a senior aviation motorist and was assigned to the V Socialist squadron. In the same position as an aircraft motorist, starting in 1919, he was transferred to the 1st Petrograd Aviation Squad, which fought on the Western Front with the Poles.
Continuing studies
Since after the end of the Civil War, Anisimov did not have higher education in the aviation sector, he went to study at the military-theoretical aviation school, which was located in Yegoryevsk. Having successfully completed it in 1922, he continued his studies at Kachinsky and Moscow Higher Aviation Schools, and in 1924 he completed training in bombing and aerial shooting at Serpukhov Aviation School.
Flying career
This young man after completing his training in a short time managed to become a professional pilot. For 5 years, starting in 1928, he stayed at the Air Force Research Institute, doing flight test work. In 1931, he went on a promotion and was appointed commander of his detachment.
This talented test pilot was directly involved in testing aircraft such as the I-4 and I-5. Piloting the first fighter, he participated in the test of the legendary Link-1.
Memories of the Pilot
Anisimov's best friend throughout his life was V. Chkalov, who was his colleague. Unfortunately, due to the huge injustice of Alexander Frolovich, they most often recall Chkalov as a friend. But those who remembered Anisimov himself confirmed that he was a truly brilliant pilot. He mastered the technique of piloting unsurpassed, all the most complex aerobatics, requiring special skill, he always performed cleanly, did it very naturally and easily.
They say that at one time, Chkalov in Anisimov most liked his desire to learn something new in technology and to test aircraft specifically.
Some of those who were personally acquainted with Alexander Frolovich said that he could give the impression of an evil and aggressive person who suffered from excessive pride. In many ways, this opinion was due to the fact that Anisimov never wanted to share the secrets of his tricks with anyone. He believed that each pilot should have his own unique handwriting in piloting, and each should work out it independently. Of course, this offended many.
At the same time, Chkalov, being himself a fully-fledged personality and pilot, was able to sincerely make friends with Anisimov. Many envied this couple, as the top management forgave them a lot (for example, comic fights among themselves that friends could arrange during the next tests), taking into account and respecting their rare professionalism.
Tragic death
Alexander Anisimov is a test pilot who passed away very early, at the age of 37. Death found him in the sky, but not during the test of the next plane, as many might have suggested. In 1934, one of the French film companies called "Che-Noire" began shooting the documentary "Aviator". The French decided that only Anisimov was suitable for performing tricks and for filming, since they considered him an aerial acrobat, a bird man.
The leadership of the Air Force gave its consent to the shooting. The first day, October 16, 1934, went great. Anisimov performed all sorts of tricks at an extremely low altitude, the French were delighted. After the filming was completed, Louis Chabert (representative of Sheu-Noire) even presented the pilot with a Swiss watch as a sign of admiration and appreciation. Despite the seeming idyll, the second day of shooting ended in tragedy.
On October 17, Anisimov took to the air, but since the cameras were supposed to remove his tricks as clearly as possible, he could not rise to a great height. The steering wheel pedal could not stand a small height. She broke down, and Anisimov’s plane quickly fell and shattered into fragments.
Alexander Anisimov (pilot): personal life
Of course, many are interested in the details of the personal life of such an outstanding pilot. But there is no public information about his wife and possible children. A few years ago on the First Channel the feature film “Chkalov. Wings ”, which was dedicated to the life story of V. Chkalov. Of course, the storyline could not do without the hero’s best friend - Anisimov. In the film, positioned as a biographical, it is shown that Alexander had a wife Margot. She was a dancer and in fact loved not Anisimov, but Chkalov himself.
After the release of the film, Chkalov’s daughter, Olga, refuted many of the facts cited in this tape. In particular, she said that in fact no woman under the name of Margo ever existed. According to Olga, the pilot Alexander Anisimov (wife, whose children were of interest to a wide audience) had the only beloved woman named Bronislava. And, of course, the main part of his life was occupied by work and love for airplanes. Unfortunately, more detailed facts from the personal life of this pilot are unknown.