Vasily Merkulov: fire pilot

The biography of Vasily Merkulov could be the basis for a good historical film. Despite his short life, Merkulov managed to accomplish as many glorious deeds as none of our contemporaries dreamed of.

Childhood

Vasily Aleksandrovich Merkulov was born on April 17, 1912 in the village of Dobrynskoye, Vladimir district, Vladimir province. The family had 6 children: two boys and six daughters. The family lived quite poorly. In 1924, Alexei graduated from the 4th grade of the school, and after the death of his father three years later, the 15-year-old boy left for Moscow. The future ace of the Great Patriotic War works in a boiler room, a stove-maker on the railway, while simultaneously studying at the working faculty of the Moscow Highway Institute.

Military service

In 1934, the same year that the Stalin enlistment in aviation was announced, Vasily Merkulov entered the Yeisk Naval Aviation School, which he successfully completed in 1927. By distribution, the future hero was sent to the Northern Fleet, having passed the path from a pilot to a deputy. commander of the 45th naval reconnaissance aviation squadron. In 1939, with the outbreak of the Soviet-Finnish war, the 45th squadron was reorganized into the 118th reconnaissance air regiment and Vasily Merkulov was appointed to the post of flight commander. He made 6 sorties, mainly on an MBR-1 aircraft.

The Great Patriotic War

The beginning of the Great Patriotic War, junior lieutenant Merkulov met all in the same 118th reconnaissance air regiment as a flight commander. From the very first days, he was actively involved in sorties, by August 41st, bringing the crew’s combat score to 12 aircraft. In September of the same year, during the next sortie, Merkulov’s crew destroyed the command post of the Finnish division, paralyzing command and control of the troops for several days. From November 1941 to August 1942, Vasily Merkulov fought in the 72nd mixed air regiment of the Northern Fleet Air Force. From December 42nd he was transferred to the Baltic Fleet Air Force and was appointed squadron commander of the 1st Guards mine torpedo regiment.

Vasily Merkulov performed different combat missions: bombing important enemy targets, such as bases, railway junctions and airfields, setting smoke screens, searching for and destroying enemy ships. Having completed 360 sorties by October 1944, including 49 night sorties, having shot down 4 enemy planes in air battles and sunk 4 enemy ships with torpedo attacks, Merkulov was presented to the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but the request was rejected.

Merkulov also took part in the development of new tactics for the destruction of enemy ships. German transport ships carrying fuel and transporting equipment and troops across the sea, always sailed from 4-18 (!) Ships, each of which had from 12 to 14 anti-aircraft guns. Imagine only the flurry of fire that met our pilots when approaching the target, think about what courage and what nerves you must have in order to maintain the course, not turn away, aim and press the trigger at the right time. Naval aviation always suffered heavy losses, and 1st Guards pilots, who had already earned the nickname "suicide bombers" in naval aviation, began to use new tactics.

Aircraft flew in twos - in front of a top-carrier, as a rule, a fighter bomber, followed by a torpedo bomber. Quite often aircraft flew in fours, trying to increase the likelihood of defeat and destruction of an enemy ship. A topmaster with the fire of his cannons and machine guns suppressed the enemy’s anti-aircraft artillery or at least diverted the most fierce fire onto himself, dropped his bombs on the target, and only then the torpedo bomber dropped his torpedo, maintaining a minimum distance and thus achieving a guaranteed hit on the target.

The crews fired one or two shots a day, each time rising into the air, as in the last. Those few lucky ones, whose combat missions exceeded the top ten, were considered extremely experienced veterans in the regiment, since most of the pilots died on the first, second or third sorties.

By March 1945, the number of sorties of Merkulov reached 500, and the major was awarded high state awards by the Guard. But he was not destined to meet the victory.

The last battle of Major Merkulov’s guard

On March 19, 1945, a Soviet reconnaissance aircraft spotted a strategically important German convoy in the Pomeranian Bay, which had the task of delivering arms, food, fuel and ammunition to a German group encircled in the Courland cauldron that fought stubbornly against the Soviet troops and, if it received ammunition, continued fierce resistance.

The shocking four of the ships sent to intercept the convoy did not find out - the weather conditions did not allow finding the convoy, with almost zero visibility it was uncomfortable to fly even the best pilots of the Great Patriotic War. But Vasily Merkulov was not afraid of difficulties. Having received from the command, who knew about the high flight and command skill of the Major’s guard, an order to take off, Merkulov personally selected the crews capable of flying in any weather. At about 3 o’clock in the afternoon a group of four aircraft took off from the Grappstein airfield southwest of modern Klaipeda and headed west towards the convoy.

Merkulov’s detachment took about an hour to track down the convoy. By that time, the ships almost ran out of fuel, but the guard major decided to attack the ships. The bombers went to the target in tight formation, and the convoy, consisting of 5 transports guarded by 7 warships led by a destroyer, also began to rebuild into battle formation.

Vasily Merkulov made the right decision to attack the convoy from the side, from the coast of Pomerania, occupied by our troops. At the point of combat deployment, the group commander distributed targets between the group members and led the group into battle, aiming to torpedo a second vehicle.

Fascist escort ships opened heavy fire from all guns on approaching Soviet aircraft, meeting Merkulov’s group with a real wall of fire. And luck changed the guard to the major. Enemy shells pierced the fuel tanks of his torpedo bomber, ignited the fuel. Realizing that he would not return to the airfield, Merkulov sent his burning plane directly to the ship, which was about to torpedo. A powerful explosion thundered, tearing apart enemy vehicles to pieces and causing him fatal injuries, which sent the vehicles and the remains of the heroic Soviet crew to the bottom.

Following Merkulov’s plan, the group brought the matter to an end by sinking a patrol ship and two vehicles, which foiled the Germans’s plans to supply the Courland boiler and brought the final victory of the Soviet troops closer.

The memory of Vasily Merkulov

In 1976, Vasily Merkulov’s brother, Aleksei Aleksandrovich Merkulov, turned to the Main Directorate of Personnel of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR, trying to secure the assignment of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to Vasily and the perpetuation of his memory, as the memory of other pilots of the Great Patriotic War was immortalized. Vasily was never given the honorary title, citing the inability to consider this issue at the present time. And only on February 23, 1998, the award found its hero. By decree of the President of the Russian Federation B.N. Yeltsin, Vasily Alexandrovich Merkulov and members of his heroic crew were posthumously awarded the title Heroes of Russia. Also named after the guard of Major Merkulov is a street in the city of Pionersk, on whose roads the heroic crew died.