Pavel Rychagov, whose biography is described in this article, is a fighter pilot, captain. He was the commander of the air squadron in the Republican troops of Spain. Hero of the Soviet Union. He was awarded many orders and medals. Top class pilot.
His life is full of glory, victories and rewards. But at the same time, the fate of Paul and his wife is quite tragic and sad. Well, now about everything in order.
Childhood of the future ace
Pavel Vasilievich Rychagov was born on November 2, 1911 in a peasant family, in the small village of Nizhny Likhobory, located in the Moscow Region. In childhood, he was the same as all the boys, and did not stand out among them. He played bast shoes, was fond of sports, launched a kite with his comrades.
Education
Rychagov Pavel Vasilievich graduated from incomplete secondary school. And he immediately went to work at the factory as a packer. Then he went to serve in the army and entered the Leningrad military-theoretical school of the Air Force of the Soviet Union. He graduated in 1930. Then he studied at the Borisoglebsk Military Flight School. Osoaviahima. He graduated in 1931. In 1937 he entered the Military Air Academy. Zhukovsky.
Military service
Pavel Vasilievich began to serve in the army from the twenty-eighth. After he became one of the best graduates of the Borisoglebsk military flight school, he was sent to the 109th fighter squadron of the fifth Zhytomyr Brigade in the Kiev Military District. First he served as a junior pilot, then he was transferred as a flight commander and soon he was already leading the detachment.
Aerobatics
For his service, Pavel Vasilyevich made a total of more than three thousand flights. Of these, five hundred are nocturnal. Flown over a hundred and seventy thousand kilometers. Few people like Leverage can withstand crazy loads. For one flight, never landing a plane, he performing in the air up to two hundred and fifty aerobatics. Of these, forty - at an altitude of five thousand meters. Then, the same number at a thousand-meter height and higher.
Pavel Rychagov - a pilot who flew without an oxygen mask. Having a little rest, he again performed loops, coups, turns and combat turns. Only then did he execute the figures in the reverse order at an altitude of up to five thousand meters. Near the ground, he added another twenty-five aerobatics and then sat down. Nobody could withstand such flights except him.
Aviation Service
Leverage quickly became a pilot of the highest class. In the thirty-third, he began to command the link of the hundred and ninth fighter squadron of the fifth air brigade of Zhytomyr. And a few months later - by the air squad, which quickly became the best in the entire army. Pilots trained by Pavel Vasilyevich became snipers and aces of air combat.
Flying at that time was incredibly difficult, because the planes had only gauges and dials that showed altitude, fuel and oil. The rest of the equipment was missing. Pilots could only rely on their vision.
"Pablo Palencar"
In the fall of 1936, Pavel Vasilievich’s detachment was sent to serve in Spain. There he took the pseudonym Pablo Palencar, under which he fought. His group repeatedly flew out on assignments and coped with everything with brilliance. Rychagov Pavel Vasilyevich was wounded, but quickly recovered and again continued the battle. They shot him down several times, but he managed to escape thanks to parachutes. He became the champion in the number of personally shot down aircraft. After returning to his homeland, he received the rank of major.
"General Batalin"
At thirty-seventh, already in the rank of major general, he commanded the air forces in China against the Japanese invaders under the pseudonym "General Batalin." The Spanish experience is very useful. Leverage formed a group of fighter pilots independently. He was a senior military adviser to the Chinese government.
The Soviet pilot Pavel Rychagov, whose photo is in this article, participated in the development of an attack plan on a Japanese air base located on the island of Taiwan. Thanks to his skillful leadership, the Japanese destroyed about fifty aircraft and a three-year supply of fuel. After this defeat, planes did not take off for a month from the Japanese airfield.
Political activity
In the thirty-seventh year, Rychagov was elected deputy of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union of the first convocation. Prepared a report containing criticisms and suggestions for improving aviation. He proposed to carry out modernization - to make the chassis automatically retractable, to increase the speed of airplanes, to replace the “seagull” with a center wing, and to install large-caliber instead of weak machine guns.
Fancy Landing
During a training flight, he was in an emergency. After takeoff, the engine unexpectedly first failed, and then the plane caught fire. At that time they flew without parachutes. Ahead were only a lake and a forest. Landing seemed almost impossible. But Rychagov was able to deploy the plane ninety degrees and, as if planning, put him on the edge of the forest.
Once Pavel Vasilievich Rychagov with a partner flew out to fulfill the task for U-2. Everything was going well, but before boarding, it was discovered that one aircraft ski was in an upright position. Because of this, it was not possible to fall to the ground. Lever handed the helm to a partner, climbed out and on the fly, holding on to the plane, straightened the landing ski.
Once, during a winter test, one of the pilots could not land correctly. He blamed the boarding skis, saying that it’s just impossible to accurately calculate the boarding. Silently Pavel Vasilyevich threw his glove onto the runway, climbed into the plane and took off. He made a circle and landed so precisely that with a ski he imprinted his glove in the snow.
Character
The character of Pavel Vasilievich was revealed in daily intense flights. He was demanding not only to himself, but also to others. But he always made fair decisions. He was not a diplomat, and often motivated his decisions somewhat tactlessly. He lived and fought without looking back, sometimes treating people the same way. Could throw a harsh word or reprimand.
Personal life of Pavel Vasilievich
Paul had long wanted to start a family and have offspring. Finally there was a woman whom Pavel Rychagov decided to marry. His wife, Maria Nesterenko, was also a military pilot. They met when the slim black-haired dark-skinned girl was sent to Rychagov’s detachment. It is impossible to say with certainty that she was known as a beauty, but there was a certain charm in her that did not leave Pavel Vasilyevich indifferent.
Arrest and execution
Pavel Rychagov, whose photo is in this article, received a secret mission to inspect the Soviet-German border, after which he was arrested in 1941. There are several points that could play a fateful role in his fate. Or add to the imaginary fault appendages to execution.
Perhaps the last role was played by the case when on the "carpet" of Stalin Pavel Vasilievich was the only one who could not stand the false accusations and was indignant. Joseph Vissarionovich chastised the leadership for "bad" flights. But Rychagov Pavel Vasilyevich indignantly and fervently objected to everyone that it was Stalin who made him fly on "coffins". Joseph Vissarionovich did not immediately take his head off his shoulders for such criticism, but said twice that Pavel Vasilyevich had said this in vain.
Stalin was also outraged by the German plane, which flied unhindered in Soviet airspace and even landed in Moscow. Although there is evidence that they didn’t bring him down by order “from above” - do not touch German planes, since a document on non-aggression of the parties was signed. But the military turned out to be extreme. This only brought closer upcoming arrests.
When the war began, on the first day many Soviet aircraft were killed. And this despite the fact that the monitoring posts and alert services reacted to the sudden approach of the Germans without slowing down. Nevertheless, the "Stalinist falcons" did not even have time to fly up.
After this incident, many senior military officials were arrested, including Pavel Rychagov. Torture in those years was applied to almost everyone without exception. Someone broke right away, and someone held on to the last, but there was no surviving bullying and terrible beating. Leverage gave a confession under physical influence. But subsequently refused them.
Not only Pavel Vasilyevich was arrested, but also his wife, Maria Nesterenko, deputy commander of the special aviation regiment. She was accused of knowing about the "treasonous" activities of her husband and was silent. At first they were tortured for a long time, trying to beat out a confession that they were saboteurs and allegedly involved in a conspiracy.
The Germans were already approaching the capital, and so Beria gave the order to kill Paul and Mary without trial. But while the executioners were given this order, the investigators continued to carefully “beat out” the evidence. Their suffering was interrupted by a dispatch from Beria. Pavel Rychagov and his wife were shot together at a special section of the NKVD, near Kuibyshev, in the village of Barbysh.
The top leadership of the Soviet Union needed those responsible at all costs. Beria chose the victims from people who became displeasing to Stalin or who suddenly felt his cooling to his personages.
As a result, by order No. 2756 / B, the best military aviators, the pride of the country with invaluable military experience, were shot at the same time as the Rychagovs. All of them were rehabilitated after many years, but, unfortunately, already posthumously.
Ace awards
In the thirty-sixth year, Pavel Vasilievich Rychagov was awarded the Order of Lenin. For the battles near Lake Hassan - the Order of the Red Banner. Then he received two more such awards and a medal. In honor of Rychagov, the street on which he lived in the Northern District was named in Moscow.
Ranks and appointments
In the thirty-sixth he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1938 he became a brigade commander. After a short time - the commander of the Air Force. He joined the council of the Primorsky military group of the Far Eastern Front and the first Red Banner Army. In 1939 he became the Commander of the Division and the Commander of the Air Force of the Ninth Army (during the Soviet-Finnish War).
In 1940, at the age of twenty-nine, he was already a lieutenant general. He was appointed head of the Main Directorate of the Air Force, since 1941 - Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the Soviet Union.