How Russian pilots, left without legs, fought with opponents under the sky

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Courage and military prowess do not depend on the political system when an external enemy threatens the native country. The history of Russian aviation has preserved many examples of the manifestation of heroism and willpower of Russian and Soviet pilots. Having become essentially legless invalids, they did not bury the dream of heaven, but returned to service to serve the Fatherland in a difficult time for her.

How 23-year-old pilot Prokofiev-Seversky marched on a prosthesis, danced and sat at the helm

Alexander Nikolaevich Prokofiev-Seversky was born in Georgia on June 7, 1894 in a family of hereditary military men of noble origin. Before becoming a pilot, he graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps and received the rank of midshipman. However, the career of a sailor did not interest the young man - he was attracted by the sky.

Having entered the Sevastopol Aviation Officer School, Alexander fulfilled his dream by making his first independent flight on May 1, 1915. A month later, the young pilot flew out on a mission to bombard German ships. However, the crew was not destined to reach the target: the bomb, which the aircraft mechanic was holding in his lap, exploded - the mechanic himself was killed, and Alexander mutilated his right leg with shrapnel.

After the operation, during which the leg was removed almost to the knee, intensive training began - Seversky did not want to part with his beloved profession, and certainly wanted to continue flying. Belief in himself, in conjunction with a strong will, performed a miracle: he not only climbed into the sky, but also learned, with a prosthesis, to skate, dance, swim, overcome more walking distances. In early 1918, under the pretext of illness, Prokofiev-Seversky left for the United States through Vladivostok, where he began to build a successful career as an aircraft designer, for which he was awarded the rank of Air Force Major in reserve.

How did Yuri Gilscher learn to fly with a prosthesis and destroy German bombers?

The future ace pilot Yuri Vladimirovich Gilscher was born into a noble family on November 27, 1894. After graduating first from a commercial school in Moscow, and then from a cavalry school in Nikolaev, he studied for several months at a flight school in Gatchina. An accident in November 1915, as a result of which a young officer received a serious injury to his forearm, did not prevent Yuri from later studying at the Odessa Aviation School and going to the front.

Gilscher won his first victory on April 27, 1916, shooting down an Austrian plane over the village of Burkanov. However, the next day, luck turned away from the pilot - having got into a tailspin, the fighter crashed, and the pilot himself, during the subsequent amputation, lost his left foot. After recovering, having learned how to use a prosthesis, Yuri obtained permission to fly and again sat at the controls of the plane. The 22-year-old hero died on July 20, 1917, having won 6 aerial victories in his short life.

How did Mikhail Levitsky, despite his disability, manage to become an ace pilot?

Coming from a peasant family, Mikhail Nikolaevich Levitsky was born on October 11, 1912 in Chuvashia. After graduating from the Balashov School of Pilots and Aviation Technicians of the Civil Air Fleet in 1938, he was sent to the Chelyabinsk air squadron. With the beginning of the war, he was placed at the disposal of a special aviation formation near Moscow, from where, after preparation, Mikhail went to the front.

While performing the next mission in June 1942, Levitsky's plane was knocked out: the pilot, badly wounded in the leg, was taken prisoner, where, due to the onset of gangrene, he almost lost his life. POW doctors saved the pilot from death, but the sore leg had to be taken away above the knee.

After his release in July 1944 from a concentration camp, Mikhail Nikolayevich, having learned to walk perfectly on a prosthesis, began to seek to return to duty. He managed to do this: after graduating from the Baku Navigation School and being assigned to the Sverdlovsk military transport aviation detachment, Levitsky continued flying as a navigator on the Li-2 aircraft.

How legless pilot Belousov managed to shoot down enemy aircraft

The son of an Odessa worker, Leonid Georgievich Belousov was born on March 16, 1909. After working for some time at the plant, he entered the Odessa Military School, and upon graduation - at the Borisoglebsk Military Aviation School. In December 1941, while participating in the battles to defend Leningrad, Belousov was seriously wounded. Already in the hospital, during a general examination, the doctor noticed symptoms of spontaneous gangrene in the pilot. Leonid was sent to the rear, where both legs were removed - while the right limb was amputated almost to the middle of the thigh.

After being discharged, having learned to walk on prostheses, the courageous pilot returned to Leningrad: there, having restored his flying skills, he again ascended into the sky to fight the enemy. Being legless, Leonid Georgievich made about 40 sorties and shot down two German fighters.

How Zakhar Sorokin's disability did not break his desire to destroy the Germans

Zakhar Sorokin was born on March 17, 1917 in the Tomsk province, but in early childhood he moved with his family to the Kuban region (now the Krasnodar Territory). Here, having matured, Zakhar began attending classes at the flying club at the same time as he worked as an assistant engine driver of a steam locomotive.

Before the war, Sorokin managed to graduate from the Yeisk Naval Aviation School, so in July 1941 the naval pilot was assigned to serve in the Northern Fleet. At the end of October 1941, after an air ramming, Zakhara's plane was damaged and fell in the tundra. The pilot survived, but before the location of the Soviet units he had to cover a 6-day journey, during which frostbite of the legs occurred.

Preventing gangrene, the doctors amputated the toes (according to other sources, both feet), but the resulting disability did not stop Sorokin: already in February 1943, he was back in the ranks, and in an air battle he shot down his seventh German plane. In total, Zakhar Artyomovich had 18 destroyed enemy vehicles on his account - of which he shot down 12 after returning from the hospital.

How pilot Malikov managed to fly to Berlin without a leg

Ilya Antonovich Malikov was born in the Tambov province on July 30, 1921. After graduating from the seven-year school, he worked for a year at the plant, and in 1939 he studied at the local flying club. Drafted into the army in 1940, Malikov entered the Kirovabad military aviation school and six months later, having passed the exams, acquired the profession of a pilot.

A year after the German attack on the USSR, performing a combat mission in August 1942, Ilya Malikov received a serious leg injury, but managed to reach the Soviet units with the damaged plane. The limb shattered by shrapnel had to be amputated, but the result of the operation did not break the officer - in the spring of 1943 he returned to his regiment with a prosthesis and obtained permission to fly a bomber.

By the end of the war, the pilot who flew to Berlin had almost 200 combat and technical sorties (66 of them after losing a leg). In May 1946, I. A. Malikov received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

But in the history of Soviet aviation there were not only feats, but also crimes. Continuing the theme of how planes were hijacked in the USSR, and who dared to commit such a flagrant crime