How a Soviet pilot became the leader of an Indian tribe: a mystery of fate

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

The history of the Soviet pilot Ivan Datsenko, at first glance, may seem fantastic, there are too many mysteries in it. The hero of Soviet aviation did not return back to one of the combat missions and was declared missing, and, many years later, the Soviet delegation met him in Canada on the reservation of local Indians. Ivan by that time had received a new name "Piercing Fire" and became the leader of the Aboriginal tribe.

The story of the salvation of Ivan Datsenko is usually considered a legend, since there is no direct evidence that the Hero of the Soviet Union lived the rest of his life overseas. During the war, Ivan showed himself to be a brave pilot, commanded an aviation squadron. A native of the Poltava region began the war on June 22, 1941, the official date of his death is the day of the last combat flight - April 10, 1944. Despite this, there is an opinion that everything turned out quite differently.

The official death report states that Ivan Datsenko died in the bombing of the Lvov-2 railway / station, occupied by the Germans. According to an unconfirmed version, the pilot managed to jump out of the burning plane, after which, having landed, he was taken prisoner by the Germans. Apparently, the Ukrainian escaped, was detained by the Smersh employees, convicted and went to the escort. On the way, he ran away and somehow miraculously made his way to Canada. There is another version: Ivan was a Soviet spy and was on duty in the country of the maple leaf.

Be that as it may, for the first time Ivan was discovered by pop dancer Mahmud Esambaev. Having gone to Canada with a delegation to speak at an international exhibition dedicated to the days of Soviet culture, Mahmoud got the opportunity to go on an excursion to the native Indians on the reservation. There he was shocked to hear that the leader can easily speak Ukrainian and Russian without an interpreter. Elder Piercing Fire led the dancer to his hut, where he gave him a drink of vodka and even sang a Ukrainian folk song. In a sincere conversation, the "Indian" revealed his secret: it turned out that he is Ivan Datsenko, and that he really misses his homeland, the village of Chernechiy Yar.

Esambaev returned with such unusual news back to the USSR, the inhabitants of the village of Chernichiy Yar repeatedly tried to find out details about the fate of their fellow countryman, but the local leadership nipped these attempts in the bud. The main proof that the Indian from Canada and the Poltava pilot are one and the same person was the conclusion of the Moscow forensic expert Sergei Nikitin, from the photo he found that the facial features of both men coincided (the lines of the nose, chin, mouth and eyebrows remain the same over the years).

Many years later, his niece tried to find Ivan, having enlisted the support of the "Wait for Me" program for this. Unfortunately, it was not possible to achieve clear results: Esambaev had already passed away by that time, John McComber (Ivan's Canadian name) also died, and the two children who remained after him could not be found. Now the reservation in Canada has been disbanded, the Indians have left for different parts of the country.

It was interesting and the fate of the heroine military pilot Marina Raskova, which has become a legend of Soviet aviation.