Bakhchivandzhi grigory yakovlevich. Grigory Bakhchivandzhi

On May 15, 1942, Grigory Yakovlevich performed the first flight in BI-1, thereby opening a new era of jet aviation.

Born on February 20, 1909 in the village of Brinkovskaya, now Primorsko-Akhtarsky district, Krasnodar Territory. From 1925 he worked in a foundry. Then he was an assistant driver on a steam locomotive at the Primorsko-Akhtarsky depot of the Krasnodar Territory. Then he built a plant in Mariupol, worked there as a mechanic.

Since 1931 in Soviet army... Graduated from the Orenburg flight military school in 1934, having 2 military specialties: armament technician and pilot.

Since 1935, on flight test work at the Air Force Research Institute. At first, Bakhchivandzhi worked on reconnaissance aircraft, then on fighters. After some time, he was instructed to test new aircraft engines in flight.

In 1941 he took part in the Great Patriotic War as part of the 402nd Special Fighter Aviation Regiment, formed on the basis of the Air Force Research Institute. He fought on a MiG-3 fighter, which he tested the day before. From July 1 to August 10, 1941, he flew about 70 combat missions, while defending Moscow, shot down 6 (5) enemy aircraft.

In mid-August 1941, he was recalled from the front at the Air Force Research Institute for testing the first BI-1 missile fighter. On February 20, 1942, when the engine was started at the test bench, despite the competent actions of Bakhchivandzhi, ... an explosion occurred. A jet of nitric acid under pressure doused Arvid Pallo's face and clothes. In the explosion, the engine head tore off the mountings, flew between the nitric acid tanks, hit the pilot's seat armored back and tore off the mounting bolts. Bakhchivandzhi hit his head on the instrument board and cut his forehead. But he did not refuse to continue testing, and, returning from the hospital, with even greater persistence joined in the work.

The assignment to the pilot for the seventh flight, which took place on March 27, 1943, provided for bringing the aircraft's horizontal flight speed to 750 - 800 km / h according to the instrument at an altitude of 2000 m.According to observations from the ground, the seventh flight, until the end of the engine operation at the 78th second , proceeded normally. After the engine stopped working, the aircraft, which was in horizontal flight, lowered its nose, entered a dive and hit the ground at an angle of about 50 °. The car, together with the pilot, fell 6 km south of the airfield. The reason for pulling the aircraft with a straight wing into a dive at speeds above 900 km / h was found out later.

He was buried in the cemetery of the village of Maly Istok, located near the Koltsovo airport. Buried next to him are his partner in BI testing, Konstantin Gruzdev, who died in February 1943 on the Aircobra, and Trofim Chigarev, who died in October 1941. Only in February 1963, representatives of the Air Force Research Institute of the Air Force installed an obelisk on the grave of Bakhchivandzhi, until that time unnamed.

He was awarded the Orders of Lenin (twice) and medals.

On April 28, 1973 G.Ya.Bakhchivandzhi was posthumously awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union... The bright memory of him and his flights into the unknown is reflected:

In the name of the Bakhchivandzhi platform of the suburban communication along the Yaroslavl railway;

Installation of a monument in the village of Brinkovskaya (in the pilot's homeland) and in Koltsovo (Research Institute of the Air Force, Sverdlovsk Region), where the name of Bakhchivandzhi was assigned to the school;

A crater on the far side of the moon is named after Bakhchivandzhi

The words of Yuri Gagarin are known: "Without the flights of Grigory Bakhchivandzhi, perhaps there would not have been April 12, 1961".

Private bussiness

Grigory Yakovlevich Bakhchivandzhi (1909-1943)was born in the village of Brinkovskaya, Krasnodar Territory, where his father Yakov Ivanovich worked as a mechanic. When the boy was two years old, his mother Maria Efimovna died. The father, remaining a widower with two small children, soon married again - to the widow Agnes Stepanovna, who also had two children. The stepmother became a close friend of Gregory, raised him as his own son, replacing his mother, whom he did not even remember.

In the village he graduated from the seven-year school. He started working at the age of 16. Thanks to my father, from childhood I was interested in technology and machines. In 1925, in the city of Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Grigory got a job in a foundry, studied to be a locksmith. Then he became an assistant locomotive driver. In 1927 he moved to the city of Mariupol, Donetsk region of the Ukrainian SSR. He took part in the construction of the Ilyich Plant, where he later worked as a pipe fitter for an open-hearth shop.

In 1931 he was drafted into the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA). The next year he became a member of the CPSU (b). In 1932, he was sent on a Komsomol ticket to Orenburg, to a military school for aircraft arming technicians, and in 1933 he began to study at the Orenburg military school of pilots and flyers. In 1934 he graduated from the pilot school, receiving 2 military specialties: armament technician and pilot. In 1935, after graduating from school, he arrived in the regiment. He possessed excellent piloting technique and good knowledge of aircraft, and also had good physical data. As a result, it was decided to send him to the Research Institute of the Air Force of the Red Army (NII VVS) for flight test work. At first Bakhchivandzhi worked on reconnaissance aircraft, then on fighters. After some time, he was instructed to test new aircraft engines in flight. Bakhchivandzhi did not refuse any tasks and performed each of them flawlessly. His opinions on airplanes and motors were always highly qualified. The tester recorded the readings of the devices, listened to sounds, noted vibrations and shocks, trying to understand which units behave incorrectly under loads. All observations and data were recorded on a tablet, fixed with an elastic band at the knee. The designers and engineers were guided by these notes in the future when modifying the engines, and they were used to compile instructions for operating the engines in flight.

Grigory Bakhchivandzhi was among the first at the research institute to test a new weapon - rocket launchers on an airplane, and after a while these installations were tested in battles with the Japanese at Khalkhin Gol.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, in 1941, the pilot voluntarily leaves for the front as part of the 402nd IAP - a special-purpose fighter regiment, which was formed by order of the command mainly from test pilots at the Air Force Research Institute.

Bakhchivandzhi fought until August 10, 1941. During this time, he flew sixty-five combat missions on a MiG-3 aircraft, conducted 26 air battles. Personally shot down 2 enemy planes and 3 in a group. Grew up to squadron commander and received military rank "captain".

By that time, the USSR had set up a serial production of new aircraft that the front needed, and Bakhchivandzhi was recalled from the front for test work. He went to the Urals, to Sverdlovsk, where the Air Force Research Institute was evacuated.

In October 1942, Bakhchivandzhi was awarded the first Order of Lenin for his courage and heroism at the front.

It fell to Bakhchivandzhi to test the first Soviet aircraft with a liquid-propellant rocket engine "BI-1" (BI - Bereznyak-Isaev, or Near Fighter).

Not everything went smoothly. On February 20, 1942, during a test run of the BI-1 engine, an explosion occurred at the stand. A jet of nitric acid under pressure hit lead engineer Arvid Pallo in the face, and the head of the engine, falling off the mountings, flew between the tanks with nitric acid and hit the back of the seat, ripping off the mounting bolts. Grigory Bakhchivandzhi hit the dashboard and cut his forehead. The commission that studied the cause of the emergency found that the cause of the explosion was "fatigue destruction of the metal of the combustion chamber."

Despite this incident, Bakhchivandzhi did not refuse to continue testing and, returning from the hospital, again actively joined the work. Already on May 15, 1942, the pilot performed the first flight in BI-1. The tests were carried out at the Koltsovo airport in Sverdlovsk. For the first time when starting an aircraft engine, the pilot did not say the traditional warning: "From the screw!" In this landmark for history soviet aviation day a new team was born: "From the tail!".

On March 27, 1943, Bakhchivandzhi conducted the sixth test flight of the BI (already BI-3). This time, the task provided for bringing the horizontal flight speed to 800 km / h at an altitude of 2000 meters. According to observation from the ground, the flight proceeded normally until the end of the engine operation, which occurred at the 78th second of the flight (the engine on the BI-1 could operate only for several tens of seconds, as it quickly overheated). After that, the fighter, which was in level flight at a speed of over 900 km / h, went into a dive and hit the ground at an angle of 50 degrees six kilometers south of the airfield. The pilot was killed.

Grigory Bakhchivandzhi was buried in the cemetery of the village of Maly Istok, located not far from the Koltsovo airport near Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg).

What is famous for

Grigory Bakhchivandzhi went down in history as the man who made the first flight in the world in an airplane with a jet engine. Work on the creation of the BI-1 aircraft laid the foundation for the practical development of jet aviation both in the USSR and in the world. The first flight of BI-1, which was piloted by Bakhchivandzhi, opened the era of rocket flights of mankind.

What you need to know

The disaster that occurred with the Bakhchivandzhi aircraft during the test of the BI-1 missile at maximum speed is the most famous case in the history of Russian aviation of being pulled into a dive from horizontal flight.

A study of the remains of the plane showed that Bakhchivandzhi did not try to jump out with a parachute, did not even unfasten the seat belts and did not drop the flashlight, which is usually done when the car is on the verge of disaster. The emergency commission then decided that after the engine was turned off, there was a sharp decrease in speed, the pilot was thrown forward, from a blow to the solar plexus he lost consciousness and did not come to himself until the death of the car.

The secret of the death of Bakhchivandzhi was revealed only after a few years. When testing models in a wind tunnel of high speeds, the phenomenon of aircraft pulling in dive was found. It turned out that when the flight speed approaches the speed of sound, the so-called "wave crisis" occurs - a change in the nature of the air flow around aircraft, accompanied, as a rule, by a deterioration in its aerodynamic characteristics: the lift of the wing falls, the air rudders and ailerons lose efficiency, the apparatus becomes uncontrollable.

It turned out that in the wings with a relatively thick profile in conditions of a wave crisis, the center of pressure sharply shifts back, as a result of which the nose of the aircraft "becomes heavy" and it leaves in a dive. The researchers believe that the death of Bakhchivandzhi most likely occurred not from a blow to the solar plexus and not from shock, but from the fact that until the last moment he tried to bring the car out of the dive, focusing all his efforts on this. He hoped he would get his way. However, at that time they did not yet know how to deal with a delay in a dive - it was impossible to get out of a dive without extinguishing the speed, which in turn is very difficult to do in a dive.

This phenomenon was studied in practice by the engineer-pilot A.G. Kochetkov and other testers only after the end of the Great Patriotic War.

Direct speech

From the final certification of Grigory Bakhchivandzhi: “Initiative. Determined. Demanding of himself. Flies great. Flight intelligence is instantaneous. Has no accidents or breakdowns. Has an inquisitive mind and a penchant for research "

Yuri Gagarin on the significance of the feat of Grigory Bakhchivandzhi: "Without the flights of Grigory Bakhchivandzhi, perhaps there would not have been April 12, 1961".

6 facts about Grigory Bakhchivandzhi

• Grigory Bakhchivandzhi was a Gagauz.
• Bakhchivandzhi played the button accordion well. Most of all he liked the waltz "On the Hills of Manchuria"
• For the heroism shown during the tests of the first Soviet aircraft with rocket engines, Grigory Bakhchivandzhi was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Secular Union in 1973, at the same time he was awarded the second Order of Lenin.
• Next to Grigory Bakhchivandzhi are buried his partner in BI testing, Konstantin Gruzdev, who died in February 1943 on the Aircobra, and Trofim Chigarev, who died in October 1941. Only 20 years after the death of Bakhchivandzhi - in February 1963 - an obelisk was erected on his grave by representatives of the Air Force Research Institute.
• In honor of Grigory Bakhchivandzhi, the village at the Chkalovsky airfield in the Moscow region and the Bakhchivandzhi platform for suburban communication (41 km along the Yaroslavl direction of the Moscow Railway) are named.
• A crater on the far side of the moon is named after the pilot.
  

Materials about Grigory Bakhchivandzhi

Hero of the Soviet Union Bakhchivandzhi Grigory Yakovlevich

Grigory Bakhchivandzhi was born on February 7, 1908 in the village of Brinkovskaya, now the Primorsko-Akhtarsky district of the Krasnodar Territory. He began his working life in 1925, working in a foundry. Then he was an assistant driver on a steam locomotive at the Primorsko-Akhtarsky depot of the Krasnodar Territory. Then he built a plant in Mariupol, where he did locksmiths. In 1931 he was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army, and then became interested in aviation. In 1933 he received a specialty aviation technology in armament, but Gregory had a different goal - to become a pilot. And he became one - among the best cadets, he graduated from the Orenburg military aviation school of pilots.

Since 1935, Grigory Yakovlevich worked at the Air Force Research Institute, where he came immediately after graduation flight school, and after 5 years he became one of the most famous and experienced pilots in the country. At first, Bakhchivandzhi worked on reconnaissance aircraft, then on fighters. After some time, he was assigned to test new aircraft engines in flight, a delicate and far from safe matter.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War at the front, he took part in the defense of Moscow. Served in the 402nd Fighter Aviation Regiment special purpose, where he showed his flying talent in all his brilliance.

On July 4, he won the first aerial victories - personally destroyed 2 Do-215 reconnaissance aircraft. It happened like this.

Having received the order for the entire regiment to take off, the commander of the 402nd IAP ON P.M. Stefanovsky left Bakhchivandzhi at the airfield to cover our fighters when returning from a combat mission. Less than 10 minutes after our aircraft took off, Do-215 appeared over the airfield. "MiG" Bakhchivandzhi straight from the parking lot rushed into the air. He went into the enemy's tail and from 50 meters opened fire. An enemy plane, engulfed in flames, fell on the outskirts of the airfield.

At this time, another "Dornier" fell out of the clouds. Noticing the collapsed brother, he rushed away. Bakhchivanzhi, making a combat turn and forcing the engine mode, quickly overtook the enemy and opened fire. Thick black smoke escaped from the Do-215's right engine, then flames burst out. Having turned over the wing, the enemy plane rushed to the ground ... Further events are described in detail by Stefanovsky:

“... Our joy vanished. Even from the ground, it was clear that the MiG propeller had stopped. Now there will be a spin and ... But this did not happen. A masterful turn followed. The plane with the inoperative engine began to land. The landing gear, flaps are released, the car is planning. Is this "MiG-3" planning? Yes, she plans and sits down classically. Everyone who was at the airfield runs to the plane.

Even from a distance I see the flushed face of the pilot, his white silk scarf is pierced by a bullet, there is a burn on his neck. Gregory is squeezed in a friendly embrace - not everyone is destined to win 2 brilliant victories in the first combat sortie. Then we examine his plane. The engine, both radiators, the wing spars, even the tires are riddled with bullets. Indeed, only a tester was able to land such a “dead” car ... "

In the following days, Bakhchivandzhi won several more aerial victories: So, on July 6, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe city of Nevel, together with Captain A.G. Proshakov, he destroyed a Ju-88 bomber. On July 10, in the same area, together with Lieutenant K. F. Kozhevnikov, a spotter Hs-126 was shot down. On his account there are also victories over the Me-110 and Me-109 fighters. In total, for the period from July 1 to August 10, 1941, the senior pilot of the 402nd Fighter Aviation Regiment (57th Mixed Aviation Division, 6th Air Army, North-Western Front), Captain G. Ya.Bakhchivandzhi, made about 70 sorties, destroyed 7 enemy aircraft in air battles.

In mid-August, Grigory Yakovlevich was recalled from the front to conduct tests of an experimental missile aircraft BI-1. Here is the characteristic with which the personal file of Captain G. Ya.Bakhchivandzhi was sent to Sverdlovsk:

“He showed himself on the front of the struggle against German fascism as a courageous, fearless fighter pilot. When performing combat missions, he showed exceptional initiative and valor ... During his stay at the front, by August 1941, he made 65 sorties and flew 45 hours 05 minutes. He fought 26 air battles, destroyed 5 enemy aircraft personally and in a group. Strong-willed and demanding commander. Confidently drives planes in the clouds and difficult meteorological conditions... As a pilot, he is balanced, calm, strictly observes flight discipline, and flies willingly. "

The right for the first test flights was granted to Bakhchivandzhi (Later, the commander of the 402nd IAP ON KA Gruzdev joined this work). The appointment was extremely successful. This man happily combined such character traits as courage and shyness, simplicity and charm, love of life and fearlessness, and most importantly - an active life position. She manifested itself in him back in Civil warwhen, as a 9-year-old boy, for several days he hid his father and 5 sailors of the Sevastopol Flotilla from the White Guards under the terrace of his house. He brought them food, talked about the situation in the city, carried out instructions from his father in connection with comrades.

When the executions began in the city, he found the right fisherman, and at night he ferried the sailors and Yakov Ivanovich to Mariupol. But there they fell into the hands of whites. Then Bakhchivandzhi was also transported to Mariupol and in one of the programs he managed to pass 2 hacksaws to his father. After waiting for the time when the head of the guard left for a neighboring station, Grisha's father and his comrades sawed through the prison bars. The escape was a success. Thus, a 9-year-old boy saved his father and the sailors from certain death ...

Work on the new car was difficult and rather dangerous, since both the pilot and the engineers had to constantly discover something new, still unknown. Anything happened. So, on February 20, 1942, when the engine was started at the test bench, despite the competent actions of Bakhchivandzhi, ... an explosion occurred. A pressurized jet of nitric acid doused the face and clothes of engineer Arvid Pallo. In the explosion, the engine head tore off the mountings, flew between the nitric acid tanks, hit the pilot's seat armored back and tore off the mounting bolts. Bakhchivandzhi hit his head on the instrument board and cut his forehead. But he did not refuse to continue testing, but, returning from the hospital, with even greater persistence joined the work.

On May 15, 1942, Grigory Yakovlevich performed the first flight on BI-1, thus opening a new era of jet aviation. Flights on this aircraft were associated with difficulties of a special order. They consisted not only of the unusual engine and aerodynamics of the car, but also of the great imperfection of design solutions. As a rule, it was necessary to get on the BI-1 after full use of fuel, it was unpleasant to be near nitric acid, which was under high pressure and sometimes burst out through the walls of pipes and tanks. This damage constantly had to be repaired. But the main difficulty was that there were no wind tunnels with high-speed air blowing at that time. Therefore, the experienced BI-1 took off "with many unknowns."

Grigory Yakovlevich understood perfectly what difficulties he had to overcome. So, at one of the parties, in response to friends' congratulations on a successful flight, he uttered unusual words that caused amazement and controversy of all those present: “My friends, thank you for everything, for your work, for the wishes of health. But I know - I will crash on this plane! I am in a sober mind and give an account of my words. We are at the forefront of a technical battle, and sacrifices are still essential. I go for it with full consciousness of duty. " Unfortunately, he was right in his premonitions ...

Bakhchivandzhi lifted the plane on safe flights 4 more times. These were the 2nd and 3rd copies of the machine, equipped with skis (the first "BI", damaged during landing in the first flight, had already been written off). The second flight was made only on January 10, 1943, that is, with a break of almost 8 months, caused by the difficulties in building a second copy of the aircraft and engine, as well as the need to install a ski chassis on the car.

The third flight, January 12, 1943, was performed by Lieutenant Colonel K.A.Gruzdev. In this flight, a speed of 630 km / h was reached, but when the landing gear was extended, one ski came off before landing. Gruzdev, showing restraint, managed to safely land the plane on one right ski, while not even damaging the prototype.

Answering the question of his comrades what feelings he experienced in flight, Konstantin Afanasyevich replied: "... And fast, and scary, and the fire is behind ... In a word, you fly like the devil on a broomstick! .."

The next 3 flights were performed by Grigory Yakovlevich on March 11, 14 and 21, 1943. The flight on March 27 was the last for Bakhchivandzhi. When performing a mission to achieve a maximum flight speed of 800 km / h, at an altitude of about 2000 meters, the aircraft unexpectedly switched to a dive at an angle of about 50 degrees. The car, together with the pilot, fell 6 km south of the airfield.

At first, it was decided that when the engine was stopped at full thrust under the action of the forward overload that had arisen, Bakhchivandzhi hit his head on the telescopic sight and lost consciousness ...

Another reason was the possibility of spontaneous release in flight of one of the skis, which violated the controllability of the machine. The real cause of the disaster became known only after the construction of a new wind tunnel at TsAGI, which made it possible to conduct research in high-speed air flows. It was found that on an airplane with a straight wing, such as the BI-1, at transonic speeds, a huge diving moment arises, which is almost impossible for the pilot to cope with ...

After the tragic death of G. Ya.Bakhchivandzhi, the oldest test pilot of the country, Boris Nikolayevich Kudrin, flew on a BI-6 aircraft of improved design in January-May 1945, and a little later - a rather famous pilot Matvey Karpovich Baikalov.

In 1946, test pilot Alexei Konstantinovich Pakhomov joined the tests of the modified BI-1bis.

However, it soon became clear that, despite the advantage in speed, the BI aircraft as an interceptor fighter could not be put into service due to its short flight duration (engine operation time did not exceed several minutes) and operational difficulties.

Grigory Bakhchivandzhi was buried in the cemetery of the village of Maly Istok, located not far from Koltsovo airport. Buried next to him are his BI-1 test partner Konstantin Gruzdev, who died in February 1943 in the Aircobra, and Trofim Chigarev, who died in October 1941. Only in February 1963, representatives of the Air Force Research Institute of the Air Force installed an obelisk on the grave of Bakhchivandzhi, until that time unnamed.

In the village of Brynkovskaya, Krasnodar Territory, in the homeland of Grigory Bakhchivandzhi, a majestic memorial to their fellow hero was opened; a memorial stone was laid at the Sverdlovsk Koltsovo airfield, at the site of the BI-1 disaster; one of the craters of a volcano on the moon, one of the railway stations of the Yaroslavl road and one of the streets of the village in which last years a tester spent his life, named after him; a memorial plaque is now unveiled on the house where Grigory Bakhchivandzhi lived.

Many years after the death of Bakhchivandzhi, in 1962, when his flights were studied in more detail, the question arose about the worthy perpetuation of the pilot's memory, about conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on him. But this decision had to wait for many years. The obstacle to this was that on October 17, 1942, for testing the world's first combat fighter with liquid fuel rocket engine, G. Ya.Bakhchivandzhi was already awarded the Order of Lenin ...

However, many prominent statesmen and the military leaders continued to insist on their own. Finally, on April 28, 1973, Grigory Yakovlevich Bakhchivandzhi was posthumously awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his courage and heroism in mastering new jet technology and in battles with enemies during the Great Patriotic War. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin (twice) and medals.

Bakhchivandzhi Grigory Yakovlevich (02/20/1909 - 03/27/1943)

The hero of the USSR.

Born on February 20, 1909 in the village of Brinkovskaya, Primorsko-Akhtarsky District, Krasnodar Territory. For a long time he lived in Mariupol. Greek.

He began his working life in 1925, working in a foundry.

Then he was an assistant driver on a steam locomotive at the Primorsko-Akhtarsky depot of the Krasnodar Territory. Then he built a plant in Mariupol, where he did locksmiths. In 1931 he was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army. I got carried away by aviation. In 1933 he received the specialty of an aviation technician in armament, but Grigory Bakhchivandzhi had a different goal - to become a pilot. And he became one - among the best cadets, he graduated from the Orenburg Military Aviation Pilot School.

Years of service - 1931-1943

In 1934 he graduated from the Orenburg Pilot School.

Since 1935, on flight test work at the Air Force Research Institute.

In 1941 he took part in the Great Patriotic War as part of the 402nd IAP (Fighter Aviation Regiment) for special purposes, formed on the basis of the Air Force Research Institute.

Fighter pilot. Participated in the defense of Moscow.

He flew about 70 combat missions on a MIG-3 aircraft. In the first battle, personally shot down 2 enemy aircraft of the Do-215 reconnaissance aircraft. In total, for the period from July 1 to August 10, 1941, the senior pilot of the 402nd Fighter Aviation Regiment (57th Mixed Aviation Division, 6th Air army, North-Western Front) Captain G. Ya.Bakhchivandzhi made about 70 sorties, destroyed 7 enemy aircraft in air battles (some sources also give other figures - 5 personally and 5 in a group, 5 in person and 10 in a group).

This person happily combined such character traits as courage and shyness, simplicity and charm, love of life and fearlessness, and most importantly - an active life position.

It manifested itself with him back in the Civil War, when, as a 9-year-old boy, for several days he hid his father and 5 sailors of the Sevastopol Flotilla under the terrace of his house. He brought them food, talked about the situation in the city, carried out instructions from his father in connection with comrades. When the executions began in the city, he found the right fisherman, and that night he ferried the sailors and Yakov Ivanovich to Mariupol. But there they fell into the hands of whites. Then the teenager Grigory Bakhchivandzhi is also transported to Mariupol, and in one of the programs he managed to transfer 2 hacksaws to his father. After waiting for the time when the head of the guard left for a nearby station, Grisha's father and his comrades sawed through the prison bars.

The escape was a success. Thus, a 9-year-old boy saved his father and the sailors from certain death.

Since August 1941 - in flight test work.
May 15, 1942 made the first flight on the 1st Soviet jet aircraft BI (BI-1).

He died on March 27, 1943 while testing the third copy of the BI (BI-3) aircraft - the place of death of the village. Bilimbai Sverdlovsk region.

Grigory Bakhchivandzhi was buried in the cemetery of the village of Maly Istok, located not far from Koltsovo airport. Buried next to him are his BI-1 test partner Konstantin Gruzdev, who died in February 1943 in the Aircobra, and Trofim Chigarev, who died in October 1941. Only in February 1963, representatives of the Air Force Research Institute, the obelisk was erected on the grave of G. Ya. Bakhchivandzhi, until that time unnamed.

Memory

Bakhchivandzhi platform for suburban communication along the Yaroslavl railway.

The monument is a memorial in the village of Brinkovskaya (in the pilot's homeland) and in Koltsovo (Research Institute of the Air Force, Sverdlovsk Region), where the name of G. Ya. Bakhchivandzhi was given to the school.

Monument and memorial stone at the Koltsovo airport (Yekaterinburg).

Monument in the city of Primorsko-Akhtarsk. Street in Mariupol. A crater on the far side of the moon is named after Bakhchivandzhi.

Many years after the death of Bakhchivandzhi, in 1962, when his flights were studied in more detail, the question arose about his worthy perpetuation of the memory of the pilot, about awarding him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. But this decision had to wait for many years. The obstacle to this was that on October 17, 1942, for testing the world's first combat fighter with a railway, G. Ya. Bakhchivandzhi was already awarded the Order of Lenin. ... However, many prominent statesmen and military leaders continued to insist on their own and, finally,

April 28, 1973 to Grigory Yakovlevich Bakhchivandzhi for the courage and heroism shown
while mastering new jet technology and in battles with enemies during the Great Patriotic War, he was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. Grigory Bakhchivandzhi awarded with orders Lenin (twice) and medals.

One of the most striking "inserts" in our memory about our great compatriot was the words of the first cosmonaut of the planet Earth Yuri Gagarin: "Without the flight of Bakhchivandzhi ... there would not have been April 12, 1961" - the first manned flight into space. ... The first test of jet aircraft

Grigory Bakhchivandzhi paved the way into space for the first cosmonaut in the world, Yuri Gagarin!

1909-1943

Hero of the Soviet Union (04/28/1973), test pilot, captain (1941).
Born on February 20 (7 - old style) February 1909 in the village of Brinkovskaya, Primorsko-Akhtarskaya volost, Temryuk department of the Kuban region (now Primorsko-Akhtarskiy district, Krasnodar region). Since 1917 he lived in the cities of Yeysk (now Krasnodar Territory) and Mariupol (now Donetsk region, Ukraine), in 1919-1921 - in the village of Troitskoe (now the village of Karl Marx, Berdyansk district of Zaporozhye region, Ukraine), since 1921 he lived in the city Primorsko-Akhtarsk. In 1925 he graduated from the 5th grade of the school.
In 1925-1927 he worked in a foundry and mechanical workshop and as an assistant to a steam locomotive driver at the railway depot of Akhtari station. From 1927 he lived in the village of Buzinovka (now within the city of Mariupol, Donetsk region, Ukraine). He worked as a pipe fitter in the open-hearth shop. Mariupol metallurgical plant named after Ilyich.
In the army since 1931. In 1932 he graduated from the regimental school. Until 1932 he served in the infantry (in the Ukrainian Military District), after which he transferred to the aviation.
In 1933 he graduated from the Orenburg Military Aviation School for Armament Technicians, in 1934 - from the Orenburg Military Aviation Pilot School.
From December 1934 - test pilot of the Air Force Research Institute. He served in a separate fighter squadron and an air squadron of a group of engines and fuel departments. Conducted tests aircraft Р-Z with a turbocharger (1939), participated in test work on fighters I-16, Yak-1, MiG-3 and others.
Member of the Great Patriotic War: in June-August 1941 - pilot of the 402nd Fighter Aviation Regiment. He fought on the North-Western Front. He took part in defensive battles in the Idritsa and Old Russian directions. He flew 65 sorties in a MiG-3 fighter, in 26 air battles he personally shot down 2 and as part of a group of 3 enemy aircraft. He was awarded the Order of Lenin.
After recalling from the front, he returned to flight test work in the air squadron of the group of engines and fuel departments of the Air Force Research Institute. Participated in test work on fighters Yak-1, Yak-9, MiG-3, R-39 "Airacobra" and others.
On February 20, 1942, when the engine was started at the test bench, despite the competent actions of Bakhchivandzhi, ... an explosion occurred. A jet of nitric acid under pressure doused the face and clothes of A.V. Pallo. In the explosion, the engine head tore off the mountings, flew between the nitric acid tanks, hit the pilot's seat armored back and tore off the mounting bolts. Bakhchivandzhi hit his head on the instrument board and cut his forehead. Returning from the hospital, he continued testing.
On May 15, 1942, at the Koltsovo airfield in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), the country's first flight of a BI-1 aircraft with a working LPRE was performed. During the tests, he performed 6 flights on this aircraft.
On July 29, 1942, during a flight on the R-39 Airacobra fighter to test American summer oil at an altitude of 3,000 meters, the hose of the cooling system tore off. Fluid began to escape into the cockpit. Bakhchivandzhi turned off the engine, planned and made a safe landing at his airfield.
Died on March 27, 1943 while performing a test flight on a BI-1 aircraft.
On this day, at the Koltsovsky airfield in Sverdlovsk (now the city of Yekaterinburg), test pilot G.Ya.Bakhchivandzhi performed a test flight on a BI-1 aircraft to measure the maximum speed (it was supposed to reach a speed of 700-800 km / h). The aircraft took off normally, retracted the landing gear, gained an altitude of 2.000 meters, switched to horizontal flight and began acceleration. Having gained some speed, the plane suddenly went down, at an altitude of 100-150 meters it switched to a dive and at an angle of 50 degrees crashed into the ground 6 kilometers south of the Koltsovo airfield. The pilot was killed, the plane was completely destroyed.
The presumptive cause of the crash (as it turned out later) was the pulling of the straight wing aircraft into a dive at speeds above 900 km / h.
For the courage and heroism shown during the tests of the first domestic rocket aircraft, Grigory Yakovlevich Bakhchivandzhi was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on April 28, 1973.
He lived in the village of Chkalovsky (now within the city of Shchelkovo), Moscow region. He was buried in the village of Maly Istok (within the Koltsovo microdistrict of the city of Yekaterinburg). In February 1963, representatives of the Air Force Research Institute of the Air Force installed an obelisk on the grave of Bakhchivandzhi, until that time unnamed.
He was awarded 2 Orders of Lenin (10/17/1942; 04/28/1973, posthumously).
In the village of Chkalovsky, a memorial plaque is installed on the house in which he lived. In the city of Yekaterinburg, a bust of G.Ya. Bakhchivandzhi and a memorial sign at the Koltsovo airport, and in the village of Brinkovskaya - a memorial complex. A crater on the far side of the moon, a railway platform in the Shchelkovsky district of the Moscow region, an area in Yekaterinburg, streets in the cities of Aramil (Sverdlovsk region), Akhtubinsk (Astrakhan region), Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Mariupol, Orenburg, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Shchelkovo, are named after him. the village of Bilimbai (Sverdlovsk region) and the village of Brinkovskaya.
The words of Yuri Gagarin are known: "Without the flights of Grigory Bakhchivandzhi, perhaps there would not have been April 12, 1961".

Sources of information:

• / M., 2015 /
• "Aircraft of the Land of Soviets" / "Multimedia service", 1998, CD-ROM /
• "History of aircraft designs in the USSR (1938-1950)" / V.B.Shavrov, 1988 /
• Four meetings with Arvid Pallo / A. Loktev, "Bulletin" No. 18 (225), August 31, 1999 /
• Flight to the jet era / V.Mishin. Aviation and Astronautics /