As a Soviet navigator, he did not die in the Alaska mountains. Documentary story by Oleg Chechin
The American film "The Survivor", which today is nominated for an Oscar and is shown in our cinemas, is beautifully filmed and well thought out. But what is an invention in comparison with the real story that Ogonyok learned about - about the Russian navigator Konstantin Demyanenko who survived in 1943 in the Alaska mountains
Oleg Chechin.
Senior Lieutenant Demyanenko fell out of the plane, which Soviet pilots ferried from America to the USSR under the Lend-Lease program. Under each word of this story there is a document: memoirs of Alsib pilots ("Alaska - Siberia", the air route between American Alaska and the USSR, operating since 1942); Records of the Hero of the Soviet Union and Knight of the American Order of the Legion of Honor, Lieutenant General of Aviation Mikhail Grigorievich Machin (he was the head of the Soviet military mission for the acceptance of American aircraft in the American Fairbanks); memories of friends and relatives of the main character of those events - navigator Konstantin Petrovich Demyanenko; documents and materials, including several pages, written by Demyanenko himself.
Fallen from the sky
… On a warm June day in 1943, at the Ladd Field airfield in Fairbanks, another dozen A-20 Boston front-line bombers were preparing to take off. They were to be driven to Nome, which was more than 800 kilometers away, and then across the Bering Sea to the Chukchi village of Uelkal. The departure of the air group was delayed by dense clouds in the mountains. A more powerful B-25 Mitchell bomber was sent to investigate the weather along the route. The pilots of the 1st ferry regiment, based in Fairbanks, were waiting for his messages in full readiness.
The crews were escorted into flight by the gray-haired Catholic priest Father Anthony. Both the Americans and the Russians treated him with respect.
- Holy father! - the head of the Soviet military mission in Alaska, Colonel Mikhail Grigorievich Machin, who was waiting with all the weather reports from the route, turned to him. - You are the closest of us to the sky, tell me, will the weather let you down today?
- All the will of God! - answered Father Anthony. - But personally I will pray for the safe return of your guys.
And the guys, taking off their summer jackets, carelessly basked in the sun. They smoked and made fun of each other. Intriguing news hurried the ferry pilots on their way: in Uelkala, they could have time to try fresh bear meat cutlets. The navigator Konstantin Demyanenko told about this: the duty officer at the control tower Joseph Feyes secretly told him that the Chukchi had killed a huge polar bear that had wandered into the airfield. Nobody knew whether this was true or just another bike.
From Alaska to Chukotka, Lend-Lease bombers A-20 "Boston" were delivered by Soviet crews of two. Usually they sat together in the forward cockpit, with the navigator being slightly ahead of the pilot. But on that day, a special batch of aircraft was ferried, where four 20-mm cannons were installed in the bow. In this version, the A-20 Boston medium-range front-line bombers could be used as night fighters for long-range aviation (much more often they were used as torpedo bombers at sea). And then the navigator sat down behind the pilot's back - in the place of the radio operator in the rear cockpit.
B-25 "Mitchell" found a "window" in the clouds and took a dozen "Bostons" behind it. The air group successfully passed most of the route. But when we flew up to the ridge stretching along the coast, the clouds became very dense. In a roundabout way, from the direction of Norton Bay, the planes came to Noma, but the coastal airfield was covered by thick clouds. Having received a refusal to land, the caravan commander was forced to turn back the entire air group.
The way back over the mountains of Alaska took place in a prolonged "blind" flight. The crews in the swirling clouds lost sight of both the leader and each other. Each had to cross the ridge one by one. All vehicles landed safely at an intermediate airfield at Galena on the Yukon River. But in one crew there was no navigator - the joker of Senior Lieutenant Konstantin Demyanenko. "Got it!" - Mikhail Grigorievich thought about him in his hearts when he was told about the incident.
Machin knew Konstantin Demyanenko well. He liked the navigator's cheerful disposition and the way he sang ditties to the accordion with a serious air. But the main thing is that Demyanenko was a competent specialist who quickly mastered the American radio equipment and the navigation system of flights over the territory of the United States. In bad weather conditions, Colonel Machin sometimes took him with him, and Kostya never let him down.
Putting all business aside, Colonel Machin flew to Galena. He carefully examined the bomber with the rear cockpit open - it was obvious that the navigator fell out of there. The tail had a dent with a patch of yellow skin. Someone remembered that Kostya was wearing yellow boots …
Signs from the ground
Bad weather prevented the start of an immediate search for the senior lieutenant. It was raining like a bucket, and when it calmed down a little, Soviet crews flew out in search of the missing navigator, who sat down without him in Galen. The allies also offered their help. By order of the commander of the Fairbanks air base, Brigadier General Dale Gaffney, American pilots conducted aerial observations, flying over an area where a Russian officer could supposedly parachute.
Mikhail Grigorievich himself made several flights to the area. Alas, nothing comforting was found. Below there were only wooded mountains. Even the brave loners from the Arctic stories of Jack London did not get to these places.
Another week passed. There was practically no hope for Kostya's salvation. And suddenly Colonel Machin was asked to go to the commander of the air base, Dale Gaffney.
- Michael! - the brigadier general rushed to meet him from behind the table. - I have good news for you! Perhaps your navigator is alive! Senior Lieutenant Nicholas de Tolly, returning from Nome to Fairbanks, found a white cloth on a mountain pass. It is tied to the top of a withered tree at the edge of the abyss …
Mikhail Grigorievich respected the descendant of the Russian commander Barclay de Tolly. After the October Revolution, his mother took Nikolai out of Russia as a seven-year-old boy - first to Turkey, then to the United States. In America, he became a first-class pilot, having mastered all types of aircraft, which were now ferried under Lend-Lease to his former homeland. He taught many Russian officers, including Konstantin Demyanenko, to navigate by maps in the skies of Alaska …
Dale Gaffney showed a point in the mountains - a deserted area, located almost a hundred kilometers north of the route.
Mikhail Grigorievich immediately flew out in search of Demyanenko. Quite quickly, Colonel Machin saw a white wad of parachute tied to a lone tree near the crest of the ridge. From the B-25 cockpit it was clear that the ridge served as a watershed. One river descended to the southwest and went to the Pacific Ocean. And on the other slope, a smaller river circled, making its way to the north. But where did Demyanenko go?
Combing the valleys of both rivers, Mikhail Grigorievich descended so that he almost caught his wing on the sheer cliffs. But the traces of the man were nowhere to be seen. In the following days, the searches were continued by other crews, including the American ones - to no avail. The hope of rescuing the navigator began to fade again, but during the next flight to the search area, a miracle happened: Machin saw smoke rising from the ground and a man in a tattered blue shirt lying in the middle of a platform burnt out by fire!
Kostya also saw a twin-engine plane from the ground. The bomber passed over it, then, making a U-turn, descended even more. A sleeping bag with food, a pistol with cartridges was dropped from the plane. On a new call, a glove flew in with a note: "I ask you not to go anywhere. Eat a little. Wait for salvation!"
About one and a half kilometers from the fires, Machin noticed a small lake - perhaps a small seaplane could land here.
The rescue
The diameter of the lake was 500 meters. Will a single-engine seaplane be able to land here? Its commander, Lieutenant Blacksman, assured him that he could. The order of interaction proposed by the Russian colonel was also agreed: after splashdown of the flying boat, Machin's bomber had to go over the American rescuers in a constant course, showing the direction in the direction of Demyanenko - without a clue from the air in the tall grass, it was easy to go astray. Machin advised Lieutenant Blacksman to take as little fuel as possible: this made it easier to land and take off in the mountains, where the air is thin.
The bomber came to the lake first. Downstairs there was complete calm - not a wrinkle on the surface! Kostya did not cause concern either, although he barely got up from the ground as soon as he saw the familiar plane. But with the advent of the flying boat, the navigator's restraint changed. Guessing that she sat on the water, he violated the order to remain in place and rushed to meet his rescuers. And those, not knowing about it, moved through the tall grass along the course that the B-25 laid for them in the sky. The grass covered the people walking towards each other.
The Americans, having reached the scorched meadow, stopped in bewilderment. Next to the still smoldering coals lay a sleeping bag dropped from the side of a B-25, the remains of a parachute, but the Russian navigator was nowhere to be found! Demyanenko, meanwhile, went to the shore of the lake. Seeing the seaplane and the flight mechanic near him, he fell unconscious …
The rumor about the rescue of the Russian officer, who had spent almost a month alone in the deserted mountains, quickly spread around the area. Everyone who was free from work, and even the Eskimos from the nearest village, after landing a seaplane, ran to the river.
The navigator was carefully carried out of the cockpit in his arms. He was unconscious. It was impossible to recognize Demyanenko - his face was so swollen from the bites of mosquitoes and midges, his eyes did not open. Mikhail Grigorievich even thought that it was not "his" navigator, but someone else. Coming to his senses, Kostya slowly took the commander's palm with both hands and silently pressed it to his chest. He could not speak.
A week later, when the navigator got stronger, he was transferred to the hospital in Fairbanks. Colonel Machin visited him there. Demyanenko's inflammation from mosquito bites was so severe that he still could not shave. Mikhail Grigorievich remembered: in Spain, where he fought on the side of the Republicans, he was told a similar case, which ended tragically. Mosquitoes in the Argentine steppe (pampa) seized to death the famous revolutionary Ivan Dymchenko, one of the leaders of the uprising on the battleship Potemkin in June 1905.
Alone and no shoes
Kostya told Machin what happened to him. During a protracted "blind" flight over the mountains, seeing a "window" in the clouds, Demyanenko opened the rear cockpit canopy and leaned out of it to bind to the terrain. And the pilot in the front cockpit, unaware of the navigator's actions, dived through this "window" at a large angle - the senior lieutenant was thrown overboard during this maneuver. Falling, Demyanenko hit his foot on the tail fin. It's good that with a heel, otherwise I would have broken my leg - then I would have died for sure! And so he got off with a bruise and loss of a shoe. The tail of the plane also peeled off his chest and temple. Waking up in a muddy mist, he realized that he was flying like a stone to the ground, and tore the parachute ring.
The falling man was caught by an updraft that carried him over the ridge. The parachute lowered him onto the dry branches of a stunted pine tree that grew on the edge of a rocky cliff. The navigator took a knife from his belt and carefully cut the straps and slings with it. In addition to the knife, he also had a pistol and matches, but they became damp.
It turned out to be damp on the ground. Descending from a pine tree, Demyanenko found himself in a small copse. He also lost his second shoe in some kind of stagnant pit. I had to return to the pine-savior. There, having gutted his parachute, the senior lieutenant took refuge under the dome. But this "roof" turned out to be unreliable. In the pouring rain, all clothes were soon soaked to the skin. Such mortal fatigue fell on the navigator that he did not notice how he fell asleep …
The next day, the navigator cut off a piece of the parachute lining and tied a white cloth to the top of a pine tree - this later saved his life, serving as a good guide from the air. But it was impossible to sit under a tree - a bear trail passed nearby. The meeting with its owners was not long in coming: a huge furry animal with a cub came out on the parachutist. It was a female grizzly bear. The bear came up and sniffed the stranger, followed by his mother and the bear cub sniffed him. The navigator was afraid to look away and move - the hunting instinct could induce predators to attack. The "peepers" game went on for quite a long time. But the beasts are gone. Perhaps they were scared off by the smell of gasoline (it hit the parachute canopy while refueling the plane). Or maybe they were in a hurry to the river that ran along the bottom of the abyss - there the salmon have already gone to spawn.
Taking a breath, the senior lieutenant rolled the remains of his parachute into a knapsack and headed down the slope to the river. He walked several kilometers downstream. Then he built a raft from dry trees. He swam down on it, believing that sooner or later the river would carry him out to people. But, on the contrary, she only took the navigator away from the habitable places.
A couple of days later, the raft crashed on stones. There was no food. The pilot ate unripe berries, similar to raspberries and blueberries, and he filled all his pockets with them. Once he managed to shoot a bird like a thrush with a pistol, but Kostya could not swallow raw bird meat.
Soon the navigator himself almost became prey, unexpectedly meeting another huge grizzly in the bush on the slope of the hill. For a while they looked at each other through the branches. The senior lieutenant slowly drew his pistol and fired deliberately on a miss. He wanted to scare the beast, and he succeeded.
They parted without blood
But another time, there was a serious skirmish with another bear and her adult bear cub. I had to wound the beast in the nose. After that, Demyanenko had only one cartridge in his pistol. He decided to keep it for himself. A plane flew over it several times, but there was nothing to signal.
The completely exhausted navigator climbed out of the coastal line into a valley overgrown with tall grass. He tried to set fire to the dry stems, but the damp matches still didn’t catch fire. The remaining five pieces Kostya took out of the box and put it under his arm. With the thought: "This is the last chance for salvation!" - he fell asleep.
When I woke up, my face and hands were burning from their bites from gnats and mosquitoes. But the warmth of the body worked a miracle. The navigator took out matches from under his arm, struck one of them - it lit up! He brought the quivering light to the dry stalk. A blade of grass flared up, the fire began to gain strength. Colonel Machin noticed this smoke from the air …
Steadfast heart
While still at the Fairbanks hospital, Senior Lieutenant Demyanenko received an anonymous letter from Orenburg. He was delighted: maybe the long-awaited information about his wife and little son, which remained with the mother-in-law? There had been no news from them for a long time. But the letter struck him one more blow - in the heart. Some "well-wisher" told the navigator that Tamara was married and asked him not to worry anymore. He wondered: what happened to his family?
In the hospital, Kostya was recognized as partially fit for flight service. After much hesitation, he showed the anonymous letter to Colonel Machin. Mikhail Grigorievich gave the navigator a 10-day leave to "deal with his family."
Having crossed the threshold of the mother-in-law's apartment, the navigator froze at the door. On the bed sat a shaven woman with a bandaged face. Her legs were wrapped in downy shawls.
It turned out: Tamara spent three and a half months in the hospital, having contracted a relapsing fever. On the same days when Kostya died in the Alaska mountains, her life also hung in the balance. She did not dare to write to her husband about serious complications: her legs were swollen, her jaw was inflamed. She could not even kiss her husband on the way. When they both came to their senses a little, it turned out that the anonymous person who wrote the false letter to Alaska was a rejected fan. The guy tried to seduce a beautiful woman with an increased ration issued at his defense plant …
What happened next? And then life went on: the navigator drove American bombers from Yakutsk to Kirensk for about a year, then from there to Krasnoyarsk. In November 1944, Kostya finally received the long-awaited permission to be sent to the front, and celebrated Victory Day with the rank of captain with the Order of the Red Star.
And in early 1950, a case was opened against Demyanenko: the NKVD decided that Kostya had been recruited by the CIA during his absence at the Fairbanks base. Then Demyanenko was offered to talk about the mood in the squadron, and when he flatly refused to report on his comrades, he was threatened with dismissal from flight work.
In recent years, Demyanenko lived in Irkutsk, died of a transient sarcoma in 1961. His wife Tamara managed to fulfill her husband's last wish - to bury him in the cemetery next to the airfield. And now every plane, landing and taking off in Irkutsk, overshadows his grave with its wing.
