The sights of this city rarely attract tourists, although Borisoglebsk is included in the list of historical cities of Russia. And few people know that Arkady Vasilyevich Chapaev, the youngest son of the famous commander of the Civil War, spent his last days in this small cozy town.
A. V. was born. Chapaev on August 12, 1914 in the city of Melekess. Arkady was five years old when his father died. Arkady was predicted a bright future. It was said about him that he was a handsome young man, and in noble manners resembled his famous father. From a young age, he raved about aviation, being a seventh-grader, made his first flight as part of an air circle, however, on a glider and as a passenger.
After graduating from a regular school, Arkady entered the Leningrad Military-Theoretical Pilot School of the Red Army Air Force, and then - at the military pilot school in the city of Engels. During his studies, he was actively involved in social work. As evidenced by the characteristics, he was an excellent student in everything: in discipline, study, flights. He was elected a deputy of the city council. The city of Engels was then the capital of the autonomous republic of the Volga Germans.
According to archival information, the bureau of the Engels City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks recommended Arkady Chapaev as a candidate member of the Government of the German Republic. He was not an ordinary deputy, but a member of the Central Executive Republican Committee.
At the beginning of 1935, the Seventh All-Union Congress of Deputies was held in Moscow. The Nemrespublika also sent Arkady Chapaev as a delegate to the congress. In total, more than two thousand delegates gathered at this forum. Stalin looked through the general list and saw the famous surname. I found out: this twenty-year-old guy is the son of the legendary Chapay! The leader advised to put Arkady on the presidium of the congress. And during the break he invited me to talk to him. In the museum of Saratov, a large-circulation number of a local factory has been preserved, which briefly described the meeting between the leader and the youngest son of the famous commander of the Civil War. Stalin recalled the exploits of Vasily Ivanovich, asked how Arkady himself, his older brother and sister lived.
Until the end of March 1937 A. V. Chapaev, a flight school graduate, was listed as a junior pilot of the 89th heavy bomber squadron. A year later, he became the commander of a heavy bomber in the 90th squadron.
In the fall of 1938, Arkady Chapaev entered the N. E. Zhukovsky, where he is closely engaged in flight practice and testing of new technology. Here he met many of the outstanding pilots of that time.
He maintained very warm relations with Valery Chkalov. They were not only friends, but also lived in the same house in Moscow, on Zemlyanoy Val. Together they participated in the development of new test flight procedures. By the way, Chapaev Jr. was the first to inform the Chkalov family about the death of Valery Pavlovich - it happened on December 15, 1938. The death of a friend left a heavy mark on the soul of Arkady himself.
Chapaev often traveled around the country, met with pioneers in "Artek", with soldiers and officers in military units, spoke in labor collectives. He talked about his heroic father. Arkady Chapaev was not at all burdened by the glory of his father, about whom by that time dozens of books had been written and the famous film was shot. Arkady, of course, was proud of this. But every time he emphasized: the film is an art, the reality was completely different, maybe even more heroic and dramatic.
Arkady could have become a hero of his time, if not for the tragedy …
At that time, Chapaev Jr. was in Borisoglebsk. As a student of the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy, he passed flight practice at the aviation school, which his late friend Valery Chkalov graduated from at one time, and which already then was awarded the right to be called the name of the Soviet ace. Chapaev was finishing the first year, and in order to transfer to the second he had to, after the training flights, show the examination committee his test flight.
Arkady flew to the task stipulated by the training program in an I-16 fighter.
This aircraft was considered a reliable machine, proven in a combat situation: in the skies of Spain, engulfed in the civil war, Soviet volunteer pilots on the I-16 worked miracles, on their account there were many shot down German and Italian aircraft. The flight of Arkady Chapaev went flawlessly at first. The pilot performed aerobatics one after another. But all of a sudden, the plane went into a tailspin.
The death of a friend was seen by his classmate Leonid Goreglyad.
"Jump, jump!" - we shouted, - Leonid Ivanovich wrote in his memoirs. "But Arkady tried to get the plane out of the spin. It seemed that he was close to the target. The fighter even came out of the left spin, but immediately entered the right one … So, trying to save the car, Arkady Chapaev died."
After some time, information came in - I-16 fell into Lake Ilmen (today - Povorinsky district of Voronezh region).
The lake is shallow, and the speed with which the plane fell was such that with all its mass and together with the pilot, it went deep into the muddy bottom. The plane was pulled out with cables and ropes, and the body of Arkady was cut out from the flattened cockpit using an autogen.
The circumstances of the death of Arkady Chapaev were studied by a special commission, but so far it has not been possible to find its materials. So far it is known that there is an emergency act, where Arkady Chapaev is characterized as: “A pilot of exemplary discipline, organized in work … He is always neat, tidy. Married. Flight performance is good and excellent. I had no health complaints before the flight. He was cheerful."
Three days after his death, People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR Kliment Voroshilov signed order No. 02900, which says: “Senior Lieutenant Arkady Vasilyevich Chapaev, a first-year student of the command faculty of the Red Army Air Force Academy, should be awarded the military rank of“captain”.
So in the sky over Borisoglebsk, where Valery Chkalov learned to fly, the life of his friend Arkady Chapaev was cut short.
A. V. Chapaev was buried with military honors at the city cemetery. A monument was erected on the grave, designed by the architect Vladimir Tuchin.
The inscription on the monument: "flew on 1939-07-07 on I-16 fighters, the engine failed, the pilot tried to turn the falling plane away from the settlement. He died, but saved people."
