The life of the youngest pilot of the Great Patriotic War was tragically cut short at the age of 18. Arkady Nikolayevich Kamanin lived a short but very bright life. What he managed to do in the time measured on Earth would have been enough for several heroic lives. Kamanin became the youngest pilot of the Great Patriotic War. He made his first flight on the famous U-2 multipurpose biplane in July 1943, when he was only 14 years old. As part of the 423rd separate aviation communications squadron, he fought on the Kalinin, 1st and 2nd Ukrainian fronts. Already at the age of 15, he received his first order, and at the age of 18, having survived the war, he died of meningitis.
Arkady Nikolayevich Kamanin was the son of the famous Soviet pilot and military leader Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin, who rose to the rank of Colonel General of Aviation. Arkady's father, among other things, was one of the first Heroes of the Soviet Union, he was awarded on April 20, 1934. He was awarded for his courage and heroism in rescuing the Chelyuskinites, receiving the Gold Star medal for No. 2. In total, Nikolai Kamanin flew 9 flights on an R-5 plane, taking 34 people off the drifting ice floe; of course, his wife and son watched the rescue of the Chelyuskin people. It is not surprising that having such an example in front of his eyes in the person of his father, Arkady himself became interested in aviation and fell in love with the sky.
Arkady Kamanin was born on November 2, 1928 in the Far East, where his father was serving at that time. Even then, changing his place of residence: Spasskoye, Ussuriisk, Vozdvizhenka, a very young Arkady visited the airfields, communicated with the pilots. Having changed several places of residence, which was due to the change of places of service of Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin, Arkady ended up in Moscow with his parents. This was due to the fact that in the fall of 1934 Nikolai Kamanin entered the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy. The family of the famous pilot and Hero of the Soviet Union was allocated a luxurious apartment for those times, located in the famous House on the embankment.
Already at a fairly young age, Arkady showed considerable interest in his father's service and in everything that had at least something to do with aviation and the aviation industry, from childhood he was drawn to airplanes and flying, he was engaged in an aircraft modeling circle. During his summer holidays in Moscow, he spent time not on the river, not playing football, not at dachas near Moscow, he literally disappeared at a military airfield, where he learned the nuances and subtleties of the profession of an aviation mechanic. Work at the airfield helped him to get a job as a mechanic at a Moscow aviation plant before the war in 1941, where he worked for several months. At the same time, the young man's circle of interests was not limited to aviation alone, the boy loved to play sports, tried to read a lot, he even played musical instruments, among which were the button accordion and accordion. Literature and music fascinated him no less passionately than the sky, the child grew up comprehensively developed, his parents could be proud of him even then.
In 1941-1942, Arkady Kamanin lived in Tashkent, where his father was transferred to serve just before the start of the Great Patriotic War. By the time he moved to Tashkent, Arkady had finished only the 6th grade. After the start of the war, an aircraft plant was evacuated to Tashkent from the capital. After classes at school, Arkady immediately fled to the avimaster's shops, where damaged and damaged planes arrived from the front for repairs. In May 1942, Nikolai Kamanin was finally allowed to go to the front. Before leaving, he had a serious talk with his son, allowing Arkady to work in aircraft repair shops in the summer for 6 hours a day, and during his studies - for 2-3 hours. In fact, as Nikolai Petrovich later found out, his son disappeared in the workshops for 10-12 hours a day, dropping into school for only two lessons. And already in January 1943, he dropped out altogether, writing to his father that he would finish his studies after the war.
By that time, Nikolai Kamanin was forming an aviation corps on the Kalinin Front. The officer's wife Maria Mikhailovna, who worked for a year and a half in a hospital in Tashkent, like Arkady Kamanin, was eager to go to the front. Together they put forward an ultimatum to the head of the family: if you don’t take to serve in your air corps, we ourselves will find a way to the front. As a result, Nikolai Petrovich conceded, Maria Mikhailovna began to work as a clerk at the corps headquarters, and Arkady as a special equipment mechanic in the communications squadron of the headquarters of the 5th Guards Assault Air Corps.
Arkady Kamanin with his father
At the same time, Arkady did not work for long as a mechanic. He began flying a two-seater communications aircraft U-2, first as a navigator-observer and flight mechanic. By that time, he already thoroughly knew the structure of this aircraft. The U-2 biplane was originally designed as a training one, therefore it had dual control in both cabins. First, the younger Kamanin asked the pilots after take-off for permission to pilot the plane himself, they did. So he gradually got real flying practice. And already in July 1943 he was released on his first "official" independent flight on a U-2 aircraft. After that, at the age of 14, Arkady Kamanin was appointed pilot of the 423rd Separate Signal Squadron, becoming the youngest pilot of the Great Patriotic War. This was preceded by a two-month flight training program. As well as passing exams in piloting technique, flight theory, materiel, air navigation. Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin personally took exams and checked his son on flights.
The fact that Arkady was born to fly was confirmed by an incident that happened to him during his flights as a navigator and flight mechanic. During one of the flights, a stray bullet hit the visor of the cockpit, the fragments seriously cut the pilot's face, the blood prevented him from navigating in space. Feeling that he could lose consciousness, he transferred control to Arkady, switching the radio to him. As a result, the boy brought the plane to the airfield and reported the situation. The squadron commander rose from the ground into the sky, who gave Arkady instructions on the radio, as a result, he was able to land the plane on his own, everyone survived.
At first, the newly-made pilot flew on the U-2 (Po-2) multipurpose biplane between the corps airfields, as well as to the air army headquarters and the front headquarters. After skillfully on the turns he managed to get away from the pursuing Messerschmitt, Arkady began to fly to the headquarters of ground armies, as well as to the forward command post of the air corps. On some days he spent 5-6 hours in the sky. On his plane was an arrow that resembled lightning. The communications squadron pilots affectionately called the young pilot "Letunok".
Legendary U-2 (Po-2)
Once, returning to the airfield from a mission, he saw an Il-2 attack aircraft knocked out by the Germans, which was located in a no-man's land. The canopy of the cockpit was closed. Arkady assumed that the pilot was wounded and could not get out of the plane, he decided to land his biplane next to him. Under enemy mortar fire, he managed to land the plane next to the damaged car and dragged the unconscious pilot into his plane. In addition, the boy was taken from the Il-2 pilot's photographic equipment along with the footage. Our attack aircraft and artillerymen helped him to rise into the air, providing support by opening fire on the enemy, diverting the attention of the Germans from the biplane taking off from the "neutral". As a result, Arkady took the wounded pilot to the hospital, he turned out to be Lieutenant Berdnikov, who flew to the front line with a reconnaissance mission for photographing. For saving the pilot, Arkady Kamanin was awarded the Order of the Red Star, at that time the boy was only 15 years old.
"Letunok" was distinguished by real fearlessness. Once, returning from a mission, he saw a damaged T-34 tank on the ground at the edge of the forest - tankers on the ground were conjuring over a stretched caterpillar. Having landed next to them, Arkady Kamanin asked if the tankers needed help. It turned out that the tank had two tracks broken, the tankers had spare links, but there were no suitable bolts for the connection. As a result, the pilot flew for the missing bolts and threw them from the air to tankers along with ointment from burns.
Arkady received the second Order of the Red Star in 1944, when the Bandera forces attacked the front headquarters. Taking off under enemy fire, the young pilot threw hand grenades at the attackers from the air, and also called for reinforcements. The attack on the front headquarters was repulsed, for this feat, who then fought on the 2nd Ukrainian Front, Arkady Kamanin, was awarded the second Order of the Red Star.
Over time, the "flyer" increasingly flew over unknown terrain, including flying deep into the rear of the enemy. So in the spring of 1945, he was able to successfully deliver power elements for the radio and secret documents to the members of the partisan detachment who operated deep in the German rear and were hiding in the highlands near the Czech city of Brno. For this flight, Arkady was presented to the Order of the Red Banner. By the end of April 1945, he flew more than 650 missions to communicate with units of the air corps and with a remote control post, having flown a total of 283 hours. During all this time, he did not have a single flight accident and not a single case of loss of orientation. In addition to two Orders of the Red Star and the Order of the Red Banner, he was awarded medals “For the capture of Budapest”, “For the capture of Vienna” and “For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945”. On the day of the historic Victory Parade, which took place in Moscow on June 24, 1945, 17-year-old Arkady Kamanin marched across Red Square in the ranks of the best pilots of the 2nd Ukrainian Front.
In the second half of 1945, the air corps in which Arkady Kamanin served was returned to his homeland from Czechoslovakia. The corps headquarters settled in Tiraspol. The young pilot decided to go to study at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy, which his father had successfully graduated from. Continuing to perform the duties of a corps communications squadron pilot, he sat down to study textbooks. For a year and a half, he managed to pass the program of grades 8, 9 and 10, and in the fall of 1946 he passed exams as an external student, becoming a student of the preparatory department of the Academy.
By that time, it seemed to everyone that the worst was over. The Kamanin family survived the war and got together in Moscow, Nikolai Kamanin was appointed deputy head of the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet of the USSR. However, trouble lay in wait for the family in peacetime. Arkady fell ill with the flu, he was not used to complaining and bravely endured the illness that had fallen on him on his legs. On April 12, 1947, he returned to his home from a lecture and, having said that he had a headache, lay down to rest. By evening, when they began to wake him up for dinner, he no longer got up. Unconscious he was taken to the hospital, all night Moscow doctors tried to get the young man out of the coma, but nothing came of it. In the morning, Arkady Kamanin was gone, he was only 18 years old. An autopsy revealed that the cause of his death was meningitis. Arkady Kamanin was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery.
Arkady Kamanin with his younger brother Lev
So tragically, already in peacetime, the life of a young man who went through the war, who escaped wounds and injuries, was cut short. He could have made an excellent career in aviation; he studied with great diligence at the Zhukovsky Academy. In the future, he could get into the first detachment of Soviet cosmonauts, since his father became the organizer and leader of their training, but fate decreed otherwise, cutting the life of the youngest pilot of the Great Patriotic War literally on takeoff.
