SB bomber
On August 10, 1938, the crew of our SB sank a Japanese aircraft carrier
This story is so incredible that many consider it a fake. Neither before nor after this episode was there a case of a single plane sinking an aircraft carrier. Meanwhile, this incident took place, and the pilot who performed this feat was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The name of this pilot was Timofey Timofeevich Khryukin. He ended his life with the rank of Colonel-General of Aviation and the post of Deputy Commander of the USSR Air Force, and then he was the head of one of the groups of Soviet pilots who helped China in the fight against the Japanese conquerors. By that time, Spain was behind him, and on his chest was the Order of the Battle Red Banner.
By the spring of 1938, the skies in China had become safer, since our bombers bombed almost all Japanese airfields during the winter. On January 25, 1938, a group of 25 SB bombers struck at the airfield in Nanjing. On February 23, 1938, Captain Fyodor Polynin led a group of 28 SB in a raid on the Hsin-Chu airbase, located on the then Japanese island of Taiwan. 28 SB bombers dropped 280 bombs on the airbase and returned without loss to the airfield in Hankou, having stayed in the air for more than seven hours. As a result of the raid of Soviet pilots, 40 aircraft were destroyed at the airfield, a lot of aviation equipment in containers, hangars and a three-year supply of fuel.
However, in June, when Polynin's division was replaced by a new bomber air group headed by Khryukin, our bombers began to be attacked by Japanese I-96 fighters. So we in those years designated the Japanese carrier-based fighter 九六 式 艦上 戦 闘 機 (Mitsubishi A5M), now better known as A5M. These aircraft were sea, deck. It was suggested that a Japanese aircraft carrier was based somewhere nearby. Soon this assumption was confirmed: one such aircraft, being fired upon by our air gunner, made an emergency landing in Chinese-controlled territory, and the pilot was captured. During his interrogation, it turned out that the I-96 based on the aircraft carrier Yamato-maru was a cargo steamer converted into an auxiliary aircraft carrier with a displacement of 9656 tons, built in Italy in 1915 under the name Giuseppe Verdi. It was bought by Japan in 1920. The pipes were cut off, the chimney was taken out to the starboard side, and a wooden deck was built over its hull, which served as an airstrip. The hull of the aircraft carrier was reinforced, and boolean attachments were installed on it to increase stability. Six coaxial 13, 2-mm Hotchkiss machine guns were installed on the Yamato-maru as anti-aircraft weapons. On May 31, 1923, the auxiliary aircraft carrier Yamato-maru joined … the Japanese ground forces. His planes were supposed to support the troops of the imperial army in theaters of operations, poorly equipped with airfields. During the period from June 14 to July 28, 1938, 49 Japanese ships were sunk on the Yangtze, but the aircraft carrier could not be found: the aircraft carrier appeared here and there, skillfully camouflaged itself, snuggled up to the shore, hid in bays, and our pilots could not see it … Sometimes the scouts managed to spot an aircraft carrier, but a group of bombers flying out on the trail of aerial reconnaissance did not find anything, only rocks and a sea covered with haze, a maze of islands and bays for hundreds of kilometers … Nevertheless, Timofey Khryukin did not give up the thought of finding a Japanese aircraft carrier.
Two more months passed, but the Yamato-maru remained an enchanted stealth ship. And then one day Timofey Khryukin, together with his navigator Ivan Selivanov, patrolled at a high altitude over the Yangtze channel. At that time, our aviation had complete air supremacy over the Yangtze, and not a single ship was visible on the river, and small ships, noticing a flying bomber, hurriedly pressed themselves to the shore. And suddenly Khryukin and Selivanov simultaneously saw the aircraft carrier Yamato-maru in a remote bay covered with camouflage nets. The wind blew from the shore, and the veil of fog that covered the ship slowly receded into the sea. Without wasting a second, the SB went on the attack. Ivan gave an amendment. Timofey turned the car back and felt the bombs go down. On the second call, Khryukin saw that on the Yamato-maru, near the chimney itself, a column of black smoke shot up, cut by bright tongues of flame. The second bomb landed at the side, exploded in the water, below the waterline, and at the same time, as if on command, the barrage ceased. A lonely last stream of tracer bullets rose slowly into the air, and everything was cut short. The aircraft carrier began to list to the port side.
The plane dropped the last bombs and lay on the course. The dying aircraft carrier lay on its side and looked like a huge turtle crawling out of the water. The pilots did not see his last moments..
Two fighters were sent to reconnaissance from the airfield. The pilots returned and reported - the aircraft turned upside down and sank.
For the sinking of a Japanese aircraft carrier Timofei Timofeevich Khryukin and his navigator Ivan Pavlovich Selivanov received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In the photo I. Selevanov
