The feat of Victor Talalikhin - briefly

In the central part of the city of Volsk, not far from the market, there is a modest wooden one-storey house, which is a lot. People live in it, but there is a sign on the fence informing passers-by that it was in this house that Hero of the Soviet Union Viktor Vasilievich Talalikhin grew up. The feat, briefly called the abrupt word "ram", was repeatedly repeated by other pilots. After the decisive turning point in the war, this method of air combat was even banned by Comrade Stalin himself. And in fact, ramming - means to put the pilot at risk of death, and almost certainly lose a combat aircraft. But in the summer of 1941 there was such a situation that the means were suitable any.

Childhood hero

Victor Talalikhin's feat, described in many textbooks and popular publications, can not be called accidental: to this event a person goes his whole life, even if sometimes briefly. This moment becomes stellar, even if no one can know its details. But Victor was lucky: he, having destroyed an enemy bomb-carrier by blowing his fighter, survived and even became famous. Low (growth 1 m 55 cm), charming (today his smile would be called, probably, Gagarin) and to the impossibility of a desperate guy just could not do otherwise.

The future hero was born on the Volga, in Teplovka - the village of Volsky Uyezd, in 1918. Rose, like everyone else. The family was big, the father, working wherever he could earn, tried to feed his three sons. By the way, they all became pilots, so it happened. There were only four of them, but the elder was killed in the Civil Court. In 1924 Vasily Ivanovich Talalikhin got a job at a cement plant in Volsk and transported his family to the city.

Dream of the sky

Today it's hard to imagine, but Viktor's mother, Vera Ivanovna, did not want to move to Moscow, she liked quite a lot in provincial Volsk. However, the father insisted: a meat processing plant was being built in the capital, and he was invited to this job. It was 1933, the family settled in a working barrack, but this fact did not depress the young man, he was busy studying in a vocational school, and then he worked on a company built with the participation of his father. The air festival in Tushino was a turning point in Viktor's life, he realized that this was his. The guy shows a variety of talents: he plays roles in the drama circle, participates in public life, but now he dreams of becoming only a pilot. Moreover, both brothers went to this path - Alexander (he is studying board mechanics) and Nikolay (being trained at Yeisk school of naval aviation).

Study in Borisoglebsk College

In the famous Boris Gleb School, the boy entered, having behind him the flight experience gained in the flying club. From here came the famous throughout the country heroes: Kamanin, Chkalov, Kokkinaki and many others. In 1937, the I-16, nicknamed the "asshole", was a modern, high-speed and well-armed machine, on which a cadet-pilot Viktor Talalikhin flew. His feat, by the way, he will make in four years on this plane.

Training was conducted at a high level, there were many flights, and the qualifications of the pilots allowed them to count on the success of their actions. Khalkhin-Gol already rumbled about, everyone waited for new shocks, the smell of gunpowder literally hovered in the air. The pilots understood that they were being prepared seriously, and they took their duties accordingly. Soon their skill came in handy.

Finnish Winter War

Winter of 1940, thoroughly frozen Karelian isthmus. Frost under 40. Under such conditions it is difficult to fight, especially considering that both the I-16 and the "Seagull" I-153 cabins are open and blown by all winds. Then the first feat of Victor Talalikhin took place. The Finnish air force was striving to bombard the advancing columns of Soviet troops. The task of the third squadron was to prevent enemy bombers from doing so. In the first battle, a young graduate of the flying school shot down the plane and opened his combat account.

By the end of the campaign there were 47 sorties on the pilot's account, the number of aircraft knocked down by them was difficult to call (then the confirmation of air victories was not an easy task), but there appear to be several of them. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Order of the Red Star flashed on his breast in 1940 already.

What a feat Victor Talalikhin performed

The first months of the war were tragic. German bombers rushed to Moscow, trying to demoralize the people and the leadership of the country; There were a lot of them - Henkel, Dornier, Junkers ... Soviet aviation tried to repulse the attacks, the pilots understood that every enemy airplane that had broken through bears death to hundreds of peaceful people. The feat of Viktor Talalikhin was not much different from the combat work of other pilots. With only one difference: he was the first in the Great Patriotic War to ram, and this required special skill and courage bordering on recklessness. The pilot brought his fighter close to the tail of the "He-111" and slashed it with a screw, despite the fact that he was wounded in his hand (an intense barrage was being fought). Then he left the almost completely destroyed car and landed safely with a parachute. Events took place at night, more precisely, at midnight, on August 7, and the day the country learned the name of the hero. The exploit of Viktor Talalikhin was briefly described in the central newspapers, and the articles were illustrated with a photograph of the pilot. The chronicles show the meeting of the hero with his mother. She was very worried about her son and was happy that he was alive.

Memory

The life of the pilot in the war was often short-lived. The fierce air combat reached unprecedented in the history of heat, but for the sake of justice it should be noted that Victor Talalikhin's feat was not the only one, moreover, it was not the first ram in history. Russian aviator Nesterov struck his airplane in the Austro-Hungarian Albatros in 1914. In 1937 E. Stepanov did the same, ramming the Italian "Savoy". And yet the glory of Viktor Vasilyevich from this does not become less deserved.

The pilot gave his last fight on October 27, 1941. Then I had to fight with superior forces, and the hero received a fatal wound. The next morning the country learned that Talalikhin Viktor Vasilievich had died, whose feat became a symbol of the unshakable firmness of the entire Soviet people. With the Hero of the Soviet Union, they said goodbye to the club of the Mikoyanovsk meat-packing plant, an enterprise where he worked before military service.

The memory of the famous countryman is honored in Volsk, where he is named after the street and school number 1. The pilot was buried in Moscow, and in Podolsk since 1960 a monument of bronze was built - standing full-length Victor Talalikhin. Feat and monument to him are revered by the inhabitants of the city, his guests and all who cherish the glory of our heroes.