55 years ago, Soviet pilots Captain Boris Kapustin and Senior Lieutenant Yuri Yanov died in Berlin while piloting a Yak-28P interceptor fighter with two failed engines.
At the moment of the complete shutdown of the power units, the car flew over residential areas of the German city.
Realizing the high risk of civilian deaths, the officers decided to take the plane to a deserted area.
As a result, the Yak-28P flew outside East Berlin and crashed into Lake Stoessensee, in a sector controlled by British troops.
Kapustin and Yanov died, and the wreckage of the fighter was subsequently studied by Western states.
Yak-28P at that time was the newest two-seater aircraft of the Soviet operational-tactical aviation.
However, as experts note, the incident on April 6, 1966 did not have any serious impact on the further development of the programs of the USSR Air Force.
“The wreckage of structures and the dilapidated equipment of the crashed plane were of some interest to the United States and Great Britain, but they could not learn anything of real value.
In any case, the loss of the Yak-28P did not in any way affect the perception of Kapustin and Yanov as heroes who sacrificed themselves, "Sergei Suvorov, candidate of military sciences, who served in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, explained in an interview with RT.
"Flies confidently, initiative in the air"
Boris Kapustin and Yuri Yanov served in the 668th Aviation Regiment of the 24th Air Force of the USSR Air Force, which was stationed in the small town of Finov (Brandenburg land).
Before that, they underwent retraining in Novosibirsk, where the Yak-28P was produced.
On April 6, 1966, officers were instructed to overtake two such fighters to an airfield near the city of Zerbst (Saxony-Anhalt), where the base of the 35th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Soviet Air Force was located.
Kapustin was appointed flight commander, the second plane was piloted by their comrades Vladimir Podberezkin and Nikolai Lobarev.
The Yak-28P was considered a unique combat aircraft by the standards of the 1960s.
The vehicle earned high marks from air defense pilots for its excellent thrust-to-weight ratio and the ability to destroy the enemy at low altitudes, both on catch-up and head-on courses.
Another highlight of the aircraft is the Oryol-D radar sight, which made it possible to detect and destroy targets in the rear and in the front hemispheres.
The enemy was fired with missiles with radar and thermal homing heads.
However, with all the advantages of the Yak-28P, it was a very whimsical and difficult fighter to fly.
At the request of the military, the specialists of the Yakovlev Design Bureau were constantly modifying the aircraft.
At the time of the incident with Kapustin and Yanov, an improved production version of the Yak-28P was being tested.
Kapustin was a fairly experienced pilot.
At the end of 1965, his total flight time on combat vehicles was 1285 hours, including 247 hours on the Yak-28.
The captain was assessed by the authorities as a confident and highly professional pilot.
“Prepared for combat operations day and night with the established minimum weather from low, high altitudes and from the stratosphere at supersonic speed.
As an instructor, he is trained day and night with the specified minimum weather.
It flies confidently, is proactive in the air, ”said the certification text when Kapustin was promoted to the position of deputy squadron commander.
Yuri Yanov, who was paired with Kapustin as a navigator, was also considered a well-trained pilot.
The total flight time of the senior lieutenant was 1030 hours, on the Yak-28 - 185 hours.
In the description of the young officer, it was noted that in the air he was "calm and initiative".
Fighter-interceptor Yak-28P
© Wikimedia commons / US Air Force
As the professor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Vice-President of the League of Military Diplomats Vladimir Vinokurov noted, it was the personal and professional qualities of Kapustin and Yanov that played a decisive role in the incident over Berlin.
“Real warriors and defenders are distinguished by the fact that they are always ready to make a difficult moral choice, take a conscious risk, sacrifice themselves for the sake of saving civilians.
This is exactly what our pilots did, ”Vinokurov emphasized.
"There was not enough height for ejection"
10 minutes after takeoff at the Yak-28P, which was piloted by Kapustin and Yanov, the first engine failed, and then the second.
This rarely happens in aviation, since both power plants are units independently operating from each other.
The reason for the incident with the fighter, as established by the commission to investigate the incident, was a "design and production defect."
Experts explained that the Cold War period was characterized by a large number of aviation incidents.
The threat of a large-scale conflict forced potential adversaries to rush to supply the troops with new types of combat aircraft.
As a result, not all samples of equipment received the appropriate level of engineering and technical support.
The engine failure on the Yak-28P occurred at an altitude of about 4000 m.Kapustin and Yanov decided to restart the power units using an autonomous starting system and oxygen feed, but this attempt did not bring any results.
Kapustin ordered Yanov to eject, but the navigator said that he would leave the cockpit only with the commander.
In addition, the senior lieutenant was aware that his bailout would disrupt the aerodynamics of the fighter, complicating its control.
Meanwhile, the residential quarters of East Berlin were spread out before the pilots' eyes - the pilots accidentally found themselves right above the capital of the GDR.
As Vinokurov notes, Kapustin and Yanov were aware of the high probability of death of the civilian population of Berlin during the ejection.
In addition, the Yak-28P flew with almost full fuel tanks.
The officers hoped to find a deserted area and eject, but there was little time to choose a suitable location.
As a result, the Soviet pilots crossed the border of West Berlin in a diving fighter, hoping to drown the Yak-28P in Lake Stössensee, while having time to leave the cockpit.
However, it was almost impossible to implement such a plan - the fighter's ejection seats could only work at an altitude of more than 150 m
West Berlin during the Cold War
AFP
“I worked in a 25-storey building.
At 15:45 a plane took off from the gloomy sky.
I saw him at an altitude of about 1.5 thousand meters.
The car began to fall, then rose, fell again and rose again.
And so three times.
Obviously, the pilot was trying to level the plane, "one of the eyewitnesses to the crash in West Berlin described the attempts of Soviet pilots to cope with the control of the Yak-28P.
With great difficulty, Kapustin and Yanov were able to lift the Yak-28P over the dam located in front of the lake, but after that the plane began to rapidly lose altitude and fell into the water.
“For the sake of saving the lives of the civilian population of Berlin, our pilots decided to take all possible measures to divert the falling plane from residential buildings.
But while the maneuvers were being carried out, the car turned out to be at a height unsuitable for ejection, ”Sergei Suvorov commented on the circumstances of the feat of Soviet officers.
"Averted a huge catastrophe"
The British, under various pretexts, denied the Soviet side access to the crash site and began an operation to lift the debris of the Yak-28P for further study.
In addition, the former allies delayed the resolution of the issue with the transfer of the bodies of the pilots.
Farewell to the heroes took place in East Berlin.
With military honors, Kapustin was buried in Rostov-on-Don, and Yanov - in Vyazma (Smolensk region).
On May 10, by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, both officers were awarded the Order of the Red Banner posthumously.
Several memorials were erected in honor of the fallen pilots in Germany, and a commemorative plaque on the bridge of Lake Steessensee.
“On April 6, 1966, Soviet pilots - Captain Boris Vladimirovich Kapustin and Senior Lieutenant Yuri Nikolayevich Yanov, sent their faulty combat aircraft to Lake Stoessensee and died.
With this selfless act, they averted a huge catastrophe in a nearby residential area.
This plaque honors the memory of the victims of Soviet soldiers as a symbol of humanity during the Cold War, ”reads the inscription by the lake.
Memorial plaque in honor of the feat of Soviet pilots on the bridge of Lake Stoessensee
© Wikimedia commons / Konstantin Er
A literary monument to the feat of Kapustin and Yanov is the ballad of the poet Robert Rozhdestvensky "The Great Sky".
It says that Soviet pilots deliberately sacrificed themselves to save thousands of Berliners' lives.
"Quarters are flashing,
but you can't jump ...
“Let's make it to the forest!
-
friends decided.
-
Away from the city
We'll take death away.
Let us perish, let us perish
let us die, but we will save the city! "
Subsequently, the words of "Great Sky" were set to music.
The song dedicated to the heroism of Kapustin and Yanov was performed by such famous artists as Edita Piekha, Iosif Kobzon, Muslim Magomayev, Eduard Khil and Yuri Gulyaev.
The act of Soviet pilots was highly appreciated in Germany.
Not knowing all the circumstances of the incident, the burgomaster of West Berlin, the future Federal Chancellor of the FRG, Willy Brandt, said that the officers of the USSR Air Force had prevented the "catastrophe".
“We can proceed from the assumption that both of them at the decisive moments realized the danger of falling into densely populated areas and turned the plane towards Lake Stössensee.
This meant giving up their own salvation.
I say this with grateful recognition to the people who prevented the catastrophe, ”Brandt said.
Memorial to Soviet Pilots at the Eberswalde-Finow Aviation Museum
© Wikimedia commons / Ralf Roletschek
According to Sergei Suvorov, the heroic act of Kapustin and Yanov dispels the myth widespread in the West that Soviet troops in Germany were in the status of "occupiers" and "oppressors."
According to the expert, most of the inhabitants of the GDR treated the soldiers of the USSR with warmth, realizing that the Soviet army values the safety of civilians.
Vladimir Vinokurov adheres to a similar point of view.
He stressed that a group of Soviet troops was in Germany primarily to contain the aggressive plans of NATO in Eastern Europe, to protect the GDR and the Soviet Union.
“The Soviet troops were within the framework of international agreements ... We did not threaten anyone, and the act of Kapustin and Yanov confirms this once again.
Their feat is a historical lesson for all generations, a symbol of the greatness of the spirit of our servicemen, "Vinokurov summed up.