Hockey team that crashed in the USSR. Band of Vasily Stalin

Igor Marinov says:

When in December 1992 the country celebrated the 70th anniversary of the birth of Vsevolod Bobrov, we, as usual, lamented how untimely this unique athlete left us. And suddenly I remembered: after all, his death could have turned out to be much earlier, if fate had not had mercy on Vsevolod Mikhailovich at some mysterious moment and pulled him out of the chain of comrades who, on a frosty morning on January 5, 1950, were climbing the Douglas ladder at the Central Airfield Moscow...

It was almost all the hockey players of the Air Force team. And they all died when the Douglas C-47, which landed six times at Koltsovo Airport near Sverdlovsk, crashed on the edge of the airfield on its last attempt to land.

The chief of flights, Colonel Vasilenko, reporting on the causes of the disaster, immediately emphasized that the idea of \u200b\u200bthe insufficient qualifications of the crew should be completely dismissed. The commander, Major Zubov, an experienced pilot, led equally wise and skillful professionals. His crew was part of Grachev's division, which served members of the government. Shortly before the tragic events, "Douglas" Zubova returned from Tehran, where he took, it seems, Vyshinsky.

Colonel Vasilenko said that as a result of the investigation, the commission had six versions of the death of the car. Here are two of them that are considered the most likely.

It was dark, the snow was falling… The crew was heading for two radio beacons, located one after the other. But it turned out that, having hit the first radio beacon, they could not go to the second one. "Come out to the hangars!" - dispatchers repeated to them from the ground. For the sixth time - again to the hangars. It turned out that the turnovers were dropped. The commander turned on the afterburner, the car climbed up, but it was too late - there was not enough traction: the Douglas lay on the wing, rolled over and crashed into the ground ...

There is another version of what happened. It has already been mentioned that the snow was falling that day. White-white was around. As they approached to land, the crew turned on powerful searchlights to illuminate the landing strip. Suddenly brightly lit, the flowing veil of a blizzard could seem like flames flaring up. The guys probably thought that the plane caught fire, and they rushed to the tail all at once, in a herd. The plane lost control and crashed.

These versions were recorded by me from the words of Nikolai Grigorievich Puchkov, one of the best goalkeepers in history domestic hockey, who, after the disaster, took the place of the main goalkeeper of the Air Force team. Together with another famous hockey player, Viktor Grigorievich Shuvalov, he helped the author to tell about the team of land "pilots" who were overtaken by the death of aeronauts.

Who was on board the Douglas on that tragic day? Before going through all the names and going into more detail about some, let’s go back to the early 1950s…

Spacious at that time, Arbat Square, near which, depending on the season, we played a ball or puck, not dug by tunnels, opened up to the eye right up to Vozdvizhenka. From there or closer, from Znamenka, where the Ministry of Defense is, and at the end of the street is the Kremlin, a foreign car burst out at high speed - maybe a Packard, or maybe a Horch - and rushed, obliquely cutting off the space of the square. Passers-by shied away, guards stood up, saluting; next to the driver flashed a general's epaulette, a cap with a high crown, and rustled after him, foamed with admiring exclamations: “Vasya, Vasily Stalin scratches! In gives, boys! The car dived under the lindens of the boulevard and rushed straight to such a cunning mansion behind a green fence that right hand if you go from the center. The unlucky child of the "father of peoples" Vasily Stalin was amused and reminded himself of himself.

Air Force - it was he, Vasily Stalin, who passionately, unrestrainedly and despotically loved sports, to the management of which he transferred many traits inherited or learned from his father. Vasily Stalin was obstinate, capricious, he fully felt his belonging to an omnipotent father and, probably, in some way felt his chosenness as a call for various activities, choosing sports. He established teams of "pilots" in almost all sports, using one, but reliable method of staffing: he promised blessings and gave them, the blessing of his own hand is the lord; he was commander of the Air Force of the Moscow District, first with the rank of major general, then lieutenant general. And the benefits then, after the war, were rare, very rare. The majority yielded to admonitions. That is why the Air Force in those days was deciphered as follows: “they took the whole of Spartak”, “they took all the athletes”, “Vasily Stalin’s gang” ... All of his teams either became champions or firmly settled in the prize-winners - water polo players, basketball players, volleyball players, equestrians and who else is there ... Hockey players also looked decent. Only capricious, as always, football was not given, which was firmly "saddled" then by the teams of two departments unfriendly to Vasily Stalin - CSKA (Ministry of Defense) and Dynamo (MVD-MGB).

... Together with six members of the Douglas crew, 13 members of the Air Force team were killed: goalkeepers Khariy Mellups and Nikolai Isaev, defenders Robert Shulmanis, Boris Bocharnikov (playing coach) and Evgeny Voronin, forwards Ivan Novikov, Zdenek Zikmund, Yuri Tarasov, Yuri Zhiburtovich, Alexander Moiseev and Vasily Volodin, doctor Mikhail Galperin and massage therapist Alexei Galkin.

The main goalkeeper of the Air Force in the national team was then Hariy Mellups, who had previously played for Dynamo Riga - an extremely colorful figure. Goalkeepers then played some in a cap, some in a cap, and Khariy - in something like a cap with a long visor, like baseball players. From him subtly breathed something foreign. I liked his game with a club, sharp attacks with it, swift exits from the gate. In the stands, he was also loved for his calm flashiness. Despite his youth (he was barely 22 years old), Mellups managed to find a bright sports biography. He was actively involved in boxing, in 1945, in the ring, installed on the stage of the Riga Opera and Ballet Theater, he won the final fight against the pre-war Latvian champion in the bantamweight Jaaks Keistersis. Mellups also distinguished himself in football, where he acted as a striker. He played in the Riga Dynamo, then in the Air Force. Mobility and speed of reaction were complemented by patience and equanimity, strong nervous system- after the missed goal, he acted even better than before the failure.

There were also former Spartacists on that plane who joined the Air Force as a whole trio - Novikov, Zikmund, Yuri Tarasov. BBC radio reported in those days: "... the famous Soviet tennis players Novikov and Zikmund died." Ivan Novikov, who was not yet 25 years old, really began his sports career like a tennis player. In 1949, he was considered the fifth racket of the country. In hockey, Novikov was famous for his breadth of maneuver, his high speed, and his strong wrist throw.

Zdeněk Zikmund was in his 32nd year. The son of a Russified Czech (in the 1920s, his father was among the leaders of the Moscow Institute physical education), Zdenek had a solid tennis reputation, he was especially successful with the multiple national champion Nikolai Ozerov: he excelled in doubles together with the future sports commentator from 1944 to 1949.

27-year-old Yuri Tarasov fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War until 1944. The younger brother of Anatoly Tarasov, a famous hockey coach in the future, he was known as a bold, energetic and fast left winger. Together with Zikmund and Novikov, they formed a well-coordinated trio. Kind, accommodating, "his boyfriend", Yuri acted especially successfully and energetically when he had to oppose his older brother ...

Nikolai Puchkov: “They sent a car for me, brought me to the Sokol, there was the headquarters of Vasily Stalin. In the room I saw Shuvalov, Chaplinsky, Striganov, Afonkin, and someone else, they gathered everyone who remained in Moscow, even those who had finished or were about to finish playing. We were all ordered to immediately leave for Chelyabinsk.

The calendar games of the championship continued. In Sverdlovsk we went to the hangar where they were lying. Everyone was there: parents, wives. Anatoly Tarasov, Vladimir Nikanorov, Mikhail Orekhov arrived from Moscow - TSEs members. Earth, everything is mixed, the bodies are sifted with metal. A brand new epaulette flashed, major, Boris Bocharnikov, the title had just been awarded ... "

... Bocharnikov was in his 31st year, on this tour it was assumed that he would act as both a captain and a playing coach. Bocharnikov was considered one of the most experienced defenders of our hockey, by that time he had been playing for the Air Force for a year and a half, changing the white and blue Dynamo uniform to the yellow-striped team of pilots. It was a dashing hockey player, strongly knocked down, standing firmly on his feet. He, perhaps, possessed all the qualities of a classy defender.

Victor Shuvalov: “There were 19 people who died, but the remains were placed in 20 coffins, tightly closed, then they were placed on 10 Studebakers and buried. Now there, near the Koltsovo airfield, there is an obelisk. When I had to visit Sverdlovsk, they always brought flowers there. I remember the horror my parents went through. After all, they thought that I had crashed with the team, they did not believe the telegrams that they sent from Moscow. Until they saw me on the platform of the station in Chelyabinsk, until they felt me with their hands - safe, alive, unharmed! - all did not believe. And no wonder: after all, no official announcements followed, the names were not named. I didn’t get on the plane then because Vasily Stalin, our boss and chief, found it inconvenient for me to speak in Chelyabinsk in front of the fans of the local Dzerzhinets, from where I transferred to the Air Force. So I stayed in Moscow. It turns out that he remained in life.

Those times to the present young man probably hard to even imagine. Moscow courtyards were full of rumors: the plane was icy and crashed into the ground… Bobrov was late and survived… Sabotage is not ruled out!.. And not a sound from the official, military, civil or sports authorities. Not a sound! The veil of secrecy, the state secret, which in those years was diligently put on not only on catastrophes, on any insignificant trifle in the greatest vigilance before the intrigues of world imperialism, bordered on idiocy.

About the unannounced death of the Air Force team, people were lost in a variety of conjectures. And then, when a team in familiar yellow-striped shirts rolled out at Dynamo and the announcer announced all the completely familiar names: Bobrov, Vinogradov, Shuvalov, Zhiburtovich, Moiseev ... - here many people were confused. Soon, of course, it turned out that Pavel Zhiburtovich was the brother of the deceased Yuri, Anatoly Moiseev was the namesake of Alexander, and Bobrov ... Until now, the old-timers of the stands retell big and small legends about his miraculous salvation. One of the most popular - Vsevolod Bobrov went on a spree with friends in a restaurant.

I will give the floor to his then teammate. Nikolai Puchkov: “Bobrov never led an ascetic life. But I reject the suggestion that the feast helped him miss his plane and stay alive. Vsevolod, it should be noted, like others, did not like to fly. Whenever possible, I preferred the train. And at that time, all the more so: he had not yet corrected the transitional documents in the Air Force in all forms. That's why he ended up not on the plane, but on the train.

That season in 1950, the new "ice pilot squadron", which replaced the one that had sunk into oblivion, finished in 4th place. But then ... The transformed, reborn Air Force team, headed by Bobrov, the captain and playing coach, showed sparkling hockey, tactically witty, which already then revealed Bobrov's coaching talent. She invariably beat all rivals. For three seasons in a row - from 1951 to 1953 - the pilots finished the national championship in first place. The glory of Bobrov, his team, the trio Babich-Shuvalov-Bobrov thundered unusually ...

On September 7, 2011, the Yak-42 aircraft of the Yak Service airline crashed on takeoff from the Tunoshna airport in the Yaroslavl region. On board the aircraft was hockey team"Locomotive" (Yaroslavl), which flew to the match in Minsk. According to preliminary data, people on board.

July 15, 2009 A Tu-154M aircraft of the Iranian airline Caspian Airlines crashed in the north-west of Iran while flying from Tehran to Yerevan. Iran's youth judo team was on board the plane. The athletes flew to Armenia for training and then had to fly to Hungary to compete. All 168 people who made this flight died.

August 24, 2008 In Kyrgyzstan, a Boeing 737 plane crashed on its way from Bishkek to Tehran. On board were 90 people, including 17 members of the Iranian youth volleyball team. Ten of them died. 25 passengers and crew members managed to escape.

April 27, 1993 A DHC-5 Buffalo jet carrying members of the Zambian football team crashed into the sea near Gabon, Africa. A total of 30 people died, including 18 football players.

June 7, 1989 at the airport of the capital of Suriname Paramaribo ( South America) crashed a DC-8-60 aircraft, killing 23 Dutch footballers of Surinamese origin on board the crashed aircraft. A total of 176 people died (out of 187 passengers and crew members).

December 8, 1987 near the city of Lima (Peru) as a result of explosions on board an F-27 aircraft, in full force, died football team"Alliance". The bodies of the dead could not be found, as the plane crashed into the sea. It is known that there were 43 people on the plane.

March 14, 1980 22 members of the US national boxing team were killed in a plane crash of a Polish Il-62 aircraft near Warsaw (Poland).

August 11, 1979 Over the city of Dneprodzerzhinsk (Ukraine), a Tu-134 aircraft flying Tashkent-Minsk collided with an aircraft flying from Chelyabinsk to Chisinau. 178 people (165 passengers and 13 crew members) were killed, from Uzbekistan, which was playing at that time in the major league. The team flew to Minsk to play with local Dynamo players.

November 29, 1975 Graham Hill's Formula One team, Embassy Racing with Graham Hill, died in a plane crash. The Piper Aztec, a six-seater aircraft that the team was returning from a race in France to London, crashed and burned on landing.

October 13, 1972 in the Andes on the way to the capital of Chile, the city of Santiago, part of the rugby team from Montevideo (Uruguay) died in a plane crash.

In total, 45 people were on board the FH-227 aircraft, 16 of them survived.

December 31, 1970 In a plane crash, an amateur football team from Algeria "Air Liquid" died in full strength, heading to friendly match to Spain.

November 14, 1970 In Virginia (USA), 37 players of the Marshall University (Huntington, West Virginia) American football team died in a plane crash. In addition to the athletes, there were members of the coaching staff, fans, as well as the head of the sports department (75 people in total) on board the aircraft. No one survived.

April 1, 1970 near Krasnoyarsk, an An-24 passenger plane crashed. All passengers (including the youth volleyball team) and crew members were killed.

September 26, 1969 in the Andes, on the way to La Paz (Bolivia), a plane with 25 players from the Bolivian football team "Strongest" crashed. 19 players and club leaders were killed.

April 3, 1961 Douglas C-47A crashed in the Cordillera, Chile. As a result of the disaster, everyone on board was killed - the Chilean football team "Green Cross" and crew members (24 people).

February 15, 1961 A Sabena Boeing 707 crashed while landing in Belgium on a New York-Brussels route. All 72 people on board were killed, as well as one person on the ground. The US figure skating team (34 athletes and coaches) died in the crash, which was heading to the World Championships in Prague (Czechoslovakia). World Championship figure skating 1961 was canceled as a sign of mourning for the dead.

February 6, 1958 At the airport in Munich (Germany), while trying to take off, a plane crashed, in which there were football players of the English team Manchester United. A total of 23 people on board were killed, including 8 athletes, a coach, a team secretary, one of the directors of Manchester United and eight sports correspondents.

January 5, 1950 during the third landing approach in difficult weather conditions in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), the Li-2 aircraft crashed. 8 hockey players of the USSR Air Force team, as well as a coach, a doctor and a massage therapist, were killed.

May 4, 1949 as a result of a plane crash near Turin (Italy), the entire team died football club"Torino" and everyone else on board the aircraft (including journalists, officials, coach). A total of 31 people died.

November 18, 1948 6 leading hockey players of the Czechoslovak national team (goalkeeper, defenders and forwards) died in a plane crash over the English Channel.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

One of the strongest in the hockey championship of the Soviet Union in the late forties was the team of the Air Force (VVS), which, after the Great Patriotic War created Vasily Stalin. The almighty general gathered under his banner, or rather, recruited from other clubs, the best players including the magnificent Vsevolod Bobrov. In the 1949-50 season, the "pilots" fought desperately for gold medals with competitors - the capital's army team, Dynamo, hockey players of the "Wings of the Soviets". At the beginning of January they occupied standings USSR championship 2nd place ...

Painful silence

The VVS team went to the next calendar game in Sverdlovsk after crushing Dynamo Leningrad with a score of 14:2. But the "pilots" were not destined to fly to the capital of the Urals: on January 7, 1950, when landing in extremely adverse weather conditions - a strong snowstorm with sharp gusts of wind - the Li-2 plane with hockey players on board crashed. The crew was on the mourning list: the commander of the ship I. Zotov, second pilot V. Taranenko, navigator A. Ponomarev, flight mechanic M. Fomichev, radio operator M. Demchenko, mechanic D. Lukyanov and hockey players: goalkeepers Harri Mellups And Nikolai Isaev, defenders Robert Shulmanis, Boris Bocharnikov(playing coach) and Evgeny Voronin, forwards Ivan Novikov, Zdenek Zikmund, Yuri Tarasov, Yuri Zhiburtovich, Alexander Moiseev And Vasily Volodin, doctor Mikhail Alperin and masseur Alexey Galkin.

Of course, all the Soviet newspapers kept silent about the misfortune, because then it was not customary to inform the people about catastrophes. Moreover, the mass death of people was associated with aviation, which in the USSR was considered not only good and reliable, but the best in the world. In addition, no one dared to spoil the mood Joseph Stalin, who celebrated its 70th anniversary two weeks ago ...

However, the death of so many famous and respected people was impossible to conceal. To "quench the rumours," sports reports began to often name several players, according to different reasons avoided the ill-fated flight. But more on that later…

The journalists came up with another “trick”: as before, Ziburtovich was mentioned in the reports, but without indicating the name. In fact, it was the brother of the deceased - Pavel. Moiseev appeared in the team again, but it turned out to be the namesake of the crashed Alexander, invited from another club ...

Fate kept alive Alexandra Vinogradova, who was disqualified for fighting in the previous game and was not allowed to go on the ice in Sverdlovsk. Vasily Stalin ordered not to bet on the match and Viktor Shuvalov, recently transferred to the Air Force from Chelyabinsk. The reason looked logical - Vasily Iosifovich believed that the fans of Dzerzhinets, with whom the Air Force was supposed to spend next match, are unlikely to calmly react to the appearance of a countryman in the composition of the "pilots".

The secret that will not be revealed

A completely different team took to the ice in Chelyabinsk. But the audience already knew about the tragedy. The match was dominated by an oppressive atmosphere. Among the surviving "pilots" was the leader of the Air Force attack and the favorite of Stalin Jr. - Bobrov. Why he didn't take the ill-fated flight is a mystery that will never be revealed. Went various rumors and, according to the most common, Vsevolod Mikhailovich, on the eve of his departure, took a banal spree in the evening, and slept just as banal the next morning.

Bobrov himself, in his memoirs, blamed the alarm clock for everything, which did not ring in right time. The brother of the hockey player, Boris Mikhailovich, also adhered to the same “version”, and he was perplexed – why did the watch that was always in good order suddenly go haywire? Maybe they were stopped by the hand of fate, "deciding" to save the famous striker from death?

Let's return to the 91-year-old Shuvalov. Viktor Grigoryevich is the only living one of those “pilots”. In his conversations with journalists, he often recalled the tragedy of the Air Force team and more than once refuted the version with the “silent” alarm clock: “Journalists wrote that Bobrov went on a spree, they couldn’t find him ... It would be necessary - they would have found him. He lived on the "Falcon", in the general's "high-rise". And all his hot spots were known. Sevka had already reached Kuibyshev when they announced on the train: “Captain Bobrov, go to the military commandant’s office!” There he heard about the tragedy.”

But Shuvalov did not say the main thing - why did Bobrov not fly with the team, but went to Sverdlovsk by train?

Triumph after tragedy

There is another version on this score - you can treat it as you like. Like, Stalin Jr. also did not fly to Sverdlovsk on the ill-fated plane on the orders of his father. And Iosif Vissarionovich himself warned Wolf Messing. This episode was reproduced in the television series about the famous telepath and psychic "Wolf Messing: who saw through time."

He allegedly foresaw the tragedy and informed Stalin about it. Vasily Iosifovich obeyed the ban, although he did not believe in Messing's prediction. But just in case, he ordered Bobrov to take care too ...

The Air Force team in that championship took only 4th place. But in the next championship of the Union, the “pilots” performed superbly. The club, reinforced by skilled newcomers, won gold medals to the great joy of its boss. Then the Air Force team repeated its triumph twice more.

The fall of "Stalin's falcons"

As soon as Stalin Sr. died, the revenge of envious people and competitors immediately fell upon his son. The disgraced general was not only removed from all posts, but overnight, in 1953, his offspring, the Air Force team, was also destroyed. And the team with such an emblem played not only in hockey championship... The team of "pilots" performed - and very well! - in the football championship of the USSR. Among the players of the club were such famous personalities as Anatoly Isaev, Konstantin Korshunov, Alexey Paramonov, Valentin Bubukin, Konstantin Krizhevsky. highest achievement Air Force football players became the 4th place in the All-Union tournament of 1950.

There was also an Air Force men's volleyball team, in which such luminaries as Konstantin Reva, Givi Akhvlediani, Vladimir Gailit, Sergei Nefedov, who were part of the USSR national team. These "Stalin's falcons" won the national championship in 1952.

The fate of basketball players was more successful. That Air Force club, for unknown reasons, was not disbanded in 1953, but existed for another six years. During their short life, the "pilots" once, in 1952, became the champions of the country, won silver championship medals three times and bronze medals twice. But in 1959, the basketball team suffered the sad fate of teammates ...

Snapshot at the opening of the article: TASS

Causes of the crash

The investigation of the disaster was entrusted to F. F. Prokopenko, who served in the combat training department of the Moscow Military District. According to Prokopenko, the disaster occurred due to a number of unfavorable factors. Firstly, difficult weather conditions in the Middle Urals affected, due to which a number of airfields were closed and all aircraft were directed to the Koltsovo airfield. But even here the weather was at the limit of the meteorological minimum. Secondly, the negative consequences of the departmental approach were fully manifested: local air traffic controllers first of all landed “their own”, passenger planes. In order for the military Li-2 not to interfere with these "sides", he was sent to the waiting area, to the upper echelons.

The wait was quite long; during this time, it got dark, intense turbulence persisted, passengers on board began to show anxiety, and the crew became nervous. Hockey players strayed into the tail, which created certain problems in piloting for such a small aircraft. A few kilometers from the Koltsovo airfield there was another, poorly equipped runway of the Aramil airfield, which had its own radio drive with frequencies close to the frequencies of the Koltsovo airfield, and with a close approach course. The Li-2 navigator was mistakenly tuned in to him. Major Zotov, an experienced pilot, passing this drive, did not find the runway and went to the second circle. Having descended again, he turned on the searchlight, which, in conditions of intense snowfall, created a “screen” that looked like a luminous wall. This was the last, fatal circumstance. However, according to eyewitnesses of this accident, they were forced to go to the runway and fire flares, which Zotov could not help noticing.

A total of 3 landing approaches were made. The plane crashed in the area of the current existence of the new runway of the airport.

Deceased members of the Air Force hockey team

Ivan Novikov- winger
Zdenek Sigmund
Yuri Tarasov
Harry Meloops- goalkeeper of the USSR national team
Robert Shulmanis- defender
Yuri Zhiburtovich
Viktor Isaev- second goalkeeper of the Air Force team
Alexander Moiseev- striker
Galperin- Air Force doctor
Galkin- masseur of the Air Force team
Boris Bocharnikov- trainer

In memory of those who died in the cemetery, a monument was erected on their mass grave in Koltsovo.

Vasily Stalin's reaction

The disaster and the dead hockey players were not reported either in the press or on the radio: it happened two and a half weeks after Stalin's 70th birthday. His son Vasily, commander of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District, was the first in domestic sports to start a tradition of arranging charter flights for football players and hockey players. Fearing the reaction of his father and a possible investigation into the causes of the disaster, which could reveal the fact that a vehicle from a special aviation regiment was used, which had repeatedly carried out government tasks and was completely unsuitable for transporting the aviation general’s favorite team, Vasily Stalin decided to assemble new team Air Force. The newspapers began to mention the names of only three players, preserved from the old squad, who for various reasons did not fly on that ill-fated flight. As before, Zhiburtovich was mentioned, but his name and initials were not indicated, since the brother of the deceased Pavel, the future world and European champion, now played for the Air Force. Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, who did not interfere in the affairs of Vasily, never found out about this catastrophe.

The Air Force hockey team (Moscow) was the favorite brainchild of Vasily Stalin and was considered one of the strongest in the country. But especially great prospects appeared for the team at the very beginning of the 50s, when Vsevolod Bobrov moved there. The “pilots” were quite capable of fighting for the championship title, but unforeseen circumstances stood in their way to the “gold” medals.

On January 7, 1950, the Air Force team on a Douglas SI-47 aircraft flew to Chelyabinsk for the next calendar game. Together with six crew members and two attendants, there were 11 hockey players on board the aircraft: Khariy Mellups, Nikolai Isaev, Robert Shulmanis, Evgeny Voronin, Boris Bocharnikov, Yuri Zhiburtovich, Vasily Volodin, Alexander Moiseev, Zdenek Zikmund, Yuri Tarasov, Ivan Novikov (the last three moved to the Air Force from Spartak with the whole trio). However, the plane never reached its target. At Koltsovo airport near Sverdlovsk, due to bad weather conditions, the Douglas could not reach the second radio beacon and tried to land six times, but in the end, during the next approach, it did not have enough thrust, and it collapsed on the edge of the airfield. All people on board the aircraft were killed.

It is worth noting that several of the best players in the Air Force remained in Moscow only by a lucky chance. For example, Bobrov and Viktor Shuvalov. The first did not have time to draw up documents on the transition, was late for the flight and was traveling by train (according to another version - by the way, the most common one - on the eve of the flight he just went on a spree), the second Stalin considered it unethical to put up in the game against the Chelyabinsk "Dzerzhinets", from where he recently transferred to the Air Force .

This is how direct witnesses remember this tragedy.

N. Puchkov (goalkeeper): “They sent a car for me, brought me to the Sokol, there was the headquarters of Vasily Stalin. In the room I saw Shuvalov, Chaplinsky, Striganov, Afonkin, and someone else, they gathered everyone who remained in Moscow, even those who had finished or were about to stop playing. We were all ordered to immediately leave for Chelyabinsk. The calendar games of the championship continued. In Sverdlovsk we went to the hangar where the dead lay. Everyone was there: parents, wives. Anatoly Tarasov, Vladimir Nikanorov, Mikhail Orekhov arrived from Moscow - TSESC members. Earth, everything is mixed, the bodies are stitched with metal. A brand new epaulette flashed, major, Boris Bocharnikov, the title had just been awarded ... "

V. Shuvalov: “There were 19 people who died, but the remains were placed in 20 coffins, tightly closed, then they were placed on 10 Studebakers and buried. Now there, near the Koltsovo airfield, there is an obelisk. When I had to visit Sverdlovsk, they always brought flowers there. I remember the horror my parents went through. After all, they thought that I had crashed with the team, they did not believe the telegrams that they sent from Moscow. Until they saw me on the platform of the station in Chelyabinsk, until they felt me with their hands - safe, alive, unharmed! Everyone didn't believe. And no wonder: after all, no official announcements followed, the names were not named ... "

The official commission, which was appointed to clarify the circumstances of the death of the aircraft, immediately dismissed the version of the insufficient qualifications of the crew. According to her conclusion, the commander, Major Zubov, was the most experienced combat pilot, and all the other crew members had no less experience than he did (the crew was part of Grachev's division, which served members of the government). What then caused the tragedy? There were two versions. According to the first, the plane was heading for two radio beacons located one after the other. However, by a fatal coincidence, the crew managed to reach only the first radio beacon. They were commanded from the ground: go out to the hangars. This went on for six rounds. On the seventh "Douglas" tried to follow the command from the ground, but the momentum was already lost. Zubov turned on the afterburner, but it was too late - there was not enough traction. After that, the plane fell on the wing, rolled over and crashed into the ground.

The second version looked different. According to it, it turned out that, when landing, the crew turned on powerful searchlights. But the veil of the blizzard gave a sudden reflection, which the crew took for a flame. It seemed to everyone that the plane caught fire, and people rushed to the tail section. The Douglas lost control and crashed.

Meanwhile, despite the tragedy that befell the Air Force team, the national hockey championship continued. Vasily Stalin was too ambitious to allow the team to give up even after such a loss, so he persuaded the surviving players to continue the championship. And the team of "pilots" performed a miracle - they took 4th place. And a year later, once again gaining strength and power, the Air Force regained the championship title. Vasily was at the pinnacle of happiness. Calling his players "Stalin's falcons", he immediately instructed the head of the team, Dmitry Teplyakov, to write down all the personal requests of the hockey players. After that, someone got an apartment, someone - another military rank, someone - a car. By that time, Bobrov was already “packed” - he had both a car and a luxurious apartment in the “Air Force House” on Sokol.

V. Tikhonov recalls: “What kind of person was Vasily Stalin? I'm not going to judge. I'm only talking about what I remember, what happened then. I was, in fact, a boy and did not delve into anything in particular. Certainly only one. He was extremely intolerant of objections.

Even Vsevolod Mikhailovich Bobrov, whom Vasily Stalin literally idolized, did not dare to object to him. Yes, it was pointless. Now, in hindsight, I think that Vasily Stalin did not have what is commonly called a sense of proportion. Probably, the lack of control, to which he had become accustomed for years, corrupted him. He could give, having removed from his hand, a gold watch (as he noted the fantastic game of Vsevolod Mikhailovich in the match against the team of the city of Kalinin, when Bobrov scored six goals), or he could unexpectedly unfairly and even rudely bring down reproaches ... "

About the same words of A. Belakovsky: “Vasily Stalin was a very impulsive person. Even Bobrov somehow gave in the face. I was removed from my post twice and reinstated (in 1950, Bobrov lured Belakovsky to the Air Force from the Far East. - F. R.). He often made a decision on the first call: "Belakovsky is a bastard, he must be removed." - "Fire!" Then new information: “No, he’s a good guy!” - “Yes, you go three letters,” Vasily Iosifovich boiled up, “cancel the order!”

In 1952, the Air Force hockey team again won the championship title and won the USSR Cup. The attacking trio of "pilots" - E. Babich, V. Shuvalov, V. Bobrov - again became the most productive.

From book star tragedies the author Razzakov Fedor

In the sky near Sverdlovsk The death of the Air Force hockey team The Air Force hockey team (Moscow) was the favorite brainchild of Vasily Stalin and was considered one of the strongest in the country. But especially great prospects appeared for the team at the very beginning of the 50s, when Vsevolod Bobrov moved there.

From the book Career Manager by Iacocca Lee

From the book My Game by Orr Bobby

From the book The Kaspersky Principle [Internet Bodyguard] author Dorofeev Vladislav Yurievich

Chapter 25 Team Master July 16, 2010, Friday. The thirteenth birthday of Kaspersky Lab. Yacht club on the banks of the Klyazma reservoir. Thorough face control at the entrance and verification of invitations in the form of flexible bracelets on the wrist, received more

From the book by Steve Jobs. Leadership Lessons author Simon William L

From the book Memoirs of Adjutant Paulus by Adam Wilhelm

"Accounting Teams" and "Oil Crews" Another incident got me thinking. Around the same time, many officers and soldiers arrived at our headquarters. They called themselves the "Accounting Team". What else is this? The chief quartermaster of the army gave us an explanation:

From the book Banker in the XX century. Author's memoirs

BUILDING THE TEAM I often think that one of the best decisions we ever made at the bank was to hire Alan Lafley to head human resources. Alan played a key role in helping to change the bank's culture. Bill and I first met Alan in 1974

From the book Wives of Chess Kings author Gik Evgeny Yakovlevich

From the book Victorious Destiny. Vitaly Abalakov and his team. author Kizel Vladimir Alexandrovich

The fate of the team But the land, with which he froze together, Never stop loving. V. Mayakovsky There were no more teams, a handful of friends remained, but what led us to the mountains, our vision and perception of the mountains, the desire for them? remained, and we somehow did not part with them. Dry

From the book Rebel Battalion author Basin Kirill Borisovich

From the book by Valery Kharlamov. Legend No. 17 the author Razzakov Fedor

TWO VOLVOS OF THE TRAINING TEAM On Sunday, January 9, 1905, already from the rise in the barracks, an extraordinary revival reigned. Units hastily prepared for something. It has come to our attention that some kind of crowd is gathering on Palace Square and a training unit is being sent there to restore order.

From the book How it was ... On the history of the Communist Party of the RSFSR - Communist Party author Osadchy Ivan Pavlovich

THE END OF THE GREAT HOCKEY TROI A month and a half after the failure in Lake Placid, the Soviet team went to the 1st Swedish Cup. It was attended by five national teams: the USSR, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Finland and Canada. The Kharlamov trio went there in a modified

From the book Hockey. Ancestors and newcomers author Tarasov Anatoly Vladimirovich

Formation of the communist team I'll start by telling you how two of its most prominent members turned out to be in the ranks of our team as representatives: Doctor of Law, Professor, Honored Lawyer of the RSFSR, a prominent specialist in the field of human rights

From the book by Anatoly Tarasov author Gorbunov A.

From the book After me - continued ... author Ongor Akin

CHAPTER FOUR AT THE HEAD OF THE AIR FORCE TEAM Shortly after the war, Boris Andreevich Arkadiev, an outstanding Soviet specialist, recommended Tarasov as the coach of the newly created Air Force football club. Created, I must say, on the basis of the team aviation school where before the war

From the author's book

Formation of the top management team I think it would be useful to talk about the top managers who made up our team and describe them ... When I started working at Garanti, it was 1987 and I was a vice president of the bank. I was responsible for corporate marketing development. Before

Hockey team that crashed in the USSR. Band of Vasily Stalin

Causes of the crash

Deceased members of the Air Force hockey team

Vasily Stalin's reaction

see also

See what "Air Force Air Force Plane Crash" is in other dictionaries: