Personal pilot of the President. The Fuhrer's personal pilot My deepest desire is to fly

“The Man with the Scar” is the Fuhrer’s favorite And now about another famous intelligence officer. This is how they wrote about him: “It is very difficult to find, both in real life and in fiction, more incredible adventures than those that befell this SS officer." And also: "Rare

PILOT The last for today, but the brightest and most successful in a series of groups that were successively assembled, formulating their creative method and their own vision of the world, musician, poet and songwriter Ilya “Devil” Knabengof, PILOT at the beginning of the third millennium became, probably,

31. Orville Wright - the first real pilot August 19, 1871 AD With. in Dayton, Ohio, USA, Orville Wright was born - the younger brother of the "Wright brothers" - an aviation pioneer - a man who, on December 17, 1903, With. took the first plane into the air. August 19 in honor of the birth of Orville Wright

A piercing wind blew between the barracks. The local Stalinogorsk coal was of little use; it barely smoldered in the furnace and gave almost no heat, but sometimes we managed to extract coal saturated with firedamp. The walls of the barracks were covered with ice. We were all weighed down by uncertainty. The legal machine began to move on a signal from Moscow, but this had no effect on us. The last echelons of 1949 left for their homeland without us. Some went crazy; they could not understand the essence of the events taking place. From time to time they rebelled. Both then and later, someone elected the most easy way escape from reality - tried to take his own life! The mail did not reach us. Coldness and devastation reigned around us and in our souls.

Seven people gathered in a small room, one of whom was a theology professor. Among them was a man who once made a name for himself working for the German airline Lufthansa. He spoke very little. But when he did begin to speak, he spoke the words as if he were building something out of them, perhaps hope. Hans Baur was a famous pilot. Now we have learned that Baur also has an unshakable spirit.

The Russians also knew very well who they were dealing with. When they transferred him somewhere else in early April, all the inhabitants of the camp stood at attention and continued to stand like that until Baur was taken outside the camp.

A few months later we met again. According to the guilt of each of us, but sometimes without due grounds, we were all sentenced, in court hearings that lasted from two to ten minutes, to twenty-five years of hard labor. All this was done on orders from the Kremlin. We were glad to meet again. Only a few people disappeared without a trace. One of the first nights we got together. We drank something that resembled coffee, which was sent to us in very rare parcels from home, and told our stories. Suddenly someone appeared in the doorway and said: “Baur, get ready to go out.” Transit prisons awaited him, an uncertain position among the Russians, without the support of his German friends. Baur stood up and shook hands with each of us firmly. A few minutes later he was already standing at the door, with a serious and at the same time sad smile, full of condemnation. He uttered the words that caressed the ears of each of us: “We’ll meet again in Germany!”

Julius Weistenfeld

PREFACE

When I started working on my memoirs, I had no intention of giving a new interpretation to certain events in world history. My whole life was subordinated to the desire to fly. In my understanding, happiness lived somewhere between earth and sky. Propeller noise is my favorite music. The great and all-powerful men of their time became my passengers, and ensuring their safety was my main concern.

Prominent figures of science and art, crowned heads, as well as major politicians from many countries flew with me. But it is not my task to evaluate their contribution to history.

Accordingly, the intent of this book is not to accuse anyone of anything or to justify anything. I had no other goal in mind than to refresh my memory and highlight some episodes and events that seem important to me. To the extent that they reflect their time and illuminate the destinies of people, let these memoirs serve as a contribution to the study of the history of the era to which they are dedicated. In addition, I also set myself the task of giving my readers the opportunity to at least mentally take part in the glorious flights, the routes of which ran through mountains, valleys, as well as borders between states, regardless of whether the weather was clear or cloudy.

I tried to depict the events as they appeared to me at the time and as I personally experienced them. I tried to avoid excessive sensationalism and general information. I simply did not mention what I do not know for sure.

As if watching an exciting color film, I replay in my memory the events and characters of past years that made an indelible impression on me. They are still a living reality for me today. I have come a long way from my dear home in Upper Bavaria to a Russian prison, and then returned to native land. But the highest point of this endlessly long journey were the events and impressions of the period when I had the opportunity to fly.

Hans Baur

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION TO AVIATION DURING WAR AND PEACE

My deepest desire is to fly

I was born in 1897 in the town of Ampfing near Mühldorf, that is, in a place that once played an important role in German history. At the age of two I moved with my parents to Munich, where I later studied at primary and secondary schools. At that time, I had no idea that one day I would become a pilot. I started my career as a sales assistant in a hardware store. Perhaps my whole life would have passed between the place behind the counter and the cash register if World War II had not broken out.

By the time the First World War began, I was already seventeen years old and found myself at the mercy of a wave of patriotic enthusiasm that swept the entire country. Is it any wonder that I also developed a strong desire to become a soldier. My father, naturally, did not encourage this impulse. In every possible way he tried to dissuade me from carrying out the intended plan, but with all the ardor of youth I rejected any arguments until he finally agreed that I should volunteer for an infantry unit stationed in Kempten. However, I was rejected there. As it turned out, my height was below the required height. They also thought that I was too young to carry a heavy backpack on my back. In a very friendly manner, they advised me to grow up a little and assured me that the war would last a long time, so that I would still have the opportunity to give all my strength for the good of my homeland. This greatly discouraged me, and I returned to my shop in a very bad mood.

Nevertheless, I decided not to give up. As I believed, pilots should not carry backpacks. Therefore, in September 1915, I decided to try my luck again. To make sure I achieved my goal, I turned directly to the German Kaiser and asked him to help me get an appointment to the reserve aviation division in Schleissheim. You can be sure that I did not receive a direct answer from the Kaiser, but instead a letter arrived from Schleissheim with the following content: “Your appeal to His Majesty the Kaiser of Germany has been forwarded to us. Unfortunately, we are currently at full staff, so we are unable to hire you. We will contact you if necessary."

This is the first document that concerns my career as a pilot and which I still keep. I received it some time before my dream finally came true. I waited four weeks for an answer, and my patience was already running out. I then wrote to the Kaiser again, this time asking for a position in the naval aviation. An answer came from the Naval Ministry in Berlin that my request had been approved and that I should immediately leave for Wilhelmshaven. Two days later, news arrived from Schleissheim, from which it followed that I could enlist in the reserve aviation squadron stationed there. The choice did not present much difficulty for me. I packed my things and on November 26, 1915 I went to Schleissheim. After two months of thorough training, I was enrolled in the 1B aviation unit, where I was warmly welcomed by my new comrades. When they saw the soft fuzz on my chin, they began to express different opinions as to whether I should have enlisted. They considered people like me as the last reserve, and one of them said: “If people like you are sent to us as reinforcements, it means that our country has no more reserves left and the war will not last long.” Naturally, such statements did not give me much confidence in my abilities, and I did not argue with them. At first, I tried not to show my own desires at all and voluntarily agreed to serve as a clerk at the headquarters.

The roundabout way to the planes

My headquarters service did not involve any contact with airplanes at all, but only allowed me to admire them from the outside, so I asked the squadron commander for permission to work near airplanes in the evenings: I was determined to become a pilot as soon as possible. This desire made the commander smile, but he allowed me to wash the engines after I finished all my work at headquarters. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but at least now I was in direct contact with the mechanics and the planes. However, the course of events can never be predicted in advance, just like the course of a test flight.

From time to time, directives came from the recruiting department saying that volunteers could be assigned to flying positions. Since I served at headquarters, these directives fell into my hands first, so I wrote reports and asked the commander to send me to flight duty. Our commander with the rank of captain, who sympathized with me, said: “Dear Hans, you are too short in stature, and besides, you are still too young. They'll probably send you back after the interview. However, to show you my affection, I will direct you to the admissions office in Fairfirs. There they will decide whether they can find a use for you.”

That's how I ended up in Ferfirs. There I saw tall, muscular men who also wanted to become pilots, some of them awarded high military awards, while I was an inconspicuous short man and a simple soldier. The competition with them gave me some concerns. The exams were extremely strict. Of the one hundred and thirty-five people who arrived, only thirty-five remained. Everyone else was sent back. I did not receive any information regarding whether I was accepted or not. When I returned to headquarters, the captain expressed some skepticism about this: “You see, dear Hans, they sent you back. This means they have no use for you.” After thinking for a moment, I replied: “Most of them were told that they had heart problems or some other defect. They didn’t give me much hope, but they sent me to the unit with instructions to return in four weeks.” Four weeks later, to my great joy, news suddenly arrived from Schleissheim: “Mechanic (as my position was still called at that time) Hans Baur should immediately arrive at Milbertshofen near Schleissheim.” My captain was at first speechless, and then congratulated me on such an unexpected success.

Finally off the ground

Since I had been interested in technology for a long time and had golden hands, it was easy for me to cope with the difficulties that future pilots faced in technical school. When I was transferred to the flight school in Gersthofen, there were six cadets assigned to one instructor. In three days I have already completed eighteen training flights. My mentor seemed very pleased with my progress. He told me: “If you want and feel confident enough, you can make your nineteenth flight on your own.” Typically, a cadet was required to complete thirty-five to forty training flights before being allowed to fly independently. I was the first one who was allowed to do this before.

Before I went on my first solo flight, I spoke with one of the older cadets who was about to take his third exam, and he explained to me how to do a spin. The instructor didn’t tell us anything about this, since we didn’t study any aerobatic maneuvers other than takeoff and landing. There was an official ban on other aircraft taking off during any single flight. Everyone was waiting for the pilot, who had to make three successful landings.

Finally a solo flight

I was completely calm when I boarded my plane. It was an old Albatross with a 100 horsepower engine. Horse power. These planes were relatively good for their time. They reached speeds of up to 110 kilometers per hour. I turned on the engine at full power and climbed to 800 meters. Never before in my life have I risen so high. During training flights we only climbed to an altitude of 100 to 200 meters. When I reached the 800-meter mark, I slowed down and did everything exactly as the cadet taught me. I turned the steering wheel to the left and also moved the lever that controls the elevators a little to the left. I accelerated the engine to 800 rpm, pointing the car smoothly downward. When the plane went down at too steep an angle, I pulled the elevators lightly again. Then I started spinning around in a tailspin. The plane entered smoothly, and I safely descended to about 150 meters, that is, to the altitude at which training flights were usually performed. Thus, I completed the assigned tasks and went to land. It was executed flawlessly, but when I taxied to the plane’s parking lot, I saw my angry instructor running towards me and yelling: “Are you crazy? What are you thinking about? Who taught you how to make a corkscrew? I should have covered your ears, but come here, you little rogue. Let me shake your hand. Be smart and don't do such tricks again. You're still too young for this." He scolded and congratulated me at the same time and was more excited than I was. I thanked him and got back on the plane. I completed the second and third flights at normal altitude. So I flew out from under the wing of my instructor and became one step closer to passing the three required exams. There were hundreds of takeoffs to be made in order to achieve the required flight qualifications. When I was preparing to take my second exam, the cadets who began training with me in the same group were just preparing for their first independent flights.

I understood aviation very well, and my instructor always noted my skill. Having passed the third exam, I naturally wanted to return to the front. Since I expected to return to my unit, which was at that time in France, I sent a letter there. I asked to be detained here for some more time, until the appropriate orders came. It turned out to be easy to fulfill my request, since at the school of aviation artillery fire spotters, located in Grafenwoehr, there was one vacant position, which became vacant after the death of a pilot in a plane crash. Typically, only experienced pilots with combat experience were used for such missions, since during adjustments real grenades were used, from the explosions of which artillery observers estimated the distance to the target. My flight instructor had no objections to my posting to Grafenwoehr, since I was his best cadet.

For six weeks I was engaged in aerial adjustment of artillery fire, and gradually the thought began to creep into my head that my former division commander was not particularly eager to see me again. So I turned to the air base commander with a request to send me to the front at the first opportunity.

Finally back at the front

Nevertheless, two days later papers arrived about transferring me to my previous unit. That evening the usual farewell dinner took place, and the very next day my comrades accompanied me to the train. In Schleissheim I received my documents and set off westward, to the place where my squadron was supposed to be located. For nine days I crisscrossed France from one checkpoint to another as my squadron was constantly moving from one place to another. When I finally found my unit and arrived at its location, deathly tired, my comrades greeted me joyfully. When the squadron commander saw me, his eyes widened, because he believed that I was no longer alive. He could not believe that I was with them again, and greeted me with the words: “We received news from the personnel department that you died in a plane crash and burned along with the plane and that it was impossible to find a replacement for you.”

But how could such a misconception arise? The thing is that three people named Hans Baur studied at the flight school. One of us flew across the country to his hometown. He probably wanted to demonstrate his flying skills to his relatives, but right above his home he lost control of the plane, and it crashed into the ground and caught fire. In Schleissheim they decided that it was I who died in the disaster, and sent a notification about this to the commander of my squadron. He was happy and touched that I returned safe and sound.

The flight crews I met were, with a few exceptions, from different areas of Germany. They treated me with some wariness, mainly because the senior mechanics and their assistants were very favorable towards me. Unfortunately, our flight training was suspended for a while, since immediately before the offensive we were forbidden to take planes out of the hangars for reasons of secrecy. Meanwhile, four days later a storm occurred, which prevented the enemy from flying over our positions. Finally the long-awaited moment has arrived. The plane was taken out of the hangar and cleared to take off. I was supposed to fly on a DFW plane towards the front lines. After a short inspection, I climbed into the cabin. After a quick glance at the control knob and instrument panel, I started the engine at full speed.

It was an unforgettable feeling when the earth remained somewhere below, and I began to rise up in circles. To show other pilots what I had learned in flight school, and also for their entertainment, I threw my plane left and right, rolled from wing to wing, demonstrated steep turns and spins. Half an hour later I returned back and landed my plane spectacularly. I took him into the hangar, where I received thunderous applause from the mechanics and pilots. The attitude of some pilots was more restrained. Several flight observers tried to attract my attention, since they largely depended on the pilots to whom they were assigned. Having seen my flying skills, they gained a certain trust in me. But the technical officer to whom I gave the report greeted me rather coolly. In a raised voice, he said: “If you do such tricks in the air again, I will order you to be locked up! We'll be on the offensive soon and we'll need all the planes. I’m not interested in looking at your brains smeared on the ground on the first day. If you continue like this, this will happen to your thick skull very soon.”

The next day the weather was also cloudy, so the French could not fly behind our positions. The next test flight was planned on an 800 kg AEG armored transport aircraft. It was equipped with a 220 horsepower engine and could reach a height of 1100 meters and develop maximum speed up to 140 kilometers per hour. The plane was not very reliable. For all its flight range and altitude, its engines were still weak for such a gigantic airplane. They asked me if I wanted to fly it. Need I say that I agreed without further ado?..

The takeoff run of this aircraft was relatively long due to its enormous weight, but it gained altitude confidently. As soon as I reached an altitude of 400 meters, I tried to turn left and right. Since the turns were relatively good, I tried to lie down on the wing. I also succeeded in this, to the amazement of those who believed that the device was not so maneuverable, and therefore refused to fly on it. After landing, I was forced to listen to another warning: the technical officer threatened that he would file a report against me with the squadron commander. However, he sympathized with me and limited himself to remarking that I should not take unnecessary risks. In his heart the officer was very pleased with my skill.

Thefts were discovered in the Rossiya region

The head of the procurement service, who is part of the presidential administration, is being held in a pre-trial detention center on charges of particularly large-scale fraud. FBGU "Special Flight Detachment "Russia""(SLO "Russia") Igor Kovalenko. According to investigators, fraud with his participation was committed during the execution of a contract for the purchase of air conditioners for aircraft. With their help, the detachment also serves the top officials of the state.

On Monday, the Moscow City Court considered the appeals of three defendants in this high-profile case: the head of the procurement service of SLO Rossiya, Igor Kovalenko, a member of the competition commission of the same FBGU, Dmitry Pozdnyakov, as well as one of the managers of Pribor-Service CJSC, Alexey Menitsky. All of them are accused by the main investigative department of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of especially large-scale fraud (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) as part of a criminal case initiated on March 10 of this year. All three defendants were arrested by the Basmanny District Court on March 11 and have been held in pretrial detention since then. The accused themselves participated in the Moscow City Court hearing via videoconference.

Their defense insisted that the investigation materials contained no evidence of the defendants’ guilt, except for several certificates and reports from FSB officers involved in operational support of the investigation. These documents, according to the defense, have not been verified, and examinations have not yet been carried out. The lawyers also insisted that the money of which Igor Kovalenko, Alexey Menitsky and Dmitry Pozdnyakov are accused of stealing is still in the account of Pribor-Service, and therefore cannot be considered stolen. In addition, according to the assurances of the prisoners and their clients, the allegedly stolen funds themselves are not state funds, but were raised from extra-budgetary sources. Therefore, the defense demanded that the crime itself be recognized as not completed, but only as an attempt, and under the article “Fraud in the field of entrepreneurial activity"(Article 159.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The maximum punishment under this article is two times less than under the currently presented article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - five years in prison instead of ten. Moreover, according to the explanations of the plenum of the Supreme Council, a preventive measure is applied under this article only in exceptional cases, and usually the accused are either left on their own recognizance and proper behavior, or in the worst case, they are put under house arrest.

Another argument for release was the impeccable characteristics of the accused. Thus, Igor Kovalenko is a graduate of the Balashov Higher Military Flight School, an honored pilot of Russia, who retired with the rank of captain and has a number of state awards. The biography of Alexei Menitsky is also related to aviation. He is the son of a Hero who died several years ago Soviet Union, test pilot, chief pilot of the Design Bureau named after. A. I. Mikoyan Valery Menitsky. At various times, Alexey Menitsky served as head of the airline "Atlant-Soyuz", and then was the general director of the Aero-Kamov company.

However, the Moscow City Court rejected all the arguments of the lawyers, considering the decision of the Basmanny Court to arrest the accused legal and justified. Even the appeal of the leadership of SLO "Russia" in defense of Igor Kovalenko, in which it promised to vouch for him if he was released from custody, did not help.

The criminal case itself regarding fraudulent theft, according to sources, concerns a contract for the supply and maintenance of air conditioning systems for SLO Rossiya aircraft. According to some reports, the essence of the investigation's claims boils down to inflated prices at auctions and lobbying for the interests of Pribor-Service. At the same time, the company offered a higher price than other potential suppliers; it did not produce the equipment itself, but was only an intermediary. The case materials include damage estimated at 48 million rubles. Immediately after the initiation of the case, ICR investigators with the support of operatives FSB conducted a series of searches. Initially it was reported that four Rossiya employees were among the suspects. However, not everyone was taken into custody.

The defendants' lawyers categorically refused to comment on the circumstances of the case, citing the agreement they had signed on non-disclosure of preliminary investigation data. In turn, the representative Presidential Administration I was unable to answer questions promptly.

Vladimir Barinov
Alexey Sokovnin

FROM THE MK DOSSIER. Alexander Nikolaevich Kharchevsky, Major General, was born in 1950 in the Cherkasy region. He graduated from the Kharkov Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots and the Air Force Academy named after. Yuri Gagarin. Since 1997 - Head of the 4th Center combat use and retraining of flight personnel, since 2000 - head of the Lipetsk garrison.
He is one of the leading pilots of the Russian Air Force. On international competitions conducted 49 training battles with foreign military pilots and did not lose a single one.

Exactly 90 years ago - on August 12, 1912 - the Aeronautical Unit was created within the structure of the Russian General Staff. This date has been officially established as Air Force Day by decree of the President of Russia since 1997.
Anyone who has not seen the aerobatics of combat fighters live has lost a lot. The admiration for what pilots do in the air is comparable only to the perfect forms of aviation technology itself. No television camera is able to convey the tension that reigns at the airfield during the performance of another dizzying “barrel”. The atmosphere is literally splitting from the roar of the engines - just have time to turn your head...
But even among a small cohort of the highest flying professionals there are aces whom the entire air community recognizes as the best of the best. Such an ace, a pilot from God, is General Alexander Kharchevsky - the man to whom the future President of Russia Vladimir Putin entrusted his life during a flight in 2000 on a fighter to Chechnya.
On the eve of Air Force Day, a MK correspondent met with General Kharchevsky and asked him to tell the details of Vladimir Putin’s sensational flight, which was prepared in an atmosphere of unprecedented secrecy.
- Why were you entrusted with piloting the plane on which Vladimir Putin flew over Grozny?
- Honestly, I don’t know. That's what the management decided. But the authorities in the army do not consult, but assign tasks to their subordinates that they are obliged to fulfill.
- When did you find out that you would have to fly with Putin?
- About 10 days before the flight. And the route was unknown. I didn’t even have to land at an unfamiliar airfield - after circling over Chechnya, Vladimir Vladimirovich and I turned back.
- All pilots undergo a medical examination before the flight. Wasn't Putin given an exception?
- Yes, everything that was required in such cases was done. The president's doctors did not find any medical contraindications for the flight. However, even in flight he showed the required reaction and intelligence. It must be said that special training is required to fly modern airplanes. good coordination. This obviously reflected the fact that the president acquired enough skills in his favorite sport.
-Did you hand over the helm to him?
- I passed it on. I can only praise pilot Putin - he quickly learned piloting skills. The first movements were very careful and smooth. Then he got used to it and flew the plane more confidently. To put it bluntly - at the level of a final year cadet at a flight school. He would make a great pilot. The first thing Vladimir Vladimirovich then said was admiration for how easily the combat fighter was controllable.
- Did you yourself offer him to take the helm or did he ask?
- Everything happened somewhat spontaneously. Putin’s interest in aviation was so great that not giving him the opportunity to fly an aircraft like the Su-27 was simply unforgivable. I didn’t time it, but I showed him how to do an aerobatics maneuver - a “barrel roll” (rotation around its axis by 360 degrees), and he then performed it on his own. Then he was surprised: “Can I really make a “barrel” myself?” By the way, it was absolutely safe, since we were walking on high altitude, about 12 kilometers. And the flight itself to Grozny and back to Krasnodar took 70 minutes.
- How many flight hours does a pilot need to stay in shape?
- I get an average of 20-30 hours a year. For example, a flight lasts 6 minutes, but prolongs my life as a pilot by 5-6 months. I think that these emotions also helped our president in his work - he probably had never experienced such an adrenaline rush before.
- Did you talk about anything with the president during the flight?
- When we flew to Grozny, there wasn’t much conversation. I needed confirmation of the good health of such an unusual passenger, his tolerance to the flight. In addition, there was active radio traffic during our flight. When approaching Grozny, when a truly beautiful view of the mountains opened up, the president said that he had always loved to relax in these places, but now bandits were roaming here. On the way back we talked about aviation problems. I told Vladimir Putin about our Center and invited him to our aviation festival to see how front-line aviation works.
- It’s not hard to imagine the emotions of a person who takes to the skies in a fighter jet for the first time, but how did Putin react when you returned?
- When we got off the plane, I congratulated the president on the flight and successfully mastering the control of the Su-27. He also said that I am his confidant in the Lipetsk region. Vladimir Putin was surprised by this coincidence. He thanked me for the flight and reminded me not to forget to send him an invitation to the air party.