Aviation Colonel General Nikolay Petrovich Kamanin. Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin Tashkent People History Old photos

Kamanin Nikolai Petrovich


Kamanin Nikolai Petrovich was born on October 18, 1908, in the town of Melenki, Vladimir province, in a working-class family. Russian.

Date of birth - there is a version that when he was drafted into the army, Kamanin attributed one year to himself, and therefore all documents indicate that he was born in 1908, although in fact he was born on October 18, 1909.

  • 1927 - graduated high school in Melenki.
  • 1927 - drafted into the Red Army.
  • 1928 - graduated from the Leningrad Military Theoretical School of the Air Force.
  • 1929 - graduated from the Borisoglebsk military aviation school for pilots.
  • From 1929 he served in the combat units of the Air Force.
  • In February 1934, Senior Lieutenant Kamanin was appointed commander of a mixed detachment of aircraft to rescue the crew and passengers of the Chelyuskin steamer. Kamanin, in difficult weather conditions, on a P-5 plane made a group flight Olyutorka - Vankarem with a length of about 2500 km, and in nine flights he took 34 polar explorers out of the ice camp to the ice floe.
  • April 20, 1934 - for the courage and heroism shown in the rescue of the Chelyuskinites, Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin was awarded the title of Hero of the Year Soviet Union No. 2 with the award of the Order of Lenin.
  • In 1937 he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 1st convocation.
  • Since 1937 he lived in Moscow, in the famous House on the embankment (Serafimovicha street, 2).
  • In 1938 he graduated from the N. E. Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy, as commander of the light-bomber air brigade of the Kharkov air garrison (102 aircraft) he participated in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, then, at the end of 1940, Colonel Kamanin was appointed deputy Commander of the Air Force of the Central Asian Military District.
  • Since 1941, he was engaged in the formation and preparation of aviation formations for the front.
  • At the front since July 1942. He commanded the 292nd assault aviation division on the Kalinin front, from February 1943 - commander of the 8th mixed and 5th assault aviation corps (1st and 2nd Ukrainian fronts). He made a significant contribution to improving the tactics of combat operations of the Il-2 attack aircraft. The formations under his command participated in the Velikoluksky, Belgorod-Kharkov, Kiev, Korsun-Shevchenkovsky, Lvov-Sandomierz, Budapest and Vienna operations; liberated from the Nazi invaders Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
  • 03/17/1943 - Major General of Aviation
  • 04/20/1945 - lieutenant general of aviation)
  • During the war years, N. P. Kamanin was personally mentioned 17 times in the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the USSR I. V. Stalin
  • Until 1947 - continued to command the corps.
  • 1947-1955 works in the Main Directorate of the GVF.
  • 1951-1955 - Deputy Chairman of DOSAAF for aviation.
  • 1956 - graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff.
  • 1956-1958 - Commander of the Air Force.
  • Since 1958 - Deputy Chief of the Air Force Main Staff for Combat Training.
  • Since 1960, Kamanin has been actively involved in the selection and training of the first Soviet cosmonauts.
  • In 1966-1971. - served as Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force for Space.
  • October 25, 1967 - Colonel-General of Aviation
  • Since 1972, Nikolai Petrovich - retired.
  • He died on March 12, 1982 and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Wife - Misyul Maria Mikhailovna. Two sons - Arkady Nikolaevich Kamanin (1928-1947), military pilot, Lev Nikolaevich Kamanin (1934-2011), colonel, served in the Air Force Research Institute

Since 1932 - a member of the CPSU (b) - the CPSU.

Hero of the Soviet Union (1934)

Honorary citizen of Kaluga, as well as Bratislava (Slovakia), Vinnitsa (Ukraine), Plovdiv (Bulgaria), Riga (Latvia), Chemnitz (Germany)

State awards:

  • Medal "Gold Star" (No. 2)
  • 3 orders of Lenin
  • order October revolution
  • 2 Orders of the Red Banner
  • 2 orders of Suvorov 2nd class
  • Order of Kutuzov 2nd class
  • Order of the Red Star
  • medals

He had foreign orders.

Other awards:

  • desktop commemorative medal for the first manned flight into space

Compositions:

  • The first citizen of the universe. - M., 1962;
  • Pilots and astronauts. - M.: Politizdat, 1971;
  • Starts in the sky. - M., 1976;
  • Create yourself. - M., 1982.
  • Hidden Space: Book 1. 1960-1963. - M.: Infortext-IF, 1995;
  • Hidden Space: Book 2. 1964-1966 - M.: Infortext-IF, 1997;
  • Hidden Space: Book 3. 1967-1968 - M .: IID "Cosmonautics News", 1999.
  • Hidden Space: Book 4. 1969-1978. - M .: IID "Cosmonautics News", 2001

Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin - legend Soviet aviation, famous pilot, colonel-general of aviation, famous military leader, Hero of the Soviet Union.

Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin is considered their godfather by many cosmonauts from the first, so-called “Gagarin” recruitment.

short biography

Kamanin Nikolai Petrovich was born on October 18, 1909 in the city of Melenki, Vladimir Region. His father Pyotr Ivanovich was from a wealthy family, but in his youth he broke with a wealthy family and connected his life with the Bolsheviks. Mother - Stefanida Danilovna gave birth to ten children, so Kamanin's childhood passed in large family.

The dream of becoming a military pilot came to him as a child, so after graduating from school he corrects his year of birth to 1908 in order to enroll in a flight school. And Nikolai enters the famous Leninrad "grater" - a flight theoretical school.

A year later, at the Borisoglebsk Pilot School, he hones his theoretical knowledge in practice. At the end of it, he is sent to serve in the Far East in the famous squadron. V.I. Lenin. In four years, he turns from a young and “green” military pilot into an experienced and fully “fledged” air squadron commander, capable of performing complex tasks not only personally, but also leading young replenishment.

Time for young heroes

In March 1934, a squadron of R - 5 aircraft under the command of Nikolai Kamanin received a responsible government task - to take the members of the expedition of O. Schmidt to the mainland from the ice captivity. This heroic epic, followed by the entire Soviet people, brought Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin not only the title of Hero of the Soviet Union at the age of twenty-five and the Order of the Gold Star number four, but nationwide fame.

On his personal account there are 34 saved lives. Later, he will write a documentary story about these heroic events with a very symbolic title "My biography is just beginning." In 1939, after graduating from the Zhukovsky Academy, Kamanin first commanded an air brigade, and then an air division.

The Great Patriotic War

During the Great Patriotic War Kamanin is in command of the 5th assault aviation corps, consisting of the famous Il-2 fighters. Competent and effective tactics of warfare, in the development of which he was directly involved, terrified even German aces. They called the Il-2 attack aircraft "black death". The pilots of this formation took part in the most important operations.

Hundreds of pilots and engineering staff were awarded orders and medals, and 76 people received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Among them was the future cosmonaut Georgy Beregovoy.

Peaceful time

After the war, General Kamanin studied at the Academy of the General Staff and worked in the Civil Aviation Administration, for some time he was under his control the Voluntary Society for the Promotion of Aviation. After graduating from the Academy, General Kamanin was given responsibility for the aviation of the Turkestan military district.

"Godfather" of the cosmonaut corps

When it was necessary to form a detachment of astronauts who would go into space on manned aircraft, the most difficult and responsible task of selecting candidates was assigned to General Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin. And he did it with his characteristic scrupulousness. Future cosmonauts found in the face of a formidable combat general a strict, demanding, but fair father or older brother. They knew that they could turn to him at any time of the day or night, and Nikolai Petrovich would always help in a difficult situation.

During the difficult years from 1960 to 1971, General Kamanin was in charge of the highest state level for the “human factor”, that is, for the people who manage the complex space technology. And he carried out the task assigned to him with an understanding of all seriousness and with the responsibility for the task assigned to him, which is customary for all his activities, right up to his resignation in 1972. Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin died on March 12, 1982.

  • N. P. Kamanin took part in the Victory Parade in June 1945
  • As a big fan of chess on June 9, 1970 he was a participant in the chess game "Space - Earth".

Kamanin Nikolai Petrovich - commander of the 28th Aviation Squadron (Air Force of the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army).

Born on October 5 (18), 1909 in the city of Melenki, Melenkovsky district, Vladimir province (now Vladimir region). Russian. In 1927 he graduated from the 9th grade of the school.

In the army since July 1927. In 1928 he graduated from the Leningrad military-theoretical school of the Air Force, in 1929 - Borisoglebsk military aviation school of pilots. He served in the Air Force as a pilot and flight commander of light bomber air squadrons (on Far East).

In February 1934, he was appointed commander of a mixed detachment of aircraft to rescue the crew and passengers of the Chelyuskin steamer. On the R-5 aircraft, in adverse weather conditions, he made a group flight from Olyutorka (Kamchatka) to Vankarem (Chukotka) with a length of about 1,500 kilometers. He made 9 flights to the ice camp and took 34 people out of the ice camp.

For courage and heroism shown during the rescue of the Chelyuskinites, by the Decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR of April 20, 1934 to the senior lieutenant Kamanin Nikolai Petrovich awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin.

In 1938 he graduated from the command department Air Force Academy named after N.E. Zhukovsky. In December 1938 - October 1940 - commander of the 19th Light Bomber Aviation Brigade (in the Kharkov Military District, Kharkov, Ukraine).

Member of the Soviet-Finnish war: in January-March 1940 - commander of the 19th Light Bomber Aviation Brigade.

From October 1940 - commander of the 3rd separate aviation brigade, in March-October 1941 - commander of the 4th aviation brigade (in the Central Asian military district). At the same time, in October 1940 - March 1941 he was commander of the Air Force of the Central Asian Military District (headquarters - in the city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan). In August 1941, as commander of the 4th aviation brigade, he participated in the entry of Soviet troops into Iran. In October 1941 - July 1942 - Deputy Commander of the Air Force of the Central Asian Military District (headquarters - in the city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan).

Member of the Great Patriotic War: in July 1942 - February 1943 - commander of the 292nd assault aviation division (Kalinin Front). Participated in the Rzhev-Sychevsky, Velikoluksky and Demyansk operations.

Since February 1943, he commanded the 8th mixed (from July 1943 - the 5th assault) aviation corps, which was being formed in the rear.

In July 1943 - May 1945 - commander of the 5th assault aviation corps. He fought on the Voronezh (July-October 1943), 1st (October 1943 - September 1944) and 2nd (September 1944 - May 1945) Ukrainian fronts. He participated in the Belgorod-Kharkov and Sumy-Priluki operations, the battle for the Dnieper, the Kiev, Zhytomyr-Berdichev, Proskurov-Chernivtsi, Lvov-Sandomierz, Debrecen, Budapest, Vienna and Bratislava-Brnov operations.

During the war, he made 21 sorties on the Il-2 attack aircraft.

After the war, until June 1946, he continued to command the 5th assault aviation corps (in the Odessa military district). In June-November 1946 - commander of the 3rd Guards Assault Aviation Corps (in the Southern Group of Forces; Romania).

In 1946-1948 - Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet for Defense Issues. From March 1948 - Chairman of the Organizing Bureau DOSAV (Voluntary Society for the Promotion of Aviation), in October 1951 - December 1953 - Deputy Chairman of the DOSAAF Organizing Committee for Aviation, in December 1953 - June 1955 - Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of DOSAAF.

In December 1956 he graduated from the Higher Academic Courses at the Higher Military Academy (Military Academy General Staff). In January 1957 - April 1958 - commander of the 73rd Air Army (in the Turkestan military district; headquarters - in the city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan), in 1958-1961 - deputy chief of the Air Force Main Staff for combat training.

Since January 1961 - Deputy Chief of Air Force Combat Training for Space, in June 1966 - June 1971 - Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force for the preparation and support of space flights. Actively participated in the selection and training of the first Soviet cosmonauts. Since August 1971, Colonel-General of Aviation N.P. Kamanin has been in reserve.

Member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR in 1935-1937, deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 1st convocation (in 1937-1946).

Colonel General of Aviation (1967). He was awarded 3 Orders of Lenin (04/20/1934; 04/20/1953; 06/17/1961), the Order of the October Revolution (10/17/1978), 2 Orders of the Red Banner (05/29/1944; 11/6/1947), 2 Orders of Suvorov 2nd degree (01/10/1947). .1944; 04/28/1945), orders of Kutuzov 2nd degree (08/19/1944), Red Star (11/3/1944), medals, foreign orders of Merit of the Hungarian People's Republic 3rd degree, Stars of Romania 3rd and 5th degrees, "Protection of the Fatherland" 2nd and 3rd degrees (Romania), Tudor Vladimirescu 3rd degree (Romania, 1969), Red Star (Czechoslovakia, 1970), "Cross of the Brave" (Poland, 12/19/1968), foreign medals.

Honorary citizen of the cities of Kaluga (1969), Baikonur (1977, Kazakhstan), Vinnitsa (1969, Ukraine), Bratislava (Slovakia), Plovdiv (1965, Bulgaria), Riga (Latvia) and Chemnitz (Germany).

Streets in the cities of Moscow, Bryansk, Vladimir, Yekaterinburg, Borovsk (Kaluga Region), Vichuga (Ivanovo Region), Kirovgrad ( Sverdlovsk region), Orsk (Orenburg region), Sevastopol (Crimea) and Mogilev (Belarus). In Melenki, a school is named after him, and a memorial plaque is installed there. in Moscow for Poklonnaya Hill and in Melenki there are busts of N.P. Kamanin, and on the house in which he lived, there is a memorial plaque. The Il-76TD aircraft of the Ministry of Emergency Situations bears his name.

Note: When drafted into the army, he attributed to himself one year. For this reason, the documents indicate the 1908th year of birth.

Compositions:
My biography is just beginning. M., 1935;
The first citizen of the universe. M., 1962;
EX in orbit. M., 1969 (with M.F. Rebrov);
Seven in orbit. M., 1969 (with M.F. Rebrov);
Pilots and astronauts. M., 1971;
Pilots and astronauts. 2nd edition. M., 1972;
The path to space begins with charging. M., 1975;
Starts in the sky. M., 1976;
Create yourself. M., 1982;
Hidden space. Book 1. M., 1995;
Hidden space. Book 2. M., 1995;
Hidden space. Book 3. M., 1999;
Hidden space. Book 4. M., 2001;
Hidden space. In 2 volumes. 2nd edition. M., 2013;
On winged tanks. St. Petersburg, 2015.

Military ranks:
Colonel (02/21/1938)
Major General of Aviation (03/17/1943)
Aviation Lieutenant General (04/20/1945)
Colonel General of Aviation (10/25/1967)

Biography provided


Kamanin Nikolai Petrovich
Born: October 18, 1908
Died: March 11, 1982 (aged 73)

Biography

Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin - Soviet pilot and military leader, Colonel General of Aviation, one of the seven first Heroes of the Soviet Union (1934). Member of the operation to rescue the expedition of the steamer "Chelyuskin" (1934). Organizer and leader of the training of the first Soviet cosmonauts (1960-1971).

early years

Born on October 18, 1908 in the city of Melenki, Vladimir province (now Vladimir region) in a large family with seven children. Russian. Father, Pyotr Ivanovich (1871-1919), worked as a shoemaker in an artel, and in 1917, he was elected to the post of head of the district food supply department. Died of typhus. Mother, Stefanida Danilovna (1879-1964) was a housewife, and after the death of her husband she worked as a weaver at a textile factory. Being a widow, she civil war, devastation and hunger managed to raise children and give them all an education.

After graduating from a local nine-year high school in 1927, Nikolai Kamanin entered the Leningrad Military Theoretical School of the Air Force.

Kamanin himself, in his story “My biography is just beginning”, published by the “Young Guard” in 1935, writes about how at the age of seventeen he “corrected the mistake of nature” by forwarding the last digit of the year of his birth from "nine" to "eight", attributing one year to himself. Therefore, all documents indicate that he was born in 1908, although in fact he was born on October 18, 1909.

Military training. Service in the Far East

In 1928 he graduated from the Leningrad military-theoretical school of the Air Force, and in 1929 - the 2nd military school of pilots of the Red Air Fleet (Borisoglebsk), after which he was awarded the title of junior pilot. In 1929-1934. served in combat units of the Air Force in the Far East in the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army - first in the 40th Special Aviation Squadron (UAE) named after. Lenin (Spassk, Far Eastern Territory, now closed airfield "Khvalynka"), where he became a flight commander, and since 1933 he was appointed commander of a detachment of the 38th United Arab Emirates, based near Khanka Lake in the village of Chernigovka (Muchnaya Ussuriysk station railway) now Primorsky Krai. In 1932 he joined the CPSU(b).

Rescue of the Chelyuskinites

In February 1934, N.P. Kamanin was appointed commander of a mixed detachment of aircraft to rescue the crew and passengers of the Chelyuskin steamer:

We started flying in a military way, in a wedge. Soon Bastanzhiev caught up with us. My plane was ahead, two cars on the right, two on the left. So, in the air there was an aviation detachment consisting of: Nikolai Kamanin, Boris Pivenshtein, Vasily Molokov, Ivan Demirov, Boris Bastanzhiev, Matvey Shelyganov, German Gribakin, Pyotr Pilyutov, Leonid Osipov, Anatoly Razin, Konstantin Anisimov, Pyotr Kulygin, Ivan Devyatnikov, Sergey Astakhov, Yuri Romanovsky. Five pilots, one navigator, eight technicians and one correspondent.

A group of aircraft under the command of Kamanin in difficult weather conditions made a flight Olyutorka - Vankarem with a length of about 1500 km. In nine flights to the ice floe on a two-seater R-5 plane, Kamanin took out 34 polar explorers from the ice camp (out of 104 who were in the ice camp), adapting parachute boxes suspended under the wings to accommodate passengers. For courage and heroism shown during the rescue of the Chelyuskinites, N.P. Kamanin on April 20, 1934 was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin. After the establishment in 1939 of a special insignia of the Heroes of the Soviet Union, he was awarded the Gold Star medal for No. 2.

In 1937 he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 1st convocation.

In 1934-1938. studied at the Air Force engineering academy them. N. E. Zhukovsky, from which he graduated with honors. He was appointed commander of the 19th light-bomber air brigade of the Kharkov air garrison (102 aircraft). With this brigade he took part in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. as part of the Air Force of the 9th and 15th armies.

Service in Central Asia

At the end of 1940, Colonel Kamanin was appointed commander of an air brigade in Tashkent. After the outbreak of World War II, he commanded an air division in Ashgabat for about six months, which participated in the Iranian operation of 1941. After the situation in Iran was settled, Kamanin was appointed deputy commander of the Air Force of the Central Asian Military District. He was engaged in the formation and preparation of aviation formations for the front.

On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War

From July 1942 until the end of the Great Patriotic War, N. P. Kamanin was at the front. He commanded the 292nd assault aviation division on the Kalinin front, from February 1943 - commander of the 8th mixed and 5th assault aviation corps (1st Ukrainian and 2nd Ukrainian fronts). He made a significant contribution to improving the tactics of combat operations of the Il-2 attack aircraft. Formations under his command participated in the Velikoluki, Belgorod-Kharkov, Kiev, Korsun-Shevchenkovsky, Lvov-Sandomierz, Budapest and Vienna operations; liberated from the Nazi invaders Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

Major General of Aviation (03/17/1943).
Aviation Lieutenant General (04/20/1945).

During the years of the Great Patriotic War, N.P. Kamanin was awarded personal gratitude 29 times in the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the USSR I.V. Stalin.

Participant in the Victory Parade on Red Square on June 24, 1945 (commander of the combined battalion of pilots as part of the combined regiment of the 2nd Ukrainian Front).

The son of Nikolai Petrovich, Arkady, together with his father also participated in hostilities as a communications squadron pilot. His name is known among the pioneer heroes.

Postwar years

After the war, he initially continued to command the corps. Then, from 1947, he worked in the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet (GVF), in 1951-1955 - Deputy Chairman of the DOSAAF for Aviation. In 1956 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff.

In 1957-1958 - Commander of the 73rd Air Army (Turkestan Military District, Tashkent). In 1958, on behalf of the Soviet government, he assisted the King of Afghanistan in organizing and conducting an air parade over Kabul, in which about 100 aircraft of the 73rd Air Army of the USSR and about 30 aircraft of Afghanistan participated.

Since 1958 - Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force for combat training.
He was a member of the editorial board of the Aviation and Cosmonautics magazine.

Cosmonaut training

Since 1960, Kamanin led the selection and training of the first Soviet cosmonauts. In 1960-1966, he carried out this work, being in the position of Deputy Chief of the Air Force Main Staff for Combat Training. In 1966-1971, he served as Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force for Space.

In January 1961, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, a commission was formed to take final exams for the first six students-cosmonauts trained during the nine months of 1960 at the Air Force Cosmonaut Training Center (CTC): Lieutenant General of Aviation N. P. Kamanin (chairman), Major General A. N. Babiychuk (Head of the Medical Service of the Air Force), Lieutenant General Yu. M. Volynkin (Head of the Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine of the Ministry of Defense - IAKM), Lieutenant General V. Ya. ), Colonels of the Medical Service V.I. 1), Chief Designer of Plant No. 918 of the State Committee for Aviation Technology (GCAT) S. M. Alekseev and Honored Test Pilot M. L. Gallai (Flight Research Institute - LII GCAT). On January 17 and 18, 1961, in the presence of the head of the LII, N. S. Stroev, exams were held, in which all students showed excellent knowledge. After the end of the exams, N. P. Kamanin, in the presence of the members of the commission, announced to the examinees that the commission recommends the following sequence for the use of astronauts in flights: Gagarin, Titov, Nelyubov, Nikolaev, Bykovsky, Popovich.

In 1961-1962 N. P. Kamanin, together with the cosmonauts, took part in flights on the Tu-104A flying laboratory in weightlessness.

On April 6, 1961, S.P. Korolev, M.V. Keldysh and N.P. Kamanin at the Baikonur Cosmodrome signed the assignment for a cosmonaut for a single-orbit flight around the Earth - the first assignment in history for a man for space flight. It indicated the goals of the flight and the actions of the astronaut during its normal course, as well as in emergency situations. April 8, 1961 at an expanded meeting of the State Launch Commission spaceship"Vostok", which was headed by the Chairman of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on defense equipment K. N. Rudnev, this task was approved.

On April 8, 1961, at a closed meeting, where only members of the State Commission were present, N. P. Kamanin, on behalf of the Air Force, proposed that Yu. A. Gagarin be considered the first candidate for the flight, and G. S. Titov as a substitute. The Commission agreed to this proposal. It was also decided on the procedure for the emergency ejection of the cosmonaut at the start: before the 40th second of the flight, the ejection command is given by S.P. Korolev or N.P. Kamanin, and after the 40th second the cosmonaut ejects automatically. On April 9, 1961, N. P. Kamanin informed Yu. A. Gagarin and G. S. Titov about their roles in the first flight.

On April 10, 1961, in the assembly hall of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, at the “ceremonial” meeting of the State Commission, which was held with filming, N. P. Kamanin officially introduced the commission and those present (there were about 70 people in total) the first six cosmonauts who passed their graduation exams with excellence state exams and for the first time in our country officially received the title of pilot-cosmonauts of the Air Force - Yu. A. Gagarin, G. S. Titov, G. G. Nelyubov, A. G. Nikolaev, V. F. Bykovsky, P. R. Popovich. After that, Kamanin said that, in the opinion of the Air Force command, Gagarin could be approved first, and Titov as a substitute. State Commission unanimously approved the proposed appointment.

On April 12, 1961, at 8 o'clock in the morning, an hour before the arrival of the cosmonauts, N. P. Kamanin, together with the lead engineer of the spacecraft, O. G. Ivanovsky, took the elevator to the top of the rocket, checked the cipher of the logic lock necessary for the astronaut to switch to manual control, and make sure the lock is working properly.

From April 27 to August 7, 1961, N. P. Kamanin, accompanying Yu. A. Gagarin, visited Czechoslovakia, Finland, England, Iceland, Cuba, Brazil, Canada and Hungary. In July 1961, he went to Paris for a meeting of the FAI, where the records of Gagarin and Shepard were considered. From November 28 to December 15, 1961, together with Yu. A. Gagarin, he traveled to India, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Afghanistan, and also to the capital of the Uzbek SSR, Tashkent.

From April 30 to May 11, 1962, he accompanied G. S. Titov on a trip around the United States, during which they visited New York, Washington, Baltimore, San Francisco and Seattle, participated in the work of the COSPAR scientific assembly in Washington, the World Exhibition " 21st Century" in Seattle, were accepted as acting Secretary General UN U Thant in New York.

Kamanin was an active supporter of sending a woman into space, having achieved the space flight of V.V. Tereshkova.
October 25, 1967 Kamanin was awarded the rank of Colonel General of Aviation.

The Soyuz-11 flight in June 1971 was the last for Kamanin in the position of Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force for Space, which he had held since 1966. The fact that he was retiring was known even before the death of the astronauts who made the first flight on orbital station Salyut-1.

On June 9, 1970, he participated in the chess game "Space - Earth" - the first chess game in history, played between astronauts in flight and "representatives of the Earth." On Earth, N. P. Kamanin and cosmonaut V. V. Gorbatko played in pairs, and in space - the crew of the Soyuz-9 spacecraft - A. G. Nikolaev and V. I. Sevastyanov. All participants were accepted as honorary members of the Central Chess Club of the USSR.

Last years

Since August 1971 - retired. Lived in Moscow. Died March 12, 1982. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Awards

The title "Hero of the Soviet Union" (1934) - "for the skillful use of the achievements of Soviet aviation in the little-studied conditions of the Arctic Ocean, for exceptionally proactive, clear and selfless work, which ensured the successful completion of the operation to rescue the Chelyuskinites"

Medal "Gold Star" of the Hero of the Soviet Union (1939, No. 2)
Order of Lenin (three times: 1934, No. 414; 1953; 1961)
Order of the October Revolution (1978)
Order of the Red Banner (twice)
Order of Suvorov 2nd class (twice)
Order of Kutuzov 2nd class
Order of the Red Star

Medals

Foreign orders
Commemorative table medal on the first manned flight into space (1961; only 75 military men were awarded, including N. P. Kamanin)

honorary titles

Honorary Citizen of Bratislava, Plovdiv, Riga, Kaluga, Baikonur, Vinnitsa and Karl-Marx-Stadt
Honorary Member of the Central Chess Club of the USSR (1970)

Memory

A plate with the name of N. P. Kamanin begins the list of Heroes of the Soviet Union - graduates of the Borisoglebsk military school of pilots on the granite wall of the memorial complex "Chkalovtsy - Heroes of the Fatherland", opened in 2015 (Borisoglebsk, Voronezh Region).

A bronze bust of N. P. Kamanin was installed in 2009 in the "Gallery of the First Heroes of the Soviet Union" in the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow.

The bust of N. P. Kamanin was transferred in 1964 by the sculptor G. N. Postnikov to the museum of the Cosmonaut Training Center.
The name of N. P. Kamanin was given in 2008 to the Melenkovskaya secondary general education school No. 1, which he graduated in 1927.

In the museum of military glory in Melenkovskaya school No. 1 (Vladimir region) there is an exposition dedicated to the Hero; There is a memorial plaque on the building of this school.

A bust of N. P. Kamanin is installed on one of the main streets of his hometown Melenki (Vladimir region).
In Melenki sports tournaments of Kamanin in hockey and billiards are held.

A memorial plaque in Moscow was placed in 1997 inside the entrance to the house, where from 1937 to 1982. lived N. P. Kamanin (Serafimovicha street, house 2, entrance 10).

A memorial plaque in Moscow was unveiled in 2015 at house No. 2 on Serafimovicha Street, where N. P. Kamanin lived from 1962 to 1982.

Streets in Moscow, Vladimir, Sevastopol, Borovsk (Kaluga region), Kirovgrad (Sverdlovsk region) and in many other cities are named after Kamanin.

A postage stamp with a portrait of N.P. Kamanin was issued by the USSR Post in 1935.
A postal envelope with portraits of the first seven Heroes of the Soviet Union was issued by the Russian Post in 2004 for the 70th anniversary of the Chelyuskin epic.

In cinema

N. P. Kamanin is one of the characters in the feature film “And you will see the sky” (1978), dedicated to the story of his son, the pilot Arkady Kamanin. The role of General Kamanin was played by actor Alexander Porokhovshchikov.

V feature film"Chelyuskintsy" (1984) Vladimir Osipchuk starred as Kamanin
In the feature film “Gagarin. The first in space ”(2013) actor Vladimir Steklov starred in the role of N. P. Kamanin.
In the film The Chief (2015), the role of Colonel-General N.P. Kamanin was played by the actor A.E. Kot.

In the film "Time of the First" (2017), the role of General Kamanin was played by actor Anatoly Kotenev. The image of Kamanin in this film is very far from the truth. In reality, he would never raise the question of sacrificing the lives of astronauts in order to achieve the goal.

Kamanin Nikolai Petrovich

Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin was born in the city of Melenki, Vladimir province, on October 18, 1909 (according to documents - in 1908). In 1927, Nikolai Kamanin entered the Military Theoretical School of the Air Force in Leningrad, and from 1928 continued his studies at Borisoglebskaya flight school Air Force, which he graduated in November 1929. In 1929-1934. he served in the 40th air squadron named after V.I. Lenin in the Far East. In July 1932, N.P. Kamanin joined the ranks of the CPSU (b).

In the spring of 1934, his name sounded throughout the country: seven Soviet pilots, among whom was Nikolai Kamanin, for the first time in the USSR, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded. The newly established higher state award they received for the salvation of the Chelyuskinites - participants polar expedition on the ship "Chelyuskin", which sank in the Chukchi Sea. On the R-5 plane, pilot Kamanin took 34 Chelyuskins from a drifting ice floe to the mainland.

In 1934-1938. N.P. Kamanin studied at the command faculty of the Academy named after N.E. Zhukovsky. In 1935-1937. he was a member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, and in 1937-1946. - Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. After graduating from the academy, Nikolai Petrovich from 1938 to 1940 commanded an air brigade based in Kharkov. In 1940-1942. he was commander of the Air Force of the Turkestan military district.

Colonel Kamanin became a participant in the Great Patriotic War in October 1942, when he was assigned to the Kalinin Front as an air division commander. In March 1943 he was promoted to the rank of Major General of Aviation. From 1943 until the end of the war, he commanded the 5th assault air corps. He finished the war in Prague with the rank of lieutenant general.

At the end of the war, Nikolai Petrovich until 1947 continued to command the air corps, based first in Tiraspol, and then in Arad (Romania). After a short service as Deputy Chief of the Civil Air Fleet of the USSR, from 1948 he worked as Chairman of the Central Committee of DOSAAF, and from 1951 to 1955 - Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of DOSAAF for Aviation. He then studied for two years at the General Staff Academy. In 1956-1958. General Kamanin commanded the 73rd Air Army of the Turkestan Military District. In 1958, he became deputy chief of the Air Force General Staff for combat training.

In 1960, the Air Force Command instructed Nikolai Petrovich to organize the selection and training of cosmonauts for space flights. In March 1966, he was appointed to the post of Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force for Space, and in October 1967 he was awarded the rank of Colonel General. In the open Soviet press, General Kamanin was called the head of cosmonaut training. In June 1971, N.P. Kamanin was dismissed from the Armed Forces of the USSR to the reserve, and the USSR pilot-cosmonaut V.A. Shatalov was appointed to his post.

Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin died on March 11, 1982, and was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery. back to top

Similar articles