Skorobogaty, Grigory Nikolaevich

Born in 1917 in the village of Khoteyevka ^{[1] of} Novozybkovsky district of Chernihiv province . Father - Skorobogaty Nikolai Trofimovich, mother - Ulyana Andreevna. After graduating from a rural school in 1934, Grigory Skorobogaty entered the textile college of the city of Klintsy ^{[2] in the} Oryol region . In 1938 he graduated from a technical school with a specialization in “weaving technologist-technologist”.

Service in the Red Army

• In 1938 he entered the Kharkov Military Aviation School . In 1940 , upon graduation, received the title of “lieutenant”. Until January 1941 he served in Voronezh
• Since January 1941 - observer pilot of the 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment of the 42nd long-range bomber aviation division. Later he began to perform the duties of adjutant of the squadron
• June 26, 1941 was included in the crew of the commander of the 2nd squadron Nikolai Gastello as a lower (hatch) gunner

Doom

June 26, 1941 on DB-3F, when striking an enemy convoy on the Molodechno - Radoshkovichi highway, the DB-3F bomber , whose lower shooter was Grigory Skorobogaty, was hit. All crew members died along with him: Captain N.F. Gastello , Lieutenant A.A. Burdenyuk , Senior Sergeant A.A. Kalinin . According to the official version of the times of the USSR , an enemy shell damaged the fuel tank and the ship's commander Nikolai Gastello sent a burning plane to the enemy convoy.

Ram crew Gastello German mechanized convoy soon received wide publicity. This feat was one of the most famous in the history of the Great Patriotic War both in the military and in the post-war periods until the collapse of the USSR . In July 1941, the ship’s commander Nikolay Gastello was awarded the title “Hero of the Soviet Union” , city streets, pioneer organizations and collective farms were named after him, works of art were dedicated to his feat. At the same time, the crew of Gastello remained in the shadows, often their participation in the famous ram was not mentioned at all. In 1958, thanks to the efforts of relatives and fellow soldiers of the members of the deceased crew, G. Skorobogaty, A. Kalinin and A. Burdenyuk became knights of the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree .

Exhumation of the alleged Gastello crew burial

For a long time it was believed that the crew of Gastello made its famous ram near the village of Dekshnany, located near the urban-type village of Radoshkovichi . In 1951, on the eve of the decade of the famous “fire ram” for the subsequent solemn burial, the remains of the alleged grave of the crew of Gastello were exhumed. However, at the burial place, personal belongings of their colleagues were found - the commander of the 1st squadron of the 207th regiment, Captain Alexander Maslov , as well as his radio gunner Grigory Reutov . Maslov’s crew was reported missing on the same day that Gastello allegedly committed his feat. The supervisor of the reburial, Lt. Col. Kotelnikov, with the sanction of party authorities, conducted a secret investigation, which revealed that at the site of the alleged ram Gastello, Maslov’s plane crashed. This information was classified and a monument was erected at the place of Maslov’s crew’s death dedicated to the exploit of the crew of N.F. Gastello. Data on the exhumation of the alleged grave of the crew of Gastello were not made public until the era of perestroika, when they first entered the media.

Alternative Version

In the late 80s - early 90s of the 20th century, the public became aware that the site of the famous “fire ram” N. Gastello actually crashed the plane of Alexander Maslov. In this regard, an alternative version was born: a column of enemy equipment was rammed by the crew of Maslov, not Gastello. After reports appeared that the wreckage of a genuine Gastello plane was not far from the place of Maslov’s death, in the Matskovsky swamp near the village of Matsko. The plane near Matsky crashed, according to the testimony of local residents, on June 26, 1941. They found a charred corpse, in the pocket of the tunic of which there was a letter addressed to Skorobogataya ^[3] (supposedly, the wife of Grigory Skorobogaty), as well as a medallion with the initials of A. A. K. (possibly Gastello’s crewman-gunner, Alexei Alexandrovich Kalinin )

Criticism of the Alternate Version

A number of researchers question the facts on which the alternative version is built and reject it as completely untenable. In their opinion:

• the testimony of the officers of the plane flying in the N. Gastello link is the main and irrefutable evidence of the exploit of the crew of Gastello
• evidence that the crashed plane in the Matskovsky swamp was piloted by Nikolai Gastello is untenable
• discovered remains of Maslov and his crew indicate that his plane did not ram, but crashed into the ground on a “shaving” flight
• the absence of the remains of Gastello’s crew testifies to the fact that he really committed a “fire ram”. As a result of the explosion of the column with fuel and ammunition, neither the plane nor the remains of the crew can be identified.

Facts

Regarding the death of Gregory Skorobogaty, a reliable fact can be considered:

• the plane of which he was a gunner crashed during a combat mission on June 26, 1941

The fact of a ground ramming by the Gastello crew is not proven. The place of the fall of the Gastello bomber has not been established, there is no clarity with the circumstances of the death of A. Burdenyuk.

The truth is complicated by the fact that witnesses to the ramming crew Gastello, senior lieutenant Vorobyov and lieutenant Rybas died in 1941, the 207th DBA regiment was disbanded in September 1941, many documents were lost both during the Great Patriotic War and after the war.

• Order of the Patriotic War I degree ( 1958 , posthumous). Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 01.25.1958.

• V. Karpenko . Gastello feat

• Gastello, Nikolai Frantsevich
• Maslov, Alexander Spiridonovich

• There was a people's war
• Victor Gastello . Memory of father
• Victor Gastello . Fire crew

Alternative version:

• Gastello feat
• Legends of the Great Patriotic War. Nikolay Gastello
• Legends and Were. Nikolay Gastello
• Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello (inaccessible link)
• Two captains. Part I. Izvestia, January 28, 1997
• Two captains. Part II Izvestia, January 29, 1997
• Fedor Vorobyov . Nikolai Gastello - a feat that was not there.
• Gastello. Description of the feat. The bitter truth about Gastello ...

Criticism of the alternative version:

• Victor Gastello . "The truth about the legendary pilot"
• Victor Gastello . Leave the heroes alone
• Kirill Economov . Temptation "St. Edward