Stefanovsky, Peter Mikhailovich

He was born on a farm Pokrovka, whose inhabitants in 1939 were resettled in the village of Chirkovichi (now Svetlogorsk district of the Gomel region ), in a peasant family. In 1909, the Stefanovsky family moved to live at the Telush station (now Bobruisk district of the Mogilev region ) of the Western Railway, where they bought land from the landowner. Peter helped the father with the housework. Since 1922, Peter Stefanovsky has been working as a laborer in the city of Bobruisk (now the Mogilev region , Belarus).

In 1925 he was called up for military service in Smolensk , in the 2nd separate reconnaissance squadron. In 1926 , of his own free will, he was sent to the Military Theoretical School of the Air Force in Leningrad , which he graduated in 1927 .

Since 1928, he studied at the Kachinsky Military Aviation School of Pilots , after which he served in Lugansk as a pilot instructor. In 1931 he was sent to Moscow, at the Air Force Research Institute , to the post of test pilot.

Pre-war period

The first machines tested were TB-1 and TB-3 . He served and flew along with Chkalov , Yumashev , Kokkinaki , Grodzem, was friends with Suprun .

Since the end of 1931, he was one of the main test pilots of the Link project , as a pilot of an aircraft bomber, under the general guidance of designer V. S. Vakhmistrov . He made sorties at all stages of the project from Link-1 to Link-7. He was the first pilot to fly TB-3 as part of Link-7 into the air on November 20, 1935.

In 1936, on the BOK-1 airplane, designer V. A. Chizhevsky successively broke several altitude records, fixing a new record at 10,360 meters.

Stefanovsky several times participated in May Day parades on Red Square, flying over it on a bright yellow I-16 aircraft.

War

He met the beginning of the war in Moscow, with the rank of lieutenant colonel . At the initiative of Suprun, personally approved by Stalin , three fighter regiments were created from test pilots, the command of which was entrusted to Suprun, Kabanov and Stefanovsky. On June 29, regiment commanders reported to Stalin about their readiness, and already on June 30, 1941, the 402nd fighter aviation regiment under the command of Stefanovsky flew to the place of permanent deployment, in Idritsa .

The regiment made its first sorties on July 3, 1941, having shot down 6 enemy planes and losing 1 aircraft. The pilot, senior lieutenant Shadrin, survived, and he even managed to land a damaged MiG-3 , but the plane had to be destroyed due to secrecy.

During the war years, pilots of the 402nd regiment made more than 13,000 sorties, shot down 810 enemy aircraft . Stefanovsky during his command made 150 sorties, shot down 4 enemy planes . In July 1941, Colonel Stefanovsky was recalled from the front and transferred to the post of commander of the Western defense sector of Moscow.

In May 1942, of his own free will, from the post of deputy commander of the air corps, he was again sent to the Air Force Research Institute for flight test work, first to the post of test pilot, then to the post of deputy head of department of the Air Force Research Institute. Since 1943 - Deputy Head of the Directorate of the Air Force Research Institute. February 23, 1943, during the first tests of the Yak-9 , crashed, after which he was able to fly into the sky only on October 10. In 1944 he joined the ranks of the CPSU , received the title of Major General of Aviation .

Post-war period

After the war he continued to work at the Air Force Research Institute. He conducted 238 tests, made the first 16 flights on new types of aircraft. He was the first in the world to perform aerobatics in a jet aircraft, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner . In total, while working at the Institute, Stefanovsky tested more than 50 new types of aircraft, mastered 317 different types of aircraft, completed more than 13,500 flights.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 5, 1948, for the development of new military equipment and the courage and bravery shown to the deputy head of the aircraft test department of the Air Force Research Institute, Major General of Aviation Stefanovsky Peter Mikhailovich was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Golden Star medal "(No. 5811).

In 1954 , after an accident on the Mi-4 (when landing the helicopter spontaneously collapsed during a helicopter landing), it damaged the spine, was declared unfit for flying and went into reserve, and then resigned. For a short time he worked in the Yakovlev Design Bureau , as one of his deputies. He lived and worked in Moscow, wrote a book of memoirs “Three hundred unknowns”.

He died on February 23, 1976 . He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery .

• In Minsk ^[1] , in the village of Chirkovichi, Svetlogorsk district, Gomel region (Republic of Belarus) and the city of Shchelkovo, Moscow region, streets are named after P. Stefanovsky.
• The name of the Hero is a secondary school in Chirkovichi.

• He was awarded three orders of Lenin , three orders of the Red Banner , two orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree , three orders of the Red Star , and medals.

• "Three hundred unknowns . "

Stefanovsky, Peter Mikhailovich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".