Sapozhnikov, Grigory Stepanovich

Born in the city of Bugulma in 1894 in the family of a small servant. The family moved to Orenburg , where Gregory graduated from the Orenburg Real School.

With the beginning of the First World War, he volunteered to join the army. He studied at the aeronautics courses for students of technical departments and officers (the first aviation school in Russia) at the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute , from 1915 to 1916 he studied at the Sevastopol flight school .

In 1916 he was sent to the army. He fought in the 16th CAO, in early 1917 transferred to the 9th Fighter Squad ^[2] . He won the first victory by shooting down a plane over Yazlovts , for which he was awarded the St. George Cross. In the summer of 1917, he shot down a second German aircraft. In total, in 1917, Sapozhnikov shot down three planes, 2 of which hit the weekly reports of the Romanian front (were officially confirmed). The war ended in the rank of ensign .

With the beginning of the Civil War , after some hesitation, Sapozhnikov voluntarily joined the Red Army . In the spring of 1918, near Kazan, as part of the 1st Soviet battle group (later renamed the 1st Fighter Division , from October 1918), he participated in battles with the troops of the People’s Army and the White Czechs, departing daily for reconnaissance and attack of the White Guard positions. After August 16, one pilot, a former officer of the old imperial army, flew over to the side of the enemy, mistrust arose to all other former officers-pilots. Sapozhnikov had to make excuses:

Reproach me for my father ... Exactly! Dad my - big world-eater. But what have I got to do with it? After all, I broke with him completely, irrevocably. For me, brothers, flying is living! On the ground, barely moving: phlegm overcomes. And just take it up - and the devil invades the soul, begins to tease: "Turn the barrel, still, more! .. Well, a couple of loops ... Well, George, one more! .." And you believe - I forget everything ... No, I can not fly. And now…

- Dyachenko G.Kh. Heirs of Nesterov

The shoemaker was allowed to fly, but the next day he did not return from battle. In the light of the preceding events, the pilot was suspected of betrayal, but it turned out that his “Newpor” was hit by White Guard fire. Gregory managed to land in the neutral zone, and then with the help of infantrymen to drag the car into their territory. At the same time, the enemy tried to prevent the evacuation of the aircraft by strong fire, and several Red Army soldiers were killed. The downed plane was subsequently restored. In 1919 he fought as part of the 1st Fighter Division on the Denikin Front.

Krasvoenlet Sapozhnikov especially distinguished himself during the Soviet-Polish war in 1920. In May, the 1st Fighter Division was deployed on the Western Front. On the bank of the river, the detachment's pilots organized an ambush and were on duty in the air at the enemy's favorite flight time (from 8 am to 11 am and in the evening twilight), but the enemy constantly evaded battle. On May 9, Grigory Sapozhnikov received permission to send a call to Polish pilots:

During the lull on the Bobruisk direction over the airfield of the White Poles from Kiselevichi at an altitude of 1000 meters suddenly appeared a Snipe type aircraft ^[3] . Having made a circle, he dropped to 700 meters and dropped a bomb that exploded at the hangar. There was a panic on the airfield. As if in order to calm down those who were throwing around, “Snipe” went to the center of the runway and began pilotage. The steep closed eight was replaced by overthrowing (the so-called coup), from which the pilot transferred the plane to Nesterov’s loop , followed by clear immelman , runversman and cascade of “ barrels ”. The complex of figures completed the farewell spiral.

When during the descending maneuvers, the snipe approached the ground, the amazed spectators could distinguish stars on its wings ^[4] , and a large peak ace on the fuselage. The plane was piloted by a red military pilot Georgy Stepanovich Sapozhnikov. After showing the enemy the art of “air dzhigitovki”, “snipe” attacked the observation balloon , which carried the alert service and missed it. In several bursts of machine gun, he forced him to descend, but in one of the approaches he was damaged - the upper left wing was pierced from the ground with fire.

- Babich V.K. Air combat

The next morning, at 10 o'clock. 30 minutes, three Polish Elfauga (LVG CV) aircraft loaded with bombs appeared over the Reds airfield in Saltanovka . The duty link of the Reds (Sapozhnikov, Gwaita, Seryogin) met the enemy in the air. The Poles did not accept the battle and, dropping the undeveloped bombs into the forest, began to leave. The machine gun on the plane of Guayta immediately refused, and on the plane of Seregin there was only an asynchronous " Lewis " under the upper wing, from which it was very difficult to hit the target ^[5] . The battle led almost one Sapozhnikov. As a result of the pursuit, the closing Polish aircraft, guided by the commander of the 12th squadron, the former Tsarist officer Captain Jurgenson, was damaged and landed on Soviet territory. The crew was captured ^[5] . On May 12, Trotsky, who visited the airfield in Saltanovka, personally presented the Order of the Red Banner to Sapozhnikov ^[5] .

On May 20, Sapozhnkov conducted two more air battles. He first entered when he returned after the bombing, defending himself from the Polish pilot who tried to intercept him on an OEFFAG D.III aircraft (an improved Austrian version of the German Albatros D.III fighter) ^[2] . Sapozhnikov managed to seize the initiative and knocked down the enemy, but did not have enough gasoline to pursue. During the second battle, the Sapozhnikov aircraft was damaged, but the enemy was also shot down.

On May 29, the best Polish ace, Stefan Pavlikovsky , circled the airfield, where the 1st squadron was based, calling the enemy to a duel. Sapozhnikov accepted the challenge ^[6] . After a series of fast-paced maneuvers, he went to the tail of the Pole and gave him an accurate line, piercing the radiator of the enemy machine. Pavlikovsky with a smoky engine managed to hold out to their positions.

On the night of July 7, the 2nd, 8th and 10th divisions of the 16th Army launched an offensive. Pilots of the 1st division supported ground troops with bombing and machine-gun attacks. For combat successes, the 1st Fighter Aviation Division was awarded the Honorary Revolutionary Red Banner of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

In August, the 1st squadron was transferred to the Southern Front (against Wrangel ). Especially hot fighting broke out in mid-August over Kakhovka . Shoemakers and two other best pilots ( Kozhevnikov and Melnikov) made up a separate so-called. “Aces link” ^[5] , which was assigned to intercept and destroy enemy reconnaissance aircraft. At that time, he flew the latest English fighter " Sopwith Snipe " ( Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe ), captured from the invaders in the north . In the same place, Sapozhnikov mastered a new type of combat use of fighters — assault actions in close contact with cavalry (his combat comrade EI Guitaita writes about this in the Herald of the Air Fleet magazine ).

On September 4, Sapozhnikov flew to Aleksandrovsk (now Zaporozhye) to congratulate friends from the Central Air Group on awards. On the eve of the parade, the pilots, including Sapozhnikov, celebrated this event. Waking up and finding that the personnel of the air group had departed to the city for the parade, without him, Sapozhnikov decided to demonstrate his aerobatic art to the parade participants. Under the threat of weapons, he forced the mechanic to release his plane into the air. However, immediately after being taken off the ground, not yet speeding up, he turned up the nose of the car so abruptly that the plane, having lost speed, crashed to the ground ^[7] . About the funeral of Sapozhnikov, pilot A.K. Tumansky recalled:

We buried Georgy Sapozhnikov every other day in the city cemetery. A huge number of people gathered. There were both the military and most of the inhabitants of Aleksandrovsk. When the coffin with the body of Sapozhnikov was lowered into the grave, the military band suddenly quietly began to play ... the old waltz “The Birch”. All those present were at first startled and began to look at each other in bewilderment, but then, obviously, they understood ... We heard here and there first quiet, then all the growing sobs of women turning into sobs. Many men, and we are among them, climbed up with handkerchiefs ...

- Tumansky A. K. Flight through the years

By the time of the death of Grigoriy Sapozhnikov, seven downed enemy planes were credibly recorded, three of them on the fronts of the First World War, and one balloon.

• George Cross
• Order of the Red Banner

• The street in Zaporozhye , Ukraine was named after Sapozhnikov. In May 2016, it was renamed to Vasyl Stus Street.
• In 1927, his name was given to one of the planes of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District - “the name of Sapozhnikov’s military man” ^[8]

• Grigory Sapozhnikov called his plane the name "Nellie" ^[9]

• Babich V.K. Air battle. Origin and development. - M. Voenizdat, 1991.
• Berezin PF Red Aviation in the fight against the White Poles . - M .: Voenizdat NPO USSR, 1940.
• Dyachenko G.Kh. The heirs of Nesterov . - M .: Military Publishing, 1963.
• Mityurin D., Medvedko Yu. Flying Aces. Russian aces of the First World War. - SPb .: New Cultural Space, 2006
• Tumansky A. K .. Flight through the years . - M. Voenizdat, 1962.

• Biography on the site Corner of the sky
• Biography on the site Red Falcons