Meshcheryakov, Ivan Ivanovich

Origin. The early years

Ivan Meshcheryakov was born on September 3 (16), 1908 in the volost village of Nizhnyaya Dobrinka of the Kamyshin district of the Saratov province in the poor house of a peasant Ivan Meshcheryakov ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} .

He graduated from the local seven-year school, entered one of the vocational schools of the city ​​of Stalingrad . After receiving secondary vocational education, he worked at one of the factories of the regional center , while simultaneously receiving education at an evening school ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} .

In 1930, he was drafted into the 12th Cavalry Regiment of the OGPU troops under the SNK of the USSR to serve in military service.

After the service, in 1933, he entered the aviation department of the Kharkov border school of the OGPU under the SNK of the USSR named after F. E. Dzerzhinsky . In 1932 he joined the ranks of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union .

In 1938 , having graduated with honors from college, he was left there for further service as an instructor pilot. He served in the 1st separate air squadron in Bykovo in Ukraine , then in the 10th air squadron of the NKVD border troops in Grodno ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} .

Participation in the Great Patriotic War

The Great Patriotic War found I. Meshcheryakov as part of the 10th air squadron of the NKVD border troops , which was based at the Karolina military airfield near Grodno in western Belarus ^[4] .

He entered the military operations in June 1941 ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} . After the heavy losses incurred in the first days of the war, the remains of the squadron were pulled near Moscow .

During the battle for Moscow (by December 1941 ), the captain Ivan Meshcheryakov made 135 sorties, participated in 15 air battles, personally shot down 5 (7) enemy aircraft, one of them with a ramming strike ^{[5] [1] [2] [ 3] [4]} .

The circumstances of the death

The combat mission for his last flight provided cover for the Red Army troops leaving the encirclement. Together with his wingman, Lieutenant Chekhov, captain Meshcheryakov flew to the Rzhev region. Their flight took place over the front line. After making sure that there was no enemy above the forest, Meshcheryakov headed for the Rzhev railway station ^[6] .

The enemy ace went behind unnoticed. When Meshcheryakov saw him, there was no time to make a difficult maneuver, but the enemy missed. A protracted battle began. The German ace several times left the fire, attacked, trying to get into the tail, but LaGG-3 Meshcheryakova did not allow him to do this. Only when Meshcheryakov ran out of ammunition did the German ace, realizing this, approached close to his plane so as not to miss.

The clever maneuver of Meshcheryakov made it possible to sharply turn the plane and overtake the enemy, ramming it into the fuselage. The blow was so serious that both pilots died immediately, not having time to jump with a parachute.

On May 5, 1942, by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, for the exemplary performance of command missions at the front of the struggle against Nazi invaders and shown heroism and courage, captain I. I. Meshcheryakov, commander of the guard squadron , was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumous) .

In the hero’s award sheet there are such lines:

During the defensive battles for Moscow, he made 135 sorties. In 15 air battles he personally shot down 5 enemy planes, including one ramming.

In the last aerial battle on February 8, 1942, having consumed all the ammunition, I. Meshcheryakov boldly went to the ram of an enemy aircraft and, at the cost of his life, blocked the path of an enemy bomber to Moscow.

I. I. Meshcheryakov was also awarded the Orders of Lenin , Red Banner and Red Star , and the medal "For the Defense of Moscow" .

• A street in Volgograd is named after Meshcheryakov, a memorial plaque is installed at the beginning of the street;
• The bust of the Hero is installed in his homeland - in the village of Nizhnyaya Dobrinka, Zhirnovsky district, Volgograd region;
• The name of Meshcheryakov I.I. is carved on the memorial on the Alley of Heroes, mortgaged by graduates of the HVVAUL in the city of Chuguev, Kharkov region of Ukraine .

• Busalaev A.P., Tsykin I.V. Faces of my villagers: Essays. M .: Publishing House "Russian Time", 2010. - 368 p., 24 p. color incl. - ISBN 978-5-904464-03-5 .
• Bondarenko A.S. , Borodin A.M. (group leader), Loginov I.M. , Merinova L.N. , Naumenko T.N. , Novikov L.N. , Smirnov P.N. There lived such a brave guy / / Heroes of Volgograd / Literary editing of V. I. Efimov , V. I. Psurtsev , V. R. Slobozhanin , V. S. Smagorinsky ; introduction by A. S. Chuyanov . - Volgograd: Lower Volga Book Publishing House, 1967. - S. 231–235. - 471 p. - 25,000 copies.

• Meshcheryakov Ivan Ivanovich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".
• Meshcheryakov Ivan Ivanovich // Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary / Prev. ed. collegium I. N. Shkadov . - M .: Military Publishing , 1988. - T. 2 / Love - Yashchuk /. - 863 s. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN 5-203-00536-2 .
• Wings of the border .
• Memoirs of I.P. Laveikin .