A brave aviator, a talented engineer, a unique inventor who adored time, Lev Makarovich Matsievich was one of the first conquerors of the sky and made a huge contribution to the development of Russian aviation.
Walking across the sky
The day of September 24, 1910 turned out to be sunny and warm in the city on the Neva. The country celebrated the All-Russian holiday of aeronautics, and thousands of townspeople gathered at the Commandant airfield to observe the demonstration flights of airplanes.
In those years, aviation was rapidly becoming fashionable, and there was no end to those wishing to admire the views of the city from a bird's eye view. The pilots, clad in leather jackets, were greeted by the audience with applause and encouraging smiles. Everyone wanted to be as close as possible to these courageous people and, if they were successful, to be aboard the Farman, the “French miracle” (as it was popularly called). Few were lucky - mostly noble and influential townspeople, prominent politicians and bankers, senior officers and persons close to the imperial court. Each takeoff of the airplane was accompanied by the cheering cries of the crowd, and the hearts of the passengers of the "Farman" sank as the man-made bird rapidly gained altitude and began to soar over the city.
- God, how beautiful the Winter Palace is! How majestic the Kazan Cathedral! What wonderful colors of autumn the Summer Garden is marked with! - sounded on board the airplane. When the Farman landed, amazed and enthusiastic passengers descended to the ground and warmly thanked the pilot for the unforgettable experience.
Right to the top
Promotional video:
Among the aviators, Lev Matsievich stood out for his dashing posture. The sun was going down when Lev Makarovich, after five flights with passengers, decided to make the last - single - flight.
Before he took his place at the control lever, the adjutant of the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich approached him. The Grand Duke immensely loved aviation and was well disposed to pilots. Lev Matsievich was his favorite. The colonel clicked his heels and said:
- Lev Makarovich, the Grand Duke wishes you a successful flight and asks you to show something extraordinary in it. As they say, for a snack! Some new trick or whatever you want. His Highness will be very pleased!
The pilot nodded and a few minutes later screwed his Farman into the evening sky. Spectators watched with bated breath as the huge machine turned first into a light bee, and then into a point flying rapidly across the sky.
To surprise the Grand Duke, the pilot decided to climb to the highest possible altitude, which he easily managed. Probably, Lev Makarovich recalled in those minutes when he realized his cherished dream and came to aviation, as well as his carefree childhood, comrades and his father, who loved to repeat: “Every person should have his own peak. Take away from the best his right to the top, and you will not have the best!"
However, no one knows what pilot Matsievich was thinking in the last moments of his life.
An innovative gift
The future aviator Lev Matsievich was born on May 1, 1877 in the village of Alexandrovka, Kiev province. His father worked as an accountant in a sugar factory, and his mother ran a household. Diligent and hardworking Lyova learned to read early and spent long hours reading books from his home library. After school he graduated with honors from the mechanical department of the Kharkov Institute of Technology. Then he continued his education and in 1906 received a diploma from the Nikolaev Maritime Academy. In his younger years, he was known as one of the prominent figures of the Ukrainian national liberation movement, was among the organizers of the political party, which was named the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party (RUP). But then politics receded into the background, and technology came to the fore.
Since 1904, Lev took part in the development of the most important naval projects. His technical mindset, extensive knowledge and subtle intuition helped him create two projects for mine barriers, solve the problem of protecting warships from torpedo attacks and develop a project for a unique armored cruiser. Lev was directly involved in the construction of several warships, in particular the battleship "John Chrysostom" in Sevastopol. - But he did a lot for the Russian submarine fleet.
In 1907, Matsievich was appointed supervisor of the construction of submarines at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg. And here the inventive, innovative gift of the young specialist and his restless character came in handy. Matsievich developed 14 projects of submarines, invented an original universal engine, with which the submarine could move both on the surface and in the submerged position. In October 1909, he presented to the Chief of the Naval General Staff of the Russian Empire the world's first aircraft carrier project capable of carrying 25 aircraft. The project proposed by Matsievich provided for a hinged deck for takeoff and landing of airplanes, an electric booster winch (a prototype of a future catapult), which could fire the device at the required speed, and special brake networks (analogue of an aerofinisher),designed to offset the speed of aircraft.
In the creative asset of Matsievich is a project of a deck airplane with a reinforced landing gear and a seaplane capable of taking off from the water surface and splashing down. It is known that later American specialists used Matsievich's developments when designing the first aircraft carriers. But the inventor himself experienced a bitter disappointment when the Russian government put his projects far ahead of their time, citing lack of funds.
Accident in the air
Lev Matsievich showed particular interest in aircraft. He believed that in Russia, with its vast expanses and lack of good roads, aviation has excellent prospects.
The dream of flying led him in 1909 to the Aeronautics Department, headed by Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich. Soon, engineer Matsievich prepared a report, which he made at a meeting of the Naval Circle in St. Petersburg. It was called "On the state of aviation technology and the possibility of using airplanes in the Navy."
The bold ideas of the innovator were supported by the Grand Duke and sent him to France, which at that time occupied a leading position in aviation. From March to November 1913, Matsievich improved his knowledge and gained practical flight experience at the aviation school of the famous designer Anri Farman. Lev Makarovich quickly mastered a new profession for himself, flew various types of French airplanes, received a pilot's license, and also prepared a technical report on his stay in France and a proposal for purchasing specific types of aircraft for Russia.
“I am sure that in the near future I will be able to design and build a domestic airplane that has absorbed all the advantages of the French ones and gets rid of their shortcomings,” he told his colleagues.
Perhaps Lev Makarovich remembered this phrase as well when his "Farman" reached its maximum height. But suddenly the feeling of glee was replaced by anxiety. There was a crackling - it was a wire diagonal stretch, a piece of it hit the propeller, causing one of the blades to collapse, then the wire wound onto the motor shaft, onto the remnants of the screw, stretched, and a second later other stretch lines burst. The airplane lost its rigidity, pecked its nose, the aviator, tilting the body back to level the car, fell off the seat and fell out of the aircraft, which began to rapidly collapse right in the air.
Spectators watched in horror as the wreckage of the airplane and the figure of the pilot, waving his arms, rushed to the ground. On the podium, clutching her seven-year-old daughter to her chest, Matsievich's wife, Alexandra Anatolyevna, froze.
The first victim
The first to arrive at the place of the pilot's fall were the soldiers of the airfield service and the police. A minute later, a Red Cross gig rushed there, but the doctors had only to state the death of Lev Makarovich.
This tragedy shocked everyone. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich exclaimed bitterly:
- Russia has lost a brave aviator and a talented inventor!
The funeral of Matsievich took place with a huge crowd of people. They said goodbye to him as a national hero. The Krechet airship hovered over the funeral procession. Lev Matsievich found his last resting place at the Nikolskoye cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg. He became the first victim of a plane crash in the Russian Empire. His death prompted Gleb Kotelnikov to invent a knapsack parachute.
At the site of Matsievich's death at the former Commandant airfield in 1912, his friends put up a memorial sign that has survived to this day. The inscription on the marble slab: "In this place he fell a victim of duty on September 24, 1910, flying on the Farman airplane of the Corps of Naval Engineers of the Navy, Captain Lev Makarovich Matsievich."
Impressed by the tragic incident, the poet Alexander Blok wrote the poem "Aviator", which ended with the following lines:
Why were you in the sky, brave, For your first and last time?
So that the secular and corrupt lioness
Raise violets eyes to you?
Or the delight of self-forgetfulness
You have tasted the destructive
Crazy for the fall
And he stopped the screws himself?
Or the unfortunate poisoned your brain
The coming wars are a terrible sight:
Night flyer, in the stormy haze
Earth carrying dynamite?
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №32, Vladimir Vladimirov