On a warm sunny Sunday, May 18, 1935, a catastrophe occurred at the Central Aerodrome during a demonstration flight in the Moscow sky. Before the eyes of the press, documentary filmmakers and hundreds of Muscovites who had gathered, the giant Maxim Gorky, a miracle of Soviet aviation technology, equipped with the first Soviet autopilot and eight engines, and the light I-5 fighter that accompanied it, collided. Both cars, engulfed in flames, collapsed to the ground, taking with them dozens of human lives. Neither the ambulances nor the firemen could help them in any way.
In this tragedy, no one could believe even when the wreckage of the aircraft enveloped in flames was burning down. Taking pictures - and the film was forbidden, and talking about it - too.
Then no one could have imagined that the planned grandiose spectacle could turn into a disaster. How could this happen to the first Soviet airplanes - the best and most reliable in the world. Who could immediately explain what happened, whether the pilots themselves were to blame for making the wrong maneuver, or whether technical malfunctions of the aircraft caused the disaster? Or maybe the enemies of socialism carried out their villainous sabotage? In those years, such thoughts were not uncommon.
However, technical malfunctions were hardly the cause of the aircraft collision. On the eve of the holiday, on May 17, the pre-flight check did not reveal any problems, nothing foreshadowed an accident. “Maksim Gorky” has already launched several times, participated in the meeting of the Chelyuskin heroes, more than once circled in the skies over Moscow, flew over Red Square. He was greeted by thousands of Muscovites, who specially ran out into the streets to look at the miracle of Soviet technology thundering in the sky. The most amazing thing was that during his flights, radio voices and music came from the sky. Among the first honorary passengers of the Maxim Gorky was the famous French pilot, and later the famous writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery, who enthusiastically praised the new aircraft.
They predicted a great future for the giant: he was supposed to lead an agitation squadron.
The history of its origin is typical for that turbulent time. When in 1932 the 40th anniversary of the literary and social activity of the writer Alexei Maksimovich Gorky was celebrated, the idea was born to create an aviation propaganda squadron called “Maksim Gorky” and a giant airplane was to lead it. A public fundraiser was organized in the country, and in a short time six million rubles were transferred to a special account in the state treasury.
A team of designers headed by A. N. Tupolev. It included V. M. Petlyakov, A. A. Arkhangelsky and other design engineers. For the new aircraft, they chose the TB-4 bomber (designed by A. N. Tupolev) as the base model. The designers increased the size of the bomber, added engines to it and … it turned out to be a spacious passenger plane. Its fuselage length reached 32.5 meters, and its wingspan was 63 meters. The total area of the interior salons was more than 100 square meters.
The aircraft was operated by a crew of eight pilots and navigators. The Maxim Gorky took 72 passengers on board - the number was huge at that time. But his task was not in transportation, but in agitation, so the salons were equipped with special equipment: a loud-speaking radio installation "Voice from the Sky", a cinema installation, a printing house for printing leaflets, a photo laboratory.
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On that May day, it was planned to make several pleasure flights for employees of TsAGI (Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute). The crew consisted of 11 people, and the passengers - there were 36 people - were invited laboratory workers with their wives and children.
When the plane gained altitude and circled the airfield, the fighter accompanying it decided, probably for greater effect, to make a loop of Nesterov, and around the wing of "Maxim Gorky". It was planned that such a dangerous maneuver was filmed by documentary filmmakers from the ground. It was during this maneuver that the fatal collision occurred.
The next day, a mourning TASS report appeared in the Pravda newspaper. It said, in particular, that the fighter accompanying the Maxim Gorky was controlled by pilot Blagin, who (despite the categorical prohibition to do any aerobatics) violated the order and began to make Nesterov's loop at an altitude of 700 meters. When leaving the loop, the fighter crashed into the wing of "Maxim Gorky". The giant plane went into a dive, collapsed in the air from the received damage and fell in parts to the ground at the airfield near the Sokol village.
Pravda immediately rushed to name the culprit of the incident, the pilot Blagin, who decided on a dangerous maneuver, failed to carry it out and by his actions caused a catastrophe with great human casualties. However, in reality, this was not quite the case. An experienced test pilot who was trusted to test the Tupolev machines, Nikolai Blagin would never, under any pretext, violate the order of his command. This is evidenced by his entire biography and track record. On the contrary, he was ordered to make a dangerous maneuver! It was for the filming of Nesterov's loop at the airfield that the press and documentary filmmakers gathered, who were supposed to capture another outstanding achievement of Soviet aviation technology in the sky. They were going to report this to the leader himself.
Pilot Blagin, as his colleagues later whispered among themselves, was just unhappy with such an order and was very worried if he would be able to carry out such a responsible mission. The low-speed fighter I-5 did not differ in any special flight characteristics or special maneuverability, and it was very risky to make Nesterov's loop around the aircraft with a wingspan of 63 meters on it. In addition, it was necessary to make a preliminary calculation, but for this the pilot Blagin simply did not have time. There were no technical possibilities for this either. He was instructed to make a risky maneuver at his own peril and risk.
Later, this disaster was overgrown with all sorts of rumors and speculation. It was said, for example, that the documentary filmmakers were to blame for everything: allegedly it was they who persuaded Blagin to a demonstration maneuver, it was they who dreamed of filming Nesterov's loop, and Blagin made a concession to them. It got to the point that the documentary filmmakers were brought to criminal responsibility. People's Commissar Yagoda reported to Stalin that they had found people who had committed a criminal conspiracy. Then there was a rumor about an allegedly planned sabotage, which the pilot Blagin decided to go because of his disagreement with the VKP (b) line. It was the ram, in his opinion, that would be an act of retaliation directed against the Communist Party. But all these were late insinuations, spread specifically to slander an already unrequited person, and they served one purpose - to conceal the true cause of the disaster.
Giant aircraft like the Maxim Gorky were no longer built after this tragedy. Subsequently, they abandoned the idea of air campaigning.
From the book: "HUNDRED GREAT DISASTERS". ON THE. Ionina, M. N. Kubeev