Die yourself, but help your comrade out: the forgotten feat of the Russian pilot

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Not a single photograph remains of him - only a few group photographs where he can presumably be present. The name of Lieutenant Gorkovenko, alas, is practically unknown to the general public - and this publication is intended to at least partially correct the situation.

Arseny Nikolaevich was born on October 21, 1891 (old style) in the Turkestan region, in the family of an officer, and he came from a family of hereditary nobles of the Kherson province. The parents decided to determine a naval career for their son - and on September 8, 1907, fifteen-year-old Arseny was enrolled in the junior general class of the Marine Corps (MK). An idea of the peculiarities of the character of young Arseny can be obtained from the certification signed in March 1911 by the captain of the 2nd rank N. I. Berlinsky: “Acting as a non-commissioned officer in the 6th company, he proved himself to be an outstanding performer of the duties assigned to him, not hesitating to stop a cadet of another company for a misdemeanor. The only thing that may not be beneficial is some dryness in dealing with subordinates.

The fact that his brother was a cadet in the same company, which did not prevent him from being reasonably demanding and serving as an example both in relation to service and love to the naval business, should serve as a great advantage.

However, it cannot be assumed that from an early age Arseny was a callous pedant, completely devoted to discipline. The proof of this was the case on March 20, 1912 - wine was delivered to the 1st company in the name of Gorkovenko, and the use of this drink by the personnel led, as indicated in the documents, to "disorder". For this, Arseny was deprived of his non-commissioned officer rank. However, this unfortunate incident did not affect his career - on May 1, 1912, he graduated from MK twentieth (out of 111 people) on the graduation list. For which he was awarded the right to wear the Golden Badge "In memory of the completion of the full course of sciences of the Marine Corps."

A day later, by order of the Minister of the Navy No. 122, Arseny Gorkovenko was promoted to ship midshipmen and sent to sail on the Black Sea battleship "Evstafiy". On October 5, midshipman Arseny Gorkovenko was promoted to the midshipman exam and sent to the Baltic Fleet. Vice-Admiral Nikolai Yakovlev noted Arseny among the "distinguished by their knowledge, zeal and service."

In the Baltic, Gorkovenko was enlisted in the 1st Baltic naval crew. Until March 26, 1913, he served on the battleship "Emperor Paul". Then Arseny was appointed an officer in the 4th company of recruits, intended to replenish the teams of the battleship brigade of the Baltic Fleet. The authorities described him as "a very capable and efficient officer, intelligent, managerial", very interested in technology, but distinguished by a "closed character."

The service was going well, but the midshipman was dissatisfied with his position. Arseny had a dream: he wanted to become an aviator. In those years, aviation, especially military aviation, was still taking its first steps, but it developed very rapidly. Every year, more and more types of aircraft appeared - larger, faster, more powerful, more spacious.

By order of Emperor Nicholas II, an Air Fleet department was created under the Russian army on February 6, 1910. However, the sailors also wished to acquire their own aviation - the then theorists of naval thought had already begun to guess that aircraft would soon become indispensable in naval and coastal operations. In 1912, the General Naval Staff developed the concept of creating special aviation detachments in the fleets.

True, at the beginning of the First World War, the Russian Navy possessed only three dozen aircraft of various types, to which about twenty certified pilots were attached. However, within seven months, this number has more than doubled. The necessary infrastructure and airfields were actively built. Moreover, at that time, Russia was among the countries that developed, among other things, aircraft based on ships. At that time, no specialized aircraft carriers were built anywhere; commercial steamships were converted into floating airfields.

Born to Fly

At that time, the youth of many countries was seized by the "air fever". Pilot craft has become extremely fashionable. They wrote books and made films about them, courageous faces in aviation helmets looked at the world from the covers of newspapers and magazines, the very word "pilot" became synonymous with daring and courage.

Twenty-year-old Arseniy Gorkovenko also succumbed to this fad - he began to ask to be allowed to learn to be an aircraft driver. And his request was satisfied: on September 20, 1913, by order of the commander of the Baltic Fleet's naval forces, the midshipman was allowed to take the entrance exam for the officers' theoretical aviation courses at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. Arseniy successfully passed this exam, studied and graduated from the courses. He met the beginning of the war on the ship's decks - he served on the cruiser "Oleg", on the destroyers "Emir Bukharsky" and "Volunteer", and for participation in the battle with German cruisers off the island of Gotland on June 19, 1915, Warrant Officer Gorkovenko was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav 3rd degree (with swords and bow).

But this is not what the soul wanted - Gorkovenko dreamed of looking at the enemy from an airplane, not a ship. His dream came true in August 1915, when Arseny was sent to study at the Officer School of Naval Aviation in Petrograd (OSHMA). In the fall of 1915, OSHMA moved to Baku, to the shores of the warm Caspian Sea - the weather conditions of the Baltic Sea this season interfered with the year-round systematic work on the training of naval pilots. Warrant officer Gorkovenko was in the 2nd group of variable composition and flew with an instructor. At the end of January 1916, he successfully passed the exams in the disciplines "Internal combustion engines", "Material part of an airplane", "Motor business", "Airplane repair" and was admitted to flight tests. On January 29, an order was issued for school No. 208, which read: “According to the resolution of the Educational Council of January 29, No. 17, midshipman Gorkovenko, as having successfully completed all the conditions of the examination flight and passed the tests for a sea pilot, was recognized as worthy of this title. it was decided to issue him an appropriate certificate”.

In February, Gorkovenko left at the disposal of the Air Fleet Department and was assigned to the 2nd Aviation Station on Ezel Island. In April he was promoted to lieutenant. Very soon Arseny acquired the fame of one of the best pilots of the Baltic Fleet. He fought on the M-9 flying boat - a seaplane designed by Dmitry Grigorovich. It was a wooden two-seater biplane armed with a machine gun. During the 1916 campaign, Arseny took part in at least seven air battles, and in May he was awarded the Order of St. Anne of the 4th degree - “for bravery”.

The documents tell about his daily combat work. For example, on the morning of July 19, 1916, in the Vindava region, two pairs of M-9s, led by Lieutenant Gorkovenko and Warrant Officer Mikhail Safonov, participated in an air battle with superior enemy forces. The next day, they fought with three Albatrosses (a German biplane fighter), and Gorkovenko, showing perseverance and skill, overtook one of the enemy airplanes and shot him down with a machine-gun burst.

Or on July 29, 1916, Arseny, “driving his seaplane, entered into battle with two enemy vehicles, attacked them and knocked out one, forcing him to descend and throw himself ashore; after which, seeing that our apparatus was in a dangerous position, with skillful and selfless maneuvering with battle, he covered its retreat, forcing the enemy to withdraw (the highest order for the Naval Department No. 36 of 01.16.1917). For the time being, fate took care of the brave pilot. But August brought a heavy blow to Arseny - on the 8th his brother Anatoly, who served on the destroyer Volunteer, died when this ship was blown up by an enemy mine in the Irbensky Strait. Alas, fate did not spare his second brother either - Arseny had a chance to outlive Anatoly for less than a month …

Die yourself, and help your comrade

On September 26 (September 13), Gorkovenko set off for a daring operation - he, at the head of a group of three cars (the other two were led by warrant officer Mikhail Safonov and warrant officer Igor Zaitsevsky) flew out to bomb the base of German seaplanes. The base was located on Lake Angern, in the western part of Latvia that had been captured by the Kaiser's troops by that time - and its planes caused a lot of trouble. A month earlier, Russian aviation had blown it apart with bombs. Now, with the passage of time, Gorkovenko, Safonov and Zaitsevsky had to find out to what extent the enemy was able to eliminate the consequences of the raid and, if possible, add a bomb load to the Germans. Russian flying boats appeared over the lake unexpectedly for the enemy.

However, as it turned out, the Germans learned the lesson of the last month, covering the base with a powerful anti-aircraft battery. German anti-aircraft gunners opened hurricane fire. Maneuvering among the ruptures, the pilots dropped a dozen high-explosive bombs onto the German seaplane parking lot. It seemed that the task was completed, but the tests for the Russians were just beginning. On departure, they were attacked by twenty German Fokker fighters, which had taken off from a nearby airfield. The chase began. By this time, the aircraft of the pursued and pursued had left the airspace over land and were now flying over the lead waves of the Gulf of Riga. The whole mass of the Germans pounced on the lagging plane of midshipman Zaitsevsky, unleashing a hail of bullets on it. Zaitsevsky's shooter was seriously wounded by a bullet in the chest, and the flying boat lost the ability to shoot back.

Gorkovenko and Safonov were friends with Zaitsevsky since the aviation school, where all three studied at the same time. They could not leave a friend at such a difficult moment.

Two seaplanes turned around and rushed at the enemy twenty, diverting attention to themselves. The self-sacrifice of Gorkovenko and Safonov was not in vain - Zaitsevsky escaped from enemy fire and returned safely to the base. However, Mikhail Safonov was wounded in the leg, and his plane was riddled with bullets. Shooter Orlov was also wounded. It seemed that death could not be avoided. But Arseny again rushed to the aid of a friend, diverting the enemy pilots. The Russian pilot skillfully maneuvered, throwing his apparatus from side to side, skillfully dodging - and the shooter led the barrel of a machine gun heated from continuous fire. But this could not go on for long, the German superiority was too overwhelming.

No one will ever tell about the thoughts and feelings of Arseny in those last minutes. But there is no doubt that he did not feel fear - Gorkovenko loved the sky, adored his profession of a military pilot, and was always eager to fight among the first. What could be more honorable for a man than to die in battle to save his comrades?

At some point, Arseny's car came under the crossfire of two German airplanes. Most likely, the lieutenant was killed in the air. An unguided flying boat crashed into the Gulf of Riga, as a result of which the shooter Gorkovenko, non-commissioned officer D. P. Fi. But their death was not in vain. Bleeding, Safonov broke away from the enemy and, though with great difficulty, managed to bring the plane to the airfield.

The news of the death of Arseny shocked everyone who knew him. “I'm terribly sorry for the poor fellow. And this is a great loss for us, Captain 2nd Rank Ivan Rengarten, who headed the Baltic Fleet's radio intelligence service, wrote in his diary. The command of the fleet sent a presentation to the leadership of the Naval Department and Arseny Nikolayevich Gorkovenko was posthumously awarded the Order of St. George, IV degree and the St. George weapon.

However, in the subsequent military-revolutionary hard times, the memory of his feat somehow dissipated and now only military historians know about Gorkovenko. And since Arseny did not have a grave, there is nowhere to even lay flowers …

And the last thing. Surely the reader will be interested in how the further fate of the people for whom Arseny sacrificed his life developed.

Mikhail Safonov spent a month being treated in a hospital, then returned to the front, fought heroically, confirming his reputation as one of the best naval pilots in pre-revolutionary Russia. During the Civil War that followed the revolution, Mikhail fought for the Whites and was evacuated from Vladivostok in 1922. He died in China under unexplained circumstances, either in 1924 or in 1926. After the revolution, Igor Zaitsevsky first moved to Finland, where at one time he served in the local aviation, then to Sweden, and lived in Stockholm. He worked as a driver, in his free time he was engaged in painting. He died on May 18, 1979 at the age of 88.