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In Lipetsk, Luftwaffe pilots were trained! Debunking another myth
In Lipetsk, Luftwaffe pilots were trained! Debunking another myth

Video: In Lipetsk, Luftwaffe pilots were trained! Debunking another myth

Video: In Lipetsk, Luftwaffe pilots were trained! Debunking another myth
Video: Russia's Geographic Problem: Collapse is inevitable | Every Century | Soviet Union 2.0 2024, November
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In the pre-war years, a German aviation school was organized on the basis of the closed aviation center located on the outskirts of Lipetsk. Many legends and conjectures are associated with this object, Kramola understands which of them are based on facts and which were frankly invented.

It is believed that pilots were trained on the basis of this aviation school, who later formed the core of the German Air Force as part of the Wehrmacht. Another interesting hypothesis concerns Hermann Goering, who allegedly had a mistress in Lipetsk, and therefore the city was not bombed during the Nazi air raids. Let's try to find facts that will confirm or debunk these myths.

Soviet-German cooperation

A secret aviation school and test center for training German pilots began operating in Lipetsk in 1925. At the same time, along with the Germans, Soviet pilots also received skills here: during the existence of this facility, more than 200 representatives of Germany and more than 140 of the USSR became its graduates. Domestic aircraft technicians also studied in Lipetsk. The personnel of the facility were also mixed Soviet-German. Therefore, those who were aware of the existence of this aviation school, it was never perceived as exclusively German.

The terms of the Versailles Treaty, signed following the First World War, did not allow Germany to have its own military aircraft. That is why they needed a foreign foothold for testing modern technologies and improving the skills of pilots, which became the Lipetsk Aviation School. The benefit for the USSR was, first of all, the ability to adopt German experience and developments in the aviation sector, in terms of the level of development of which the Union at that time was significantly inferior to Germany. The material and technical support was almost entirely on the German side, which supplied the equipment and building materials needed to equip the facility. The head of the aviation school was Major Walter Stahr, who commanded a squadron during the First World War.

One point must be taken into account: this joint project was launched even before tensions and antagonism began to grow between the two states. After Hitler took over the leadership of Germany, the Lipetsk school was closed.

What did you do in the aviation school

This facility became the base for testing German aircraft, as well as training German pilots in flying art, bombing and target shooting. At the same time, along with the Germans, Soviet servicemen studied at the Lipetsk Aviation School, who received such a level of training that the Soviet Union at that time was not able to provide independently.

Debunking myths

Luftwaffe's father Hermann Goering, despite the widespread legend, never actually visited Lipetsk and, naturally, he had no mistress there. Neither he, nor anyone else, gave the order not to bomb this city either, and Lipetsk was bombed. More than three hundred local residents were killed precisely as a result of air raids.

It should be noted that, along with the Lipetsk Aviation School, the Germans had a lot of secret facilities in other places where future Luftwaffe pilots were successfully trained. Therefore, the role of this school in the creation and development of military aviation in Germany is clearly exaggerated. By 1932, over 2,000 German pilots had been trained at such secret bases, of which only a tenth were in Lipetsk.

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