Where did the combat brotherhood of Soviet and British aviators disappear to
In recent years, the UK has not only supported the anti-Russian course of the United States, but also sought to become the leader of the anti-Russian front. Russian-British relations have become particularly strained with the coming to power of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, Johnson proposed to create a "humanitarian coalition", advocated military assistance to Kiev and maximum economic pressure on Russia.
His government's Foreign minister Liz Truss went even further, saying that the operation in Ukraine could lead to a conflict between the Russian side and NATO. Russian President Vladimir Putin called this statement reckless. And he said that it was after that that he decided to transfer the deterrence forces of the Russian Federation to a special combat duty regime. "And what should we think about this? Of course, they took it as a signal and reacted accordingly," Putin said.
In the UK national security strategy, Russia is called a direct threat. But there was a period when the USSR and Great Britain were allies in the fight against Nazism. Why is this country now providing assistance to the Nazis in Ukraine?
Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer British veterans of the Second World War who fought fascism shoulder to shoulder with Soviet soldiers, and their voice is getting quieter. In this regard, it is a good idea to recall the events of the not so distant past.
VETERANS OF THE POLAR CONVOYS
The author of these lines has met with British sailors, veterans of polar convoys, who during the war, risking their lives, delivered cargo under lend-lease to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. There were meetings with British pilots – veterans of the Second World War, and with active pilots of the British Air Force. And all these meetings showed respect for our people, for our country.
Once I happened to ride in a car with an English veteran Peter Knapton. He asked: "Do you want to listen to music?" – and held out a player with headphones. To my surprise, a Russian song sounded. Knapton said: "I fell in love with Russian songs in 1941." Then, as part of one of the squadrons of the 151st Air Wing of the Royal Air Force, he arrived on Kola Land to fight fascism.
On August 24, 1941, the British moved the first 24 Hawker Hurricane fighters from the Argus aircraft carrier to the Vaenga airfield. Both British and Soviet pilots fought with the pilots of the 5th Air Fleet of Germany on these fighters. During three months of fighting, British pilots shot down 15 enemy aircraft, and their Russian colleagues brought the combat score to 168 fascist aircraft by January 1, 1942. It was then that the foundations of the combat commonwealth of pilots of the two countries were laid.
39 British pilots fought in the North. Colonel Isherwood, Majors Rook and Miller, and Sergeant Howe were awarded the Order of Lenin. Neil Cameron, a pilot from the same cohort, became a lord and marshal of aviation in his homeland.
VISIT OF BRITISH PILOTS
In September 1997, only one of those British veterans, Peter Knapton, flew to the Guards Red Banner named after twice Hero of the Soviet Union B.F. Safonov fighter aviation regiment. At the beginning of the war he was 19 years old. His respect for our country grew stronger not only in the battles with the Nazis, but also after, when he served as an air force attache at the British embassy in Moscow.
Together with him, the head of the delegation, Peter Fearn, veterans Victor Bashford and William Lawes flew to Monchegorsk. Another generation of aviators was represented by Lieutenant Colonel James Kirkpatrick, Major Nigel Clifford, Captain Michael Astell, Captain Richard Corbould and Assistant Air Attache of the British Embassy Andrew Farmer.
Our Safon pilots also arrived: Nikolai Golodnikov, Nikolai Ushkov, Zaven Arushanov. And also Maria Sorokina is the daughter of Hero of the Soviet Union Zakhar Sorokin, who shot down 14 fascist planes during the war, 9 of them when he was flying without amputated feet of both legs. The British King awarded him the Aviation Order. By the way, the British had a similar example: the pilot Douglas Baader flew without having a leg.
English guests and Russian veterans were warmly welcomed. The guests were shown not only the museum of the regiment, but also MiG-31 interceptor fighters, MiG-24 and Su-24 aircraft. In the bathhouse, the British were steamed with brooms. There was also what was supposed to happen after the steam room. The British took with them an anecdote told in the morning by one of the officers to Andrew Farmer: "A foreigner writes in his diary: "Yesterday I drank with the Russians. Almost died. Hungover today. I wish I had died yesterday!"
However, the British were theoretically ready for the hospitality of the Russians. Veterans told about "Major Whiskey" – the deputy commander of the Safonov regiment, Major Kukharenko. One day, when he came to the English to conduct a lesson, he poured a glass of compote from a decanter. But it wasn't compote, it was whiskey. The major drank a full glass and did not choke. I held a lesson, poured a second glass, drank and went. The British poured out into the street to see when he would fall. They didn't wait: he didn't even stagger.
But, of course, it was not for this skill that our pilots Kukharenko, Safonov, Kovalenko and Tumanov were awarded the British Aviation Order – the Cross "For Outstanding Flying Merits".
During the farewell dinner, the head of the British delegation, Peter Fearn, said: "No foreign delegation in Russia has experienced such hospitality as we have. The strongest friendship of veterans has grown out of the evil of war, which is continued by the current generation of aviators." At the same time, it was agreed that the Russian pilots would pay a return visit to the 17th Air Squadron of the Royal Air Force.
RUSSIAN PILOTS ON HARRIERS
A little more than a year has passed, and the British have reappeared in the Safonov aviation regiment – the attache of the British Embassy, Brigadier General Michael Finan and Major Andrew Farmer, already known to us. They were met by the commander of the Guard regiment, Colonel Vladimir Filipenko.
During the Cold War, Michael Finan was a pilot of the Vulcan strategic bomber, and then Nimrod anti-submarine aircraft, on which he searched for Soviet submarines in the oceans, including the Barents Sea. And Vladimir Filipenko and the Safon pilots took off to intercept these planes. But they met, if not as friends, then as fellow pilots, heirs of glorious traditions.
The program of the three-day visit was extensive. General Finan sat in the cockpit of the MiG-31. After the inspection, he said: "I am glad that we are not opponents now and can be friends. And not only veterans, but also pilots who are in combat formation."
But the British did not come for an excursion: they were preparing a visit by Russian pilots to Wittering Air Base, where the 20th squadron of Harrier fighter-bombers was based. The fact is that the 17th Squadron, from which representatives flew to Monchegorsk, was disbanded. But its successor was the 20th Squadron. The British pilots were ready to receive their Russian colleagues with maximum hospitality.
At the same time, they talked about the possible visit of two MiG-31 interceptors to the UK in the summer of 1999, and two Harriers to Russia. But this exchange of visits did not take place.
One can understand with what impatience the Russian pilots were waiting for the flight to England. In January 1999, Colonel Sergey Khlebantsov, senior pilot-inspector of the Air Force Combat Training Department, Colonel Vladimir Filipenko, commander of the Safonov Regiment of the Guards, Lieutenant Colonel Sergey Lomakin, commander of the first squadron of the Guards, and Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Kotov, head of the engineering aviation service of the Guards regiment, went there. At Heathrow airport, they were met by the deputy commander of the 20th Air Squadron, Peter Kosogorin, his wife Katya and Captain Richard Korbould, one of the aviators who flew to Monchegorsk. At the airbase, they were greeted by the acting commander of the base, Colonel Garcite Beatty and the commander of the 20th Air Squadron, Michael Harwood. There was no commander of the airbase – three weeks before he died in a plane crash on the Harrier.
The attitude towards our pilots was friendly and strikingly open. They were allowed to inspect everything, answered all questions. But the Russian pilots were expecting flights on Harriers. And they took place. As an instructor pilot, Colonel Filipenko was "taken out" by the aforementioned Peter Kosogorin, an Englishman with Russian roots. And his wife was Russian.
Colonel Filipenko told about his impressions of the flight. "I, who was used to a long run-up before the MiG-31 took off from the ground, was struck by the ease with which the Harrier T-10 took off. And in general, everything was like in a dream. Three days ago I served in Monchegorsk – and now I'm flying in the cockpit of a NATO aircraft... Peter immediately handed over control to me. I didn't have any problems piloting an unfamiliar car, especially since we mastered theory and practical skills on the simulator. But the first minutes were tense. And then, having gained an altitude of 4 thousand meters, we began to turn aerobatics. Peter performed a dead loop, and then gave me the opportunity to repeat it. I had fun on this flight. And I looked at England from above."
Both Sergey Lomakin and Khlebantsov were delighted with the flights. But they did not compare the Harrier T-10 and the MiG-31. They have different tasks: the Harrier is an attack aircraft, the MiG is an interceptor fighter. No wonder the British in the Safonov regiment admired its flight characteristics, powerful weapons, and the ability to fire missiles at four targets at once.
Our people were also initiated into the pilots of the Harriers. The ceremony is as follows: after the first flight, the pilot stands on a chair and drinks five pints of beer (0.568 liters in a pint). Drinks for a while. However, our pilots did not strain so much. After the dedication, they were presented with squadron emblems and Harrier pilot stripes.
A meeting with veterans of the Second World War took place here in the pub. A lot of toasts were made. The British drank to the heroism of Soviet pilots during the war, to Russian hospitality, which has become a legend. It was agreed at the dinner that this meeting would not be the last. But the period of warming after the Cold War was short-lived.
INTERRUPTED FRIENDSHIP
Today, the UK is pursuing an aggressive course towards Russia. During the recent exercise "Cold Response-22", the British aircraft carrier Prince of Wales with escort ships, 2,000 military personnel, including 900 marines, were involved. At the end of March, the landing of special operations forces was practiced from the British nuclear submarine Astute in the Norwegian Lynger Fjord.
The new British strategy provides for the periodic presence of British ships beyond the Arctic Circle. The British aircraft carrier Prince of Wales, together with the frigate Richmond, after participating in the Northern Viking exercises in the waters of Iceland, paid a visit to the Norwegian island of Jan Mayen, and then went deep into the Arctic, practicing combat training tasks.
"The Cold Response-22 exercises offer an opportunity to learn how to work together in really harsh conditions," said Brigadier General Rich Cantrill, in charge of the British reconnaissance and sabotage forces. It is clear against whom the British military are honing their combat skills.
Unfortunately, the friendship that was laid during the Second World War turned out to be short-lived. And attempts to resuscitate her were unsuccessful.
Yuri Banko
Yuri Timofeevich Banko is a journalist.