Nikolai Franzewitsch Gastello

Nikolai Gastello

Nikolai Gastello ( Russian Николай Францевич Гастелло * April 23 ^{. Jul} / 6. May 1907 ^{. Greg} in Moscow , † 26 June 1941 in Molodechno , Minsk Oblast ) was a Soviet bomber pilot in World War II . He became known to the Soviet public because of his suicide attack on German troops in the initial phase of the attack on the Soviet Union .

Life

Gastello grew up in Moscow. His father Franz Pavlovich Gastello (Gastell), who was of German descent (according to other sources, a Belarusian nationality is mentioned, but this is apparently related to the place of birth), left his home village Pluschiny ( Grodnenskaya oblast ) in Belarus to work as a foundryman in Moscow to work; the mother Anastasia Semjonovna (née Kutusowa), a Russian, was a seamstress by trade. In 1924 the family moved to Murom , where Nikolai found a job as a shunter at the station on the Moscow – Kazan line . In the period of his activity, which he held until 1930, and his entry falls into the Communist Party in 1928. Gastello received in 1931 its convening in the Red Army and was sent to the Military Aviation School in in May of 1932 Lugansk added that a year later completed. He then became a pilot in a unit equipped with four-engined TB-3 bomb aircraft in Rostov-on-Don . In August 1939 he took part as a member of the 1st TBAP (Heavy Bombing Regiment) in the Chalchin Gol conflict against Japan. In 1939/40 he was used in the winter war against Finland. In March 1941 he was appointed commander of the 4th Squadron with the rank of captain within the 207th DBAP (Remote Bombing Regiment) belonging to the 47th Bombing Division. In this unit Gastello flew the twin-engined bomber IL-4, which is more modern than the TB-3 .

Use of June 26, 1941 and effects

Monument to Nikolai Gastello in Ufa

Five days after the attack on the Soviet Union , Gastello's unit received the order to attack German vehicle columns in the Molodetschno – Radoschkowitschi area. The approach route on the route Smolensk - Borissow - Minsk had to cope with the squadron consisting of four IL-4s without their own fighter protection . The squadron began to descend in pairs via Borisov from its cruising altitude of 3000 m to the commanded attack altitude of 600 to 800 m. The deputy squadron leader, First Lieutenant Fyodor Vorobyov, acted as the wingman of Gastello. According to his report, the two aircraft were busy bombing the sighted German marching columns when Gastello's IL-4 received a flak hit in the left wing at a low altitude , which caused the left engine to fail. Gastello then deliberately steered the damaged bomber into a collection of enemy vehicles. In addition to him, the co-pilot Lieutenant A. A. Burdenjuk, the navigator Lieutenant G. N. Skorobogaty and the radio operator / gunner Sergeant A. A. Kalinin were killed in the impact. Vorobyov's crew managed to fly back to the base. According to his and his navigator A. Ryba's report on the circumstances, Gastello was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on July 26, 1941 , the other crew members received the Patriotic Order of Merit, First Class . Gastellos fact was made public and the public as an example of personal sacrifice in the fight against the German invaders propaganda effectively represented.

literature

Wilfried Copenhagen : Lexicon Soviet Aviation . Elbe-Dnjepr, Klitzschen 2007, ISBN 978-3-933395-90-0 , p. 70/71 .
Heinz Machatscheck: From the life of Nikolai F. Gastello (1907–1941), a Soviet fighter pilot . In: Flieger-Jahrbuch 1978 . Transpress, Berlin 1977, p. 138-142 .

Web links

Commons : Nikolai Gastello - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

↑ In older publications that appeared before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Najoro is given in southern Sakhalin as the place of birth.

↑ The example of the fighter pilot Iwan Koschedub shows how present Gastello's story was in the consciousness of the Soviet public. In his autobiographical book "I attack" Koschedub describes how, when his plane was hit during an aerial battle, he considered "following his [Gastellos] example" (Iwan Koschedub: Ich attack , Publishing House of the Ministry of National Defense , 1956, p. 177).

Individual evidence

↑ Peter Korrell: TB-3. The story of a bomber. Transpress, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-344-00116-7 , p. 138.

personal data
SURNAME	Gastello, Nikolai Franzewitsch
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	soviet pilot
DATE OF BIRTH	May 6, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH	Moscow
DATE OF DEATH	June 26, 1941
Place of death	at Molodechno

[1] In older publications that appeared before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Najoro is given in southern Sakhalin as the place of birth.

[3] The example of the fighter pilot Iwan Koschedub shows how present Gastello's story was in the consciousness of the Soviet public. In his autobiographical book "I attack" Koschedub describes how, when his plane was hit during an aerial battle, he considered "following his [Gastellos] example" (Iwan Koschedub: Ich attack , Publishing House of the Ministry of National Defense , 1956, p. 177).

[2] Peter Korrell: TB-3. The story of a bomber. Transpress, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-344-00116-7 , p. 138.