Valery Chkalov
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Valery Pavlovich Chkalov ( rus, Валерий Павлович Чкалов, p=vɐˈlʲerʲɪj ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ ˈtɕkaləf; – 15 December 1938) was a
test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...
awarded the title
Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...
(1936).


Early life

Chkalov was born to a Russian family in 1904 in the upper
Volga region The Volga Region (russian: Поволжье, ''Povolzhye'', literally: "along the Volga") is a historical region in Russia that encompasses the drainage basin of the Volga River, the longest river in Europe, in central and southern European Russ ...
, the town of Vasilyevo (the town is now named Chkalov in his honour), which lies near
Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
. He was the son of a ship boiler-maker at the Vasselyevo Ship Yard on the
River Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchmen ...
. His mother died when he was six years old. Chkalov studied in the technical school in Cherepovets but later returned to his home town to work as an apprentice in the shipyard alongside his father. He then got a job as a stoker on a river
dredger Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...
: the ''Bayan'' (later renamed the ''Mikhail Kalinin''). He saw his first plane in 1919 and decided to join the Red Army's air force, joining first at age 16 as a mechanic. He trained as a pilot at the Yegoryevsk Training School and graduated in 1924 joining a fighter squadron. Chkalov married Olga Orekhova, a schoolteacher from
Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, in 1927. In the early 1930s he became a test pilot. His feats included doing 250
loop-the-loop The generic roller coaster vertical loop, where a section of track causes the riders to complete a 360 degree turn, is the most basic of roller coaster inversions. At the top of the loop, riders are completely inverted. History The vertical l ...
s in 45 minutes.


Achievements

From 1935 he led the stunt section of the Russian air force, used in public displays. This included the 1 May celebrations over
Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical build ...
at which point he met
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
for the first time. Chkalov achieved several milestones in
aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...
. In 1936 and 1937, he participated in several ultra long flights, including from
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
to
Vancouver, Washington Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...
,
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''via'' the
North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...
in a
Tupolev ANT-25 The Tupolev ANT-25 was a Soviet long-range experimental aircraft which was also tried as a bomber. First constructed in 1933, it was used by the Soviet Union for a number of record-breaking flights. Development The ANT-25 was designed as the r ...
airplane (18–20 June 1937), a non-stop distance of . The flight pioneered the polar air route from Europe to the American Pacific Coast. He was planning the world's first non-stop flight around the planet when he died.


Death

Chkalov died on 15 December 1938 while piloting a prototype of the
Polikarpov I-180 The Polikarpov I-180 (russian: И-180) was a 1938 Soviet Union, Soviet fighter aircraft, fighter prototype. It was the last attempt to extract performance from the basic Polikarpov I-16 design.Green 1973, p. 165. The development cycle was plagued ...
fighter, which crashed during its maiden test flight. The series of events leading up to the crash is not entirely clear. Neither of the aircraft's two chief designers,
Nikolai Polikarpov Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov (russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Полика́рпов; – 30 July 1944) was a Soviet aeronautical engineer and aircraft designer, known as the "King of Fighters". He designed the I-15 series of ...
and Dmitry Tomashevich, approved the flight, and no one had signed a form releasing the prototype from the factory. In any case, Chkalov took off and made a low altitude circuit around the airfield. For the second circuit, Chkalov flew farther away, climbing to over 2,000 m (6,560 ft) even though the flight plan specifically forbade exceeding 600 m (1,970 ft). Chkalov apparently miscalculated his landing approach and came in short of the airfield, but when he attempted to correct his approach the engine cut out. Chkalov was able to avoid several buildings, but struck an overhead powerline. He was thrown from the cockpit, sustaining severe injuries, and died two hours later. His ashes are interred in the
Kremlin Wall The Moscow Kremlin Wall is a defensive wall that surrounds the Moscow Kremlin, recognisable by the characteristic notches and its Kremlin towers. The original walls were likely a simple wooden fence with guard towers built in 1156. The Kremlin w ...
. The official government investigation concluded that the engine cut out because it became too cold in the absence of the
cowl flaps Aircraft engine controls provide a means for the pilot to control and monitor the operation of the aircraft's powerplant. This article describes controls used with a basic internal-combustion engine driving a propeller. Some optional or more adv ...
. Others hypothesised that Chkalov had advanced the throttle too fast and thus flooded the engine. As a result of the crash, Tomashevich and several other officials, who urged the first flight, were immediately arrested. Years later, fellow test pilot Mikhail Gromov blamed the designers for flawed engine cooling and Chkalov himself for deviating from the flight plan. Chkalov's son claimed that a plan to assassinate his father had been in the works in the months preceding his death, but the circumstances of the crash make foul play unlikely. Despite the opinion of some, after Chkalov's death Polikarpov's reputation with Stalin was left intact, and Polikarpov continued to design aircraft.


Commemoration

The village of Vasilyevo where Chkalov was born is now the town of Chkalovsk (
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (russian: link=no, Нижегородская область, ''Nizhegorodskaya oblast''), is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localiti ...
). The city of Orenburg bore the name Chkalov from 1938 to 1957. There was a Chkalov Street in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
(part of Moscow's
Garden Ring The Garden Ring, also known as the "B" Ring (russian: Садо́вое кольцо́, кольцо́ "Б"; transliteration: ''Sadovoye Koltso''), is a circular ring road avenue around central Moscow, its course corresponding to what used to b ...
), now renamed Zemlyanoy Val; its namesakes in
Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
and several other Russian cities still exist. Nizhny Novgorod also has a staircase down to the Volga named after him with a statue of him at the top of it. In 1975, at
Vancouver Washington Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...
, a monument to Chkalov's 1937 polar flight was dedicated at
Pearson Field Pearson Field also once known as Pearson Airpark, is a city-owned municipal airport located one mile (2 km) southeast of the central business district of Vancouver, a city in Clark County, Washington, United States. Pearson Field is t ...
and a street was named Chkalov Drive. A was named ''Chkalov'' but was renamed ''Komsomolets'' in 1958. The metro rail systems of
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, and
Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
each have a '' Chkalovskaya'' station.
Yekaterinburg Metro The Yekaterinburg Metro (russian: Екатеринбургский метрополитен) is a rapid transit system that serves the city of Yekaterinburg, Russia. The Metro opened on 26 April 1991, and is long and serves 9 stations. The Yeka ...
also opened one in 2012. One of 16 Russia's Tu-160 bombers was named after Valery Chkalov. A musical duet, Отряд имени Валерия Чкалова ("Detachment named after Valery Chkalov"), recorded their first album in 1983. A monument to Chkalov in Dnipro,
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
was dismantled in December 2022.


See also

* Anatoly Serov *
Chkalov Island Chkalov Island (Остров Чкалова; Ostrov Chkalova), formerly Udd Island (Остров Удд), is a coastal island in the southern end of the Sea of Okhotsk. It is located off Schastya Bay, between the shorebound lagoon and the sea. B ...


References


Further reading

* Baĭdukov, G., ''Over the North Pole'' ( New York:
Harcourt, Brace and Company Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. The company was last based in San Diego, California, with editorial/sales/marketing/rights offices in New York City an ...
, 1938). * ''Id.'', ''Russian Lindbergh: The Life of Valery Chkalov'' (
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991). * McCannon, John, ''Red Arctic: Polar Exploration and the Myth of the North in the Soviet Union, 1932–1939'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chkalov, Valery 1904 births 1938 deaths Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Burials at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis Heroes of the Soviet Union People from Balakhninsky Uyezd People from Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Russian aviators Russian explorers Soviet Air Force officers Soviet test pilots Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1938 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner