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"Ot Kolkhoznikov i kolkhoznits Gorkovskoy oblasti" LaGG-3s and La-5s paid by collective farm workers of the Gorky area By Massimo Tessitori |
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| On 11th of December 1942 the local newspaper of Gorky (now Nizhniy
Novgorod) region “Gorkovskaya kommuna” published an announcement
for all local workers : to pile their donations for obtaining an eskadrilya
of fighters for the Red Army; those fighters had to be named after the
most famous Soviet aircraft test pilot born in their region.
This was Valeriy Chkalov (2.02.1904-15.12.1938), a test pilot that performed
the first long range non-stop flight to the USA via North Pole in 1937
with a single engined ANT-25 and became an immensely popular Hero of the
Soviet Union.
Workers of Gorky region were encouraged by collective-farm workers of
Tombov region who donated to the Red Army tanks on 9th of November 1942.
Therefore already on 16th of December 1942 in Gorky region workers of various
districts had piled 60 mlln. RUB to obtain new fighters Lavochkin La-5
and LaGG-3 produced at the Factory Nr.21.
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The aircrafts donated by the collective farms and dedicated to Valeriy
Chkalov were distributed into different units, mainly 159 IAP and 4 GIAP
KBF, but examples were received by other units too, including 960 IAP-PVO,
254 IAP, 159 IAP, 193 IAP, 88 GIAP, and probably 31 IAP and 131 IAP.
All these aircrafts were characterized by the inscription "Eskadrilya
Valeriy Chkalov" on port side; on starboard, most of them had inscription
describing the donors "Ot kolkhoznikov i kolkhoznits Gorkovskoy oblasti"
(From the Collective-workmen and Collective-workwomen of the Gorky region).
20 fighters La-5 from VCh eskadrilya were supplied to 4 GIAP KBF in
the beginning of January 1943. That time the regiment was moved from the
front on the back-front airfield for changing I-16 into La-5. Since there
was no double-seated La-5s for training, the pilots risked but nevertheless
tried to educate themselves with the new fighter La-5. Some La-5s were
crashed during training already. Perhaps it was the largest batch of VCh
La-5s.
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The La-5 fighter production has started in Zavod 21 (factory nr.21)
in Gorky in July 1942; it didn't replace the LaGG-3, which was produced
there in parallel for the entire year 1942 (upper left).
There is stated in written Russian sources that the first decision
to donate aircraft in Gorky region was signed on December 16th of 1942.
Some photos, discovered now and being unpublished yet (see below),
are dated in winter of 1942, and could represent the first deliveries of
such fighters.
The later fighters known to have had VCh inscriptions are La-5F
"white
18" and "white 20" (upper right); that improved type replaced
the La-5 on the Zavod 21 production lines on March 1943, and was built
there in parallel with the more powerful La-5FN.
All this let us think that the deliveries were made in different times
during the winter of 1942 and the spring of 1943.
Here are some interesting images, probably never published before, of
aircrafts with the famous inscription "Eskadrilya Valeriy Chkalov".
The description of the pictures found in the archive says:
"Members
of Collective farm of Pavlovskiy district Gorky region observe the aircrafts
La-5 of eskadrilya "Valeriy Chkalov" obtained for Red Army, on the airfield
of Gorky factory. Winter 1942. Author N. Kapeliush"
N. Kapeliush lived in Gorky region and was the close friend of Valeriy
Chkalov, and thus his photographer.
For the 100th anniversary of V.Chkalov in the beginning of 2004 was
published the photo-album dedicated to this famous pilot - “Krylya Chkalova”
(Wings of Chkalov). Many photos from the personal archive
of N. Kapeliush were published in this photo-album for the first time.
Thanks to:
Aleksey Zaicev-Valiayev, owner of the pictures that are copyrighted;
Audrius Nairanauskas for the historical research;
the State Authority of audio/video material archive of Nizhniy Novgorod
region (ex Gorky) where the original pictures are stored.
| Many workers at the meeting pose near a still uncompleted La-5 "Eskadrilya
Valeriy Chkalov" during its assembly at Factory Nr.21.
The engine is still missing, and the rudder and elevators appear dark. From the position of the inscription, it seems that this aircraft was not the same of the images below.
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mage from Aleksey Zaicev-Valiayev - click to enlarge A detail of the red star insigna on the port with the donation inscription
"Eskadrilya
Valeriy Chkalov", red on white background and white on red background.
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Image from Aleksey Zaicev-Valiayev - click to enlarge |
These images represent the delivery of an aircraft (red 22?)
to an operative unit in presence of a delegation of the Collective
farm of Pavlovskiy district, Gorky region, winter 1942.
Some aircraft without the donation inscription are visible on the background (red 57, red 82). The unit that received this aircraft is unknown; some hypotheses were advanced on a Russian forum. It surfaced that it could belong either to 31 IAP or 131 IAP. A researcher saw similar pictures of winter La-5 with inscription "Eskadrilya Valeriy Chkalov" in the file of 31 IAP in the CAMO archive. But some other sources say that 31 IAP had only summer camouflaged La-5s. Unfortunately, the name of the pilot represented on the images is still unknown. |
mage from Aleksey Zaicev-Valiayev - click to enlarge |
mage from Aleksey Zaicev-Valiayev - click to enlarge |
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Image from Red Stars n.1, colorized by Massimo Tessitori |
Let's see the single aircrafts and pilots more in detail. Click on the links to view a page with larger drawings, photos and comments on each aircraft.
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the aircraft delivered on that occasion |
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a plane of 193 IAP |
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an aircraft visible on the background |
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of 11 GIAP |
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of General Major
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of 159th IAP |
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of 159th IAP |
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of 88th GIAP |
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of 4th GIAP KBF |
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of 4th GIAP KBF |
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of 21 IAP |
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