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15 May 1942
seconds, having reached a speed in excess of 675 kilometers/hour. During the
takeoff, the aircraft’s left ski tore off.There was no radio on the airplane, and it
was not possible to communicate to the pilot that landing posed the threat of
an accident. Gruzdev went in for a landing completely unaware of what had
happened. Nevertheless, the experienced pilot made contact with the ground
so smoothly, that having touched it with only one ski, he understood immediately
that there was a problem with the other one.When the aircraft had slowed
down it gently turned and rested on its wing.
On 11 and 14 March, having returned from Moscow, Bakhchi executed the
fourth and fifth flights.The aircraft could now reach an altitude of 4,000 meters
after the engine had run for 80 seconds, with a maximum climb rate of 82
meters/second. During the sixth flight on 21 March, a third model of the BI flew
into the air for the first time.The tests were conducted with the aircraft carrying
the full battle scale of ammunition at maximum thrust.
The objective of the seventh flight on 27 March was to reach maximum speed
in horizontal flight. Fedorov, Bolkhovitinov, Bereznyak, and Isayev were present, as
they were for each flight.When we met in Moscow, Isayev told me that everyone
expected a world speed record to be set during the flight.The abrupt, steep takeoff
with a transition to horizontal flight lasted 78 seconds. The characteristic
reddish-brown vapor let them know that the engine had shut down. A small
cumulus cloud impaired visibility for a couple seconds.And then something totally
inexplicable happened—the aircraft flew out of the cloud with its nose down and
plunged to the ground in a steep, steady dive.
I did not witness this flight. According to others’ accounts, there was no cloud
and the aircraft shifted from horizontal flight at maximum speed into a dive at an
angle of around 45 degrees and literally stabbed into the ground 6 kilometers from
the airfield. I learned about Bakhchivandzhi’s death when I was at the People’s
Commissariat of the Aircraft Industry. They had immediately received the news
from Koltsovo.
For me, 27 March became a black day. It was the date of my mother’s death.A
year later, to the day, Bakhchivandzhi died.And twenty-five years later on that same
day, Gagarin died. I have always considered myself a diehard atheist and materialist
who does not believe in any omens or inauspicious dates. But after these coincidences,
I have an internal fear with the approach of every 27 March that I will
receive bad news.
After that accident, BI flights were discontinued. Gruzdev, the second pilot
to have flown in a BI, also died soon thereafter during a routine flight in an
Aerocobra fighter received from the Americans.
Experienced test pilots Bakhchivandzhi and Gruzdev were called from the aviation
front to the deep rear to perform their testing work.They had survived dozens
of air battles, always emerging as victors. Gruzdev’s death resulted from the failure
of American technology.The Cobra was pretty, but they had failed to perform the
proper engineering follow-up required to make it a reliably operating fighter.
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