Levset Darchev - Burnt by shuttle

The next one is Oleg Kononenko, “Yuri added. – I want to stop to think more and add a little lyrics, because I knew him well. Oleg, a pupil of the fifth grade of Rostov school together with his younger brother Peter was sitting on the roof of the house and counting the bombers, with a certain interval betwin them/over their heads.

“Peter, how do you think, where do they fly from? "– Oleg askedbrother, consumed by the desire to get to the airfield and touch by hand the plane. This gave him no rest day or night. When they calculated that it was very far away, they realized that it will take more than one day of walking. They postponed hike on the first day of summer vacation.

A few days later, the brothers reached the airfield, not asking anyone how to go, because they were afraid to reveal their secret to others. The mechanic was cleaning the plane with a rag in his hand. and when he saw the boys next to him was surprised. “Well, get out of here!”, – The mechanic went on the offensive, lifting both hands into the air. Oleg begged: “Uncle, please let us help to clean the plane. “That’s how Oleg first touched an iron, cold body of plane, which finally decided the future of the boy. In 1952 he entered the technical school and simultaneously went to the flying club, where he began to learn the basics of flying. At twenty nearly a year he worked as an aeroclub instructor, but the desire the fly was sickening him. There is no choice, and he begins to fly on the the Mi-2, Mi-4, on an airplane u-2 maize harvester for agricultural so it took seven years. He, feeling in himself the talent of the pilot wanted to get rid of routine, but does not know how. He soon learnt from his friend Shevchenko about the existence of school of test pilots. Oleg managed to get through qualification competition and enroll in this school. But here again, the school turned out to be a helicopter. But he was lucky in that the instructor in the flight case turned out to be a well-known tester Karnaev, a specialist in vertical take-off, and next were tests of a vertical plane take-off by Yak-36. Ten years later, when the design bureau Yakovleft released first sample of deck attack aircraftYak-38, there was a problem – none of the pilots could not squeeze the plane in the air. Long thought and decided to invite a helicopter pilot for testing. In 1972, for the first time he test driver of this type of aircraft was Oleg: a tall, slightly stooped, in a demi-season coat and a rabbit hat with pubescent ears named “student”. On that momen he was 34 years old. Looking at him, no one could have thought that in this person, nicknamed “student”, sits an ace of flying art. From the first time he hung in the air like a helicopter- the designers were happy that their calculations came true. That’s how they met: the plane, not like airplane, and the pilot, unlike the pilot. They noticed inhim a talent as a tester, who is well versed in the aero-dynamics, dynamics and control of the aircraft. That is why helicopter disigners trusted only to him the most complex programs, such as engine failures at various stages of flight, critical modes for combat maneuvering, landing in difficult conditions. The talent of the pilot is very important, ability to react instantly to the behavior of machins in the air. According to his colleagues, Oleg was of dutility and great capacity for work. He liked to write letters at home in his spare time that he knew that he was always being waited. “Everything is normal with my work. Lately began to fly on airplanes. But all the time I want to come home to squat around the house with son Oleg on my back, drink teas, eat shi, enjoy life and laugh at happiness ".The links of design department with the were strengthening, and the new machine step by step went towards production line – the dream of any pilot-test and sometimes they go to it all life: ups, downs, crashes, fractures, hospitals and again in a new circle- such is the ruthless life of a test pilot.

In Kubinka in 1973, Brezhnev personally with the generals was present at the demonstration of Yak-38 capabilities and was delighted with the skill of the pilot.

– Who is it? Asked Brezhnev Marshal Grechko. Brezhnev wasin a white shirt without sleeves and a tie, and so it seemed thin unlike the current General Secretary from the TV screen…

“This is Oleg Kononenko,” answered the marshal with pride. He was on top of all. – A true master of his craft. Would be in the army all, such as he.

“Call him to me,” ordered the Secretary-General.

Oleg Kononenko shook hands with the Secretary General and with excitement looked into his smiling eyes, overspread by wide eyebrows, taking from him a personal watch with thirty precious stones on which was engraved: “From Brezhnev.”

To increase the combat power of the aircraft, especially in the south hemisphere, where high air temperatures reduced its functionality, constructors decided to use a short take-off on the deck. And how can we do without Kononenko again -he turned from a “student” into an authoritative and confident in itself a “teacher”. Just his appearance on the deck of the cruiser evoked delight of the pilots. But by that time he was numbered in the cosmonaut detachment of Igor Volk.

“Oleg, you’re not going anywhere,” said the Wolf. – Leave yourdangerous jokes. There are enough pilots to do that without you.

“I can not, Igor Petrovich,” Oleg said sadly. – If they called, then they want me and besides, I started this business and should finish it. Wolf perfectly understood Oleg: any test pilot must polish the apparatus and pass. He is the ultimate link and decisive. Igor Petrovich said nothing and sadly said goodbye to Oleg.

December, 1979. “Voice of America”: “Today at 13.00 in the area of Vladivostok was wrecked by an airplane with vertical takeoff and landing of deck aviation of The Soviet Union. Nothing is known about the fate of the pilot …”

Larissa, Kononenko’s wife, picked up the tube bursting phone.

– Hello, Larissa, – Oleg’s voice rang out. “Put the kettle on, I’ll be home soon.”

As soon as Larissa saw her husband, her joy disappeared: Oleg under the eye had a blue hematoma, and when he entered thebath she was horrified – the whole body was bruised.

“What’s the matter, dear?” Larissa asked with horror in her eyes.

“I’ve been catapulted,” he said with a stiff expression. He lowered his head: his wife had never seen him like this- killed and confused.

At the end of August, Oleg was summoned to continue the test. His son and wife saw him off at the airport. Wife for the wholelife remembered his open palm with outspread fingers pressed against the cold glass with an external stoons. He said goodbye to his family, and there were tears in the corners of his eyes. He then seemed small, helpless: the feeling- somehow knew that he sees his family in the last time.

September 8, 1980, at 6 hours 13 minutes Moscow time time, in the South China Sea with the rise of the same self-summer from the same ship with the same operation – working off methods of truncated take-off in the limiting modes are not

The valves of the nozzle of the lifting and moving engine the plane “dipped”, hit the wheels on the bar. After leaving the deck, the plane became a hollow decrease. Kononenko did not catapult, until the last trying to save the plane. Before hitting the water in 150 meters ahead of the ship with bubbling streams of water, raise the engines, from the plane, the flap was torn off, the car turned 180 degrees. Yak-38 with the number 45 onthe board was still afloat for a minute, but no movementsin the cabin was not. The combination of lateral and vertical cargo caused a sudden loss of consciousness of the pilot, this could not be catapulted. He was killed and buried in Zhukovsky in the same row as his comrades.