How downed pilots were rescued during the Great Patriotic War: specific examples

When performing combat missions, Soviet pilots often encountered an organized enemy air defense system.

This led to the loss of the aircraft, the need to carry out ejection. At the same time, after the ejection, the Soviet pilot could find himself behind enemy lines. How, in this case, to carry out the operation to rescue him? How to get the pilot out of the territory, which was controlled by the Germans at that time?

There are many cases where rescue operations have been truly audacious. Many of them are described by their participants themselves - including in the memoirs that came out after the end of the Great Patriotic War.

They rescued in different ways - with the help of sabotage groups abandoned behind enemy lines, fighters of partisan detachments, using funds aviation... For obvious reasons, such operations were fraught with enormous risks, including for those who themselves act as rescuers.

One of the types of operations to rescue downed pilots is the destruction of enemy positions, including its air defense systems in the area where the downed Soviet aircraft is located. But this required considerable aviation forces, skillful actions in the air, which would lead to the desired result. Unfortunately, it also happened that this led to additional losses.

How downed pilots were rescued during the Great Patriotic War is described in a video on the Sky Artist channel with specific examples:

Comments

[Machito]

I did not understand anything about the bailout. There were no catapults then.

[The leader of the Redskins]

Also "cut" the eyes. The author was in a hurry with the review.
And about the rescue ... There were isolated cases when Po-2 flew in and took the crew, sometimes a comrade from the flight would sit down and take the shot down, and more often with his own legs, across the front line. And, of course, not always successful ...

[tasha]

There were, but for the Germans, if you turn on the boring mode.
But the authors, of course, gave it away. Will there be more, heh ..

How do you like this: "When performing combat missions, Soviet pilots often encountered an organized enemy air defense system. This led to the loss of the aircraft, the need to carry out ejection."
We just ran into an organized air defense system - that's it, the plane was lost ...

[210ox]

People are far from our military history. But however, they are trying to write something on this topic. What will they write in fifty years? That our pilots turned on the invisibility mode when overcoming enemy air defenses?

[Nikolaevich I]

Quote: Bearded

I did not understand anything about the bailout. There were no catapults then.

Actually, downed pilots then parachuted or parachuted downed plane ... By the way, many pilots from different countries adhered to a kind of code of honor, when shooting down enemy pilots in the air was considered a vile act! There were adherents of this code both in the Red Army Air Force and in the Luftwaffe ... Unfortunately, there were many who did not adhere to the code ... they were both in the Luftwaffe and in the Soviet aviation! Historically, the Asians were particularly cruel to the defeated enemy ... in this case, I mean the Japanese! There are many examples of cruelty by the Japanese towards downed Soviet pilots, for example, during the Soviet-Japanese conflicts in the 30s ... The Japanese, for example, not only shot the pilots in the air, but also tried to kill them in a more sophisticated way: with a wing the plane tried to chop off the parachute lines or the pilot's legs ... They did not disdain to shoot downed pilots and "hotbeds of the world's best American democracy"!

[The leader of the Redskins]

Mass shootings of fleeing pilots began in Spain and China in 1937.
The Japanese even once dropped a box with a pilot cut into pieces on the Chinese airfield.
But the "Chinese comrades" were also different: in the event of a Japanese pilot being captured, the aerodrome's attendants, under a speech like "once or twice, took ..." tore him alive by the arms and legs.

[pro100y.belarus]

Quote: Nikolaevich I

... Unfortunately, there were many who did not adhere to the code ... they were in the Luftwaffe and in the Soviet aviation!

Interestingly about the "code of honor" ... I am citing an excerpt from the book "On the heights of courage" by FS Gnezdilov, who served as chief of staff of the 18th GIAP.
"... Once on one of the tracks our echelon stopped. Being the head of the echelon, I sent Lieutenant I.G. Zhirnov to the patrol to find out the reason for the delay, to find out how soon we would start again. He did not return soon. and turning pale, the lieutenant reported that he saw a terrible picture at the crossing. It turned out that shortly before our echelon approached the crossing, "Junkers." - women, children, old people. Nevertheless, they dropped a bomb load of enormous force on him. As a result of this barbaric strike, hundreds of people were killed. All the cars were broken, the tracks were damaged.
The railroad workers turned to us with a request to help them in clearing and restoring tracks. We couldn't refuse. The sooner we cope with this matter, the sooner we get to the plant.
The warriors-aviators arrived at the patrol. And what we saw shook us to the core. Horror gripped their hearts. Among the wreckage of the carriages were many bodies of Soviet people disfigured by the bombing. They could have been our parents, wives and children. And all this is the work of the fascist scum. You need to beat them everywhere, beat them mercilessly!
It was difficult to work in this terrible place. But we worked with full dedication. I really wanted to get on the road as soon as possible. It took more than a day to work. "

There is no "code of honor" for those who do not have this honor.
If a fascist pilot has jumped out with a parachute over his territory, he will come tomorrow to his airfield, sit in the cockpit of a new plane and continue to kill.
It is difficult to determine the price of actions without being in that time.

[Most polite]

The announcement is sheer nonsense, so I won't watch the video either ...

[Lipchanin]

The article is somehow incomprehensible
It seems that the author wrote it on his knee and in a hurry
Hence

the need to carry out a bailout. Moreover, after the bailout

[Machito]

Quote: Lipchanin

The article is somehow incomprehensible
It seems that the author wrote it on his knee and in a hurry
Hence

the need to carry out a bailout. Moreover, after the bailout

It seems that the author was unexpectedly ejected, and while he was flying to the ground, he was writing an article.

[Grandfather]

Moreover, the fact that it flew out as a result of overload during ejection

[novel66]

Earrings! what a fuck

, the need to carry out bailouts.

the author, generally in himself ???

[KLV]

Who is the author of this "material"?

[novel66]

Who is the author of this "material"?

vain

[Tarasios]

The world's first bailout. performed on January 13.1.1942, 280 by G. Schenck (Germany) on a He-24.7.1947 turbojet aircraft (Heinkel). In the USSR, the first ejection was performed on 2 by G.A.Kondrashov on a Pe-XNUMX laboratory aircraft.
As if that's all.

[iouris]

Quote: "In this case, after the bailout, the Soviet pilot could be behind enemy lines." End of quote.
Bailouts !!
And if you do not "catapult", then where can you be?

[Revolver]

Quote: iouris

And if you do not "catapult", then where can you be?

Options: heaven, hell, Valhalla, reincarnation, nothingness, what else? Or, as Woland said: "Everyone will be rewarded according to his faith."

[novel66]

there remained sheer garbage, somewhere to take a catapult

[Givi_49]

Excellently described his own salvation to his own wingman GSS V.B. Emelianenko, when, having received an anti-aircraft projectile in the engine, he sat down on a forced on enemy territory, and his wingman M. Talykov immediately sat down next to him and put his commander in the fuselage compartment of his single IL-2, took off under the noses of the Germans and turned around and, out of fullness of feelings , made 2 (two) additional visits to that armored personnel carrier with the Germans who were trying to capture the commander who had sat down. The armored personnel carrier burned down, ours returned to the base safely. This is what our heroic fathers and grandfathers did, eternal gratitude to them and deserved unfading glory!
I think that in the XNUMXst century, our children and grandchildren should not be forced to board or land by parachutes into enemy territory, but should be able to FLY on their own after leaving the damaged aircraft to a safe distance to the point where it is guaranteed to be rescued.
The obvious rationale: in the west, every jackal has long been flying on jetpacks, platforms, with or without wings, and our guys either die by parachuting while still in the air, or take an unequal battle on the ground, or die trying to save a pilot who was shot down in target area. These guys are incomparably dearer to us than the more modern system of individual rescue, which uses not only gravity, but also the well-known modern achievements of technology.

[Glory1974]

in the west, every jackal has long been flying on jetpacks, platforms, with or without wings

A good idea. He ejected, started his jetpack and flew home.

[Bolt cutter]

in the west, every jackal has long been flying jetpacks

There are no such knapsacks in service with any country in the world.

[yehat2]

as I understand it, the salvation consisted of several points
1. comrades somehow spotted the place of the fall. Fighters would often fly low if the location was safe and were being looked around
2. If opportunities allowed, in the near future they would send 2-by-7 or pick up a car, sometimes other planes flew - Yak-5 or La-2 or Su-1 or Aist (a copy of a German fizler) could easily pick up 1 additional person. A sabotage group was rarely sent. But there was one more important point - informing intelligence officers and the NKVD about pilots who can run across, so that they can quickly return to the unit, and not get stuck in filtration.

[yehat2]

Quote: glory1974

A good idea. Ejected, started a jetpack and flew home

a good idea, but it's still a long way off. Technically it is possible, but there is a long distance from possibility to reality. Look how long it took to equip with banal reliable parachutes. But you also need to learn how to manage the knapsack. It's probably not a very good idea to fly on it right away - the range leaves much to be desired. But to roll something like a suitcase on wheels and jump over the front line is quite enough.