Who is killing the historical buildings of the flight school in Lipetsk and why?
- Zarina Nurmukhammedovna, which is correct: Chikalov or Chekalov?
- That's right - Chakalov, Alinochka!
- Where did these pilots live at that time?
- As expected, in winter - in Wintergreens, in the summer - in tents...
(Imaginary dialogue in an imaginary school in the city of Lipetsk in 2040)
- That's right - Chakalov, Alinochka!
- Where did these pilots live at that time?
- As expected, in winter - in Wintergreens, in the summer - in tents...
(Imaginary dialogue in an imaginary school in the city of Lipetsk in 2040)
Someone may not like this epigraph as an introduction, and if you can still argue with the first part of it, I agree, but as for the second part, this is exactly what can easily happen. Why? Yes, because there simply won’t be any evidence left. But more on this at the very end, because the topic unexpectedly turned out to be very complex.
I didn’t have time to really work out the Voronezh theme, almost simultaneously an SOS arrived from Lipetsk. A local historian, local historian and tour guide, Ivan Klimov (on the left in the photo), a real patriot of his city, who, moreover, knows how to look into the future, asked for help. And he doesn't really like it.
Lipetskaya aviation the school, opened in 1925, is gradually being killed. They are simply demolishing one building after another. The buildings where Valery Chkalov and Vasily Stalin lived and studied today are a nuisance to many.
In general, the city of Lipetsk is unique. It’s small and pleasant to look at, but the trouble is in it stories there was nothing supernatural or remarkable. An ordinary provincial town. And the aviation school, whose history began some time before German pilots came to Lipetsk to study, would be one of the historical attractions. Of which, frankly speaking, there are not so many in Lipetsk. To put it simply, they are worth their weight in gold, just like the people who left their mark on our history.
Monument "Wandering Lenin", for example
And now we have an aviation school, the buildings of which managed to fly outside the Lipetsk Aviation Training Center. The land plot was reduced, and the buildings ended up outside the fence of the aviation center, at the disposal of the city.
Well, the city began to give orders... From the heart. In general, the whole story must be analyzed separately, and this is not an easy matter, but for a general illustration I will say this: the fate of houses No. 31, No. 36, No. 38 and No. 40 on Ignatiev Street, which previously housed a German school, can serve as an example. In 2008, the buildings that had protected status were demolished.
How this could happen, one must ask the then head of the aviation center, General Kharchevsky, or better yet, even his deputies, against whom criminal cases were even opened in 2011 for fraud with money, but it is a fact: four houses that were transferred to the aviation center were demolished, and In their place, huge multi-storey buildings of the military type grew up. To date, the houses have not been completed, moreover, they have been partially stolen, but somehow no one really cares.
These are the buildings in the center of the photo.
As a result, we got this picture: the once unified complex, let’s call it the “old aviation school,” was very skillfully built up with new buildings and houses. Some of them have not been completed and, moreover, they are going to demolish them and build something else there.
But in general, the situation has turned out to be such that historical buildings are of no interest to anyone except those who want to build another residential complex there.
Then I was informed of the “program” of the mayor and governor, under which Lipetsk would not expand beyond the city boundaries. The population has been decreasing for the last ten years, so housing will be built as infill development. And Ignatiev and Tereshkova streets cannot be called outskirts today. 100 years ago there was a wilderness in which it was possible to calmly teach the Germans, but now it’s really the center of the city...
And now the bathhouse and laundry complex of the aviation school, which, according to local residents, worked normally as a bathhouse until recently, came into the developer’s sights. Neither historians, nor activists, nor local media representatives could answer the simple question of who sold house No. 33a on Ignatieva Street. It was bought by a certain entrepreneur; they claim that he bought it at an auction quite honestly for 33,7 million rubles.
If you look at this photo, it becomes clear that if you remove the unnecessary hundred-year-old bath and laundry complex, then two 20-story buildings will simply stand on this site. At least, these are the plans the locals told me.
But there is some kind of deception here. The fact that documents had already been submitted for the bath and laundry complex (BPC) to give it the status of a protected object with historical value, the mayor’s office could not help but know. But the property was put up for sale and sold. Was the buyer aware of the impending status? I think I knew, because subsequent events showed it.
As soon as the fence around the baths appeared, not only the keepers of history raised the alarm, but also local residents, to whom the appearance of two monsters on a piece of land did not seem like a smart decision. Ignatieva Street is not only narrow, but also blocked for traffic on one side. Well, there is a load on the networks, a huge number of cars in small yards, in general, the local residents were not at all interested in the idea.
And then information broke out that the object was about to receive protected status.
It is absolutely clear and understandable that the buyer is a sober person and understands that the city will not return the money for the BOD to him. That's not why they took it. And then he decided to make a decisive and quick offensive and cross the Rubicon. In the sense of quickly destroying the BOD.
This happened in Voronezh, the keepers of history fought for the complex of buildings of bakery No. 1, which survived the revolution and two wars, and as a result the plant was given the status of a protected object, but... three days before, on Friday evening, equipment came in and the bakery was demolished. All. To the historical brick. On Monday, couriers arrived with a threatening document, but there was nothing left to protect.
Apparently, the Lipetsk residents decided to do the same thing, but bad luck: the residents and activists turned out to be more active and stubborn. Yes, one fine night the equipment arrived and began to break it. But immediately there followed calls to the police and attempts to solve the problem on the spot with the help of a trivial massacre. Purely in Russian.
The buildings were damaged, but custodians say everything can be repaired. The owner eventually removed the equipment, the locals are still monitoring the situation, because they understand that the excavators can return at any moment.
Residents of this house stood up for the BOD
They say the Lipetsk prosecutor's office got involved. Let's see, an analysis of what happened from the point of view of the legality of the actions is simply necessary, because the violation is obvious: the building should not have been put up for sale until a decision was made to recognize the BOD as a historically valuable object.
That's the story.
It would seem, what’s wrong with the baths where the Germans washed their bodies?
But in fact, the story of the bathhouses and demolished houses is worth looking at, if not from an airplane flight, then at least from a bird’s eye view. Like on the map.
Until now, we had a certain complex of buildings that was about a century old or even a little more. The buildings are united by a common history, and could easily become an entire museum complex dedicated not only to aviation, but to that era as a whole. Moreover, much of it was built long before the aviation school; the buildings were simply repurposed.
Lipetsk is such a city that there is very little history there that would be interesting to people from the outside. There are practically no buildings left from the 19th century, not to mention those dating back to the founding of Lipetsk. And a complex of century-old buildings, closely connected with aviation, would be very appropriate for tourists to visit.
And, by the way, it is absolutely not necessary to place the main emphasis on training Germans. Yes, many of the school’s cadets later became senior officers and generals, but their careers, let’s say, did not take off after 1943.
Instead of dwelling on hypotheses about whether Goering was in Lipetsk and whether he had mistresses there, which is what the vast majority of those writing on this topic are doing, it would be worth just thinking about the fact that Goering really had nothing to study there. Goering could fly and was a World War I ace with 22 aircraft credited as shot down. So he really could teach at that school. But he never existed in Lipetsk.
Wouldn’t it be better to talk about Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel Vasily Sergeevich Efremov, a graduate of this aviation school, squadron commander of the 10th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment?
343 sorties (think about it!!!), 32 aircraft destroyed and 4 shot down. Efremov was an excellent pilot and specialized in enemy airfields, hence the number of destroyed aircraft. Yes, on the ground. His Pe-2 bombs. And four particularly smart Germans were shot down by his shooters. This is, excuse me, three squadrons!
And such pilots passed through Lipetsk... 3 Twice Heroes of the Soviet Union, 29 Heroes of the Soviet Union, then came the Heroes of Russia...
During our walks, Ivan showed me to the balcony of a house that stood next to the fence of the modern aviation center. Then this house was on the territory of a military camp and Vasily Stalin lived in this apartment. An apartment where a towel is drying on the balcony.
In the entrance itself everything is almost like in those days, probably
And the name of Valery Chkalov is also associated with the aviation school.
And in these buildings there would be a place for one of the greatest pilots of the last century, Mikhail Vasilyevich Vodopyanov.
He did not study at the Lipetsk school, but he was born in the village of Bolshie Studenki, where Lipetsk now stands.
In general, if you don’t pretend that you want to preserve history and increase knowledge about great ancestors, then Lipetsk could simply become the most interesting place in the memory of aviation, since so many air corridors converge here...
But no, Lipetsk mayors are much more interested in the jackpot that they will get from the construction of the next human settlements. This is much more profitable, since museums, history and tourists are tomorrow for the city, and money in your personal pocket is now. Everything is transparent and understandable.
Now I will show you what remains of the aviation school where pilots were trained
The dormitory building is now moved outside the military camp
The workshop building is located on the territory of a garage cooperative and is used as a utility unit
A hangar (the blocked gate is visible) with workshops. By the way, the upcoming residential complex, the third phase of which will demolish these buildings, is clearly visible.
Former aviation school headquarters. The building was on fire and was extinguished. It stands and awaits demolition because it interferes with construction. And by the way - 19th century.
And finally, the educational building. Abandoned, ruined, no one needs him. Although from the outside it looks fine. Not yet.
By the way - stove heating! And on the right you can see the only building that can still live without danger. The administrative building, which was lucky to be on the territory of the aviation center.
Well, there is another building, an old casino. There is now a dispensary there, they weren’t allowed to rent the building, they started yelling that they had a military district and couldn’t rent.
Lately I don’t understand a little on the basis on which Russian officials are going to carry out the president’s orders. The complete impression is that they are deaf, Putin hammers away at the same thing year after year with the tenacity of a woodpecker, expresses dissatisfaction, but here, excuse me, water off a duck’s back is like styrofoam to axes. Victory a couple of weeks before May 9th - and then we calmly roll out our dough to the envy of everyone. Like this one, also an abandoned high-rise building.
And then surprise bordering on panic, why is it that our young people don’t have patriotism? Why is she going to storm Verkhniy Lars instead of Avdeevka?
Yes, that’s all because gentlemen city officials, instead of preserving history, are destroying it and building residential complexes on the ruins. And by and large, they all wanted to give a damn about this story. The main thing is to make the report look nicer and send it to Moscow. And then “whack-whack”, we are creating a bright future for ourselves.
And they are still sawing at full speed the complete disbelief on the part of those who, not even tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, will have to defend the country. But this will only happen the day after tomorrow, and today it is possible to demolish very strong historical buildings and build residential complexes in their place. Which then, if something happens, will quickly become empty. But today’s officials in Lipetsk don’t care about this.
If Lipetsk were an isolated example... We were just talking about Voronezh, then there will be some other city... The general trend in Russia is the same - what is the story when you need to make money? Moreover, quickly, while there is still somewhere to escape if something happens.
And despite the fact that the prosecutor’s office became involved in the bathhouse case, concerned residents sent statements to all authorities, there is no confidence that the buildings of the former aviation school will survive the battle with residential complexes. They, the buildings, are still very strong, but what can you do if the land on which they stand is more interesting than the whole history?
Call on the city authorities of Lipetsk to stop this cultureless obscurantism? Let's try.
Maybe the mayor of Lipetsk, Mrs. Uvarkina, will be able to understand what is happening in the city and what fruits it will bring in the future? The chance may be tiny, but it is there.
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