Nikolai Kamanin
Encyclopedia
Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin (18 October 1908 - 11 March 1982) was a Soviet
Soviet people
Soviet people or Soviet nation was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Initially used as a nonspecific reference to the Soviet population, it was eventually declared to be a "new historical, social and international unity of people".-Nationality politics in early Soviet...

 aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union
Hero of the Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...

 in 1934 for the rescue of SS Chelyuskin
Chelyuskin steamship
SS Chelyuskin was a Soviet steamship reinforced to navigate through polar ice that became ice-bound in Arctic waters during navigation along the Northern Maritime Route from Murmansk to Vladivostok...

 crew from an improvised airfield on the frozen surface of the Chukchi Sea
Chukchi Sea
Chukchi Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the De Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, and in the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, beyond which lies the Beaufort Sea. The Bering Strait forms its southernmost limit and connects it to the Bering Sea and the Pacific...

 near Kolyuchin Island
Kolyuchin Island
Kolyuchin Island or Koliuchin Island is a small island in the Chukchi Sea. It is not far from the coast, being only from the northern shore of the Chukotka Peninsula. Its latitude is 67° 28' N and its longitude 174° 37' E....

.

In World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 he successfully commanded air brigade, air division and an air corps, reaching the rank of Airforce Colonel General and Air Army commander role after the war.

In 1960-1971, General Kamanin was head of cosmonaut training in Soviet space program
Soviet space program
The Soviet space program is the rocketry and space exploration programs conducted by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from the 1930s until its dissolution in 1991...

. He recruited and trained the first generation of cosmonauts, including Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....

, Gherman Titov
Gherman Titov
Gherman Stepanovich Titov was a Soviet cosmonaut who, on August 6, 1961, became the second human to orbit the Earth aboard Vostok 2, preceded by Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1...

 and Alexei Leonov. Kamanin was the Airforce representative in space program, a proponent of manned orbital flight and Airforce influence over the space race. His diaries (1960–1971), published in 1995-2001, are among the most important sources documenting the progress of Soviet space program.

Early life

Nikolai Kamanin was born in Melenki, near Murom
Murom
Murom is a historic city in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which sprawls along the left bank of Oka River. Population: -History:In the 9th century CE, the city marked the easternmost settlement of the Eastern Slavs in the land of the Finno-Ugric people called Muromians. The Russian Primary Chronicle...

, Vladimir Oblast
Vladimir Oblast
Vladimir Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Vladimir, which is located east of Moscow...

. Kamanin's grandfather was a wealthy shoemaker with his own workshop, however, his father, Pyotr Kamanin, broke with tradition and joined the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....

s. He died in 1919 at the age of 49; mother, Stefanida Danilovna (1876–1964) lived all her life in Melenki. Stefanida and Pyotr Kamanin had 10 children; Nikolai survived all his four brothers. Alexander Ivanovich Kamanin, Nikolai's uncle, lived a very long life, including 50 years of religious hermit
Hermit
A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...

age, and had a reputation of a holy elder.

According to his son, Lev Kamanin, Nikolai Kamanin was actually born in 1909 and changed it to 1908 to cheat the Army admission staff when he volunteered in 1927. He passed the airforce physical test and completed the pilots' school in Borisoglebsk
Borisoglebsk
Borisoglebsk is a town in Voronezh Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Vorona River near its confluence with the Khopyor.Population: 65,000 . It is host to Borisoglebsk air base.Borisoglebsk was founded in mid-17th century...

 in 1929, trained by legendary pilot Victor Kholzunov. Kamanin was dispatched to the site of Russo-Chinese railroad conflict
Sino-Soviet conflict (1929)
The Sino–Soviet conflict of 1929 was a minor armed conflict between the Soviet Union and Chinese warlord Zhang Xueliang of the Republic of China over the Manchurian Chinese Eastern Railway....

  in the Far East, arriving one day after cease-fire. There, he joined the legendary Lenin air regiment, the first airforce unit in Soviet history. Kamanin flew a two-seater reconnaissance airplane, including 11-hour endurance flights over the Sea of Japan
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...

. His crewmate, incidentally, was an ethnic Chinese.

Chelyuskin Rescue

In February 1934, Chelyuskin steamship
Chelyuskin steamship
SS Chelyuskin was a Soviet steamship reinforced to navigate through polar ice that became ice-bound in Arctic waters during navigation along the Northern Maritime Route from Murmansk to Vladivostok...

 was crushed by Arctic ice in the Chukchi Sea
Chukchi Sea
Chukchi Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the De Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, and in the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, beyond which lies the Beaufort Sea. The Bering Strait forms its southernmost limit and connects it to the Bering Sea and the Pacific...

. 104 crewmembers and passengers set their base on pack ice. At that time, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 grounded all arctic flights after a string of accidents, and the only rescue force on hand was Anatoly Liapidevsky and his crew of ANT-4
Tupolev TB-1
-See also:-References:* Duffy, Paul and Andrei Kandalov. Tupolev: The Man and His Aircraft. Shrewsbury, UK:Airlife Publishing, 1996. ISBN 1 85310 728 X....

. After 28 failed attempts, Liapidevski located the ice camp on 5 March landed and hauled out twelve of 104 survivors. A week later, on the second flight to ice camp, he crash-landed the airplane after an engine failure. Operation stalled; Soviet government dispatched three groups of pilots from Far Eastern air bases.

The largest group of seven military and civilian reconnaissance pilots on Polikarpov
Polikarpov
Polikarpov Design Bureau was a Soviet OKB for aircraft, led by Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov. After his death on 30 July 1944 at the age of 52, his OKB was absorbed into Lavochkin, but with some of its engineers going to Mikoyan-Gurevich and its production facilities going to Sukhoi...

 R-5 biplanes, based in Primorsky Krai
Primorsky Krai
Primorsky Krai , informally known as Primorye , is a federal subject of Russia . Primorsky means "maritime" in Russian, hence the region is sometimes referred to as Maritime Province or Maritime Territory. Its administrative center is in the city of Vladivostok...

, was led by Kamanin (he later grounded one of the pilots for insubordination). The group sailed from Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...

 2 March 1934, disembarked at Olyutorka and landed at Vankarem
Vankarem
Vankarem is a village in Shmidtovsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, in the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia, situated on Cape Vankarem on the coast of the Chukchi Sea...

 airfield 1 April. Kamanin and Vasily Molokov flew from a temporary base in Vankarem
Vankarem
Vankarem is a village in Shmidtovsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, in the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia, situated on Cape Vankarem on the coast of the Chukchi Sea...

 settlement to the ice camp, saving 34 and 39 survivors. On their first flight from the ice camp, R-5 (designed as a two-seater) carried a crew of two, plus two men from Chelyuskin in the hull
Fuselage
The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...

. Next flights added makeshift wing gondola
Gondola
The gondola is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian Lagoon. For centuries gondolas were the chief means of transportation and most common watercraft within Venice. In modern times the iconic boats still have a role in public transport in...

s, carrying two more men per mission. Other pilots from Kamanin team hauled them from Vankarem to Providence Bay seaport. The ice camp was completely evacuated 13 April 1934; Kamanin returned with the ship's bosun and eight riding dogs.

The next day, six pilots that flew to the ice camp and back (including Kamanin) and Sigizmund Levanevsky
Sigizmund Levanevsky
Sigizmund Aleksandrovich Levanevsky was a Soviet aircraft pilot of Polish origin and a Hero of the Soviet Union .-Life and career:...

 were announced as the first Heroes of the Soviet Union. Pilots who ferried survivors from Vankarem to Providence received Order of the Red Star
Order of the Red Star
Established on 6 April 1930, the Order of the Red Star was an order of the Soviet Union, given to Red Army and Soviet Navy personnel for "exceptional service in the cause of the defense of the Soviet Union in both war and peace". It was established by Resolution of the Presidium of the CEC of the...

.

Occupation of Iran

In 1939, Kamanin completed Zhukovsky Airforce Academy. Prior to his front-line assignments, colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 Kamanin held a staff role in Central Asia, setting up 17 training facilities and shaping up fresh airforce units. 25 August 1941, in agreement with United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Soviet troops crossed the border with Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

, eventually taking control over the northern part of this country. Kamanin's air brigade provided logistical and reconnaissance support for this operation. 20 July 1942, Kamanin was summoned to Moscow to organize, train and lead the newly conceived 292nd Ground Attack Air Division (292 штурмовая дивизия, 292 шад).

Division Commander: Rzhev, Demyansk

25 July 1942 Kamanin arrived at his new command, only to find orders that the division must give away its fully staffed, battle-worthy regiments to front-line troops. The division was refit only in September 1942, including 800th, 820th, 667th ground attack regiments equipped with Ilyushin Il-2
Ilyushin Il-2
The Ilyushin Il-2 was a ground-attack aircraft in the Second World War, produced by the Soviet Union in very large numbers...

, and 427th pursuit regiment equipped with Yakovlev Yak-1
Yakovlev Yak-1
The Yakovlev Yak-1 was a World War II Soviet fighter aircraft. Produced from early 1940, it was a single-seat monoplane with a composite structure and wooden wings....

 fighters.

16 October 1942, in the days of Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...

 the division was assigned to front-line airfields near Andreapol
Andreapol
Andreapol is a town and the administrative center of Andreapolsky District of Tver Oblast, Russia, located in the upper reaches of the Western Dvina River, west of Moscow, on the Valdai Hills...

, Tver Oblast
Tver Oblast
Tver Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Tver. From 1935 to 1990, it was named Kalinin Oblast after Mikhail Kalinin. Population: Tver Oblast is an area of lakes, such as Seliger and Brosno...

 and subordinated to Mikhail Gromov
Mikhail Gromov (aviator)
Mikhail Mikhaylovich Gromov was a famous Russian aviator and Hero of the Soviet Union.On 12-14 July 1937, Mikhail Gromov, A. B. Yumashev and S. A...

's Third Air Army targeted against Rzhev
Rzhev
Rzhev is a town in Tver Oblast, Russia, southwest of Staritsa and from Tver, on the highway and railway connecting Moscow and Riga. It is the uppermost town situated on the Volga River. Population:...

 and Smolensk
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...

. The division entered combat 29 October Kamanin's first personal combat sortie in World War II occurred 28 December 1942, against Velikiye Luki
Velikiye Luki
Velikiye Luki is a town on the meandering Lovat River in the southern part of Pskov Oblast, Russia. It is the second largest town in Pskov Oblast; population: The town is served by the Velikiye Luki Airport....

 railroad station. The division was engaged in the Battle of Velikiye Luki
Battle of Velikiye Luki
The Velikiye Luki offensive operation was executed by the forces of the Red Army's Kalinin Front against the Wehrmacht's 3rd Panzer Army during the Winter Campaign of 1942-1943 with the objective of liberating the Russian city of Velikiye Luki as part of the northern pincer of the Rzhev-Sychevka...

 and Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive, which ended in German evacuation of Rzhev bridgeheads at an enormous cost to Red Army. 292nd division, credited with saving Soviet offensive at Bely, Tver Oblast (8 December) and other tactical successes, was slowly bleeding, losing 20 pilots and 35 aircraft in two months, with no replenishments until January 1943. Refit division served against Demyansk Pocket
Demyansk Pocket
The Demyansk Pocket was the name given for the encirclement of German troops by the Red Army around Demyansk , south of Leningrad, during World War II on the Eastern Front. The pocket existed mainly from 8 February-21 April 1942. A much smaller pocket was simultaneously surrounded in Kholm, about ...

, 15–23 February 1943. 1 March 1943, Kamanin was summoned to Moscow again and passed command of 292nd division to Filipp Agaltsov, future Marshal of Aviation
Military ranks of the Soviet Union
The military ranks of the Soviet Union were those introduced after the October Revolution of 1917. At that time the Imperial Russian Table of Ranks was abolished, as were the privileges of the pre-Soviet Russian nobility....

.

Corps Commander: Kursk

Kamanin, promoted to Major General 18 May 1943, took command of 8th Combined Air Corps. The Corps contained two ground attack divisions: 212nd, later Fourth Guards (commander colonel Georgiy Baidukov
Georgiy Baidukov
Georgy Filippovich Baydukov was a Soviet aircraft test pilot and a Hero of the Soviet Union .- Early years :Georgy Baydukov had been born in Taryshta railway station to a railway worker. He became an orphan in the age of 9 and had been homeless for some time...

) and 264th (commander colonel Evgeny Klobukov), the latter manned with inexperienced pilots. One of the seasoned pilots was Georgi Beregovoi
Georgi Beregovoi
Georgy Timofeyevich Beregovoy was a Soviet cosmonaut who commanded the space mission Soyuz 3 in 1968. At the time of his flight, Beregovoy was 47 years of age: he was the oldest human to go into space , three months and three days older than the second earliest-born astronaut, American John...

, flying IL-2 since 1941. The third unit, 256th pursuit division, was in formation stage. All units needed extensive training, however, instead of 400 tons of petrol required, Kamanin could only secure 40 tons. Another shipment of 200 tons provided 4-5 training sorties for young pilots. This brief round of training was interrupted by a fatal accident that revealed structural defects in their fleet of IL-2, and required modifications to make it good.

21 May 1943, the Corps relocated south, near Liski
Liski
Liski is a town in Voronezh Oblast, Russia. Population: Liski was founded as Novaya Pokrovka in 1571 and renamed Svoboda in 1943, and after a period again as Liski, the city was renamed Georgiu-Dezh in 1965 for the Romanian communist leader, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, before returning to Liski again...

, Voronezh Oblast
Voronezh Oblast
Voronezh Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It was established on June 13, 1934.-Main rivers:*Don*Voronezh*Bityug*Khopyor-Economy:...

. Across the front line, German troops were concentrating for the Battle of Kursk
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk took place when German and Soviet forces confronted each other on the Eastern Front during World War II in the vicinity of the city of Kursk, in the Soviet Union in July and August 1943. It remains both the largest series of armored clashes, including the Battle of Prokhorovka,...

. The Corps was subordinate to newly organized Steppe Front
Steppe Front
The Steppe Front and later the 2nd Ukrainian Front was a Front , effectively an Army group sized formation, of the Soviet Army during the Second World War...

, a strategic reserve force behind main Soviet line around Kursk. At the end of German offensive against Kursk, it was renamed Fifth Ground Attack Corps and dispatched to the front-line Second Air Army, targeted at capturing Belgorod
Belgorod
-Twin towns/sister cities:Belgorod is twinned with: Wakefield, England, United Kingdom Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia Opole, Poland Vyshhorod, Ukraine Kharkiv, Ukraine-External links:...

. Their first combat sortie occurred at 11:00, 23 July 1943, in preparation for Operation Rumyantsev
Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev
Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev was a code name for the Belgorod-Kharkov Strategic Offensive Operation conducted by the Red Army between 3 August 1943 and 23 August 1943 against the Wehrmacht's 4th Panzer Army and Army Group Kempf during World War II. The operation was conducted by the Voronezh...

 (3–23 August). 16 August 1943, the corps took its worst hit ever, losing 15 planes in one day. Soon, in the action around Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...

, Kamanin's corps, notably Beregovoy's unit, excelled in anti-tank warfare using new PTAB
PTAB
PTAB was a Soviet World War II design of a Shaped Charge bomb.-Use:...

 anti-tank bomblets.

Advancing over Ukraine

Throughout 1943, the Corps followed advancing troops in Ukraine, but its actions were limited by fuel and ammunition rationing. In the beginning of Battle of the Dnieper
Battle of the Dnieper
The Lower Dnieper Offensive took place in 1943 during the Second World War. It was one of the largest Second World War operations, involving almost 4,000,000 troops on both sides and stretching on a 1400 kilometer long front...

, the Corps could only dispatch two active regiments to Bukrin bridgehead, the rest was grounded by fuel shortage. Situation improved, when the vector of Soviet offensive switched to Lyutezh bridgehead. Kamanin earned Order of Suvorov
Order of Suvorov
The Order of Suvorov is a Soviet award, named after Aleksandr Suvorov , that was established on July 29, 1942 by a decision of the Presidium of Supreme Soviet of the USSR. This decoration was created to award senior army personnel for exceptional leadership in combat operations...

 for his corps' achievement in the Battle of Kiev (1943)
Battle of Kiev (1943)
The 1943 Battle of Kiev describes three strategic operations by the Soviet Red Army, and one operational counterattack by the Wehrmacht which took place in the wake of the failed German offensive at Kursk during World War II...

. This was followed by action against Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket
Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket
The Korsun–Shevchenkovsky Offensive led to the Battle of the Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket which took place from 24 January to 16 February 1944. The offensive was part of the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive...

 in January–February 1944 and subsequent Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket
Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket
The Battle of the Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket, also known as Hube's Pocket, was a Wehrmacht attempt on the Eastern Front of World War II to evade encirclement by the Red Army....

 in March–April.

In spring, 1944, Kamanin obtained permission to fly personal missions to the enemy's territory and was engaged in deep reconnaissance of Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...

 area with lieutenant Pyotr Schmigol (Hero of the Soviet Union, 1944). This information paved the road to Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive
Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive
The Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive or the L'vov-Sandomierz Strategic Offensive Operation was a major Red Army operation to force the German troops from Ukraine and Eastern Poland...

 of July 1944.

Raid on Lviv

Lviv was defended by an estimated force of 700 German aircraft. Shortly before the battle, Ivan Konev
Ivan Konev
Ivan Stepanovich Konev , was a Soviet military commander, who led Red Army forces on the Eastern Front during World War II, retook much of Eastern Europe from occupation by the Axis Powers, and helped in the capture of Germany's capital, Berlin....

 prohibited any ground action until the airforce brings reliable data on enemy formations. Instead, Kamanin proposed a combination of night-time reconnaissance with a major ground attack by IL-2 units. This was originally considered an imminent failure, since IL-2 was never intended for night flight and very few shturmovik pilots had night flight experience. Technicians modified IL-2 exhaust pipes, so that exhaust would not blind pilots completely, but otherwise the operation remained a high risk. Thus, Kamanin planned to take off at night, arrive over Lviv airfields early at dusk and return after dusk.

The first group to arrive at Lviv airfield, six Yak fighters, prevented takeoff of German defence fighters. Another group of 12 fighters patrolled along the return route. First attack unit of eight IL-2's, protected by eight fighters, attacked the German airplanes on the ground in a 1300 meter dive. This was followed by the main force of IL-2 bombers, arriving in groups of four.

Soviet formation of 34 fighters and 24 attack planes lost 3 airplanes. Kamanin estimated German losses at 30 twin-engined airplanes and one Focke-Wulf Fw 190
Focke-Wulf Fw 190
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger was a German Second World War single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s. Powered by a radial engine, the 190 had ample power and was able to lift larger loads than its well-known counterpart, the Messerschmitt Bf 109...

 (of the 150 aircraft presumed to be on the ground) plus warehouses and other materiel. Same night, similar strikes at three other airfields effectively crippled German resistance in the air.

After completion of Lviv-Sandomierz operation, Kamanin was awarded Order of Kutuzov
Order of Kutuzov
The Order of Kutuzov is a Soviet and Russian military award, named after famous Russian Field Marshal Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov ....

.

Budapest to Prague

In September 1944, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 changed sides and turned against Germany (see Battle of Romania (1944)
Battle of Romania (1944)
The Jassy–Kishinev Operation, named after the two major cities, Iaşi and Chişinău, in the staging area, was a Soviet offensive against Axis forces, which took place in Eastern Romania from 20–29 August 1944...

). Romanian air corps, led by General Ionescu, was temporarily placed under Kamanin's command. Kamanin admitted it was a strong, well-trained force of 170 aircraft (mostly, modern German types), and Romanians proved themselves as capable aviators.

Meanwhile, Kamanin's own force was heavily engaged over Tisza
Tisza
The Tisza or Tisa is one of the main rivers of Central Europe. It rises in Ukraine, and is formed near Rakhiv by the junction of headwaters White Tisa, whose source is in the Chornohora mountains and Black Tisa, which springs in the Gorgany range...

 valley, flying 150-200 sorties daily, paving the road to Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

. In December, 1944, his regiments relocated to an extremely dangerous position - airfields only 10-12 kilometers behind the front line. This was, however, the only solution that could enable effective support of ground troops after an all-out offensive was launched 20 December 1944. This day, the corps flew over 1000 sorties. Kamanin's corps operations in Battle of Budapest were limited mostly by physical state of dirt airfields (other formations, based farther from the front line, were also limited by long approach distances). It happened to be placed directly on the axis of German Operation Konrad
Operation Konrad
Operation Konrad was the German-Hungarian effort to relieve the encircled garrison of Budapest during the Battle of Budapest in January 1945. The operation was divided into three parts:...

, and was key in tying up this counteroffensive.

Arkady Kamanin

Arkady Kamanin, son of General Kamanin, was born in 1928. He grew up near his father, on the airfields, and was exposed to flying since childhood. After the outbreak of war, Arkady worked at the aircraft plant, and arrived at Andreapol airfield in 1943 with his mother, Maria Mikhailovna. Formally enlisted at the age of 14, Arkady served as a mechanic; he learned practical flying skills hitchhiking rides with real pilots and was allowed to fly Polikarpov Po-2. On one of these flights, Arkady managed to save wounded lieutenant Berdnikov, who crash-landed his damaged IL-2 near the front line, retrieve the reconnaissance film and return safely to the base. Soon, sergeant Kamanin was qualified to fly, becoming the youngest pilot of World War II at the age of 15. Arkady Kamanin received combat Order of the Red Star
Order of the Red Star
Established on 6 April 1930, the Order of the Red Star was an order of the Soviet Union, given to Red Army and Soviet Navy personnel for "exceptional service in the cause of the defense of the Soviet Union in both war and peace". It was established by Resolution of the Presidium of the CEC of the...

 and Order of the Red Banner
Order of the Red Banner
The Soviet government of Russia established the Order of the Red Banner , a military decoration, on September 16, 1918 during the Russian Civil War...

; he died in 1947 at the age of 19.

Space program

Kamanin completed the General Staff Academy in 1956 and commanded airforce of Central Asian district for three years. In 1960, Chief Marshal
Chief Marshal
The ranks of Marshal of a branch and Chief Marshal of a branch were senior military ranks of the Soviet Armed Forces. Immediately above the rank "Marshal of a branch" is the rank "Chief Marshal of a branch". Both ranks are immediately above the rank "Colonel General" and equal to Soviet General...

 of Aviation, Konstantin Vershinin
Konstantin Vershinin
Konstantin Andreevich Vershinin was the Soviet Chief Marshal of Aviation from 1959 to 1972. He was a commander in World War II, and for his actions, in 1944 he was awarded the distinction of Hero of the Soviet Union...

, assigned Kamanin to Soviet space program
Soviet space program
The Soviet space program is the rocketry and space exploration programs conducted by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from the 1930s until its dissolution in 1991...

 as the military chief of manned orbital flight program. His formal title was Deputy chief of combat training for space (Russian: заместитель начальника боевой подготовки ВВС по космосу), formally a step down from his previous roles of First deputy to Airforce chief of staff and Air Army commander. Kamanin was assisted by Major General, Hero of Soviet Union Leonid Goreglyad, colonel Boris Aristov, a skilled navigator with 232 combat sorties experience, and other notable war pilots. The Center for Cosmonaut Training (present-day Star City, Russia
Star City, Russia
Star City is a common name of an area in Moscow Oblast, Russia, which has since the 1960s been home to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center...

) was initially led by colonel Karpov, Kamanin's subordinate.

Preparation to manned flight

Kamanin's diaries, first published in 1995, start with 17 December 1960, and explain the development of Soviet manned program and related politics from within. Diaries present at least four sides of his activities prior to Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....

's flight, all of which continued until Kamanin's retirement:

Coordination of design bureaus developing life support systems for manned spaceflight: spacesuits, parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...

s, air regeneration etc. Kamanin diaries present himself as a risk-taker, willing to go forward with incomplete systems to beat the Americans to orbit. Later, when the space programs focused on full automatic controls, Kamanin asserted his viewpoint in favor of human controls. At the same time, during 1962 discussions on flight duration, he was always on the conservative side, voting for no more than two days spaceflights.

Tracking, search and recovery of landed craft, coordination and refinement of SAR
Search and rescue
Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...

 efforts. For example, 9 March 1961, Vostok 3A
Sputnik 9
Korabl-Sputnik 4 or Vostok-3KA No.1, also known as Sputnik 9 in the West, was a Soviet spacecraft which was launched in 1961. It was a test flight of the Vostok spacecraft, carrying the mannequin Ivan Ivanovich, a dog named Chernushka, some mice and a guinea pig.Korabl-Sputnik 4 was launched at...

 prototype flew a flawless mission. The capsule with Chernushka
Chernushka
Chernushka is a town and the administrative center of Chernushinsky District, Perm Krai, Russia, located in the southern part of the krai on the Bystry Tanyp River, which is south of Perm. Population:...

 and Ivan Ivanovich
Ivan Ivanovich
Ivan Ivanovich, the Russian equivalent for 'John Doe' was the name given to a mannequin used in testing the Russian Vostok spacecraft in preparation for its manned missions....

 landed in an open field near Stary Tokmak. Kamanin and Vladimir Yazdovsky arrived on site, encircled by curious villagers, and arranged recovery of the craft. The tracking network was considerably expanded after 1965, with a special naval group and installations in Cuba.

Management of cosmonaut training squad, probably the least time-consuming activity, started with selection of the Air Force Group I in March 1960. 17–18 January 1961, Kamanin chaired the Examination Committee that evaluated first six cosmonauts prepared for Vostok program. Kamanin rated Yury Gagarin, Gherman Titov
Gherman Titov
Gherman Stepanovich Titov was a Soviet cosmonaut who, on August 6, 1961, became the second human to orbit the Earth aboard Vostok 2, preceded by Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1...

 and Grigori Nelyubov
Grigori Nelyubov
Grigori Grigoyevich Nelyubov was a Soviet cosmonaut who was likely to have been the third or fourth person in space before his dismissal from the Soviet space program....

 as the best candidates. He personally developed cosmonaut flying manual and training schedule, traveled across landing areas with flight candidates and supervised last-minute training at Baikonur
Baikonur
Baikonur , formerly known as Leninsk, is a city in Kyzylorda Province of Kazakhstan, rented and administered by the Russian Federation. It was constructed to service the Baikonur Cosmodrome and was officially renamed Baikonur by Russian president Boris Yeltsin on December 20, 1995.The shape of the...

. Kamanin also campaigned for early disclosure of Soviet launches, as soon as the craft is in orbit, against Vershinin's original opinion. Kamanin's view was upheld 29 March when the state commission approved the first manned launch.

Commissioner for all other space launches, including the first interplanetary space probes. He was skeptical about the value of these probes: "Venus launch is hardly a sensible endeavor: it delays manned flight and decreases Rocket Force battle-readiness" ("Пуск на Венеру - затея едва ли разумная: она задерживает полет человека и снижает боеспособность ракетных войск"). Indeed, the first Venus mission failed, Venera
Venera
The Venera series probes were developed by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1984 to gather data from Venus, Venera being the Russian name for Venus...

 spacecraft was trapped in Earth's orbit. The second Venera, launched 12 February 1961, missed its target by 100,000 kilometers, which was a success for 1961 technology.

Gagarin's flight

By 5 April 1961, Kamanin was still indecisive, ranking Gagarin and Titov equally fit for the flight. Three days later, he recommended Gagarin, with Titov on backup. After the final training session (afternoon, 11 April), Kamanin parted with Yuri Gagarin. Next day, Gagarin lifted off in Vostok 1
Vostok 1
Vostok 1 was the first spaceflight in the Vostok program and the first human spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA spacecraft was launched on April 12, 1961. The flight took Yuri Gagarin, a cosmonaut from the Soviet Union, into space. The flight marked the first time that a human entered outer...

, made a full orbit and safely landed 23 kilometers from Saratov
Saratov
-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...

. Kamanin left the mission control 20 minutes after launch, as soon as Gagarin reported that he is safe in orbit, and rushed to Stalingrad in Antonov An-12
Antonov An-12
The Antonov An-12 is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It is the military version of the Antonov An-10.-Design and development:...

. Still airborne, Kamanin received radio message that Gagarin has landed safely and is flown to Kuybyshev airport. Later, in 1966, he recorded that "As odd as it may seem, Gagarin's flight was the safest. Voskhod 2
Voskhod 2
Voskhod 2 was a Soviet manned space mission in March 1965. Vostok-based Voskhod 3KD spacecraft with two crew members on board, Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov, was equipped with an inflatable airlock...

 was the most dangerous to date" ("Как это ни странно звучит, но самым надежным у нас был полет Гагарина. Самым опасным до настоящего времени являлся полет "Восхода-2").

Public relations

14 April Kamanin accompanied Gagarin on his triumphant ride into Red Square
Red Square
Red Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...

 and has been the publicity mentor of Soviet cosmonauts until his retirement. In May–September 1961, Gagarin and Kamanin performed a world publicity tour, reaching countries like Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

 and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

.

This was followed by a near disaster in Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...

. For the first time, Kamanin reported serious personal problems of Gagarin and Titov, and attempted to fixed their discipline and motivation. 4 October 1961, Gagarin injured his head in a bizarre jump from a balcony, ended up in a hospital and failed to attend the opening of 22nd Communist Party Congress. This was a political blow against Airforce and Kamanin personally; Kamanin had to concentrate on politics to restore former influence. 20 October United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 media, curious why Gagarin missed the Congress, started its own inquiries and speculations; Kamanin was called to intervene. 24 October Gagarin, bearing fresh evidence of a plastic surgery
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...

 on his torn eyebrow, made a brief appearance at the Congress; he later explained the scar as a routine tourist accident.

In December, 1961, Gagarin and Kamanin flew on another tour, this time of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

 and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

. Later, Kamanin had to persuade Vershinin to let him stay at home and concentrate on real work instead of meeting foreign dignitaries. He, however, appreciated the results of United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 tour (28 April - 12 May 1962), and the practical information released by John Glenn
John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...

 and Alan Shepard
Alan Shepard
Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was an American naval aviator, test pilot, flag officer, and NASA astronaut who in 1961 became the second person, and the first American, in space. This Mercury flight was designed to enter space, but not to achieve orbit...

.

Another particularly challenging campaign followed the flight of Voskhod 1
Voskhod 1
Voskhod 1 was the seventh manned Soviet space flight. It achieved a number of "firsts" in the history of manned spaceflight, being the first space flight to carry more than one crewman into orbit, the first flight without the use of spacesuits, and the first to carry either an engineer or a...

. Three cosmonauts landed 13 October 1964, the day when Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...

 was ousted from power. Their triumphant return was compromised by uncertainty in new Soviet leadership and accidental death of Marshal Sergey Biryuzov (19 October).

Woman in space

Kamanin campaigned for training and launching women cosmonauts since Gagarin's flight, but the subsequent publicity assignments separated him from decision-making. However, 25 December Soviet government authorized selection of a second group of 60 trainees, including women. By the end of January, 1962, Kamanin collected 58 women's resumes and picked 23 who still had to pass the physical tests. 12 March a group of five women was picked for active training; 29 March he identified Valentina Tereshkova
Valentina Tereshkova
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova is a retired Soviet cosmonaut, and was the first woman in space. She was selected out of more than four hundred applicants, and then out of five finalists, to pilot Vostok 6 on the 16 June, 1963, becoming both the first woman and the first civilian to fly in...

, Irina Solovyova
Irina Solovyova
Irina Bayanovna Solovyova was one of the five women chosen in the female group, now a retired Soviet cosmonaut. She never flew into space, but was chosen as the backup to Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space via Vostok 6 in June, 1963...

 and Tatyana Kuznetsova
Tatyana Kuznetsova
Tatyana Dmitryevna Kuznetsova is a former Soviet cosmonaut. She is the youngest person ever selected by a government human spaceflight program....

 as the most capable for the flight. Another set of problems he handled were the life support systems for the women, notably the female spacesuits - an unexpected problem.

The group passed cosmonauts examinations 28 November 1962 and was put on hold until the end of April 1963. Preparation to the flight was impossible without a firmly set launch date, and nobody in the government dared to give a go-ahead. 24 April government finally ordered a joint flight of two available Vostok spacecraft - the only two craft in stock. Their shelf life was set at 15 June 1963 and could not be extended. Thus, the flight preparation of Valery Bykovsky and Valentina Tereshkova
Valentina Tereshkova
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova is a retired Soviet cosmonaut, and was the first woman in space. She was selected out of more than four hundred applicants, and then out of five finalists, to pilot Vostok 6 on the 16 June, 1963, becoming both the first woman and the first civilian to fly in...

 (approved to fly 21 May) was hurried by "use it or lose it" deadline. Kamanin and the cosmonauts relocated to Baikonur 27 May and stayed there until the launch. In fact, Tereshkova lifted off 16 June - one day past her craft expiry date. Kamanin worked mission control shifts while she was in space and had to wake her up when Tereshkova, asleep, failed to respond. Both crafts landed safely but overshot the landing target by two degrees. Like Gagarin, Tereshkova bailed from the landing capsule and used her personal parachute. After the flight, Kamanin again was involved in time-consuming publicity campaign - this time, centered around Tereshkova.

In 1965, after Voskhod 2
Voskhod 2
Voskhod 2 was a Soviet manned space mission in March 1965. Vostok-based Voskhod 3KD spacecraft with two crew members on board, Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov, was equipped with an inflatable airlock...

, Kamanin proposed a flight of female crew on the next Voskhod. Gagarin and other (male) cosmonauts were strongly against it. The case was closed with cancellation of all planned Voskhod launches.

Political failures

Kamanin was engaged in the rivalry between various powers behind Soviet space program - on the Airforce side. His personal vision of space program was more than once cut short by this political rivalry.

Establishment of a single space agency. Kamanin realized the need to eradicate friction between Rocket Force, Airforce and different industrial groups (Korolyov, Mikhail Yangel
Mikhail Yangel
Mikhail Kuzmich Yangel , was a leading missile designer in the Soviet Union....

, Vladimir Chelomei
Vladimir Chelomei
Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomey was a Soviet mechanics scientist and rocket engineer from Ukraine.-Early life:Chelomey was born in Siedlce, Russian Empire into a Ukrainian family...

). His political weight was too low for such achievement; the nearest goal was to unite all military space efforts under a single command. In November 1963, the General Staff proposed placing all military space projects under the Commander of Airforce; Rodion Malinovsky
Rodion Malinovsky
Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky was a Soviet military commander in World War II and Defense Minister of the Soviet Union in the late 1950s and 1960s. He contributed to the major defeat of Nazi Germany at the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Budapest...

, minister of defence, scrapped the project. Later pro-Airforce campaign (May–July 1964) also failed. Rivalry and duplicate functions continued on lower levels, for example, the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems (established 1964) competed with older Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine for personnel and premises, etc.

Expansion of Vostok programme
Vostok programme
The Vostok programme was a Soviet human spaceflight project that succeeded in putting a person into Earth's orbit for the first time. The programme developed the Vostok spacecraft from the Zenit spy satellite project and adapted the Vostok rocket from an existing ICBM design...

. Kamanin also realized that Korolyov's Soyuz project is a very distant future, and relying on Soyuz alone will ground his cosmonauts squad for years. Throughout 1961-1963, he campaigned for more Vostok manned launches. His calls to build 8-10 Vostok spacecrafts did not materialize (at some point in 1963, he seemed to succeed with a "build Vostoks" program, but it was soon folded down). As a result, there were only three Soviet manned flights between the last Vostok (June 1963) and the first manned Apollo
Apollo 7
Apollo 7 was the first manned mission in the American Apollo space program, and the first manned US space flight after a cabin fire killed the crew of what was to have been the first manned mission, AS-204 , during a launch pad test in 1967...

 flight (October 1968); Kamanin was on mission control for all three, including Vladimir Komarov's fatal flight
Soyuz 1
Soyuz 1 was a manned spaceflight of the Soviet space program. Launched into orbit on April 23, 1967 carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov, Soyuz 1 was the first flight of the Soyuz spacecraft...

. By June 1964, Kamanin realized that the Soviet side has lost the space race; he blamed Korolyov and Mstislav Keldysh
Mstislav Keldysh
Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh was a Soviet scientist in the field of mathematics and mechanics, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences , President of the USSR Academy of Sciences , three times Hero of Socialist Labor , fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . He was one of the key figures...

 for the lack of realistic long-term plans. It's not surprising that idle time worked against the personnel morale and caused even more interdepartmental politics.

Head of Training Center problems. After demotion of Colonel Karpov, the first head of Cosmonaut Training Center, Kamanin initially supported nomination of General Odintsov. Odintsov was approved 5 April 1963, and in a few weeks proved himself completely incompetent to the task - a view allegedly supported by Korolyov and Marshal Rudenko. 17 July Airforce Military Council dismissed Odintsov; Kamanin campaigned to nominate 29 year old Yury Gagarin, but was stonewalled by his superiors Vershinin and Rudenko. However, in September Rodion Malinovsky reinstalled Odintsov; the situation normalized in November 1963 with appointment of General Nikolai Kuznetsov. After the death of Gagarin, Kamanin (himself ultimately responsible for all cosmonaut training) blamed Kuznetsov for a sequence of errors that allowed Gagarin and Seregin to take off on their fatal flight. Replacing Kuznetsov, again, became a long bureaucratic struggle.

Disaster years: 1966-1968

Korolyov. 1966 started with death of Sergey Korolyov
Sergey Korolyov
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev ; died 14 January 1966 in Moscow, Russia) was the lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer in the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1950s and 1960s...

. His successor, Vasily Mishin
Vasily Mishin
Vasily Pavlovich Mishin was a Soviet engineer and a prominent rocketry pioneer....

, backed by Mstislav Keldysh
Mstislav Keldysh
Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh was a Soviet scientist in the field of mathematics and mechanics, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences , President of the USSR Academy of Sciences , three times Hero of Socialist Labor , fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . He was one of the key figures...

, started his own political campaign, targeted at capturing cosmonaut training facilities from the Airforce - which forever alienated Kamanin. In particular, Mishin promoted his own candidates into space program; Kamanin deemed them inadequately trained to fly and insisted on Airforce candidates with a proven flight record. For some time, the future Soyuz missions had two competing crews - Airforce and OKB-1,. Kamanin's cosmonauts were also assigned to future Almaz
Almaz
The Almaz program was a series of military space stations launched by the Soviet Union under cover of the civilian Salyut DOS-17K program after 1971....

, Spiral
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-105
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-105 was a manned test vehicle to explore low-speed handling and landing.It was a visible result of a Soviet project to create an orbital spaceplane...

 and two competing lunar projects. Probably as a reaction against Mishin, Kamanin rated Vladimir Chelomei and his staff very high, and his products - superior to Mishin's.

Komarov. Kamanin, as the state commissioner for Soyuz 1
Soyuz 1
Soyuz 1 was a manned spaceflight of the Soviet space program. Launched into orbit on April 23, 1967 carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov, Soyuz 1 was the first flight of the Soyuz spacecraft...

 launch, was present at Baikonur throughout launch preparation that began 6 April 1967. Once the rocket lifted off on 23 April Kamanin took the charge of the first mission control shift. Vladimir Komarov, on his second orbit, reported failure in solar panels - one of them failed to deploy. So far, the situation was manageable, and Kamanin dispatched Gagarin to the second mission control station in Yevpatoria. On the 13th orbit, state commission realized imminent danger and decided to land Komarov and cancel Soyuz 2
Soyuz 2
Soyuz 2 was an unpiloted spacecraft in the Soyuz family intended to perform a docking maneuver with Soyuz 3. Although the two craft approached closely, the docking did not take place.-Other uses of name:...

. 6:45 AM, 24 April while Komarov was still alive, Kamanin boarded the plane departing to the landing area. In the air, Kamanin received the first, incorrect, news of Soyuz descending with a fully deployed parachute. He was not aware of disaster until meeting General Artamonov on the Orsk
Orsk
Orsk is the second largest city in Orenburg Oblast, Russia, located on the steppe about southeast of the southern tip of the Ural Mountains. The city straddles the Ural River. Since this river is considered a boundary between Europe and Asia, Orsk can be said to lie in two continents. It is...

 airfield. Kamanin lost an hour and half travelling to the crash site, only to see the capsule still on fire. Later, Soyuz 1 parachute failure was linked to an insufficient pilot chute
Pilot chute
A pilot chute is a small auxiliary parachute used to deploy the main or reserve parachute. The pilot chute is connected to the deployment bag containing the parachute by a bridle. On modern skydiving rigs three types of pilot chutes can be found:...

 that failed to drag the main parachute from its container.

Gagarin and Seregin. 27 March 1968, Yuri Gagarin and colonel Vladimir Seregin were killed on a routine training flight in a Mig-15UTI
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 was a jet fighter developed for the USSR by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful swept-wing jet fighters, and it achieved fame in the skies over Korea, where early in the war, it outclassed all straight-winged enemy fighters in...

 jet trainer. Enquiries continued for more than a year and did not produce a clear answer. All cosmonauts flight training was suspended. Kamanin, as the person ultimately responsible for cosmonaut training, received a formal reprimand; without Gagarin and without any prospects of winning the space race, his own influence and influence of Airforce on the space program deteriorated - while American lunar program was steady under way.

Retirement

On November 11, 1969, Marshal Kutakhov
Pavel Stepanovich Kutakhov
Pavel Stepanovich Kutakhov was Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Air Forces between 1969 and 1984, Chief Marshal of Aviation since 1972, twice Hero of Soviet Union , Honored Pilot of USSR ....

 notified the 62-year-old Kamanin of his upcoming transfer to "consultancy" — a soft retirement. Two weeks later, before that paperwork was completed, Kamanin sent a bitter letter to Minister of Defense Andrei Grechko
Andrei Grechko
Andrei Antonovich Grechko was a Soviet general, Marshal of the Soviet Union and Minister of Defense.-Biography:Born in a small town near Rostov-on-Don, the son of Ukrainian peasants, he joined the Red Army in 1919, where he was a part of the legendary “Budyonny Cavalry”...

, explaining his view on military space program and rejecting unnecessary favor of "consultancy" employment. Kamanin continued working as usual; the string of premature deaths continued with Pavel Belyayev
Pavel Belyayev
Pavel Ivanovich Belyayev , , was a Soviet fighter pilot with extensive experience in piloting different types of aircraft...

 (10 January 1970).

In 1970, Soviet space program re-oriented from lunar travel to orbital stations. In February 1970, Kamanin estimated first Almaz
Almaz
The Almaz program was a series of military space stations launched by the Soviet Union under cover of the civilian Salyut DOS-17K program after 1971....

 (Chelomei) or DOS-7K (Mishin) to be ready in summer 1971, at best. Selection of cosmonauts for the first orbital station, again, became a tug of war between Mishin and Kamanin, while Airforce continued recruitment of new military pilots like Vladimir Dzhanibekov
Vladimir Dzhanibekov
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dzhanibekov is a former cosmonaut who made five flights.He was born in the remote area of Iskandar in Tashkent Province, Uzbekistan. He changed his surname from Krysin when he married to honor his wife's family, which was noble kin of the descendants of the medieval Kazakh...

. 19 May - 19 June, Kamanin conducted the usual flight preparation and flight control sequence of Soyuz 9
Soyuz 9
Soyuz 9 was a 1970 Soviet manned space flight. The two-man crew of Andrian Nikolayev and Vitali Sevastyanov broke the five-year-old space endurance record with their nearly 18-day flight...

; health problems of cosmonauts returning from an 18-day mission caused a major redesign of future flight programs and another clash with Mishin (Mishin insisted on 30-days flights, Kamanin set for no more than 24 days).

Salyut 1
Salyut 1
Salyut 1 was the first space station of any kind, launched by the USSR on April 19, 1971. It was launched unmanned using a Proton-K rocket. Its first crew came later in Soyuz 10, but was unable to dock completely; its second crew launched in Soyuz 11 and remained on board for 23 days...

 was launched 19 April 1971; initial failures of on-board fans and scientific equipment bay were not considered a major problem. Crew of Soyuz 10
Soyuz 10
Soyuz 10 was a 1971 Soviet manned mission to the world's first space station, Salyut 1. The docking was not successful and the crew returned to Earth without having entered the station.-Mission highlights:Soyuz 10 was launched 23 April 1971...

, launched four days later, docked with the stations, but failed to lock the docking gasket firmly. They did not have enough fuel for a second docking and a safe return, nor the spacesuits for an EV transfer, and the mission controller aborted the flight. For the first time in Soviet space program, Soyuz 10 landed at night.

On 21 May 1971, Kamanin arrived at Baikonur for his last mission launch. Soyuz 11
Soyuz 11
Soyuz 11 was the first manned mission to arrive at the world's first space station, Salyut 1. The mission arrived at the space station on June 7, 1971 and departed on June 30, 1971. The mission ended in disaster when the crew capsule depressurized during preparations for re-entry, killing the...

 lifted off 6 June docked with the station, completed the program, but the crew was killed by decompression on their landing run. Kamanin was at the mission control at Eupatoria throughout their fatal descend and left his own transcript of conversation and the silence that followed.

Kamanin retired after the accident, replaced by Vladimir Shatalov
Vladimir Shatalov
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Shatalov is a former Soviet cosmonaut who flew three space missions of the Soyuz programme: Soyuz 4, Soyuz 8, and Soyuz 10....

. He died in 1982 at the age of 74.

Kamanin in media

Arkady and Nikolai Kamanin (played by Alexander Porokhovshchikov) are the characters of a 1978 Soviet film, "Then you will see the sky" ("И ты увидишь небо").

Sources

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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