Mikhail Petrovich Devyatayev, Guard Senior Lieutenant

In the most incredible way, Heinkel 111H-22 played the role of a savior in the fate of Soviet pilot Mikhail Devyatayev.

The flight commander of the 104th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (9th Guards Fighter Aviation Division, 2nd Air Army, 1st Ukrainian Front) of the Guard Senior Lieutenant Mikhail Petrovich Devyatayev shot down 9 enemy aircraft in air battles. On the evening of July 13, 1944, he flew as part of a group of Aercobra P-39 fighters to repel enemy air raids. In an unequal air battle in the Lviv region, he was wounded in the right leg, and his plane was set on fire. At the last moment, the falling fighter with a parachute left. He was taken prisoner with severe burns.

At the end of October 1944, he, as part of a group of 1,500 prisoners, was sent to a camp on the island of Usedom, where the secret Peenemünde test site was located, where missile weapons were tested. Since the landfill was secret, there was only one way out for the concentration camp prisoners - through the crematorium pipe. On February 8, 1945, Devyatayev, together with prisoners Ivan Krivonogov, Vladimir Sokolov, Vladimir Nemchenko, Fyodor Adamov, Ivan Oleinik, Mikhail Yemets, Pyotr Kutergin, Nikolai Urbanovich and Dmitry Serdyukov, having killed the escort, captured the Non-111H-22 and flew over the front line , landed on the belly south of the village of Gollin in the location of the artillery unit of the 61st Army.

Heinkel 111H-22. All H-series aircraft, including the H-20, had Jumo-211 engines, but from early 1944 the Jumo-213 went into production. It was decided to use it on the He.111. The new propulsion system included two Jumo-213s with a three-speed, two-stage supercharger and intercooler, taking off 1750 hp. and 1320 hp. at an altitude of 10,000 m. The maximum take-off weight increased to 16,000 kg, and the bomb load to 3 tons.

The variant with the Jumo-213E received the designation He.111H-21. The version with new engines began to enter service at the end of the summer of 1944. With them, the aircraft could reach speeds of up to 475 km / h without bombs.

During the winter of 1943-44. in Peenemünde, tests were carried out to launch the Fieseler Fi.103 (FZG-76) rockets from the He.111H. Plans for the continuation of Operation Rumpelkammer - the bombardment of England with Fi.103 missiles were now associated with the He.111, since the ground launchers were lost during the Allied raids before the opening of the Second Front. By this time, the production of He.111H was rapidly going downhill. Several H-21s were already converted to Fi.103 carriers on the assembly line, with holders either under the left or under the right wing between the engine and fuselage. The aircraft received the designation He.111H-22.

In November 1945, Devyatayev was transferred to the reserve.
August 15, 1957 M.P. Devyatayev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Honorary Citizen of the Republic of Mordovia, the cities of Kazan (Russia), Volgast and Tsinovichi (Germany). The Museum of the Hero is open in Torbeevo.

Died on November 24, 2002. He was buried in the Alley of Heroes of the Arsk cemetery in Kazan.

• Luftwaffe Aviation; / V.N. Shunkov. /
• Airplane magazine / 1-2001 /