Alexander Fedorovich Klubov, Guard Captain

Klubov Alexander Fedorovich, was born on August 18, 1918 in the village of Yarunovo, Vologda region.

Since 1939 in the Red Army - a cadet of the Chuguev Military Pilot School, from which he graduated in 1940 with the rank of "lieutenant".

During the Great Patriotic War A.F. Klubov fought in fighter aviation, taking his first battle in August 1942 as part of the 84th Fighter Aviation Regiment, in the North Caucasus on the I-153 "Chaika", performed 240 sorties, shooting down 4 enemy aircraft in air battles. On November 2, 1942, in an air battle near Mozdok, his plane was shot down. Trying to save the car until the last moment, A.F. Klubov fought the flames that engulfed his Seagull, received burns to his face and hands, but was eventually forced to use a parachute.

After prolonged treatment in the hospital, in May 1943 Lieutenant Klubov A.F. was assigned to the 16th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, which fought on Aircobras. It was on the aircobra, in the 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Division of the famous Pokryshkin Clubs, that he won the largest number of victories. Particularly distinguished himself in the battles in the Kuban and in the battle for the Dnieper.

... the 16th Guards IAP was planned to be rearmed on the La-7. The first new La-7 for the regiment, the commander of the 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Division A.I. Pokryshkin and his comrades G.A. A. V. Rechkalov Fedorov and A.I. They received labor at the Moscow Aviation Plant No. 381 on September 21, 1944. The planes were built at the expense of Pokryshkin's fellow countrymen; on the sides of the fuselages were the inscriptions: "To Alexander Pokryshkin from the workers of Novosibirsk."

On November 1, 1944, at the Yezov airfield, located 25 km from the Polish city of Staleva Wola, training flights took place, which ended with the death of one of the best aces of the regiment. Pokryshkin A.I. He sees this as the fault of the flight director, commander of the 16th Guards Air Regiment, Major Grigory Andreevich Rechkalov, because there was no need to conduct flights in a strong crosswind and a concrete strip that was not completely repaired after the bombing, except for our usual window dressing.

On La-7 Klubov, fluid from the hydraulic system left, a common defect on Lavochkin's aircraft. Now it is difficult to say whether it happened in flight, or if Klubov took off on a faulty plane. I had to land with the flaps retracted, at a higher speed in a strong crosswind.

On the second approach, having landed with a short flight, the plane rolled out of the runway at the end of the run and got stuck in the soft ground, skapoted. Klubov died an hour and a half after the disaster, the injury from hitting the sight was not compatible with life.

Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin in his book "The Sky of War" writes about the loss of a comrade and friend:

“I have already paid for the happiness of the peaceful life of the Clubs with ordeals. The guys told how difficult it was for him to endure the burn of his face. It was all bandaged. His friends fed him - they poured liquid food into his mouth through a cut bandage.

Nineteen years later, I read in Yuri Zhukov's book "One MIG in a Thousand" about what Alexander Klubov had told him on his penultimate night. His statements were reminiscent of a man's confession to his friends, to his Motherland. “Our people don’t need to paint icons from us, pilots. Tell us about us in such a way that any schoolchild would read and think:“ Yes, this is a difficult matter. But if you take it with your soul ... "

He was a pure, mighty man ... Yes, I say beforehand, he was ... If the car had not let him down ... But he died. Ridiculously and tragically died.

The airplane on which he trained had a hydraulic failure. I saw Klubov once came in for a landing and did not sit down. He missed the boarding mark, probably because the flaps, reducing the speed, were not extended.

When he went to the second round, I could no longer do anything else and watched him tensely. (I was then at the headquarters of the corps.) Above the roof somehow anxiously buzzed "Lavochkin", gaining altitude. A few minutes later he came back to board. And this time he overtightened a little, but the wheels of the chassis already "grabbed" the ground and rushed off. Seeing this from the car, I sighed with relief and thought that I shouldn’t have worried. When not everything is in order with an airplane in the air, it seems to you on the ground that you yourself are flying in it.

- He copied! Shouted the driver.

I managed to see how the plane was slowly turning over "on its back".

When we arrived at the scene, Klubov was lying under the plane.

We extracted it from there. He was still breathing. The arriving doctor could not save him.

The vast sky obeyed him. And the peat bog, into which the plane rolled and got stuck in its wheels, brought him death,

The entire division mourned Klubov. He lay in a coffin installed in front of Li-2, on which we were to transport him to Lvov. All the technicians and pilots came here to see their comrade on the last flight. Fighters roared overhead, firing long bursts of cannons and machine guns into the air. It seemed that they were trying to tear apart death itself with bullets and shells, which first visited the regiment after it stopped in a village near the Vistula. She retreated in front of Klubov, ran away from him when he darted in the sky, and lay in wait when he was on the ground.

We, his friends, made speeches, not ashamed of men's tears, talking about the immortality of brave and honest warriors. Trofimov, Trud, Ivankov - Klubov's wingman who defended him in dozens of attacks - climbed onto the plane with others to escort the Hero's body to his native Soviet land.

A few days after the death of Klubov, just before the October holidays, the radio broadcast the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on rewarding him with the second Gold Star medal. He was marked by this high title as alive. Then we always imagined Klubov only alive, only standing shoulder to shoulder with us.

Clubs occupied so much space in my life, I loved him so much that none of my best friends could make up for this loss. He was selflessly devoted to his Motherland, aviation, friendship, smart and straightforward in his judgments, hot in argument and subtle in the dangerous matter of war. "

During the period of his participation in the Great Patriotic War, from August 10, 1942 to November 1, 1944, assistant commander for the air rifle service of the 16th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Guard Captain A. F. Klubov made 457 successful combat missions, of them: for attacking enemy troops and equipment - 25, covering ground forces - 224, clearing the air - 19, covering for attack aircraft and bombers - 146, reconnaissance of enemy troops - 16, "free hunting" - 17. Having spent 95 air battles, destroyed 31 the plane in person and 19 in a group with comrades.

- After the death of A.F. Klubov was buried in Lviv on the Hill of Glory. In 2001 he was reburied in Vologda. The city has a Klubov street, a memorial plaque, a flying club named after him, and a school. The strategic bomber was named after him. This year, the 90th anniversary of his birth, is called the year of Alexander Klubov in the Vologda Oblast.

• The sky of war. & quot; / Pokryshkin A.I., Military Publishing, M. 1980./
• Aces of Stalin / Thomas Polak /