During the war, Dzugutov was invlolved in a very important mission - He flew Marshall Zhukov!!! into Leningrad in 1941.
The 160th Fighter Regiment participated in the war from June 22nd 1941. They fought in the sky over Belarus. Captain Novikov S.F was in this regiment and the commander of a squadron. From August 1941 Novikov arrived as deputy, to pilot & flight commander Junior Lieutenant (to become Senior Lieutenant) Silant'ev A.P, who also subsequently became a Hero of the Soviet Union and Marshal of the Soviet Air Force.
Together they participated in aerial combat, as Silant'ev recalled. Excerpts from the memoirs of Silant’ev are below.
At the beginning of September 1941 Novikov’s squadron of planes accompanied the LI-2 ("Douglas"), transport plane which flew to Leningrad to take Army General Zhukov to the Leningrad front.
Silant'ev was born August 28, 1918 in Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk), in a working class family and completed 7 years of schooling. In 1934 he graduated from factory training school number 94. He worked as a turner at the "Metalist" in Sverdlovsk. From September 1935 he was a glider instructor located at Pervouralskay and from April 1937 he was a pilot instructor at the Sverdlovsk Aeroclub.
He joined the Red Army in 1937 and in 1940 he graduated from the Stalingrad Military Aviation Pilot School. In June he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and left to continue his service in Minsk, in the 153rd Fighter Aviation Regiment (later 28th Guards Fighter Leningrad Order of Kutuzov Aviation Regiment), flying a biplane.
In August 1941, Silant’ev was transferred to the 160th (later 137th Fighter Minsk Guards Red Banner Order of Suvorov) Aviation Regiment near Leningrad, flying the new fighter, the LaGG-3. In this division, he was promoted from deputy squadron commander to the navigator of the regiment.
On September 12th 1941 he accompanied the transport aircraft, which flew the commander of the Leningrad Front, Army General Georgy Zhukov.
In his memoirs, Zhukov writes about his departure from Moscow to Leningrad:
"On the morning September 10, 1941 it was cool and overcast. At the Central Airport of the capital, where I arrived to fly into besieged Leningrad, the plane loomed on the runway and there stood 3 figures: First - Lieutenant General M.S Khozina; Second - Major General I. Fedyuninsko; Third – the pilot & commander of the airship.
The commander reported on the readiness of the crew and aircraft to fly. As happens in such cases, all of us, as if on cue, raised our eyes to the heavens, mentally trying to predict the weather on the flight path. There were thick, low clouds.
“This weather is the most suitable to fly over the front of the enemy” said the commander of the aircraft, smiling.
Immediately we took flight. Ahead was Leningrad, and mentally we were already there”
In the low cloud & rain, pilot Lebedev took the plane. If the weather on the way over Lake Ladoga remained the same, they could fly without any cover. The calculation was based on the fact that enemy fighters do not fly in such weather and the experienced Aeroflot crew would safely reach Leningrad.
But over Ladoga, the weather brightened. Zhukov decided to go back and take a fighter escort as cover. The 160th Fighter Regiment was ordered to accompany the transport aircraft squadron.
Aleksandr Petrovich Silant'ev, at that time Lieutenant, was one of those who participated in this assignment.
“Our regiment was then based in Sarozhe” recalls Silant'ev. “Flights that day were not planned because of bad weather, but suddenly at dawn the squadron raised the alarm we were ordered to fly immediately to a nearby airfield at Kayvaksa.
After a short flight and landing the fighters met, and it seemed strange air group commander Colonel E. Kholzyakov was personally responsible for the organization of receiving the aircraft. He was gesticulating vigorously, showing where to stand by our machines.
A few minutes later landed the regiment commander, Major J. Drozd and his deputy, regiment navigator, Captain N. Panyukov.
The pilots wondered why they had flown to Kayvaksa so quickly. And why had those with such high ranks flown in also?
Then a "Douglas" Aircraft descended from the skies. It taxied to the edge of the forest and stopped not far from us. His motors silenced and the aircraft door opened. A technician appeared in the doorway and attached an iron ladder to the fuselage. From the airplane descended generals in new coats. Then, a stocky man of medium height stepped out of the plane. He was wearing a light brown leather coat without buttonholes and insignia and a khaki cap on his head. The Generals immediately respectfully turned to him and he nodded in response, as if allowing that they can now act freely and he walked away silently, hands clasped behind his back, lost in his own thoughts, walking along the edge of the forest.
Kholzyakov immediately rushed to him. After hearing Kholzyakov, the man in a leather coat approached the generals. And then I looked more closely and gasped: Was that Army General Zhukov? And I remembered the photo that stood in a stand in the Officers quarters in the garrison at the town of Balbasovo near Orsha, where our 160th Fighter Regiment was based before the war. It was a memorable photograph of a soldier with a large head, characteristic face and chest with a pair of binoculars. It was a photograph depicting Zhukov during the events at Khalkhin-Gol.
The high ranked officers conducted a short meeting. Zhukov said something to Kholzakov, and he came over to the fighter pilots and very clearly stated our mission: to accompany the "Douglas" in to Leningrad and landing at the airfield.
We took off without delay. The clouds floated almost over the treetops. Drizzling rain washed down the planes canopy, worsening the already poor visibility. We flew, hugging the ground. By the shores of Lake Ladoga, between the mouths of the rivers Volkhov and Svir the clouds ends abruptly and the sun shone brightly. The commander of the "Douglas" decided to continue flying over the middle of the lake, staying away from Schliesselburg which was occupied by the Germans.
"We were flying low over Lake Lagoda. As we approached the lake the clouds began to dissipate, the lake completely brightened and the anxiety of the crew increased. When we weren’t even half way across the lake, co-pilot
Dzugutov reports he sees a group of "Messers” on the Horizon. It was clear at this point that the enemy had also noticed us. At this point, our "hawks" went to intercept the enemy and thwarted the attack. The fighting raged over us…
The tangle of this fiery carousel gradually shifted to the northwest, towards the Karelian Isthmus. Everything indicated that the air battle was coming to an end and the last moments were happy ones for me. One of the enemy fighters whether due to the pilot’s inexperience, by accident or perhaps because of a lack of vigilance was in my sights after a drawn out manoeuvre. I immediately pulled the trigger. The last volley from my machine guns hit the "Messer" several times and it began throwing flames from its nose, leaving behind him a plume of smoke as he pulled toward the ground.
After losing their fighters the heat from the Nazis cooled off considerably and they rushed to leave the battlefield, ducking into a grey veil of clouds...
The escort fulfilled its task: we intercepted eight ME-109, tying them into a fight and didn’t allow them to get close to the transport aircraft. But the mission would only be considered complete on the condition that the "Douglas" landed at the Leningrad airport. We kept going in the direction of Leningrad and after that there were no more complications along the way. We landed at the airfield and the “hawks” landed behind us.
Marshal Silant'ev recalled: "Aviation was a fashion of the thirties, and the pilots for us boys – were our idols.”
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Pilot Lebedev - memoirs
“On September 10th 1941, two days after the siege of Leningrad began, I received orders to transport Army General Georgy Zhukov, who had been appointed commander of the Leningrad Front, to the encircled city. I understood the importance of this task very well.
The morning was overcast. Exactly on time Zhukov arrived at the airfield. He was accompanied by generals MS Khozin, I. Fedyuninsky and other military leaders.
Before Zhukov climbed into the cabin, I told him the whole shape of the readiness of the aircraft and the flight crew. Zhukov listened to my report, nodded and easily climbed the iron ladder. He was followed by others.
Before flying from Tikhvin I had to decide about the cover. While co-pilot
Dzugutov finished final preparations for departure, I ran to the command post. There I was waiting for the Major, who had to pick a group of fighters for the escort. We quickly agreed on the details of the flight. I flew first, and I-16 had to catch up with me and secure our landing.
Over Lake Ladoga the weather was cloudy. Then it brightened, the visibility improved. And then out of nowhere
Dzugutov exclaimed - "Messerschmitt!". Our nerves were strained to the limit. Imagine if we had not brought the fighter escort! Our "hawks" rushed to intercept enemy aircraft.
Our fighter escort consisted of two attacking groups. The first regiment was headed by navigator, Captain Panyukov; the second - Kiyanchenko. They immediately attacked the Nazis, trying to pull them as far away from our aircraft as they could. This plan didn’t fail. They gradually moved the fight to the Karelian Isthmus. In the vicinity of Cape Cul, Senior Lieutenant A.P Silant'ev (now Marshal), shot down one "Messer". Our fighters did their job and cleared the way for us. There were no more complications along the way. The plane landed at the airport and Georgy silently shook my hand.
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