Early takeoff of Evgeny Menshutin

Ace pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union Evgeny Menshutin made his first flight in March 1940. He was then a ninth-grader at one of the Moscow educational institutions and a cadet at the Metro Construction Aero Club. A correspondent of our newspaper went to school No. 325 (now part of education center No. 354) to find out how the hero’s journey began.

In the summer of 1943, a 20-year-old fighter pilot, on his first combat mission, opened his account of personal aerial victories - he shot down a German Messerschmitt. Less than two months had passed before Menshutin had three more “stars” painted on the fuselage of his Hawk. He took revenge for his interrupted peaceful life and for his father, who died near Naro-Fominsk. In September of the same year, during the battles for liberation from the occupiers of Ukraine, a young warrior was seriously wounded and almost lost his sight. Six months later, despite doctors’ prohibitions, he voluntarily returned to his regiment and continued to fight. By the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War, he had 51 air battles and 13 defeated opponents. Family, school, and time itself contributed to the formation of the character of the brave pilot.

Metrostroy became one of the symbols of the 30s, especially for Muscovites. In 1938, the Kurskaya station of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line received passengers. And the route from there to Baumanskaya crossed Gorokhovsky Lane, on which Menshutin’s native school No. 325 stood and still stands. The teenagers were interested in the progress of construction. Most likely, Evgeniy Petrovich learned about their flying club in Malyye Vyazemy from the metro builders themselves.

“The school then carried out military-patriotic education - hikes and parades were held, relevant clubs worked,” said the Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation, director of school No. 325 in 1987-2014. Elena Ivanova. – The best pioneer detachment, which included Menshutin, was awarded the banner of the pioneers of Barcelona. After all, all Soviet people in those years were worried about the Republicans of Spain, who fought against the rebels who were supported by Hitler and Mussolini.

Even the “Pionerskaya Pravda” wrote about that close-knit detachment, and the guys carried their friendship through the decades.

– “In our time, the memory of the pilot is served by an exhibition dedicated to him in the school museum,” adds Elena. – His awards, a list of victories, photographs from different years, as well as aircraft models are presented there.

He also appears in the gallery of famous school graduates. The Mestrostroevsky Aero Club member neighbors there with the great poetess Marina Tsvetaeva and with the popularly beloved film and circus artist, Hero of Socialist Labor Yuri Nikulin.