Tragedies in the USSR that were forbidden to write about: a plane crash on a kindergarten and children burned alive at school. Unknown facts about the most tragic plane crash in the history of the country: a plane crash on a kindergarten Plane crash May 16, 1972

The birthday number 4 symbolizes a balanced, hardworking nature, cautious, avoiding risky ventures. A capable person, with your own ideas, plans, you try to figure everything out on your own, without outside help.

Your motto is reliability, firmness, honesty. You must not be deceived, but you yourself must avoid self-deception.

4 - the number of seasons, the number of elements, the number of cardinal points. Number 4 people often look at things from their own special point of view, which allows them to find details hidden from the rest. At the same time, this often causes them to disagree with the majority and clash with others. They rarely strive for material success, being not too friendly, they are often lonely. They have the best relations with people of numbers 1, 2, 7 and 8.

Lucky day of the week for number 4 - Wednesday

European zodiac sign Taurus

Dates: 2013-04-21 -2013-05-20

The Four Elements and their Signs are distributed as follows: Fire(Aries, Leo and Sagittarius) Earth(Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn) Air(Gemini, Libra and Aquarius) and Water(Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces). Since the elements help to describe the main character traits of a person, by including them in our horoscope, they help to get a more complete picture of a particular person.

The features of this element are cold and dryness, metaphysical matter, strength and density. In the Zodiac, this element is represented by an earthly trine (triangle): Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn. The Earth trine is considered a materialistic trine. Principle: stability.
The earth creates forms, laws, gives concreteness, stability, stability. Earth structures, analyzes, classifies, creates a foundation. It has such qualities as inertia, confidence, practicality, reliability, patience, rigor. In the body, the Earth gives inhibition, petrification through contraction and compression, slows down the process of metabolism.
People whose horoscopes express the element of the Earth have a melancholy temperament. These are people of sober mind and prudence, very practical and businesslike. The goal of life for them is always real and achievable, and the path to this goal is already planned in their youth. If they deviate from their goal, then very slightly, and then more because of internal causes than external ones. People of this trine achieve success thanks to such excellent character traits as perseverance, perseverance, endurance, endurance, determination, and steadfastness. They do not have such a fantasy and vivid, vivid imagination as the signs of the Water trine, they lack utopian ideas, like the signs of Fire, but they stubbornly go towards their goal and always achieve it. They choose the path of least external resistance, and when obstacles arise, they mobilize their strength and energy to overcome everything that prevents them from reaching their intended goal.
People of the elements of the Earth strive for the possession of matter. The creation of material values ​​brings them true satisfaction, and the results of labor delight their soul. All the goals that they set for themselves, first of all, should bring them benefit and material gain. If most of the planets are in the trine of the Earth, such principles will apply to all areas of life, up to love and marriage.
People with a predominance of the elements of the Earth stand firmly on their feet, prefer stability, moderation, consistency. They love a sedentary lifestyle, attached to home, property and homeland. Periods of recovery and well-being are replaced by crises, which can be prolonged due to the inertia of the trigon of the Earth. It is this inertia that does not allow them to quickly switch to the new kind activities or relationships. This shows their limited ability to adapt to anyone and anything, with the exception of the sign of Virgo.
People with a pronounced element of the Earth usually choose a profession related to material values, money or business. Often they have "golden hands", they are excellent artisans, they can be successful in applied sciences and applied arts. They are patient, submissive to circumstances, sometimes take a wait-and-see attitude, while not forgetting about their daily bread. Everything is done with one goal - to improve their physical existence on earth. There will be care for the soul, but this is on a case-by-case basis. All of the above is easily achievable for them, provided that their energy does not go to such negative character traits as ultra-egoism, excessive prudence, self-interest and greed.

Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius. A fixed cross is a cross of evolution, stability and stability, accumulation, concentration of development. He uses the experience of the past. It gives stability, hardness, strength, durability, stability. A person in whose horoscope the Sun, Moon or most of the personal planets are in fixed signs is distinguished by conservatism, inner calmness, steadfastness, perseverance, perseverance, patience, endurance, and prudence. He fiercely resists what they try to impose on him, and is able to rebuff anyone. Nothing irritates him so much as the need to change something, no matter what area of ​​\u200b\u200blife it may concern. He loves certainty, consistency, requires guarantees of reliability in order to be protected from any surprise.
Although he does not have sharp impulses, ease in making decisions that are inherent in other signs, he is distinguished by constancy of opinions, stability in his habits and life positions. He is attached to his work, he can work tirelessly, "till you drop." He is also constant in his attachments to friends and relatives, firmly and steadfastly clings to someone or something, whether it be material value, social status, a faithful friend, a devoted like-minded person or a close and beloved person. The people of the fixed cross are faithful, devoted and reliable, they are the knights of the word. You can always rely on their promises. But it is worth deceiving them only once, and their trust is lost, maybe even forever. People of the fixed cross have strongly expressed desires, passions, they act only from their own motives and always rely on their own instincts. Their feelings, sympathies and antipathies are unshakable, unshakable. Adversity, failures and blows of fate do not bend them, and any obstacle only strengthens their perseverance and perseverance, as it gives them new strength to fight.

The main forming beginnings of Taurus are typical manifestations of the elements of the Earth. This is a female, "yin", sign, a sign of the manifestation of the vibration of the planet Venus. Taurus is depicted as the corresponding animal, firmly standing on the Earth. This is a bull, as if coming out of the earth, having a direct connection with it. The Earth gives Taurus strength, on the one hand, the ability to feel firmly on his feet, and on the other hand, the Earth, as it were, attracts Taurus, not allowing him to tear himself away from himself.

People born under the sign of Taurus are often excellent economists, planners, business executives, and sales workers. Among them, according to world statistics, most of all are ministers of agriculture, a lot of big bankers, financiers and even politicians. This is all due to the fact that in all matters they are guided by common sense, they are very earthly, practical, sometimes pragmatic people. If we talk about the negative qualities of Taurus that the Earth gives him, then this is, first of all, conservatism, the desire for stability. But, on the other hand, conservatism is necessary and useful in any serious business. Therefore, if Taurus in his desires shows exactly healthy conservatism, then this is perfectly reflected in the work in which he is engaged. The same conservatism helps Taurus to prove themselves as lawyers. Their desire to stick to the previously established order helps them to achieve great success both in society and in all areas in which they are involved.
It is necessary to emphasize one important nuance: Taurus then act effectively when they feel solid ground under them, that is, when they have a clear life platform in any form (a strong family, a solid position in society, large material savings, inheritance; as well as the accumulation of intellectual or energetic character). Taurus constantly save everything in order to function normally. This is necessary condition their lives. In itself, hoarding in Taurus is not a bad trait, not a good one, but a natural one. The assessment of "good" or "bad" appears when we begin to analyze how Taurus uses this accumulation. If he uses what he has accumulated for good deeds, for deeds connected with the evolution of people, large groups or the whole of humanity, that is good. If Taurus has become a grabber, then it cannot be worse.

A small child - Taurus will always save something, either candy wrappers, or pennies, or books, or stamps. Parents should be very attentive to these inclinations of children so that they do not turn into a quality that corrodes the essence of a person. Sometimes the constant need of Taurus to always have a foundation under their feet and a certain incentive comes to the ridiculous, then he cannot be guided in life abstract concepts, philosophical concepts, and he definitely needs a clearly and clearly formulated task. By the way, Taurus learn with great difficulty, with great difficulty knowledge enters into them, but if the information has entered the head, then nothing can knock it out. important to them and material incentives in work and study as well.
Hoarding is not a bad trait if it is channeled in the right direction. The highest quality of Taurus, the Earth is the desire for strength, for the accumulation of information. Taurus are very patient, they can get their way for a long time until they complete their program. This is a wonderful quality - perseverance, the ability to achieve a goal at all costs, when it is connected with constructive deeds, bringing good to people. That's what tall Taurus is up to. All Taurus is usually characterized by diligence, perseverance in achieving the goal. Taurus is also characterized by creative fertility. Most bright examples- Karl Marx, O. Balzac.

40 years ago, in quiet Svetlogorsk, a military transport An-24 fell on Kindergarten. 23 children, 3 teachers and 8 crew members died. We met with those who miraculously survived or escaped disaster.

Traces covered overnight

On May 16, 1972, a military transport aircraft of the naval aviation of the Baltic Fleet took off from Khrabrovo. The pilots performed a planned flight - weather reconnaissance. Near Svetlogorsk An-24, trying to determine the lower limit of cloud cover, landed in thick fog. The pilots flew the plane low and at some point, according to eyewitnesses, it touched the Ferris wheel and began to fall, falling lower and lower, catching the tops of pines ...

And below - a school, a kindergarten, residential buildings. The disaster was inevitable. At this moment, the guys had just returned to the kindergarten from a walk. They were sitting in the dining room - they were about to serve dinner. One moment took the lives of all the children and three teachers ...

- I was sitting in the office, then I hear a roar, then children run in and shout: "The plane crashed near the stadium"! And there my guys were engaged in physical education with a teacher. The day is in full swing! I ran along with everyone, - Sergey Popov tells us, who in those years worked as the director of school No. 1 in Svetlogorsk. - The building of the kindergarten was on fire, there were fragments of the fuselage right there. People were running and screaming, women were crying. In May, there were already many vacationers in Svetlogorsk - they began to run to the crash site. The chairman of the city executive committee arrived. The first secretary of the city party committee, Zubkov, fainted from what he saw - he was taken to the hospital. I myself was shocked by all this. After all, the plane was flying straight at the school, but it hit the Ferris wheel, and it turned to the kindergarten. Otherwise, he would have fallen on us. At that moment there were at least 200 people in the school.

The case was taken over by the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs. The crash site was quickly cordoned off, people were not allowed close.

- I remember when the fire had not yet been extinguished, the cartridges suddenly began to explode. Bullets whistled over their heads - it was clear that the pilots were armed, - says Sergei Popov. - In order not to produce rumors and not to injure people, the case was not made public. Then it wasn't like it is now. Then everything was hidden. (By the way, the Western media announced the Svetlogorsk disaster very quickly. Soviet newspapers and radio were silent - Ed.).

During the night, the conflagration was dismantled. And everything that was left was leveled, turning it into a neat platform, on which a large flower bed "grew" by morning. In the morning, flowers and toys were brought to her. Not a trace remains of the garden.

- Despite the fact that there was no information, everyone was talking only about the plane. The city is small, and rumors spread quickly with the news,” says Popov.

Sick and saved

It is today that Oleg Saushkin drives a solid car, runs his own business and knows everyone and everyone in Svetlogorsk. Then, in 1972, he was six years old, and he was the simplest boy.

We met Oleg at the chapel, which stands on the site of the tragedy on Lenin Street. We went inside, looked at the photographs of the dead children. It is scary to imagine that among the black and white photographs there could be a portrait of little Olezhka ...

- For some reason, I really did not like this kindergarten. I did not like to go here, even though all my friends were here, even neighbors in the yard. I often ran away to my mother to work, and she worked in a sanatorium, here he is, nearby, - says Saushkin.

That day, Oleg did not have to run away from the kindergarten.

- The day before, I "successfully" walked - fell into the hole and chilled the kidneys, problems began, - he recalls. - I was first treated in Pionerskoye, then transferred to the regional hospital in Kaliningrad. I was there after the operation. I remember that at some point the whole hospital began to fuss. Everyone started running, cars drove out somewhere, but no one said anything. And then my mother came to me. I still remember her tears. This is how an accident saved my life.

Another lucky woman is Olga Lukeeva. Her mother worked as a nanny in that kindergarten.

- My tonsils were removed, my mother and I were on sick leave. When I was already on the mend, my mother took another week of vacation at her own expense to sit at home with me, - says Olga. - And I was so tired of going to hospitals and sitting within four walls that every day I begged my mother to go to kindergarten and visit friends. On that day, she also asked, and my mother kept saying: "Wait, let's sit at home a little more." But I stood my ground. And mom gave up: "Okay, let's get ready." We got dressed and were already on the porch when there was an explosion. It rumbled so hard that the ground shook and threw me up. I remember when we got there, there were a lot of people. There was a charred plane and charred books. Doctors and military men were loading something in white sheets into trucks. I was small, but I understood everything. I still remember all the faces of the children, their names, especially those who sat at the same table with me at dinner. Only today they are all gone, and I stayed ...

Thrown out by explosion

In 1972, on the day of the funeral of the dead, in order to prevent publicity, electric trains to Svetlogorsk were canceled "for technical reasons", and posts were set up on the roads - the movement of cars to the resort town was limited.

Despite this, several thousand residents of Svetlogorsk and regional cities gathered at the cemetery (10 thousand people appear in some sources). As local residents recall, children were buried by the whole city. The funeral procession stretched along the road, a cordon of soldiers did not let the crowds near the small coffins ...

The only person who was in the kindergarten that day and survived was nurse Anna Nezvanova. Her little son died in the fire. She herself, as we were told, was standing in the window opening, and at the time of the accident she was thrown into the street. And so she was saved. Today, Anna Nikitishna does not tell anyone about what happened. We hardly managed to find her at the dacha near Svetlogorsk.

“It’s easy for you to say, but it’s hard for me to even remember. I don’t want to disturb the memory,” she refused to talk.

There were also those whom God took away from the tragedy. An example of this is the pilot who was supposed to fly on the ill-fated plane. The day before, a week before, he was baptized and accepted the faith. And before the flight itself, he fell ill - the temperature rose and he was not allowed to fly ...

FROM THE "KP" DOSSIER

One of the most reliable is the version of a technical malfunction of the aircraft altimeter. The error in his testimony is explained by the fact that on the eve of the flight, the Air Force of the Navy decided to replace the altimeters from the Il-14 to the An-24. The performance of the devices after such a replacement has not been properly verified. The experiments carried out during the investigation made it possible to establish that the An-24 crew in Svetlogorsk received data with an error of up to 60-70 meters.

At 4 p.m. on May 16, 1972, Radio Free Europe from Munich broadcast the following message: “An An-26 military transport aircraft of the Baltic Fleet Naval Aviation crashed three hours ago on a kindergarten in Svetlogorsk (Kaliningrad Region). Among the dead are children under the age of 6, caregivers and the crew of the aircraft, more than 30 people in total.” The efficiency of the German radio station is easily explained - NATO radio monitoring stations worked on the island of Bornholm, which intercepted the communications of our military. But the Soviet media were silent about the incident.

On May 16, 1972, at about 12:30, the An-24T aircraft of the 263rd separate transport aviation aviation regiment Baltic Fleet The USSR, making a flight with the aim of flying over radio equipment, crashed in bad weather conditions, catching a tree. After a collision with a tree, the damaged aircraft flew about 200 meters and crashed on the building of a kindergarten in Svetlogorsk. 33 people died in the crash: all 8 crew members, 22 children and 3 employees of the kindergarten.

AN-24 took off from Khrabrovo at 12:15. The general flight control was carried out by the operational duty officer of the aviation command post, Lieutenant Colonel Vaulev, who also gave permission to complete the task. Having gained altitude, the plane reached a point in the Zelenogradsk region, "attached" to it and went to Cape Taran. Then he made a U-turn over the sea to reach the given bearing. A thick fog was already over the sea. The collision of the aircraft with an obstacle occurred at 14 minutes 48 seconds of flight. At the same time, black boxes were recorded: the altimeter showed a height of 150 meters above sea level. In fact, from the foot of the steep coast to the top of the pine tree is no more than 85 meters.

In the case there is a scheme for the destruction of the aircraft. The commander lacked some fractions of a second. Coming out of the fog, he understood everything and pulled the rudders towards himself. Alas, the An-24 is not a fighter."

In the diagram, up to centimeters, a plane crash is recorded after a collision with a pine tree on the seashore.

Why did the altimeter lie? It turns out that on the eve of this flight, the Navy Air Force made, as is now clear, an ill-considered decision to replace the altimeters from IL-14 to AN-24. Subsequent experiments showed that the altimeter, rearranged from Il-14 to An-24, gave an error of up to 60-70 meters.

One of the first to see the falling plane was a few vacationers who found themselves in the park that day, and schoolchildren who had a physical education lesson at the city stadium. In the next moment, the building of the kindergarten was shaken by a monstrous blow. Having lost both planes and the landing gear during the fall, the halved fuselage rammed the second floor at high speed, burying everyone under its debris. Aviation fuel, which flared up from the impact with renewed vigor, swallowed up all living things in its flame in a matter of seconds. Next to the blazing ruins of the kindergarten, the cockpit of an airplane was lying on the road. In it, clinging to the steering wheel, sat a dead pilot. The co-pilot lay on the road. The wind either knocked the flames off him, then fanned them with renewed vigor. Almost simultaneously, police squads, firefighters, military personnel of neighboring military units and sailors of the Baltic Fleet arrived at the crash site.

In a matter of minutes, a triple cordon was set up. Armed soldiers, tightly clasped by the hands, barely restrained the unfortunate mothers, who rushed to where their children died in a terrible fire. Somehow managed to push them to a safe distance. Along the road, on the soot-blackened lawn, the military laid out white sheets. Immediately, rescuers began to lay the remains of children extracted from under the ruins on them. Many, unable to stand it, closed their eyes and turned away. Someone fainted.

A state of emergency was introduced in the resort Svetlogorsk for 24 hours. Residents were forbidden not only to leave the city, but even to leave their homes. The electricity and telephones were turned off. The city froze, people sat in dark apartments, as if in shelters during the war. In the evening, police squads and combatants were on duty on the coast: there was a fear that one of the relatives of the dead would decide to drown themselves. Work to clear the rubble and search for the bodies of the dead continued until late at night. The remains of the ruins, as it turns out later, were taken to a landfill on the outskirts of the city. For a long time, burnt children's books and toys, parts and items of military ammunition will be found in its vicinity ...

As soon as the last loaded car left the city, the place where the day before there was a kindergarten was leveled, overlaid with sod on scorched earth. In order to hide the traces of the tragedy from prying eyes, it was decided to break a large flower bed in that place.

By morning, the garden seemed to have never existed - a flower bed blossomed in its place! - Andrey Dmitriev recalls. - Many parents did not believe their eyes then. The scorched earth was cut off, the turf was laid, the paths strewn with broken red brick. Broken and burnt trees were cut down. And only a sharp smell of kerosene. The smell lingered for another two weeks...

Garden workers Tamara Yankovskaya, Antonina Romanenko, and her friend Yulia Vorona, who accidentally came to visit that day, were taken to a military hospital with severe burns. In addition to their relatives, KGB officers visited them in the hospital every day, ready for any help in exchange for silence.

Unfortunately, Romanenko died quickly, without regaining consciousness, Yankovskaya died six months later, and Vorona survived. The dead children and teachers were buried in a mass grave at the cemetery, not far from the Svetlogorsk-1 railway station. On the day of the funeral, traffic was limited on the roads connecting the regional center with Svetlogorsk.

At the same time, diesel trains carrying passengers from Kaliningrad to the resort town were cancelled. The official version is an urgent repair of access roads, the unofficial version is to minimize the publicity of all the circumstances of the crash. On the day of the funeral of the dead children, more than 7,000 people gathered at the cemetery in Svetlogorsk.

No criminal case was opened on the fact of the plane crash in Svetlogorsk. They limited themselves only to the order of the Minister of Defense, in accordance with which about 40 military officials were removed from their posts. And even then the main version appeared: the pilots were to blame, in whose blood alcohol was allegedly found. For this reason, relatives of the dead children and kindergarten staff forbade burying the pilots at the Svetlogorsk cemetery next to "their victims." For the same reason, in the general list of those who died in the plane crash, there was no place for the eight names of the crew members in the temple-chapel.

In 1972, it was not customary to widely cover the details of accidents and disasters, especially those that happened in the military department. And the circumstances of the tragedy that occurred in a small resort town on the Baltic Sea were covered with a veil of silence. Albeit with a great delay, but finally the public accusation was lifted from the crew, which itself became a victim of erroneous cabinet decisions ... "

After the Curonian Spit in front of Kaliningrad, we had planned a short walk through Svetlogorsk, a former German resort town, which we were strongly advised to visit. Svetlogorsk is located on the coast of the Baltic Sea, 50 km from Kaliningrad. The population of the city is about 11 thousand people. Svetlogorsk received its modern name in 1946, until that time the city was called Rauschen (German: Rauschen). The popularity of the city as a resort has increased significantly since 1900, when railway from Königsberg to Rauschen/Ort station (now Svetlogorsk-1), extended in 1906 to Rauschen/Dune station (Svetlogorsk-2). Trains could now drive closer to the sea, and the resort became much more accessible for many residents of Koenigsberg.

Svetlogorsk is connected to Kaliningrad by a highway. It is part of the Primorsky Ring, which is under construction. Surprisingly, this 4-lane high-speed highway with continuous traffic with fenders, night lighting and interchanges is not a federal highway. True, only the first 2 stages of Kaliningrad - Zelenogradsk - Khrabrovo Airport and Zelenogradsk - Svetlogorsk - Pionersky have been put into operation so far. After the construction is completed, the ring will close with Kaliningrad through the cities of Baltiysk and Svetly.

1. Primorskoye ring, the first stage, a picture from Google StreetView.

2. Svetlogorsk can be safely attributed to those cities where you can return again. This is a quiet seaside town with interesting architectural development.

3. We go down to the Promenade and the sundial.

4. Sundial (1974) in the form of a mosaic panel with images of the signs of the zodiac.

5. Beach.

6. In 1908, a wooden promenade was built on piles on the seashore.

7. Descent to the beach.

8. Bronze sculpture "Nymph" (1938) by Hermann Brachert on the Promenade.

9. Contemporary sculpture (early 2000s) on the Promenade.

10. Swans in the waters of the Baltic Sea.

11. Anchor.

13. The main symbol of the city is the Hydropathic Tower.

14. The tower of the marine hydropathic clinic, 25 meters high, was built in 1900-1908.

15. In 1978, a sundial was installed on the tower, which organically fit into the appearance of the building.

16. We didn’t have a classic paper or electronic (OsmAnd) map at that time, we navigated among city sights with the help of this photograph.

17. We went to have a bite to eat in the cafe "For friends" on Lenin street. It turned out quite tasty and very budget (740 rubles for three).

The building "Hunting lodge" was built in 1926 according to the original project of arch. Goering in the Art Nouveau style. From 1925 to 1933 the owner of the house was the burgomaster of Rauschen, Karl von Streng. Because of its extraordinary architecture, the building has been repeatedly filmed in films, including in the film Little Red Riding Hood, from which the name "House of the Astrologer" came from, the role of which was played by the famous artist Yevgeny Evstigneev. In 2003, the house passed into private ownership and was restored by specialists from the Czech Republic and Moscow. The building was raised on jacks, the beams were replaced. Slate tiles for the roof were brought from the Czech Republic. Due to the fact that the stained-glass windows in post-war period were cemented, and the typesetting parquet was painted with oil paint, they survived, and during the reconstruction of the building they were able to be restored.

18. "Hunting lodge" (1926).

19. Many houses were less fortunate, they have to wait for restoration for a very long time.

20. Commemorative sign to Thomas Mann (2003) commemorating his visit to Rauschen in 1929.

21. Signposts in different styles.

22. Sculptural composition "The Frog Princess" (2006).

23. Railway station Svetlogorsk-2.

24. Pancake room with original wall paintings. On our next visit to Svetlogorsk, we will definitely visit it.

25. Most of the buildings are carefully designed in a single architectural style.

26. Marble sculpture "Carrying Water" (1944) by Hermann Brachert.

27. The building of the sanatorium "Svetlogorsk".

28. An original solution, a sculpture of a German sailor is installed in the niche of an ordinary residential building.

29. A small wooden mill on the territory of the Old Doctor Hotel.

30. Church of Seraphim of Sarov (since 1992), in the past (1907-1946) - Raushen Lutheran Church.

And at the end of the photo story about Svetlogorsk, one more memorial place —.

31. Chapel in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" at the site of the death of the kindergarten on May 16, 1972.

The chapel was erected in memory of the victims of the disaster May 16, 1972. On this day on the previously located here kindergarten plane crashed. At 12:15, six experienced pilots took off from the Khrabrovo airfield on an An-24 military transport aircraft. At 12:29:48, leaving the dense fog over the sea, the plane cuts down the top of a pine tree with its wing and crashes on a kindergarten with a damaged wing. In these moments 22 children and three adults were seated at tables for lunch. The cause of the disaster is the incorrect readings of the altimeter, rearranged on the An-24 from the Il-14. No one has checked how he will behave on the new plane. victims ill-conceived decision became Svetlogorsk children and the crew of "An-24".

32. Commemorative plaque.

By morning, the gaping funnel was turned into a square with flowers by the hands of the soldiers. At that time, official information about such tragedies was not published. Only 22 years later, on the site of a bitter grave, a chapel was built on the site of a bitter grave in memory of those who died so unexpectedly and so terribly on May Day. On May 16, pilots from Khrabrovo arrive at the place of death and lay flowers. There is no other monument to their colleagues. Children come here to Sunday school.

33. ...

For many years, the terrible history of Svetlogorsk could not even be mentioned. When other times came, fundraising began for the chapel. It was erected in 1994. And since then, a candle has always been burning in it. In memory of those who accepted a terrible death here...

Last minutes (based on materials from Wikimapia).

Today, the kindergarten of sanatorium No. 3 (the current "Svetlogorsk") would probably be considered "elite". And then he was called "thieves". Cozy two-story mansion. There are 25 children in total. Soul staff. Many wanted to place their child here.

According to the Kaliningrad Hydrometeorological Bureau, on May 16, the region is expected to have cloudy weather with clearings without significant precipitation, fog in places in the morning, variable light to moderate wind, temperature five to ten degrees Celsius. The weathermen were wrong. The weather that day was really bad. Nevertheless, the children still went for a traditional walk with pleasure.

The husband of the teacher Valentina Shabashova-Metelitsa was in the hospital, where he underwent an operation. Valentina was in a hurry to visit her husband in Kaliningrad. And so I finished my walk twenty minutes earlier than usual. Many believe that if the children were still walking, and not sitting in the building, they would have a chance ...

Yulia Vorona and her husband Vladimir on May 16 went to buy a TV. The path lay past the kindergarten. Antonina Romanenko, Yulia's friend, worked there as a cook.

I'll run to Tosa for a minute?

In the locker room, Crow saw two boys placed in a corner.

What are you for, huh?

In response, they only sniffed offendedly.

They indulged, so they were punished, - the teacher explained with mock severity. Everyone who knew her says that she was a very kind person.

Come on, Val! - unpedagogically waved the guest. - Come on, shoot, march to lunch!

One boy rushed to wash his hands, the other - to the toilet. The teacher went out into the street to meet her Andryushka. He was sick, his grandmother took him to warm up. And on the way they decided to visit their mother.

The rest of the kids were already in the dining room.

They sat quietly at the tables, like angels, waiting for the first-second-compote, - Yulia Egorovna wipes her tears.

Leaving Anna Nezvanova in the kitchen to fry cutlets, Tosya and Yulia went out into the game room. Chatting, they stood at the window. They watched Valya hugging her son as she ran up the street.

While waiting for Yulia, her husband decided to pick her lilies of the valley. Moving a hundred meters away, he heard a rumble and a strange crack. Turning around at the sound, he froze: from the side of the sea, breaking the tops of trees, the plane was rushing ...

At the stadium near the kindergarten, the physical education lesson just ended. Stretching out, the class returned to school. Seeing the plane, everyone seemed to be numb.

To me! - having come to his senses, the teacher Yuri Baklanov shouted to the guys who had gone ahead.

Everyone ran back. And then the plane crashed...

Maria Kudreshova then worked in the atelier as a men's cutter. A typical Tuesday, it was time for dinner. Suddenly, the sound of an explosion. The power went out right after that.

And then the terrible news:

The garden exploded!

Maria Grigorievna had a son Alyoshka there. I jumped out into the street, saw a standing motorcycle, began to shout: “Whose motorcycle ?!” The owner came running, rushed off. We arrived, and on the site of the kindergarten - hell. Everything burned, even the asphalt. The cockpit of the plane lay on the road. In it, clutching the steering wheel, sat a dead pilot. The body of another was hanging from a tree. There were no firemen yet. Rushing around, not knowing what to do, the first people who came running to help.

Among them was Vladimir Moiseevich, the husband of Yulia Yegorovna.

Do not believe it, but for some reason I was sure: my Yulia is alive, alive!

Waking up, Crow, littered with debris, could only turn her head. I saw that next to me was the dead Tosya. Yulia Egorovna was saved by the closet. He took the brunt of everything that flew into her head.

The woman tried to get out. In vain. She began to shout: "Help, help!" Meanwhile, the fire was already approaching her. Breathing was getting harder...

And then - the explosion. As it turned out later, the gas cylinders standing in the kitchen exploded. As a result, a hole was formed in the blockage. The crow began to make its way upstairs.

Having got out, she randomly went through the burning ruins. Opposite is a fireman. Seeing Yulia, he threw the hose and ran away.

Scared. No wonder I looked terrible. And yes, that's what happened there. Everyone's nerves will give up.

As a result, a familiar policeman, Pyotr Zanin, pulled her out. Then Yulia was laid on the grass and persuaded not to move. She kept rushing back: “Tosya is on fire there, you need to get her!”

You can't hide the truth

Eduard Trushchenkov 35 years ago was the ideology secretary of the Svetlogorsk city committee of the CPSU. It so happened that in those days he remained in the city "on the farm." The first secretary fell ill with a heart attack, the second one left.

On the morning of May 16, Trushchenkov was in Kaliningrad - at a meeting in the regional committee dedicated to the affairs of the fishing industry. By noon the meeting was over, and the secretary drove back. Suddenly, his car was overtaken by an ambulance. Behind her - another, third.

Come on and you chase them, - Eduard Vasilyevich said to the driver, getting worried.

When they arrived at the scene of the tragedy, the area was already cordoned off. The military and cadets from the police school came to the aid of the firefighters. Some collected the remains of the pilots and the wreckage of the aircraft, others dismantled the ruins of the garden, removing the bodies from under the rubble.

By the way, on the same day, Voice of America reported about the emergency in Svetlogorsk.

On May 17, there was a meeting dedicated to what happened, Trushchenkov continues. - And I asked: how did they learn about our trouble so quickly abroad? Are there agents in Svetlogorsk who work for foreign intelligence? One of the KGB officers reluctantly explained: foreigners intercepted the negotiations, they have a tracking station nearby.

Despite the measures taken by the "authorities", the news of the tragedy quickly spread in our country.

Shortly after the plane crashed, I got a call from my acquaintances from Svetly, - recalls Larisa Novikova, who was then living in Svetlogorsk. - Like, what happened there? And in the evening they called from Kyiv. By that time, I was already a little out of my mind. Around only and talk about what happened. From our house, two people died at once - a girl and a boy ...

The meager information about the tragedy was distorted, overgrown with speculation. Sometimes people only knew that a plane had crashed on a kindergarten. And they fled in a panic to "their" kindergarten, where they took the child in the morning.

Life after death...

The tragic incident was the number one topic in Svetlogorsk for a long time. Then, as usual, the story began to be forgotten little by little. And only the relatives of the dead always remember May 16, 1972. Some never recovered from that day at all. Someone drank himself, someone committed suicide ... Time, of course, heals. And yet it is worth talking to them about that tragedy, as tears appear in their eyes. On the morning of May 16, the relatives of the victims will again gather in the chapel on Lenin Street. After the service, everyone will go to the cemetery.

Trip Log:

20 Mar 2018

On May 16, 1972, one of the the worst plane crashes in the history of the USSR. The An-24 aircraft, belonging to the air regiment of the Baltic Fleet, made a flight in order to check the radio equipment.

Having hooked a tree with its wing, the winged car lost control, and, having flown about 200 meters, fell directly on the kindergarten building city ​​of Svetlogorsk. In addition to the crew of the An-24, three kindergarten workers and 24 children died in the fire that broke out from the spilled fuel - all who were in the building at that time.

In official sources, it is often found that 23 babies died, not 24. This confusion occurred because the father of one of the kindergarten students, a sea captain, asked to wait with his daughter's funeral until he returned from the flight. The girl does not lie in a mass grave with the rest of the children, so she is usually forgotten about.

According to the official version, the plane crashed due to a faulty altimeter. Shortly before the flight, the device was moved to the An-24 from the Il-14.

At the same time, no one checked the performance of the device. As a result, the plane flew 60 meters lower than necessary, and the fog prevented the pilots from orienting themselves in what was happening.

Until now, however, there are persistent rumors that alcohol was found in the blood of the dead crew members - they say they drank in the service.

However, the subsequent internal investigation of the Ministry of Defense ended with the confirmation of the "technical" version of the disaster. After the tragedy, 40 high-ranking military officers were simply removed from their posts!

The few photographs of the funeral were taken literally from under the floor. The Soviet media were silent about the disaster, and representatives of the state security imposed the strictest veto on the dissemination of any information about what had happened.

In the city itself, a state of emergency was declared, phones were turned off, and entry and exit were blocked. Cordons were put up on the roads, electric trains to Svetlogorsk were canceled.

Of the pupils of the kindergarten, only three children survived, who were not there that day. Ira Golushko was just recovering from the flu, and her mother decided to let her sit out one more day.

Six-year-old Oleg Saushkin was in the hospital with a kidney disease. And little Olya Korobova, although she was on sick leave, nevertheless persuaded her mother to take her to kindergarten. When the explosion was heard, the woman barely had time to open the front door.

In 1994, a chapel was built in the square that had been broken on the site of the tragedy. Residents of Svetlogorsk know very well even without a memorial plaque that a small memorial temple is intended to perpetuate.

Even today, May 16, on the day of the plane crash, pilots of the Baltic Fleet come here to honor the memory and meet with their relatives.

It is worth mentioning separately how a square appeared instead of a kindergarten. The plane crashed shortly after noon, and by 9 pm the sailors rounded up by the authorities had finished clearing the rubble. On the morning of May 17, their hard labor ended. The wreckage of the plane and the body were taken out, everything was carefully cleaned.

Maria Kudreshova, whose son died in kindergarten, recalls: “ As if there was never a kindergarten! Instead, there is a flower bed, paths strewn with broken red bricks. The scorched earth has been cut away, and turf has been laid in its place. Broken and burnt trees were cut down. And only a sharp smell of kerosene. The smell lingered for another two weeks...»

Today we can say with certainty: ill-conceived decisions and negligence of the highest ranks resulted in a tragedy for the whole city. It is difficult to imagine what the parents of the children had to go through, especially considering how the state tried to erase all memory of what happened. But it is simply impossible to hush up this!