Year 2024 will be marked by a significant date - the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from Nazi invaders. We hold sacred the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Many streets of our cities bear their names. The exploits of partisans, underground fighters, pilots and military leaders are commemorated on 130 streets in the capital alone. Vaupshasov, Gastello, Kupriyanov, Olshevsky ...
On June 26, 1941 (on the fifth day of the war) the crew under the command of Gastello flew out to bomb a German mechanized column moving along the road Molodechno - Radoshkovichi.
The attack started, the crew managed to accurately place several bombs in the cluster of German vehicles and bombard the enemy. Gastello's plane was hit by the enemy anti-aircraft artillery fire. An enemy shell damaged the fuel tank. Instead of evacuation, the Soviet pilot made a fiery ram. Gastello turned the burning airplane towards the enemy column and directed the machine right into the thick of the German hardware.
The crew was firing at the enemy from the plane engulfed in flames to the last. None of its members did not try to leave the bomber. Explosion...
A lot of German equipment was burned, but the price of this feat was high: the whole crew was killed.
