Soviet organic chemist Alexander Dmitrievich Petrov
At the beginning of October 1941, a Messerschmitt 109 was shot down over Leningrad, a little short of its own. In the ranks of a huge number of curious people who personally observed the incident was the famous scientist Alexander Dmitrievich Petrov. While the soldiers of the enemy army were in turmoil, the resourceful scientist was able to pour a small amount of fuel into an empty bottle.
From the results of a two-day study, Petrov found out that captured gasoline freezes at an air temperature of -13 degrees, while fuel in our planes can withstand even fifty degrees below zero.
Having learned undoubtedly valuable information about enemy aircraft, Petrov for a long time, but persistently, sought a personal meeting with the commander of the Air Force of the North-Western Front, Lieutenant General Timofey Fedorovich Kutsevalov. Not believing at first, but having listened to the man of science, Kutsevalov reacted to the information with great interest. It was decided to conduct experiments on samples in the presence of the command, and for the completeness of the experiment, fuel was delivered from other domestic and enemy aircraft. The results of the new experiment coincided with the previous one.
By the end of October, in an atmosphere of strict secrecy, a plan was developed that could only be implemented at temperatures below -17. On October 30, the headquarters of the Northwestern Front had at its disposal deciphered photographs from the airfields in Siverskaya and Gatchina. In Siverskaya alone, reconnaissance officers found more than 30 fighters, about 40 Ju-88s and several transport aircraft.
On the night of November 6, the air temperature dropped to -22, which meant a ban on the departure of German aircraft and served as a signal for the start of the operation. The honor of delivering the first blow to German aircraft in Siverskaya fell to the 125th Bomber Aviation Regiment of Major Sandalov. The attack of the air regiment was carried out from a height of more than 2500 meters. During the first attack, the navigator of one of the leading bombers, V. Mikhailov, managed to drop bombs exactly on the enemy’s main air park, which caused panic at the airfield. Of course, there were anti-aircraft guns on the defense of each of the airfields, but the attack of the Sandalov air regiment was so unexpected and lightning fast that the enemy did not immediately come to his senses. In addition, the plan took this into account. On this day, a group of ten I-153s went out to support the bombers and attack the anti-aircraft guns. A little more than 3 hours later, the seven of the 125th BAP, under the command of Captain Rezvykh, struck a new blow at the airfield.
Fuel that could withstand at least twenty degrees below zero appeared in the Germans only by mid-November. However, the Germans were able to carry out concentrated bombing strikes on the territory of Leningrad only in April 1942.
The famous scientist Alexander Dmitrievich Petrov was soon evacuated to Moscow, and in 1943 he went to work at the Mendeleev Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology, and in 1947 he became the head of the laboratory of the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In the winter of 1964, the famous scientist passed away.