An air ram is called causing damage to an enemy aircraft directly by the attacking aircraft itself. The history of ram attacks dates back almost a hundred years, during which time pilots from different countries carried out hundreds of similar attacks, including night ones.
Ram as a method of air combat has never been and will not be the main one, since a collision with an enemy aircraft very often leads to the destruction and fall of both vehicles. Ramming is permissible only in a situation where the pilot has no choice. The first such attack was carried out in 1912 by the famous Russian pilot Pyotr Nesterov, who shot down an Austrian reconnaissance aircraft. His light “Moran” was hit from above by a heavy enemy “Albatross”, on which were a pilot and observer. As a result of the attack, both aircraft were damaged and crashed, Nesterov and the Austrians died. At that time, machine guns had not yet been installed on planes, so ramming was the only way to shoot down an enemy airplane.
After the death of Nesterov, the ramming tactics were carefully worked out, the pilots began to strive to bring down the enemy aircraft, while maintaining their own. The main attack method was hit by propeller blades on the tail of the enemy aircraft. A fast-rotating propeller damaged the tail of the aircraft, which led to a loss of control and a fall. At the same time, the pilots of the attacking vehicles were often able to safely land their aircraft. After replacing the bent screws, the machines were again ready for flying. Other options were also used - blow by wing, keel of tail, fuselage, landing gear.
Night rams were especially difficult, since in conditions of poor visibility it was very difficult to correctly execute a blow. For the first time, a night air ram was used on October 28, 1937 in the sky of Spain by the Soviet pilot Evgeny Stepanov. At night over Barcelona on an I-15, he managed to destroy the Italian Savoy-Marchetti bomber with a ram blow. Since the Soviet Union did not officially take part in the Spanish Civil War, they preferred not to talk about the heroic deed of the pilot for a long time.
During World War II, the first night aerial ram was performed by a fighter pilot of the 28th fighter aviation regiment Pyotr Vasilyevich Yeremeyev: on July 29, 1941, on a MiG-3 aircraft, he destroyed the enemy bunker Junkers-88 with a ramming strike. But the night ram of fighter pilot Viktor Vasalievich Talalikhin became more famous: on the night of August 7, 1941, on an I-16 airplane in the area of Podolsk near Moscow, he shot down a German Heinkel-111 bomber. The battle for Moscow was one of the key moments of the war, so the feat of the pilot became widely known. For their courage and heroism, Victor Talalikhin was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. He died on October 27, 1941 in an air battle, destroying two enemy aircraft and was mortally wounded by a fragment of an exploding shell.
During the battles with fascist Germany, Soviet pilots carried out more than 500 ram attacks, some pilots used this technique several times and remained alive. Ram attacks were used and later, already on jet engines.
