In a popular song that was often heard on the radio in the 30s of the last century, there are words: when the country orders to be a hero, anybody becomes a hero in our country. This motto, without the slightest exaggeration, determined the fate of the polar pilot Mauritius Slepnev.
Starting conditions
In the current chronological period, the profession of a pilot has become available to everyone and fit for health reasons. But at the beginning of the 20th century, the situation seemed very different. The first aircraft were characterized by low reliability and poor technical characteristics. Plywood and textile materials were widely used in the production of aircraft. However, the young men with a burning gaze were not frightened by these circumstances. Among them, Mavriky Trofimovich Slepnev grew and matured. A country boy, determined and fearless.
The future Hero of the Soviet Union was born on June 27, 1896 in a peasant family. Parents lived in the village of Yamskovitsy in the St. Petersburg province. For a long time, these places have been inhabited by people adhering to the old Christian faith. Despite the fact that five children were growing up in the house, each of them received primary education at a parish school. When Mauritius was fourteen years old, he moved to St. Petersburg to his older brother and went to work at an electrical plant.
Professional activity
In those years, Petersburgers loved to watch the performances of the famous pilot Utochkin, who on weekends circled in his airplane over the Petersburg Hippodrome. Mauritius gazed at the sky with admiration and imagined himself as a pilot. When the war began, Slepnev was drafted into the army. And here the young man was lucky - he was among the cadets of the flight school, which was located in Gatchina. In 1917, he was promoted to the rank of staff captain and was appointed commander of an aviation detachment. A year later, the Civil War began, and Mauritius volunteered for the Red Army.
Together with his squadron, Slepnev roamed along different fronts. For several months, the detachment operated as part of the famous 25th division, commanded by Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev. When the White Guards were defeated, an experienced aviator was sent to Central Asia to plot air routes. In 1929 Slepnev was transferred to Siberia. Flights over taiga and tundra are no less dangerous than over sands and deserts. The pilot's finest hour came in 1934, when an acute situation arose with the Semyon Chelyuskin steamer.
Recognition and privacy
The whole world watched the operation to rescue people trapped on the ice floe. Mavriky Trofimovich turned out to be one of seven pilots who, in difficult weather conditions, took the victims to the mainland. The party and the government highly appreciated the courage and professionalism of the pilot, Slepnev was awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The number 5 Gold Star flashed across his chest.
The pilot's personal life went well. He found his happiness in marriage with the ballerina Lyudmila Merzhanova. They had no children. Mauritius Slepnev died in December 1965.
