Memory. Eric Heptner

On September 6, 1907, Eric Heptner, pilot, hero of the Great Patriotic War was born.

Personal business

Eric Georgievich Geptner (1907-1944) was born in Moscow, in a family of hereditary Germans. His father worked as an accountant.

In 1926 he graduated from a seven-year school in the Bolshaya Trekhoviteli Lane. He began working as a laborery at the construction site of the Botkin Hospital, and then went to Leningrad, where he entered the military-theoretical school of the Red Army Air Force.

After graduation, he was sent to Borisoglebsk to the 2nd school of military pilots of the Red Air Fleet. In 1928, he graduated from it and was sent to Bryansk by a military pilot in the 15th air brigade of the Air Force of the BVO.

In 1930, he was dismissed for health reasons and until 1943 worked in the civilian fleet system, flew on the northern lines and in Yakutia.

In July 1943, he was transferred from the Civil Air Fleet to the head of the Air Force of the Navy and was appointed a pilot of the 1st Guards Mino-Torpedo Aviation Regiment of the Baltic Fleet Air Force. A few months after the arrival of Eric Heptner, he was admitted to the party. And already in October 1943 he received the first combat award - the Order of the Red Banner.

In January 1944, the pilots of the regiment took an active part in the offensive operation of the Leningrad Front. On January 14-16, in complex weather conditions at night, the crew of Lieutenant Geptner made several single sorties to strike bombing at the railway nodes of Krasnogvardeisk, Luga and MGA, Crosses, Siverskaya and Krasnogvardeisk airfields.

On the night of January 17, he completed 4 combat sorties to bombing along the fortified support node of the mouth. In February 1944, Eric Geptner was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner.
On the night of May 27, 1944, the pilots of the regiment sank 2 large German vehicles in the Gulf of Riga and 2 vehicles of the enemy with a displacement of 7 thousand tons in Finnish. The last of them was on the personal account of Lieutenant Geptner. He attacked so rapidly that the enemy did not even manage to open anti -aircraft fire. It was the 104th victory of the regiment. The event was mentioned in the summary of the Swinformburo, and all the pilots who won victories were awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Since June 12, 1944, Geptner was appointed commander of the first link in his regiment.

On July 1, 1944, Eric Geptner did not return from a combat mission in the Baltic Sea.

What is famous

Eric Heptner was one of the best pilots-trace bombers of the Great Patriotic War. In a short time, the civilian aviator mastered a new combat vehicle for himself-the American A-20 Boston Airplace. In less than a year, the crew of Heptner sank 5 Hitler ships of different classes.

“Proud and joyful, the Baltic was listened to the operational summary for May 27. Levitan read: "On the night of May 27, aircraft-traffic border rangers of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet struck the enemy transport. As a result of the actions of torpedo bombers, 2 large German transport were sunk in the Gulf of Riga. In addition, 2 vehicles with a displacement of 7 thousand tons were sunk in the Gulf of Finland."

There were no surnames of the heroes-heroes in the report of the Swinformburo, but the whole Baltic already knew the names of Evgrafov and Budaragin, Presnyakov and Ivanov, Bolshakov and Andreev, Geptner and Polovko. These pilots and navigators, and with them, Sergey Sklyarenko were awarded the orders of the Red Banner on the same day, ”this describes the feat of pilots in the military memoirs“ Baltika - Fiery Battle Fire. "Secrets" of the torpedo attack.

What you need to know about

With the outbreak of World War II, Eric Heptner wrote numerous reports with a request to send him to the front, but received standard answers “you are needed here”, which hid distrust. Moreover, distrust of the authorities caused not only the nationality of a little pilot, but also the fact that he was a relative of the repressed. His elder brother Vladimir (in the future, the famous professor-zoologist) was under investigation back in 1933, and the youngest-Yuri, also a pilot, with the outbreak of war was interned as a German.

The case helped Heptner to get to the front. In the summer of 1943, at one of the airfields, he met an old acquaintance at the Borisoglebsky school and work in Yakutia Ivan Shamanov. The Baltic pilot has just received new planes for his regiment and flew to the front.

Having violated all the rules, he captured his comrade with him and brought a “hare” to his airfield.

After the guarantee of Shamanov and Valentina Grizodubova, the commander of the Baltic Fleet Air Force, General M.I. Samokhin allowed Heptner to fly. He was officially transferred from the civilian fleet to the head of the Air Force of the Navy.

Direct speech

“Once a group of Baltic pilots, including shamans, was sent to the east to obtain new combat equipment. There he met the pilot E.G. Heptner, with whom he once flew in the north. Heptner said with resentment:

- They don’t take it to the front, although he wrote several statements, they say that here is needed ...

Shamanov promised to talk to the authorities, but they did not help troubles ...

At dawn, the planes headed for the capital and further - to the Baltic. No one knew that in the tail of Shamanov’s plane, sheltered by a tarp, a man was sitting without documents. He headed the group Ponomarenko, later the Hero of the Soviet Union. The pilot is not a timid dozen, decisive, but he was at a loss when he saw at the front -line airfield a stranger in the gray rumpled jacket leaving Shamanov’s plane.

Shamanov demanded an explanation in the most strict form. How dare? Who will entrust?

- Roted because I know the pilot of Heptner. I will entrust, as a crew commander, and most importantly - as a communist.

Baltflot Air Force Commander General M.I. Samokhin allowed Heptner to fly.

And then one guarantee came also - from the famous pilot of the Hero of the Soviet Union Valentina Grizodubova ... "

From the book "Baltic - the Fire Feeling Field. "Secrets" of the torpedo attack.

3 facts about Eric Heptner

• For the excellent implementation of combat missions, the courage and courage Eric Geptner was awarded three orders of the “Red Banner” and the medal “For the Defense of Leningrad”.
• By Decree of the President of the Russian Federation on May 2, 1996, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.
• In the city of Pionersky, Kaliningrad region, near which Eric Geptner died, there is a street named after him.

Materials about Erica Heptner

Heptner, Eric Georgievich on the site "Heroes of the country".

“Baltic is a fiery battlefield. "Secrets" of the torpedo attack "

Article about Eric Heptner in Wikipedia