Origins & Early Life

Valery Pavlovich Chkalov (Russian: Валерий Павлович Чкалов; IPA: [vɐˈlʲerʲɪj ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ ˈtɕkaləf]; 2 February [O.S. 20 January] 1904 – 15 December 1938) was a Russian and Soviet test pilot awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union (1936). Chkalov was born to a Russian family in 1904 in the upper Volga region, the town of Vasilyevo (the town is now named Chkalovsk in his honour), which lies near Nizhny Novgorod. He was the son of a ship boiler-maker at the Vasselyevo Ship Yard on the River Volga.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

His mother died when he was six years old. Chkalov studied in the technical school in Cherepovets but later returned to his home town to work as an apprentice in the shipyard alongside his father. He then got a job as a stoker on a river dredger: the Bayan (later renamed the Mikhail Kalinin). He saw his first plane in 1919 and decided to join the Red Army's air force, joining first at age 16 as a mechanic. He trained as a pilot at the Yegoryevsk Training School and graduated in 1924 joining a fighter squadron.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Chkalov married Olga Orekhova, a schoolteacher from Leningrad, in 1927. In the early 1930s he became a test pilot. His feats included doing 250 loop-the-loops in 45...

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