1. 'Heavenly Slug' (1945)
Semyon Timoshenko, 1945/Lenfilm
Major Vasily Bulochkin is categorically forbidden to fly high-speed combat aircraft after being wounded. To his displeasure, he is forced to switch to a slow-moving U-2 (Polikarpov Po-2) night bomber. He is also appointed commander of a female aviation squadron…
The filming of the comedy started in 1944, when the outcome of World War II was already a foregone conclusion. The government instructed film studios to make "a cheerful and joyful film about our valiant warriors".
Real combat aircraft were used for filming and pilots who had returned from the front acted as consultants and stunt doubles. One of the actresses once asked a pilot to take her up in a plane and demonstrate a couple of aerobatic maneuvers. While "looping the loop", only a miracle saved her from falling out of the cockpit – it turned out she had forgotten to buckle up!
The critics considered 'Heavenly Slug' frivolous and Stalin described it as "devoid of ideas and vacuous". Nevertheless, it remains one of the best-loved Soviet movies in Russia and the countries of the former USSR to this day.
2. 'The Story of a Real Man' (1948)
Alexander Stolper, 1948/Mosfilm
At the end of March 1942, Aleksey Meresyev's fighter plane was shot down over woods in the north of the USSR. In order to get back to his unit, the pilot, his legs injured, had to crawl tens of kilometers across frozen ground.
The movie is based on the true-life story of pilot Aleksey Maresyev (there is a one-letter difference in the surname), who managed to extricate himself from the woods with enormous effort. Both his legs were amputated because of frost-bite in his feet, but the pilot did not give up and succeeded in returning to flying duties later.
Pavel Kadochnikov, the actor who played the title role, met Maresyev personally and flew together in a fighter plane. In order to portray the sufferings of his hero with verisimilitude, he kept his boots stuffed with spiky pine cones during filming.
3. 'Chronicles of a Dive Bomber' (1967)
Naum Birman, 1967/Lenfilm
This movie relates the everyday life of a Soviet bomber squadron in the Summer of 1944. The young aircrews feel bored between combat sorties, fall in love, quarrel, make it up again and make ‘Chassis liqueur’ from an alcohol-antifreeze mixture combined with raspberry syrup.
Not a single operational ‘Petlyakov’ Pe-2 bomber was in existence at the start of filming. Their place was taken by repainted Czechoslavakian Let L-200 ‘Moravas’.
The military consultant on the movie was ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’, Maj-Gen of Aviation Anatoly Anpilov. In it, the slogan: "Bomb like Major Anpilov!" can be seen displayed on a building.
4. 'Only Old Men Are Going Into Battle' (1973)
Sputnik
This movie tells the story of the 2nd Squadron of a Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment during the Battle of the Dnieper in the Summer of 1943. Pilots under the command of Guards Captain Titarenko, nicknamed ‘Maestro’, are putting up a fierce fight against the enemy and, in their free time, they heartily play music.
Director Leonid Bykov faced considerable problems during shooting – the cinema bureaucrats were very unfavorably disposed towards what they regarded as an "unheroic" story with a song or two thrown in.
In his battle against bureaucracy, Bykov received a lot of help from Marshal of Aviation, thrice ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ Alexander Pokryshkin, who was one of the best fighter-pilots from the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition.
Moreover, the marshal's efforts resulted in four Yakovlev Yak-18 trainer aircraft, made to look like Soviet fighter planes, being put at the disposal of the production team, as well as a Czechoslovakian ‘Zlin’ Z-326 aerobatic aircraft, which stood in for a German ‘Messerschmitt’ 109.
In 1974, 'Only Old Men Are Going Into Battle' was seen by 44 million moviegoers. In rankings of the best movies in the entire history of Soviet cinema, it invariably always takes one of the top spots.
5. 'Torpedo Bombers' (1983)
Semyon Aranovich, 1983/Lenfilm
'Torpedo Bombers' is the story of the pilots of a guards torpedo aviation regiment of the Northern Fleet air force during the defense of the Arctic. They hunt for German convoys and, between sorties, attempt to sort out their complicated personal problems on the ground.
The airplanes in the movie were provided by the Northern Fleet Air Force Museum in Safonovo, Murmansk Region. The ‘Messerschmitt’ 109, the MBR-2 flying boat and the movie's principal protagonist, the ‘Ilyushin’ Il-4, had literally been assembled from parts and were no longer flightworthy, but they could still taxi around an airfield.
Shots of aircraft in the air, combat sequences and attacks by German warships, meanwhile, were taken from military newsreels. In addition, at the end of the movie, the viewer is treated to actual photographs of Northern Fleet pilots who fought in World War II.