Pyotr Nikolayevich Nesterov (; – ) was a Russian pilot, aircraft designer and

aerobatics Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gl ...

pioneer.

Life and career

Nesterov was born on 15 February 1887 in Nizhny Novgorod, into the family of an army officer, a cadet corps teacher. In August 1904, he left the military school in Nizhny Novgorod and went to Mikhailov artillery academy in St Petersburg. He became a second lieutenant and served in the 9th East Siberian

Artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

Brigade A brigade is a major tactical military unit, military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute ...

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

. By the laws of that time, an officer who married before the age of 28 had to contribute a so-called ‘reserve’ to the state treasury – a deposit of 5,000 rubles to provide for his family in the event of his death. The only exception was made for officers who served in the Far East; as Nesterov did not have the money, he took his young wife to the Far East. In 1909, Nesterov came into contact with

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

when he was posted to a balloon observation regiment as an observer.Durkota, 1995, p. 201 In 1911 he built his first glider and learned to fly it, before entering flight training at the St. Petersburg aviation school at Gatchina in June, graduating 11 October 1912. A short time later he also passed the examination to be a military pilot. In May 1913 he became leader of an aviation detachment in Kiev, completing night flights at that time.

Achievements

Nesterov believed an aircraft could fly a loop, a feat not previously performed. Despite the doubts of his peers, Nesterov proved his theory on 9 September 1913 (27 August by the calendar then used in Russia) and became the first pilot to fly a loop. This was done in a Nieuport IV

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

over Syretzk Aerodrome near

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, in front of numerous watchers. For this he was disciplined with ten days of close arrest, ostensibly "for risking government property". His achievement made him famous overnight and when the feat was officially done by the famous French pilot Adolphe Pégoud, the punishment was reversed; he was promoted to staff captain and later awarded a medal. Stressing the value of these exercises for a military pilot, Nesterov improved Russian flight methods through extensive training, both with cross country flights and steep turns, and designed a vee tail for the Nieuport he was flying although its performance proved disappointing.Durkota, 1995, p. 202 Nizhny Novgorod Nieuport plane

Aircraft were still unarmed at this early stage, and Nesterov became the first pilot to destroy an enemy airplane in flight. During the Battle of Galicia on 25 August 1914 (by the

Old Style Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, they refer to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries betwe ...

calendar still used in Russia), after trying various methods on previous occasions unsuccessfully, he used his Morane-Saulnier Type G (s/n 281) to ram the Austrian Albatros B.II reconnaissance aircraft of observer

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

Friedrich von Rosenthal and pilot Franz Malina from FLIK 11. Eager to destroy enemy aircraft, he probably intended to hit it with a glancing blow but damaged his own aircraft as much as the enemy's and both planes crashed. As was common for the time, Nesterov was not strapped in and he fell from his plane, dying of his injuries the next day. The Austrian pilot and observer also died. The town of

Zhovkva Zhovkva is a List of cities in Ukraine, city in Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast (Oblast, region) of western Ukraine. Zhovkva hosts the administration of Zhovkva urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Its population is approximately History A ...

(currently in

Lviv Oblast Lviv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. The capital city, capital of the oblast is the city of Lviv. The current population is History Name The region is named ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

), located near the battle, was renamed Nesterov in his honor in 1951.

Legacy

Nesterov was buried in

, Russian Empire. His ramming method was used during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

by a number of

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

pilots with success and without loss of life. The technique became known as '' taran''. In his honor, the Soviet Union established the ''Nesterov Cup'' for the best aerobatics team. The cup was donated to the ''

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The World Air Sports Federation (; FAI) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintains worl ...

'' (FAI) in 1962. It is awarded to the Men's World Team Champions of the World Aerobatic Championships. The outer main-belt

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

3071 Nesterov, discovered by

astronomer Tamara Mikhailovna Smirnova in 1973, is named after him.

References

Sources

* Annette Carson. ''Flight Fantastic: The Illustrated History of Aerobatics''. 1986. * * Jon Guttman, ''et al.'' ''Pusher Aces of World War 1''. London: Osprey Pub Co, 2009. , .

External links

Biography of Pyotr Nesterov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nesterov, Pyotr 1887 births 1914 deaths Military personnel from Nizhny Novgorod People from Nizhegorodsky Uyezd Russian aviators Aerial warfare pioneers 20th-century Russian inventors Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Imperial Russian Air Service personnel Russian military personnel killed in World War I Aerobatic pilots Pilots who performed an aerial ramming Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1914 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Ukraine