The full truth about the last flight of the Olympic Bear at the Olympics-80.

I want to tell you the real story about the Olympic Bear, about the one who took off balloons from the Luzhniki Stadium on the closing day of the Olympics-80. The fact is that this information was not disclosed to a wide audience, and the one that is some kind of stories from the realm of science fiction, I mean information that can be gathered from the media and the Internet. We will consider exactly the final project of the Bear, and omit the experiments preceding this project, about which there are also legends.

I know this information from a friend of my father, who was connected with the Olympic Committee in those years, and once, being at our place at a party in a state of good drinking, he divulged this secret, covered in darkness and fantasy. I didn’t give much attention to this topic, and I forgot to think about it until recently I accidentally saw a bunch of stories and legends on this topic on the Internet. I was offended by the fact that instead of the truth that the people could already have known, some kind of low-grade nonsense was being served. In general, there’s no particular secret there, there’s just some kind of technology of the project itself and how it all worked out, and where did our affectionate Misha finally land. It’s true that I can’t vouch for what I’ll tell, so that it’s one hundred percent, but judging by the logic, everything was and couldn’t be otherwise. And the source of information I have no doubt, if this person said something, then only that he actually knows.

  For completeness, consider the versions that are.

The first and official. The bear took off from the Luzhniki stadium using balls and helium, which he himself inflated with rubber, and landed 15 minutes later on the Sparrow Hills. All. How he could do this is not explained. After all, it’s so “easy” to take off and land in the planned place. I must say that this version is very true, with the exception of important details of controlling the Bear, the flight itself and flight time. Only the question arises, but how did Potapych so contrived to do everything smoothly himself? Indeed, the robotics of those times was hardly capable of such maneuvers with such a large and complex aircraft, which was called the Olympic Bear aerostat-product. Well then there was no such device that it was possible to control it from the remote control on the ground, or rather there was no time for such serious work, and it was necessary to get by with the option of easier remote control.

The second version. The bear was controlled by a pilot, a test pilot, who was located in his right leg and controlled it using balls. To the waist, he was a ballast, then helium in a rubber shell plus the balls themselves which the pilot manipulated. The balls were divided into two equal groups, the principle of control was that the pilot pulled that group of balls in the direction where he needed to turn. Everything seems logical. One could imagine that “waddling” with the help of groups of balls from side to side (just by analogy with a bear’s gait), the Bear could be brought to the point of touchdown, and there it would have already released the helium. The version is beautiful, but its authors did not take into account the fact that there is such an atmospheric phenomenon as the wind that could blow in the other direction and given the high sailing of the product, no manipulation of the balls would force Mishkin to change course back to the wind. Do you believe that Soviet scientists and designers who worked on the project would not take into account such a factor as wind ?! Soviet scientists, not the scientists of Papua New Guinea, those who sent autonomous modules to the moon, first went into space, etc.

According to the third version, it fell unclear where in Moscow having shot down a beer stall (!) And two citizens. According to this version, it turns out he could have attacked the Kremlin and the Kurchaty Institute, for example, well, or just hollowed at the windows of some apartment building, having pleased citizens who had not departed from the sentimental ceremony of farewell and closing of the Olympic Games. So to say: - Hello, and here I am, Mikhail Potapych Toptygin - Olympic, in person, the same gouging as I look, your flesh from your flesh, an uncontrollable Russian bear, native to the board!

The fourth version is the most fantastic and no less beautiful. Misha flew right up to the Mozhaisk Reservoir, also controlled by a pilot. The pilot, as it were, could not cope with the landing and, due to the strong wind, flew away from Moscow for a hundred kilometers (!), Where he made maneuvers to land off the helium, but gusts of wind strongly knocked it to the ground. The pilot died. Imagine the posthumous order of the hero of the Soviet Union, a test pilot who died on a secret mission while piloting the Olympic Bear! And it happened on the territory of the Vympel camp site. I think it’s not worth considering the version that somewhere in the suburbs it was shot down by valiant air defense. Although what the hell is not joking, if the German pilot Rust (who sat on a sports airplane on Red Square) missed in the future, why in the past such a serious structure as the Moscow Region air defense would not have bothered to take Mishka for an enemy bomber ...

These are actually all versions of Misha’s flight. You can come up with your own. For example, Misha fell into the Moskva River, sailed to the South Port, taking dozens of beacons with him along the road, where he crashed into a tourist airliner, which, after being hit by Misha and beacons, was stranded. The captain drowned in shame and fear (necessarily fatal victims, without them the version is rather dry).

Now about how it really was. But it was not as smooth as the organizers would like, to say the least. But for the sake of order, let me remind you once again that making the Bear completely manageable from the ground was, in principle, possible, just as the Lunokhods were controlled via satellite by operators on the ground. But there was neither time, nor such enormous costs for this, given the fact that the project did not want to be resolved at all according to the wording that they say the bears do not fly.

So. The bear was really rubber, filled with helium and with ballast from the belt to the bottom, also in the lower right paw was the operator’s cockpit, and there was also control using groups of balloons for turning to the sides. But there was something that was not mentioned anywhere, and this is a very important detail of managing the facility. Without which the airship will not fly? That's right - without engines. In the back, it was located, or rather, straight on a soft spot, or fifth point. It was an electric motor that rotated a screw or propeller, almost like Carlson's. Both the screw and, of course, the engine were inside the product, the screw was hidden by a piece of durable material, which at the same time passed the outgoing stream from the blades. So Bear was not a balloon product, it was still an airship product. As ballast, batteries were used for the engine, the engine itself, the operator and sand at the very bottom of the hind legs for cushioning upon landing. The operator’s cabin had ball control, altitude and direction sensors, a viewing gap disguised as a white strip on the paw (you can see it in the photo) with good visibility, and automatic and manual adjustment of the helium bleed. Also, the pilot had a permanent connection with the ground. There was no backup copy of Bear. The reasons are different, from a lack of money (millions of rubles went to the Olympics), to a lack of time.

The flight was almost entirely to be controlled from the ground by the special flight headquarters in terms of all the maneuvers of the object. The operator executed commands, reported instrument readings and controlled a flying object. The operator was a test pilot. The headquarters on the ground was in the vicinity of the observation deck on the Vorobyovy Gory, there were also three mobile groups on cars in case of force majeure, which were on duty on Vorobyevskaya embankment, Kosygina street, and Universitetskiy prospekt. The landing site was a closed area between Kosygin Street and Universitetskiy Prospekt, there was just a lot of open space for landing. There, accordingly, people from the flight group were also on duty.

The flight plan was simple. Misha takes off from the "Luzhniki" to a certain height already facing the direction of flight (towards the University and the Sparrow Hills). Further, having occupied its height by bleeding helium (this is what the only automation on the object did), the operator turned on the engine and began to move smoothly in a straight line to the landing site. In case of deviation from the course, the operator should have used to correct the group of balls. Upon reaching the landing site, release gas and sit down. That was actually such a flight plan. The test flight took place on the eve of the closing of the games, where the object landed in any given place without incident. The flight was also made in the late evening. After that, Bear was blown off and delivered back to the stadium. It is worth noting another important detail. The flight through the landscape ran along the descending altitude, since the object flew to a height (Vorobyovy Gory) and accordingly took a certain height and came to the landing site without changing the altitude corridor already with a lower height from the ground. What was convenient in terms of landing.

Now about the final flight. How did this happen in reality. The start of the flight is documented by television. Bear smoothly soars into the night sky of Moscow. Then he took his high-altitude corridor and the operator turned on the engine at the smallest stroke. Further, Mishka leaves the field of view of people at the stadium and enters the area of \u200b\u200bdirect control of the headquarters flight. To the Moskva River itself, the flight was ideal in direction and height, but when crossing the river, somewhere in the middle of it, Misha began to be entered to the left of the flight direction, probably it was a gust of wind from the river. The operator began to level the course with balls, but Mishka did not react and continued to turn left. A command was received from the ground to strengthen the engine's thrust during maneuvering. Perhaps this command was a fatal mistake. From increasing traction, Misha did the opposite, and instead of turning to the right - in the right direction, he twisted to the left even more and now flew with his back in the direction of flight, that is, turned 180 degrees. The pilot had no choice but to turn off the thrust completely. But not only did he fly with his back, he still began to circle around his own axis, as in a corkscrew in the same left side. Probably, rumors come from here about the strong wind that blew it away for Mozhaia. Nothing but a gust of wind can explain this behavior of the object, although the weather was not windy. On the ground, they panicked, the situation was clearly getting out of control. Moreover, Bear changed course, now he was moving exactly in the direction of the river, just along its course and spinning at the same time. The horror of the situation was that further along this direction there was a metro bridge with the Leninsky Gory metro station, and there was a chance of crashing into it. Also, the plans did not include flying over the bridge, where the object could be noticed. Fortunately, the operator was able to stop Bear’s rotation, but the bridge was inexorably approaching, and the landing site remained farther. On the ground, a decision is made on an emergency landing on the river bank, Vorobevskaya embankment near the bridge towards the University. The operator is given the order to bleed gas and go to the right. Everything here depended on the flight skills of the operator, luck, and the air flow itself. And the air seemed to be humbled over Mishka, and he managed to turn around facing the shore. The operator opened the valves and began to release helium. And then a new misfortune, the gas began to come out too quickly, and Misha quickly declined, and it became clear that he would not reach the shore and crash into the water, and this was completely useless, because he would swim to the South Port, chickens to laugh . Earth orders to press the secret red button under the left ball control, which the operator had not been told about before. The operator, without hesitation, presses it and then with a sharp push, Bear goes up. This was triggered by the jet nozzles of the secret jet engine in the soles of the Mishka’s paws, and also in the upper paws worked. The overload was such that how much g is not clear, but the operator lost consciousness.

When he woke up, it was winter, and he crawled in his arms away from his burning plane. Black sky and white snow, heat of fire and frost of a winter forest. Then you yourself remember what happened. Hunger, cold, the sounds of cannonade ... I ate the bark, frostbite, mine, the hospital .... But the pilot-operator’s legs weren’t cut off. Cut off his hands. Why is history silent. Perhaps as an experiment.

In the zone Misha, Olimpiysky behaved obediently, was released ahead of schedule, and remained to live in Siberia. After all, it’s closer there, somehow relatives, than in these semi-official, stuffy capitals. Again, nature, the green sea of \u200b\u200btaiga. And the woman of Evoy calls him only as "my affectionate Misha." And then you can’t squeeze stumps into a fist ...

Here is such a story. And so it really is in life. They say that they found Mikhasya in the morning on the outskirts of the village still alive, the drunk went to the neighbor for the addition of moonshine, but the connecting rod bear met. He had a great fight, but what is strange is not to death. He really exhausted himself quickly, raved about with some kind of gas, shouted everything: - Gas leaves, gas leaves! Helium is flooded a little, whores! And so he left, as the sun went down. He lost his spirit, then ...

The touching closing of the 1980 Olympics, which took place in the Russian Union, is remembered by everyone who has seen it. A flying bear to a symbolic song performed by Lev Leshchenko caused tears of tenderness in hundreds of thousands of people. But not many of those who were sitting in the stadium or watching the closing of the Games on TV, then thought about the future fate of this sign and about where the Olympic bear landed.

History tour

More than 30 years have passed since the 1980 Olympics, which was held in the capital of Russia, and its sign, the Olympic Bear, remains to this day one of the beloved and most famous folk heroes. It was created by Viktor Chizhikov, an illustrator of books. By the way, the creator specifically gave him the name Toptygin Misha Potapovich. This sketch was approved as a sign of the Olympics due to the fact that it felt sports enthusiasm, strength, courage and perseverance. He has been chosen among more than 40,000 options.

The Olympic Bear 1980 gained worldwide fame and recognition. The creator of this sign received letters from around the world. Happy were those who could get a picture of a bear, a pendant or a figurine. By the way, for creating such a sign Chizhikov was supposed to become a millionaire. But the miracle in the Russian Union did not work, he was paid 2,000 rubles and forced to renounce the author’s rights to his brainchild.

Closing Games

The symbol of the Olympics, of course, added popularity to the farewell ceremony. Indeed, until now, it is believed that the closing of the Games became especially touching. Then, when Mishka ascended into heaven, tears of emotion poured over many, the stadium waved to the 1980 Games mascot. But not many people thought about where the Olympic bear had landed. These questions appeared slightly later.

And at that moment everyone brushed away tears, listened to the soulful words of the song by Pakhmutova and Dobronravov with the title “Early date, our gentle Misha”. By the way, very few people understood that the flight of the Olympics sign was first rejected by the chairman of the sports committee Grammov. On the corresponding proposal, he wrote that the bears do not fly, therefore the idea of \u200b\u200bflying was refused. But the main director of the Olympics could not calm down on this, he managed to realize this idea only thanks to his own courage and perseverance. He turned directly to the chairman of the CPSU Central Committee since then, Suslov. He approved and supported this idea.

Where is Bear?

So, the six-meter sign of the 1980 Games took off over the stadium and in fact nothing is clear about its upcoming fate. Even at the current time, there are two versions of where the Olympic bear landed. So, the most common is the next option. The Olympics sign flew to the outskirts of Moscow, where it landed safely. True, according to the same version, he shot down a beer booth and very scared 2 local guys. At this, his adventures ended, and he was exhibited at VDNH. By the way, they say that at one time the Germans offered 100,000 marks for him, but the Union government did not even consider such an option. After the exhibition, the talisman was sent to one of the cellars, where rats gnawed it over time.

But there is another version of how and where the Olympic bear landed. According to the second option, the talisman was carried away by wind currents in the suburbs. To drop him, test pilot Surov needed to open special valves. He successfully coped with the task, after which Mishka fell to the ground on the Mozhaisk reservoir. But Cruel died during this operation. The talisman itself also fell into disrepair and was burned. But at the current time, it no longer seems likely to find where the 1980 Olympic Bear landed, because it was destroyed anyway.

How was the Bear created?

But many are interested not only in the upcoming fate of the Games mascot. It is far from clear to many how in the distant 1980 a six-meter figure could be sent to a controlled flight. Indeed, it was even easier to come up with an touching farewell to a bear than to bring it to life.

The bear was made at a special institute of the rubber industry. For him, at first, rubberized fabric was made. After that, with the tongs of the balloon workshop, together with the specialists of the institute, a bear figure was created. In case of force majeure events, two similar pupae were made right away.

Flight training

But the creation of the bear was far from the most problematic step. It was even harder to teach a mascot to fly. The fact is that this figure is not completely aerodynamic; sending it to a controlled flight seemed virtually impossible. Indeed, according to the idea, he was supposed to rise above the last stands to a height of about 3.5 meters and fly away from the stadium. With all this, it was fundamentally not to touch the chalice with fire. At first, it was decided in general to abandon the idea of \u200b\u200ba rubber chrysalis and set a person in flight. Such tests were carried out at one of the aerodromes near Moscow, the engineer Trusov put on a specially prepared suit and soared upwards with the help of balls to a huge height. After which he was never found.

Another inventor was proposed to control the rubber doll with balls that could shift the weight of the object in a suitable direction. If everything turned out as planned, questions about where the Olympic bear would not have appeared. After all, in his right paw, according to the idea, the person who would control the talisman was to sit. But the tests failed: the bear fluttered over a flaming torch and flashed. The operator, seated in a chrysalis, died of burns.

After which it was decided to fix the balls only on the ears and upper legs. Thanks to this, the bear did not roll over. According to the idea, he had to carefully land in the Sparrow Hills area, and this plan was not fully implemented.

Everyone who saw her remembers the touching closing of the 1980 Olympics, which took place in the Soviet Union. A flying bear with a symbolic song performed by Lev Leshchenko caused tears of tenderness in hundreds of thousands of people. But few of those who sat in the stadium or watched the closing of the Games on television at that moment thought about the future fate of this symbol and about where the Olympic bear landed.

History tour

More than 30 years have passed since the 1980 Olympics, which was held in the capital of Russia, and its symbol, the Olympic Bear, is still one of the favorite and most famous folk heroes. It was created by Viktor Chizhikov, an illustrator of books. By the way, it was the author who gave him the name Toptygin Mikhail Potapovich. This figure was approved as a symbol of the Olympics due to the fact that it felt sports enthusiasm, strength, courage and perseverance. It has been selected from over 40,000 options.

1980 gained worldwide fame and recognition. The author of this symbol received letters from around the world. Happy were those who could get a picture of a bear, a pendant or a figurine. By the way, for creating such a symbol Chizhikov was supposed to become a millionaire. But a miracle did not happen in the Soviet Union, he was paid 2,000 rubles and forced to give up copyright on his brainchild.

Closing Games

Of course, the farewell ceremony added popularity to the symbol of the Olympics. After all, it is still believed that the closing of the Games was especially touching. At that moment, when the Bear ascended to heaven, tears of emotion poured over many, the stadium waved to the 1980 Games mascot. But few people thought about where the Olympic bear landed. These questions arose a bit later.

And at that moment everyone brushed away tears, listened to the soulful words of a song by Pakhmutova and Dobronravov with the title “Goodbye, our affectionate Misha”. By the way, very few people knew that the flight of the Olympic symbol was initially rejected by the chairman of the sports committee Grammov. On the corresponding proposal, he wrote that the bears do not fly, so the idea of \u200b\u200bflying was refused. But the main director of the Olympics could not calm down on this, he was able to realize this idea only thanks to his courage and perseverance. He turned directly to the chairman of that time - Suslov. He approved and supported this idea.

Where is Bear?

So, the six-meter symbol of the 1980 Games took off over the stadium and almost nothing is known about its future fate. Even at present, there are two versions of where the Olympic bear landed. So, the most common is the following option. The symbol of the Olympics flew to the outskirts of Moscow, where it landed safely. True, according to the same version, he shot down a beer booth and very scared two local men. At this, his adventures ended, and he was exhibited at VDNH. By the way, they say that at one time the Germans offered 100,000 marks for him, but the Union government did not even consider such an option. After the exhibition, the mascot was sent to one of the cellars, where rats eventually bit him.

But there is another version of how and where the Olympic bear landed. According to the second option, the talisman was carried away by wind currents in the suburbs. To land him, test pilot Surov needed to open special valves. He successfully completed the task, after which Mishka collapsed to the ground. But Surov died during this operation. The talisman itself also fell into disrepair and was burned. But at present, it is no longer possible to find where the 1980 Olympic Bear landed, since it was destroyed anyway.

How was the Bear created?

But many are interested not only in the fate of the Games mascot. Not everyone understands how back in 1980 it was possible to send a six-meter figure into a controlled flight. Indeed, it was much easier to come up with an touching farewell to the bear than to bring it to life.

The bear was created at a special institute of the rubber industry. For him, it was first made. After that, with the tongs of the balloon workshop, a bear figure was created together with the specialists of the institute. In case of force majeure circumstances, two identical dolls were immediately made.

Flight training

But the creation of the bear was far from the most problematic stage. It was much harder to teach a talisman to fly. The fact is that this figure is absolutely not aerodynamic; it seemed almost impossible to send it on a controlled flight. Indeed, according to the idea, he was supposed to rise above the last stands to a height of about 3.5 meters and fly away from the stadium. At the same time, it was important not to touch the chalice with fire. At first, it was decided to completely abandon the idea of \u200b\u200ba rubber doll and set a person in flight. Such tests were carried out at one of the aerodromes near Moscow, engineer Trusov put on a specially prepared suit and soared sharply upwards with the help of balls to a great height. After that, he was never found.

Another inventor was asked to establish control of the rubber doll using balls that could shift the weight of the object in the right direction. If everything worked out as planned, questions about where the Olympic bear would not have arisen. After all, in his right paw, according to the idea, a man was supposed to sit, who will control the talisman. But the tests failed: the bear flew over the burning torch and flashed. The operator, sitting in a doll, died of burns.

After that, it was decided to fix the balls only on the ears and upper legs. Thanks to this, the bear did not roll over. As planned, he was supposed to land gently in the Sparrow Hills, but this plan was not fully implemented.