Boris Gribkov

Boris Gribov was a Soviet Tu-4 pilot during World War III.

In January, 1951, Gribkov and his crew were transferred to an airbase in Provideniya, the location in the Soviet Union that was closet to the American west coast. Personally, he had little for the U.S., but admitted that his plane (a model reverse engineered from the American B-29) proved that Americans built impressive aircraft. Gribkov understood that his transfer probably meant that the Soviet Union was anticipating an attack on U.S. territory.

On January 23, 1951, the U.S. dropped several atomic bombs in Manchuria. Joseph Stalin ordered retaliatory attacks in Europe on February 1.

The U.S. destroyed Pechenga on February 4, 1951. In response, Soviet flyers destroyed Elmendorf Air Force Base on February 7. When Gribkov asked why the flyers at Provideniya hadn't been sent to Elmendorf, he was told that they would have been detected by U.S. radar. He also learned that the Tu-4s that had bombed Elmendorf Air Force Base had been painted to look like B-29s. He suggested to his immediate commander, Colonel Doyarenko, that the U.S could paint its B-29s to look like Tu-4s.

Another round of bombs prompted the USSR to invade West Germany on February 17, 1951. After the Soviets launched a successful drive, the U.S. was able to disrupt Soviet supply lines with atom bombs a week later. In response, on March 1, the flyers at the Provideniya base were sent west in Tu-4s painted to look like B-29s. With tremendous luck the attacks were mostly successful. Gribkov, despite misgivings, and his crew, accepted the assignment to bomb Seattle.

After a successful bombing run, Gribkov turned the plane back to the Pacific, and, after a tense flight that saw the fuel gauge fall into the red, found the Red Fleet ships tasked with picking up the crew. Gribkov landed the plane in water and to his surprise, his entire crew survived the trip and the landing. They were taken aboard a destroyer called the Stalin.

The North Pacific was difficult for Gribkov, who was frequently seasick. During the voyage, the ship's captain, Anatoly Edzhubov, informed Gribkov that several ports, including Petropavlovsk, the Stalin's original destination, had been destroyed by the U.S. Edzhubov also informed Gribkov that Provideniya had also been destroyed. They were now headed to Korf (which Gribkov had never heard of). Prior to their arrival, Radio Moscow suddenly went off the air. When it did come on, the broadcasters were unfamiliar and the signal was weak. When they arrived in Korf proper, Joseph Stalin gave a broadcast speech, confirming that Moscow had been subjected to atomic bombing, but he'd survived.

Gribkov and his crew received a hero's welcome in Korf. They were taken to Kuibishev, the new capital of the Soviet Union, and received Hero of the Soviet Union medals and were extensively photographed. Gribkov's navigator, Leonid Tsederbaum, was quietly skeptical of the whole process, as Gribkov's crew were the only bombers who received the Hero of the Soviet Union medals (suggesting they were the only crew to make it back). Tsederbaum also privately challenged some of Gribkov's presumptions about the nobility of their socialist cause.

In mid-April, Gribkov and his crew were transferred to an airfield outside of Leningrad. They took a train to Moscow, and were able to see the damage to the heart of the city first hand. They were flown the rest of the way, and could also see the damage inflicted on Leningrad. Gribkov expressed anger that the Soviet air force hadn't stopped those attacks. In the closing days of April, Gribkov's plane was equipped with a new "Identification, friend or foe" (IFF) designed to confuse American planes. The Soviets knew that the U.S. changed their IFF codes on the first of the month, and so they had some latitude. The crew then took a circuitous route through southern Europe (including violating Yugoslavian airspace), finally delivering an atomic bomb to Bordeaux, France. The IFF let them get home safely, although they did have a near-miss in early May when their airfield was bombed by the Americans using conventional explosives.

In June, Gribkov and his crew were transferred to Soviet-held Munich. The base commander, Colonel Madinov, informed them that they would be attacking Paris. The crew was assigned a new radioman, Klement Gottwald, a Sudeten German who spoke excellent English. No one was enthusiastic about destroying one of the world's great cities, but Paris was a critical transportation hub, and an attack there would hurt the Americans' ability to resupplying troops in Germany. The next da, with the IFF and Gottwald providing cover, Gribkov was able to drop an atomic bomb near the Arc de Triomphe.