Sergei Utochkin

Sergei Utochkin (July 12, 1876 Odessa – January 13, 1916 Saint-Petersburg, Russian Empire). Ukrainian cyclist, sportsman and aviator. He was the second Russian pilot after Mikhail Efimov[1]. Utochkin had a nickname "the Man of all kind of sport" and "the Academician of sports" - swimming, diving, rowing and sailing, running, pistol shooting, ice skating, fencing, soccer, tennis, horse riding, wrestling, boxing. One of the most notable natives of the Black Sea port of Odessa in the early years of the 20th century.[2]

Sergei Utochkin
Born
Сергей Исаевич Уточкин

(1876-07-12)July 12, 1876
Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire
DiedJanuary 13, 1916(1916-01-13) (aged 39)
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
NationalityRussian Empire
OccupationAircraft pilot
Auto racing
Boxing
Association football
Parents
  • Isai Kuzmich (father)
  • Austinya Stefanovna (mother)

Biography

Sergey Utochkin was born in 1876 in the family of an Odessa merchant. Parents died early, so Seryozha and his two brothers grew up and were brought up “in people”. At one time, he lived with a gymnasium teacher, an alcoholic, who hanged himself in the attic at the next binge. The wife, having discovered the dead spouse, went crazy with grief and stabbed her children with a kitchen knife. Utochkin was saved by a miracle, but remained a stutter for life [3].

For the first time Utochkin took off in a balloon in October 1, 1907. He flew over Odessa - at an altitude of 1,400 meters. Alexander Kuprin, who, together with Sergey, overcame about 20 versts in 12 minutes, testified: “I would, without thinking for a second, fly with our pilot on his future airplane.” Kuprin described this man with these words:

“He was taller than average, stooped, long-armed, red-haired, with blue eyes and white eyelashes, all freckled. He always dressed elegantly, but, as is often the case with very muscular people, the dress on him sat a little baggy. He shaved his mustache and beard and wore a direct thorough parting, which gave his face a resemblance to the face of an English boxer, circus artist or jockey. He was ugly, but in moments of revival - in a smile - charming. Of the many people I have seen, he is the most striking figure in terms of originality and spiritual scope.”[4]

Spring of 1910, in Odessa rich paper publisher of "Southern Thought" Baron S. Ksidias bought a plane. Sergey Utochkin asked permission from Ksidias, got on an airplane, looking like a huge boxed kite, took off and flew without any instruction and training - a rare case in the history of aviation[5].

Facts

One of his flights to Nizhyn was enthusiastically watched by young Sergei Korolev, future general designer and creator of spacecraft[6].

For three years, Sergei Utochkin traveled to 600 large and small cities of the Russian Empire, where he flew an airplane in front of the public[7].

Utochkin was the first man who rode down the famous Potemkin Stairs by cycle and car[8].

In 1962, Dovzhenko Film Studios in Kiev released a film about Sergey Utochkin - “In the Dead Loop”, where the star of Soviet film actor Oleg Strizhenov starred[9].

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References
  1. "Utochkin Sergey Isaevich". odessa-memory (in Russian). 2019.
  2. Bio
  3. Levit, Alexander (2016). "Sergey Utochkin". facty.ua (in Russian).
  4. "Utochkin Sergey Isaevich - athlete & pilot". retroplan.ru (in Russian). 2020.
  5. "Utochkin Sergey Isaevich" (in Russian).
  6. Levit, Alexander (2016). "Sergey Utochkin". facty.ua (in Russian).
  7. "8 pilots who changed aviation". aviamuseum.com.ua (in Russian). 2020.
  8. "World known Stair". 2020.
  9. "Sergey Utochkin". histodessa.ru (in Russian). 2016.
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