Yuri Gagarin death mystery solved after 40 years
The mystery surrounding Yuri Gagarin's death in an aircraft crash more than forty years ago may finally have been solved by a report which quashes decades of conspiracy theories.
The study claims Gagarin's death during a routine training flight in 1968 was caused by his panicked reaction after realising an air vent in his cockpit was open.
He threw his MiG-15 fighter jet into such a steep dive that he blacked out and crashed into a forest below killing himself and his co-pilot.
Igor Kuznetsov, a retired Soviet air force colonel, believes his findings will end years of conspiracy theories ranging from claims Gagarin was drunk to allegations the accident was staged by jealous Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
He has spent the past nine years with a group of aviation specialists, piecing together the circumstances using modern accident investigation techniques.
Gagarin died on a routine flight seven years after he shot to global fame by orbiting the Earth for 68 minutes. His mission handed the Soviet Union a spectacular propaganda coup and Gagarin quickly became the USSR's biggest star.
But the findings of the original investigation into his death have never been published and are known to have been vague.
Investigators were only able to conclude that "the most probable cause" was a sudden in-flight manoeuvre made to avoid a weather balloon or cloud cover.
But after studying hundreds of documents relating to the incident, Col Kuznetsov has concluded that an air vent in the cockpit was left partially open.
He said Gagarin and his co-pilot realised the cockpit was not hermetically sealed as they were approaching 10,000ft and took emergency action to descend to a safer altitude.
But according to Col Kuznetsov, the two men dived far too quickly and lost consciousness as a result – the plane then ploughed into a forest killing Gagarin and his trainer, Vladimir Seryogin, instantly.
Medical knowledge at the time meant the pilots would not have known it was dangerous to descend at such speed.
The operating instructions for the MiG-15 were also flawed, he adds, and did not specify how the pilots were supposed to use the fateful air vent.
Col Kuznetsov also raises the suggestion a careless pilot who used the same plane in the days leading up to crash may have been to blame for the open vent.
Until now, it had been thought that Gagarin himself was the last person to use the plane two days previously.
But Kuznetsov says he has now learnt that other pilots simulated a flight in the same plane prior to Gagarin's fatal flight. He believes they may have tampered with the air vent and wants to determine their identity and what kind of training they were doing.
"Nobody knows what really happened except us," said Col Kuznetsov. "We need to tell our people and the international community the real reason why the world's first cosmonaut died.
"This part-open vent triggered the entire sequence of events that followed. These new facts need to be checked independently and by a government commission. Or even by foreign specialists."
Col Kuznetsov says he wants space and aviation experts around the world to get involved to confirm his findings.
But the findings of the original investigation into his death have never been published and are known to have been vague.
Investigators were only able to conclude that "the most probable cause" was a sudden in-flight manoeuvre made to avoid a weather balloon or cloud cover.
But after studying hundreds of documents relating to the incident, Col Kuznetsov has concluded that an air vent in the cockpit was left partially open.
He said Gagarin and his co-pilot realised the cockpit was not hermetically sealed as they were approaching 10,000ft and took emergency action to descend to a safer altitude.
But according to Col Kuznetsov, the two men dived far too quickly and lost consciousness as a result – the plane then ploughed into a forest killing Gagarin and his trainer, Vladimir Seryogin, instantly.
Medical knowledge at the time meant the pilots would not have known it was dangerous to descend at such speed.
The operating instructions for the MiG-15 were also flawed, he adds, and did not specify how the pilots were supposed to use the fateful air vent.
Until now, it had been thought that Gagarin himself was the last person to use the plane two days previously.
But Kuznetsov says he has now learnt that other pilots simulated a flight in the same plane prior to Gagarin's fatal flight. He believes they may have tampered with the air vent and wants to determine their identity and what kind of training they were doing.
"Nobody knows what really happened except us," said Col Kuznetsov. "We need to tell our people and the international community the real reason why the world's first cosmonaut died.
"This part-open vent triggered the entire sequence of events that followed. These new facts need to be checked independently and by a government commission. Or even by foreign specialists."
Col Kuznetsov says he wants space and aviation experts around the world to get involved to confirm his findings.
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