With sincere concern for the Fatherland: M. O. Menshikov's journalism on the development of aeronautics

Krizhanovsky Nikolay Igorevich ORCID: 0000-0002-2764-7117 PhD in Philology Associate Professor, the department of Publicistic Writing and Journalism, Kuban State University 350040, Russia, 350040 G. Krasnodar, krai, g. Krasnodar, ul. Stavropol'skaya, 149 nicolaykri@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Among the assessments of M. O. Menshikov's journalism, diametrically opposite ones prevail. On the one hand, both the journalist's contemporaries and the authors of later times highly appreciated the talent of the publicist. These include the great Russian writers L. N. Tolstoy, N. S. Leskov, A. P. Chekhov [see: 2; 13], famous journalists V. P. Gaideburov, A. S. Suvorin, V. V. Rozanov, A. I. Savenko [see: 33], gifted researchers of journalism G. V. Zhirkov ^{[8; 9]}, S. M. Sankova ^[42], M. B. Smolina ^[46], D. V. Zhavoronkova ^[6], V. B. Trofiimova ^[50] and others. On the other hand, from the very beginning of journalistic activity until the XXI century, there are authors who completely or with reservations do not accept the work of M. O. Menshikov, ironically calling him the "life philosopher" of the "New Time" (N. P. Nevedsky) ^{[33, p. 122]}, "Menshikov's chameleon" (V. Drozd-Bonyachevsky) ^{[33, p. 161]}, and his legacy is "the boring, verbose speeches of Judushka Golovlev" ^{[34, p. 119.]} or "a cauldron of feuilleton scraps" (A. I. Reyblat) ^[38].

This largely determines the desire of a number of modern researchers (E. V. Alekhina ^[1], A.V. Vorontsov ^[3], A.V. Repnikov ^[39], S. M. Sergeev ^[44], A. A. Teslya [see 29], V. B. Trofimova and E. V. Alyokhina ^[49], N. P. Yakovlev ^[52], etc.) to understand the large volume of works of the publicist. We will continue this work, highlighting only one topic: the development of aeronautics.

There are quite a lot of works on the development of domestic aeronautics in the pre-revolutionary period ^{[5; 14; 35; 36; 37; 51]}. But there are very few studies related to the peculiarities of the journalistic representation of this process. So, there is an article by A. E. Safaev about the All-Russian Aeronautics Festival of 1910 ^[43]. However, there is not even a mention of Menshikov, who took a direct part in the holiday. There is also a detailed work by E. L. Zheltova on the artistic development of the phenomenon of aeronautics by Russian prose writers and poets ^[7].

There is no understanding in modern science of the corpus of M. O. Menshikov's articles devoted to the development of Russian aeronautics, which determines the relevance of our research.

The most important features of M. O. Menshikov, a publicist, are a moral approach to understanding the events of the world and reliance on conscience, love for Russia as a large and small Homeland, state (state-centric, sovereign) thinking, sharpness in assessments, sincerity and the ability to be inspired by any topic, get carried away with it, immersing himself and giving himself to journalistic work without a trace. Menshikov was read by thoughtful people and prominent officials listened to Menshikov ^{[12, pp. 17-18]}. Vasily Pavlovich Gaideburov spoke very accurately about the ability of a publicist to get carried away during the trial related to the injury of M. O. Menshikov: "... the main feature of G. Menshikov's character should be considered his property to be completely covered by the mood that takes possession of him" ^{[33, p. 347]}.

Since the time of M. O. Menshikov's studies at the Technical School of the Maritime Department in Kronstadt, new technology and scientific achievements have been in the center of his attention. And although the publicist himself, reflecting on civilization and real human happiness, preferred nature ^{[23, pp. 392-394]}, nevertheless, as a military man, as a graduate of a technical school and just as an inquisitive person, he always followed discoveries and innovations in various fields of human knowledge.

For the first time M. O. Menshikov mentioned aeronautics as an achievement of mankind in the chapter "Progress" of the great work "Duma Happiness" (1894) [23. p. 394].

Menshikov, wishing his fatherland well and strengthening its defenses, felt the need to use the air environment in military affairs. He could not have been unaware of the activities of the aeronautical training Park, founded in 1885, headed by military engineer A.M. Kovanko, whose main area of work was balloons, balloons and various aeronautical devices used for military reconnaissance. Moreover, these balls periodically appeared over St. Petersburg.

On January 27, 1904, the Russian-Japanese war, tragic for Russia, began. Mikhail Menshikov did not succumb to the craze that spread in journalism at the beginning of hostilities to present this war to society as an inevitable triumph of the Russian army over the Japanese. On the other hand, the publicist did not take the side of those who denied, for one reason or another, the need to protect Russia's eastern borders. He expressed his attitude to different approaches to understanding war in August 1904 in the article "Leo Tolstoy, Mendeleev, Vereshchagin": he challenged the non-resistance attitude of Leo Tolstoy to the war, supported the Russian national perception of a military clash as a struggle for living space, expressed by D. I. Mendeleev, and sang the heroic death of the fearless battle artist V. V. Vereshchagin ^[27].

Reflecting on the outbreak of war on February 1, 1904, Menshikov formulated three laws of any military confrontation: the need to be ready for war, to have the initiative and not stop halfway, to fight to complete victory ^{[32, pp. 221-224]} The outbreak of the military conflict with Japan, as the publicist saw it, made it possible to apply various military innovations in combat, including aeronautics.

At the height of the war, after the tragic death of Petropavlovsk, M. O. Menshikov drew attention to the military-technical equipment of the army. The journalist has always carefully studied the inventions of different countries that appeared in service and were successfully used in military clashes. And, accordingly, I was waiting for their use in the defense of the Fatherland. One of such novelties in the 1870s - 1890s was aeronautics, which has already shown its advantages in various wars. Menshikov led a serious conversation about him in the article "The Eyes of the Army", published in the cycle "Letters to neighbors" in June 1904 ^[22].

After the great tragedy with the Russian battleship squadron and Admiral Stepan Makarov , Menshikov wondered: "When, if not now, right now, at the beginning of the war, will we not wake up and grab for weapons, for the best weapons that science gives?" ^{[22, p. 423]}

Aeronautics, which the publicist called the dream of a generation, in his opinion, did not have such success in Russia as in the West. Menshikov's greatest concern was caused by the lack of practical application of the fruits of many years of activity of the domestic military led by Colonel Kovanko: "... the result of two decades: the war is going on, but we do not have military aeronautics." Menshikov had no doubt that there should be a result. To confirm this, he cited examples from the report of Colonel A.M. Kovanko himself at a meeting of the aeronautical and naval departments of the Imperial Russian Technical Society: balloons were successfully used in the Franco-Chinese and Transvaal wars ^{[22, pp. 428-429]}.

Menshikov, using the expression Kovanko, called balloons and balloons "the eyes of the army." He believed that intelligence was the main scope of their application: "Balloons would make it possible to determine the location of enemy troops, consider the battlefield ... The commander–in-chief balloon can immediately indicate camouflaged batteries and fortifications, open preparing ambushes and traps ... <...> A photograph taken from a height would give excellent reconnaissance ... <...> Not only shoals are visible from the balloon, but also rocks, and bottom mines, and submarines" ^{[22, pp. 431-434]}. Artillery reconnaissance and the discovery of enemy batteries is another hypostasis of the use of aeronautics ^{[22, p. 435]}. As a result, the publicist predicted that the introduction of balloons would bring "a revolution in the strategy and tactics of the troops" ^{[22, p. 435]}.

The article not only criticizes the clumsy representatives of domestic aeronautics who did not want to actively introduce innovations in the active army, but also Menshikov's appeal to the country's leadership and all thinking readers-fellow citizens: "... I assure you that these innovations are needed, that they are serious, that they are necessary, and right now, and not someday" ^{[22, pp. 436-437]}. As if anticipating the coming revolutionary turmoil, the modern publicist warned: failure to use innovations could lead to defeat in the war with Japan, and the "pogrom is invariably followed by moral disorder" of the people, just as victory is followed by its revival ^{[22, p. 437]}. In the article Menshikov gave a historical model for state imitation: the conquests of Peter the Great and Catherine the Second, who inspired the people and instilled in Russia a "high consciousness of victory" ^{[22, p. 438]}. It was ensured by the fact that Peter in the West "took, like the Japanese today, the latest, the newest" ^{[22, p. 439]}. According to Menshikov, Russia needs to do this as soon as possible after the first Russian emperor. The publicist recommended to all scientists and military committees to make up for the lack of that great sense of anxiety for the fatherland, "which forced Peter the Great to jump up at four o'clock in the morning, before the sun, hurry to the shipyard or to the workshop, go to the seaside, ride thousands of miles along the terrible roads of that time without rest and time" ^{[22, p. 440]}.

The subsequent tragic course of military operations showed the insufficient readiness of the Russian army, including in the field of aeronautics. In 1904, an aeronautical company was sent to the front, using reconnaissance balloons and later replaced by a two-company battalion with commander Colonel A.M. Kovanko. Later Menshikov, critically assessing the activities of these units, wrote: "The Chinese and Manchurian campaigns have shown that there is not a single penny of benefit from our military aerostatics for the army" ^{[20, p. 238.]}.

The publicist has repeatedly repeated the idea since his work in the Week that many of Russia's victories and defeats depend not only on the heroism of the Russian army, but also on the work of the official apparatus of the Russian Empire. In December 1904, the invention of the Russian engineer Richard Yulievich Thiele, connected with reconnaissance balloons, attracted the attention of M. O. Menshikov. The publicist told about the thorny path to the troops of his invention in the article "Everything is calm on Shipka" (1904) ^[29]. The name refers to the famous triptych of the same name by V. V. Vereshchagin, dedicated to the tragic events of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. The main topic of the article is the weak material security of the army (shoes, food, ammunition, the latest military means necessary for conducting a successful military campaign). According to Menshikov, the Russian army fighting with Japan needs not only strong boots, high-quality felt boots, warm sheepskin coats and good nutrition. It is necessary that the best inventions in various fields reach the front line as quickly as possible and serve the Russian army. A technical novelty that actually died before the war due to the fault of bureaucrats after twenty official presentations to officials and the military, according to M. O. Menshikov, was a special multi-camera camera for aerial photography or, as Thiele himself said, for "photogrammetry", that is, panoramic topographic photography. The scope of application of G. Thiele's invention is "exploration service, terrain illumination" ^{[29, p. 875]}. The inventor of the "all-seeing eye" ^{[29, p. 874]} visited Menshikov three times in Tsarskoye Selo, hoping that the powerful word of the modern publicist would break through the wall of official indifference. As we know, later, with the advent of aviation, aerial photography was actively used in intelligence and is still used today. But what Thiele sought in 1904 – the use of balloons or large kites to create panoramic photographs of the terrain occupied by the enemy – directly corresponded to the requirements and needs of wartime and could really help on the front line. As a result, seeing the clerical red tape, Menshikov stated that "a hasty, lively business is dying of clerical exhaustion" ^{[29, p. 878]}, and Russia is losing the war "from the inability to master great discoveries" ^{[29, p. 872]}, since "the Japanese have been working in the field army for a long time, since the beginning of the war and balloons, and Marconi stations" ^{[29, p. 873]}.

Thanks to M. O. Menshikov's article, R. Y. Thiele's camera still got into the troops ^{[48, p. 42]}, but even the word of a famous journalist was not able to quickly move the rusty stationery wheel.

At the beginning of 1905, after many tragic events of the Russian-Japanese war, the publicist in the article "Gratitude" sincerely thanked the fleet that fought with the last forces and the army that selflessly fought with the enemy ^{[16, p. 99]} and noted here that in order to completely overcome the enemy, it is necessary to fight the deadening spirit of bureaucracy ^{[16, p. 103]}. Citing an example of the murderous effect of the bureaucratic apparatus on the fresh forces of life, Menshikov recalled an article he published in Novoye Vremya about the invention of R. Y. Thiele, who had long been waiting for the administrative system to "accept his apparatus, approved by dozens of authoritative reviews" ^{[16, p. 112]}. The publicist again stated the deadness of the state bureaucratic system: "A critical note written by me at the request of Mr. Thiele was followed by complete silence of the chancellery and... a hasty telegram from the war. They are asked to provide the address of the inventor and are ready to enter into negotiations with him" ^{[16, p. 112]}. That is, only life itself, contrary to the work of an army of bureaucrats, demanded the introduction of aeronautical innovations: "Life is not paper, life does not wait..." ^{[16, p. 112]}.

Not everyone can foresee the use of this or that invention. However, it was the gift of foresight of the application of technical inventions that was especially developed by the publicist. So, back in 1902, inspired by the news about the transmission of just the letter S across the Atlantic Ocean via wireless aerial telegraph, Menshikov predicted: "Imagine that this telegraph will be improved and simplified to the extent of an accessible thing to everyone, to the extent of a pocket watch worn by everyone with themselves, or some tiny machine inserted into the ear. You activate the typewriter and hear the thought being conveyed to all mankind from Paris, London, St. Petersburg, Beijing, New York" ^{[21, p. 31]}. Isn't this a description of something like a smartphone or a smart electronic watch along with wireless headphones?

With regard to Thiele's innovation, the publicist also turned out to be a visionary: since the time of the Russian-Japanese and World War I, aerial photography has become an important factor in assessing the terrain, as well as the number and location of enemy troops in combat. So, in relation to modern realities, the invention of R. Y. Thiele is quite correlated with the well-known reconnaissance manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that have the ability to video and photograph, as well as adjust artillery and rocket fire.

The development of aeronautics and interest in it at the beginning of the twentieth century was extremely active all over the world. The most developed direction of aeronautics by the end of the 1900s was airship construction. Following the European powers, the first airships appeared in Russia: in 1908, the first airship was built, called the "Training", and in the spring of 1909, a modern device "Swan" was manufactured in France for Russia.

At the beginning of September 1909, Mikhail Menshikov first saw this airship over Tsarskoye Selo, when he was walking next to St. Sophia Cathedral. This fact is reflected in the article "Shark in the sky" ^[15]. The sudden vision became an occasion for reflection on various topics. And these thoughts combined statements of different qualities: both indisputable, significant for the era, the people, the country, and quite easily refutable or ambiguous and contradictory. The first ones include the idea of the beginning of a new era in the history of mankind – the era of aeronautics ^{[15, p. 625]}. The second is the judgment that physical height is a "great thing" that can lead to prayerful delight, as well as the statement that the Russian people – "residents of a flat plain – lack high points of view" (ibid.). In this regard, as Menshikov said, "aeronautics will compensate for the absence of mountains in our psychology" ^{[15, p. 625]}. The judgment about the Russian lack of talent, which "blows", according to Menshikov, and from big things ("... not only could they not build any ship, nor its model, but even on a foreign ship they cannot fly to Tsarskoye Selo without accidents") and "from small things" ("everything it comes out in Russian": they came up with a strange name "Swan" and painted the ship in a non-white yellow color) ^{[15, p. 626]}.

Let's pay attention to the inconsistency that emerged at the main, spiritual level: the common intellectual-Russophobic statements sound in the context of an article written in the traditional Christian value coordinate system: the author saw the ship when he went to the St. Sophia Cathedral in Tsarskoye Selo in the morning, and then during mass entered the temple, where he mentally correlated the greatness of the "old" and "new" civilizations. The evidence of the greatness of the "old" was the temple, "capable of lifting human souls to a divine height," and the "new" was the ship that lifted people to the height of clouds: "The old civilization has nothing to blush before the new one. You raised your bodies, bug bodies, 550 meters above the dome of the temple. But will you be able to raise human souls to the divine height" ^{[15, p. 625]}.

The topic of the emergence of aeronautics is only the preamble of the article "Shark in the sky", dedicated to the conquest of the North Pole by man. It goes on to say that in Germany in 1909 they were preparing to use airships to fly to this inaccessible point of the earth. The next significant fact of the publication after thinking about aeronautics was the dispute between the Europeans Cook and Peary about reaching the North Pole. However, the dispute itself, in which one of its participants acted extremely ignominiously, is connected with further reflection, very important for Menshikov, on the process of impoverishment in European society of Christian virtues – the spirit of chivalry and brotherhood – and the substitution of service to God for service to the devil, which began since the Renaissance ^{[15, p. 630]}.

The most important and main point of the article, which showed the author's point of view, was the reflection on the widespread entry into the world of the cult of neo–paganism: "Christianity is departing - this is an event much bigger than sharks swimming in the sky or athletes fighting for the discovery of the pole" ^{[15, p. 630]}. Menshikov concluded his reflections with this indisputably accurate and well-founded thought, which showed the ability of a publicist to see small and large facts of life in the context of the general course of development of human civilization.

The first article devoted entirely to the problem of the air fleet was the work "Credit for wings", published on December 8, 1909 ^[26]. Menshikov outlined in it a brief history of the attitude to aeronautics in the Russian Military Ministry and in society, outlining the main directions of the development of aeronautics: "aeronautics" and "aeronautics". The publicist noted in the article the need to cultivate creative masters in Russia who are able to solve difficult tasks, named the main benefactors and military officials who contributed to the development of aeronautics, and also showed how modern Western society, unlike Russian society, quickly finds funds for inventions ^{[26, pp. 862-863]}.

The most important theses of the article: 1) aeronautics is developing in the most unsuitable place for this – St. Petersburg; 2) ministers, as well as people responsible for the development of this direction on the part of the state, do little to introduce new things into the life of the army; 3) the state should be ready in case of military conflicts to use the achievements of aeronautics in defense; 4) the money invested Russian Russian factory is needed for aeronautics by the state and private donors to the development of aeronautics, which are not used for the benefit of the country; 5) for aeronautics, we need our own Russian factory, which would be "not only a supplier for Russian "aviatics", but also a school of craftsmen, without whom progress is unthinkable" ^{[26, p. 863]}. Separately, the publicist noted the need to lure the most talented inventors in order to tie them to their native soil at least with gold chains ^{[26, p. 863]}.

Menshikov, judging by the content of the article, was well aware of the activities of officials of various departments and institutions, as well as individuals associated with aeronautics: the Minister of War under Alexander III Vannovsky, his successor General Vernander, the benefactor Count Stroganov, who headed the aeronautical society of General Kovanko, members of the State Duma, who planned to allocate a loan for the development of aviation, the Ryabushinsky Aeronautical Institute, domestic and foreign inventors and designers (Zeppelin, the Wright brothers, Rebikov and Zhukovsky) and many others. These and other information, which formed the factual basis of the work, testified to the serious approach of the publicist to the topic and the desire to comprehend the factors on which the future of Russia and the Russian people depends.

At the end of the article Menshikov pointed out the danger of lagging behind in this important matter: "Woe to the country that has sunk so low that it can no longer accept the heavenly gift. It will not only lag behind the winged nations, but will forever remain at the bottom, at the bottom of history" ^{[26, p. 864]}.

On January 16, 1910, in the article "Air Defense" ^[18], Mikhail Menshikov supported Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich in his publicly voiced desire to spend almost 900 thousand rubles (remaining in the form of interest, accumulated on large sums of donations for the construction of navy ships) on a modern defense weapon - the air fleet. The idea of building such a fleet attracted the publicist both by the boundlessness of the air element, and the cheapness of creation, and the intelligence potential, and the ability to damage the enemy with bombs. Menshikov paid special attention to the possibilities of connecting the naval and air fleets and practically predicted the appearance of ships carrying aircraft carriers: "Our cruisers built with donated money should be considered unfinished until there are not enough airplanes for them. <...> It is only necessary to place the airplane on the iron wheelhouse of a steam boat and give the boat a run to get the initial speed necessary for takeoff" ^{[18, p. 49]}.

The publicist highly appreciated the role of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich in the development of the Russian navy in general and aeronautics in particular. In his opinion, Alexander Mikhailovich "is not just a high-ranking person who adorns the business with a loud title and gives him usually pure external authority", but "a proven figure who can be the driving spring of the business and has proven the ability to achieve brilliant success" ^{[19, p. 129]}.

Menshikov's attitude to the activities of the Grand Duke, who is ready to seriously delve into the needs of state defense and sacrifice himself for this great cause, can be contrasted with his attitude to the achievements in the field of aeronautics of the chief of the Officer Aeronautical School, Lieutenant General A.M. Kovanko, who focused his efforts more on the development of balloons and balloons ^[20]. Back in 1909, in the article "Credit for Wings", the publicist pointed out the unseemly role of this general in the development of aeronautics: "We fell behind, fell behind in the most shameful and dangerous way... General Kovanko made an extremely fast career in aeronautics and acquired a celebrity almost equal to Zeppelin's" ^{[26, p. 862]}.However, if in the article "Credit for Wings" Menshikov spoke about the clumsiness of the state bureaucratic machine, then in the article "Air Army" he directly accused General Kovanko of incompetence, who, leading the Officer Aeronautical School, did not add anything "to the solution of the great task", but only held "with all the weight of his generalship native aeronautical business on the level of the era of the montgolfiers" ^{[20, p.238]}.

A kind of vital response to the public interest in conquering the air element, fueled, among other things, by Menshikov's articles for the years 1904-1910, is the All-Russian Aeronautics Festival, held at the Commandant's Field in St. Petersburg from September 8 to October 1, 1910. Tens of thousands of spectators gathered to watch the conquerors of the air who arrived in the capital and their flying cars.

The publicist closely followed the events of the aeronautics festival, studied newspaper materials about flights and achievements of aviators. On September 19, at the Kyuba restaurant, he took part in a gala dinner given in honor of the aviators (this fact can be found from the article "Going to death") ^[25]. The organizers of the feast were the son of the famous publisher A.S. Suvorin B. A. Suvorin and the director of the partnership "Wings" S. G. Raille (so in the article), who later turned out to be a British spy ^[45]. In addition to aviators and members of the aero club, the dinner was attended by "former Chairman of the State Duma A. I. Guchkov, Commandant of the Peter and Paul Fortress Adjutant General Komarov, Lieutenant General Velichko, Major General Kovanko, etc., as well as representatives of the Russian and foreign press" ^{[43, p. 281]}. The leading employee of Novoye Vremya, Mikhail Menshikov, was introduced here to famous aviators, including Captain Lev Makarovich Matsievich. The publicist saw him like this: "A young, handsome blond man of small stature in a shiny uniform of a ship engineer with three scientific badges on his chest. <...> I was pleasantly stopped by the fresh complexion of his face, common to all aviators, and that special expression of intelligent faces that you meet with outstanding Belarusians or Poles. <...> Intelligence, seriousness, deep professionalism breathed from this young officer" ^[25].

The most important impression from the restaurant acquaintance with the famous Russian aviators was connected with the understanding of the great danger to which all those who dared to overcome gravity and climb high into the sky are exposed. Menshikov, a publicist, used a favorite technique in the article - a figurative juxtaposition that allows revealing the tragedy of the path chosen by the conquerors of the sky: "Like all the famous aviators I met, I looked at Matsievich with a complex sense of admiration and a hidden, irremediable pity. We drank champagne, clinked glasses, made speeches, and I kept imagining that we were a crowd in an ancient circus and that some cruel ruler, whose name is Necessity, was present among us, and that these heroes of the air were passing with an unspoken cry: “Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutant”» ^[25].

On September 20, 1910, early in the morning, M. O. Menshikov set off from Tsarskoye Selo to the airfield on the Commandant's Field in order not only to see the new invention of mankind – airships, but also to take to the sky himself. On this day, the flights were made by Lieutenant E.V. Rudnev, Captain L. M. Matsievich, Lieutenant G. G. Gorshkov, Lieutenant B. V. Matyevich-Matseevich, lieutenant S.A. Ulyanin, aviator pilots S. I. Utochkin, M. N. Efimov, V. A. Lebedev. Together with Lieutenant Ulyanin, the former chairman of the State Duma, A. I. Guchkov, took to the air on this day. Menshikov agreed in advance, on September 18, to fly with M. N. Efimov. But the aviator's airplane broke down by the time of flights with passengers, which the Modernist greatly regretted. And when Captain Matsievich kindly offered his services, the well-known journalist immediately agreed. The flight of Menshikov and Matsievich lasted 10 minutes: the Farman No. 20 airplane took off at six hours two minutes, and landed at six hours twelve minutes ^[11].

This is how the publicist described his flight poetically: "We're flying! I felt something mystical and inexplicable, close to a prayerful state, when I noticed that we were really separated by a large space from the earth and somehow miraculously hanging over it. We flew far beyond the airfield and disappeared from the public eye. We were rushing over the Black River, which seemed like a winding ditch, rushing over the railroad track, which seemed like a thread, over the carpets of vegetable gardens and fields, over some church far below, over the smoking chimneys of houses, over the human world, hiding at the bottom of a deep abyss, going to sleep" ^[25]

Mikhail Menshikov's article "Going to death" is interesting not only for personal impressions of the flight. A thoughtful journalist listed in this work a lot of factors that could cause death for balloonists: the weak design of the aircraft, the unreliability of the engine and other parts, the treachery of the air element, the well-being and fatigue of the pilot. And all this was connected together when a person rose "over the abyss" in flight and was especially intensified during aviators' competitions for speed, altitude, speed and length of takeoff: "... all records are certainly paid for by catastrophes" ^[25].

Just four days later, the tragic death of Matsievich on the Curfew Field was seen by a crowd of thousands of spectators. Here is how the correspondent of the St. Petersburg Vedomosti described it: "At a terrible height of 450 meters, the cap. Matsievich fell out of his seat and, first in a standing position, and then floundering, rushed down with rapid speed. <...> The apparatus, all destroyed, distorted, completely lost its shape, fell down with the same speed to the side not far from its recent master" ^[4].

Somewhat differently and in more detail, the death of the captain is described in Novoye Vremya from the words of flight participant A. A. Eyranovich: "... due to the steepness of the descent, Captain Matsievich obviously began to rely on a wire tied to the racks or, even more precisely, made a push, as a result of which the rack was torn out of the aluminum socket of the apparatus. Thus, the balance was lost and Captain Matsievich slipped off the apparatus. The first moment we saw his right hand grabbing something, and his left leg was bent at the knee. He separated from the machine. The latter began to wobble violently, since the pilot was no longer there. <...> The device fell much later than the unfortunate aviator and there was a strong thud and crackle during the fall" ^[10]. In the same material, Einarovich pointed out that Matsievich asked to arrange a back made of wire on the device and, complaining of pain in the lower back, said: "I'm terribly tired these days. ... I can hardly straighten my back" ^[10].

There is no doubt Menshikov carefully read many materials published in Novoye Vremya and other newspapers, and it was they that became the basis for his conclusions: "But here's what is unforgivable and what should be remembered forever by the airships themselves and the organizers of the competitions. It is impossible to bring an aviator to extreme fatigue. Before the fatal ascent, Matsievich complained that he was mortally tired, that his back ached from fatigue, and he even asked to make him a support for his back out of wire" ^[25].

In his article on the death of Matsievich Menshikov claimed: aviators are like fearless and going to the death of Roman gladiators, but they take risks and die "not for money or even for fame, but for the sake of that divine feeling, like all artists, which is called rapture" ^[25]. The publicist looked at the aviation pioneers "as heroes, truly majestic in their vocation" ^[25], and therefore filled the material about them with sublime heroic and tragic pathos. The procession of thousands of people who saw off the tragically deceased aviator Lev Matsievich on his last journey in St. Petersburg became evidence that the exalted mood of the journalist's publication corresponded to popular feelings towards the conquerors of the air element.

The articles "Air Force" and "Imaginary and real values" written in the spring of 1914 with a gap of a month (April 10 and May 8) have compositional and substantive similarities. Firstly, they open with a message about the event held in the capital: the first is about the aeronautical congress, and the second is about the successes of the aeronautics week in St. Petersburg. Secondly, in both works, the publicist argued the idea: not theorists, but practitioners gave a powerful impetus to the development of aviation ("Like everything great, aviation was born by practice, not theory" ^{[20, p. 237]}; "Not theorists, but practitioners solve the great problems of the century" ^{[28, p. 311]}). In the work "Air Army", General A.M. Kovanko, who headed the development in the field of military aviation for a long time, again became the object of scathing criticism. The author of the article emphasized that aviation developed not thanks to, but in spite of the general's activities. In the publication "Imaginary and real Values" Menshikov drew attention to the work of philanthropist and scientist-inventor D. P. Ryabushinsky, who organized the Aerodynamic Institute in his estate near Moscow Kuchino. Thirdly, in both articles, the publicist warmly supported the call of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich to donate funds to the new "air army". Fourth, according to Menshikov, both the Kovanko school ^{[20, p. 239.]} and the Ryabushinsky Institute did not give anything for aeronautics ^{[28, p. 309]}.

Significant differences in publications are related to the objectivity of the publicist's assessment of the work of these scientists. The content of the article "Air Army" indicates that the publicist closely followed the activities of A.M. Kovanko for several decades. And over these decades, I have not seen a real result – the conquest of the air element itself: "Evaluate the role of the gene. Kovanka: in this solemn age for aeronautics, devote your life to blowing bubbles into the air. <...> The history of gen. The forging is highly symbolic. That's what it means to put scientific mediocrity near the great task. <...> Aviation has flown out of the grave, leaving only a Cowan in it" ^{[20, pp. 238-239]}. But Menshikov judged the practical and theoretical developments of D. P. Ryabushinsky and his Aerodynamic Institute mainly by the illustrated brochure that fell into his hands ^{[28, p. 307]}. In it, the publicist saw the activities of a scientific institution completely divorced from practice: paper, not real study of aviation, the inclusion of laboratory assistants in the scientists, the protruding merits of Ryabushinsky himself, deepening into "strange" mathematical reasoning, as well as the ridiculous, in the opinion of the publicist, the statement that a new problem of flight is being put forward to replace the solved problem of aerodynamic flight to another planet ^{[28, pp. 308-309]}. Menshikov, with a special and rare irony for his style, wrote about the idea of interplanetary flight expressed by D. P. Ryabushinsky: "What if our honorable director of the Institute (what a position!) he'll fall off some notch and fly to another planet! The village of Kuchino will then lose its only higher scientific institution; the study of the resistance of real liquids (except vodka and beer) will come to an end in Russia, and the whole idea of the generous Moscow philanthropist will remain on earth, perhaps, a "new imaginary quantity"..." ^{[28, p. 309]}.

Interestingly, A. I. Savenko said back in 1911 that M. O. Menshikov's fascination with any of his own ideas leads him to incorrect, subjective assessments ^{[41, p. 185]}. As an example, Savenko pointed to the articles of the publicist, in which in 1906 Menshikov expressed his passionate faith in the political progressivity of the Duma Party of Cadets, and in 1907 – disappointment in them ^{[41, p. 186]}. And Professor Spassky, when assessing the specifics of a journalist's work with the text of the Old Testament in the article "Read the Bible", noted the arbitrariness sometimes manifested in the choice of evidence base when interpreting facts ^{[47, p. 218]}.

It seems that the fascination with the idea of the superiority of practice over theory in the development of aviation, as well as the superficiality of judgments about the aerodynamic Institute, due to insufficient understanding of the essence and prospects of the theoretical developments of the institute (obviously, studying the brochure is not enough to understand the achievements), did not allow Menshikov to truly appreciate the importance of aerodynamic and other research of the institute, which was headed by a Russian philanthropist. Menshikov's conviction that on the eve of a collision with Germany it is necessary to practically strengthen the defense capability and develop Russian military aviation as soon as possible also played a role in assessing the achievements of the institute. Therefore, everything done by Ryabushinsky and his associates in the field of theory and practice of aerodynamics was called "imaginary quantities" and opposed to "real quantities" – specific flights on airplanes and the need to prepare Russian aviation for the approaching war.

The further development of the talent of D. P. Ryabushinsky, who after emigration became one of the leading French scientists in the field of aero- and hydrodynamics, showed the inaccuracy of the assessment given by Menshikov of the activities of the philanthropist-scientist and his scientific institution.

The bias and groundlessness of some of M. O. Menshikov's judgments, along with correct observations, are found in the article "In the Heavenly Heights" published on May 10, 1914 ^[17], also devoted to the development of aviation. This article, published on May 10, 1914, is a series of observations and conclusions of a publicist related to the development of aeronautics in Russia. Let's focus on the most important of them.

At first Menshikov spoke about the courage and talent of all aviators, singling out a particularly young French test pilot Pegu, whose story about the invention of the dead loop the publicist met through the publication of the newspaper "Evening Time". Menshikov's admiration for Pegu's traits – fearlessness, observation, quickness of mind, the ability to make precise practical conclusions-discoveries – manifested itself in a number of characteristic phrases of his publication: "a talented human soul" ^{[17, p. 311]} "acute observation", "observes with extreme attention", "this is how many discoveries were accidentally made" ^{[17, p. 312]}.

Menshikov did not notice that Pegu's words in the publication are advertising and self–promotion, and his phrases, which have become evidence of brilliant observation for the publicist, are not confirmed by facts. So, the French pilot, in his story about the appearance of the idea of a dead loop, simultaneously advertised the plane of a well-known company, telling about its wonderful independent landing: "... being a pilot of the Bleriot company, I had to test one of their parachutes offered to the company. ... But the airplane not only does not fall headlong, but, slowly descending, does some kind of evolution in the air… Almost at the very ground, my apparatus suddenly levels out and, although somewhat hard, sits down on the ground. ... If one car without a pilot, only under the influence of the steering position accidentally left by me, can land safely on the ground, then what results can a brave pilot achieve on it!" ^{[17, p. 311]}. This insensitivity of the publicist to the advertising subtext can be explained only by his naive belief in the superiority of a Western person over a Russian, which periodically manifested itself practically throughout his work.

Russian Russian pilot Nesterov, the discoverer of the dead loop, is further quoted in the article, in which it was stated that, despite the documented superiority of the Russian pilot in the discovery of the dead loop, the foreign and domestic press called the creator of this element of aerobatics Frenchman Pegu. Russian Russian aviator was particularly outraged by the Russophobic reaction of a significant part of the domestic liberal press to the record of the Russian pilot. According to Menshikov, such a Russophobic reaction of newspapers is typical: "It is enough that a Russian was a pioneer in any field, so that newspaper Jews found some rival for him abroad and attributed all the honor of the discovery to the latter. What will you do with the Jewish seal? Such is its nature, poisoned by hatred for Russia and for everything Russian" ^{[17, p. 313]}. Interestingly, one of Menshikov's opponents, Professor Spassky, wrote about the hatred of the liberal and Jewish national press for everything nationally Russian ^{[47, pp. 195-196]}.

Menshikov noted the sluggishness of Russian inventors (including in the field of aviation), which leads to lagging behind in competition with inventors of other powers: "In reproach to G. Nesterov, like all Russian inventors in general, it is permissible to note the following. Although happy ideas sometimes come to your mind earlier than foreign colleagues, but don't you carry your thoughts for too long?" ^{[17, pp. 313-314]}.

According to the publicist, Nesterov and Pegu "have a huge difference in methods, and probably due to this difference, G. Nesterov is in the position of Esau, who lost his birthright" ^{[17, p. 314]}: "From the story of G. Nesterov it is clear that he worked on the dead loop at first theoretically (here and further italics M. O. Menshikova. – N. K.), worked “long and hard on calculating theoretical conclusions” And from the story of G. Pegu it is clear that he first made a brilliant observation, very briefly (between August and September) theorized and hurried to make a "loop" before the special commission" ^{[17, p. 314]}.

The publicist, having generalized his opposition about inventors, moved from a particular problem to a general one: He pointed out that Russia is lagging behind Western countries: "Not only Nesterov, but all of Russia, the entire Russian people are continuously lagging behind due to this disastrous habit of thinking with the hindsight, i.e. more past data than present" ^{[17, p. 314]}. In Russia, people of the "back mind", they "talk about what could have been", "the theory of such people precedes experience, whereas in people of the front mind, experience precedes theory" ^{[17, p. 314]}. In the West, "people of the front mind, whose soul is directed into the reality that lies before you, are constantly engaged in analyzing this reality and relatively easily find something new that creates a new era" ^{[17, p. 314]}.

Menshikov illustrated his statement about the difference in approaches to the creation and implementation of inventions with the features of the belated appearance of steam and armored fleets in Russia, as well as the unsuccessful construction of the imperial yacht Livadia ^{[17, p. 315]}.

The result of the article is a call to overcome the technical lag: not to wait for a ready–made theory from the West, since it is always yesterday, but to work ourselves, without fear of mistakes and discarding scholasticism ^{[17, p. 315]}.

Unfortunately, after a series of works on aviation in 1914, Menshikov no longer had separate articles. However, there are numerous references to the role of military aviation in articles about the First World War. The most detailed is in the article "Winter Campaign", published on November 5, 1916, where Menshikov noted the buildup of the air force by both the Allies and the Germans. In response to the terror from submarines and to the bombing of peaceful cities by the Germans, Russia's allies – France and Britain – actively used aviation: "The Anglo-French have not yet decided to respond to peaceful German cities and villages with the same vile means that the Germans allowed themselves by throwing bombs on London, but they begin very successful bombing of large factories, factories, railway stations, junction stations..." ^{[24, p. 632]}.

In the diary entries of the last, Valdai period of the publicist's life (1917-1918), mentions of aviation and aviators sometimes flash by. So, among the thirty-two cases when "life was hanging by a thread", there is also "flying an airplane with Matsievich" ^{[40, p. 33]}. In Valdai, Menshikov communicated with the Iltonov family of nobles, in which, as he wrote, there was a pilot son married "to the beautiful Turgeneva, the grandniece of Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev" ^{[40, pp. 49-50]}. The aristocratic family more than once helped the distressed Menshikov family, in which there were six children. So, one of the men of this family in the hungry days of April 1918 in "by himself in a sled brought several pounds of bread from the Mitrofanovs" ^{[40, p. 88]}. In addition, Menshikov kept the aviator's badge at home, which, during a search in September 1918, the Red Army took for a monarchical one and tried to withdraw ^{[40, p. 239]}.

It seems that the energetic support of an outstanding publicist of the military department played a role in the development of domestic aviation. The construction of aircraft carriers, hydroaeroplanes, close technical cooperation with leading aircraft–building powers, primarily with France, as well as the development and manufacture of their own aircraft - all this was actively implemented in the Russian Empire in 1914-1916, and by the end of the First World War, Russian naval aviation was already actively involved in battles and on the Black Sea, the enemy was smashed.

The pathos of Menshikov's articles is multidirectional. As a statesman, a publicist of the state, he always advocated the development of the country, wanted the Russian people to take their rightful place in the world family of nations. In addition, Menshikov seeks to convince the reader of the uselessness and even harmfulness for Russia of everything that, in his opinion, hinders the development of aviation: bureaucracy, government red tape and excessive theorizing. However, in this denial of certain phenomena, as in the case of the Ryabushinsky Institute or with a grandiose generalization about people of the "back" and "front" mind, Menshikov could be mistaken. As, however, with the glorification of personalities such as aviator Pegu. Nevertheless, the general direction of his articles, their originality, elaboration, sensitivity and sincerity testify to the great talent of the Russian journalist, who did everything possible for the development of the country and whose creations cannot be called a "cauldron of feuilleton scraps".

Was Menshikov, when considering the topic of aeronautics, a talkative renegade, "Judushka Golovlev"? This question is answered by the content of the articles of the publicist. He did not change his ideals. The perception of aeronautics and the need for its use in the defense of the fatherland was not influenced by any external factors: neither a change of job, nor political preferences, nor the military-political situation. He always remained a patriot and wanted the fastest introduction of aircraft into the troops and the use of all their capabilities to strengthen the country's defense. The presence of technical education allowed him to make accurate predictions about the appearance of various inventions, and the lack of a system of knowledge provided by higher education sometimes affected the accuracy and depth of evaluation of various phenomena.