As residents of the Mirny settlement in the Kamenskovsky district, near which the tragedy occurred, recall, the plane, flying at an altitude of about 4 thousand meters, entered a thundercloud, then there was a strong explosion. Then the Boston crashed almost vertically into the forest near the village of Palashkino. When local boys ran to the crash site, they imagined a terrible picture: three tons of fuel were burning, trees were burning and ammunition was exploding. The tragedy occurred on July 29, 1943. On this day, an airplane with 4 crew members took off for a training flight from the military airfield of the city of Ryazhsk in the Ryazan region, where the 173rd long-range fighter regiment of special purpose was based. The plane was controlled by an experienced pilot, awarded the Order of the Red Star - thirty-two-year-old senior lieutenant Konstantin Medvedev. He had 34 combat sorties behind him, including fighting in the skies over Stalingrad. They were flying high, not using ground reference points - the regiment's newcomer, navigator Aboimov, was undergoing training. The plane was supposed to fly to Ivanovo, turn around to Orekhovo-Zuyevo and return to its airfield. Half an hour later, communication with the plane was lost. And some time later, Ryazhsk was informed of the tragedy near Vladimir.