Air Marshal
Sky tanker
Air Marshal Efimov Alexander Nikolaevich is one of the most famous pilots of the Russian Air Force. At the age of twenty-two, he was twice awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. During the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet attack pilot made over two hundred successful sorties on the Il-2 aircraft, nicknamed by the Nazis “Black Death” or “Meat Grinder”. Alone with his shooter and as part of a group, he shot down seven German aircraft in air battles and destroyed more than eighty at airfields. Continue reading
We are from the Soviet Union
Nikolai Dmitrievich Gulaev, a famous fighter pilot, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, the third of the Soviet aces in terms of the number of personally shot down aircraft during the Great Patriotic War. On his account there were 55, according to other sources, 57 personal victories, and 5 more victories in the group. It so happened that today they know much less about Gulaev than about two other famous Soviet fighter pilots: Ivan Kozhedub and Alexander Pokryshkin (pictured below). Nikolai Gulaev. Continue reading
Last great ace
I want to tell about the life of a man with whom a journalistic fate once brought me together. About a man in whom self-esteem and absolute inner freedom were combined with responsibility and duty. About a man who had the courage to follow his destiny, and neither the totalitarian system, nor the war, nor insurmountable circumstances, nor fools, nor roads prevented him from doing this. Continue reading
