Aviation Division
Nikolai Mikhailovich Skomorokhov
V. Vysotsky dedicated the “Ballad of the Dead Pilot”, the lines from which you read, to the fighter pilot, twice Hero of the Soviet Union – Nikolai Skomorokhov and his friend, namesake, Nikolai Gorbunov, who died in the sky of Budapest.
Nikolai Mikhailovich Skomorokhov was born on May 19, 1920 in the village of Lapot, Saratov province. Continue reading
Hero of the Soviet Union,
Hero of the Soviet Union, sergeant of the Red Army. During the occupation of the Smolensk region by Wehrmacht troops, he joined a partisan detachment. In the army since December 1944. Scout of the 756th Infantry Regiment of the 150th Infantry Division of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. According to the official Soviet version, together with Lieutenant A.P. Berestomi, Junior Sergeant Meliton Kantaria, he hoisted the Banner of Victory on the roof of the Reichstag during the Battle of Berlin. Continue reading
Koldunov Alexander Ivanovich
From February 1941 in the ranks of the Red Army. In March 1943 he graduated from the Kachinsky military aviation school of pilots. From March to May 1943 he was a pilot of the 8th ZIAP Air Force of the Volga Military District (Bagai-Baranovka village, Volsky district of the Saratov region).
Since May 1943, Sergeant A. I. Koldunov was on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War as part of the 866th IAP. He held the positions of senior pilot, flight commander, deputy commander and squadron commander. Continue reading