412 sorties
On September 20, 1923, in the village of Moshchinovo, Smolensk province, a Soviet fighter pilot, ace, military and statesman, Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, the most productive ace among…

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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…

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Evstigneev Kirill Alekseevich
Kirill Alekseevich Evstigneev was born on February 17, 1917 in the village of Bolshiye Khokhly (now the Shumikhinsky district of the Kurgan region) into a peasant family. In 1935 he…

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Sorcerers rushed into the sky
Koldunov rushed into the sky, into the element of air combat. He submits an application with a request to be admitted to the Kachin flight school. But he was refused…

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fact that I flew

Ground attack legend

There are no safe jobs in war. Everyone risks. But, in my opinion, there is nothing more terrible than the combat work of an attack pilot. Everything shoots at the attack aircraft. Starting from infantry rifles, ending with anti-aircraft artillery. An attack aircraft is a desirable prey for an enemy fighter. Almost all battles take place over enemy territory. But attack aircraft were not taken prisoner. The attack aircraft is the object of well-deserved hatred of the enemy. More than attack aircraft, they only hate snipers. Continue reading

Twice Hero of the Soviet Union – Skomorokhov Nikolai Mikhailovich

Skomorokhov Nikolai Mikhailovich – squadron commander of the 31st Fighter Aviation Regiment (295th Fighter Aviation Division, 9th Mixed Air Corps, 17th Air Army, 3rd Ukrainian Front), captain.
Born on May 19, 1920 in the village of Lapot, now the village of Belogorskoye, Krasnoarmeisky (formerly Zolotovsky) district of the Saratov region, in a peasant family. In 1930 he moved to Astrakhan with his family. Until 1935 he studied at a secondary school, then graduated from the FZU school. Continue reading

Double, Triple and Quadruple Heroes

The concept of “twice, thrice, four times Hero” today seems somewhat strange, probably it would be more correct to talk about awarding several Gold Star medals. But this is a fact of our history, and it cannot be bypassed.
For the first time, three pilots became Heroes twice for the feats of arms shown in battles with the Japanese interventionists on the Khalkhin Gol River in 1939: Major Sergei Ivanovich Gritsevets and Colonel Grigory Panteleevich Kravchenko (Decree of August 29), as well as commander Yakov Vladimirovich Smushkevich (Decree dated 17 November). The fate of all three was tragic. Continue reading

Stepped into immortality: little-known heroes of the Great Patriotic War
During the years of the Great Patriotic War, the highest Soviet award - the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union - was awarded to 11,657 soldiers and…

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Heroes of the Soviet Union
Golovachev Pavel Yakovlevich (1917-1972) - Soviet ace pilot, participant in the Great Patriotic War, twice Hero of the Soviet Union. In total, during the war he made 457 sorties, took…

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