Ivan Kozhedub
Air Marshal Nikolai Mikhailovich Skomorokhov
The future ace pilot was born into a peasant family. In 1930, the family moved to Astrakhan, where in 1935 Nikolai graduated from the 7th grade. For the next two years, he studied at the factory apprenticeship school (FZU). After graduating from the FZU, he worked as a fitter and turner at a shipyard named after the III International. At the same time he graduated from the library technical school. Since 1939, he simultaneously studied and underwent primary flight training at the Astrakhan flying club. 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
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 graduated from a seven-year school in Shumikha and entered the Chelyabinsk factory school, where he received the specialty of a turner. He worked at the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant and studied at the flying club. In 1938, Evstigneev was drafted into the Red Army and sent to study at the Biysk Military Pilot School. After graduating from school, Kirill Alekseevich served as an instructor pilot in it. Continue reading