N. Gulaev
Callsign “Maestro”
Vitaly Ivanovich Popkov, the future Maestro and future Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, went to the front in early May 1942 after several reports.
From the very beginning, the young pilot’s service did not work out. He was almost immediately appointed “eternal orderly”. Vitaly Ivanovich appreciated humor and jokes, and he himself was not a blunder, to laugh. Pilots in one liberated village picked up a puppy, and the future twice hero taught him to carry out combat commands. 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
What were they like, those “old men” who went into battle?
The war for the twice Hero of the Soviet Union Guard Captain Gulaev quite unexpectedly ended in early September 1944. By decision of the command, he was forcibly sent to study. Colonel-General Gulaev with an inspection in one of the units of the 10th Air Defense Army.
Formally, the reason for the withdrawal from the front of one of the best fighters, the fastest and most successful pilot of World War II was the desire to save the illustrious ace by sending him to study at the N Air Force Engineering Academy E. Zhukovsky. Continue reading
