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…

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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…

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Borovykh Andrey Egorovich
Andrei Borovykh was born in Kursk on October 30, 1921 under the sign of Scorpio, who guarded his fate, as well as the fate of the relative majority of aces…

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Air Marshal Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Mikhailovich Skomorokhov
End of 1944. There is a fierce battle in the sky over Budapest. In mortal combat - two planes. Senior Lieutenant Nikolai Skomorokhov got a serious opponent. The forces are…

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shot down

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

Member of the Great Patriotic War

Born May 1, 1922 in Moscow in a working class family. My father worked in a special purpose garage at the Council of People’s Commissars. When he was transferred to work in government facilities in the Caucasus, from 1927 the family lived in Sochi and Matsesta, from 1934 in Gagra. In 1938 they returned to Moscow. He graduated from 10 classes at school number 94 in Moscow in 1939. At the same time he graduated from a glider school in Gagra (1937, although according to publications on the Internet, he received a certificate of a glider pilot at the age of 12[4]). In 1940 he graduated from the Krasnopresnensky (according to other sources Tushinsky) flying club. 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

What were they like, those "old men" who went into battle?
Around every celebrity, especially if she is surrounded by a halo of accomplished feats, a lot of oral rumors inevitably arise, gradually turning into legends. Naturally, such a legendary pilot…

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Better than Kozhedub, cooler than Hartman
Better than Kozhedub, cooler than Hartman The names of the Soviet aces of the Great Patriotic War Ivan Kozhedub and Alexander Pokryshkin are known to everyone who is at least…

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