22 Mar 2014
Aleksandr Pokryshkin – legendary Soviet fighter
17 PHOTOS
The 100th anniversary of the birth of Alexandr Pokryshkin - one of the leading fighter pilots of World War II, Marshal of Soviet aviation and the first and only pilot to be awarded three times Hero of the Soviet Union during the war.
Additionally to his three Hero of the Soviet Union golden stars, he was awarded four Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, four Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of Suvorov (2nd class), two Orders of the Red Star, a number of other medals, and foreign orders, such as the US Army Distinguished Service Medal, the gold medal U.S. "For Military Merit " he received personally from US President Franklin Roosevelt.
He made a total of 560 combat missions, participated in 156 air battles, and has an official record of 65 victories: 59 downed enemy planes shot down personally and 6 together with other pilots.
Although based on Pokryshkin's memoirs and personal notebooks, his score stands above 100. The Soviet air force did not officially confirm kills whose wreckage could not be found, thus many aircraft shot down over enemy territory were never confirmed.
To compare, the highest scoring U.S. ace Richard I. Bong made 40 victories and James Edgar "Johnnie" Johnson from UK Royal Air Force made 38 personal victories.
During World War II he invented new fighter tactics against German Luftwaffe units. On April 29, 1943, eight P-39 Airacobra fighters, one of which he piloted, attacked three squadrons of Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers escorted by Bf-109 fighters. As many as 12 German aircraft were downed in this battle, with Pokryshkin shooting down 5 of them. He considered it his highest achievement that all of this was accomplished without the loss of a single one of his supporting aircraft.
In September 1943, Pokryshkin shot down three Ju-88 aircrafts in a single pass. This further spread his fame as an ace pilot, because the move was performed at low altitude. Later that year, he took a flight on his own initiative and shot four transport aircraft U-2 over the storming Black sea.
The legendary pilot was awarded to carry the banner of the Military Front during the Victory Day parade on Red Square on June 24, 1945.
After the World War II ended, he graduated from the Soviet Military Academy named after Frunze. Between 1949–1955 he was Deputy commander of the 33rd Fighter Air Defense and the commander of the 88th Fighter Aviation Corps in Rzhev.
In 1968 he became Deputy Chief of the Air Defense Forces.
He wrote several books about his wartime experiences.
Pokryshkin died on November 13, 1985 at the age of 72.
|