Women aces of the Second World War. The best Soviet ace pilots of the Great Patriotic War (6 photos)
Ivan Kozhedub is considered the record holder for the number of German aircraft shot down. He has 62 enemy vehicles to his credit. Alexander Pokryshkin was 3 planes behind him - it is officially believed that ace No. 2 can paint 59 stars on his fuselage. In fact, the information about Kozhedub’s championship is erroneous.
There are eight of them - there are two of us. Layout before the fight
Not ours, but we will play!
Seryozha, hold on! There is no light for us with you.
But the trump cards must be leveled.
I will not leave this heavenly square -
The numbers don't matter to me right now:
Today my friend protects my back
This means the chances are equal.
Vladimir Vysotsky
Several years ago, in the archives of three times hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Pokryshkin, records were discovered that allow us to take a different look at the merits of the legendary pilot. It turns out that for decades the true number of fascist planes he shot down was greatly underestimated. There were several reasons for this.
Firstly, the very fact of the fall of each downed enemy aircraft had to be confirmed by reports from ground observers. Thus, by definition, all vehicles destroyed behind the front line were not included in the statistics of Soviet fighter pilots. Pokryshkin, in particular, lost 9 “trophies” because of this.
Secondly, many of his comrades recalled that he generously shared with his wingmen so that they could quickly receive orders and new titles. Finally, in 1941, during the retreat, Pokryshkin’s flight unit was forced to destroy all documents, and more than a dozen victories of the Siberian hero remained only in his memory and personal notes. After the war, the famous pilot did not prove his superiority and was satisfied with the 59 enemy aircraft recorded to his account. Kozhedub, as we know, had 62 of them. Today we can say that Pokryshkin destroyed 94 aircraft, knocked out 19 (some of them, no doubt, could not reach the airfield or were finished off by other pilots), and destroyed 3 on the ground. Pokryshkin dealt primarily with enemy fighters - the most difficult and dangerous targets. It happened that he and two of his comrades fought with eighteen opponents. The Siberian ace shot down 3 Fokkers, 36 Messers, knocked out 7 more, and burned 2 at airfields. He destroyed 33 light bombers, 18 heavy ones. He was rarely distracted by smaller targets, shooting down 1 light reconnaissance aircraft and 4 transport aircraft. To be completely truthful, it should be said that he began his combat account on June 22, 1941 by shooting down our light two-seat Su-2 bomber, which, due to the stupidity of the command, was so classified that not a single Soviet fighter knew its silhouette. And the slogan of every combat pilot is not original: “If you see an unfamiliar plane, take it for the enemy.”
American President Franklin Roosevelt called Pokryshkin the most outstanding ace of World War II. It’s hard to disagree with this, although Kozhedub’s military merits are no less significant. Surely there are also unregistered planes on his account.
A Soviet pilot named Ivan Fedorov was even less fortunate in this regard. He shot down 134 enemy planes, carried out 6 ramming attacks, and “captured” 2 aircraft - forcing them to land at his airfield. At the same time, he was never shot down and did not lose a single wingman. But this pilot remained completely unknown. Pioneer squads were not named after him, and no monuments were erected to him. Problems arose even with awarding him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Ivan Fedorov was first nominated for this high award back in 1938 - for 11 aircraft shot down in Spain. WITH large group officers from Spain Fedorov came to Moscow for the ceremony. Among those awarded, in addition to pilots, were sailors and tank crews. At one of the “banquets,” representatives of friendly branches of the military began to find out which type of armed forces was better. The dispute escalated to a fight, and then to a shootout. As a result, 11 ambulances transported the victims to Moscow hospitals and morgues. Ivan Fedorov did not take much part in the fight, but, becoming too furious, he hit the NKVD officer assigned to him. The pilot was a first-class boxer; on the second day, the special officer died without regaining consciousness. As a result, Fedorov was declared one of the instigators of the scandal. The leadership of the People's Commissariat of Defense hushed up this incident, but no awards were given to anyone. Everyone was scattered around military units with completely unsuitable future career characteristics.
As for Fedorov, his boss called him and several other pilots General Staff Aviation Lieutenant General Smushkevich and said: “We fought heroically - and it’s all in vain!” And left alone with Fedorov, he confidentially and friendlyly warned that the NKVD had opened a special file on him on the personal orders of Lavrentiy Beria. Then Stalin himself saved Fedorov from arrest and death, who ordered Beria not to touch the pilot, so as not to complicate relations with the Spaniards, for whom Ivan was a national hero. However, Fedorov was fired from the Air Force and transferred as a test pilot to the S.A. Design Bureau. Lavochkina.
Deprived of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, Fedorov literally a few months before the invasion of Nazi Germany in the USSR managed to receive the highest military award of the Third Reich. It turned out like this.
In the spring of 1941, the USSR and Germany, which were then on very friendly relations, exchanged delegations of test pilots. Fedorov went to Germany as part of the Soviet pilots. Wanting to show a potential enemy (and Ivan did not doubt for a minute that war with Germany was inevitable) the power of the Soviet military aviation, the pilot demonstrated the most complex aerobatic maneuvers in the air. Hitler was stunned and amazed, and Reichsmarschall Goering gloomily confirmed that even the best German aces would not be able to repeat the “aerial acrobatic tricks” of the Soviet pilot.
On June 17, 1941, a farewell banquet was held at the residence of the Reich Chancellor, where Hitler presented awards to Soviet pilots. Fedorov received from his hands one of the highest orders of the Reich - the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, 1st class. Fedorov himself recalled this award reluctantly: “They gave me some kind of cross, I don’t understand it, I don’t need it, it was lying in my box, I didn’t wear it and would never wear it.” Moreover, a few days after the return of the Soviet pilots, the Great Patriotic War began...
The war found Fedorov in Gorky, where he worked at a factory as a tester. For a whole year, the pilot unsuccessfully bombarded the higher authorities with reports asking to send him to the front. Then Fedorov decided to cheat. In June 1942, on an experimental LaGT-3 fighter, he made 3 “dead loops” under the bridge over the Volga. The hope was that the air hooligan would be sent to the front for this. However, when Fedorov made his fourth approach, the anti-aircraft gunners from the bridge guards opened fire on the plane, apparently thinking that it could destroy the bridge. Then the pilot decided that he would not even return to his airfield, and flew straight to the front...
The front line was almost 500 km away, and Fedorov was not only fired upon by anti-aircraft guns, but also attacked by two MIG-3s of the Moscow air defense forces. Having happily avoided danger, Ivan Evgrafovich landed at the Klin airfield near Moscow, at the headquarters of the 3rd Air Army.
Army commander Mikhail Gromov, a famous polar pilot, after listening to the detailed report of the “volunteer”, decided to keep him. Meanwhile, the management of the Gorky Aviation Plant declared Fedorov a deserter and demanded that he be returned from the front. He sent them a telegram: “I didn’t run away to come back to you. If guilty, bring him to court.” Apparently, Gromov himself stood up for the “deserter”: “If you had fled from the front, then you would have been tried, but you go to the front.” Indeed, the case was soon closed.
In the first month and a half, Fedorov shot down 18 German aircraft and already in October 1942 he was appointed commander of the 157th Fighter Aviation Regiment. He met the spring of 1943 as the commander of the 273rd Air Division. And from the summer of 1942 to the spring of 1943, Fedorov commanded a unique group of 64 penalty pilots, created by Stalin’s personal order. He considered it unreasonable to send even seriously guilty pilots to ground penal battalions, where they could not bring any benefit, and the situation at the front then was such that every trained and experienced pilot was literally worth his weight in gold. But none of the aces wanted to command these “air hooligans”. And then Fedorov himself volunteered to lead them. Despite the fact that Gromov gave him the right to shoot anyone on the spot at the slightest attempt at disobedience, Fedorov never took advantage of this.
The penalty fighters performed brilliantly, shooting down about 400 enemy aircraft, although victories were not counted towards them, just like Fedorov himself, but were distributed among other air regiments. Then, after the official “forgiveness,” several of Fedorov’s wards became Heroes of the Soviet Union. The most famous of them was Alexey Reshetov.
In May 1944, Fedorov, having voluntarily resigned from the post of commander of the 213th Air Division, not wanting to do “paper” work, in his opinion, became deputy commander of the 269th Air Division, having the opportunity to fly more. Soon he managed to assemble a special group consisting of nine pilots, with whom he engaged in the so-called “free hunt” behind the front line.
After a thorough reconnaissance, a group of Fedorov’s “hunters”, who knew the location of enemy airfields well, usually flew over one of them in the evening and dropped a pennant, which was a can of American stew with cargo and a note inside. In it on German Luftwaffe pilots were invited to fight, strictly according to the number of those arriving from the Soviet side. In case of violation of numerical parity, the “extra” were simply knocked down on takeoff. The Germans, of course, accepted the challenge.
In these “duels” Fedorov won 21 victories. But, perhaps, Ivan Evgrafovich spent his most successful battle in the skies over East Prussia at the end of 1944, shooting down 9 Messerschmitts at once. Thanks to all these striking achievements, the ace received the front-line nickname Anarchist.
All pilots of the Fedorov group received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and Vasily Zaitsev and Andrei Borovykh were awarded it twice. The only exception was the commander himself. All of Fedorov’s aspirations for this title were still “turned up.”
After the Great Victory, Fedorov returned to the Lavochkin Design Bureau, where he tested jet aircraft. He was the first in the world to break the sound barrier on the La-176 aircraft. In general, this pilot holds 29 world aviation records. It was for these achievements that on March 5, 1948, Stalin awarded Ivan Fedorov the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
As for the obscurity of the most successful ace of the Soviet Air Force, Ivan Evgrafovich never sought to debunk this misconception: “I have always been able to stand up for myself and will be able to, but I will never bother and write to higher authorities in order to return undelivered awards. And I don’t need them anymore - my soul lives on other matters.”
So the best Soviet aces of World War II - such a misconception! — Pokryshkin and Kozhedub are still considered.
Comparing the number of victories won by German and Soviet pilots, disputes about the authenticity of the given numbers of their victories are still raging. Indeed, the scores of German pilots are an order of magnitude higher! And obviously there are explanations for this. In addition to the large raids (and each sortie potentially increases the chance of shooting down an enemy aircraft) of the German aces and the greater likelihood of finding the enemy aircraft (due to its larger number), the tactics of German experts also contributed to success. For example, here’s what the most successful pilot of World War II, E. Hartman, wrote in his book:
« ...I never cared about the problems of air combat. I just never got involved in a fight with the Russians. My tactic was surprise. Climb higher and, if possible, come from the direction of the sun... Ninety percent of my attacks were sudden, with the goal of catching the enemy by surprise. If I was successful, I quickly left, paused briefly, and reassessed the situation.
Detection of the enemy depended on ground combat and visual inspection capabilities. From the ground we were informed by radio of the enemy's coordinates, which we plotted on our maps. Therefore, we could search in the right direction and choose the best height for our attacks. I preferred an effective attack from below, as against the background of a white cloudy sky it was possible to detect enemy aircraft from afar. When the pilot sees his enemy first, that is already half the victory.
Making a decision was the second stage of my tactics. When the enemy is in front of you, you need to decide whether to attack him immediately or wait for a more favorable moment. Or you could change your position or abandon the attack altogether. The main thing is to keep yourself under control. There is no need to immediately, forgetting about everything, rush into battle. Wait, look around, take advantage of your position. For example, if you have to attack the enemy against the sun, and you have not gained enough altitude, and, in addition, the enemy aircraft is flying among ragged clouds, keep it in your field of view, and in the meantime, change your position relative to the sun, rise higher above the clouds, or, if necessary, dive in order to gain a speed advantage at the expense of height.
Then attack. It’s good if you come across an inexperienced or unwary pilot. This is usually not difficult to determine. By knocking him down - and this must be done - you will thereby weaken the morale of the enemy. The most important thing is to destroy the enemy plane. Maneuver quickly and aggressively, opening fire at close range to ensure a hit at point-blank range and save wasted ammunition. I always advised my subordinates: “Press the trigger only when your sight is filled with an enemy aircraft!”
After shooting, immediately move to the side and leave the battle. Whether you hit it or not, now think only about how to get away. Don’t forget about what’s going on behind you, look around, and if everything is in order and your position is comfortable, try to do it again.”.
By the way, similar combat tactics were used by A.I. Pokryshkin, his famous “falcon strike” and the formula “altitude-speed-maneuver-strike” are essentially a repetition of the tactics of the German aces and the effectiveness of such tactics is confirmed by his victories.
This is what Ivan Kozhedub wrote about his tactics after the war:
“Having shot down a plane, especially the leading one, you demoralize the enemy group, almost always putting it to flight. This is what I was trying to achieve, trying to seize the initiative. We must try to attack the enemy with lightning speed, seize the initiative, skillfully use the flight-tactical qualities of the machine, act prudently, hit with a short distance, and achieve success from the first attack, and always remember that in aerial combat every second counts".
As we see, both German and Soviet ace pilots achieved high performance using the same techniques. Despite the significant difference in the number of those shot down (we will not question the official data of the parties, if there is any inaccuracy in them, it is obviously approximately equal for both sides), the skill of the best Soviet aces is no worse than the skill of the German ones in terms of the number of shots down per combat mission. the lag is not that big. And the number of those shot down per air battle is sometimes higher, for example, Hartman shot down his 352 aircraft in 825 air battles, while Ivan Kozhedub destroyed his 62 in 120 air battles. That is, during the entire war, the Soviet ace encountered an air enemy more than 6 times less often than Hartman.
It is worth noting, however, the much higher combat load of German pilots, because the intensity of their use and the number of combat sorties are higher than that of Soviet aces, and sometimes significantly. For example, having started fighting six months earlier than Kozhedub, Hartman has 1,425 sorties versus 330 for Kozhedub. But a person is not an airplane, he gets tired, exhausted and needs rest.
Top ten German fighter pilots:
1. Erich Hartman- 352 aircraft shot down, of which 347 were Soviet.
2.Gerhard Barkhorn - 301
3. Gunter Rall - 275
4. Otto Kitel - 267,
5.Walter Nowotny - 258
6. Wilhelm Batz - 242
7. H. Lipfert -203
8. J.Brendel - 189
9.G.Shak - 174
10. P.Dutmann- 152
If we continue this list by another ten, then A. Resch will be in 20th place with the number of aircraft shot down at 91, which once again shows high efficiency German fighter aircraft as a whole.
The top ten best Soviet fighter pilots look like this:
1. I.N. Kozhedub - 62
2. A.I. Pokryshkin - 59
3.G.A. Rechkalov - 56
4. N.D. Gulaev - 53
5.K.A.Evstigneev - 53
6. A.V. Vorozheikin - 52
7. D.B. Glinka - 50
8.N.M. Skomorokhov - 46
9.A.I. Sorcerers - 46
10. N.F. Krasnov - 44
In general, when calculating the ratio of sorties (not air battles, but sorties) per one counted air victory for a German ace from the top ten, there are approximately 3.4 sorties, for a Soviet ace - 7.9, that is, approximately 2 times the German ace turned out to be more effective in this indicator. But let us repeat that it was much easier for a German ace to meet a Soviet plane than for a Soviet to find a German one, due to the quantitative superiority of the Soviet Air Force since 1943. many times, and in 1945 generally by an order of magnitude.
A few words about E. Hartman. 
During the war he was “shot down” 14 times. The word “shot down” is in quotation marks because he received all the damage to his plane from the wreckage of Soviet planes that he himself shot down. Hartman did not lose a single wingman during the entire war.
Erich Hartmann was born on April 19, 1922 in Weissach. He spent a significant part of his childhood in China, where his father worked as a doctor. But Erich followed in the footsteps of his mother, Elisabeth Machtholf, who was an athlete pilot. In 1936, she organized a glider club near Stuttgart, where her son learned to fly a glider. At the age of 14, Erich already had a gliding license, becoming quite an experienced pilot, and by the age of 16 he had already become a highly qualified gliding instructor. According to his brother Alfred, he was generally an excellent athlete and achieved success almost everywhere. good results. And among his peers, he was a born leader, capable of leading everyone.
On October 15, 1940, he was sent to the 10th Luftwaffe military training regiment, located in Neukuren, near Königsberg, in East Prussia. Having received his initial flight training there, Hartmann continued his training at the flight school in Berlin-Gatow. He completed the basic flight training course in October 1941, and at the beginning of 1942 he was sent to the 2nd Fighter Pilot School, where he was trained on the Bf. 109.
One of his instructors was an expert and former German aerobatics champion, Erich Hogagen. The German ace in every possible way encouraged Hartman’s desire to study in more detail the maneuvering characteristics of this type of fighter and taught his cadet many of the techniques and intricacies of piloting it. In August 1942, after extensive training in the art of air combat, Hartman joined the JG-52 squadron, which fought in the Caucasus. At first, Lieutenant Hartman was unlucky. During the third combat mission, he found himself in the thick of an air battle, became confused and did everything wrong: he did not maintain his place in the ranks, fell into the leader’s fire zone (instead of covering his rear), got lost, lost speed and sat down into a sunflower field, disabling the plane. Finding himself 20 miles from the airfield, Hartman reached it on a passing army truck. He received a severe scolding and was suspended from flying for three days. Hartman vowed not to make the same mistakes again. Having received permission to continue flying, on November 5, 1942, he shot down his first plane (it was an Il-2 attack aircraft). Excited by such a victory, Hartman did not notice that a LaGG-3 fighter had approached him from behind, and was immediately shot down himself. He jumped out with a parachute.
Erich Hartmann was able to chalk up his second victory (MiG fighter) only on January 27, 1943. German fighter pilots said that those who start slowly get "rookie fever." Erich Hartmann recovered from his “fever” only in April 1943, when he shot down several planes in one day. This was the beginning. Hartman burst. On July 7, 1943, during the Battle of Kursk, he shot down 7 Soviet aircraft. The air combat techniques that Hartman used were reminiscent of the Red Baron's tactics. He tried to get as close to the enemy as possible before opening fire. Hartman believed that a fighter pilot should not fear a mid-air collision. He himself recalled that he pressed the trigger only then, “... when the enemy plane was already blocking out the entire white light.” This tactic was extremely dangerous. Hartman was pinned to the ground 6 times, and repeatedly his plane was heavily damaged by flying debris from his victims. It's amazing that he himself was never even hurt. Hartmann narrowly escaped death in August 1943 when his plane was shot down over Soviet territory and he was captured. To weaken the guards' vigilance, the quick-witted pilot pretended to be seriously wounded. He was thrown into the back of a truck. A few hours later, a German Ju dive bomber flew over the car at low level. 87. The driver threw the truck into a ditch, and he and two guards ran for cover. Hartman also ran, but the opposite side. He walked to the front line at night and hid in the woods during the day until he finally reached the German trenches, where he was fired upon by a nervous sentry. The bullet tore Hartman's trouser leg, but did not hit him. Meanwhile, Erich Hartmann's fame grew every day on both sides of the front. Goebbels's propaganda called him the "blond German knight." In early 1944, Hartmann became commander of the 7th Squadron of JG-52. After 7./JG52 he commanded the staffs of 9./JG52, and then 4./JG52. His combat score continued to grow by leaps and bounds. In August 1944 alone, he shot down 78 Soviet aircraft, 19 of them in two days (August 23 and 24). After this, in recognition of the extraordinary number of his victories, Hitler personally awarded Hartmann the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.
Hartman then received leave and on September 10 married Ursula Patch, who had been his sweetheart since he was 17 and she was 15. Then he returned to the Eastern Front, where the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe were already on the verge of defeat. Hartmann received the extraordinary rank of major (he was 22 years old) and was appointed commander of I./JG52. Major Hartmann scored his final, 352nd victory on May 8, 1945, over Brune, Germany. Having completed the last, 1425th combat mission, he ordered the surviving aircraft to be burned and, with his subordinates, accompanied by dozens of refugees fleeing the Russians, headed towards American positions. Two hours later, in the Czech city of Pisek, they all surrendered to the soldiers of the 90th Infantry Division of the US Army. But on May 16, the entire group, including women and children, was handed over to the Soviet occupation authorities. When the Russians discovered that Erich Hartmann himself had fallen into their hands, they decided to break his will. Hartman was kept in solitary confinement in complete darkness and was denied the opportunity to receive letters. Therefore, he learned about the death of his three-year-old son Peter Erich, whom Hartman never saw, only 2 years later. Major Hartman, despite all the efforts of his jailers, never became a supporter of communism. He refused to cooperate with his tormentors, did not go to construction work and provoked the guards, apparently hoping that they would shoot him. This may seem surprising, but after going through all the trials, Erich Hartmann developed great sympathy for the Russian people.
Finally, in 1955, Hartmann was released, and after 10 and a half years imprisonment He returned home. Erich's parents were already dead, but faithful Ursula was still waiting for his return. With the help of his wife, the exhausted ex-Luftwaffe officer quickly recovered and began to rebuild his life. In 1958, a daughter was born into the Hartman family, who was named Ursula. In 1959, Hartmann joined the newly created German Air Force and received under his command the 71st Fighter Regiment "Richthofen", stationed at the Ahlhorn airbase in Oldenburg. In the end, Erich Hartmann, having risen to the rank of Oberstleutnant, retired and lived out his life in the suburbs of Stuttgart. Harman died in 1993.
The legendary Soviet pilot, Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub was born on June 8, 1920 in the village of Obrazheevka, Sumy region. In 1939, he mastered the U-2 at the flying club. The following year he entered the Chuguev Military Aviation School of Pilots. Learns to fly UT-2 and I-16 aircraft. As one of the best cadets, he is retained as an instructor. In 1941 after the start of the Great Patriotic War together with the school staff are evacuated to Central Asia. There he asked to join the active army, but only in November 1942 he received a assignment to the front in the 240th Fighter Aviation Regiment, commanded by Major Ignatius Soldatenko, a participant in the war in Spain.
The first combat flight took place on March 26, 1943 on a La-5. He was unsuccessful. During an attack on a pair of Messerschmitt Bf-109s, his Lavochkin was damaged and then fired upon by its own anti-aircraft artillery. Kozhedub was able to bring the car to the airfield, but it was not possible to restore it. He made his next flights on old planes and only a month later received the new La-5.
Kursk Bulge. July 6, 1943. It was then that the 23-year-old pilot opened his combat account. In that fight, having entered into a battle with 12 enemy aircraft as part of the squadron, he won his first victory - he shot down a Ju87 bomber. The next day he wins a new victory. July 9, Ivan Kozhedub destroys two Messerschmitt Bf-109 fighters. In August 1943, the young pilot became squadron commander. By October, he had already completed 146 combat missions, 20 downed aircraft, and was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (awarded on February 4, 1944). In the battles for the Dnieper, the pilots of the regiment in which Kozhedub was fighting met with Goering’s aces from the Mölders squadron and won. Ivan Kozhedub also increased his score.
In May-June 1944, he fights in the received La-5FN for No. 14 (a gift from collective farmer Ivan Konev). First it shoots down a Ju-87. And then over the next six days he destroys another 7 enemy vehicles, including five Fw-190s. The pilot is nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time (awarded on August 19, 1944)...
One day, the aviation of the 3rd Baltic Front was caused a lot of trouble by a group of German pilots led by an ace who scored 130 air victories (of which 30 were deducted from his account for destroying three of his fighters in a fever), his colleagues also had dozens of victories. To counter them, Ivan Kozhedub arrived at the front with a squadron of experienced pilots. The result of the fight was 12:2 in favor of the Soviet aces.
At the end of June, Kozhedub transferred his fighter to another ace - Kirill Evstigneev and transferred to the training regiment. However, in September 1944, the pilot was sent to Poland, to the left wing of the 1st Belorussian Front in the 176th Guards Proskurovsky Red Banner Order of Alexander Nevsky Fighter Aviation Regiment (as its deputy commander) and fought using the “free hunt” method - on the newest Soviet fighter La-7. In a vehicle with number 27, he would fight until the end of the war, and would shoot down another 17 enemy vehicles.
February 19, 1945 Kozhedub destroys an Me 262 jet aircraft over the Oder. He shoots down the sixty-first and sixty-second enemy aircraft (Fw 190) over the capital of Germany on April 17, 1945 in an air battle, which is studied as a classic example in military academies and schools. In August 1945, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the third time. Ivan Kozhedub finished the war with the rank of major. In 1943-1945. he completed 330 combat missions and conducted 120 air battles. The Soviet pilot has not lost a single fight and is the best allied aviation ace. The most successful Soviet pilot, Ivan Kozhedub, was never shot down or wounded during the war, although he had to land a damaged plane.
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Names of Soviet aces of the Great Patriotic War Ivan Kozhedub And Alexandra Pokryshkina known to everyone who is at least superficially familiar with Russian history.
Kozhedub and Pokryshkin are the most successful Soviet fighter pilots. The first has 64 enemy aircraft shot down personally, the second has 59 personal victories, and he shot down 6 more planes in the group.
The name of the third most successful Soviet pilot is known only to aviation enthusiasts. Nikolay Gulaev during the war he destroyed 57 enemy aircraft personally and 4 in a group.
An interesting detail - Kozhedub needed 330 sorties and 120 air battles to achieve his result, Pokryshkin - 650 sorties and 156 air battles. Gulaev achieved his result by carrying out 290 sorties and conducting 69 air battles.
Moreover, according to award documents, in his first 42 air battles he destroyed 42 enemy aircraft, that is, on average, each battle ended for Gulaev with a destroyed enemy aircraft.
Fans of military statistics have calculated that Nikolai Gulaev’s efficiency coefficient, that is, the ratio of air battles to victories, was 0.82. For comparison, for Ivan Kozhedub it was 0.51, and for Hitler’s ace Erich Hartmann, which officially shot down the most aircraft during World War II, was 0.4.
At the same time, people who knew Gulaev and fought with him claimed that he generously recorded many of his victories on his wingmen, helping them receive orders and money - Soviet pilots were paid for each enemy aircraft shot down. Some believe that total number There could have been up to 90 planes shot down by Gulaev, which, however, cannot be confirmed or refuted today.
Heroes of the Soviet Union pilots Alexander Pokryshkin (second from left), Grigory Rechkalov (center) and Nikolai Gulaev (right) on Red Square. Photo: RIA Novosti
Guy from the Don
Many books have been written and many films have been made about Alexander Pokryshkin and Ivan Kozhedub, three times Heroes of the Soviet Union, air marshals.
Nikolai Gulaev, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, was close to the third “Golden Star”, but never received it and did not become a marshal, remaining a colonel general. And in general, if in the post-war years Pokryshkin and Kozhedub were always in the public eye, engaged in the patriotic education of youth, then Gulaev, who was practically in no way inferior to his colleagues, remained in the shadows all the time.
Perhaps the fact is that both war and post-war biography Soviet ace was rich in episodes that do not fit well into the image of an ideal hero.
Nikolai Gulaev was born on February 26, 1918 in the village of Aksai, which has now become the city of Aksai in the Rostov region.
The Don freemen were in the blood and character of Nicholas from the first days until the end of his life. After graduating from a seven-year school and a vocational school, he worked as a mechanic at one of the Rostov factories.
Like many of the youth of the 1930s, Nikolai became interested in aviation and attended a flying club. This hobby helped in 1938, when Gulaev was drafted into the army. An amateur pilot was sent to Stalingradskoe aviation school, from which he graduated in 1940.
Gulaev was assigned to air defense aviation, and in the first months of the war he provided cover for one of the industrial centers in the rear.
Reprimand complete with reward
Gulaev arrived at the front in August 1942 and immediately demonstrated both the talent of a combat pilot and the wayward character of a native of the Don steppes.
Gulaev did not have permission to fly at night, and when on August 3, 1942, Hitler’s planes appeared in the area of responsibility of the regiment where the young pilot served, experienced pilots took to the skies.
But then the mechanic egged Nikolai on:
- What are you waiting for? The plane is ready, fly!
Gulaev, deciding to prove that he was no worse than the “old men,” jumped into the cockpit and took off. And in the very first battle, without experience, without the help of searchlights, he destroyed a German bomber.
When Gulaev returned to the airfield, the arriving general said: “For the fact that I flew out without permission, I am reprimanding, and for the fact that I shot down an enemy plane, I am promoting him in rank and presenting him for a reward.”
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union pilot Nikolai Dmitrievich Gulaev. Photo: RIA Novosti
Nugget
His star shone especially brightly during the battles on the Kursk Bulge. On May 14, 1943, repelling a raid on the Grushka airfield, he single-handedly entered into battle with three Yu-87 bombers, covered by four Me-109s. Having shot down two Junkers, Gulaev tried to attack the third, but ran out of ammunition. Without hesitating for a second, the pilot went to ram, shooting down another bomber. Gulaev’s uncontrollable “Yak” went into a tailspin. The pilot managed to level the plane and land it at the leading edge, but on his own territory. Having arrived at the regiment, Gulaev again flew on a combat mission on another plane.
At the beginning of July 1943, Gulaev, as part of four Soviet fighters, taking advantage of the surprise factor, attacked a German armada of 100 aircraft. Having disrupted the battle formation, shooting down 4 bombers and 2 fighters, all four returned safely to the airfield. On this day, Gulaev’s unit made several combat sorties and destroyed 16 enemy aircraft.
July 1943 was generally extremely productive for Nikolai Gulaev. This is what is recorded in his flight log: “July 5 - 6 combat sorties, 4 victories, July 6 - Focke-Wulf 190 shot down, July 7 - three enemy aircraft shot down as part of a group, July 8 - Me-109 shot down , July 12 - two Yu-87s were shot down.”
Hero of the Soviet Union Fedor Archipenko, who happened to command the squadron where Gulaev served, wrote about him: “He was a genius pilot, one of the top ten aces in the country. He never hesitated, quickly assessed the situation, his sudden and effective attack created panic and destroyed the enemy’s battle formation, which disrupted his targeted bombing of our troops. He was very brave and decisive, often came to the rescue, and sometimes one could feel the real passion of a hunter in him.”
Flying Stenka Razin
On September 28, 1943, the deputy squadron commander of the 27th Fighter Aviation Regiment (205th Fighter Aviation Division, 7th Fighter Aviation Corps, 2nd air force, Voronezh Front) senior lieutenant Nikolai Dmitrievich Gulaev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
At the beginning of 1944, Gulaev was appointed squadron commander. His not very rapid career growth is explained by the fact that the ace’s methods of educating his subordinates were not entirely ordinary. Thus, he cured one of the pilots of his squadron, who was afraid of getting close to the Nazis, from fear of the enemy by firing a burst from his on-board weapon next to the wingman’s cabin. The subordinate’s fear disappeared as if by hand...
The same Fyodor Archipenko, in his memoirs, described another characteristic episode associated with Gulaev: “Approaching the airfield, I immediately saw from the air that the parking lot of Gulaev’s plane was empty... After landing, I was informed that all six of Gulaev had been shot down! Nikolai himself landed wounded at the airfield with the attack aircraft, but nothing is known about the rest of the pilots. After some time, they reported from the front line: two jumped out of planes and landed at the location of our troops, the fate of three more is unknown... And today, many years later, main mistake I see Gulaev’s mistake made then in the fact that he took with him on a combat mission three young pilots who had not been shot at at all, who were shot down in their very first battle. True, Gulaev himself won 4 aerial victories that day, shooting down 2 Me-109, Yu-87 and Henschel.”
He was not afraid to risk himself, but he also risked his subordinates with the same ease, which sometimes seemed completely unjustified. The pilot Gulaev did not look like the “aerial Kutuzov”, but rather like the dashing Stenka Razin, who had mastered a combat fighter.
But at the same time he achieved amazing results. In one of the battles over the Prut River, at the head of six P-39 Airacobra fighters, Nikolai Gulaev attacked 27 enemy bombers, accompanied by 8 fighters. In 4 minutes, 11 enemy vehicles were destroyed, 5 of them by Gulaev personally.
In March 1944, the pilot received a short-term leave home. From this trip to the Don he came withdrawn, taciturn, and bitter. He rushed into battle frantically, with some kind of transcendental rage. During the trip home, Nikolai learned that during the occupation his father was executed by the Nazis...
On July 1, 1944, Guard Captain Nikolai Gulaev was awarded the second star of the Hero of the Soviet Union for 125 combat missions, 42 air battles, in which he shot down 42 enemy aircraft personally and 3 in a group.
And then another episode occurs, which Gulaev openly told his friends about after the war, an episode that perfectly shows his violent nature as a native of the Don.
The pilot learned that he had become a twice Hero of the Soviet Union after his next flight. Fellow soldiers had already gathered at the airfield and said: the award needed to be “washed,” there was alcohol, but there were problems with snacks.
Gulaev recalled that when returning to the airfield, he saw pigs grazing. With the words “there will be a snack,” the ace boards the plane again and a few minutes later lands it near the barns, to the amazement of the pig owner.
As already mentioned, the pilots were paid for downed planes, so Nikolai had no problems with cash. The owner willingly agreed to sell the boar, who was loaded with difficulty into the combat vehicle.
By some miracle, the pilot took off from a very small platform together with the boar, distraught with horror. A combat aircraft is not designed for a well-fed pig to dance inside it. Gulaev had difficulty keeping the plane in the air...
If a catastrophe had happened that day, it would probably have been the most ridiculous case of the death of a twice Hero of the Soviet Union in history.
Thank God, Gulaev made it to the airfield, and the regiment cheerfully celebrated the hero’s award.
Another anecdotal incident is related to the appearance of the Soviet ace. Once in battle he managed to shoot down a reconnaissance plane piloted by a Nazi colonel, holder of four Iron Crosses. The German pilot wanted to meet with the one who managed to interrupt his brilliant career. Apparently, the German was expecting to see a stately handsome man, a “Russian bear” who would not be ashamed to lose... But instead, a young, short, plump captain Gulaev came, who, by the way, in the regiment had a not at all heroic nickname “Kolobok”. The German's disappointment knew no bounds...
Fight with political overtones
In the summer of 1944, the Soviet command decided to recall the best Soviet pilots from the front. The war is coming to a victorious end, and the leadership of the USSR begins to think about the future. Those who distinguished themselves in the Great Patriotic War must graduate from the Air Force Academy in order to then take leadership positions in the Air Force and Air Defense.
Gulaev was also among those summoned to Moscow. He himself was not eager to go to the academy; he asked to remain in the active army, but was refused. On August 12, 1944, Nikolai Gulaev shot down his last Focke-Wulf 190.
There are at least three versions of what happened, which combine two words - “debauchery” and “foreigners”. Let's focus on the one that occurs most often.
According to it, Nikolai Gulaev, already a major by that time, was summoned to Moscow not only to study at the academy, but also to receive the third star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. Considering the pilot’s combat achievements, this version does not seem implausible. Gulaev’s company included other honored aces who were awaiting awards.
The day before the ceremony in the Kremlin, Gulaev went to the restaurant of the Moscow Hotel, where his pilot friends were relaxing. However, the restaurant was crowded, and the administrator said: “Comrade, there is no room for you!”
It was not worth saying such a thing to Gulaev with his explosive character, but then, unfortunately, he also came across Romanian soldiers, who at that moment were also relaxing in the restaurant. Shortly before this, Romania, which had been an ally of Germany since the beginning of the war, went over to the side of the anti-Hitler coalition.
The angry Gulaev said loudly: “Is it that there is no place for the Hero of the Soviet Union, but there is room for enemies?”
The Romanians heard the pilot’s words, and one of them uttered an insulting phrase in Russian towards Gulaev. A second later, the Soviet ace found himself near the Romanian and hit him in the face.
Not even a minute had passed before a fight broke out in the restaurant between the Romanians and Soviet pilots.
When the fighters were separated, it turned out that the pilots had beaten members of the official Romanian military delegation. The scandal reached Stalin himself, who decided to cancel the awarding of the third Hero star.
If we were talking not about the Romanians, but about the British or Americans, most likely, the matter for Gulaev would have ended quite badly. But the leader of all nations did not ruin the life of his ace because of yesterday’s opponents. Gulaev was simply sent to a unit, away from the front, Romanians and any attention in general. But how true this version is is unknown.
General who was friends with Vysotsky
Despite everything, in 1950 Nikolai Gulaev graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy, and five years later from the General Staff Academy.
He commanded the 133rd Aviation Fighter Division, located in Yaroslavl, the 32nd Air Defense Corps in Rzhev, and the 10th Air Defense Army in Arkhangelsk, which covered the northern borders of the Soviet Union.
Nikolai Dmitrievich had a wonderful family, he adored his granddaughter Irochka, was a passionate fisherman, loved to treat guests to personally pickled watermelons...
He also visited pioneer camps, participated in various veteran events, but still there was a feeling that instructions had been given from above, saying modern language, do not promote his person too much.
Actually, there were reasons for this even at a time when Gulaev was already wearing general’s shoulder straps. For example, he could, with his authority, invite him to a performance at the House of Officers in Arkhangelsk Vladimir Vysotsky, ignoring the timid protests of the local party leadership. By the way, there is a version that some of Vysotsky’s songs about pilots were born after his meetings with Nikolai Gulaev.
Norwegian complaint
Colonel General Gulaev retired in 1979. And there is a version that one of the reasons for this was a new conflict with foreigners, but this time not with the Romanians, but with the Norwegians.
Allegedly, General Gulaev organized a hunt for polar bears using helicopters near the border with Norway. Norwegian border guards appealed to the Soviet authorities with a complaint about the general's actions. After this, the general was transferred to a staff position away from Norway, and then sent to a well-deserved rest.
It is impossible to say with certainty that this hunt took place, although such a plot fits very well into the vivid biography of Nikolai Gulaev.
Be that as it may, the resignation had a bad effect on the health of the old pilot, who could not imagine himself without the service to which his whole life was devoted.
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General Nikolai Dmitrievich Gulaev died on September 27, 1985 in Moscow, at the age of 67 years. His final resting place was the Kuntsevo cemetery in the capital.
The Air Force plays one of the key roles during any war. Sometimes a timely sortie of aircraft can change the outcome of a battle. However, the air “machines” themselves will not do anything without competent pilots. Among these pilots there are also those who deserve the title of “ace pilot”, for the large number of destroyed enemy aircraft. Such pilots were in the Luftwaffe of the Third Reich.
1. Erich Hartmann
The most successful fighter pilot of Nazi Germany was Erich Hartmann. He is also recognized as the most successful pilot in the entire world history of aviation. Taking part in battles on the side of Germany, he made 1,404 combat missions, as a result of which he scored 352 victories over the enemy, most of them - 347 - were downed USSR aircraft. Eric won these victories while taking part in 802 battles with the enemy. Hartman shot down the last enemy aircraft on May 8, 1945.
Eric came from a middle-class family with two sons. Younger brother He was also a Luftwaffe pilot. Eric's mother was also interested in aviation, and was among the first women to fly an airplane. The family even had a light plane, but it had to be sold due to lack of money in the family. Soon his mother set up a flight school, where Eric trained. Soon he becomes an instructor in the Hitler Youth.
In 1939 he entered the gymnasium in Korntal, where his sniper abilities were revealed, and at the end of his training he was an excellent fighter pilot. In the fall of 1942, after graduation, he was sent to North Caucasus. Because of the youthfulness appearance received the nickname “Baby” among the pilots. Eric shot down the first enemy plane in November 1942, but the Battle of Kursk was the most effective for him; in September 1943, he had about ninety downed planes.
His victories were often questioned by the Luftwaffe and were rechecked three or four times, and during the flight he was followed by an observer plane. For his numerous victories, Hartmann was awarded the highest orders and medals in Germany. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. After the war he ended up in a Soviet camp, where he had to stay for ten years, after returning he served in the German aviation, and died in 1993.
2. Gerhard Barkhorn
The second place in the number of enemy aircraft shot down belongs to Gerhard Barkhorn. During his combat career, he made more than 1,100 combat missions and destroyed 301 enemy aircraft; he made all of his effective sorties during battles with Soviet Union. Gerhard's flying career began after he joined the Luftwaffe in 1937.
He made his first flight as a fighter pilot in May 1940 while fighting in France. Barkhorn made his first successful flight in the Eastern direction in July 1941. From that moment on, he became the real “master of the sky.” And at the end of 1942, he already had 100 downed planes. After shooting down the 250th plane, Gerhard is awarded the Knight's Cross, later oak leaves and Swords are added to this award. However, he never received the highest award for shooting down three hundred planes - Diamonds to the Knight's Cross, since in the winter of 1945 he was transferred to the Western Front, which happened a couple of days after the downing of the three hundredth plane.
On the Western Front, he led JG 6, but did not make a single effective mission. In April, Barkhorn was transferred to a jet plane; he was soon wounded and captured by Allied forces, but was released in 1946. Soon he entered military service in Germany, where he remained until 1976. Gerhard Berkhorn died in 1983 as a result of a car accident.
3. Gunther Rall
The 52nd fighter squadron, where Hartmann and Barkhorn served, also served as the third-ranked ace pilot, Günter Rall. He flew on the Misserschmitt, with personal number 13. Having completed 621 sorties, Gunther was able to destroy 275 enemy aircraft, most in the Soviet direction and only three on the Western Front. His plane was shot down eight times, and the pilot himself was wounded three times.
Rall entered military service in 1936, and initially he joined an infantry regiment, but soon transferred to the Luftwaffe. He took part in the war from the beginning of the French campaign, and already in May 1940 he shot down the first Curtis -36 fighter; a couple of days later he already had two aircraft to his name. At the beginning of the summer of 1941, he received a transfer to the Eastern Front, and in November 1941, having already had 35 effective sorties to his name, he was seriously wounded. It took nine months to recover from the wound; after leaving the hospital, Rall received a knight's cross for 65 downed aircraft, and two months later the Oak Leaves from the hands of the Fuhrer were added to it for 100 victories.
A year later, in the summer of 1943, Gunther became the commander of the third group, and at the end of the summer he received the Swords to his Knight's Cross for 200 destroyed aircraft. In the spring, Gunther already had 273 aircraft shot down. In April, he was appointed commander of the second group in the air defense of the Third Reich, while in this position Günther shot down two more planes, and in mid-May 1944, while repelling the first mass raid of American fighters on the Reich oil industrial complex, Rall shot down his last plane. During this battle, the ace pilot was seriously injured, as a result of which he was prohibited from flying, so he transferred to the position of head of the fighter pilot school.
After the surrender of Germany, Gunther had to work in industry for some time, and later he entered service in the German aviation. While serving in the Air Force, he took part in the development of the F-104 fighter aircraft. Günter Rall's military career ended in 1975 as a member of the NATO military committee. Rall was the only German ace pilot to survive the 20th century, and died in 2009.
4. Otto Kittel
German fighter pilot Otto Kittel is fourth in the ranking of Luftwaffe aces. He had five hundred and eighty-three combat missions to his name with a total of 267 victories. He went down in the history of the Luftwaffe as a fighter who destroyed greatest number Il-2, ninety-four aircraft in total. Kittel was born in the town of Kronsdorf, and in 1939 he entered the Luftwaffe, where he soon received the rank of non-commissioned officer. For the first time at the controls of a fighter aircraft, he participated in a battle in April 1941 in Yugoslavia, but Otto was plagued by failures, he was unable to shoot down enemy planes, and at the end of May the engine failed during a flight and Otto ejected.
From the first days of the opening of the Eastern Front, he was transferred there by the leadership. And just two days later he shot down his first two SB-2 aircraft. A couple of days later, two more Il-2s were shot down. For his achievements, shooting down 12 aircraft, at the end of 1941 he was nominated for the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class. In 1942 he was already flying as a wingman, and at the end of the year he had more than twenty successful attacks. In February 1943, he received the Golden German Cross for forty aircraft shot down. In March 1943, during an air battle, the engine of his plane failed, and he landed it on the territory of the USSR near Lake Ilmen. To avoid being captured, Kittel walked more than sixty kilometers in the cold and forded a river, but still reached his troops.
In the fall of 1943, he was sent as an instructor to France, he already had 130 downed aircraft, but in 1944 he was returned to the Soviet direction. After his victory count reached 200 in the fall, he was sent on leave while already holding the rank of lieutenant. During his entire service, his plane was shot down by the enemy twice. At the beginning, 1945, in the Baltic states, he was shot down for the third time, the plane fell into a swamp, Kittel did not have time to eject, as he died in the air. For his victories he was awarded the German Golden Cross and the Knight's Cross with Swords and Oak Leaves.
5. Walter Nowotny
The top five German pilots are aces Walter Nowotny. His personal record is 258 aircraft shot down; for this he needed 442 sorties; 255 aircraft were shot down on the Eastern Front. His flying career began on a twin-engine bomber, later he was given control of a four-engine bomber, and shot down his last three aircraft in the Me.262 jet fighter. He is the first pilot in the history of aviation to shoot down 250 enemy aircraft. In his personal collection is the Knight's Cross with Swords, Oak Leaves and Diamonds.
Walter came from a family of employees; in 1939 he volunteered to join the Luftwaffe. Initially, he wanted to be a simple pilot, but he was recommended for training to become a fighter pilot. Between 1939 and 1941 he rose to the rank of major and served as commander of one of the fighter aviation units. Walter's first flights were unsuccessful, for which he even received the playful nickname "Quax", but he opened his personal account with three planes at once, but he himself was shot down, this happened in July 1941.
However, a year later he had fifty planes shot down, and in mid-1943 their number exceeded a hundred. It took Novotny his last hundred kills in just over seventy days, and by October 1944 he had set a record of 250 kills. Nowatny's last flight took place in November 1944. On this day, he received orders to intercept two United States bombers. It is not entirely clear what happened in the sky, so he shot down two enemy planes and reported that his plane was also on fire, the connection was lost, and the plane crashed near the town of Bramsche.
ACES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
The question about ASAH - not about the German gods (although... how to say... :-)), but about the highest class fighter pilots - from the Second World War remains open. Over the past twenty to thirty years, so much custom-made nonsense has been written on this topic (usually “from our side”!) that all the rather boring and monotonous Soviet agitprop on this topic, published in 1961-1985, has been drowned in it. Separating the “wheat from the chaff” there is obviously a pointless exercise, because opponents will cover their ears and, on the one hand, will stubbornly repeat about “the Safkov did not know how to fly planes in the fucking schools of the land lizrulyozz!”, and on the other hand, they will constantly mutter about “the Krauts, the cowards, the Japanese, the fanatics, the rest of them, they couldn’t conquer them at once!” Listening to this is boring and embarrassing. I'm ashamed of the people who fought, you know. In front of everyone. Therefore, in the first part of this article (and the second part, in general, does not belong to me), I will simply present a summary table of the “leading three” for all the main warring countries. Only with numbers. Only with CONFIRMED and VERIFIED figures. So...
|
Quantity shot down enemy aircraft |
|
|
"Allies" |
|
|
USSR |
|
| A.L. Pokryshkin | |
| I.N.Kozhedub | |
| G.A. Rechkalov | |
|
British Empire |
|
|
Great Britain |
|
| D.E.Johnson | |
| V. Wale | |
| J.R.D.Braham | |
|
Australia |
|
| K.R. Caldwell | |
| A.P. Holdsmith | |
| John L. Waddy | |
|
Canada |
|
| G.F.Burling | |
| H.W.McLeod | |
| W.K.Woodworth | |
|
New Zealand |
|
| Colin F. Gray | |
| E.D. Mackey | |
| W. W. Crawford-Campton | |
|
South Africa |
|
| Marmaduke Thomas St. John Pattle | |
| A.G. Mallon | |
| Albert G. Lewis | |
|
Belgium |
|
| Rudolf deHemricourt deGrun | |
| Vic Ortmans | |
| Dumonso deBergandal | |
| Richard Gere Bong | |
| Thomas McQuirey | |
| David McCampbell | |
|
France |
|
| Marcel Albert | |
| Jean E.F. deMaze | |
| Pierre Closterman | |
|
Poland |
|
| Stanislav Skalsky | |
| B.M. Gladysh | |
| Vitold Urbanovich | |
|
Greece |
|
| Vassilios Vassiliades | |
| Ioannis Kellas | |
| Anastassios Bardivilias | |
|
Czechoslovakia |
|
| K.M.Kuttelwascher | |
| Josef Frantisek | |
|
Norway |
|
| Svein Höglund | |
| Helner G.E. Grün-Span | |
|
Denmark |
|
| Kai Birkstead | |
|
China |
|
| Lee Kwei-Tan | |
| Liu Tsui-Kan | |
| Lo Chi | |
|
"Axis" |
|
|
Germany |
|
| Gerhardt Barkhorn | |
| Walter Nowotny | |
| Gunther Rahl | |
|
Finland |
|
| Eino Ilmari Juutilainen | |
| Hans Henrik Wind | |
| Antero Eino Luukanen | |
|
Italy |
|
| Teresio Vittorio Martinolli | |
| Franco Lucchini | |
| Leonardo Ferruli | |
|
Hungary |
|
| Dözhi Szentüdörgyi | |
| Győr Debrodi | |
| Laszlo Molnar | |
|
Romania |
|
| Konstantin Cantacuzino | |
| Alexander Serbanescu | |
| Ion Milu | |
|
Bulgaria |
|
| Iliev Stoyan Stoyanov | |
| Angelov Petar Bochev | |
| Nenov Ivan Bonev | |
|
Croatia |
|
| Mato Dukovac | |
| Tsvitan Galic | |
| Dragutin Ivanich | |
|
Slovakia |
|
| Jan Rezniak | |
| Isidor Kovarik | |
| Jan Herzover | |
|
Spain |
|
| Gonzalo Hevia | |
| Mariano Medina Quadra | |
| Fernando Sanchez-Ariona | |
|
Japan |
|
| Hiroyoshi Nishizawa | |
| Shoiki Sugita | |
| Saburo Sakai | |
Conclusion:
So, based on the above, we can come to the conclusion that ramming, as a form of combat, was characteristic not only of Soviet pilots - ramming was carried out by pilots from almost all countries participating in the battles. ... it must be admitted that the Japanese still surpassed us in the field of "pure Soviet uniform battle." If we evaluate only the effectiveness of the "kamikazes" (operating since October 1944), then at the cost of the lives of more than 5,000 Japanese pilots, about 50 were sunk and about 300 enemy warships were damaged, of which 3 sunk and 40 damaged were aircraft carriers with a huge the number of aircraft on board.
