Soviet aviation was poorly prepared for the start of World War II , but literally in the first months of active hostilities, the skills of pilots improved significantly. Both in defensive and offensive operations of the army, a fighter pilot is an irreplaceable figure. That is why we will talk about the role of Soviet aviation in the victory over Germany.
Ivan Kozhedub - the most productive Soviet pilot during WWII
Ivan Kozhedub was born in 1920. The hero’s place of birth is Obrazhievka village, Sumy region (Ukraine). The Soviet fighter pilot in childhood and did not dream of doing aviation. After graduating from school in 1934, Kozhedub enters the Shostka Chemical-Technological College. By the way, after moving to Shostka, Ivan begins to engage in a local flying club. He was drafted into the army in 1940, just before the start of the war with Nazi Germany. In September 1940, Kozhedub completed his training at the Chuguev Aviation School as part of the army service.
He did not begin to take part in the battles right away, because in July 1941 the school, where he was already working as an instructor at that time, was evacuated to the Kazakh city of Chimkent. Since November 1942 he moved to Ivanovo, where he was included in the forming regiment.
From 1943 to 1945 made 330 sorties, and in 120 cases Kozhedub entered into air combat. Analyzing the statistics of many pilots of the Red Army, we see that such a performance indicator is not present at all. Well, what can we say about the victory rate! In 120 air battles, a fighter pilot shot down 64 enemy aircraft. The effectiveness and success of personal battles three times Hero of the Soviet Union against enemy pilots amounted to more than 50%. For two years of participation in the battles, Kozhedub flew on three models of aircraft (LA-5, LA-5FN, LA-7).
The uniqueness of the history of this pilot lies in the fact that he came to aviation literally a year before the start of the war. In his asset there is not a single victory in the group. This suggests that he was the most powerful individual pilot of the Red Army. WWII fighter pilots, the results of which are close to Kozhedub, all had experience participating in air battles during the Civil War in Spain.
Skomorokhov Nikolay Mikhailovich - one of the records for the number of sorties
Nikolai Mikhailovich - the same age of Ivan Kozhedub. But this is just official. The fact is that he really was born in 1922, but he attributed to himself two years - the practice in those years was widespread. The youth had no other choice, because most families lived poorly and had to go to work at the factory so that the family had an extra penny. Born in the Saratov province (village Lapot).
He graduated from the school in 1935. Then he went along the usual path of the Soviet worker - he graduated from FZU. Then he worked at a plant in Astrakhan. Like Kozhedub, he joined the army in 1940, however, a few months later. He, like many other military fighter pilots, underwent aviation training at the Bataille Aviation School.
Skomorokhov made his first sortie in December 1942. One of the champions in the number of flights began the victorious journey from the airfield of Adler. In terms of performance (the number of enemy aircraft shot down), its performance is worse than that of Kozhdub, but not in every battle the pilot's task is to shoot down enemy units of equipment. And not in every departure the task was to engage in air combat. For example, a fighter pilot could deliver some kind of cargo to a hot spot.
So, we will analyze the statistics of Skomorokhov. During the war years, he made 605 sorties. He took part in 143 battles with the enemy. 24% of flights ended in battles with enemy aircraft. In them, Nikolai Skomorokhov shot down 46 aircraft in person and 8 in a group with other pilots. Total can be considered - 54 victories.
By the way, these are not all planes destroyed by Nikolai Mikhailovich. Yes, not only Soviet aircraft were destroyed without a fight, on the ground. He has three such personal victories.
What do we know about pilot Alexander Clubov?
Not much, but we will try to correct this omission. The fact is that the names of the most successful pilots are heard, but there were many other heroes who made a huge contribution to the victory of the Soviet Union over the Nazi army in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
The deceased in 1944, Clubs Alexander Fedorovich managed to make 457 sorties on the I-153 Chaika and P39N Aerocobra aircraft. His track record includes 95 fights (in almost every fifth flight, a fighter pilot fought with the enemy). He has a lot of victories (31 personal and 19 in the group). You can only imagine how much more this aircraft pilot could have shot down if one of the battles had not been his last.
Mikhail Baranov - one of the heroes of the war
Another Soviet ace died in 1943. We are talking about Baranov Mikhail Dmitrievich. Of its 285 sorties, 85 ended in a combat finale. Agree, good statistics, especially when you consider the number of his victories. This fighter pilot officially recognized 24 personal victories, 28 productive battles in a group with other heroes of the sky. He also managed to destroy 6 enemy aircraft on the ground. His combat vehicle was the Yak-1.
Other heroes
The absolute record for the number of sorties belongs to Yakimenko Anton Dmitrievich. Official Soviet war statistics say that this legendary Red Army pilot flew 1,055 sorties. True, he participated in battles only 95 times. This suggests that he performed some other functions. He shot down 13 enemy aircraft in person and 35 in the group. He has no ground victories.
It is worth paying tribute to the pilots, who absolutely deliberately went to death. For example, Sytov Ivan Grigorievich. In his last aerial battle, a fighter pilot rammed a fascist plane. In total, he has 250 sorties in his track record. Ivan Sytov took part in 100 battles. The percentage of pilot performance is also impressive. In these 100 battles, he shot down 26 enemy aircraft personally and 4 in the group.
Conclusion
WWII fighter pilots made a huge contribution to the cause of the Great Victory over the fascist enemy. Many of them were awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet Union". Unfortunately, also many received this title posthumously. Their names and deeds will forever remain in the memory of our people as an example of inimitable patriotism, heroism.
They deserve such a memory with their exploits!