Vasily Aleksandrovich Zaitsev ( December 28, 1910 ( January 10, 1911 ) , the village of Semibratskoye , Kolomensk district of Moscow province - May 19, 1961 , Kolomna , Moscow region ) - pilot ace , Colonel Guard , twice Hero of the Soviet Union .
| Vasily Aleksandrovich Zaitsev | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The commander of the 5th Guards. Iap V.A. Zaitsev. May 1942 | |||||||||||||||
| Date of Birth | December 28, 1910 ( January 10, 1911 ) | ||||||||||||||
| Place of Birth | Moscow province village Semibratskoe Kolomensky district | ||||||||||||||
| Date of death | May 19, 1961 (aged 50) | ||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Kolomna Moscow region | ||||||||||||||
| Affiliation |  the USSR | ||||||||||||||
| Type of army |  Air Force | ||||||||||||||
| Years of service | 1932 - 1946 | ||||||||||||||
| Rank | Guard  | ||||||||||||||
| Part | 5th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment 11th Guards Fighter Aviation Division | ||||||||||||||
| Position | navigator of the 5th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, Deputy Commander of the 11th Guards Fighter Avidivisia | ||||||||||||||
| Battles / wars | The Great Patriotic War | ||||||||||||||
| Awards and prizes |
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Biography
In 1927 he received the specialty of a moulder-foundry, having graduated from the school of FZU (now SPTU No. 6 of the Moscow regional department of vocational education).
In the Soviet Army since 1932 . He graduated from the Lugansk Military Aviation Pilot School in 1933 and advanced training courses for flight commanders in Borisoglebsk in 1936 .
The period of the Great Patriotic War
During World War II, he commanded an air squadron, was a navigator and deputy commander of a fighter aviation regiment, in 1942-1944 he was the commander of the most productive enemy in the number of downed aircraft of the 5th guards fighter aviation regiment of the 207th fighter aviation division of the 2nd Air Army , and in 1944 —1945 deputy commander of the 11th Guards Air Division of the 3rd mixed air corps of the 17th Air Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. He fought on the Western , Kalinin , Don , South-West , 1 , 2 and 3 Ukrainian fronts . It was a pilot - an ace with a capital letter, a master of combat at short distances, which he taught his subordinates. The regiment under his command had the largest number of pilots who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A “singing squadron” was born in his regiment, which was the prototype in Leonid Bykov’s film “Only Old Men Go into Battle ”. For the entire period of the Great Patriotic War has never been hit.
For 115 successful sorties and participation in 16 air battles, in which he personally shot down 12 enemy aircraft, he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Subsequently, for 299 sorties, in which he destroyed 22 aircraft, he was awarded the second Gold Star medal . In total, he made 427 sorties, in 163 air battles he shot down 34 enemy planes personally, 19 in a group battle [1] . However, according to M. Yu. Bykov, only 24 personal victories of the ace are documented [2]
Dozens of publications about the Hero also indicate that V. A. Zaitsev also forced two German fascist fighters to land at his airfield, but this information was born out of a post-war mistake and does not correspond to reality [3] .
Post-war period
In the post-war period - deputy commander of the Guards air force.
On October 2, 1945, in the Czechoslovak city of Brno, he had a serious accident , in connection with which he received a disability and on August 30, 1946 was commissioned from the army for health reasons. He returned to his hometown of Kolomna , where he achieved the restoration of an aero club closed (in connection with the beginning of the Second World War) (Kolomensky Aero Club named after M.V. Vodopyanov, 1934-2004) and became its head, then worked as the director of the Kolomensky Tire Repair Plant . [four]
Vasily Alexandrovich Zaitsev died on May 19, 1961. He was buried with military honors in the Old Cemetery of Kolomna.
Rewards
He was awarded the Order of Lenin , 3 orders of the Red Banner , orders of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 2nd degree , World War 1 degree, medals.
See also
- List of aces pilots of World War II .
Notes
- ↑ The most widely spread information is indicated in the “Soviet Military Encyclopedia”, in the encyclopedia “The Great Patriotic War”, etc.
- ↑ M. Yu. Bykov. All Asa of Stalin 1936-1953 .. - Popular science publication. - M .: Yauza-press LLC, 2014. - P. 418. - 1392 p. - (Elite Air Force Encyclopedia). - 1,500 copies - ISBN 978-5-9955-0712-3 .
- ↑ Kuzovkin A. I. Do not harm the hero with fiction. // "Military historical archive." 2001. No. 6 (21). - S. 106-112. According to the documents and memoirs of the participants in the events published in this article, the reality was this: one enemy plane landed on a compelled plane in our territory, the second serviceable one followed him to help his partner, but the landing gear broke during landing. Locals, seeing this situation, captured grief - the poor fellow prisoner of war and reported to the nearest airfield, on which V.A. Zaitsev's regiment was based. Zaitsev and another pilot of the regiment arrived at these aircraft, made minor repairs on the spot, took to the air, drove to their airfield and there later and handed them over to test pilots, who then surpassed them as intended. In the documents there was an entry “delivered 2 German planes to his airfield”, which in later articles was transformed into “forced 2 German planes to land on his airfield”.
- ↑ Kuzovkin A. I. Do not harm the hero with fiction // Military History Archive magazine. - No. 6 (21), 2001. - S. 106-112 .
Links
- Zaitsev, Vasily Alexandrovich . Site " Heroes of the country ".
- V. A. Zaitsev on the site "Soviet aces."