Balebin, Vasily Alekseevich

Born on February 15 (28), 1908 in the village of Pavlovsk-Luzhetsk, and now the village of Pavlovskoye in the Istra district of the Moscow region , in a peasant family. Russian Member of the CPSU (b) since 1932. In 1923 he graduated from the seven-year plan, went to work.

By special forces, he was drafted into the Red Army , in 1933 he was sent to the Yeysk school of pilots of the Navy named after Stalin, after which he served in the Baltic. Member of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. For military distinction received the Order of the Red Banner.

Member of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. From the first days, as part of the 1st mine torpedo regiment , and then the 1st guards mine torpedo regiment, it bombed advancing tank and mechanized units of the Nazis, bombed railway junctions, and seaports. On July 16, Balebin led a six DB-3 to bomb the station Dno . Having completed the task, he ordered the deputy to lead the group home, and he flew to explore roads. This was provided for in the flight plan. Six Me-109 attacked Balebin’s plane, two of them managed to bring down the crew. But both the shooter and the navigator died, the damaged plane did not listen well to the rudders, caught fire. Then the pilot left the car by parachute over the territory occupied by the enemy. The partisans were brought to the front line and only a month later returned to their regiment.

In the summer of 1942, he opened an account for the sunken ships of the enemy. A few lines from the award documents speak of the courage and skill of the pilot:

July 10, 1942. Torpedoed enemy vehicles with a displacement of 3,000 tons. July 11, 1942. Sank a patrol ship with a displacement of 400 tons. July 12, 1942 .. A patrol ship was sunk as part of a link by a leading Balebin bombardment. July 15, 1942. Transport with a displacement of 5000 tons was sunk .... "Soon the name of Balebin became one of the best torpedo bombers of the Navy.

By November 1942, the captain Balebin made 90 sorties, sunk 2 vehicles, a gunboat, 3 patrol ships, a destroyer and shot down 2 enemy planes. He was presented for conferring the title Hero of the Soviet Union. At the end of 1942, he took command of the squadron instead of I. I. Borzov, who had left for promotion.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of February 22, 1943, for the exemplary performance of command assignments and for the courage and heroism shown in battles with the Nazi invaders of the guard, Captain Vasily Alekseevich Balebin was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 867) )

It was the only high rank in the regiment in 1943. Combat sorties continued. By the summer of 1943, Balebin won 8 officially victories and another 7, which could not be verified with a camera, were not included in the combat asset of the pilot. Of the eight victories confirmed by photographs, three were won by Balebin with navigator Boris Chernykh, three with Nikolai Komarov, one each with Zadorozhny and Afanasyev.

In July 1943, Captain Balebin was transferred to the 65th Special Purpose Aviation Regiment of the Navy, performing missions in the interests of the command of the Navy . In total, during the years of the war, he made 139 sorties. At the very end of the war, Major Balebin was seriously wounded in the head in an aerial battle. The plane landed in an unconscious state. Woke up only in the hospital after the operation, when the enemy bullet was removed. I could no longer fly.

In 1945 he graduated from the Higher Officer Courses of the Air Force of the Navy at the Naval Academy. K.E. Voroshilova. In 1948, Major Balebin was dismissed for health reasons. Despite this, he was a company commander at the Leningrad Higher Naval College, worked at a research institute. Then he moved to the city of Moscow . He died on December 23, 1979.

• Wife Balebina Lidia Fedorovna (03/15/1914 - 10/08/2001)
• Daughter Balebina Ekaterina Vasilievna (12/29/1933 - 06/20/2002);
• Son-in-law Rusov Lev Aleksandrovich (01/31/1926 - 02/20/1987);
• Grandson Andrei Lvov Rusov (born 1960).

• Gold Star Medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union (No. 867)
• The order of Lenin
• Three Orders of the Red Banner
• Order of the Red Star
• Medals, including:
  • Medal for Military Merit
  • Medal "For the Defense of Leningrad"
  • Medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
  • Anniversary medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
  • Anniversary medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."

• He was buried at the Lianozovsky cemetery in Moscow .
• In the urban-type settlement Amber of the Kaliningrad region there is a street named after him.

• Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary / Prev. ed. collegium I. N. Shkadov . - M .: Military Publishing , 1987.- T. 1 / Abaev - Lyubichev /. - 911 p. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN comp., Reg. RCP No. 87-95382.

• Balebin, Vasily Alekseevich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ". (Retrieved October 30, 2011)