Smirnov, Boris Alexandrovich (pilot)

Born October 18, 1910 in Samara in the family of an employee. He graduated from 7 classes. He worked as a loader in the port, a worker at a sawmill in Samara. He studied at the flying club .

In the Red Army since December 1930. He graduated in 1933 from the 7th military school of pilots named after the Mtalingrad Red Banner Proletariat in Stalingrad . Since December 1933, he served as a junior pilot of the fighter aviation brigade of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District in Lyubertsy , in the 116th fighter squadron: senior pilot, flight commander , assistant detachment commander.

From 06/14/1937 to 01/17/1938 under the pseudonym "Manuel Lopez Gorey" participated as a volunteer pilot and commander of the squadron in the Spanish Civil War . Flown 200 hours, personally shot down 2 aircraft and 1 in the group ^[1] .

After returning to the USSR in May 1938, he was appointed assistant commander of the 116th Fighter Regiment of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District, and from June 1938 he was appointed senior inspector of the Main Flight Inspection of the Red Army Air Force . He took part in air parades over Red Square .

From May 29 to September 7, 1939 he participated in battles on the Khalkhin-Gol River . He was sent to the battlefield as part of a special group of the most trained pilots under the command of commander Y. V. Smushkevich . He completed 70 sorties, spent 9 air battles and personally shot down 4 aircraft. ^[2] For these battles, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded.

After returning from Mongolia in September 1939 he was sent to the Air Force task force at the headquarters of the 12th Army of the Kiev Military District , participated in a campaign of the Red Army in Western Ukraine . After its completion, he continued to serve in the Main Flight Inspectorate, and since October 1940, he was an inspector for the piloting technique of the Air Force Directorate of the Red Army. In this position he met the beginning of the war. In August 1942, he was appointed deputy head of the Formation and Combat Training Directorate of the Red Army Air Force.

He fought on the fronts of World War II from February 1943, when he was appointed commander of the 288th Fighter Aviation Division of the 1st Mixed Aviation Corps . The division fought in the 17th Air Army on the South-West and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts. At the head of the division he participated in the Battle of Kursk , Izyum-Barvenkovskaya , Donbass offensive operations, in the battle for the Dnieper , in Nikopol-Krivorozh , Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya , Odessa , Iasi-Chisinau , Belgrade , Budapest , Balaton defensive and Vienna offensive . During the war, 19 times awarded the gratitude of the Supreme Commander ^[3] . For differences in battles, the division was twice awarded an honorary name and it was called "Pavlogradsko-Vienna", and the division was awarded the Orders of the Red Banner and Suvorov .

After the victory, he continued to command the division (became part of the Southern Group of Forces ). Since February 1946 - Senior Assistant Inspector General of the Red Army Air Force for Fighter Aviation. Since May 1946, retired due to illness (he suffered from tuberculosis ).

He lived in Moscow. He was engaged in literary activities, conducted great public work, and for many years was a member of the editorial board of the magazine “ Wings of the Motherland ”. He died on May 17, 1984. He was buried in Moscow at the Kuntsevsky cemetery (plot 9–2).

• Gold Star medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union (medal No. 193, 11/17/1939);
• two orders of Lenin (2.03.1938; 11.17.1939);
• three orders of the Red Banner (10.28.1937; 08.29.1939; 04.19.1945);
• Order of Suvorov 2nd degree (04/28/1945);
• Kutuzov Order of the 2nd degree (09/13/1944);
• Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 2nd degree (03/19/1944);
• Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree (09.17.1943);
• Order of the Red Star (11/6/1945);
• USSR medals;

foreign awards

• Order of the Red Banner ( Mongolia , 08/18/1939);
• Order of Courage ( Bulgaria
• 2nd Partisan Star Order ( Yugoslavia )
• Order of Tudor Vladimirirescu 2nd degree ( Romania )

• Smirnov B. A. The sky of my youth. - M., 1990.
• Smirnov B.A. Spanish wind. - M., 1963.
• Smirnov B.A. From Madrid to Khalkhin Gol, 2nd ed. - Kuibyshev, 1976.
• Smirnov B. Mongolia. 1939 // Wings of the Motherland . - M :: DOSAAF, 1969. - No. 8 . - S. 16-18 .

• Abrosov S.V. In the sky of Spain. 1936-1939 years. - M., 2003.
• Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary / Prev. ed. collegium I. N. Shkadov . - M .: Military Publishing , 1988. - T. 2 / Love - Yashchuk /. - 863 s. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN 5-203-00536-2 .
• Team of authors . World War II: Divisional Commanders. Military Biographical Dictionary / V.P. Goremykin. - M .: Kuchkovo field, 2014 .-- T. 2 .-- S. 823-824. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9950-0341-0 .
• Kuznetsov I.I., Joga I.M. The first Heroes of the Soviet Union (1936-1939). - Irkutsk: 1983.
• Rumyantsev N.M. Heroes of Khalkhin-Gol. - M .: Military Publishing, 1989.

• Smirnov, Boris Alexandrovich (pilot) (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".