Koss, Alexander Filippovich

In the Red Army Air Force since 1932. Studied at the 9th school of pilots and observer pilots of the Red Army Air Force from February 1932 to August 1933. After graduating from school, he was sent to Gomel as a pilot to the 8th assault air squadron, which at the end of 1933 was transferred to the Far East. In 1937 he was appointed commander of this squadron. In 1938 he transferred to fighter aircraft. Since May 1938 - squadron commander. In this position, he took part in battles in the area of ​​Lake Hassan , for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Star .

In 1939 he was appointed commissar of the 71st mixed air regiment and, together with the regiment, was transferred to Kamchatka. From the beginning of 1942 to June 1943 - Commissioner of the 128th separate air division in Kamchatka. Then he was transferred to team work and recalled at the disposal of the Air Force of the Far Eastern Front, after which, upon personal request, sent to the front was sent to the disposal of the Air Force Criminal Code in Moscow. In the fall of 1943, he underwent retraining in the 22nd reserve aviation regiment in the city of Ivanovo on an AeroCobra airplane . In February 1944, he was appointed deputy. commander of the 115th fighter aviation regiment. In July 1944, he was appointed commander of the 115th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment .

He participated in the battles of the Great Patriotic War from June 1944 as part of the 3rd Belorussian Front and from September 1944 until the end of the war as part of the 1st Ukrainian Front . Under his leadership, the regiment participated in operations:

• Vitebsk-Orsha operation - from June 22, 1944 to June 28, 1944
• Belarusian offensive operation - from July 6, 1944 to August 29, 1944
• Sandomierz-Silesian operation - from January 12, 1945 to February 3, 1945
• Lower Silesian offensive operation - from February 8, 1945 to February 24, 1945
• Berlin offensive operation - from April 16, 1945 to May 8, 1945
• Prague operation - from May 5, 1945 to May 12, 1945.

A.F. Koss made 92 sorties, in 17 air battles he personally shot down 7 enemy aircraft and 2 aircraft in the group. ^[one]

The 115th Guards Fighter Regiment was instructed to fly in Berlin on May 1, 1945 and drop the Red Banner with the inscription "Victory" on behalf of the airmen over the Reichstag building. The same honorable mission was assigned to the 1st Guards Fighter Regiment (memoirs of Air Marshal Krasovsky S. A. ^[2] and General Vorozheykin A. V. ^[3] ).

From the memoirs of A.F. Koss:

On April 29, 1945, the regiment’s headquarters received an order: “Prepare a regiment for the parade formation on May 1, 1945 over Berlin and drop the red banner with the inscription“ Victory! ”On the Reichstag building. Departure at 12.00 ".

We prepared for this event with special care. I wanted to honorably justify the trust placed in us.

A six-meter silk panel on which our artist, he is also the navigator of the regiment, Stepan Tikhonov wrote the long-awaited big word "Victory" in huge gold letters, laid under the landing flaps of the plane of the Hero of the Soviet Union K. Novoselov.

May 1, 1945. 12 hours. We leave for the last flight to Berlin. As part of 24 Yak-3 aircraft at an altitude of 800 meters, we are approaching the center of Berlin in dense formation. The group includes pilots seconded to the regiment, twice Hero of the Soviet Union A. Vorozheikin , Heroes of the Soviet Union A. Peskov, A. Tkachenko, K. Treschev, I. Laveikin , P. Poloz. Here are the pilots of the Soviet Lithuania squadron and others. The sun is above us. Below, through the smoke of undamped fires, the gloomy outlines of the imperial office of the fascist lair - the Reichstag - are visible. With the expectation of a headwind for another moment, I give the command: "Lower the banner of Victory to the Reichstag." My right winged Hero of the Soviet Union, Kuzma Novoselov, opens the flaps of the plane, and the scarlet flag with the inscription "Victory!" Gradually descends to the Reichstag. From a ground observation post broadcasted on the radio: "The red flag gradually descended on the Reichstag." The headset earphones enthusiastic cheers “Hurray”, “Long live the Victory!” It is the pilots who express their enthusiasm in honor of the Victory.

At 21:00 on May 1, 1945, an operational summary of the division was compiled for No. 121, its lines as the last pages of the annals of the war: “ 24 Yak-3 — the leading guard Lieutenant Colonel Koss — flew out to cover the ground troops in the area of ​​Berlin while dropping the flag with the inscription "Victory". The flag was dropped from a height of 800 meters on the Reichstag building. A terrestrial radio station confirmed the flag's fall in the area. The task is completed. There were no meetings with enemy aircraft ... "

He took part in the historical Victory Parade in Moscow on Red Square on June 24, 1945 as part of the 5th battalion of the combined regiment of the 1st Ukrainian Front .

At the end of the war, he served as commander of the 115th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Central Asia.

In 1950-1951, he attended the courses of the Air Force Academy, now named after Yu. A. Gagarin (Monino city) . 1952-1955 - deputy, then commander of a fighter air division in the GDR. In 1955, Mr .. elected to the Supreme Council of the RSFSR 4th convocation. In 1955 he was awarded the military rank of Major General of Aviation . In 1955-1956, he studied at the Academy of the General Staff . 1956-1959 - service in the apparatus of the Air Force Commander-in-Chief. 1959-1962 - Head of the Central Aero Club of the USSR named after V.P. Chkalov . From 1962 until his death in 1990, he was chairman of the USSR Airplane Federation.

On his initiative, in 1967, the USSR began to host national championships in jet aircraft with the participation of air force pilots, air defense aircraft and the USSR DOSAAF .

From 1976-1979, he was elected President of the FAI International Aerobatics Commission. Then - the Honorary President of this commission.

• 4 orders of the Battle Red Banner ,
• Order of the Patriotic War , 1st degree,
• Order of Suvorov 3rd degree,
• 3 orders of the Red Star
• “For Military Merit”
• “For the capture of Berlin” ,
• “For the Liberation of Prague” ,
• Medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" (awarded on June 16, 1945, among all participants in the Victory Parade )
• other medals

A total of 23 government awards.

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  Pilot's certificate to Gagarin Yu.A. on assignment of the rank of pilot-cosmonaut on behalf of the International Aviation Federation, signed by Koss Alexander Filippovich

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  Meeting Gagarin with students of Moscow State University, from left to right: Koss A.F., Gagarin Yu.A., rector of Moscow State University I. Petrovsky

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  Koss Alexander Filippovich

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  115th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment

• Vasily Vakhlamov - The History of Some Named Aircraft , Red Falcons Website, 2014
• Mikhail Bykov - All Ases of Stalin
• AviaForum
• Military Historical Forum
• World War II Aviation
• Aviation History and World War I Club
• A. F. Koss on the site "Soviet aces"