Mitusov, Alexey Ivanovich

In 1937 he graduated from 8 classes of secondary school. In 1938 he graduated from the school of trade schools in the city of Uzlovaya, Tula region . He worked in factories. He studied at the flying club .

In February 1939 he was drafted into the Red Army by the Dnipropetrovsk military registration and enlistment office in the Ukrainian SSR . He graduated from the Kachin military aviation school named after AF Myasnikov in September 1942. Sent to service as a junior airman of the 161st Reserve Aviation Regiment of the North Caucasus Military District (the regiment was stationed in Armavir ), in December transferred to the 167th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Kharkov Military District . From May to October 1941 he studied at the courses of the commanders of the units at the headquarters of the Air Force of the North Caucasus Military District. From October 1941 - commander of the 352nd Fighter Aviation Regiment . The regiment was part of the Air Force of the Central Asian Military District and was stationed in Tashkent, was armed with outdated by that time fighters I-16 . In November 1943, the regiment, together with the entire flight crew, was transferred to the 11th alternate fighter aviation regiment in the city of Kirovabad and there the P-39 Air Cobra fighter was mastered.

In March 1944, the 352nd Fighter Wing arrived in the army on the front of the Great Patriotic War and fought before the Victory as part of the 273rd Fighter Division of the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps on the 1st Belorussian Front . He fought commander of the link, from October 1944 - deputy commander and navigator of the squadron . Being a fighter regiment in its composition, the entire 352 IAP was used as a reconnaissance regiment. In its ranks, Captain A.I. Mitusov made about 150 combat sorties (including 60 reconnaissance missions), conducted 18 air battles, personally shot down 6 enemy aircraft ^[1] .

He participated in the Belarusian , Vistula-Oder , East-Pomeranian and Berlin offensive operations.

After the war, he continued to serve in the 352nd Fighter Aviation Regiment as part of the 2nd Air Army of the Central Group of Forces in Austria . From May 1945 he commanded a squadron, in May 1946 he was appointed head of the regiment airborne service. In April 1947, the regiment was disbanded, and Mitusov was transferred by the squadron commander to the 65th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment ( 4th Guards Fighter Aviation Division , 16th Air Army , Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany ). From May 1949 - deputy commander of the 705th Guards IAP on the air unit ( 4th Guards Fighter Division , 24th Air Army , GSVG).

In April 1951, he was urgently summoned to Moscow as one of the best pilots in the development of MiG-15bis jet fighters, and there he was included as part of a special group of Aviation Major-General of the Hero of the Soviet Union A. Blagoveshchensky . The group was sent to the People’s Republic of China to participate in the Korean War and received the combat mission to force the newest American F-86 Saber fighter to land. However, this task could not be completed and the group was disbanded. At the end of July 1951, he was appointed assistant commander of the 196th Fighter Aviation Regiment on air combat tactics and air firing ( 324th Fighter Aviation Division , 64th Fighter Aviation Corps ). From May 1951 to February 1952 he took part in hostilities over the territory of the DPRK . He made 105 sorties, conducted about 40 air battles, personally shot down 7 enemy aircraft (all victories over US fighter jets).

For heroism in battles over the DPRK, he was introduced to the rank of Hero of the Soviet Union by the commander of the regiment E. G. Pepeliaev and the commander of the division I. N. Kozhedub . However, in Moscow, the awarding of the title of Hero was denied, two orders of the Red Banner were rewarded for participating in this war.

Participating in two wars, Alexey Mitusov became an ace on piston fighters in the Great Patriotic War and on jet fighters in the Korean War. Apart from him, such an outstanding result was achieved only by a few pilots: Hero of the Soviet Union Stepan Bakhaev , Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Karasev , Hero of the Soviet Union Viktor Kolyadin , Hero of the Soviet Union Grigory Dmitryuk , Stepan Artemchenko , Sergey Vishnyakov , US Air Force fighters George Davis , Vermont Harrison , James Hagerstrom , Francis Gabreski , John Bolt , William Wisner , Harrison Ting . In his two wars he shot down 12 airplanes in person ^[2] .

After returning to the USSR, the 196th IAP was transferred to the Moscow air defense region , and in August of this year, 1952, A.I. Mitusov was appointed deputy commander - pilot-inspector for piloting the regiment, and in November 1952 - regiment commander. From December 1955 - Deputy Commander of the 98th Guards Fighter Aviation Division for flight training. In February 1961, Colonel Mitusov was dismissed.

He lives in the city of Gorky (since 1990 Nizhny Novgorod) . He worked as a test pilot in the Central Clinical Hospital on hydrofoil vessels , tested the EKDs by Rostislav Alekseev . He mastered and tested more than 30 types of aircraft, helicopters and WIG. Had a raid about 9000 hours. In 1988 he retired.

In 2005, all the Heroes of the Soviet Union who lived in the Nizhny Novgorod Region sent a petition for conferring the title Hero of the Russian Federation to A.I. Mitusov, but this application was refused.

• Junior Lieutenant (05/20/1940)
• Lieutenant (11/5/1943)
• Senior Lieutenant (2.07.1944)
• captain (04/07/1945)
• Major (04/30/1949)
• Lieutenant Colonel (12/21/1951)
• Colonel (04/09/1955)

• 6 Orders of the Red Banner (08/06/1944, 01/23/1945, 04/16/1945, 10.10.1951, 09/25/1952, 02.22.1955)
• Order of Alexander Nevsky (03/29/1945)
• Order of the Patriotic War , 2nd degree (11.03.1985)
• Order of the Red Star (04/30/1954)
• Medal "For Military Merit" (06/20/1949)
• other medals of the USSR
• Medal "Sino-Soviet Friendship" ( China )

• Bykov M. Yu. All Aces of Stalin, 1936-1953 .. - Popular science publication. - M .: Yauza-Press LLC, 2014. - p. 794-795. - 1392 s. - (Elite Encyclopedia of the Air Force). - 1500 copies - ISBN 978-5-9955-0712-3 .
• Seidov I. Soviet Aces of the Korean War. - M .: Aviation Assistance Foundation “Russian Knights”, 2010. - P. 151-155. - 451 s. - ISBN 978-5-903389-35-3 .
• Seidov I. "Red Devils" in the sky of Korea. - M .: Yauza, Eksmo, 2007. - P. 704. - ISBN 978-5-699-19160-4 .
• Seidov I. Fighter-reconnaissance. Essay on the history of the 352nd IAP. // Arsenal. 2014. No. 2-3.
• Ivanov A. From the tribe of falcons. On the 90th anniversary of A.I. Mitusov. // "Nizhny Novgorod news". 2011 February 28th.
• V. Gagin. Air War in Korea (1950 - 1953). Voronezh: Polygraph Publishing House, 1997. - 68 p., Ill.
• Abakumov B. Unknown War. In the sky of North Korea. - M .: TOO "Rainbow". 1997

• Biography and photographs of A. I. Mitusov on the website "Soviet Aces".
• Biography A. I. Mitusova on the site "Soviet Aces."
• Test pilot Alexey Mitusov. Interview given in May 2015.
• Rewarding A. I. Mitusova front orders // OBD "Memory of the People"