Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin: biography. How many planes did Pokryshkin shoot down?

In 2018, the celebrated fighter pilot will be one hundred and five years old, who became the first Hero of the Soviet Union in the history of our country. It's time to look carefully at the long-past events, to verify the facts with new, recently appeared information and try to find the answer to the question: "In reality, how many planes did Pokryshkin knock down?" Marshal of aviation and was very famous during his lifetime, and in our days interest to the famous pilot did not become less. Historians are searching for old documents in the archives to find out how many planes Pokryshkin actually shot down. The data in many of the references is quite divergent.

Biography

Pokryshkin Alexander Ivanovich the country will never forget, because it is such great personalities who drive the wheel of its history. He was born in a working family, his native city was Novosibirsk (then Novonikolaevsk). Having graduated from seven classes of the school, I decided to follow in the footsteps of my father and found a job at the plant "Sibcombeinstroy" (still a leading company, though otherwise called) as a simple toolmaker. There he also studied this specialty for two years in the factory apprenticeship school. Since Pokryshkin's biography began in February 1913, he did not remember the tsarist time, he was completely a man of a new formation - persistent and talented in labor and study, like practically all young people of the first decades of the Soviet country. In 1932, Alexander Pokryshkin "fell ill with the sky," whose biography from that moment became wholly and entirely connected with aviation. He entered the Third Military School of Aircraft Engineers. Almost all young men and a lot of girls of those years dreamed of becoming pilots, and many did it, because the state did everything to develop aviation.

Pokryshkin Alexander Ivanovich graduated this school perfectly and was sent to Leningrad for improvement courses, and at the end of 1934 he had already been sent to the glorious Tamanskaya Rifle Division - the senior aircraft technician of the link. She was stationed in Krasnodar, where she served a young technician for four years, constantly dreaming about the profession of a pilot. Pokryshkin Alexander Ivanovich did not just dream, he - as he could - acted. Almost forty reports he wrote to the authorities asking him to send him to the flight school, but he was an excellent specialist, and the authorities did not want to lose this technique. Pokryshkin Alexander Ivanovich received refusal for refusal, but perseveringly independently studied the history of flights, mathematics, physics, military history, descriptive geometry, even physiology. And then I found another way.

Pilot!

In September 1938, Alexander Pokryshkin took another vacation, but did not go on vacation. He came to the Krasnodar Aeroclub and passed the whole two-year program for seventeen days perfectly. And then he wrote a fortieth report, to which he attached a certificate of graduation. The authorities had to surrender, and in November of the following year he graduated cum laude from the Kachin Military Aviation School. Now he became a pilot, and it will soon be possible to calculate how many enemy planes Pokryshkin shot down. At the beginning of the winter of 1939, he was already a pilot of the Fifty-fifth Fighter Aviation Regiment in Odessa. Two months before the outbreak of the war, Pokryshkin was one of the first to master the MiG-3, re-equipping it with an I-15 biplane. In 1941, he was already a senior lieutenant and deputy commander of the squadron. Of course, the front got from the first hours of the war. Until the fall of 1942, he flew on the Yak-1, I-16, MiG-3, and in 1943 tried to fly on the American Aerokobre (R-39) and very distinguished himself in the battles in the Kuban.

By this time it was already possible to say how many planes Pokryshkin knocked down. By May 1943, he had 354 sorties, 54 air battles, 19 downed enemy vehicles, for which he was awarded the title of Hero, awarded the Order of Lenin and the Golden Star. And in August of the same year he earned the second Golden Star. How many planes did Pokryshkin knock down in such a short time? Thirty! Personally! And that is not all. This 1943 military hardest year brought him and the third such a reward. Five hundred and fifty departures, one hundred and thirty-seven air battles, fifty downed enemies! Many glorious heroes were born in our long-suffering land, but Alexander Pokryshkin is a hero thrice! And the very first! Since May 1944, he commanded the Ninth Guards Fighter Aviation Division until the very end of the war, which he finished in the rank of colonel. On the Victory Day parade in June 1945, the pilot Pokryshkin carried the banner of the front.

What happened next

Immediately after the war, he studied at the Frunze Military Academy, which he graduated in 1948, and continued his studies at the Military Academy of the General Staff. Then a little less than twenty-five years he was in the most important positions in the air defense forces of the country. In 1953, he became a general, and in 1972 - a marshal of aviation, then headed the DOSAAF of the Soviet Union. In the Novosibirsk region was elected a deputy eight consecutive convocations, was a member of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces. And he also wrote fascinating books that read Soviet youth. Special love enjoyed "Wings of a fighter," Know yourself in battle, "" The sky of war. "

The motherland of the merit of an exceptionally talented pilot valued on merit. In addition to the three Golden Stars of the Hero, Pokryshkin has seventeen orders and many medals received during the war. Of these nineteen awards came to the hero from other countries - Asia, Africa, Europe. Even the US awarded such a successful pilot with his gold medal "For Military Merit", which he was awarded on behalf of President Roosevelt. In 1993, one of the minor planets became known as Pokryshkin, and in 1995 the Pokryshkin Museum was opened in Novosibirsk. In 2000, the Novosibirsk metro received the station "Pokryshkinskaya", and in 2005, there, in the square of Karl Marx, was installed a monument to the famous pilot. The monument to Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin is in Krasnodar. In Russia and Ukraine, very many streets are named after the hero. In honor of the Marshal of Aviation and the Countryman, the Novosibirsk Region established the Pokryshkin Medal, which encourages particularly distinguished people who have made a special contribution to military-patriotic education, to maintaining the combat readiness of our country, to perpetuate the memory of Siberians who died in the Great Patriotic War and subsequent wars.

Personal qualities

During the war, no one else became a thrice hero, and only seven of our pilots managed to shoot down almost as many as Pokryshkin shot down. Both Kozhedub and Zhukov became heroes three times after the Victory. In 1944, the US president named Alexander Pokryshkin the best air ace. But not only because of the effectiveness. Results did not appear on their own. Pokryshkin invented and developed a completely different tactics of conducting air combat. Moreover, he tried and implemented it, risking not only his own life, but even a good name. How Pokryshkin Alexander Ivanovich introduced his theory into combat practice, how many shot down the planes demonstratively - to show off, to believe him, to understand the importance of the new theory, there will be a separate story.

Person Pokryshkin was not just purposeful, always striving for the goal. He was very flexible, he was able to prove his case, coming not from one side to the problem, so on the other and with the third. In addition, the sense of justice in him was exacerbated so much that he could easily put everything else on the map for her. There was such a case, described in the memoirs of Vasily Sevastyanov, Pokryshkin's colleague. An alarming thirty-seventh year, waves of arrests of the enemies of the people are taking place. By the time of the airplane, where Pokryshkin worked as an aircraft technician, the repressions also failed. Seeing the wife of the arrested pilot being evicted with the kids straight into the street in the pouring rain, Pokryshkin stopped, while the others, with lowered eyes, ran past. When he heard what was happening, he asked Vasili to shelter him, and gave his room to this family. Even after warning about the consequences of helping the relatives of the enemy of the people, he did not change his decision, he said that he was not afraid of anything, except for children crying from grief. This was the life principle, and Pokryshkin followed him always, for the rest of his life. He also had his own children. With the wife Maria they met in 1942 - at the front. The son of Alexander and daughter Svetlana had someone to equal.

Tactics

In the first days of the war, after several battles, Alexander Pokryshkin realized that our aviation lags behind not only technically, but also tactically. The pilot was a genius, and therefore came to the conclusion that we need new methods of combat, which will help overcome this imbalance. And immediately began to come up with new flying techniques, started a notebook in which he developed a new fighter tactics in battle. It quickly filled with graphs, diagrams, notes. Moreover, Alexander Pokryshkin himself checked his ideas, before he finished the survey, briefly described the search for solutions, denoted mistakes, emphasized good luck. All this very often disagreed with the instructions that were worked out for the use of the air force.

The effectiveness of the battle authorities could not convince. Therefore, for the first couple of dozens of defeated enemies, Pokryshkin received no praise, and a haggle for conducting the battle is not according to the rules. But the pilot could not retreat from his research. The strange thing is: the more the stars appeared on the fuselage for the downed enemy vehicles, the strained relations with the command became more intense. And, finally, in 1942, the best air ace was expelled from the party, put in a guardhouse and was sent to the tribunal for violating the instructions for conducting the battle. Lucky - came a much higher-standing bosses and asked to show new tactics in battle. Pokryshkin was released to show his own flight signature. And Pokryshkin's plane showed everything that he can. The authorities were delighted. However, they asked the instructions not to violate any more. How is this possible for a real genius? A true genius never abandons his own.

Kuban

The fighting was fierce in the Kuban, the pilots did not have time to sleep. The commander - the legendary Konstantin Andreevich Vershinin - saw the pilot Pokryshkin in the case: right before his eyes the air ace knocked down four aircraft after one another. Vershinin immediately awarded Alexander Pokryshkin the Order of the Red Banner and ordered him to submit to the title of Hero. In May 1943, a meeting was held of the commanders of the aviation of the Southern Front, where the commander summoned Pokryshkin. Alexander Ivanovich kept silent and was not embarrassed there. He himself asked for the words and sharply said that all the old instructions to the pilots and all instructions are no longer useful, but harmful, they require replacement, if only because our pilots die too often because of them.

But he immediately said that there was a new technique, and briefly outlined his own tactics, developed and repeatedly tested. The generals and colonels sitting in the hall were amazed: Pokryshkin had somehow accumulated an incredible self-confidence, or exceptional bravery. Probably, if the bomb exploded in this room, it would not be so surprising. Next word took and summed up Vershinin himself. First, he admitted that there are really many failures and shortcomings in our fighting organization, and Pokryshkin is a hundred times right. Then an order was sent from him to all present: the Tires should be immediately taken over, and the army headquarters should immediately prepare a directive for all troops, including the General Staff, that the current regulations should be changed. This was Pokryshkin's star time! The new tactics of the battle really proved its effectiveness in the military operations in the Kuban. And the practice has worked out quite quickly.

How Pokryshkin fought

He took on himself the most dangerous, the most difficult: to bring down the commander of the group, to identify the most skillful and aggressive pilots. All the leading Pokryshkin took over. The German aces had the same system: the squadron is led by the most experienced, and always - the commander. And what is the leader's attack? The attacker focuses all the fire that is, all the guns and all the machine guns of the flying bombers are trying to protect their leader, and all the escort fighters are swarming around. Estimated: at the time of attack, the attacking fighter must avoid every second to 1,500 shells and bullets. The commander of a group of fighters is even more difficult to attack. Still, in the skies the Germans were able to fight better than all until our people learned.

And Pokryshkin taught - skillfully and persistently. All his subordinates comprehended innovations and mastered them in battle with gratitude. Firstly, because they remained alive, and secondly, because they became the same aces. The Guards Aviation Regiment, where Pokryshkin served, was famous for its students: the thirty Heroes of the Soviet Union made this glory. Pokryshkin increased his personal account of downed planes not at the expense of his own subordinates, he needed them alive. He said that together they are much more nuts. Many times he at the last moment threw that goal, which was already on the sight, which he had already brought out and prepared, but everything in order to rush to the rescue of the pilot of his squadron. Much greater credit for Pokryshkin is that none of his followers were killed in any of the fights. Even enemies shot down by them are not worth that much. Without his students, without friends, he could not imagine life.

Modesty

After the presentation of the third Golden Star, Pokryshkin was recognized by the whole country. In all the largest newspapers of the world there were his portraits. At the same time he received under his command a division and trained 1108 order bearers, including almost sixty Heroes of the Soviet Union. In total, all the pilots of the division shot down more than a thousand enemy aircraft. From all fronts went to Pokryshkin for experience.

And yet Pokryshkin Alexander Ivanovich how many planes were shot down? Officially - fifty-nine. Editor of his memoirs "Know yourself in battle" Yevgeny Podolsky tried to find out more precisely this figure, as many knowledgeable people said that she was greatly understated. Pokryshkin spread his hands and said that it is not so important, more importantly, that the entire division was shot down by 1,147 German aces.

Notebooks of the pilot

And five years later, when the genius pilot was no longer alive, her widow, Maria Kuzminichna, opened the personal archive of Alexander Pokryshkin. These are his diaries, letters, and most importantly - notebooks that have survived since wartime, where with the statutory accuracy scrupulously recorded everything about downed planes - the type, location and all the circumstances under which it happened. And only what was recorded was officially recorded by ground troops. But Pokryshkin fought not only as a fighter, but also served as a scout. He often met the enemy alone over the Black Sea, therefore, no one could document the death of the enemy. In addition, Alexander Pokryshkin understood the excitement of young pilots for the outcome of combat missions, their experiences about the lack of experience, because of what they do not fall on enemy vehicles, so often convinced the guys that the downed fascist aircraft - on their account.

The whole of 1941 and almost all of 1942, when our army retreated, and at first in absolute disorder, what could be the evidence? Not before them. There was even a case when a part, leaving the encirclement with fights, could not save the staff documents, their full machine was burned-and flight books, including where Pokryshkin had recorded fifteen planes knocked down to them personally.

And they are listed only in the notebook, which we saw after the death of the Air Marshal. Pokryshkin himself not only did not insist on "authorship", but did not even mention this case - that burned down, then burned. And he never talked about himself personally and about his own merits. However, after the death of Alexander Ivanovich, the researchers proved that there were at least 116 of them.

Alexander is a defender

But he spoke loudly and persistently about the merits of others. Mikhail Devyataev, the same one who stole from the Heinkel 111 concentration camp and took our prisoners on it, only thanks to Pokryshkin he received the Hero's Star, and after a long struggle. After the war, from the prisoner of war camp (it was the American zone!) He was rescued by his beloved disciple Ivan Babak, who shot down more than forty enemy aces and whom Pokryshkin presented to the title of Hero before the tragic flight.

The pilot Grigory Dolnikov was shot down, taken prisoner, fled, and reached his own, who began to judge him. Pokryshkin intervened and defended: "At Dolnikov, the whole biography is written on the skin!" - he said. And it is true that he was heavily beaten and tortured in captivity. Alexander is translated from Greek as "defender". Pokryshkin fully justified it.