Today, 6th March 1913, Aleksandr Ivanovich Pokryshkin was born in Novonikolayevsk (Novosibirsk), Russian Empire.
Aleksandr Pokryshkin - also known as Sasha, and Sotka (100) was one of the most influential and successful Soviet and Allied fighter pilots during World War 2.
Pokryshkin was the first person ever to receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union three times, and the only one to do so during the war: in April1943, then August 1943, and finally August 1944.
American President Frank D. Roosevelt described Pokryshkin as “the best pilot in our coalition”.
Pokryshkin fought with the 55th Fighter Aviation Regiment from the first day of the war, on the 22nd June 1941, and stayed with it all the way to Berlin, where he met the Great Victory on the 9th May 1945, when the regiment was already called the 16th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. At the outbreak of the war, Pokryshkin’s squadron flew the MiG-3, converting to Yak-1s for a brief period and finally meeting his favourite aircraft in 1943: the Bell P-39 Airacobra, which he flew until the end of the war.
Aleksandr Pokryshkin’s contributions to Soviet fighter tactics were instrumental in changing the tide of the air war against the German Luftwaffe, and with his teachings the Soviet Air Forces were able to mass great victories and push the enemy out of Soviet territory.
Remember the heroes of the Soviet Air Force!
Images:
Pokryshkin with full decorations in front of a P-39, 1944-1945
Pokryshkin with his squadron mates in pose with a crashed Fw-189, the fourth of the type destroyed by his friend Konstantin Sukhov
A gathering of heroes: Pokryshkin having a cheerful chat with other thrice Heroes of the Soviet Union, Marshal Georgy Zhukov and Colonel Ivan Kozhedub, Autumn 1945.
