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Russian Aviators
This list of Russian and Soviet aviators includes the noteworthy aviators of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The majority of pilots listed here served in the Imperial Russian Air Force, the Soviet Air Force or the modern Russian Air Force (or continue to serve in the latter). The aircrew members listed below either performed notable feats in aviation, held senior positions in Russian military aviation, and/or received national or international decorations for their aviation service. Alphabetical list A * Vsevolod Abramovich, pioneer aviator killed on crash, inventor of Abramovich Flyer * Sergey Anokhin, Soviet test pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union * Pavel Argeyev, Russia's third most successful fighter ace during World War I in Russia and France B * Yekaterina Budanova, World War II pilot, one of the world's two female fighter aces C * Valery Chkalov, flew the first transcontinental flight by airplane over the North Pole, Hero of the Sov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aviators
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they are involved in operating the aircraft's navigation and engine systems. Other aircrew members, such as drone operators, flight attendants, mechanics and ground crew, are not classified as aviators. In recognition of the pilots' qualifications and responsibilities, most militaries and many airlines worldwide award aviator badges to their pilots. History The first recorded use of the term ''aviator'' (''aviateur'' in French) was in 1887, as a variation of ''aviation'', from the Latin ''avis'' (meaning ''bird''), coined in 1863 by in ''Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne'' ("Aviation or Air Navigation"). The term ''aviatrix'' (''aviatrice'' in French), now archaic, was formerly used for a female aviator. These terms were used more in the ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transcontinental Flight
A transcontinental flight is a non-stop passenger flight from one side of a continent to the other. The term usually refers to flights across the United States, between the East and West Coasts. History The first transcontinental multi-stop flight across the United States was made in 1911 by Calbraith Perry Rodgers in an attempt to win the Hearst prize offered by publisher William Randolph Hearst. Hearst offered a $US 50,000 prize to the first aviator to fly coast to coast, in either direction, in less than 30 days from start to finish. Previous attempts by James J. Ward and Henry Atwood had been unsuccessful. Rodgers persuaded J. Ogden Armour, of Armour and Company, to sponsor the flight, and in return he named the plane after Armour's grape soft drink "Vin Fiz". Rodgers left from Sheepshead Bay, New York, on September 17, 1911, at 4:30pm, carrying the first transcontinental mail pouch. He crossed the Rocky Mountains on November 5, 1911, and landed at Tournament Park in Pas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Night Witches
"Night Witches" (german: die Nachthexen; russian: Ночные ведьмы, ) was a World War II German nickname for the all-female military aviators of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, known later as the 46th "Taman" Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, of the Soviet Air Forces. Though women were officially barred from combat at the time, Major Marina Raskova used her position and personal contacts with the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to obtain permission to form female combat units. "Combat facilitated and ushered in a reluctant acceptance of women in military, based more upon practicality and necessity than for equality". On October 8, 1941, an order was issued to deploy three women's air-force units, including the 588th Regiment. The regiment, formed by Raskova and led by Major Yevdokiya Bershanskaya, was composed primarily of female volunteers in their late teens and early twenties. An attack technique of the night bombers involved idling the engine near the target and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polina Gelman
Polina Vladimirovna Gelman (russian: Поли́на Влади́мировна Ге́льман, uk, Поли́на Володи́мирівна Ге́льман; 24 October 191925 November 2005) was a flight navigator in the all-female 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment who was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union in 1946 for having totaled 857 sorties during World War II. Early life Born to a working-class Jewish family from the Ukrainian city of Berdychiv in 1919, after the death of her father she lived in Gomel, Belarus with her mother. In 1938 she completed her tenth grade of school and graduated from the Gomel glider school. Admitted to the history department of Moscow State University, she attended some classes at the school before the war cut short her schooling. World War II A history major at MSU at the time of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Gelman was recruited by Marina Raskova to join the newly formed women's aviation group. Following traini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nikolai Gastello
Captain Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello (russian: Николай Францевич Гастелло, April 23, 1907 – June 26, 1941) was a Russian aviator and a Hero of the Soviet Union. He is one of the best known Soviet war heroes, being the best known Soviet pilot to conduct a "fire taran" – a suicide action by the pilot of an aircraft on fire, flying into a target with the intention of setting it alight. Biography Nikolai Gastello was born in Moscow to Franz Gastello, who was a Belarusian. His father had recently moved to Moscow and changed his Belarusian last name Gastylo to an exotic-sounding Gastello. Nikolay Gastello graduated from a Sokolniki high school in Moscow in 1918, and his family then moved to Bashkiria, escaping the horrors of the Russian Civil War. By 1923 Gastello was back in Moscow, where he worked at a factory as a fitter. In 1928 he became a member of the communist party, and in 1932 by special decree he was sent to the Lugansk Pilot's School. Graduati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Légion D'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, it has been retained (with occasional slight alterations) by all later French governments and regimes. The order's motto is ' ("Honour and Fatherland"); its seat is the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur next to the Musée d'Orsay, on the left bank of the Seine in Paris. The order is divided into five degrees of increasing distinction: ' (Knight), ' (Officer), ' ( Commander), ' (Grand Officer) and ' (Grand Cross). History Consulate During the French Revolution, all of the French orders of chivalry were abolished and replaced with Weapons of Honour. It was the wish of Napoleon Bonaparte, the First Consul, to create a reward to commend civilians and soldiers. From this wish was instituted a , a body of men that was not an or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viktor Federov
Lieutenant Viktor Georgiyevich Fyodorov (11 November 1885 - 4 March 1922) was a Russian World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories while flying with the French military air service. Having left Russia for Belgium in 1908, with a further move to France, Fyodorov was still living in the latter when World War I began. On 21 August 1914, he volunteered for the French Foreign Legion, and served with them until wounded and invalided from infantry service. After preliminary duty as a chauffeur, he became a pilot on 27 November 1915. After acquiring Pierre Lanero as his mechanic, aerial observer, and gunner, Fyodorov scored three aerial victories in March 1916 with Lanero manning the twin engine Caudron G4's guns. They were shot down and wounded on 1 April 1916. Upon recovery, Fyodorov wangled an assignment to the Kingdom of Romania in October. While they were there, he managed a transfer in the Imperial Russian Air Service for the two of them by the end of 1916. However, F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dive Bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact throughout the bomb run. This allows attacks on point targets and ships, which were difficult to attack with conventional level bombers, even ''en masse''. After World War II, the rise of precision-guided munitions and improved anti-aircraft defences—both fixed gunnery positions and fighter interception—led to a fundamental change in dive bombing. New weapons, such as rockets, allowed for better accuracy from smaller dive angles and from greater distances. They could be fitted to almost any aircraft, including fighters, improving their effectiveness without the inherent vulnerabilities of dive bombers, which needed air superiority to operate effectively. Method A dive bomber dives at a steep angle, normally between 45 and 60 degrees or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mariya Dolina
Mariya Ivanovna Dolina ( ua, Марія Іванівна Доліна, russian: Мария Ивановна Долина; 18 December 1922 – 3 March 2010) was a Pe-2 pilot and deputy squadron commander in the women's 125th “Marina M. Raskova” ''Borisov'' Guards Bomber Regiment. She was active primarily on the 1st Baltic Front during World War II. On 18 August 1945 she was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Early life Born in the village of Sharovka (present-day Poltavsky District, Omsk Oblast in Siberia), Dolina was the eldest daughter of Ukrainian peasants. She had nine siblings. In 1934, after Mariya's father lost his leg in the Russian Civil War, the family moved back to Ukraine again. Because of her father's condition, Dolina had to provide for the whole family, consequently she left school and went to work in a factory. Despite her mother's opposition, Mariya trained at a flying club of the paramilitary Osoaviakhim and, in 1940, graduated from the Kherson Flyi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order Of The Patriotic War
The Order of the Patriotic War (russian: Орден Отечественной войны, Orden Otechestvennoy voiny) is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisans for heroic deeds during the German-Soviet War, known since the mid-1960s in the former Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War. History The Order was established on 20 May 1942 and came in first class and second class depending upon the merit of the deed. It was the first Soviet order established during the war, and the first Soviet order divided into classes. Its statute precisely defined, which deeds are awarded with the order, e.g. shooting down three aircraft as a fighter pilot, or destroying two heavy or three medium or four light tanks, or capturing a warship, or repairing an aircraft under fire after landing on a hostile territory, and so on, were awarded with the first class. It was also given to some allied troops and command ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order Of Red Banner
The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of Soviet Russia, subsequently the Soviet Union, until the Order of Lenin was established in 1930. Recipients were recognised for extraordinary heroism, dedication, and courage demonstrated on the battlefield. The Order was awarded to individuals as well as to military units, cities, ships, political and social organizations, and state enterprises. In later years, it was also awarded on the twentieth and again on the thirtieth anniversary of military, police, or state security service without requiring participation in combat (the "Long Service Award" variant). Award history The Russian Order of the Red Banner was established during the Russian Civil War by decree of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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