Aleksandr Fyodorovich Avdeyev (; 5 August 1916 – 12 August 1942) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

fighter ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

of World War II with 13 victories claimed. He participated in the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939–1940 (

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

). He was awarded the title of

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

on 10 February 1943.

Early life

He was born in the village of Bolshaya Talinka in

Tambov Governorate Tambov Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, the Russian Republic, and the Russian SFSR, with its capital in Tambov. It was located between 51°14' and 55°6' north latitude, north and betwee ...

. In the 1930s his family had to move to Lyublino (now a district of Moscow). There he has graduated from factory-and-workshop school and worked as a metalworker in a foundry. After work he attended an Air club in

Podolsk Podolsk ( rus, Подольск, p=pɐˈdolʲsk) is an industrial city, center of Podolsk Urban Okrug, Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Pakhra River (a tributary of the Moskva River). Population: History The first mentions of the vill ...

. In 1938 he joined the army and attended the Borisoglebsk Military Air College.

World War II

From the beginning of the

German-Soviet War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

he served on the

Leningrad Front The Leningrad Front () was formed during the 1941 German approach on Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and Karelian Front on August 27, 1941. History The Leningrad Front was immediately ...

with 153 IAP as a Leytenant and was later promoted to Starshiy Leytenant and Flight commander. In 1941 he claimed 7 victories in 189 missions. Piloting a

Polikarpov I-153 The Polikarpov I-153 ''Chaika'' () is a late 1930s Soviet sesquiplane fighter. Developed from the I-15 with a retractable undercarriage, the I-153 fought in the Soviet-Japanese combats in Mongolia and was one of the major Soviet fighter types ...

biplane, he shot down a future high-scoring German ace Lt.

Walter Nowotny Walter Nowotny (7 December 1920 – 8 November 1944) was an Austrian-born fighter ace of the Luftwaffe in World War II. He is credited with 258 aerial victories—that is, 258 aerial combat encounters resulting in ...

JG 54 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 54 (JG 54) ''Grünherz'' was a Luftwaffe fighter wing that was founded in late 1936 and operated from 1939, the entire length of the Second World War. It later existed under the reformed Luftwaffe from 1947 to 1991 as BG54/B54 ...

over

Saaremaa Saaremaa (; ) is the largest and most populous island in Estonia. Measuring , its population is 31,435 (as of January 2020). The main island of the West Estonian archipelago (Moonsund archipelago), it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hi ...

on 19 July 1941 in Bf 109 E-7 (W.Nr. 1137) "White 2" over Riga Bay. In that fight Avdeyev's plane was also shot down and he subsequently spent a month in hospital due to injuries sustained during the crash. In August 1942 he served as a

P-39 Airacobra The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by th ...

pilot on the

Voronezh Front The 1st Ukrainian Front (), previously the Voronezh Front (), was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group. They took part in the capture of Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. Wartime ...

. On 12 August 1942 he was the first Airacobra pilot who used a ramming attack to down an opponent. His victim was possibly Fw.

Franz Schulte Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...

of 6./

JG 77 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 77 (JG 77) ''Herz As'' ("Ace of Hearts") was a Luftwaffe fighter wing during World War II. It served in all the German theaters of war, from Western Europe to the Eastern Front, and from the high north in Norway to the Mediterr ...

, an ace with 46 victories. Both pilots were later buried in

Novaya Usman Novaya Usman () is a rural locality (a selo) and the administrative center of Novousmansky District of Voronezh Oblast, Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of cou ...

, a village near

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

. Avdeyev was awarded the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

, the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () 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 S ...

, the

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

External links

Biography on the site "warheroes.ru
1916 births 1942 deaths People from Tambovsky District, Tambov Oblast People from Tambovsky Uyezd Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Soviet Air Force officers Russian aviators Soviet military personnel of the Winter War Soviet World War II flying aces Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Pilots who performed an aerial ramming Soviet military personnel killed in World War II {{hero-USSR-stub