Sulom-Bek Susarkulovich Oskanov (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Суламбек Сусаркулович Осканов; 8 January 1943 – 7 February 1992) was an

Ingush Ingush may refer to: * Ingush language, Northeast Caucasian language * Ingush people, an ethnic group of the North Caucasus See also *Ingushetia (disambiguation) Ingushetia is a federal republic and subject of Russia. Ingushetia may also refer ...

pilot and Major-General in the Soviet and later Russian Air Forces who headed the Lipetsk Center of Combat Training. After his death in a plane crash in which he chose not to eject from the plane which would save himself in order to prevent casualties on the ground, he was posthumously awarded the title

Hero of the Russian Federation Hero of the Russian Federation ( rus, Герой Российской Федерации, p=ɡʲɪˈroj rɐˈsʲijskəj fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨɪ), also unofficially called Hero of Russia ( rus, Герой России, p=ɡʲɪˈroj rɐˈsʲiɪ), is ...

; he was the second person awarded the title after

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

Sergei Krikalev Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev (, also transliterated as Sergei Krikalyov; born 27 August 1958) is a Russian mechanical engineer and former cosmonaut and head of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. As a prominent rocket scientist, he ...

and the first posthumous recipient of the award.

Early life

Oskanov was born in 1943 in Plievo,

Chechen-Ingush ASSR When the Soviet Union existed, different governments had ruled the northern Caucasus regions of Chechnya and Ingushetia. Within the Mountain Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic, later annexed into the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Repub ...

into a peasant family. In February 1944, together with whole Ingush and Chechen nations, he and his family deported to prison camps in

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

during Operation Lentil. Soon after being permitted to return to the Caucasus he returned to the newly restored Chechen-Ingush ASSR. He then entered a vocational school and studied at an aeroclub in Grozny.

Aviation career

Oskanov entered the Soviet military in 1961. In 1966 he graduated with honors from the

Kacha Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots The Kacha Higher Military Aviation twice Red Banner order of Lenin School of Pilots named for A.F. Myasnikov (KVVAUL) (Качинское высшее военное авиационное дважды краснознаменное ордена ...

and was assigned to work as a flight instructor with the rank of Lieutenant. Three years later he was made the deputy commander of a flight training squadron. He then served in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and before being appointed as deputy commander of a center of military education in Lipetsk in 1987 while he was a colonel. On 6 May 1989 he was promoted to the rank of Major-General of Aviation, and later that year he became the commander of the training center. In 1990 he defended his thesis and became a Candidate of Military Sciences. The next year, he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. Oskanov had met with

Dzhokhar Dudayev Dzhokhar Musayevich Dudayev (born Dudin Musa-Khant Dzhokhar; 15 February 1944 – 21 April 1996) was a Chechen politician, statesman and military leader of the 1990s Chechen independence movement from Russia. He served as the first president o ...

and was friends with

Ruslan Aushev Ruslan Sultanovich Aushev (born 29 October 1954) is a Russian Ingush former politician. He was the President of Ingushetia from March 1993 to December 2001. He was reportedly the youngest officer in the Soviet Army to reach the rank of lieute ...

Last flight

On 7 February 1992, a MiG-29 Oskanov was flying in difficult weather suffered an in-flight electronics failure, resulting in the artificial horizon going blank. He chose not to eject from the fighter and save himself to so he could prevent the fighter from crashing into a populated area. He was posthumously awarded the title

Honors and commemorations

*Posthumously awarded the title

. *A MiG-29S of the Russian Air Force and a

Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified ...

Utair Utair () () is a Russian airline with its head office at Khanty-Mansiysk Airport while its hubs are at Surgut International Airport and Vnukovo International Airport. It operates scheduled domestic and some international passenger services, sch ...

was named in his honor. *The

Magas Airport Magas Airport (), also known as Magas Oskanov Airport or Sleptsovskaya Airport is an airport in the Republic of Ingushetia near Sunzha, serving the capital city of Magas and the largest regional city of Nazran. The name comes from the medieval ...

in Ingushetia is named after him. *A 2017 postage stamp of Russia featured his portrait.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oskanov, Sulom-Beck 1943 births 1992 deaths Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Heroes of the Russian Federation Ingush people Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union alumni Russian major generals Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1992 Soviet Air Force generals Soviet major generals Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Russia Kacha Military Aviation School alumni