deputy commander
What military rank did Ivan Kozhedub have from Apr 1944 to 1949?
Ivan Kozhedub Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub ( Russian : Иван Hикитович Кожедуб ; Ukrainian : Іван Микитович Кожедуб ; 8 June 1920 – 8 August 1991 ) was a Soviet World War II fighter ace . Credited with over 60 solo victories by most historians , he is considered to be the highest scoring Soviet and Allied fighter pilot of World War II . He is one of the few pilots to have shot down a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet . He was made a Hero of the Soviet Union on three occasions ( 4 February 1944 , 19 August 1944 , and 18 August 1945 ) . After the war he remained in the military and commanded the 324th Fighter Air Division during Soviet operations in the Korean War . Early life . Ivan Kozhedub was born in the village of Obrazhiyevka , a settlement in the Chernigov Governorate , Ukrainian SSR ( now Sumy Oblast , Ukraine ) on 8 June 1920 . He was the youngest of five children in a Ukrainian family . For two years he attended a school for young workers , and in early 1940 graduated from the Shostka chemical technical school . Kozhedub learned to fly aircraft in the Shostkinsk aeroclub and joined the Soviet army in 1940 . He graduated from the Chuguev Military Air School in June 1941 at the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union , but he was retained as an instructor . Kozhedub remained at the school for nearly two years where he trained many young Soviet pilots . Feeling his talents would be better used in combat , Kozhedub requested a transfer to an operational unit and in March 1943 he was posted , as a Senior Sergeant , to the 240th Fighter Aviation Regiment , one of the first units to receive the new Lavochkin La-5 . War career . His first combat mission was on 26 March 1943 . He operated on the Voronezh Front and , in July over the Kursk battlefields . His first kill was a Junkers Ju 87 Stuka , shot down during the Battle of Kursk on 6 July 1943 . By 16 August he had claimed eight air victories . He was promoted to Junior Lieutenant . Then his unit moved towards Kharkiv . At this time he usually flew escort for Petlyakov Pe-2 twin-engine bombers . He served as a fighter pilot in several areas ( Steppe Front , 2nd Ukrainian Front , 1st Belorussian Front ) and at different ranks , starting from senior airman up to deputy commander of his air regiment . He claimed his 61st and 62nd victories – his final claims of the War– over Berlin on 16 April 1945 . Kozhedub was attributed with the highest number of air combat victories of any Soviet pilot during World War II . He is regarded as the best Soviet flying ace of the war , and is associated with flying the Lavochkin La-7 . He was reputed to have a natural gift for deflection shooting , i.e . aiming ahead of a moving target at the time of firing so that the projectile and target will collide . Kozhedubs World War II record consisted of : - 330 combat missions - 120 aerial engagements - 62 enemy aircraft shot down , including one Me 262 jet fighter ( possibly Uffz Kurt Lange of 1./KG ( J ) 54. ) Post war era . In 1949 Kozhedub graduated from the Air Force Academy . In April 1951 , promoted to Polkovnik ( colonel ) , he commanded the 324th IAD ( Fighter Air Division ) and dispatched to Antung airfield on the China-North Korea border to fly the MiG-15 during the Korean War supporting the North Korean forces . He was not given permission to participate in combat missions . Under his leadership the 324th IAD claimed 239 victories , including 12 Boeing B-29 Superfortresses for the loss of 27 MiG-15s in combat and 9 pilots . In 1956 he graduated from the High Command Academy , after which he was promoted to General . From 1971 he served in the Central Office of the Soviet Air Force and from 1978 in the general inspection group of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR . He was made an Aviation Marshal in 1985 . Kozhedub was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union three times ( 1944 , 1944 , 1945 ) , seven Orders of the Red Banner , two Order of Alexander Nevsky , two Orders of the Red Star , Order of the Patriotic War First Class , and numerous medals . He was promoted to his final rank of Marshal shortly before retirement . List of aerial victories . According to Soviet aces 1941—1945 . The victories of Stalins Falcons ( ) by Mikhail Bykov . - Until August 1944 Kozhedub was flying on Lavochkin La-5 , after that Lavochkin La-7 . Alleged shooting down of two USAAF P-51 fighters . Kozhedub allegedly shot down two USAAF P-51 Mustang fighters in a friendly fire incident 17 April 1945 . He encountered a group of American B-17 Flying Fortresses under attack by Luftwaffe aircraft . His aircraft was apparently mistaken by American escort fighters for the enemy and attacked . Kozhedub , having no other option , defended himself by shooting down two of the P-51s . So far , this story is not confirmed completely . Film footage exists that had been touted as Kozhedubs actual gun camera film from the event ; however , the footage was shot using Zeiss equipment , which was used primarily by the Luftwaffe . Honours and awards . - Soviet Union - Thrice Hero of the Soviet Union ( 4 February 1944 , 19 August 1944 and 18 August 1945 ) - Two Order of Lenin ( 4 February 1944 and 21 February 1978 ) - Seven Order of the Red Banner ( 22 July 1943 , 30 September 1943 , 29 March 1945 , 29 June 1945 , 2 June 1951 , 22 February 1958 , and 26 June 1970 ) - Order of Alexander Nevsky ( 31 July 1945 ) - Order of the Patriotic War 1st class ( 11 March 1985 ) - Two Order of the Red Star ( 4 June 1955 and 20 October 1955 ) - Order For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR , 2nd degree ( 22 February 1990 ) - Order For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR , 3rd degree ( 30 April 1975 ) - Medal For Battle Merit - Medal For the Liberation of Warsaw ( 1945 ) - Medal For the Capture of Berlin ( 1945 ) - Medal For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945 ( 1945 ) - Jubilee Medal Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945 ( 1965 ) - Jubilee Medal Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945 ( 1975 ) - Jubilee Medal Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945 ( 1985 ) - Jubilee Medal In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ( 1969 ) - Medal Veteran of the Armed Forces of the USSR ( 1976 ) - Medal For Strengthening of Brotherhood in Arms - Medal For Impeccable Service , 1st class - Jubilee Medal 30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy ( 1948 ) - Jubilee Medal 40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR ( 1957 ) - Jubilee Medal 50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR ( 1967 ) - Jubilee Medal 60 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR ( 1978 ) - Jubilee Medal 70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR ( 1988 ) - Medal In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow ( 1947 ) - Medal In Commemoration of the 1500th Anniversary of Kyiv ( 1982 ) - Foreign - Medal of Sino-Soviet Friendship ( China ) - Patriotic Order of Merit , Bronze , 3rd class ( East Germany ) - Order of the Red Banner ( Mongolia ) - Medal 50 Years of the Mongolian Peoples Army ( Mongolia ) - Order of the National Flag , 3rd class ( North Korea ) - Order of Freedom and Independence , 1st class ( North Korea ) - Knights Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta ( Poland ) Legacy . A military university in Kharkiv is named in his honor , the Kozhedub University of the Air Force .