Alexander Pokryshkin Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin ( ; born on 6 March 1913 – died on 13 November 1985 ) was a Marshal of the Soviet Air Force . He was made a Hero of the Soviet Union on three separate occasions ( 24 May 1943 , 24 August 1943 , and 19 August 1944 ) . Pokryshkin was , in addition to his three Hero of the Soviet Union golden stars , awarded four Orders of Lenin , the Order of the October Revolution , four Orders of the Red Banner , two Orders of Suvorov ( 2nd class ) , two Orders of the Red Star , a number of other medals , and foreign orders , such as the US Army Distinguished Service Medal which he is seen wearing below his other medals in some photographs . Pokryshkin was the great tactician of the Soviet Air Force during the Second World War . He almost single handedly fought to change the obsolete Soviet tactics that were in place in 1941 when the war started . Going against the totalitarian establishment and openly defying the totalitarianism - approved combat doctrine almost cost him his career and possibly his life . After openly criticising the official tactics that led to huge losses and teaching his fellow pilots new tactics he invented himself , he was grounded and scheduled to be court martial ed . However the word of his inventions reached some superiors in Moscow , and instead of a court martial Pokryshkin was awarded and promoted . By the end of the war , his writings had been published and distributed to all Soviet pilots , and he toured fighter regiments extensively lecturing young pilots on his techniques . Early years . Pokryshkin was born in Novosibirsk , son of a peasant turned factory worker . He grew up in a poor , crime infested part of town , but unlike most of his peers he was more interested in learning than in fighting and petty crime . His nickname in his early teens was " Engineer " . He caught the " aviation bug " when he was 12 years old at a local air show , and the dream never left him after that . In 1928 , after seven years of school , he found work as a construction worker . In 1930 , despite his father ' s protests , he left home and entered a local technical college , where he received a degree in 18 months and worked for six more as a steel worker at a local munitions factory . Subsequently , he volunteered for the army and was sent to an aviation school . His dream finally seemed to be coming true . Unfortunately the flight school was suddenly closed , and all students were instead transferred to be trained as aircraft mechanics . Dozens of official requests were denied with a simple " Soviet aviation needs mechanics just as badly " . Pokryshkin still strived to excel as a mechanic . Graduating in 1933 , he quickly rose through the ranks . By December 1934 , he became the Senior Aviation Mechanic of the 74th Rifle Division . He stayed in that capacity until November 1938 . During that time his creative nature became clearly visible : he invented improvements to the ShKAS machine gun and the R - 5 reconnaissance aircraft among other things . Finally , during his vacation in the winter of 1938 Pokryshkin was able to circumvent the authorities by passing a yearly civilian pilot program in only 17 days . This automatically made him eligible for flight school . Without even packing a suitcase , he boarded a train to flight school . He graduated with top honours in 1939 , and in the rank of Sr . Lieutenant he was appointed to the 55th Fighter Regiment . World War II . Early experiences . He was stationed in Moldavia in June 1941 , close to the border , and his airfield was bombed on June 22 , the first day of the war . His first air combat was a disaster . Seeing an aircraft in the air of a type he had never seen before , he attacked and shot it down , only to notice as it was going down that it had Soviet red stars on the wings . It was a Soviet Su - 2 light bomber , piloted by squadron commander of the 211th Bomber Aviation Regiment , M . I . Gudzenko . This was a new bomber type that was kept secret even from other Soviet pilots . He then frantically flew in front of all the other MiG 3 pilots who were lining up on the other Sukhoi bombers , thwarting any other " German victories " by other pilots of his unit . Gudzenko survived , although the gunner was killed . He claimed his first victory , a Bf - 109 fighter , the next day , when he and his wingman on a reconnaissance mission were jumped by five enemy fighters . On July 3 , having claimed several more victories , he was shot down by German flak behind enemy lines and spent four days getting back to his unit . During the first weeks of the war , Pokryshkin began to see very clearly how outdated the Soviet combat doctrine was , and began slowly drafting his own ideas in his meticulously kept notebooks . He carefully recorded all details of all air engagements he and all his friends were involved in , and came up with detailed analysis of each . He fought in very complicated conditions : constant retreat , poor to no control and communication , overwhelming odds against superior opponent . He would later say " one who hasn ' t fought in 1941 – 1942 has not truly tasted war " . Pokryshkin survived several close calls during this time . A machine gun round drove through the right side of the cockpit , cut his shoulder straps , ricocheted off the left side and scratching his chin , covering the entire windscreen in blood . Twice , unexploded bombs landed between his feet , one time during a dramatic low - level raid on his airfield by a pair of Ju - 88 s . Pokryshkin tried to defend his fighter , one of the very few remaining serviceable aircraft , by removing a flexible machine gun from the nearby bomber and placing it on top of his fighter ' s fuselage . One of the German bombers saw Pokryshkin firing the only machine gun in the area and flew straight at him , dropping small bombs in a shallow dive . Pokryshkin watched a string of explosions running up to him , but the bomb that landed right next to him did not explode . The Ju - 88 had dropped it too low ; the bomb had insufficient time to arm itself before hitting the ground . At one point , during 1941 , after the unit had been moved to Kotovsk , the order was received that all 13 mm guns were to be removed from MiG - 3 s to be installed in new factory production aircraft . The only problem with this is that the MiG - 3 was armed with a pair of 7 . 62 mm ( . 30 caliber ) machine guns and a single 12 . 7 or 13 mm ( . 50 caliber ) heavy machine gun . This left the aircraft under - armed , except that a 100 kg bomb was put under each wing , later exchanged for rockets , or even underwing gun pods with single 7 . 62 machine guns just outboard of the landing gear . The unit was starting to be used for ground attack . 10 I - 16s were received for this purpose . MiG - 3s were received occasionally , and then later the unit started to re - equip with previously - flown Yak - 1s from other units for use as top cover . In the autumn of 1941 , Pokryshkin , flying a MiG - 3 ( possibly winter - camouflaged ) , took off in sleet and rain conditions after two other pilots had crashed on takeoff . His mission was to locate von Kleist ' s tank group , which had been stopped in front of Shakhty , and then lost track of by the Soviet forces . After some time flying at low altitude , low on gasoline , in this weather , he finally found them , and was able to return safely to base with this critical information . For the successful completion of this mission , he was awarded the Order of Lenin . When the summer German offensive of 1942 began , part of 16 GIAP had been re - equipped with the Yakovlev Yak - 1 fighter , including Pokryshkin ' s squadron . Along that period Pokryshkin flew escort missions to Su - 2 and Il - 2 Shturmovik aircraft , and frequently was engaged by German fighters . On 17 July 1942 during a dogfight with Bf . 109s he became separated of his wingman Konstantin Figichov , and was jumped by a " Rotte " of Bf . 109G - 2s flown by the " experte Feldwebel " Hans Dammers and his wingman " Unteroffizier " Kurt Keiser ( 7 . / JG 52 ) . Initially Pokryshkin dived to escape , but realizing that the heavier and faster Gustavs would catch him sooner , he performed a chandelle and a barrel roll later . This caused the Germans to overshoot , and then Pokryshkin shot down and killed Kurt Keiser at short range . Pokryshkin was attacked again by Dammers shortly afterwards , and his Yak - 1 was damaged . But once more Pokryshkin performed a barrel roll , forced Dammers to slide forward , and then shot the German ace down . In the late summer of 1942 , his regiment was recalled from the front lines to convert to a new fighter type , the Bell P - 39 Airacobra . While training in the rear , Pokryshkin frequently clashed with the regiment ' s new commander Isayev ( the former regimental navigator ) , who could not stand his criticism of the Soviet air combat doctrine . Isayev fabricated a court martial case , accusing Pokryshkin of cowardice , insubordination and disobeying orders . Pokryshkin was grounded , removed from the regiment ' s headquarters , and had his Party membership cancelled . However , was helped by his squad mates , the regimental political comissar and the divisional commanders , and he was soon vindicated , the 216 IAD ' s leadership dismissed the case against him , and reinstated him . Kuban . Pokryshkin ' s most significant contribution to the war effort and the most impressive kill record came during the battle for the Kuban region in 1943 . The area east of the Crimean peninsula had seen heated air combat in the months that led to the Soviet assault on Crimea itself , where Kuban - based Soviet air regiments went against Crimea - based Luftwaffe Geschwader . Pokryshkin ' s regiment went against such well - known German fighter units as JG 52 and JG 3 ' Udet ' . The area saw some of the most heated fighting of the Eastern Front , with daily engagements of up to 200 aircraft in the air . Pokryshkin ' s innovative tactics of using different fighter types stacked in altitude , the so - called ' pendulum ' flight pattern for patrolling the airspace , and the use of ground - based radar , forward based controllers and an advanced central ground control system led to the first great Soviet Air Force victory over the Luftwaffe . In the summer of 1942 , the 4th Air Army which Pokryshkin was a part of , received the first mobile radar stations . They were tested in aiding over - water interceptions of German and Romanian aircraft , and they proved highly successful . In early January 1943 , 16 GIAP ( " Gvardeyskiy Istrebitelnyy Aviatsionyy Polk " = Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment ) was sent to 25 ZAP ( " Zapasnoy Aviatsionyy Polk " = Reserve Aviation Regiment , a unit tasked with checking that home - made and lend - lease aircraft were ready for combat service ) near the Iranian border , to re - equip with new aircraft , and also to receive new pilots . Many of these had to be ferried over from Iran . When there were delays in assembly by the Americans on the Iranian side , it was felt by the Soviet pilots involved that the Americans were willfully impeding the war effort . It was at this time that the unit converted to the P - 39 Airacobra , which when all had arrived , turned the unit into a 3 - squadron regiment . 16th Guards received 14 P - 39L - 1s , seven P - 39Ks , the very last of which was assigned to Pokryshkin , and 11 P - 39D - 2s . The unit returned to action on April 8 , 1943 . During the remainder of the month , Pokryshkin was credited with 11 Bf 109s and one Ju . 88 destroyed . He was credited with a Bf . 109 destroyed on his very first Airacobra mission , on 9 April 1943 , and scored four Bf . 109 kills on 12 April 1943 , one of his more successful days . He scored again on 15 , 16 , 20 , 21 and 24 April - one Bf . 109 on each day , adding a Ju . 88 ( probably in fact a He . 111 ) on 29 April , plus one more Bf . 109 on 30 April . One of the most famous engagements he was involved in took place on 4 May 1943 . Eight of Pokryshkin ' s Airacobras were directed by ground control towards a large group of enemy planes . Three whole squadrons of the obsolescent Junkers Ju - 87 Stukas were being escorted by a geschwader of Bf - 109s . Attacking from the sun , a pair of P - 39s attacked the fighters while the remaining six dived through the bomber formation , repeating the attack twice using Pokryshkin ' s method of swapping dive directions . Twelve Stukas were claimed shot down , with Pokryshkin claiming five ( he was officially credited with two ) . Later that same day he shot down another Bf . 109 . In most subsequent fights , Pokryshkin would usually take the most difficult role , attacking the leader of the German fighters , who usually was an aggressive " experte " . As he learned in 1941 – 42 , shooting down the flight leader would have a very strong demoralising effect on the enemy and often cause them to scramble home . Taken that into account , almost certainly among his preys during the month of May were some of such " experten " : On 6 May 1943 Pokryshkin shot up a Messerschmitt , probably the Bf . 109G - 2 of 9 - kills ace " Unteroffizier " Heinz Scholze ( 4 . / JG 52 ) , who crashed while trying to land at Kuteinikovo . Two days later , his victim might have been the Bf . 109G - 4 of " Leutnant " Helmut Haberda ( an " experte " of 5 . / JG 52 with 58 victories to his credit ) , even when " Luftwaffe " credits the loss to the Soviet flak . Pokryshkin received his first Hero of the Soviet Union award on 24 May 1943 , and was promoted to major in June , having become commanding officer of his squadron . On 23 June , he exchanged his old P - 39K - 1 BuNo 42 - 4421 " White 13 " , for the famous - and , incidentally , unmarked by any victory stars - P - 39N BuNo 42 - 9004 , " White 100 " , which he flew for the rest of the war , excepting the test of the Berlin autobahn as a runway in Konstantin Sukhov ' s " White 50 " , which was much photographed . " Osvobodzhenie Ukrainy " - The Liberation of Ukraine . In mid - July the 216 IAD ( now redesignated 9 GIAD ) was deployed in southern Ukraine to help liberate the Donbass area . There he kept on beating German aces - on 23 July 1943 Pokryshkin shot down the 56 - kills " experte " " Uffz . " Hans Ellendt , of 4 . / JG 52 . Not only that , but occasionally also his P - 39s escorted the Pe - 2 bombers . In that role , he used his nickname " Sotka " ( " One Hundred " ) , e . g . his radio call sign , because he knew very well that the " Luftwaffe " ordered his airmen to stay in the ground if they knew he was in the air . A Pe - 2 pilot of the 36 BAP , Timofey P . Puniov , recalled that , because of the heavy casualties suffered because of the German fighters , the 16 GIAP was tasked to escort them . Puniov clearly remembers that twice Pokryshkin violated the radio silence saying openly in the frequency : " " Vnimanie ! Ya - sotka . Poedu na rabotu ! " " ( Attention ! I ' m " 100 " . I ' m going to work ! ) . Neither on those two occasions nor since then onwards the German fighters tried to intercept the 36 BAP anymore . Shortly earlier , on 20 August , Isaev , who had been the Unit Navigator , and then been promoted to Commanding Officer , and with whom Pokryshkin had strong differences , took measures to have Pokryshkin stripped of his Hero of the Soviet Union , expelled from the regiment , and hauled before a tribunal . From 10pm that night until part of the following day , Pokryshkin , 298 IAP ' s Major Taranyenko , and the 16th Guards ' Commissar , Gubarevim , and some " Osobists " ( NKVD people . ) were completing interrogations and investigations that lasted at least through the following day . Gubarevim , with difficulty , was able to clear Pokryshkin ' s name and reputation , and " Sasha " was thereupon awarded his second Hero of the Soviet Union on 24 August 1943 . On 21 September 1943 , Pokryshkin was involved in another high - profile air engagement . This one happened at low altitudes right over the front line . It was witnessed by dozens of journalists and representatives of the high command . Pokryshkin shot down three Ju . 88s in a single pass , overcome by hatred , as he had just found out that the entire family of Zhmud , his mechanic , has been killed in German occupied territories . Only two kills were confirmed , the third Ju - 88 being recorded as brought down by the explosion of the second one and not because of Pokryshkin ' s gunfire . All three Junkers are confirmed by German loss records - they were Ju . 88A - 4 s of 5 . / RummKGr . Earlier that same day Pokryshkin had added two more Ju . 87s to his tally , almost certainly Ju . 87D - 5 s of 6 . / StG 1 . 1944 – 1945 . In February 1944 , Pokryshkin was offered a promotion and an easy desk job managing new pilot training . He immediately rejected this offer and stayed at his old regiment and his old rank . He however did not fly nearly as much . Pokryshkin had been made a famous hero by the propaganda machine , and he was not allowed to fly as often because of fear of him getting killed . Instead , Pokryshkin spent a lot of time in the radio bunker , directing his regiment ' s fights over the radio . In June 1944 , Pokryshkin was promoted to colonel and given command of 9th Guards Air Division . On August 19 , 1944 , for 550 front - line sorties and 53 official kills , Pokryshkin was awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union for the third time . He was the first person ever to receive the award three times , and he is the only Soviet soldier to be awarded this during wartime . Pokryshkin was forbidden to fly altogether , but managed to circumvent the rule a few times and still continued to score an occasional kill . One of such occasions occurred on 30 May 1944 near Yassy , Rumania . The whole 16 GIAP engaged a large formation of Ju . 87s heading towards the Soviet ground forces escorted by Fw . 190s and Bf . 109s . In the ensuing " melée " , the Airacobra pilots claimed to shoot down five Stukas , three Focke - Wulfs and one Messerschmitt without losses - three Ju . 87s were shot down by Pokryshkin himself . The next time Pokryshkin scored victories was on 16 July , when he got credit for two more Stukas and one Hs . 129 of 10 . ( Pz ) / SG 9 , probably the Henschel Hs . 129B - 2 of " Hauptmann " Rudolf - Heinz Ruffer , credited with 80 tank - kills . His last victory was another Ju . 87 , downed on 14 January 1945 . Out of his official score of 65 victories , only six were scored in the last two years of the war . The bulk of Pokryshkin ' s victories came during the time when the Soviet Air Force was still fighting at a disadvantage , including some of the highest scores for any Soviet pilot during the most difficult first year of the war . After the war . When the Second World War ended , Pokryshkin found himself shunned due to his war - time preference for non - Soviet aircraft . In 1948 he graduated from the Military Academy in Frunze . Between 1949 – 1955 he was Deputy commander of the 33rd Fighter Air Defense and the commander of the 88th Fighter Aviation Corps in Rzhev . He was repeatedly passed up for promotion . Only after Stalin ' s death did he find himself back in favor and finally promoted to Air Marshal . However he never reached a very high position in the Soviet Air Force , mostly serving in regional commander roles . In 1957 he graduated from General Staff Academy . After graduation , served as chief of fighter aircraft of the North Caucasian military defense . From 1959 , he served in the 8th Army Air Defense separate ( Kiev ) and from 1961 to 1968 was Commander of the 8th Army Air Defense and deputy commander of the Kiev Military District Air Defense Forces . In 1968 he became Deputy Chief of the Air Defense Forces . His highest position was as president of DOSAAF ( 1972 – 1981 ) , a mostly civilian organization that was largely tasked with training young civilians and preparing them for service with the Air Force . Pokryshkin again found himself ostracized for his honesty . Despite strong pressure , he never wrote anything or supported glorification of premier Leonid Brezhnev ' s role in the battle of Kuban , where Brezhnev was a minor general . Pokryshkin died on November 13 , 1985 at the age of 72 . In Novosibirsk , a street , a square and a subway station are named in his honour . He wrote several books about his wartime experiences , none of which appear to be translated into English . He appeared in several episodes of the " Unknown War " documentaries narrated by Burt Lancaster . Aircraft flown by Pokryshkin . Pokryshkin started the war flying the Mikoyan - Gurevich MiG - 3 fighter , in which he scored almost twenty victories . The unit was given the honor " 16th Guards Fighter Regiment " in March 1942 . At this time , or soon after this , the unit received some Yak - 1 s , in which Pokryshkin also scored victories . In January 1943 his regiment converted to lend - lease Bell P - 39 Airacobras , which despite a persistent myth the Soviets never used in the ground attack role . Soviet pilots liked this aircraft , and found it quite competitive with the Messerschmitt Bf - 109 and superior to the Focke - Wulf FW - 190 at the low air combat altitudes common on the Eastern Front . Pokryshkin really enjoyed the 37mm cannon ' s destructive firepower , and the 2 upper nose - mounted . 50 caliber machine guns , synchronized to fire through the propellor ( airscrew ) , in addition to the pair of . 30 caliber machine guns mounted in each wing , outside the propellor arc and therefore unsynchronized . He claimed that the cannon ' s trigger , positioned at the top of the joystick , was impossible to push without moving the pilot ' s hand , which made the aircraft deviate from the gunsight , so finally he had his regiment ' s aircraft rigged so that a single button simultaneously fired cannon and machine guns . In his memoirs he describes many enemy aircraft immediately disintegrating upon being hit by the salvo . Pokryshkin and his regiment were repeatedly asked to convert to new Soviet fighters such as the La - 5 and Yak - 3 . However Pokryshkin found La - 5 ' s firepower insufficient and personally disliked Yakovlev so he never did . Finally , in 1944 , he found an aircraft that he was willing to convert to : the Lavochkin La - 7 . Unfortunately one of his close friends , Soviet 50 - kill ( 31 personal and 19 group ) ace Alexander Klubov was killed in a landing mishap while converting to the La - 7 . The crash was blamed on the malfunction of the plane ' s hydraulic system . Pokryshkin subsequently cancelled his regiment ' s conversion , and there are multiple reports that they instead began flying Bell P - 63 Kingcobras . By the lend - lease agreement with United States , the Soviet Union was not allowed to use P - 63s against Germany ; they were given only to be used in the eventual battle with Japan . Thus it is quite understandable that no mention of this appears in any official records . However , personal accounts of German pilots and flak crewmen who encountered P - 63s in the skies of Eastern Prussia as well as the memoirs of one of the pilots in Pokryshkin ' s squadron appear to confirm that fact . It is reported that 9th IAD was given some 36 P - 63s but these were not used while the fighting was still in progress . MiG - 3 aircraft were " white 5 " , " white 67 " , " 4 " , and " 7 " and also " 01 " [ likely the winter - scheme aircraft behind him in a photo ] ( perhaps not in this order ) . The likliest order is " 7 " , " 4 " , " 01 " ( winter 1941 - February 1942 ) , " white 5 " ( shows " GVARDIYA " on the intakes — likely dates to when the unit was awarded this designation ) , and finally " 67 " . He then flew Yak - 1 fighters when the unit partially re - equipped with them . He flew a P - 39K - 1 " White 13 " 42 - 4421 over the Kuban , converted in late June to P - 39N - 0 42 - 9004 " white 100 " , and on May 28 , 1943 , flew " white 17 " , 41 - 38520 for a single mission , and in the famous photo taken using the Autobahn as a runway , flew P - 39Q - 15 " white 50 " , Serial Number painted out ( originally assigned to K . V . Sukhov ) . He was given 5 La - 7 aircraft with the inscription , " From the Workers of Novosibirsk to Hero of the Soviet Union Alexandr Ivanovich Pokhryshkin " , but did not fly in them himself . An La - 7 - equipped unit was , in 1945 , made a part of the 9th Guards Division , making it a FOUR - Regiment Division . At one point in 1944 he apparently was given an La - 5FN for his personal use pending the hoped - for Lavochkin conversion of the entire unit . The unit apparently flew P - 63A or C Kingcobras post war , and Pokryshkin would have again numbered his aircraft " 100 " . Finally , one or more of the 9th Guards Fighter Division units MAY have eventually converted to the Yak - 9P before his attendance at the War College in 1948 . Combat record . The most accepted figures of his combat record are : Note : based on Pokryshkin ' s memoirs and personal notebooks , his score stands above 100 . The Soviet air force did not officially confirm kills whose wreckage could not be found , thus many aircraft shot down over enemy territory were never confirmed . In recent years the actual amount of Pokryshkin ' s kills seems to become controversial , depending on the source . For example , Russian historian Mikhail Yurevich Vykov researched in official records of victories , and downsized his tally to 46 individual and 6 shared victories . This author , together with Aleksandr Rodionov , wrote an article mamed " Mutnoye Nebo 1941 goda " ( " The Dirty Sky of the year 1941 " ) stating that Pokryshkin tried to steal Rechkalov ' s kills during 1941 . However , in the other hand , researcher Oleg V . Levchenko found - based in other official documents , personal documents of Pokryshkin found after his death ( that he kept away of his family ) and memoirs of other Pokryshkin ' s comrades - that Pokryshkin in fact shot down 94 enemy aircraft , damaged 19 and destroyed three more in the ground . Levchenko found that no less than 15 victories he scored in 1941 were not taken into account , because the documents confirming them were destroyed during the hurried withdrawals from one base to another . That might explain the difference between the figures of Vykov and Levchenko . Other factor must be taken into account to solve such differences : Pokryshkin , as most other Soviet aces , also engaged in the common practice of giving his kills to fallen comrades . Each kill was rewarded with a substantial monetary bonus , and on of the day of a pilot ' s death all regiment kills would often be credited to him in order to give his family some support . Note that the vast majority of Pokryshkin ' s kills have been scored before and during 1943 ( when the quality of the Luftwaffe ' s airmen was higher ) , and since the summer of 1944 he had been absolutely forbidden to engage in air combat ( and he sometimes disobeyed the order ) . List of engagements and victories . " This list is considered incomplete . It is based on Pokryshkin ' s memoirs " Poznat ' sebya v boyu " , combined with Vykov ' s work and Polak ' s " Stalinovi Sokoli " , cross - referenced with available German loss sources . " 1941 . 14 confirmed victories ( plus several unconfirmed ) , all flying MiG - 3 1942 . 7 confirmed victories , all flying the Yak - 1 1943 . 55 confirmed victories Mid August — transferred to new area ; Airacobras often attacked by other Soviet pilots as the unfamiliar type looks like the Bf . 109 1945 . 1 + confirmed victories Summary of victories . Total : 88 Legacy . A minor planet 3348 Pokryshkin discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1978 is named after him .