Aleksandr Pishvanov Praporshik Aleksandr Mikhailovich Pishvanov was a World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories . After an unsuccessful fight against the Communist takeover of Russia , he became an American citizen in 1928 . His engineering skills were useful to both Sikorsky Aviation and to Seversky Aircraft Corporation from 1926 onwards . In 1942 , he helped Walt Disney produce Victory Through Air Power to support the American war effort . Pishvanov ' s interest in aviation ended only with his death in New York City in 1964 . Biography . Before World War I . Aleksandr Pishvanov was born in Novocherkassk , the Russian Empire on 21 October 1893 , into a farm family of a dozen children . His family raised horses for the Russian cavalry , and wheat . Young Aleksandr disliked both horses and farming , so he gained a degree as an engineer . Pishvanov became interested in aviation while studying engineering . After graduation , he cadged a ride in an airplane in 1912 . He subsequently trained as a pilot at the Odessa Aero Club , and was granted Aviator ' s Certificate No . 190 in October 1913 . World War I service . Pishvanov enlisted just after hostilities broke out , and began World War I as a " Nijnichin " in the cavalry , serving through Summer 1915 , and winning all four classes of the Cross of Saint George . He then transferred to aviation . In Autumn 1915 , he began pilot ' s training at the Sevastopol Military Flying School . He completed training on the Farman F . 22 pusher on 28 January 1916 , and progressed to learning the Voisin pusher . He finished this training on 26 March 1916 ; he graduated from the school the next month as a noncommissioned officer . In early May 1916 , he was posted to the 27th Corps Detachment as a pilot of two - seater reconnaissance aircraft . On 11 June , Pishvanov and his aerial observer used a Voisin to launch a pointblank attack on an enemy Albatros in the vicinity of Krevo - Kamenka at 2 , 000 meters altitude . Though the Albatros dropped out of range and was flown rapidly behind its own lines , the aerial victory went unconfirmed . Two months later , Pishvanov was sent to the Moscow Military Flying School for fighter conversion training to further develop his skills . He graduated qualified on Nieuport s on 9 July . He was then posted on 7 August 1916 to the 10th Fighter Detachment near Volhynia at its commander ' s request , on the southwestern end of the Eastern Front . Assigned to fly Nieuport 9 s armed with a Lewis gun , Pishvanov flew his first fighter sortie on 2 October 1916 . In December , the 10th Fighter Detachment shifted to Galazi , Romania to fly guard over pontoon bridges over the Danube River , in an assignment that included no air to air combat . While attached to the 10th Fighter Detachment , he used a Nieuport 21 to shoot down five enemy planes between 21 March and 7 July 1917 . After downing enemy two - seaters in the vicinity of Galați on both 21 and 28 March 1917 , he was promoted to Ensign and awarded the Order of Saint Anne , Fourth Class . On 15 April , he staked another victory claim , but it was unverified . On one mission during the Summer of 1917 , Smirnov had a vodka - saturated watermelon lashed to his Nieuport ' s outer wing strut . While taking a flight to cool it , he came under antiaircraft fire and took evasive action . The watermelon loosed itself and " bombed " the enemy trenches below . A report to the 10th Detachment from 10th Army noted : " Although the large bomb did not explode , it appears to have caused a great deal of confusion . " Pishvanov found himself in a hard - fought aerial battle on 26 June 1917 . He fought several opponents to a standoff despite a machine gun that temporarily jammed after his first firing pass , then having hand grenade s thrown at him . After seven attacks , he emerged the victor over a two - seater . He then received the Order of Saint Stanilas Third Class . On 4 July , he fought in five clashes along the Siret River . In the last one , he scored his fourth confirmed victory when he downed an Austro - Hungarian reconnaissance craft , Hansa - Brandenburg C . I serial number 68 . 54 , over Endependance , having raked the two - seater with a surprise burst of bullets from less than 40 meters range . On the morning of the 7th , he finished his victory tally by shooting down an enemy two - seater over Latinul . He chased it down from 4 , 400 meters to 1 , 200 meters . Ignoring a leg wound inflicted by the observer ' s gunfire , he destroyed it with a pointblank burst . He was awarded the Order of Saint George Fourth Class and the Order of Saint Vladimir Fourth Class with Swords and Bow for this action . Also , on 9 July 1917 , he was honored by the Supreme Commander in Chief ' s Order 599 , which appointed Pishvanov a military pilot . On 11 July 1917 , he was wounded in combat , losing two fingers from his right hand . Closing to his usual close range to fire , he was wounded while his gun jammed . Undaunted , Pishvanov cleared the jam and chased the enemy plane back to its own territory . He then returned to base , only to wreck his Nieuport , number N1890 . On 5 September 1917 , as a replacement for the craft in which he had scored all his victories , he was re - equipped with Nieuport 17 serial number N4191 . He would fly this craft in September and October 1917 . In December 1917 , he was promoted to " Poruchik " . Also in December , in the wake of the October Revolution , Pishvanov would defect to his native Novocherkassk ; there he joined the Volunteer Army of Generals Anton Denikin and Mikhail Alekseyev . Post World War I . During the Summer of 1919 , Pishvanov began to fly a Sopwith Camel in operations of the 6th Aviation Detachment against the Red Army ; he was mentioned in orders by General Alexander Kutepov . However , as the Volunteer Army retreated as 1919 turned into 1920 , the 6th Aviation Detachment was withdrawn to Grozny . To escape the surrounding Bolshevik forces , Pishvanov flew to newly independent Georgia and joined the Georgian Army . He also found employment with an automobile company . When the Red Army invasion of Georgia came in early 1921 , he escaped through Iran to Great Britain . There he served for a time as a pilot instructor in the Royal Air Force . In 1926 , Pishanov emigrated to the United States to work for Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation as an engineer . He became an American citizen in 1928 . In 1931 , he changed employment to work for his fellow Russian emigre , Alexander de Seversky , at Seversky Aircraft Corporation . In 1942 , Pishvanov and Seversky joined Walt Disney in making Victory Through Air Power to support the American war effort . Alexandr Pishvanov died in New York City in 1964 .