Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
🗓 On September 18, 1918, the legendary Soviet pilot Viktor Talalikhin was born.
✈️ During the Great Patriotic War he courageously fought near Moscow in the 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment. He made over 60 combat sorties and downed six Nazi airplanes.
🎖 On the night of August 7, 1941, during an air battle over Moscow, Viktor Talalikhin rammed a German Heinkel He 111 bomber after the weapons system of his Polikarpov I-16 fighter failed. One of history’s first night rammings in history! The brave pilot was wounded but managed to parachute from the damaged fighter and survived. On August 8 he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
✈️ During the most dire times of the Great Patriotic War Talalikhin’s immortal deed inspired the Red Army soldiers. Overall, Soviet pilots rammed enemy planes over 600 times during the war.
🕯 Talalikhin made his last sortie on October 27, 1941. Outside of Podolsk in an unequal dogfight the pilot managed to down two enemy planes before losing his life.
#FacesOfVictory
✈️ During the Great Patriotic War he courageously fought near Moscow in the 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment. He made over 60 combat sorties and downed six Nazi airplanes.
🎖 On the night of August 7, 1941, during an air battle over Moscow, Viktor Talalikhin rammed a German Heinkel He 111 bomber after the weapons system of his Polikarpov I-16 fighter failed. One of history’s first night rammings in history! The brave pilot was wounded but managed to parachute from the damaged fighter and survived. On August 8 he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
✈️ During the most dire times of the Great Patriotic War Talalikhin’s immortal deed inspired the Red Army soldiers. Overall, Soviet pilots rammed enemy planes over 600 times during the war.
🕯 Talalikhin made his last sortie on October 27, 1941. Outside of Podolsk in an unequal dogfight the pilot managed to down two enemy planes before losing his life.
#FacesOfVictory
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
⭐️ #OTD in 1921, legendary Soviet fighter pilot Lidiya Litvyak was born. She went down in history under the call sign «White Lily». According to legend, this flower was painted on her aircraft.
Since childhood, Lidiya had dreamed of conquering the sky. Already at the age of 14, she enrolled in an aeroclub, and at 15, she made her first solo flight. After graduating from the aviation school, the 19-year-old herself prepared cadets for flights.
⚔️ After the start of the Great Patriotic War, Litvyak enrolled in the women’s 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, where she piloted the Yakovlev Yak-1 fighter.
In September, Lidiya participated in the fierce battles over Stalingrad. Due to her successes in the sky, Litvyak was transferred to the 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, the «regiment of aces». After the successful counter-offensive at Stalingrad in 1943, Lydiya Litvyak was sent to fight in the skies over Donbass.
🕯 On August 1, 1943, during the defence of Donbass, Litvyak engaged in an air battle with several Messerschmitts, which were superior to the Yak-1 in speed and manoeuvrability. The radio operators intercepted alarming reports from the pilots in the sky: «Lily has been shot down!». The crash site of the Litvyak fighter could not be found for decades. At the time of her last combat mission, she was only 21 years old.
The «White Lily» carried out 168 combat sorties and destroyed 16 enemy aircraft (12 solo and four shared victories). She became the most effective female pilot of World War II.
Read in full
#FacesOfVictory
Since childhood, Lidiya had dreamed of conquering the sky. Already at the age of 14, she enrolled in an aeroclub, and at 15, she made her first solo flight. After graduating from the aviation school, the 19-year-old herself prepared cadets for flights.
⚔️ After the start of the Great Patriotic War, Litvyak enrolled in the women’s 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, where she piloted the Yakovlev Yak-1 fighter.
In September, Lidiya participated in the fierce battles over Stalingrad. Due to her successes in the sky, Litvyak was transferred to the 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, the «regiment of aces». After the successful counter-offensive at Stalingrad in 1943, Lydiya Litvyak was sent to fight in the skies over Donbass.
🕯 On August 1, 1943, during the defence of Donbass, Litvyak engaged in an air battle with several Messerschmitts, which were superior to the Yak-1 in speed and manoeuvrability. The radio operators intercepted alarming reports from the pilots in the sky: «Lily has been shot down!». The crash site of the Litvyak fighter could not be found for decades. At the time of her last combat mission, she was only 21 years old.
The «White Lily» carried out 168 combat sorties and destroyed 16 enemy aircraft (12 solo and four shared victories). She became the most effective female pilot of World War II.
Read in full
#FacesOfVictory