The Red Air Force at War : Barbarossa and the Retreat to Moscow : Recollections of Soviet Fighter Pilots on the Eastern Front

192 Pages·2007·2.67 MB·English

by  Drabkin

THE RED AIR FORCE AT WAR

BARBAROSSA AND THE
RETREAT TO MOSCOW
Recollections of Fighter Pilots on the Eastern Front
THE RED AIR FORCE AT WAR

BARBAROSSA AND THE
RETREAT TO MOSCOW
Recollections of Fighter Pilots on the Eastern Front

ARTEM DRABKIN

With contributions by
Mikhail Bykov (research and aircraft profiles)
Alexei Pekarsh (introduction)
Andrei Sukhrukov (appended interview with N.G. Golodnikov)
Translator
Bair Irincheev
English text
Christopher Summerville
First published in Great Britain in 2007 by
Pen & Sword Military
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS
Copyright © Artem Drabkin 2007
ISBN 978-1-84415-563-7
The right of Artem Drabkin to be identified as Author of this Work has
been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including
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system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.
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Contents

List of Plates
Introduction
Chapter 1 Vitaly I. Klimenko
Chapter 2 Alexander E. Shvarev
Chapter 3 Vitaly V. Rybalko
Chapter 4 Viktor M. Sinaisky
Chapter 5 Alexander F. Khaila
Chapter 6 Ivan D. Gaidaenko
Appendix I Fighter Aircraft on the Eastern Front:
Nikolai G. Golodnikov Interviewed by
Andrei Sukhrukov
Appendix II Observations and Notes on Soviet
Fighter Production on the Eve of
Barbarossa
Appendix III Featured Aircraft – Quick Reference
Guide
Appendix IV Glossary
Index
A time will come, a fearsome time, when the enemy will walk over this
land, and all the land will be entangled with barbed wire and iron birds will
be flying in the sky hurting people with their iron beaks. That will be
already before the end of this world …
A. Kuznetsov, Babi Yar
List of Plates

(Plates appear between pages 112 and 113)
1. Ivan D. Gaidaenko.
2. Nikolai G. Golodnikov.
3. Alexander F. Khaila.
4. Vitaly I. Klimenko.
5. Vitaly V. Rybalko.
6. Alexander E. Shvarev.
7. Viktor M. Sinaisky.
8. Members Of A Flying Club.
9. Cadets Ivan Shumaev and Vitaly Klimenko.
10. Polikarpov U-2 Training Plane.
11. Vitaly Klimenko.
12. Graduation Photo.
13. Graduation Photo.
14. Last Serial Model I-16 Type 29.
15. Vitaly Rybalko.
16. Yak-1 in Flight.
17. LaGG-3 in the Air in Winter 1941.
18. Repair of I-16 Fighters at a Moscow Plant.
19. Results of German Air Strikes.
20. ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ I.G. Romanenko.
21. Soviet Airfields.
22. Mechanics Prepare an I-16 for Flight.
23. MiG-3 Squadron over Moscow.
24. Fighters of the 156th Fighter Regiment.
25. Swearing the Oath.
26. Pilots of the 17th Guards Ground Assault Regiment.
27. Repair Workshops.
28. Moscow Air Defence Pilots with an I-16.
29. Breakfast in Between Sorties.
30. Loading a Fighter’s Synchronized Machine Guns.
31. Dogfight over Murmansk in 1942.
32. Pilots on Duty.
33. A Sailor Guards a Captured German Pilot.
34. Wreckage of a Downed German Me 110.
35. Vitaly Klimenko.
36. Yak-1s from the 1st Guards Fighter Regiment.
37. Pilots of the 1st Guards Fighter Regiment.
38. V. Klimenko.
39. V. Klimenko Joins the Communist Party.
40. Congratulating Pilots on a Successful Mission.
41. V. Klimenko in the Cockpit of a Yak-7B.
42. Alexander Shvarev (on the Left) at His La-5FN.
43. Aces of the 40th Guards.
44. Cadet N.G. Golodnikov.
45. N.G. Golodnikov and Airacobra.
46. Boris Safonov and British Pilots from the 151st RAF Wing.
47. Pilots of the 2nd Guards Fighter Regiment.
48. 1st Squadron of the 168th Fighter Regiment.
49. Commander I.I. Petrov.
50. Pilots of the 168th Fighter Regiment.
51. Instructor Pilots of Chuguevo Air Academy.
52. ‘Malyi Theatre for the Front.’
53. A Squadron of the 122nd Fighter Regiment.
54. Fragment of a Newspaper Article.
55. 19th GIAP Regimental Commander Georgi I. Reifschneider.
56. Lieutenant Colonel Ivan D. Gaidaenko.
57. Ivan D. Gaidaenko in the Cockpit of His Airacobra.
58. La-5FN of the 40th Guards Fighter Regiment.
59. La-5 of the 98th Guards Fighter Regiment.
60. P-40A Kittyhawk of the 2nd Guards Fighter Regiment.
61. MiG-3 of the 122nd Fighter Regiment.