An excerpt characterizing Kozhedub, Ivan Nikitovich

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This letter had not yet been submitted to the sovereign, when Barclay conveyed to Bolkonsky at dinner that the sovereign personally wanted to see Prince Andrei in order to ask him about Turkey, and that Prince Andrei had to appear at Benigsen's apartment at six o'clock in the evening.
On the same day, news was received in the sovereign's apartment about Napoleon's new movement, which could be dangerous for the army - news that later turned out to be unfair. And on the same morning, Colonel Michaud, driving around the Dris fortifications with the sovereign, proved to the sovereign that this fortified camp, arranged by Pfuel and considered until now the chef d "?uvr" of tactics, supposed to destroy Napoleon - that this camp is nonsense and death Russian army.
Prince Andrei arrived at the apartment of General Benigsen, who occupied a small landowner's house on the very bank of the river. Neither Benigsen nor the sovereign was there, but Chernyshev, the sovereign's adjutant wing, received Bolkonsky and announced to him that the sovereign had gone with General Benigsen and with the Marquis Pauluchi another time that day to bypass the fortifications of the Drissa camp, the convenience of which was beginning to be strongly doubted.
Chernyshev was sitting with a book of a French novel by the window of the first room. This room was probably formerly a hall; there was still an organ in it, on which some kind of carpets were piled, and in one corner stood the folding bed of adjutant Benigsen. This adjutant was here. He, apparently worn out by a feast or business, sat on a folded bed and dozed off. Two doors led from the hall: one directly into the former living room, the other to the right into the office. From the first door came voices speaking German and occasionally French. There, in the former living room, at the request of the sovereign, not a military council was gathered (the sovereign loved uncertainty), but some persons whose opinion about the upcoming difficulties he wanted to know. It was not a military council, but, as it were, a council of the elect to clarify certain issues personally for the sovereign. The following were invited to this half-council: the Swedish general Armfeld, adjutant general Wolzogen, Winzingerode, whom Napoleon called a fugitive French subject, Michaud, Tol, not a military man at all - Count Stein and, finally, Pfuel himself, who, as Prince Andrei heard, was la cheville ouvriere [the basis] of the whole business. Prince Andrei had the opportunity to examine him well, since Pfuel arrived shortly after him and went into the drawing room, stopping for a minute to talk with Chernyshev.
Pfuel at first glance, in his Russian general's badly tailored uniform, which sat awkwardly, as if dressed up, seemed familiar to Prince Andrei, although he had never seen him. It included Weyrother, and Mack, and Schmidt, and many other German theorists of generals, whom Prince Andrei managed to see in 1805; but he was more typical than all of them. Prince Andrey had never seen such a German theoretician, who united in himself everything that was in those Germans.
Pful was short, very thin, but broad-boned, coarse, healthy build, with a wide pelvis and bony shoulder blades. His face was very wrinkled, with deep-set eyes. His hair in front at the temples, obviously, was hastily smoothed with a brush, behind it naively stuck out tassels. He, looking around uneasily and angrily, entered the room, as if he were afraid of everything in the large room into which he had entered. Holding his sword with an awkward movement, he turned to Chernyshev, asking in German where the sovereign was. He evidently wanted to go through the rooms as soon as possible, complete the bows and salutations, and sit down to work in front of the map, where he felt himself in the right place. He hurriedly nodded his head at Chernyshev's words and smiled ironically, listening to his words that the sovereign was inspecting the fortifications that he, Pfuel himself, had laid according to his theory. He was bassist and cool, as self-confident Germans say, muttered to himself: Dummkopf ... or: zu Grunde die ganze Geschichte ... or: s "wird was gescheites d" raus werden ... [nonsense ... to hell with the whole thing ... (German) ] Prince Andrei did not hear and wanted to pass, but Chernyshev introduced Prince Andrei to Pful, noting that Prince Andrei had come from Turkey, where the war had ended so happily. Pfuel almost glanced not so much at Prince Andrei as through him, and said with a laugh: "Da muss ein schoner taktischcr Krieg gewesen sein." ["That must have been the correct tactical war." (German)] - And, laughing contemptuously, he went into the room from which voices were heard.
Evidently, Pfuel, who was always ready for ironic irritation, was especially agitated today by the fact that they dared to inspect his camp without him and judge him. Prince Andrei, from this one short meeting with Pfuel, thanks to his memories of Austerlitz, made up a clear characterization of this man. Pfuel was one of those hopelessly, invariably, to the point of martyrdom, self-confident people that only Germans are, and precisely because only Germans are self-confident on the basis of an abstract idea - science, that is, an imaginary knowledge of perfect truth. The Frenchman is self-confident because he considers himself personally, both in mind and in body, irresistibly charming to both men and women. An Englishman is self-confident on the grounds that he is a citizen of the most comfortable state in the world, and therefore, as an Englishman, he always knows what he needs to do, and knows that everything he does as an Englishman is undoubtedly good. The Italian is self-confident because he is agitated and easily forgets himself and others. The Russian is self-confident precisely because he knows nothing and does not want to know, because he does not believe that it is possible to fully know anything. The German is self-confident worse than anyone, and harder than everyone, and more repulsive than everyone, because he imagines that he knows the truth, a science that he himself invented, but which for him is absolute truth. Such, obviously, was Pfuel. He had a science - the theory of oblique movement, which he derived from the history of the wars of Frederick the Great, and everything that he encountered in the recent history of the wars of Frederick the Great, and everything that he encountered in the latest military history, seemed to him nonsense, barbarism, an ugly clash, in which so many mistakes were made on both sides that these wars could not be called wars: they did not fit the theory and could not serve as the subject of science.
In 1806, Pfuel was one of the drafters of the plan for the war that ended in Jena and Auerstet; but in the outcome of this war, he did not see the slightest evidence of the incorrectness of his theory. On the contrary, the deviations made from his theory, according to his concepts, were the only reason for all the failure, and he said with his characteristic joyful irony: "Ich sagte ja, daji die ganze Geschichte zum Teufel gehen wird." [After all, I said that the whole thing would go to hell (German)] Pfuel was one of those theoreticians who love their theory so much that they forget the purpose of theory - its application to practice; in love with theory, he hated all practice and did not want to know it. He even rejoiced in his failure, because failure, which came from the deviation in practice from theory, proved to him only the validity of his theory.
He said a few words to Prince Andrei and Chernyshev about a real war with the expression of a man who knows in advance that everything will be bad and that he is not even dissatisfied with it. The uncombed tassels of hair sticking out at the back of the head and the hastily slicked temples confirmed this with particular eloquence.
He went into another room, and the bassy and grumbling sounds of his voice were immediately heard from there.

Before Prince Andrei had time to follow Pfuel with his eyes, Count Benigsen hurriedly entered the room and, nodding his head to Bolkonsky, without stopping, went into the office, giving some orders to his adjutant. The sovereign followed him, and Bennigsen hurried forward to prepare something and meet the sovereign in time. Chernyshev and Prince Andrei went out onto the porch. The sovereign with a tired look dismounted from his horse. Marquis Pauluchi said something to the sovereign. The sovereign, bowing his head to the left, listened with an unhappy look to Paulucci, who spoke with particular fervor. The emperor moved forward, apparently wanting to end the conversation, but the flushed, agitated Italian, forgetting decency, followed him, continuing to say:
- Quant a celui qui a conseille ce camp, le camp de Drissa, [As for the one who advised the Drissa camp,] - said Pauluchi, while the sovereign, entering the steps and noticing Prince Andrei, peered into an unfamiliar face .
– Quant a celui. Sire, - Paulucci continued with desperation, as if unable to resist, - qui a conseille le camp de Drissa, je ne vois pas d "autre alternative que la maison jaune ou le gibet. [As for, sir, before that person , who advised the camp under Driesey, then, in my opinion, there are only two places for him: the yellow house or the gallows.] - Without listening to the end and as if not having heard the words of the Italian, the sovereign, recognizing Bolkonsky, graciously turned to him:
“I am very glad to see you, go to where they have gathered and wait for me. - The emperor went into the office. Behind him walked Prince Pyotr Mikhailovich Volkonsky, Baron Stein, and the doors closed behind them. Prince Andrei, using the permission of the sovereign, went with Pauluchi, whom he knew back in Turkey, to the drawing room where the council had gathered.
Prince Pyotr Mikhailovich Volkonsky served as the chief of staff of the sovereign. Volkonsky left the office and, bringing the cards into the drawing room and laying them out on the table, he passed on the questions on which he wished to hear the opinion of the assembled gentlemen. The fact was that at night the news was received (later turned out to be false) about the movement of the French around the Drissa camp.
The first to speak was General Armfeld, unexpectedly, in order to avoid the present difficulty, by proposing a completely new, in no way (except to show that he, too, may have an opinion) inexplicable position away from the Petersburg and Moscow roads, on which, in his opinion, the army should have united to wait for the enemy. It was evident that Armfeld had drawn up this plan long ago, and that he now presented it not so much with the aim of answering the proposed questions, to which this plan did not answer, but with the aim of taking the opportunity to express it. It was one of millions of assumptions that could be made just as thoroughly as others without having any idea of ​​what character the war would take. Some challenged his opinion, some defended it. The young Colonel Toll disputed the opinion of the Swedish general more than others, and during the argument he took out a written notebook from his side pocket, which he asked permission to read. In a lengthy note, Tol proposed a different plan of campaign - completely contrary to both Armfeld's plan and Pfuel's plan. Pauluchi, objecting to Tolya, proposed a plan for moving forward and attacking, which alone, according to him, could lead us out of the unknown and the trap, as he called the Dris camp in which we were. Pfuel during these disputes and his interpreter Wolzogen (his bridge in a courtly sense) were silent. Pfuel only snorted contemptuously and turned away, showing that he would never stoop to object to the nonsense that he now hears. But when Prince Volkonsky, who was in charge of the debate, called him to present his opinion, he only said:
- What should I ask? General Armfeld offered an excellent position with an open rear. Or attack von diesem italienischen Herrn, sehr schon! [this Italian gentleman, very good! (German)] Or retreat. Auch gut. [Also good (German)] Why ask me? - he said. “After all, you yourself know everything better than me. - But when Volkonsky, frowning, said that he was asking his opinion on behalf of the sovereign, then Pfuel stood up and, suddenly animated, began to say:
- They spoiled everything, confused everyone, everyone wanted to know better than me, and now they came to me: how to fix it? Nothing to fix. Everything must be done exactly according to the reasons I have set forth,” he said, tapping his bony fingers on the table. – What is the difficulty? Nonsense, Kinder spiel. [children's toys (German)] - He went up to the map and began to speak quickly, poking a dry finger on the map and proving that no chance could change the expediency of the Dris camp, that everything was foreseen and that if the enemy really goes around, then the enemy must inevitably be destroyed.
Pauluchi, who did not know German, began to ask him in French. Wolzogen came to the aid of his principal, who did not speak French well, and began to translate his words, barely keeping up with Pfuel, who quickly proved that everything, everything, not only what happened, but everything that could happen, everything was foreseen. in his plan, and that if now there were difficulties, then all the fault was only in the fact that everything was not executed exactly. He constantly laughed ironically, proved, and finally contemptuously gave up proving, just as a mathematician quits verifying the correctness of a problem once proven in various ways. Wolzogen replaced him, continuing to expound his thoughts in French and occasionally saying to Pfuel: "Nicht wahr, Exellenz?" [Isn't that right, Your Excellency? (German)] Pfuel, as in a battle a heated man beats his own, angrily shouted at Wolzogen:
– Nun ja, was soll denn da noch expliziert werden? [Well, yes, what else is there to interpret? (German)] - Pauluchi and Michaud attacked Wolzogen in French in two voices. Armfeld addressed Pfuel in German. Tol explained in Russian to Prince Volkonsky. Prince Andrew silently listened and watched.
Of all these persons, the embittered, resolute and stupidly self-confident Pful was the most arousing interest in Prince Andrei. He, one of all the people present here, obviously did not want anything for himself, did not harbor enmity towards anyone, but wanted only one thing - to put into action the plan drawn up according to the theory that he had deduced over the years of work. He was ridiculous, was unpleasant with his irony, but at the same time he inspired involuntary respect with his boundless devotion to the idea. In addition, in all the speeches of all the speakers, with the exception of Pfuel, there was one common feature that was not at the military council in 1805 - it was now, although hidden, but a panic fear of the genius of Napoleon, a fear that was expressed in every objection. Everything was supposed to be possible for Napoleon, they were waiting for him from all sides, and with his terrible name they destroyed one another's assumptions. One Pful, it seemed, considered him, Napoleon, the same barbarian as all the opponents of his theory. But, in addition to a sense of respect, Pful inspired Prince Andrei with a sense of pity. From the tone with which the courtiers treated him, from what Pauluchi allowed himself to say to the emperor, but most importantly from the somewhat desperate expression of Pfuel himself, it was clear that others knew and he himself felt that his fall was near. And, despite his self-confidence and German grumpy irony, he was pitiful with his smoothed hair on the temples and tassels sticking out at the back of his head. Apparently, although he hid it under the guise of irritation and contempt, he was in despair because the only opportunity now to check on vast experience and prove to the whole world the correctness of his theory eluded him.
The debate went on for a long time, and the longer it went on, the more disputes flared up, reaching shouts and personalities, and the less it was possible to draw any general conclusion from everything that was said. Prince Andrei, listening to this multilingual dialect and these assumptions, plans and denials and cries, was only surprised at what they all said. Those thoughts that had come to him for a long time and often during his military activities, that there is and cannot be any military science and therefore there can be no so-called military genius, now received for him the complete evidence of the truth. “What kind of theory and science could there be in a matter in which the conditions and circumstances are unknown and cannot be determined, in which the strength of the leaders of the war can be even less determined? No one could and cannot know what the position of our and the enemy army will be in a day, and no one can know what the strength of this or that detachment is. Sometimes, when there is no coward in front who will shout: “We are cut off! - and he will run, and there is a cheerful, courageous person in front who will shout: “Hurrah! - a detachment of five thousand is worth thirty thousand, as at Shepgraben, and sometimes fifty thousand run before eight, as at Austerlitz. What kind of science can there be in such a matter, in which, as in any practical matter, nothing can be determined and everything depends on innumerable conditions, the significance of which is determined in one minute, about which no one knows when it will come. Armfeld says that our army is cut off, and Pauluchi says that we have placed the French army between two fires; Michaud says that the worthlessness of the Drissa camp lies in the fact that the river is behind, and Pfuel says that this is his strength. Tol proposes one plan, Armfeld proposes another; and everyone is good, and everyone is bad, and the benefits of any situation can be obvious only at the moment when the event takes place. And why does everyone say: a military genius? Is a genius the person who manages to order the delivery of crackers in time and go to the right, to the left? Just because military people are clothed with brilliance and power, and masses of scoundrels flatter power, giving it the unusual qualities of a genius, they are called geniuses. On the contrary, the best generals I have known are stupid or distracted people. The best Bagration, - Napoleon himself admitted this. And Bonaparte himself! I remember his self-satisfied and limited face on the field of Austerlitz. Not only does a good commander not need a genius and any special qualities, but, on the contrary, he needs the absence of the best, highest, human qualities - love, poetry, tenderness, philosophical inquisitive doubt. He must be limited, firmly convinced that what he does is very important (otherwise he will lack patience), and then only he will be a brave commander. God forbid, if he is a man, he will love someone, take pity, think about what is fair and what is not. It is clear that from time immemorial the theory of geniuses has been forged for them, because they are the authorities. The merit in the success of military affairs does not depend on them, but on the person who shouts in the ranks: they are gone, or shouts: hurrah! And only in these ranks can you serve with confidence that you are useful!“
So thought Prince Andrei, listening to the talk, and woke up only when Pauluchi called him and everyone was already dispersing.
The next day, at the review, the sovereign asked Prince Andrei where he wanted to serve, and Prince Andrei lost himself forever in the court world, not asking to stay with the person of the sovereign, but asking for permission to serve in the army.

Before the opening of the campaign, Rostov received a letter from his parents, in which, briefly informing him of Natasha's illness and the break with Prince Andrei (this break was explained to him by Natasha's refusal), they again asked him to retire and come home. Nikolai, having received this letter, did not try to ask for a vacation or resignation, but wrote to his parents that he was very sorry about Natasha's illness and break with her fiancé and that he would do everything possible to fulfill their desire. He wrote to Sonya separately.
“Adored friend of my soul,” he wrote. “Nothing but honor could keep me from returning to the village. But now, before the opening of the campaign, I would consider myself dishonorable not only before all my comrades, but also before myself, if I preferred my happiness to my duty and love for the fatherland. But this is the last parting. Believe that immediately after the war, if I am alive and loved by you, I will drop everything and fly to you to press you forever to my fiery chest.
Indeed, only the opening of the campaign delayed Rostov and prevented him from coming - as he promised - and marrying Sonya. Otradnensky autumn with hunting and winter with Christmas time and with Sonya's love opened up to him the prospect of quiet aristocratic joys and tranquility, which he had not known before and which now beckoned him to them. “A glorious wife, children, a good flock of hounds, dashing ten - twelve packs of greyhounds, household, neighbors, election service! he thought. But now there was a campaign, and it was necessary to remain in the regiment. And since this was necessary, Nikolai Rostov, by his nature, was also pleased with the life he led in the regiment, and managed to make this life pleasant for himself.
Arriving from vacation, joyfully greeted by his comrades, Nikolai sent for repairs and brought excellent horses from Little Russia, which pleased him and earned him praise from his superiors. In his absence, he was promoted to captain, and when the regiment was put on martial law with an increased kit, he again received his former squadron.
A campaign began, the regiment was moved to Poland, a double salary was issued, new officers arrived, new people, horses; and, most importantly, that excitedly cheerful mood that accompanies the outbreak of war has spread; and Rostov, conscious of his advantageous position in the regiment, devoted himself entirely to the pleasures and interests of military service, although he knew that sooner or later he would have to leave them.

Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub is a famous ace pilot of the Second World War, the most successful fighter pilot in Allied aviation (64 personal victories). Three times Hero of the Soviet Union. Participated in hostilities from 1943 to 1945, all his sorties were made on Lavochkin-designed fighters - La-5 and La-7. During the entire war, he was never shot down. At the end of the war, he continued to serve in the Air Force, remaining an active pilot and mastering the MiG-15 jet fighter. He graduated from the Red Banner Air Force Academy, in 1985 the pilot was awarded the military rank of Air Marshal.

Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub was born on June 8, 1920 into a peasant family in the small Ukrainian village of Obrazhievka, Shostka district, Sumy region. Later he graduated from the chemical-technological technical school and the Shostka flying club. He joined the Red Army in 1940. In 1941 he graduated from the Chuguev Military Aviation Pilot School, where he served as an instructor. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Ivan Kozhedub, together with the aviation school, was evacuated to Central Asia. After submitting numerous reports with a request to send him to the front, his desire was granted. In November 1942, Sergeant Ivan Kozhedub arrived at the disposal of the 240th Fighter Aviation Regiment (IAP) of the emerging 302nd Fighter Aviation Division. In March 1943, parts of the division were sent to the Voronezh Front.

The future ace and Hero of the Soviet Union spent his first sortie on March 26, the flight ended unsuccessfully: his La-5 fighter (side number 75) was damaged in battle, and when returning to the airfield, in addition, he was fired upon by his anti-aircraft artillery. With great difficulty, the pilot was able to bring the car to the airfield and land. After that, he flew old fighters for about a month, until he again received a new La-5.

The ace-pilot opened his battle account for his victories on July 6, 1943 on the Kursk Bulge, shooting down a Ju-87 dive bomber. The very next day, Kozhedub scored a second air victory, shooting down another Ju-87, and in an air battle on July 9 he was able to shoot down 2 German Me-109 fighters at once. Already in August 1943, Ivan Kozhedub became a squadron commander. The squadron commander of the 240th IAP, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Kozhedub, received the first title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal on February 4, 1944 for 146 sorties in which he shot down 20 German aircraft.

Since May 1944, Kozhedub fought on a new modification of the Lavochkin fighter - La-5FN (tail number 14), which was built with the money of the collective farmer of the Stalingrad region V.V. Konev. A few days after receiving it, he shoots down a Ju-87 on it. Over the next six days, the ace pilot writes down 7 more enemy aircraft to his account. At the end of June, he hands over his fighter to K.A. Evstigneev (later twice Hero of the Soviet Union), and he himself transferred to the training regiment. But already in August, Ivan Kozhedub was appointed deputy commander of the 176th Guards Regiment of the IAP. At the same time, the regiment is undergoing a rearmament procedure, receiving new La-7 fighters. The ace pilot got a plane with tail number 27. Ivan Kozhedub would fly on it until the very end of the war.

Captain Ivan Kozhedub was awarded the second Gold Star medal of the guard on August 19, 1944 for 256 sorties, in which he personally shot down 48 German aircraft. Once, during an air battle on a La-7 fighter, which passed over enemy territory, Kozhedub's plane was shot down. On the car, the engine stalled and Ivan Kozhedub, in order not to surrender to the Germans, chose a target for himself on the ground and began to dive at it. When there was very little left to the ground, the fighter engine suddenly started up again and Kozhedub was able to bring the car out of a dive and safely returned to the airfield.

On February 12, 1945, Ivan Kozhedub, paired with his wingman, Lieutenant V.A. Gromakovsky patrolled the space above the leading edge, being in the "free hunting" mode. Having discovered a group of 13 FW-190 fighters, the Soviet pilots immediately attacked them, shooting down 5 German fighters in the process. Three of them were chalked up by Ivan Kozhedub, two by Gromakovsky. On February 15, 1945, in flight over the Oder, Kozhedub was able to shoot down a German Me-262 jet fighter, which was flown by non-commissioned officer K. Lange from I. / KG (J) 54.

By the end of the Great Patriotic War, Major Ivan Kozhedub completed 330 sorties and conducted 120 air battles, while shooting down 64 enemy aircraft. This number does not include 2 American P-51 Mustang fighters shot down by a Soviet ace in the spring of 1945. At the same time, the Americans were the first to attack the La-7 fighter, which was controlled by the Soviet pilot. According to an American pilot who survived this air battle, they confused Kozhedub's La-7 with a German FW-190 fighter and attacked him. Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub received the third "Gold Star" after the war for high military skill, personal courage and courage.

Among the enemy aircraft shot down by Ivan Kozhedub were:

21 FW-190 fighters;
18 Me-109 fighters;
18 Ju-87 bombers;
3 attack aircraft Hs-129;
2 He-111 bombers;
1 PZL P-24 fighter (Romanian);
1 jet aircraft Me-262.

La-5 and La-5FN

La-5 is a single-engine wooden low-wing aircraft. Like the LaGG-3 fighter, the main structural material used in the airframe was pine. For the production of some frames and wing spars, delta wood was used. The wooden parts of the aircraft skin were glued together using a special carbamide KM-1 or resin glue VIAM-B-3.

The aircraft wing, assembled from NACA-23016 and NACA-23010 profiles, was technologically divided into a center section and 2 two-spar consoles, which had plywood working skin. The main landing gear was attached to the metal pipe with the help of an end rib. Between the spars of the center section there were caissons for gas tanks glued out of plywood, and domes for the wheels of the chassis were placed in the bow.
The spars of the aircraft were wooden with special shelves made of delta wood (on fighters of the La-5FN modification, starting from 1944, metal spars were mounted.) Automatic slats, Fraise-type ailerons with a duralumin frame, sheathed with percale and flaps of the "Schrenk" type. The left aileron had a trim tab.

The fuselage of the fighter consisted of a wooden monocoque made as one piece with the keel and a front metal truss. The frame consisted of 15 frames and 4 spars. The fuselage of the fighter was tightly fastened to the center section with 4 steel knots. The cockpit was closed with a plexiglass sliding canopy, which could be locked in the closed and open positions. On the frame behind the back of the pilot's seat was an armor plate 8.5 mm thick.

Stabilizer - two-spar, completely wooden with plywood working skin, plumage - cantilever. The stabilizer of the machine consists of 2 halves, which were attached to the power elements of the tail section of the machine. The elevator with a trimmer had a duralumin frame, which was sheathed with fabric and, like the stabilizer, consisted of two halves. The control of the fighter was mixed: elevators and rudders with the help of cables, ailerons with the help of rigid rods. The release and cleaning of flaps-flaps occurred with the help of a hydraulic drive.

The landing gear of the fighter was retractable, two-bearing with a tail wheel. The main landing gear had oil-pneumatic shock absorbers. The main wheels of the La-5 had dimensions of 650x200 mm and were equipped with air chamber brakes. Tail freely orienting support also retracted into the fuselage and had a wheel size of 300 to 125 mm.

The power plant of the fighter consisted of a star-shaped air-cooled engine M-82, which had a maximum power of 1850 hp. and a three-blade variable-pitch propeller VISH-105V with a diameter of 3.1 meters. The exhaust pipes were combined into 2 jet-type manifolds. To control the temperature of the engine, frontal blinds were used, which were located on the front ring of the hood, as well as 2 flaps on the sides of the hood behind the engine. The aircraft engine was started with compressed air. An oil tank with a capacity of 59 liters was located at the junction of the metal truss and the wooden part of the fuselage. Fuel with a volume of 539 liters was in 5 tanks: 3 center section and 2 console.

The armament of the fighter consisted of 2 synchronous ShVAK cannons of 20 mm caliber with pneumatic and mechanical reloading. The total ammunition was equal to 340 shells. For aiming at the target, a PBP-la collimator sight was used. On aircraft of the La-5FN model, wing bomb racks were additionally installed, which were designed to carry bombs weighing up to 100 kg.

In addition to the standard set of control and flight and navigation instruments, the fighter's equipment included an oxygen device, a short-wave radio station RSI-4 and a landing light. The supply of oxygen was enough for 1.5 hours of flight at an altitude of 8000 m.

The letters FN in the La-5FN marking stood for Forced Direct Fuel Injection and referred to the engine. This aircraft began to enter the troops in March 1943. Its ASh-82FN engine developed a maximum power of 1850 hp. and could withstand the forced mode for 10 minutes of flight. This version of the La-5 fighter was the fastest. Near the ground, the car accelerated to 593 km / h, and at an altitude of 6250 meters it could reach a speed of 648 km / h. In April 1943, in Lyubertsy near Moscow, a series of air battles took place between the La-5FN and the captured Bf.109G-2 fighter. Training battles demonstrated the overwhelming superiority of the La-5 in speed at low and medium altitudes, which were the main air battles of the Eastern Front.

La-7 became a further modernization of the La-5 fighter and one of the best serial machines of the end of World War II. This fighter had excellent flight qualities, high maneuverability and good weapons. At low and medium altitudes, he had an advantage over the last piston fighters of Germany and the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. La-7, on which Kozhedub ended the war, is currently located in the Central Museum of the Russian Air Force in the village of Monino.

In its appearance and size, the fighter was very slightly different from the La-5. One of the significant differences was the spars, which, like on the latest La-5FN series, were made of metal. At the same time, the skin and ribs of the aircraft remained unchanged. The cross-sectional dimensions of the spars were reduced, which made it possible to free up additional space for fuel tanks. The weight of the fighter spars has decreased by 100 kg. The aerodynamics of the fighter has improved significantly, this was achieved, in particular, by transferring and improving the shape of the radiator. Also, the internal sealing of the aircraft was improved by completely eliminating the gaps between the pipes and holes for them in the fire bulkhead and slots in the hood. All these improvements allowed the La-7 to gain an advantage over the La-5 in flight speed, rate of climb and maximum ceiling. The maximum speed of the La-7 was 680 km/h.

Two 20-mm ShVAK cannons or 3 20-mm B-20 cannons could be installed as weapons on the La-7. The guns had hydromechanical synchronizers that prevented projectiles from entering the propeller blades. Most of the La-7, like the La-5, was armed with two ShVAK guns, which had 200 rounds of ammunition per barrel. The fighter's ammunition included armor-piercing incendiary and fragmentation-incendiary shells weighing 96 grams. Armor-piercing incendiary shells at a distance of 100 meters pierced armor up to 20 mm thick along the normal. bombs weighing up to 100 kg could be suspended on two underwing nodes of the fighter.

Sources used:
www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=403
www.airwar.ru/enc/fww2/la5.html
www.airwar.ru/enc/fww2/la7.html
Materials of the free Internet encyclopedia "Wikipedia"

Three times Hero of the Soviet Union Kozhedub Ivan Nikitovich said that he learned to fly and be a real person from the first ace fighter of our domestic aviation Pokryshkin A.I., and he was far from phrase-mongering. Kozhedub did not know how to speak beautifully at all. Here to joke, to cheer up comrades - yes. He loved and knew how, "to raise the general tone." But his attitude to the three times Hero of the Soviet Union Pokryshkin (later also an air marshal) was sacred.

“At first I was not lucky in my favorite business - in aviation,” Ivan Nikitovich admitted. - I did everything on a grand scale, with a jerk, relying most of all on my strength. But it was the example of Alexander Ivanovich that convinced me: aviation - even if you can’t do a day without courage there - is a very accurate thing! Each feat of an ace pilot is not only desperate courage, but at the same time a very accurate calculation, built on impeccable knowledge of technology. That's when the risk is justified. And sometimes it changes - at the will of one person only! - the results of a major air battle, giving it a completely unexpected turn for the enemy.

It is not surprising that these two heroes were destined to become real, sincere friends. And now, when both are no longer there, it is strange and sad to read in some newspaper publications which of them is “better”, who is “first”. Both of them entered the history of the Patriotic War as the most worthy. And in the grateful hearts of their compatriots - too.

The brief biographical dictionary "Heroes of the Soviet Union" reports that the famous ace Kozhedub Ivan Nikitovich was born in the village. Obrazhievka, Shostka district, Sumy region On June 8, 1920, he became the fifth, youngest child in a poor peasant family. Vanya was born after a terrible famine in the country. However, according to Kozhedub himself, it is known that the true date of his birth is July 6, 1922. Ivan Nikitovich "aged" himself for two years, so that after seven years he could enter the Shostka Chemical-Technological College, and in 1938 - in the flying club. Not the last role in the decision to study at the flying club was played by the elegant uniform of the accountants. In April 1939, Ivan first rose above the ground in a training aircraft.

In 1940, when he was actually only 18 years old, he entered the Chuguev Military Aviation Pilot School (now Kharkov Flight University), for excellent success after graduating from college in 1941, Sergeant Kozhedub was left as an instructor. He related to flying business “according to science”: he studied questions of tactics, outlined descriptions of air battles, drew diagrams and flew - to self-forgetfulness. Kozhedub recalled that time of his formation: “It would be possible, it seems, and would not get out of the plane. The very technique of piloting, polishing aerobatics gave me incomparable joy. All days, including weekends, he had planned out by the minute, everything was subordinated to one goal - to become a worthy air fighter.

With the outbreak of World War II, Ivan Kozhedub bombarded his superiors with reports with a request to send him to the front, but they released him only in the fall of the 42nd, to the 240th Fighter Aviation Regiment, where he had to retrain for the latest La-5 fighter at that time. Ivan Nikitovich himself wrote about the first combat “baptism” as follows: “In March 1943, I arrived at the Voronezh Front as an ordinary pilot in a regiment commanded by Major Soldatenko. The regiment was armed with La 5 aircraft. From the first day I began to look closely at the combat work of my new comrades. He listened attentively to the analysis of the performance of combat work during the day, studied the tactics of the enemy and tried to combine the theory acquired at school with front-line experience. Thus, day after day, I prepared myself for the battle with the enemy. Only a few days had passed, and it seemed to me that my preparation was endlessly delayed. I wanted to fly out together with my comrades towards the enemy as soon as possible.
Kozhebub at the nominal aircraft

The meeting with the enemy happened unexpectedly. It happened like this: on March 26, 1943, I, together with the leading junior lieutenant Gabunia, taxied to the start on duty. Suddenly, we were given the signal to take off. Junior Lieutenant Gabunia quickly took off. I was a little delayed on takeoff and after the first turn I lost the leader. I was not able to contact either the host or the land by radio. Then I decided to fly over the airfield. Having gained 1500 m of altitude, he began piloting. Suddenly, 800 meters below me, I noticed 6 aircraft that were approaching the airfield with a decrease. At first glance, I mistook them for Pe-2s, but after a few seconds I saw bomb explosions and anti-aircraft fire at our airfield.

Then I realized that these were German Me 110 aircraft. I remember how strongly my heart beat. There were enemy planes in front of me. I decided to attack the enemy, quickly turning around, at maximum speed I went to approach. There were 500 meters left when the air combat rule I had heard from the commander flashed through my mind: “Look back before attacking.” Looking around, I noticed how a plane with a white spinner was approaching me from behind at high speed. Before I could recognize whose plane it was, he had already opened fire on me. One shell exploded in my cockpit. With a sharp turn to the left with a slide, I get out from under the blow. Two Me 109s passed at high speed to my right. Now I realized that they, noticing my attack, dived and attacked me. However, my failed attack forced the Me 110 to abandon a second bombing run. In this meeting, I was convinced in practice how important the role of the follower is to cover the leader when attacking the target. (F.Ya. Falaleev "One hundred Stalinist falcons. In the battles for the Motherland", M., "Yauza", "Eksmo". 2005).

Ivan Kozhedub shot down the first German aircraft in tandem with the wingman Vasily Mukhin on the Kursk Bulge. And by October 1943, the track record of the squadron commander of the 240th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Kozhedub I.N. totaled 146 sorties, 20 personally shot down aircraft. Demanding and demanding of himself, frantic and tireless in battle, Kozhedub was an ideal air fighter, enterprising and executive, daring and prudent, brave and skillful. "Precise maneuver, stunning swiftness of attack and strike from an extremely short distance" - this is how Ivan Nikitovich defined the basis of air combat. He was born for battle, he lived in battle, he thirsted for it. In the battles for the Dnieper, the pilots of the regiment in which Ivan Kozhedub fought for the first time met with Goering's aces from the Melders squadron and emerged victorious from the duel. In these battles, Kozhedub significantly increased his score. For 10 days of intense fighting, he personally shot down 11 enemy aircraft.

Here is a characteristic episode, noticed by his brother-soldier, another well-known ace Evstigneev K.A.: “Somehow Ivan Kozhedub returned from a mission, excited by the battle, excited and, perhaps, therefore unusually talkative: “They give bastards! None other than the "wolves" from the squadron "Udet". But we gave them the withers - be healthy! - Pointing towards the command post, he hopefully asked the squadron adjutant: - How is it? Is there anything more to come?"

The title of Hero of the Soviet Union Senior Lieutenant Kozhedub I.N. received only on February 4, 1944, when the number of downed aircraft reached 48. Therefore, soon - on August 19, 1944 he became twice a Hero. (In the year of the Battle of Kursk, the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union was earned by the one who shot down 15 enemy planes, the second - 30 planes.) At the same time, Kozhedub was awarded the rank of captain, and he was appointed deputy commander of the 176th Guards Regiment. Kozhedub's attitude towards his fellow pilots is characteristic. In March 1944, during one of the battles of the six La-5s with a group of Junkers, one of our aircraft was shot down. Lieutenant P. Bryzgalov headed for the nearest airfield abandoned by the Germans. On landing, his plane rolled over and the pilot was trapped in the cockpit. Ivan Kozhedub ordered two more pilots to land, and he himself landed on his “belly” in liquid mud. By joint efforts, the pilots freed their comrade from "captivity".

“The attitude of Kozhedub to the car acquired the features of religion - its form that is called animatism. “The motor runs well. The plane is obedient to my every movement. I am not alone - I have a fighting friend with me ”- in these lines the attitude of the ace to the aircraft. This is not a poetic exaggeration, not a metaphor. Approaching the car before the flight, he always found a few affectionate words for her, in flight he spoke as if with a comrade doing an important part of the work. Indeed, besides flying, it is difficult to find a profession where the fate of a person would depend more on the behavior of the machine. During the war, he replaced 6 Lavochkins, and not a single plane let him down. And he did not lose a single car, although it happened to burn, bring holes, land on airfields dotted with funnels. (Ibid.).

In May-June, Kozhedub I.N. flew on a nominal plane La-5FN (tail number 14), built with the money of a collective farmer, beekeeper Vasily Konev, and shot down on it, to the pride of the donor, 7 fascist vultures. On the left side, this aircraft had the inscription "In the name of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant Colonel Konev G.N." (donor's nephew), on the right - "From the collective farmer Konev Vasily Viktorovich." In September, Kozhedub was transferred to the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. And on his car, with bright, white with red edging inscriptions on both sides, Evstigneev K.A. flew, who destroyed 6 more enemy aircraft on it, and then Bryzgalov P.A.

As you know, the pilots did not particularly like catchy signs on the plane, but this did not stop them from fighting well. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Kirill Evstigneev by the end of the war had 53 personal victories and 3 in the group, and Pavel Bryzgalov - 20 victories - he also became the Hero of the Soviet Union by the end of the war. Another 17 enemy vehicles were destroyed by Kozhedub on La-7 (side number 27), on which he ended the war. Today this aircraft is an exhibit of the Air Force Museum-Exhibition in Monino.

“In April 1945, Kozhedub drove a couple of German fighters away from the American B-17 with a barrage of bursts and immediately noticed a group of approaching aircraft with unfamiliar silhouettes. The leader of the group opened fire on him from a very long distance. With a coup over the wing, Kozhedub quickly attacked the winger. He smoked heavily and with a decrease went towards our troops. Having completed a combat turn from an inverted position with a half-loop, the Soviet ace fired at the leader - he exploded in the air. Of course, he managed to see the white stars on the fuselages and wings and returned to his room with anxiety: a meeting with the allies promised trouble. Fortunately, one of the downed pilots managed to escape. To the question "Who knocked you down?" he replied: “Fockewulf with a red nose.” The regiment commander P. Chupikov gave Kozhedub the films, where the victories were recorded, over the Mustangs.
- Take them for yourself, Ivan ... don't show them to anyone. This battle was one of the first fights in the air with the Americans, the harbinger of a great air war in Korea, a long confrontation between the two superpowers. (Ibid.).

On August 18, 1945, Major Kozhedub Ivan Nikitovich, the third after his teacher Pokryshkin A.I. and Marshal Zhukov G.K. , was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union three times. In total, during the war, Ivan Nikitovich conducted 330 sorties, 120 air battles. Among the 62 victories (Ivan Nikitovich names - 63) of Kozhedub over the fascist aces is the "new" world aviation - the jet Me-262, shot down over the Oder by a burst from behind and from below in 1945. During the years of the Great Patriotic War Kozhedub I.N. was never shot down, although his plane was damaged several times, but the skilled pilot landed his car every time.

After graduating in 1949 from the Air Force Academy Kozhedub I.N., he was appointed deputy, and then commander of the 326th aviation division stationed near Moscow, in Kubinka. And in 1951, in the skies of Korea, the 326th division of Kozhedub already met with armadas of jet aircraft. The division commander, three times Hero of the Soviet Union Kozhedub, was strictly forbidden to participate in the battles himself, but on the other hand he was obliged to teach his skills to young pilots and lead combat operations. For the first time in the world, there was an air war on swift jets with the US Air Force, recent allies, who invaded a small defenseless state bordering our country. Because who is stronger, depended on whether tomorrow will be peaceful or military?

From March to February 1951, in the skies of Korea, Kozhedub's division scored 215 victories over American aircraft, while losing 52 aircraft and 10 pilots. American aircraft shot down included both "flying fortresses" and "superfortresses". The superiority of Soviet aviation, ready to repel any enemy, has been proven in practice.

In 1952, the 326th division was transferred to the air defense system and transferred to Kaluga. In the summer of 1953, Kozhedub became a major general. A year later, he was sent to study at the Academy of the General Staff. I took part of the course as an external student, as due to official reasons I was delayed with the start of classes. After graduating from the academy, Kozhedub was appointed first deputy head of the Combat Training Directorate of the country's Air Force, from May 1958 to 1964 he was first deputy commander of the Air Force of the Leningrad and then Moscow military districts.

Until 1970, Colonel General Kozhedub Ivan Nikitovich regularly flew fighter jets, mastered dozens of types of aircraft and helicopters. He made his last flights on the MiG-23, then left the flight job. It is interesting that the units commanded by Kozhedub always had a low accident rate, and he himself, as a pilot, had practically no accidents, although “emergency situations”, of course, happened. So, in 1966, while flying at low altitude, his MiG-21 collided with a flock of rooks; one of the birds hit the air intake and damaged the engine. It took all the flying skills of an ace to land the car ... In 1978, Kozhedub was appointed to the group of general inspectors of the USSR Ministry of Defense. In 1985 he was awarded the rank of air marshal.

Kozhedub I.N. was a very modest person, for example, he never entered into his own account the planes that he destroyed together with the newcomers. He never chalked up a shot down (on fire) enemy aircraft, if he himself did not see how he fell to the ground. I didn’t even report this to the commander, because the downed plane could reach his own. Therefore, in fact, the total number of aircraft shot down by him is much more than 63!

Kozhedub I.N. was simple and honest both with the first person of the state and with ordinary citizens during meetings, trips, speeches, interviews. He did not possess "noble" qualities, did not know how and did not consider it necessary to flatter, intrigue, cherish the necessary connections, notice the ridiculous, and sometimes even malicious jealousy for his glory. He was an officer, selflessly devoted to his work, an excellent pilot and commander.

Three times Hero of the Soviet Union Kozhedub I.N. He was also awarded two Orders of Lenin, seven Orders of the Red Banner, Orders of Alexander Nevsky, Orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st class, two Orders of the Red Star, the Order of "For Service to the Motherland in the USSR Armed Forces" of the 3rd class, medals, six foreign orders and foreign medals.

Kozhedub I.N. - Author of the books: "Serving the Motherland" (1949), "Victory Holiday" (1963), "Loyalty to the Fatherland" (1969). The last years of his life, Ivan Nikitovich was seriously ill: the stress of the war years and the difficult service in the peace years affected. He died at his dacha from a heart attack on August 8, 1991, and was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Towards the end of World War II, the best red ace Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub had a chance to twice give a lesson in combat skills to the allies who attacked Soviet aircraft. It's about US pilots.

"BLOODY EASTER"

Although the future Air Marshal of the USSR got to the front only in 1943, his combat score looks very impressive. In two years - 366 sorties on a mission, 120 air battles and 64 personally shot down German aircraft. But Kozhedub himself was never shot down!

The real list of victories of the Soviet ace is even more impressive. The vicious principles of "socialist collectivism" often forced the best pilots to share their victories with less capable comrades, and as a result, there were far fewer red stars on the fuselage of the La-7 fighter at number 27 than expected. Ivan Nikitovich's brother-soldier, the famous test pilot Alexander Shcherbakov, and a number of other authors wrote about this, but this topic has not yet received truly serious research.

According to some researchers, Ivan Kozhedub shot down not 64, but as many as 107 enemy aircraft, five of which belonged to the US Air Force.

The clashes between Soviet and American air groups that began in the second half of 1944 were by no means the result of the confusion traditional for any war. Even then, the States considered the entire European continent their zone of influence. Once, as Marshal Zhukov recalled, Air Force Commander Carl Spaats defiantly tried to refuse to discuss the order of flights over the Soviet zone, saying casually: "American aircraft flew everywhere, and flew without any restrictions." However, Commander Eisenhower immediately pulled him back.

“Demonstrating their right to fly anywhere,” the publicist Yuri Nersesov wrote on the pages of Russian Special Forces in 2004, “the US command at the same time tested our pilots for lice, and also practiced methods of total air terror, which became the hallmark of American aviation in subsequent decades. Few people know that along with the militarily senseless destruction of residential areas of German and Japanese cities, the Yankees bombed Yugoslavia no less ferociously.

The beginning of the "air genocide" was laid by the so-called Bloody Easter on April 16, 1944. On this day, an entire air division of long-range heavy bombers with the characteristic name “Liberator” (“Liberator”) dropped thousands of bombs on Yugoslav cities, from which 1,160 people died in Belgrade alone.

Forty-five years later, in 1999, history repeated itself. And, to emphasize the conscious choice of the date, the rockets and bombs dropped on Belgrade signed: "Happy Easter!"

TRAGEDY IN NISH DISTRICT

For the first attack on the Red Army, about forty heavy American fighters also chose a symbolic date - November 7, 1944. As a result of the strike on the headquarters of the 6th Guards Rifle Corps and the airfield of the 866th Fighter Aviation Regiment near the city of Nish, Lieutenant General Grigory Kotov, commander of the Hero of the Soviet Union, and thirty other people were killed. Two dozen cars with property were burned.

“On November 7, 1944, a column of the 6th Guards Rifle Corps was marching to the Danube across the territory of Yugoslavia near the city of Nish, when 27 American aircraft appeared above it,” said the son of General Kotov. - These were allies, they were greeted, waving caps and caps. But the planes turned around and bombed. My father and 31 other officers and soldiers were killed, 37 people were wounded, including my older brother, in whose arms his father died.

Brother Engels at that time was his father's adjutant. The maneuvers of the aircraft left no doubt that they would strike again. Then nine Soviet fighters were lifted into the air. An air battle ensued. As a result, 3 American and 3 of our aircraft were lost.

Subsequently, the witness of this battle, pilot Boris Smirnov, wrote in his memoirs that on a map found in the wreckage of one of the downed Lightnings, Nish was designated as an air target. After that, few people believed the official American version of the loss of course ...

The head of the American mission in Moscow, General John Dean, was presented on this occasion. Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army General of the Army Antonov wrote:

“This out of the ordinary case of an attack by American aircraft on a column of troops and a group of Red Army aircraft causes us extreme bewilderment, since the attack was carried out in the rear, 50 km from the front line, between the cities of Nis and Aleksinac, about which there are 14-16 more October it was published in the report of the Soviet Information Bureau that they were occupied by Soviet troops.

The clearly visible markings of the Soviet aircraft also ruled out the possibility of error in determining the identity of the aircraft. The actions of American aviation in the Nis region were not coordinated with the General Staff of the Red Army, which also cannot be justified.

I ask you to bring the above very unfortunate fact to the attention of the Chiefs of the Joint Staff and ask them to urgently investigate the incident, severely punish the perpetrators of this inexplicable attack on Soviet units and henceforth, without prior approval from the General Staff of the Red Army, allied aviation flights in the zone of operations of Soviet troops will not admit. Please let me know about the measures taken and the results of the investigation.”

General Reid expressed regret to the Soviet command and referred to the lack of coordination and an unfortunate navigational error in choosing targets. The commander of the aircraft group, who led the squadron, was removed from his position.

The tragic incident was reported to Stalin.

"THIS VICTORIES ARE ON THE FUTURE WAR"

The deputy commander of the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, 25-year-old Guards Major Ivan Kozhedub, who flew over Germany, twice encountered insolent allies. First, on April 22, 1945, a pair of American P-51 Mustang fighters attacked his car, but they soon had to bitterly regret their impudence. In less than two minutes, one of the Mustangs shattered into pieces, and the pilot of the second barely managed to jump out with a parachute.

However, judging by the words of the surviving pilot, the Americans mistook Kozhedub's plane for the German Focke-Wulf. It was grey, with a red nose and a white keel. Like everyone else in the regiment.

"To whom is fire? To me?! - half a century later, Kozhedub recalled with indignation. - The queue was long, with a long distance, a kilometer, with bright, unlike ours and German, tracer shells. Due to the long distance, it was visible how the end of the queue was bent down. I rolled over and, quickly approaching, attacked the extreme American (by the number of fighters in the escort, I already understood who it was), something exploded in his fuselage, he got very tired and went down towards our troops. Having completed a combat turn with a half-loop, from an inverted position, I attacked the next one. My shells fell very well, the plane exploded in the air.

When the tension of the battle subsided, my mood was not at all victorious, because I had already managed to make out the white stars on the wings and fuselages. “They will arrange for me ... on the first day,” I thought, planting the car. But everything worked out. In the cockpit of the Mustang that had landed on our territory sat a hefty Negro. To the question of the guys who arrived in time for him, who shot him down (or rather, when they managed to translate this question), he answered: “Focke-Wulf” with a red nose ... I don’t think he played along then; the allies had not yet learned to look both ways ...

When the films of the FKP (photo film machine gun) were shown, the main moments of the battle were recorded on them very clearly. The films were watched by the command of the regiment, and the division, and the corps. The division commander Savitsky, to whom we were then operational, said after watching: “These victories are on account of a future war.” And Pavel Fedorovich Chupikov, our regiment commander, soon gave me these films with the words: “Take them for yourself, Ivan, and don’t show them to anyone.”

Kozhedub endured an even hotter battle with the Americans just before Victory Day, when a squadron of flying fortress-type bombers loaded to capacity, ignoring warning shots, entered the space of the Soviet occupation zone.

Having driven three multi-engine giants into the ground, Kozhedub put the rest to flight, but he was not allowed to include them in the official list of his victories.

KOREAN FRONT

In the summer of 1945, after the Victory Parade, in which Ivan Nikitovich carried the banner of one of the regiments in the ranks of the consolidated regiment of the 1st Ukrainian Front across Red Square, Kozhedub was sent to the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze.

Late in the evening of November 1950, two MGB officers came for Kozhedub, who was resting in a sanatorium in the city of Kislovodsk, and gave him a few minutes to get ready. In the regional party committee on government communications, he received an order from the commander of the Air Force of the Moscow district, Vasily Stalin, to arrive in Moscow. “There is work, and Vanya is resting ...”

In an atmosphere of secrecy, under the name of Krylov, Kozhedub commanded the 324th Fighter Air Division in North Korea for ten months. No new stars appeared on his plane. Personally, Vasily Stalin categorically forbade the division commander to participate in battles, and therefore all 216 (according to other sources - 258) destroyed aircraft should be attributed to the students of Ivan Nikitovich.

On April 12, 1951, the Kozhedub troops conducted their first air battle over the Yalu River. Fighters defended a strategically important bridge across the river. Forty American bombers were heading for the bridge under cover of about a hundred fighters.

Kozhedub lifted all fifty MiG-15s into the air. Sergei Kramarenko, fellow soldier of Ivan Nikitovich, recalls: “In total, 12 bombers and 5 fighters fell to the ground. 120 pilots were taken prisoner by the Chinese and Koreans. Kozhedub himself did not participate in this battle.

As part of the 326th IAD, six pilots became Heroes of the Soviet Union - Shebanov, Pepelyaev, Ges, Kramarenko, Subbotin and Obraztsov (posthumously).

Ivan Nikitovich carried out operational management of air battles from the command post of the division. However, according to the memoirs of Ivan Pyatov, an aircraft engineer from the 196th IAP, who happened to serve in the control link of the 324th IAD at the Andong airfield and service the aircraft of Kozhedub himself, the commander nevertheless made one sortie into the sky of Korea, and the flight was at night.

Kozhedub got an American reconnaissance aircraft, which almost every night flew to the Andong region and circled over the airfield. Kozhedub decided to teach the American a lesson and one night flew on a MiG-15 at night to intercept him.

Considering the weak capabilities of our air defense systems at night, as well as the lack of a radar sight on board, Kozhedub was unable to intercept and shoot down this reconnaissance. The enemy's radar equipment on ships in the Yellow Sea detected the departure of a Soviet fighter and warned the crew of the reconnaissance aircraft about this, and he prudently left the Andong area.

After that, reconnaissance aircraft no longer dared to approach Andong at night. So Ivan Nikitovich has one night sortie on his account! In addition, he regularly flew the MiG-15 to maintain flying skills over Andong, or sometimes went to the Yak-11 to Mukden on business.

... The Air Marshal died in his country house on August 8, 1991, from a heart attack. And a few days later, his Fatherland ceased to exist, the loyalty of which he kept all his glorious life.

The newspaper "SPETSNAZ RUSSIA" and the magazine "SCOUT"

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