The first to be awarded this highest rank were the seven pilots who rescued the crew of the steamship Chelyuskin crushed in the ice. Pilot Mikhail Gromov also became the 8th Hero of the Soviet Union.
With the onset of the Great Patriotic War, when heroism became big, all awards were strictly regulated. In 1941, fighter pilots were awarded the title of Heroes of the Soviet Union for shooting down 10 enemy planes. Since 1943, the number of planes shot down has increased to 15.
To receive the Hero’s Gold Star, the soldiers had to fly three 35 missions during the day or 20 times at night. The air gunners on the attack aircraft and bombers had to personally shoot down 8 enemy planes. Of the shooters, only 18 received a Gold Star.
Attack pilots might receive the title of Hero in 1941 for 10 sorties. It seems that in 1941 alone there were dozens of such strike pilots, as the Il-2 in the winter of 1942 became the largest aircraft of the Red Army.
However, in 1941, only 1 attack aircraft pilot, Nikolai Karabulin, received the top award, having made 13 sorties until September 1941. By April 1942, 3 more attack pilots had become Heroes of the Soviet Union in 16, 18 and 21 sorties.
In 1942, to receive the title of Hero, it was necessary to perform 13 missions, but in reality this title was awarded to those who performed 40-50 missions. After 1943, this number increased to 80 times.
Such changes are quite understandable. At the start of the war, the Luftwaffe dominated the skies, attack planes were single-seaters, with simply nothing to protect them from enemy fighters.
In 1943, all attack aircraft had gunners to protect them from rear attacks, the number of Soviet fighters increased, while the number of Germans decreased and losses were reduced. attack aircraft significantly reduced.
During the war years, attack aircraft pilots made up the majority of the Air Heroes, a total of 860 who were awarded, but of course, not only because of the number of sorties.
Nikolai Karabulin.
The approved standards do not stipulate that the title of Hero will be awarded automatically. Usually, the number of flights is not a criterion for being awarded a Gold Star.
The first three pilots to receive the Hero title from the beginning of the war were awarded the Hero title for their record of destroying enemy aircraft. These were fighter pilots Mikhail Zhukov, Sergei Zdorovtsev and Pyotr Kharitonov.
After crashing into German bombers on June 28-29, all survived. They perform plane attack with propellers. This technique is very dangerous, but following crashing you can sometimes land your plane and then continue fighting on it. It should be noted that the title of Hero is not awarded to all pilots who have shot down enemy aircraft with ram.
Heroes Pyotr Kharitonov, Sergei Zdorovtsev and Mikhail Zhukov.
For the first night of the war, the title of Hero was awarded to Viktor Talalikhin, who brilliantly defended Moscow.
There is also the concept of “fire ram” when referring to suicide heroes. The first to achieve this feat was a crew commanded by Nikolai Gastello. It is believed that during the war this feat was repeated regarding 200 times. But the title of Hero is not always awarded, since not all such cases are reliably confirmed.
One of the most famous pilots awarded the Hero Gold Star was Alexei Maresyev, who shot down 11 German planes. Alexei Maresyev shot down 7 planes.
Notably, Alexei Maresyev fights when the legs and arms of this hero are both fake. Besides, Hero of the Soviet Union Zakhar Sorokin also shot down 12 planes (out of eighteen) with only 2 prosthetic legs. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to Leonid Belousov, who also flew a fighter plane without both legs.
Fighter pilot Boris Kovzan shot down 28 German planes, 4 of them by ramming. After one of the rams, he fell from a height of 6,000 meters with a parachute that was not fully deployed.
Boris Kovzan is also the only fighter pilot in history to have fought without an eye and shot down enemy aircraft. And of course Boris Kovzan received the Hero Gold Star.
Every feat deserves a story. During the Great Patriotic War, in the air force alone, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to 2,271 people.