Kirill Alexejewitsch Evstignejew

Kirill Yevstigneyev 1945

Kirill Alexeyevich Jewstignejew ( Russian Кирилл Алексеевич Евстигнеев * February 4 ^{. Jul} / 17th February  1917 ^greg. In Chochly , Orenburg Governorate ; † 29. August 1996 ) was a Soviet fighter pilot.

Life

Evstigneyev was born into a Russian peasant family. He first worked as a blacksmith, then he became a master in the Chelyabinsk tractor factory . In 1941 he graduated from the military aviation school in Buisk and worked as a flight instructor for fighter pilots until March 1943, after which he was transferred to the 240th Fighter Regiment (IAP). During the German-Soviet War , during the Battle of the Kursk Arch , he had his first combat missions. He quickly became chain commander and, in August 1943, a squadron commander in the 240th IAP. The unit received guard status on July 2, 1944 and was renamed the 178th Gw IAP. He flew La-5 fighter planes and made about 300 combat flights with 120 aerial battles in which he shot down 56 aircraft.

He was a two-time Hero of the Soviet Union (August 2, 1944 and February 23, 1945), holder of the Order of Lenin , four times the Order of the Red Banner , the Order of Suvorov 3rd Class, the Patriotic Order of Merit 1st and 2nd Class and the Order of the Red Star . In 1943 he became a member of the CPSU .

In 1960 he graduated from the General Staff Academy and held various staff positions until he went into reserve in 1972.

literature

• Wilfried Copenhagen : Lexicon Soviet Aviation. Transpress, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-344-00005-5 , p. 107 f.
• Waldemar Trojca: Soviet flying ace 1941–1945. (= History of the Great Patriotic War ), VDM, Zweibrücken 2019, ISBN 978-3-86619-152-5 .

Web links

Commons : Kirill Yevstigneyev  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files