Aleksandr Ivanovich Pokryshkin

Alexander Pokryshkin
Senior lieutenant Alexander Pokryshkin in 1941
Born	(1913-03-06)March 6, 1913 Novosibirsk, Russian Empire
Died	November 13, 1985(1985-11-13) (aged 72) Moscow, Soviet Union
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service/branch	Soviet Air Force
Years of service	1932–1972
Rank	Marshal of the aviation
Unit	55 IAP (16 GIAP)
Battles/wars	Great Patriotic War
Awards	Order of Lenin (6) Order of Red Banner (4) Order of Suvorov (2) Order of the Great Patriotic War (2) Order of the Red Star (2) US Army Distinguished Service Medal

Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Покры́шкин; 6 March 1913 – 13 November 1985) was a top Soviet flying ace and a Marshal of the Soviet Air Force. He was made a Hero of the Soviet Union on three separate occasions (24 May 1943, 24 August 1943, and 19 August 1944).

Pokryshkin was, in addition to his three Hero of the Soviet Union golden stars, awarded four Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, four Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of Suvorov (2nd class), two Orders of the Red Star, a number of other medals, and foreign orders, such as the US Army Distinguished Service Medal. Pokryshkin scored 47 of his 65 victories in American-made Bell P-39 Airacobras, making him the highest scoring P-39 pilot of any nation, and the highest scoring pilot flying any American fighter design.

Pokryshkin was the great tactician of the Soviet Air Force during the Second World War. He almost single handedly fought to change the obsolete Soviet tactics that were in place in 1941 when the war started. Going against the totalitarian establishment and openly defying the totalitarianism-approved combat doctrine almost cost him his career and possibly his life. After openly criticising the official tactics that led to huge losses and teaching his fellow pilots new tactics he invented himself, he was grounded and scheduled to be court martialed. However the word of his inventions reached some superiors in Moscow, and instead of a court martial Pokryshkin was awarded and promoted. By the end of the war, his writings had been published and distributed to all Soviet pilots, and he toured fighter regiments extensively lecturing young pilots on his techniques.

Pokryshkin was born in Novonikolayevsk (now Novosibirsk) in Tomsk Governorate, son of a peasant turned factory worker. He was of Russian ethnicity He grew up in a poor, crime infested part of town, but unlike most of his peers he was more interested in learning than in fighting and petty crime. His nickname in his early teens was Engineer. He caught the "aviation bug" when he was 12 years old at a local air show, and the dream never left him after that. In 1928, after seven years of school, he found work as a construction worker. In 1930, despite his father's protests, he left home and entered a local technical college, where he received a degree in 18 months and worked for six more as a steel worker at a local munitions factory. Subsequently, he volunteered for the army and was sent to an aviation school. His dream finally seemed to be coming true. Unfortunately the flight school was suddenly closed, and all students were instead transferred to be trained as aircraft mechanics. Dozens of official requests were denied with a simple "Soviet aviation needs mechanics just as badly".