Yakov Alksnis

Yakov Alksnis
Yakov Alksnis in the Netherlands in 1934
Born	(1897-01-26)26 January 1897 Vidzeme, Latvia, Russian Empire
Died	28 July 1938(1938-07-28) (aged 41) Moscow
Allegiance	Russian Empire 1917  Soviet Union (1919–1938)
Years of service	1919–1938
Rank	Komandarm 1st rank
Commands held	Soviet Air Force
Battles/wars	Russian Civil War
Awards	Order of Lenin Order of the Red Banner (twice) Order of the Red Star

Yakov Ivanovich Alksnis (Latvian: Jēkabs Alksnis, Russian: Яков Иванович Алкснис, 26 January 1897 – 28 July 1938) was the commander of the Red Army Air Forces from 1931 to 1937.

Jēkabs Alksnis was born in a farmer's family in Naukšēni parish, Vidzeme (present-day Latvia). He attended school in Ramnieki (1907–1913) and a teachers' seminary (college) in Valmiera (1913–1917), where he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. In 1917 Alksnis was drafted into Imperial Russian Army; he completed basic officers' training in Odessa, and was assigned to the 15th Siberian Regiment, later 11th Siberian Regiment. After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk he left Russian Army. He was drafted again, this time to Red Army, in 1919, and in 1919–1921 held administrative and political assignments in Southern Russian theatre of war.

After graduation from the Red Army Military Academy (1921–1924) Alksnis was appointed the head of logistics service of Red Air Forces; in 1926 deputy commander of Red Air Forces. In 1929 he received wings of a fighter pilot at the Kacha pilot's school in Crimea and was later known to fly nearly every day. Defector Alexander Barmine described Alksnis as "a strict disciplinarian with high standards of efficiency. He would himself personally inspect flying officers... not that he was fussy or took the slightest interest in smartness for its own sake, but, as he explained to me, flying demands constant attention to detail... Headstrong he may have been, but he was a man of method and brought a wholly new spirit into Soviet aviation. It is chiefly owing to him that the Air Force is the powerful weapon it is today." According to Barmine, Alksnis was instrumental in making parachute jumping a sport for the masses. He was influenced by one of his subordinates who has seen parachutists entertaining public in the United States, at the time when Soviet pilots regarded parachutes "almost a clinical instrument".