Aleksandr Ivanovich Pokryshkin was a great fighter pilot of the Soviet Air Force during the WWII. Pokryshkin almost singlehandedly fought to change the obsolete Soviet air combat tactics that were in place in 1941 when the war had started. By the end of the war, his writings had been published and distributed to all Soviet pilots, and he himself had extensively toured fighter regiments lecturing young pilots on his techniques…
Pokryshkin record includes:
- 560 combat missions.
- 156 dogfights with enemy aircrafts.
- he shut down 59 enemy airplanes himself, and 6 with other pilots.*
His favorite airplane Aircobra P-39
His techniques of dogfighting:
Aleksandr Pokryshkin was, in addition to his three Hero of the Soviet Union golden stars, awarded four Orders of Lenin, 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 USAAF (US Army) Distinguished Service Medal
*(Note: based on Pokryshkin’s memoirs and personal notebooks, his score stands above 100. Soviet air force did not officially confirm kills whose wreckage could not be found, thus many aircraft shut down over enemy territory were never confirmed.)
via wikipedia.org, wio.ru, mig3.sovietwarplanes.com, aviasalon.com.
Leave a Reply