Alexandr Avdeev

Alexandr Fyodorovich Avdeev ( _ru. Александр Фёдорович Авдеев), (1917 - August 12, 1942) was a Soviet fighter ace of World War II with 13 victories over German pilots. Participated in Soviet-Finnish War (1939-1940) (Winter War). A Hero of the Soviet Union (February 10, 1943).

Early life

He was born in the village of Bolshaya Talinka in Tambov Oblast. In the 1930s his family had to move to Lyublino (now a district of Moscow). There he has graduated from factory-and-workshop school and worked as a metalworker in a foundry. After work he attended an Air club in Podolsk.

World War II

From the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he served as a deputy squadron commander on Leningrad Front. In 1941 he took 7 victories in 189 missions. Piloting a Polikarpov I-153 biplane, he shot down a future famous German ace Walter Nowotny over Saaremaa on July 19, 1941. In that fight Avdeev's plane was also shot down and a pilot stayed at a hospital for a month.

In August, 1942 he served as a P-39 Airacobra pilot on Voronezh Front. On August 12, 1942 he was the first Airacobra pilot who used a ram. His victim was Franz Schulte, a German ace with 46 victories. Both pilots were later buried in Novaya Usman', a village near Voronezh.

Avdeev was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Star.

External links

* [http://airaces.narod.ru/all6/avdeev.htm | Red falcons] (Russian)