Nikolay Skomorokhov
 19. 5. 1920 - 14. 10. 1994Nikolay Skomorokhov was squadron commander of the 31st Fighter Regiment (the 295th Fighter Air Division, the 9th Mixed Air Corps, the 17th Air Army, the 3rd Ukrainian Front), Captain. He was born on May 19, 1920 in Belogorskoye, Krasnoarmeyskiy (former Zolotovskiy) district of Saratov region into a peasant family. Russian. Prior to 1935 he studied at high school, and then he graduated from factory trade apprenticeship, worked as a fitter and turner at the Astrakhan plant, graduated from the Library College. From 1939 he studied in college and flying club. In December 1940, he volunteered for the Red Army. In March 1942 he graduated from Bataisk Military Aviation School. As a private pilot, N. Skomorokhov began to fight in December 1942, flew from the airport of Adler. He fought in the 5th and the 17th Air Armies on the Transcaucasus, the North Caucasus, South-West and the 3rd Ukrainian Fronts. He took part in the defense and liberation of the Caucasus, liberated the Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and defeated the enemy in Austria. For 483 sorties during which he personally shot down 25 enemy planes and 8 – in a group and destroyed: three enemy planes, 13 wagons of ammunition, a store of fuel and 9 railway cars on February 23, 1945 Nikolay Skomorokhov was awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (№ 4895). During the battles for Budapest (Hungary) Captain Skomorokhov shot down two planes from the “brilliant squadron” of Hitler’s air force. For 520 combat sorties and 35 personally shot down enemy planes on August 18, 1945 Major Skomorokhov was awarded the second Gold Star medal (№ 6913). In total, during the Great Patriotic War, N. Skomorokhov made 605 sorties, conducted some 130 air battles, personally shot down 46 enemy planes and eight – in a group, and also destroyed three enemy bombers on the ground. Incredibly, but Skomorokhov was never wounded, his plane did not burn or was shot down, during the war it did not get any punctures. After the war he graduated from the Frunze Military Academy and the General Staff Military Academy. He was elected deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He served as commander of the Fighter Division, first deputy commander and commander of the Fighter Corps, commander of the Air Force, in 1973-88 - Chief of Gagarin Military Academy; in 1988-92 - Military Inspector Advisor to the group of Inspectors General of the Ministry of Defence. He lived in Moscow. Died tragically in a car accident on October 14, 1994. He was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Air Marshal (1981), Honored Military Pilot of the USSR. He was awarded the Order of Lenin (1945), the Order of the October Revolution (1980), five Orders of the Red Banner (1943, January 1944, December, 1944, 1945, ...), the Order of Alexander Nevsky (1944), two 1st Class Orders of the Patriotic War (1944, 1985), the Order of the Red Star (1956), the Order “For Service to Motherland in the USSR Armed Forces” of the 2nd (1988) and the 3rd (1975) degrees, medals “For Military Merit” (1951), “For Defense of the Caucasus” , “For the Capture of Budapest”, “For the capture of Vienna”, “For liberation of Belgrade”, “For Meritorious Service” of the 1st Class and other medals, as well as the Hungarian Order of the Red Banner (1955), the 1st Class Order of Yugoslav “Guerrilla Star” (1945), Bulgarian medals “The Patriotic War” and “20 Years of the Bulgarian People’s Army”. A bronze bust of twice Hero of the Soviet Union, N. Skomorokhov was installed in his native village in 1953. |