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Ivan Kozhedub
Kozhedub in 1949
Native name	Іван Микитович Кожедуб
Nickname(s)	Батя ("Dad"), Борода ("Beard")
Born	8 June 1920 Obrazhiyevka, Chernigov Governorate, Ukrainian SSR
Died	8 August 1991(1991-08-08) (aged 71) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service / branch	Soviet Air Force
Years of service	1940–1985
Rank	Marshal of Aviation
Battles / wars	World War II Battle of Kursk Korean War
Awards	Hero of the Soviet Union (thrice)

Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub (Russian: Иван Hикитович Кожедуб; Ukrainian: Іван Микитович Кожедуб; 8 June 1920 – 8 August 1991) was a Soviet World War II fighter ace. Credited with over 60 solo victories by most historians, he is considered to be the highest scoring Soviet and Allied fighter pilot of World War II. He is one of the few pilots to have shot down a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet. He was made a Hero of the Soviet Union on three occasions (4 February 1944, 19 August 1944, and 18 August 1945). After the war he remained in the military and commanded the 324th Fighter Air Division during Soviet operations in the Korean War.

Early life

Kozhedub was born on 8 June 1980 to a Ukrainian family in the village of Obrazhievka, in Chernigov province, located within what is now the Shostkinsky district of Ukraine. After graduating from his seventh grade of school in his hometown in 1934 he went on to complete two more years of school in Shostka. There he initially worked as a librarian until completing his ninth grade of school in 1936, and from that year to 1940 he attended the Shostka Chemical Technology College. In addition to his studies, he attended training at the local aeroclub, which he graduated from in 1939. He subsequently joined the Red Army in February 1940, and in January 1941 he graduated from training at the Chuguev Military Aviation School of Pilots, where he initially learned to fly the UT-2, UTI-4, and I-16. Remaining at the school as a flight instructor, he continued to train pilots after the school was forced to evacuate to Chimkent in fall 1941 due to the German invasion of the Soviet Union until he was sent to Moscow in November 1942. There, he was posted to the 240th Fighter Aviation Regiment, but he did not arrive on the warfront until the 302nd Fighter Aviation Division was deployed to the Voronezh Front in March 1943.

World War II

Despite having started off in the regiment as a regular pilot, he quickly mastered the new La-5 and gained a promotion to flight commander by the time he opened his tally on 6 July 1943 with the shootdown of a Ju-87 dive bomber. Having made friends with Kirill Yevstigneev, an accomplished flying ace, even though they did not fly often together, Kozhedub picked up on many of his tactics and they shared their experiences about different techniques in addition to developing a competitive spirit. In addition, Vasily Mukhin, who often flew with Kozhedub as wingman, also went on to become a flying ace.

Over the next few months Kozhedub steadily gained more aerial victories in addition to a promotion to squadron commander, but in October he rapidly added to his tally, totaling 14 shootdowns in the first half of the month; on 10 October 1943 he was nominated for the title Hero of the Soviet Union for flying 146 sorties, engaging in 27 aerial battles, and totaling 20 aerial victories; he was awarded the title for the first time on 4 February 1944.

In July 1944 the 240th Fighter Regiment was honored with the guards designation and renamed as the 178th Fighter Aviation Regiment, and Kozhedub was nominated for a second gold star for totaling 46 aerial victories over the course of 256 sorties. However, he did not stay with his regiment for much longer, since he was reassigned to be the deputy commander of the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, a special "free hunting" regiment equipped with the new La-7 fighter, per the initiative of Chief Marshal of Aviation Aleksandr Novikov. There, he was rarely assigned specific missions of escorting other aircraft or providing air support for troops, enabling him and his subordinates to tally more aerial victories. In mid-February 1945, during a mission with his wingman Dmitry Titarenko, Kozhedub shot down a Me-262 jet, making him the first Soviet pilot to do so. During the encounter, Kozhedub and Titarenko went on a free hunting flight in an area south of Frankfurt, where they encountered the Me 262; originally flying at a low speed, Kozhedub quickly went up to full speed, and then shot it down after it banked left and slowed down, having been spooked by the tracer rounds fired by Titarenko.

By the end of the war, Kozhedub totaled 330 sorties, during which he engaged in 120 dogfights and shot down 64 enemy aircraft. Having gained all his aerial victories on the La-5F, La-5FN, and La-7, he expressed his strong preference for Lavochkin fighters, and met with Semyon Lavochkin to comment on various aspects of the fighters design. Having been nominated for a third gold star in May 1945, he became a thrice Hero of the Soviet Union on 18 August 1945, and remained deputy commander of the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment based in Schönwalde until September that year.

Prefering short, intense attacks to stun and bring down enemy aircraft, one of his favorite techniques he developed and used in the war was a method of darting at a target from below and subsequently opening fire only when extremely close; while Kozhedub was very successful in using this tactic against the Ju-87 dive bomber, allowing him to total 18 shootdowns of the type (putting him at a tie with Arseny Vorozheykin for the most shootdowns of the type). However, because the maneuver was so risky, it was not promoted or taught to young pilots. He was never shot down in the war, although he did experience several close calls; nevertheless, he always managed to land his airplane, despite damage sustained.

Post war era

In 1949 Kozhedub graduated from the Air Force Academy.

In April 1951, promoted to Polkovnik (colonel), he commanded the 324th IAD (Fighter Air Division) and dispatched to Antung airfield on the China-North Korea border to fly the MiG-15 during the Korean War supporting the North Korean forces. He was not given permission to participate in combat missions. Under his leadership the 324th IAD claimed 239 victories, including 12 Boeing B-29 Superfortresses for the loss of 27 MiG-15s in combat and 9 pilots.

In 1956 he graduated from the High Command Academy, after which he was promoted to General. From 1971 he served in the Central Office of the Soviet Air Force and from 1978 in the general inspection group of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR. He was made an Aviation Marshal in 1985.

List of aerial victories

According to Soviet aces 1941—1945. The victories of Stalin's Falcons (Template:Lang-ru) by Mikhail Bykov.

• Until August 1944 Kozhedub was flying on Lavochkin La-5, after that Lavochkin La-7.

Alleged shootdown of two USAAF P-51 fighters

Kozhedub claimed to have downed two USAAF P-51 Mustang due to a friendly fire incident on 17 April 1945. By his account, he encountered a group of American B-17 Flying Fortresses under attack by Luftwaffe aircraft. His aircraft was apparently mistaken by American escort fighters for the enemy and attacked. Kozhedub, having no other option, defended himself by shooting down two of the P-51s. So far, this story is not confirmed completely. Film footage exists that had been touted as Kozhedub's actual gun camera film from the event; however, the footage was shot using Zeiss equipment, which was used primarily by the Luftwaffe. In his autobiography, he claimed he shot down two American P-51 fighters that attacked him after mistaking him for a German aircraft in 1945.

Awards and honors

Soviet Union

• Thrice Hero of the Soviet Union (4 February 1944, 19 August 1944 and 18 August 1945)
• Two Order of Lenin (4 February 1944 and 21 February 1978)
• Seven Order of the Red Banner (22 July 1943, 30 September 1943, 29 March 1945, 29 June 1945, 2 June 1951, 22 February 1958, and 26 June 1970)
• Order of Alexander Nevsky (31 July 1945)
• Order of the Patriotic War 1st class (11 March 1985)
• Two Order of the Red Star (4 June 1955 and 20 October 1955)
• Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", 2nd degree (22 February 1990)
• Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", 3rd degree (30 April 1975)
• Medal "For Battle Merit"
• Medal "For the Liberation of Warsaw" (1945)
• Medal "For the Capture of Berlin" (1945)
• Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1945)
• Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1965)
• Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1975)
• Jubilee Medal "Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1985)
• Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1969)
• Medal "Veteran of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (1976)
• Medal "For Strengthening of Brotherhood in Arms"
• Medal "For Impeccable Service", 1st class
• Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy" (1948)
• Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (1957)
• Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (1967)
• Jubilee Medal "60 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (1978)
• Jubilee Medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (1988)
• Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow" (1947)
• Medal "In Commemoration of the 1500th Anniversary of Kyiv" (1982)

Foreign

• Medal of Sino-Soviet Friendship (China)
• Patriotic Order of Merit, Bronze, 3rd class (East Germany)
• Order of the Red Banner (Mongolia)
• Medal "50 Years of the Mongolian People's Army" (Mongolia)
• Order of the National Flag, 3rd class (North Korea)
• Order of Freedom and Independence, 1st class (North Korea)
• Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland)

Legacy

A military university in Kharkiv is named in his honor, the Kozhedub University of the Air Force.

References

1. Nazarian, E. A. Маршал авиации Иван Никитович Кожедуб [Air Marshal Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub]. Encyclopaedia of the Russian Ministry of Defence (in Russian). Retrieved 22 March 2016.
2. Bourne, Merfyn (2013). The Second World War in the Air: The story of air combat in every theatre of World War Two. Troubador Publishing Limited. p. 263. ISBN 978-1-78088-677-0. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
3. Simonov & Bodrikhin 2017, p. 8.
4. Евстигнеев К.А. Крылатая гвардия. - М.: Воениздат, 1982
5. Simonov & Bodrikhin 2017, p. 8-9.
6. Simonov & Bodrikhin 2017, p. 9.
7. ^ Bykov, Mikhail (2014). Все асы Сталина 1936–1953 гг (in Russian). Moscow: Yauza. pp. 550–551. ISBN 9785457567221. OCLC 879321002.
8. Simonov & Bodrikhin 2017, p. 9-10.
9. Chapis, Stephen; Thomas, Andrew (2017). Allied Jet Killers of World War 2. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-2350-2.
10. Simonov & Bodrikhin 2017, p. 10-12.
11. Simonov & Bodrikhin 2017, p. 9-12.
12. Polak 1999, p. 179 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFPolak1999 (help)
13. Kozhedub, Ivan (2006). Верность Отчизне. Ищущий боя. Moscow: Yauza. ISBN 5-699-14931-7. OCLC 70329628.
14. Simonov & Bodrikhin 2017, p. 16-17.

Bibliography

• Bykov, Mikhail (2017). Все асы Сталина 1936–1953 гг (in Russian). Moscow: Litres. ISBN 9785457567221.
• Dymich, Valery & Kulikov, Victor (July 2001). "Ivan Kozhedub, l'as des as alliés" [Ivan Kozhedub, the Allied Ace of Aces]. Avions: Toute l'Aéronautique et son histoire (in French) (100): 21–28. ISSN 1243-8650.
• Polak, Tomas; with Shores, Christopher (1999). Stalin's Falcons – The Aces of the Red Star. Grub Street. ISBN 978-1-902304-01-4.
• Simonov, Andrey; Bodrikhin, Nikolai (2017). Боевые лётчики — дважды и трижды Герои Советского Союза (in Russian). Moscow: Фонд «Русские Витязи», Музей техники Вадима Задорожного. ISBN 9785990960510. OCLC 1005741956.

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• 1920 births
• 1991 deaths
• People from Shostka Raion
• Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
• Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
• Members of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union
• Soviet Air Force marshals
• Ukrainian aviators
• Soviet military personnel of World War II
• Soviet World War II flying aces
• Ukrainian people of World War II
• Soviet military personnel of the Korean War
• Heroes of the Soviet Union
• Recipients of the Order of Lenin
• Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner
• Recipients of the Order of Alexander Nevsky
• Recipients of the Order of the Red Star
• Recipients of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", 2nd class
• Recipients of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", 3rd class
• Knights of the Order of Polonia Restituta
• Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit
• Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery