Hero of the Soviet Union, fighter pilot Boris Safonov with his wife Yevgenia and Air Regiment Commissar P. Redkov drinking tea.
The photo was taken in Boris Safonov’s apartment in Vaenga (now the city of Severomorsk) in the North-West of the USSR.
In the article “Two Worlds of the Safonov famaly” of the newspaper “Murmansky Vestnik”, author Dmitry Korzhov, this episode is described as follows: “As you can see, everything is very modest, but not without cute little things that women like to decorate the life of. What is at least this butterfly on the wall … Yes, and the lampshade, of course, makes an impression. In general, the usual evening tea drinking of ordinary people. On the table is an electric kettle, a neat tea set (cups, a teapot), in a vase in the center is standard chocolate, such was given to pilots before each flight in case of an emergency landing. Another interesting detail: on the sideboard behind Boris Safonov, one can guess the silhouette of a champagne bottle. And I think with a smile: maybe it was standing on the table, but the commissar or the photographer himself decided to remove the “sedition” from harm’s way? Well, so as not to compromise the Hero of the Soviet Union … ”
The Soviet pilot Boris Safonov photo source: dmitry-korzhov.livejournal.com.
Location: Vaenga, Murmansk region, USSR
Photo time: December 1941
Author: Evgeny Khaldei