Soviet pilots of the 124th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Red Army Air Force before flying to attack enemy airfield.
Soviet pilots of WW2 from left to right: Pilot junior lieutenant Petr Afanasievich Bely, wing commander junior lieutenant Dmitry Kokorev, wing commander junior lieutenant Mikhail Pavlovich Barsov, squadron commander 2nd lieutenant Alexander Georgievich Pronin, wing commander junior lieutenant Anatoly Avksentyevich King, presumably pilot, junior lieutenant Alexei Panteleimonovich Vasiliev.
June 22, 1941 junior lieutenant Dmitry Kokorev made the first in the history of the Great Patriotic War air ram (border field airfield Vysoke Mazowiecki, BelOV). By early October 1941, Dmitry Kokorev had 100 sorties, five downed planes. According to reports of irretrievable losses of officers, Dmitry Kokorev died October 12, 1941, accompanied by six Pe-2 to bombard Siversky airfield.
Junior Lieutenant Alexei Vasilyev April 24, 1942, participating in the reflection of the raid on Leningrad, joined the battle against a large number of bombers Junkers Ju-87 and Junkers Ju-88, who were under the cover of fighters. He showed exceptional courage and took an air battle, as a result of which he personally shot down 1 Junkers Ju-87. On April 25, 1942, during the repulse of enemy fighter squadrons to Leningrad, Alexei Vasiliev was killed in an air battle during a ramming attack. By this time, Junior Lieutenant Vasiliev performed 190 sorties, conducted 36 air battles, in which he destroyed 3 enemy aircraft (of them personally – 1). He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Flag (Order No. 0997/n of April 30, 1942).
Location: Leningrad, USSR
Date: October 1941