World War 2 photos: The captured Yak-1B fighter aircraft from the Soviet squadron commander of the Red Army 148th Fighter Regiment Leonid Smirnov at a German Luftwaffe airfield. Eastern Front, second World War.
From the Soviet report of May 6, 1943:
Captain Smirnov Leonid Dmitrievich, 1913, a native of Kharkov, commander of 148 IAP, did not return from a combat mission to cover his troops in the Neberdzhaevskaya district by a Yak-1B plane. On the account had 7 + 4 downed enemy aircraft.
The whole four of them disappeared – Smirnov, Dronov, Tsirikov, Sviridov.
Yak-1B
On board the Yak-1B aircraft (on the other side) is the inscription: To Stalin’s falcon Smirnov Leonid from the workers of the Frunzensky district of the city of Saratov.
The Yak-1B plane of L. D. Smirnov was handed over to the German JG 52 Squadron. After testing on May 12, 1943, the aircraft was transferred to Taman, and then to Kerch in Crimea. This plane was used by the Luftwaffe in battles, since according to the reports of the Soviet side, the enemy used the Yak-1B fighter aircraft with stars and a yellow inscription from the cockpit to the tail. The captured fighter was subsequently sent to Germany, where it was shown to the Luftwaffe high command at a trophy exhibition on 3 September 1943 in Rechlin. Then the car was put on public display in the city of Mecklenburg (now Schwerin). The further fate of the Yak-1B aircraft is still unknown.
Location: Krasnodar, USSR
Date of the photo: May 1943