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Alexander Pokryshkin

6 March 1913 - † 13 November 1985

Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin was a Marshal of the Soviet Air Force. He was made a Hero of the Soviet Union on three separate occasions (24 May 1943, 24 August 1943, and 19 August 1944).

Pokryshkin was, in addition to his three Hero of the Soviet Union golden stars, awarded four Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, four Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of Suvorov (2nd class), two Orders of the Red Star, a number of other medals, and foreign orders, such as the US Army Distinguished Service Medal which he is seen wearing below his other medals in some photographs.

Pokryshkin was the great tactician of the Soviet Air Force during the Second World War. He almost single handedly fought to change the obsolete Soviet tactics that were in place in 1941 when the war started. Going against the totalitarian establishment and openly defying the totalitarianism-approved combat doctrine almost cost him his career and possibly his life. After openly criticising the official tactics that led to huge losses and teaching his fellow pilots new tactics he invented himself, he was grounded and scheduled to be court martialed. However the word of his inventions reached some superiors in Moscow, and instead of a court martial Pokryshkin was awarded and promoted. By the end of the war, his writings had been published and distributed to all Soviet pilots, and he toured fighter regiments extensively lecturing young pilots on his techniques.

Early years

Pokryshkin was born in Novonikolayevsk (now Novosibirsk) in Tomsk Governorate, son of a peasant turned factory worker. He was of Russian ethnicity He grew up in a poor, crime infested part of town, but unlike most of his peers he was more interested in learning than in fighting and petty crime. His nickname in his early teens was Engineer. He caught the "aviation bug" when he was 12 years old at a local air show, and the dream never left him after that. In 1928, after seven years of school, he found work as a construction worker. In 1930, despite his father's protests, he left home and entered a local technical college, where he received a degree in 18 months and worked for six more as a steel worker at a local munitions factory. Subsequently, he volunteered for the army and was sent to an aviation school. His dream finally seemed to be coming true. Unfortunately the flight school was suddenly closed, and all students were instead transferred to be trained as aircraft mechanics. Dozens of official requests were denied with a simple "Soviet aviation needs mechanics just as badly".

Pokryshkin still strived to excel as a mechanic. Graduating in 1933, he quickly rose through the ranks. By December 1934, he became the Senior Aviation Mechanic of the 74th Rifle Division. He stayed in that capacity until November 1938. During that time his creative nature became clearly visible: he invented improvements to the ShKAS machine gun and the R-5 reconnaissance aircraft among other things.

Finally, during his vacation in the winter of 1938 Pokryshkin was able to circumvent the authorities by passing a yearly civilian pilot program in only 17 days. This automatically made him eligible for flight school. Without even packing a suitcase, he boarded a train to flight school. He graduated with top honours in 1939, and in the rank of Sr. Lieutenant he was appointed to the 55th Fighter Regiment.

World War II

Early experiences

He was stationed in Moldavia in June 1941, close to the border, and his airfield was bombed on June 22, the first day of the war. His first air combat was a disaster. Seeing an aircraft in the air of a type he had never seen before, he attacked and shot it down, only to notice as it was going down that it had Soviet red stars on the wings. It was a Soviet Su-2 light bomber, piloted by squadron commander of the 211th Bomber Aviation Regiment, M.I. Gudzenko.This was a new bomber type that was kept secret even from other Soviet pilots. He then frantically flew in front of all the other MiG-3 pilots who were lining up on the other Sukhoi bombers, thwarting any other "German victories" by other pilots of his unit. Gudzenko survived, although the gunner was killed.

He claimed his first victory, a Bf 109 fighter, the next day, when he and his wingman on a reconnaissance mission were jumped by five enemy fighters. On July 3, having claimed several more victories, he was shot down by German flak behind enemy lines and spent four days getting back to his unit. During the first weeks of the war, Pokryshkin began to see very clearly how outdated the Soviet combat doctrine was, and began slowly drafting his own ideas in his meticulously kept notebooks. He carefully recorded all details of all air engagements he and all his friends were involved in, and came up with detailed analysis of each. He fought in very complicated conditions: constant retreat, poor to no control and communication, overwhelming odds against superior opponent. He would later say "one who hasn't fought in 1941–1942 has not truly tasted war".

Pokryshkin survived several close calls during this time. A machine gun round drove through the right side of the cockpit, cut his shoulder straps, ricocheted off the left side and scratching his chin, covering the entire windscreen in blood. Twice, unexploded bombs landed between his feet, one time during a dramatic low-level raid on his airfield by a pair of Ju 88s. Pokryshkin tried to defend his fighter, one of the very few remaining serviceable aircraft, by removing a flexible machine gun from the nearby bomber and placing it on top of his fighter's fuselage. One of the German bombers saw Pokryshkin firing the only machine gun in the area and flew straight at him, dropping small bombs in a shallow dive. Pokryshkin watched a string of explosions running up to him, but the bomb that landed right next to him did not explode. The Ju 88 had dropped it too low; the bomb had insufficient time to arm itself before hitting the ground.

At one point, during 1941, after the unit had been moved to Kotovsk, the order was received that all 13 mm guns were to be removed from MiG-3s to be installed in new factory production aircraft. The only problem with this is that the MiG-3 was armed with a pair of 7.62 mm (.30 caliber) machine guns and a single 12.7 or 13 mm (.50 caliber) heavy machine gun. This left the aircraft under-armed, except that a 100 kg bomb was put under each wing, later exchanged for rockets, or even underwing gun pods with single 7.62 machine guns just outboard of the landing gear. The unit was starting to be used for ground attack. 10 I-16s were received for this purpose. MiG-3s were received occasionally, and then later the unit started to re-equip with previously-flown Yak-1s from other units for use as top cover. In the autumn of 1941, Pokryshkin, flying a MiG-3 (possibly winter-camouflaged), took off in sleet and rain conditions after two other pilots had crashed on takeoff. His mission was to locate von Kleist's tank group, which had been stopped in front of Shakhty, and then lost track of by the Soviet forces. After some time flying at low altitude, low on gasoline, in this weather, he finally found them, and was able to return safely to base with this critical information. For the successful completion of this mission, he was awarded the Order of Lenin.

When the summer German offensive of 1942 began, part of 16 GIAP had been re-equipped with the Yakovlev Yak-1 fighter, including Pokryshkin's squadron. Along that period Pokryshkin flew escort missions to Su-2 and Il-2 Shturmovik aircraft, and frequently was engaged by German fighters. On 17 July 1942 during a dogfight with Bf 109s he became separated from his wingman Konstantin Figichov, and was jumped by a Rotte of Bf 109G-2s flown by the experte Feldwebel Hans Dammers and his wingman Unteroffizier Kurt Keiser (7./JG 52). Initially Pokryshkin dived to escape, but realizing that the heavier and faster Gustavs would catch him sooner, he performed a chandelle and a barrel roll later. This caused the Germans to overshoot, and then Pokryshkin shot down and killed Kurt Keiser at short range. Pokryshkin was attacked again by Dammers shortly afterwards, and his Yak-1 was damaged. But once more Pokryshkin performed a barrel roll, forced Dammers to slide forward, and then shot the German ace down.

In the late summer of 1942, his regiment was recalled from the front lines to convert to a new fighter type, the Bell P-39 Airacobra. While training in the rear, Pokryshkin frequently clashed with the regiment's new commander Isayev (the former regimental navigator), who could not stand his criticism of the Soviet air combat doctrine. Isayev fabricated a court martial case, accusing Pokryshkin of cowardice, insubordination and disobeying orders. Pokryshkin was grounded, removed from the regiment's headquarters, and had his Party membership cancelled. However, was helped by his squad mates, the regimental political comissar and the divisional commanders, and he was soon vindicated, the 216 IAD's leadership dismissed the case against him, and reinstated him.

Kuban

Pokryshkin's most significant contribution to the war effort and the most impressive kill record came during the battle for the Kuban region in 1943. The area east of the Crimean peninsula had seen heated air combat in the months that led to the Soviet assault on Crimea itself, where Kuban-based Soviet air regiments went against Crimea-based Luftwaffe Geschwader. Pokryshkin's regiment went against such well-known German fighter units as JG 52 and JG 3 'Udet'. The area saw some of the most heated fighting of the Eastern Front, with daily engagements of up to 200 aircraft in the air. Pokryshkin's innovative tactics of using different fighter types stacked in altitude, the so-called 'pendulum' flight pattern for patrolling the airspace, and the use of ground-based radar, forward based controllers and an advanced central ground control system led to the first great Soviet Air Force victory over the Luftwaffe.

In the summer of 1942, the 4th Air Army which Pokryshkin was a part of, received the first mobile radar stations. They were tested in aiding over-water interceptions of German and Romanian aircraft, and they proved highly successful.

In early January 1943, 16 GIAP (Gvardeyskiy Istrebitelnyy Aviatsionyy Polk = Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment) was sent to 25 ZAP (Zapasnoy Aviatsionyy Polk = Reserve Aviation Regiment, a unit tasked with checking that home-made and lend-lease aircraft were ready for combat service) near the Iranian border, to re-equip with new aircraft, and also to receive new pilots. Many of these had to be ferried over from Iran. When there were delays in assembly by the Americans on the Iranian side, it was felt by the Soviet pilots involved that the Americans were willfully impeding the war effort. It was at this time that the unit converted to the P-39 Airacobra, which when all had arrived, turned the unit into a 3-squadron regiment. 16th Guards received 14 P-39L-1s, seven P-39Ks, the very last of which was assigned to Pokryshkin, and 11 P-39D-2s. The unit returned to action on April 8, 1943.

During the remainder of the month, Pokryshkin was credited with 11 Bf 109s and one Ju 88 destroyed.

He was credited with a Bf 109 destroyed on his very first Airacobra mission, on 9 April 1943, and scored four Bf 109 kills on 12 April 1943, one of his more successful days. He scored again on 15, 16, 20, 21 and 24 April - one Bf 109 on each day, adding a Ju 88 (probably in fact a He.111) on 29 April, plus one more Bf 109 on 30 April.

One of the most famous engagements he was involved in took place on 4 May 1943. Eight of Pokryshkin's Airacobras were directed by ground control towards a large group of enemy planes. Three whole squadrons of the obsolescent Junkers Ju-87 Stukas were being escorted by a geschwader of Bf 109s. Attacking from the sun, a pair of P-39s attacked the fighters while the remaining six dived through the bomber formation, repeating the attack twice using Pokryshkin's method of swapping dive directions. Twelve Stukas were claimed shot down, with Pokryshkin claiming five (he was officially credited with two). Later that same day he shot down another Bf 109.

In most subsequent fights, Pokryshkin would usually take the most difficult role, attacking the leader of the German fighters, who usually was an aggressive experte. As he learned in 1941–42, shooting down the flight leader would have a very strong demoralising effect on the enemy and often cause them to scramble home. Taken that into account, almost certainly among his preys during the month of May were some of such experten: On 6 May 1943 Pokryshkin shot up a Messerschmitt, probably the Bf 109G-2 of 9-kills ace Unteroffizier Heinz Scholze (4./JG 52), who crashed while trying to land at Kuteinikovo. Two days later, his victim might have been the Bf 109G-4 of Leutnant Helmut Haberda (an experte of 5./JG 52 with 58 victories to his credit), even when Luftwaffe credits the loss to the Soviet flak.

Pokryshkin received his first Hero of the Soviet Union award on 24 May 1943, and was promoted to major in June, having become commanding officer of his squadron. On 23 June, he exchanged his old P-39K-1 BuNo 42-4421 "White 13", for the famous -and, incidentally, unmarked by any victory stars- P-39N BuNo 42-9004, "White 100", which he flew for the rest of the war, excepting the test of the Berlin autobahn as a runway in Konstantin Sukhov's "White 50", which was much photographed.

"Osvobozhdenie Ukrainy" - The Liberation of Ukraine

In mid-July the 216 IAD (now redesignated 9 GIAD) was deployed in southern Ukraine to help liberate the Donbass area. There he kept on beating German aces - on 23 July 1943 Pokryshkin shot down the 56-kills experte Uffz. Hans Ellendt, of 4./JG 52. Not only that, but occasionally also his P-39s escorted the Pe-2 bombers.

In that role, he used his nickname Sotka ("One Hundred"), e.g. his radio call sign, because he knew very well that the Luftwaffe ordered his airmen to stay in the ground if they knew he was in the air. A Pe-2 pilot of the 36 BAP, Timofey P. Puniov, recalled that, because of the heavy casualties suffered because of the German fighters, the 16 GIAP was tasked to escort them. Puniov clearly remembers that twice Pokryshkin violated the radio silence saying openly in the frequency: "Vnimanie! Ya - sotka. Poedu na rabotu!" (Attention! I'm "100". I'm going to work!). Neither on those two occasions nor since then onwards the German fighters tried to intercept the 36 BAP anymore.

Shortly earlier, on 20 August, Isaev, who had been the Unit Navigator, and then been promoted to Commanding Officer, and with whom Pokryshkin had strong differences, took measures to have Pokryshkin stripped of his Hero of the Soviet Union, expelled from the regiment, and hauled before a tribunal. From 10pm that night until part of the following day, Pokryshkin, 298 IAP's Major Taranyenko, and the 16th Guards' Commissar, Gubarevim, and some "Osobists"(NKVD people.) were completing interrogations and investigations that lasted at least through the following day. Gubarevim, with difficulty, was able to clear Pokryshkin's name and reputation, and "Sasha" was thereupon awarded his second Hero of the Soviet Union on 24 August 1943.

On 21 September 1943, Pokryshkin was involved in another high-profile air engagement. This one happened at low altitudes right over the front line. It was witnessed by dozens of journalists and representatives of the high command. Pokryshkin shot down three Ju 88s in a single pass, overcome by hatred, as he had just found out that the entire family of Zhmud, his mechanic, has been killed in German occupied territories. Only two kills were confirmed, the third Ju 88 being recorded as brought down by the explosion of the second one and not because of Pokryshkin's gunfire. All three Junkers are confirmed by German loss records - they were Ju 88A-4s of 5./RummKGr. Earlier that same day Pokryshkin had added two more Ju.87s to his tally, almost certainly Ju.87D-5s of 6./StG1.

1944–1945

In February 1944, Pokryshkin was offered a promotion and an easy desk job managing new pilot training. He immediately rejected this offer and stayed at his old regiment and his old rank. He however did not fly nearly as much. Pokryshkin had been made a famous hero by the propaganda machine, and he was not allowed to fly as often because of fear of him getting killed. Instead, Pokryshkin spent a lot of time in the radio bunker, directing his regiment's fights over the radio. In June 1944, Pokryshkin was promoted to colonel and given command of 9th Guards Air Division.

On August 19, 1944, for 550 front-line sorties and 53 official kills, Pokryshkin was awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union for the third time. He was the first person ever to receive the award three times, and he is the only Soviet soldier to be awarded this during wartime. Pokryshkin was forbidden to fly altogether, but managed to circumvent the rule a few times and still continued to score an occasional kill.

One of such occasions occurred on 30 May 1944 near Yassy, Rumania. The whole 16 GIAP engaged a large formation of Ju.87s heading towards the Soviet ground forces escorted by Fw.190s and Bf 109s. In the ensuing melée, the Airacobra pilots claimed to shoot down five Stukas, three Focke-Wulfs and one Messerschmitt without losses - three Ju.87s were shot down by Pokryshkin himself. The next time Pokryshkin scored victories was on 16 July, when he got credit for two more Stukas and one Hs.129 of 10.(Pz)/SG 9, probably the Henschel Hs.129B-2 of Hauptmann Rudolf-Heinz Ruffer, credited with 80 tank-kills. His last victory was another Ju.87, downed on 14 January 1945.

Out of his official score of 65 victories, only six were scored in the last two years of the war. The bulk of Pokryshkin's victories came during the time when the Soviet Air Force was still fighting at a disadvantage, including some of the highest scores for any Soviet pilot during the most difficult first year of the war.

After the war

When the Second World War ended, Pokryshkin found himself shunned due to his war-time preference for non-Soviet aircraft. In 1948 he graduated from the Military Academy in Frunze. Between 1949–1955 he was Deputy commander of the 33rd Fighter Air Defense and the commander of the 88th Fighter Aviation Corps in Rzhev. He was repeatedly passed up for promotion. Only after Stalin's death did he find himself back in favor and finally promoted to Air Marshal. However he never reached a very high position in the Soviet Air Force, mostly serving in regional commander roles. In 1957 he graduated from General Staff Academy. After graduation, served as chief of fighter aircraft of the North Caucasian military defense. From 1959, he served in the 8th Army Air Defense separate (Kiev) and from 1961 to 1968 was Commander of the 8th Army Air Defense and deputy commander of the Kiev Military District Air Defense Forces.In 1968 he became Deputy Chief of the Air Defense Forces.

His highest position was as president of DOSAAF (1972–1981), a mostly civilian organization that was largely tasked with training young civilians and preparing them for service with the Air Force. Pokryshkin again found himself ostracized for his honesty. Despite strong pressure, he never wrote anything or supported glorification of premier Leonid Brezhnev's role in the battle of Kuban, where Brezhnev was a minor general. Pokryshkin died on November 13, 1985 at the age of 72. In Novosibirsk, a street, a square and a subway station are named in his honour.

He wrote several books about his wartime experiences, none of which appear to be translated into English. He appeared in several episodes of the Unknown War documentaries narrated by Burt Lancaster.

Aircraft flown by Pokryshkin

Pokryshkin started the war flying the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 fighter, in which he scored almost twenty victories. The unit was given the honor "16th Guards Fighter Regiment" in March 1942. At this time, or soon after this, the unit received some Yak-1s, in which Pokryshkin also scored victories. In January 1943, his regiment converted to lend-lease Bell P-39 Airacobras, which despite a persistent myth the Soviets never used in the ground attack role. Soviet pilots liked this aircraft, and found it quite competitive with the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and superior to the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 at the low air combat altitudes common on the Eastern Front. Pokryshkin really enjoyed the 37 mm cannon's destructive firepower, and the two upper nose-mounted .50 caliber machine guns, synchronized to fire through the propellor (airscrew), in addition to the pair of .30 caliber machine guns mounted in each wing, outside the propeller arc and therefore unsynchronized. He claimed that the cannon's trigger, positioned at the top of the joystick, was impossible to push without moving the pilot's hand, which made the aircraft deviate from the gunsight, so finally he had his regiment's aircraft rigged so that a single button simultaneously fired cannon and machine guns. In his memoirs he describes many enemy aircraft immediately disintegrating upon being hit by the salvo. Pokryshkin and his regiment were repeatedly asked to convert to new Soviet fighters such as the La-5 and Yak-3. However Pokryshkin found La-5's firepower insufficient and personally disliked Yakovlev so he never did.

Finally, in 1944, he found an aircraft that he was willing to convert to: the Lavochkin La-7. One of his close friends, Soviet 50-kill (31 personal and 19 group) ace Alexander Klubov, was killed in a landing mishap while converting to the La-7. The crash was blamed on the malfunction of the plane's hydraulic system. Pokryshkin subsequently cancelled his regiment's conversion, and there are multiple reports that they instead began flying Bell P-63 Kingcobras. By the lend-lease agreement with United States, the Soviet Union was not allowed to use P-63s against Germany; they were given only to be used in the eventual battle with Japan. Thus it is quite understandable that no mention of this appears in any official records. However, personal accounts of German pilots and flak crewmen who encountered P-63s in the skies of Eastern Prussia as well as the memoirs of one of the pilots in Pokryshkin's squadron appear to confirm that claim. It is reported that 9th IAD was given some 36 P-63s but these were not used while the fighting was still in progress.

MiG-3 aircraft were "white 5", "white 67", "4", and "7" and also "01" (likely the winter-scheme aircraft behind him in a photo) (perhaps not in this order). The likeliest order is "7", "4", "01" (winter 1941 – February 1942), "white 5" (shows "GVARDIYA" on the intakes – likely dates to when the unit was awarded this designation), and finally "67". He then flew Yak-1 fighters when the unit partially re-equipped with them. He flew a P-39K-1 "white 13" 42-4421 over the Kuban, converted in late June to P-39N-0 42-9004 "white 100", and on May 28, 1943, flew "white 17", 41-38520 for a single mission, and in the famous photo taken using the Autobahn as a runway, flew P-39Q-15 "white 50", serial number painted out(originally assigned to K. V. Sukhov). He was given five La-7 aircraft with the inscription, "From the Workers of Novosibirsk to Hero of the Soviet Union Alexandr Ivanovich Pokhryshkin", but did not fly in them himself. An La-7-equipped unit was, in 1945, made a part of the 9th Guards Division, making it a FOUR-Regiment Division. At one point in 1944, he apparently was given an La-5FN for his personal use pending the hoped-for Lavochkin conversion of the entire unit.

The unit apparently flew P-63A or C Kingcobras after the war, and Pokryshkin would have again numbered his aircraft "100". Finally, one or more of the 9th Guards Fighter Division units may have eventually converted to the Yak-9P before his attendance at the War College in 1948.

Combat record

The most accepted figures of his combat record are:

  • 560 combat missions.
  • 156 air-to-air engagements.
  • Official score: 59 enemy aircraft shot down personally, and 6 together with other pilots.

Note: based on Pokryshkin's memoirs and personal notebooks, his score stands above 100. The Soviet air force did not officially confirm kills whose wreckage could not be found, thus many aircraft shot down over enemy territory were never confirmed.

In recent years the actual amount of Pokryshkin's kills seems to become controversial, depending on the source. For example, Russian historian Mikhail Yurevich Vykov researched in official records of victories, and downsized his tally to 46 individual and 6 shared victories. This author, together with Aleksandr Rodionov, wrote an article mamed Mutnoye Nebo 1941 goda ("The Dirty Sky of the year 1941") stating that Pokryshkin tried to steal Rechkalov's kills during 1941. However, researcher Oleg V. Levchenko found -based in other official documents, personal documents of Pokryshkin found after his death (that he kept away of his family) and memoirs of other Pokryshkin's comrades- that Pokryshkin in fact shot down 94 enemy aircraft, damaged 19 and destroyed three more in the ground. Levchenko found that no less than 15 victories he scored in 1941 were not taken into account, because the documents confirming them were destroyed during the hurried withdrawals from one base to another. That might explain the difference between the figures of Vykov and Levchenko.

Other factor must be taken into account to solve such differences: Pokryshkin, as most other Soviet aces, also engaged in the common practice of giving his kills to fallen comrades. Each kill was rewarded with a substantial monetary bonus, and on the day of a pilot's death all regiment kills would often be credited to him in order to give his family some support. Note that the vast majority of Pokryshkin's kills have been scored before and during 1943 (when the quality of the Luftwaffe's airmen was higher), and since the summer of 1944 he had been absolutely forbidden to engage in air combat (and he sometimes disobeyed the order).

List of engagements and victories

This list is considered incomplete. It is based on Pokryshkin's memoirs "Poznat' sebya v boyu", combined with Vykov's work and Polak's "Stalinovi Sokoli", cross-referenced with available German loss sources.

1941

14 confirmed victories (plus several unconfirmed), all flying MiG-3.

  • 22.06.1941 - 'friendly' kill, Su-2; navigator killed.
  • 23.06.1941: Probably Bf 109F-2 W.Nr. 5689, pilot unknown (50% damage), II./JG 3.
  • 24.06.1941: Probably Bf 109F-2 W.Nr. 6746 of 4./JG 3, Obfw. Erwin Kortlebel ( experte with 17 kills).
  • 26.06.1941: reconnaissance flight, claimed to shot down two Hs.126s. One was Hs.126 W.Nr. 3106, of 8.(H)/32crew; Oblt Wilhelm Mayer and crewman both KIA. The other was a Romanian PZL P.24, who escaped undamaged.
  • 26.06.1941: fought against four Bf 109s, shot down Bf 109F-2 W.Nr. 6741, pilot unknown (65% damage, written off), I./JG 3.
  • 27.06.1941: in the first sortie of the day fought a group of Ju 88s and Bf 109s, shot down one bomber. In a second sortie escorted SB bombers, shot down one of the Bf 109s which tried to attack the SBs. His victims were:.
  • Ju 88A-4 W.Nr. 7131 of 4./KG 77, pilot Obltn Kurt Engel and three crew members all KIA.
  • Bf 109F-2 W.Nr. 5719 of Uffz. Ernst Winkler (17-kill experte ), 4./JG 3.
  • ground attack against enemy airfield, destroyed a Bf 109 on the ground.
  • ground attack against Kishinev airfield, destroyed a Ju 87 on the ground.
  • 2.07.1941: escorted SB, shot down one Bf 109 personally and one Bf 109 in group; his victim almost certainly was Bf 109F-2 W.Nr. 8249, pilot unknown, III./JG 3.
  • 3.07.1941: claimed to shot down a PZL P.24. No Romanian loss matches this claim.
  • 5.07.1941: claimed to shot down a Hs.126. No German loss matches this claim.
  • 22.07.1941: fought with four Bf 109s, shot down one of them, probably Bf 109E-7 W.Nr. 3765 of Hptm. Reinhard Heydrich attached to II./JG 77 (The Luftwaffe credits the loss to Soviet flak).
  • attacked reconnaissance Ju 88, shot up but unable to shoot down due to problems with armament.
  • fought 3 Ju 88s, shot down one by air-to-ground rockets (not officially confirmed), officially credited for the second.
  • fought four Ju 88s, shot down one.
  • escorted SB, shot down one Bf 109.
  • 5.10.1941: reconnaissance flight, shot down one Bf 109 - so far no German loss matches this claim.

1942

7 confirmed victories, all flying the Yak-1.

  • January and February — reconnaissance flights only, he founds Von Kleist's 1st Panzerarmee (still flying MiG-3). No air combats.
  • early March — shot down Hs.126.
  • special reconnaissance missions flying a Messerschmitt fighter in German markings (the Bf 109E-7 of Nikola Vucina, a 15.(Kroat)/JG 52 pilot who defected to the Soviet side on 4 May 1942).
  • May — escort mission, shot down one Bf 109 and damaged another.
  • reconnaissance mission, shot down Bf 110.
  • 17.07.1942 - Pokryshkin escorted Il-2s, shot down two Bf 109G-2s, flown by Feldwebel Hans Dammers (future 113-kills experte, 50 victories at that time) and his wingman Unteroffizier Kurt Keiser (7./JG 52).
  • 20.07.1942: escorting Il-2s, shot down a Bf 109G-2, probably 30-kills experte Leutnant Fritz Brückmann (KIA), 9./JG 52.
  • 28.07.1942: fought a group of Bf 109G-2s and shot down one, probably Croatian 16-kill ace Potpukovnik Franjo Dzal (who bailed out safely), commander of 15.(Kroat)/JG 52.
  • 1.08.1942: he fought a group of Ju 88s over Kropotkin, shot down one, probably Ju 88A-4 W.Nr. 144092 of III./LG 1 (Obfw. Helmut Grubert and 3 crew killed).
  • 2.08.1942: the 16 GIAP repelled a group of Ju 88s and Bf 110s attacking Kropotkin aerodrome. Pokryshkin got credit for three shared Zerstorer kills - Luftwaffe records confirm the loss of Bf 110D-4 W.Nr. 2262 of 7.(H)/LG 2 (Oblt. Walter Kôhler and crewman missing).

1943

55 confirmed victories.

  • 9.04.1943: His first victory flying the P-39 Aircobra. Making the debut of the pendulum and the "Kubanskaya Etazherka", he claimed a Bf 109 set on fire, out of a group attacking LaGG-3s. No Luftwaffe combat loss matches this claim, but 8./JG 3 reports the loss of Bf 109G-4 W.Nr. 14885 by engine failure. The pilot, Uffz. Reinhold Baisch, is listed as Missing.
  • 12.04.1943: in a swirling dogfight over Krasnodar Pokryshkin claimed to shot down four Bf 109s (the last kill Pokryshkin scored saved a Soviet P-40). His probable victims were:.
  • Bf 109G-2 W.Nr. 14617, pilot unknown (35% damaged), 6./JG 3.
  • Bf 109G-4 W.Nr. 14952, pilot unknown (15% damaged), 4./JG 52.
  • Bf 109G-2 W.Nr. 13879, pilot unknown (15% damaged), 4./JG 52.
  • Bf 109G-2 W.Nr. 14842, pilot unknown, III./JG 3. (80% damaged and written-off. According to the Luftwaffe, it was an accidental loss).
  • 15.04.1943: shot down a Bf 109G-2, probably W.Nr. 14192 of 15.(Kroat)/JG 52 (55% damage. According to the Luftwaffe, it was an accidental loss).
  • 16.04.1943: shot down a Bf 109G-2, probably W.Nr. 19221 of 8./JG 52 (60% written-off. According to the Luftwaffe, it was an accidental loss).
  • 20.04.1943: shot down Bf 109G-4 W.Nr. 14955 of III./JG 3, which crashed in the Black Sea near the gulf of Tsemesskaya.
  • 21.04.1943: shot down a Bf 109, in fact caused 50% damage to Bf 109G-4 W.Nr. 14966 of 4./JG 52, which crashed in the Black Sea near the gulf of Tsemesskaya.
  • 24.04.1943: shot down a Bf 109 - no German combat loss matches this claim.
  • 29.04.1943: shot down a Ju 88, almost certainly Heinkel 111H-16 of III./KG 55. All five crew members (included pilot Ltn. Hans-Peter Schickling) injured.
  • 30.04.1943: shot down Bf 109G-2 W.Nr. 14787 (4./JG 52), wounding pilot Uffz. Ernst Kerkhoff .
  • 4.05.1943: shot down two Ju.87s and one Bf 109. No Stuka losses match these claims, but the Messerschmitt fighter is almost certainly Bf 109G-2 W.Nr. 19219 of Ltn. Kurt Günther (9./JG 52, WIA).
  • 5.05.1943: shot down a Bf 109, actually 45% damaged Bf 109G-4 W.Nr. 19335 of Fw. Heinz Sachsenberg (6./JG 52, WIA).
  • 6.05.1943: shot down the leader of a group of Bf 109s, probably Bf 109G-2 W.Nr. 13688 of 9-kill ace Fw. Hans Scholze (KIA, 4./JG 52).
  • 8.05.1943: shot down a Ju 87, and later shot down the leader of a group of Bf 109s.
  • Ju.87D-3 W.Nr. 110760, of 4./StG 77,crew unknown but both KIA.
  • probably Bf 109G-2 W.Nr. 19555 of 58-kill ace Ltn. Helmut Haberda (KIA, Staffelkapitan of 5./JG 52).
  • 14.05.1943: shot down a Ju.87 - no Stuka loss matches this claim.
  • 29.05.1943: shot down Ju 88A-4 W.Nr. 2553 of 9./KG 51, killing all four crew members.
  • 31.05.1943: caused 50% damage to Bf 109G-2 W.Nr. 13586 of I./JG 52.
  • 14.06.1943: claimed two Bf 109s shot down.
  • 22.07.1943: shot down the Bf 109G-6 W.Nr. 19236 (60% damaged/written off) of Fw. Heinz Sachsenberg (6./JG 52 WIA).
  • 23.07.1943: shot down the Bf 109G-6 W.Nr. 20149 of 56-kill experte Uffz. Hans Ellendt (4./JG 52).

    Mid August — transferred to new area; Airacobras often attacked by other Soviet pilots as the unfamiliar type looks like the Bf 109.

  • 17.08.1943: claimed a Ju 88 - No German loss matches this claim.
  • 18.08.1943: shot down a reconnaissance Ju 88 above 8,000 m (26,000 ft), almost certainly Ju 88D-1 W.Nr. 430825 of 2.(F)/22), Hptm. Günther Sauer (Stafelkäpitan and crew killed.
  • 21.08.1943: shot down two Ju.87s, shot up one Bf 109 - No German losses match these claims.
  • 22.08.1943: shot down a Bf 109, probably Bf 109G-6 W.Nr. 20533 of Uffz. Günther Müchnow (8./JG 52), who was injured.
  • 23.08.1943: shot down one Ju-87 - No German loss matches this claim.
  • 21.09.1943: shot down two Ju 87s, then later in the evening three more Ju 88s claimed over Bolshoy Tokmak, two confirmed.
  • Ju.87D-3 W.Nr. 31247, Fw. Walter Bock (MIA), gunner returned, 6./StG 1.
  • Ju.87D-5 W.Nr. 130767, Fw. Hans Plumm & gunner returned, 6./StG 1.
  • Ju 88A-4 W.Nr. 8708, crew unknown, 5./RummKGr.
  • Ju 88A-4 W.Nr. 2009, crew unknown, 5./RummKGr.
  • Ju 88A-4 W.Nr. 5768, crew unknown, 5./RummKGr.
  • 7.10.1943: a reconnaissance Ju 88 - No German loss matches this claim.
  • one Ju-87.
  • 5.11.1943: one Ju 52 over the Black Sea.
  • 6.11.1943: one Ju 52 over the Black Sea.
  • 19.11.1943: one Ju 52 over the Black Sea, near Tenderovskaya Kosa.
  • 28.11.1943: one Ju-87 - No German loss matches this claim.
  • 16.12.1943: shot down a Fieseler F.156 Storch.

1944

4+ confirmed victories {+1 reported shot down}.

  • 7.05.1944: a Romanian He 111H-6 No. 48 {Observer killed}.
  • 16.07.1944: fought group of Ju.87s and Hs 129s, shot down three Ju 87s and one Hs 129. No Stuka losses match these claims, but 10.(Pz)/SG 9 lost three Henschels that day, including Hs 129B-2 W.Nr.141966 of Hptm. Rudolf-Heinz Ruffer, who had 80 Russian tanks in his tally.

1945

1+ confirmed victories.

14.01.1945: his last victory, he shot down one Ju 87 - it might be the 37mm cannon armed Ju 87G-2 W.Nr. 494210 flown by Uffz. Johann Lacher of 10.(Pz)/SG 77, but Luftwaffe loss records credit the loss to flak.

Summary of victories

Total: 88

Legacy

A minor planet 3348 Pokryshkin discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1978 is named after him.

Honours and awards

Soviet awards

  • Three times Hero of the Soviet Union (24 May 1943 - № 993, 24 August 1943 - II № 10, 19 August 1944 - III № 1).
  • Six Orders of Lenin (22 December 1941 - № 7086; 24 May 1943 - № 9600; 6 March 1963 - № 124904; 21 October 1967 - № 344099; 21 February 1978 - № 429973; 5 March 1983 - № 400362).
  • Order of the October Revolution (5 March 1973 - № 1793).
  • Order of the Red Banner, four times (22 April 1943 - № 66983; 18 July 1943 - № 8305 / 2; 24 December 1943 - № 448 / 3; 20 April 1953 - № 1392 / 4).
  • Order of Suvorov, 2nd class, twice (6 April 1945 - № 1484; 29 May 1945 - № 1662).
  • Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class (11 March 1985 - № 537 850).
  • Order of the Red Star, twice (6 November 1947 - № 2762070; 4 June 1955 - № 3341640).
  • Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR, 3rd class (30 April 1975 - № 0039).
  • Medal for Combat Service (3 November 1944).
  • Medal "For the Defence of the Caucasus" (1 May 1944).
  • Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (9 May 1945).
  • Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" (6 June 1945).
  • Medal "For the Liberation of Prague" (9 June 1945).
  • Medal "For the Capture of Berlin" (9 June 1945).
  • Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy"(22 February 1948).
  • Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow" (7 April 1951).
  • Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (18 December 1957).
  • Medal "For the Development of Virgin Lands" (5 November 1964).
  • Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" (7 May 1965).
  • Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (26 December 1967).
  • Medal "For Military Valour - To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (20 April 1970).
  • Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" (25 April 1975).
  • Jubilee Medal "60 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (28 January 1978).
  • Medal "For Strengthening Military Cooperation" (31 May 1980).
  • Medal "In Commemoration of the 1500th Anniversary of Kiev" (17 May 1982).
  • Medal "Veteran of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (30 April 1984).
  • Jubilee Medal "Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" (12 April 1985).
  • Honorary Citizen of: Mariupol, Novosibirsk, Bălți (Moldova), etc.

Foreign awards

  • Distinguished Service Medal (USA).
  • Order of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, 1st class (Bulgaria).
  • Order of Tudor Vladimirescu, 2nd and 3rd classes (Romania).
  • Order of Karl Marx (East Germany).
  • Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari (Poland).
  • Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland).
  • Order of Sukhbaatar (Mongolia).
  • Order of the Red Banner (Mongolia).

— — — = = — — —

This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
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