Viktor Vasilyevich
Talalikhin
1918-1941
Viktor Vasilyevich Talalikhin was the Deputy squadron commander of the 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps of the Air Defence Forces of the country, a junior lieutenant. He studied at secondary school No. 1 in the city of Volsk. In 1934 he moved to Moscow with his family, finished the factory school at the Moscow Meat Processing Plant named after A.I. Mikoyan. In 1934-1937 he worked at this meat-processing plant as a butcher, at the same time he studied at the Moscow Aero Club. He was in the Red Army since December 1937. He graduated from the Borisoglebok Military Aviation School of Pilots. He took part in the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940. He made 47 sorties, shot down 4 Finnish planes personally and in a group, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Star. He participated in the battles of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. He made more than 60 sorties. In the summer and autumn of 1941, he fought near Moscow. In an air battle on the night of August 7, 1941, while repelling another German air raid on Moscow, a German bomber was shot down by a ramming blow, he himself was wounded in the arm, but safely left the damaged fighter with a parachute. For courage and heroism at the front of the struggle against the Nazi invaders, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated August 8, 1941, Junior Lieutenant Viktor Vasilyevich Talalikhin was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. The Hero’s feat was widely covered by Soviet propaganda and it was often mistakenly indicated that he was the first in history to commit a night ram. But in reality, earlier the same feat was performed by other Soviet pilots. The very first of the famous ones who committed it (on the night of July 29, 1941) was the deputy squadron commander of the 27th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Senior Lieutenant P.V. Eremeev, who also defended the skies of Moscow in the same corps with Talalikhin. Soon Talalikhin was appointed a squadron commander. The glorious pilot participated in many air battles near Moscow. By the time of his death, he had personally shot down 5 enemy aircraft and 1 in a group. He died a brave death in an unequal battle with Fascist fighters on October 27, 1941. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow (plot 5).
Address: Moscow, Polbina str., 72, p. 1
