Nikolay Ivanovich
Polagushin
1923-1999
Nikolay Ivanovich Polagushin was a squadron commander of the 15th Guards Nevsky Red Banner Assault Aviation Regiment, a captain of the Guards, the Hero of the Soviet Union. He was called up to serve in the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army in June 1941. He graduated the Chkalov Military Aviation School of Pilots in 1942. Polagushin took part in combat operations at the fronts of the Great Patriotic War in September 1942. He was wounded in battles three times. In 1942 he graduated the military aviation school of pilots in the city of Chkalov (now Orenburg). Polagushin fought on the Leningrad and 3rd Belorussian fronts. He participated in the defence and breaking of the siege of Leningrad, the battles on the Karelian Isthmus, the liberation of Vyborg, Estonia, in the battles in East Prussia and the storming of Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad). Guard Captain Nikolai Polagushin commanded a squadron of the 15th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment of the 277th Assault Aviation Division of the 1st Air Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front in February 1945. He had made 214 sorties to attack enemy clusters of military equipment and manpower, inflicting them huge losses by that time. He made 259 sorties on an Il-2 attack aircraft in total during the war years. He continued to serve in the Soviet Army after the end of the war. Polagushin graduated from the Higher Tactical Flight Coursesin in 1949 and the Air Force Academy in 1955. Nikolay Polagushin was transferred to the reserve in 1958.
Address: Moscow, Zelenograd, 3rd microdistrict, bldg. 306
