Pavlov Ivan
Fomich
1922-1950
Pavlov Ivan Fomich was the flight commander of the 6th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment (3rd Air Army, Kalinin Front), a Guard senior Lieutenant; the squadron commander of the 6th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment (335th Assault Aviation Division, 3rd Air Army, 1st Baltic Front), a Guard captain. He was born on June 25, 1922 in the village of Boris-Romanovka of the Kustanay district of the Kustanay province (now the village named after I.F. Pavlov of the Kostanay district of the Kostanay region of Kazakhstan). He was Russian. In 1931-1932, he lived at the Terensai station (now the settlement of the Adamovsky district of the Orenburg region), since 1932 – in the city of Magnitogorsk, the Chelyabinsk region. In 1937 he finished 7 grades of the school, in 1940 – the 3rd year of Magnitogorsk Industrial College and the Magnitogorsk Aero Club. He was in the army since December 1940. In May 1942 he graduated from the 1st Chkalov Military Aviation School of Pilots (now the city of Orenburg). He was a participant of the Great Patriotic War: in June 1942 – May 1945 as a pilot, senior pilot, deputy commander and commander of the squadron, navigator of the 6th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment. He fought on the Kalinin (June 1942 – October 1943), 1st Baltic (October 1943 – February 1945) and 3rd Belorussian (February – May 1945) fronts. He participated in the Rzhev-Sychev, Rzhev-Vyazma, Dukhovshchinsky-Demidovskaya, Nevel, Gorodok, Vitebsk, Vitebsk-Orsha, Polotsk, Siauliai, Riga, Memel, East Prussian and Zemland operations. From May to August 1942, in 26 combat sorties on a single-seat Il–2 attack aircraft, he destroyed: 2 enemy crossings – across the Volga near the village of Varyushino (the Zubtsovsky district of the Tver region) and across the Dnieper near the village of Mityukovo (the Holm-Zhirkovsky district of the Smolensk region), 3 tanks, 12 cars, 6 field guns and 8 anti-aircraft artillery guns, 6 ammunition wagons. On August 17, 1942, his plane was badly damaged by anti-aircraft artillery and enemy fighters, and the pilot was shell-shocked. Despite this, he brought the damaged Il-2 to his airfield. After a successful landing, the aircraft was sent for major repairs. On August 23, 1942, in the Rzhev area, having engaged enemy fighters on a badly damaged single-seat Il-2, he shot down a Me-109. From January 1943, he flew a two-seat Il-2 attack aircraft. In March 1943, he successfully completed a special task of the command, dropping 15,000 rounds of ammunition to an encircled group of partisans in difficult weather conditions. On August 13, 1943, at the head of the nine Il-2 he made 3 sorties to the area of the city of Dukhovshchina (the Smolensk region). Diving from a height of 700 meters, making 3-5 approaches to the target, he effectively stormed enemy artillery, mortar and anti-aircraft batteries. Only that day he was recorded as having destroyed 8 artillery batteries with servants, 5 anti-aircraft artillery points, 2 field guns, up to 150 enemy manpower. On August 23, 1943, being the leader of six stormtroopers, when attacking a fortified enemy point near the village of Buyantsevo (the Dukhovshchinsky district of the Smolensk region), he personally destroyed a field artillery gun, 2 mortars, 3 cars and killed about 30 enemy soldiers and officers. When departing from the target at an altitude of 600 to 1,000 meters, they were met by 15 dive bombers of the enemy Yu-87 under the cover of 15 Me-109 fighters. The Il-2 six took the fight on the move and carried it out without losses, shooting down two enemy bombers (one of which was shot down by I.F. Pavlov). On September 14, 1943, he accurately brought the Il-2 six to the enemy armored train and decisively attacked it from a height of 400 meters, despite the hurricane fire of anti-aircraft installations. The armored train was disabled by several direct hits of 100-kilogram bombs. Senior Lieutenant Ivan Fomich Pavlov was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated February 4, 1944, for exemplary performance of combat missions of the Command at the front of the fight against the German invaders and bravery and heroism shown at the same time. Having learned about the combat successes of their countryman, the representatives of Kustanai presented the pilots of the regiment with four new Il-2 aircraft built with the funds collected by the workers. I.F. Pavlov received a personal car with an inscription on the side: “To the Hero of the Soviet Union T. Pavlov from the workers of the city of Kustanai.” Three other attack aircraft were transferred to the pilots of the flight from his squadron. On July 1, 1944, during the Polotsk operation, having flown out as a part of a quartet to destroy a crossing over the Drissa River, aimed at retreating enemy troops, he managed to strike an accurate blow at the crossing from the first approach, destroying both the crossing itself and several units of equipment located at the crossing. Captain Ivan Fomich Pavlov was awarded the second Gold Star medal by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated February 23, 1945 for exemplary performance of combat missions of the Command at the front of the fight against the German invaders, which entitles him to receive the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union. During the war, he made 237 combat sorties on an IL-2 attack aircraft for bomb-and-assault strikes on enemy manpower and equipment, shot down 2 enemy aircraft in air battles. After the war, until July 1946, he continued to serve in the Air Force as a navigator of the 6th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment (in the Baltic Military District; Kaliningrad Region). I flew an IL-2 attack aircraft. In November 1949 he graduated from M.V. Frunze Military Academy. Since January 1950 he was the Commander of the 947th Assault Aviation Regiment (in the Carpathian Military District; the city of Dubno, the Rovno region, Ukraine). He was a military pilot of the 3rd class (1950). He flew an IL-10 attack aircraft. He died on October 12, 1950 in an IL-10 plane crash while performing a night training flight. The plane crashed near the village of Mikhaylovka (the Krupetskaya rural community of the Dubensky district of the Rovno region, Ukraine). He was buried in the city of Kostanay (Kazakhstan) in Victory Park.
Address: Moscow, 1st Botkinsky Ave., 7A
