Hero of the Soviet Union, captain Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub posing around the La-5FN fighter aircraft of the Red Army Air Force, built on the money of the beekeeper V. V. Konev from the farm “Bolshevik” of the Budarinsky district of the Stalingrad region.
V. V. Konev, transferring his money to the Defense Fund, asked to build an airplane named after his nephew, fighter pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union Georgy Konev, who died on December 30, 1942. Therefore, in addition to the inscription on the right side of the plane – “From the collective farmer Konev Vasily Viktorovich”, on the left side was the inscription “The name of the Hero of the Soviet Union Lieutenant Colonel Konev”.
The aircraft was transferred to Ivan Kozhedub in May 1944. On it Ivan Kozhedub shot down 8 enemy aircraft. After the transfer of Ivan Kozhedub to another unit, this aircraft was flown first by Kirill Yevstigneyev, and then by Pavel Bryzgalov, who won 12 victories on this plane and received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union by the end of the war.
Date: May-June 1944
Photo by Ivan Shagin