Soviet Fighter pilot winner of Order Alexander Nevsky research

[Kristof]

Hi Gentleman,

I would like to share with you my research concerning the fighter pilot winner of the Order of Alexander Nevsky. I would like to ask Jim Z to post the research in a better resolution so that every one can read it and help me translate it. Tomorrow I will post the scans of the order.

[JimZ]

Here goes. Happy to oblige.

Jim

[JimZ]

[JimZ]

[JimZ]

[JimZ]

[JimZ]

and finally....

[koopyetz]

Kristof:

Thanks again for the opportunity to help with a translation of the documents. And thanks to JimZ for posting them!

Now the fun begins.

Regards

Rick

[Guest Rick Research]

WOW !!!

Was this a loose, undocumented Nevsky and man, did you just luck out on the research-- or have you got a GROUP?

He was a Pilot's Pilot his entire 1940-59 flying career, up from the ranks fighter pilot rotating in and out of senior pilot/aerial gunnery instructor in his units.

As with most air forces, his awards were cumulative, on a mounting "points" system. What is neat is that the citations for his three PREVIOUS decorations are summarized right there on the Nevsky write up as his 4th award of the war-- so you've got "4 for the price of 1!"

Among the interesting anomalies of Soviet paperwork-- on one of his Awards Record Cards his education is described as primary and on the other as higher! He also had birth DAYS a week apart. (Oh, to have been a State Security "Fact Checker!")

The absolute boiled down version of his Nevsky is that he was wounded in a 15 minute combat against 6 Me-109s on 20 May 1944 and, at the time of his Nevsky award, had accumulated 253 combat missions and shot down 2 enemy planes, while being a paragon among figher pilots and an example to the rest of the 117th Guards Fighter Aviation "Stanislavsky, Order of the Red Banner" Aviation Regiment. He was certainly a SURVIVOR!

Petr Ivanovich Tscherbina was born 31 (Service record)/23 (1954 ARC) July 1914 in Slavyansk, Stalinskaya ( Other Rick!) Oblast, Ukrainian SSR.

Served in the Red Army/Air Force 7 October 1938 to 23 April 1959

Junior Lieutenant 11.2.43

Lieutenant 7.5.43

Senior Lieutenant 27.8.43

Captain 29.1.44

Guards Major 28.10.44

Guards Lieutenant Colonel 3.9.52

In addition to his Nevsky he received THREE "initial" Red Banners (the first on the very day he became an officer and the final one for long service 2 years early!!!), Patriotic War 2nd Class, and for long service-- Red Star and Military Merit Medal. Campaign medals-- this will gladden Ed's heart

Defense of the Caucasus, Liberation of Belgrade, and Victory Over Germany. At the front from 20.8.42 to 5.1.45.

He was married and already had a daughter before he entered the army at age 24 as a private.

There is so, so much here, I will leave it for the Team to have fun with.

[Kristof]

Rick.

Several years ago I perches single Nevsky from Soviet Military dealer.

Last year I done the research and I find I have Nevsky belong to Yak pilot.

[Guest Rick Research]

Ah-- pure great luck with research results!

Still, if there is ONE WW2 Order that will ALWAYS be worth researching-- it's a Nevsky!

[Kristof]

Rick.

I'm attaching scans of the Nevsky belong to the major.

[Kristof]

Rick.

I'm attaching scans of the Nevsky belong to the major.

[Guest Rick Research]

That's a

When his assignments get done... I've just been checking in "Stalin's Eagles" and his major wartime assignments-- 975th Fighter Aviation Regiment and 117th F.A.R. were exactly the same unit, with only the number changed (on 9 February 1943). Aircraft are listed as I-153s and I-16s.

[Ed_Haynes]

Any ANY Nevsky -- like ANY Glory -- will repay research, though rarely as nicely as this one. Lovely.

[Guest Darrell]

...

Aircraft are listed as I-153s and I-16s.

Wow I'd give him a Order of Lenin for just flying those A biplane and an early single wing open cocpit jobbie. Totally outclassed by anything the Germans flew even in 1941.

[Kristof]

Hi Rick,

Is there any chance to obtain an image of the pilot?

I tried the soviet airforce internet sites but there are only soviet pilots listed.

This pilot is Ukrainian and I have been searching the internet but I can't find any names related to him.

Kristof

[Guest Rick Research]

Since you have his name, Orders Book numbers and so on, I think it might be possible if you contact Alexei Merezhko to have his researcher see if there is a normal sized photograph in the personnel file.

http://home.netcom.com/~merezhko/research.html

As you will have noticed from posts here, it is MUCH nicer to get actual PHOTOGRAPHIC copies of the records than the xerox copies that you've got, and that were all I ever got in my researching awards days.

Send Alexei the link to this thread so they can see the Russian spelling fof the Colonel's names. I'm old enough that my transcription of Cyrillic seems to have become outdated, so you don't want any confusion (Tscherbina/Shcherbina and so on) about the actual Cyrillic letters.

[Ed_Haynes]

I'm not sure Alexei reads this forum. I know he had subscribed, but the last I knew he had forgotten his password. Better maybe just to send him the scans directly.

[Kristof]

Hi Ed.

Thanks for your advise.

Kristof

I'm not sure Alexei reads this forum. I know he had subscribed, but the last I knew he had forgotten his password. Better maybe just to send him the scans directly.

[Ed_Haynes]

Just PLEASE post results here when you get them back . . . in a year or two?

[Sergei]

Among the interesting anomalies of Soviet paperwork-- on one of his Awards Record Cards his education is described as primary and on the other as higher! He also had birth DAYS a week apart. (Oh, to have been a State Security "Fact Checker!")

To try and get his education record sorted out, he had 7 years in a 'primary' school which he must have completed by the age of 14. Then he did a so-called Школа фабрично-заводского ученичества, or ФЗУ, that is an establishment that gives a 14-18 year old a profession and simultaneously a secondary education (the emphasis, of course, being on the technical skills).

Sergei

[Guest Rick Research]

Oh good-- thanks for that! It is ALWAYS the abbreviations that stymie us. I had NO idea what FZU was... Frunze Zzzzzzz School or some such guess.

[Kristof]

Hi Ed.

I tray contact twice with Alexei.M

But no luck.

Kristof

Just PLEASE post results here when you get them back . . . in a year or two?

[new world]

Oh good-- thanks for that! It is ALWAYS the abbreviations that stymie us. I had NO idea what FZU was... Frunze Zzzzzzz School or some such guess.

FZU was training school at the factory where workers learned their skill.

BTW, one of his Uchetnaya Kartochka lists medal for Liberation of Caucasus. There wasn't a medal with such name...

William