JimZ Posted September 26, 2011 Author Posted September 26, 2011 I am synonymous with the the Russian Revolution, although it transpires that part of me was British! Jim :cheers:
Gunner 1 Posted September 26, 2011 Posted September 26, 2011 1. The Russian Cruiser Aurora 2. Petrograd (St. Petersburg) 3. It was there for major repair
Gunner 1 Posted September 26, 2011 Posted September 26, 2011 (edited) For more information: http://en.wikipedia...._cruiser_Aurora The ship is featured on the center of the Order of October Revolution. Edited September 26, 2011 by Gunner 1
JimZ Posted September 26, 2011 Author Posted September 26, 2011 Well done Gunner ! The score now stand as follows !! 16 points - JimZ 14 points - Harvey 10 points - Hauptmann 5 points - Gunner 1 3 points - Valter 3 points - Christophe 2 points - kapten_windu Question 53 is all yours! Jim
Gunner 1 Posted September 26, 2011 Posted September 26, 2011 Question 53: I fought in the Spanish Civil War, at Lake Khasan, and in Finland. At the age of 27 I was a Kombrig and by the time I was 28 I had been promoted to Major General. But my fall was as rapid as my rise, and by the end of 1941 both my wife, Maria (a Major), and I had been executed by the NKVD. 1. Who am I? 2. What was the name of my wife? 3. What position did I hold at the height of my career?
JimZ Posted September 26, 2011 Author Posted September 26, 2011 Might we be talking about: 1) Pavel Rychagov 2) Maria Nesteryenko 3) General Lieutenant Birth: Jan. 2, 1911 Moscow, Russian Federation Death: Oct. 28, 1941 Moscow, Russian Federation Pavel Rychagov was born in Nizhnie Likhobory on 2 January 1911 (this village now forms part of the city of Moscow). He was a victim of Stalin Red Army purges in the late 30's along with other 2000 Soviet VV ( Air Forces )officers and pilots. He was excuted without a trial in 1941 by the NKVD mad dogs. He joined the army in 1928, graduating two years later from the Leningrad Military College of the Air Forces. He then undertook a further course in 1931 at the 2nd Military College for Pilots, which was later renamed V. P. Chkalov Military Air School for Pilots at Borisoglebsk. He then served in the 5th Aerobrigada, leading a zveno, and later a detachment. In October 1936 he went to Spain as a member of the first group of volunteers to fly in the Spanish Civil War, using the nom de guerre Pablo Palancar. His unit was under the command of P. I. Pumpur.In November of 1936 this unit consisted of about 50 I-15s and I-16s fighters. From October of 1936 till February of 1937 Starshii Leytenant Rychagov was a commander of a I-15 Fighter Regiment of three I-15 Squadrons in the Madrid sector. Concurrently he flew combat missions as a commander of an I-15 Squadron. On 4 November these I-15s were put in their first air-battles. There were four missions during the day. Commanded by Pumpur and Rychagov, I-15 fighters in squadron strength engaged the enemy planes over Carrabanchel during the day's first mission. The Soviet pilots claimed four victories in the clash that lasted barely 10 minutes. The aim of the second mission was to intercept six Ju52 escorted by fighters. Commanded by Rychagov the squadron shot down one Ju52. During the third mission a squadron led by Georgiy Zakharov (in his first mission) fought against two flights of bombers, which were escorted by ten fighters. I-15s claimed one enemy fighter. There were no losses of I-15s. The last, forth mission at the end of the day was an alert scramble. A squadron led by Rychagov claimed one more enemy fighter. In all, the I-15s claims five enemy fighters and two Ju52 bombers in this day - 7 victories without losses. One of the fighters, a He51, was claimed by Rychagov. Two I-15s however became lost and the pilots made forced landing in Segovia. The Nationalist bulletin claimed two aircraft destroyed, while the Government bulletin, which referred only to the earlier engagement, claimed the destruction of two Heinkels, these two most probably claimed by Leytenant Rychagov, who claimed two enemy aircraft during the day. Bonomi confirmed that the Fiats had shot down two fighters, and this was also confirmed by the Air Force communiqué, which admitted the loss of a Fiat and a Junkers. Rychagov claimed a Junker Ju52/3m on 15 November. On 16 November there was an air battle between a Fiat squadron (including Joaquín García-Morato) and four I-16s escorting nine I-15s over Madrid. Two squadron leader, Rychagov, were shot down. Although Rychagov was forced to abandon the aircraft on altitude of only 150 metres, he managed to parachute and survive. He landed in the Paseo de la Castellana, near the War Ministry.The Nationalists claimed two fighters while one Italian pilot was wounded but managed to reach his base. The Republicans claimed five victories, two of them by Rychagov, and one loss (Rychagov). On 31 December 1936 he was decorated with the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin. At this time he was credited with six victories (totally he claimed six and 14 shared victories in Spain).At the end of the winter of 1936-1937, Rychagov's I-15 group had claimed about 40 victories. Returning to the Soviet Union in 1937, he was promoted Major, but he remained in this rank only briefly. He had shown considerable competence, and due to shortage of experienced commanders he was promoted to Kombrig (Brigadier General) before the year was out, and while still only 26. In December 1937 he led the first group of volunteers to China, where he commanded a fighter group until April 1938, adding the Order of the Red Banner to his earlier decorations. In the summer of 1938 he commanded the group of VVS units during the short border clash with Japanese units over Lake Khasan, on the Mandzukuo and Korea border. The VVS units consisted of around 180 bombers and 70 fighters. They didn't met any Japanese opposition in the air since the use of aircraft was not permitted by the Japanese command since they didn't want to broaden the conflict. In December 1939 came further promotion to General Major, and he was appointed commander of the Air Force of the 9th Army for operations against Finland during the Winter War. In May 1940 he received a third Order of the Red Banner and was promoted to General Leytenant on 6 June. He became commander of the VVS RKKA on 28 August 1940 after Yakov Shmushkevich and remained in this post until 14 April 1941. The late 30's and early 40's were times of great purges in the Soviet Union. There were two waves of purges in the VVS RKKA. The first was in 1937-1939 and ended when Beria took command of the NKVD after Jezov. 5616 officers from the VVS were purged during this period and of these only 892 returned to service. The second purge against the VVS RKKA started in April 1941. At least 18 high air force commanders were arrested under false accusations of a conspiracy against Stalin made up by the NKVD. The conspiracy was supposedly led by General Kiril Meretskov (a veteran from Spain), who had been chief of the General Staff (August 1940 – 14 January 1941). Rychagov was arrested on 24 June 1941. Other arrested included the Commander of the PVO General Pulkovnik F. M. Stern (a veteran who had served in Spain, Lake Khasan, Khalkin Gol and Finland - as commander of the Air Force of the 8th Army), the deputy commander of the General Staff Yakov Shmushkevich (arrested on 14 June 1941), the deputy commander of the VVS RKKA Academy Kombrig F. K. Arzenuchin, the chief of Staff VVS P.O P. S. Volodin, the Commander of the VVS Moscow Military District P. I. Pumpura (who had been fighter commander in Spain 1936-1939) and several others. All of them were badly tortured during the NKVD questioning. When German troops closed in on Moscow during the autumn of 1941, government and political institutions were evacuated. 300 high ranking Soviet officers in prison in Lubjanka were executed by the NKVD due to lack of transportation but the group of 18 high VVS commander were evacuated earlier to Kuybyshev (now Samara). However to order for execution followed them and Rychagov (together with his wife; Mayor Maria Nesteryenko - commander of independent aviation unit) was executed on 28 October 1941. At the time of his death Rychagov was credited with 6 biplane victories. During the war he had also been decorated with a second Order of Lenin. After Stalin's death in 1953, Rychagov was rehabilitated in 1954. http://www.findagrav...r&GRid=58545545
JimZ Posted September 26, 2011 Author Posted September 26, 2011 And if he's our man, here are his photos... same source as above.
Gunner 1 Posted September 26, 2011 Posted September 26, 2011 Jim: Well done! I will accept your answers (even though 'Lieutenant General' is a rank rather than a position), as the fact that he was Commander of the VVS, RKKA is mentioned in the article you quote. Gunner 1
JimZ Posted September 26, 2011 Author Posted September 26, 2011 Thanks Gunner. You are in fact correct re answer two. I misread that! I almost came up with another name of yet another purge victim with a similar profile - I'll not mention his name as he could be the subject of a future question.... But I could not find any info about his wife!!! Which is what led me to our man. Yet another star officer executed as a result of Stalin's paranoia!!
JimZ Posted September 26, 2011 Author Posted September 26, 2011 So to update the scoreboard - 17 points - JimZ 14 points - Harvey 10 points - Hauptmann 5 points - Gunner 1 3 points - Valter 3 points - Christophe 2 points - kapten_windu I will set question 54 tomorrow all going well! Jim
JimZ Posted September 27, 2011 Author Posted September 27, 2011 Question 54 Who am I and what event made me famous? Jim :cheers:
Christophe Posted September 27, 2011 Posted September 27, 2011 She is Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, the first woman in Space. See Wikipedia : "Valentina vladimirovna Tereshkova (Russian: Валенти́на Влади́мировна Терешко́ва; Belarusian: Валянціна Уладзіміраўна Церашко́ва) (born March 6, 1937) is a retired Soviet cosmonaut, and was the first woman in space. She was selected out of more than four hundred applicants, and then out of five finalists, to pilot Vostok 6 on the 16 June, 1963, becoming both the first woman and the first civilian to fly in space,[1] as she was only honorarily inducted into the USSR's Air Force as a condition on joining the Cosmonaut Corps. During her three-day mission, she performed various tests on herself to collect data on the female body's reaction to spaceflight."
JimZ Posted September 27, 2011 Author Posted September 27, 2011 As "tall" as Mr Medvedev I cropped out the medals to make it a touch less easy!!! Well done Christophe - Your point!
JimZ Posted September 27, 2011 Author Posted September 27, 2011 Update scoreboard follows with Cristophe and Gunner 1 starting to establish themselves too. 17 points - JimZ 14 points - Harvey 10 points - Hauptmann 5 points - Gunner 1 4 points - Christophe 3 points - Valter 2 points - kapten_windu Question 55 next!!! Christophe.... Your turn to challenge us!! Jim
Christophe Posted September 27, 2011 Posted September 27, 2011 OK, my turn... Question 55 : Who am I ? I am not born in Russia, but spent half of my career in Leningrad, and the other half outside in North America. At the age of 26, I have taken the most important decision of my life. This decision changed completely my life. During my career, I have received several honours, but missed an important one. Later, I will be honoured with a very prestigious award... Questions : 1. Who am I ? 2. Where am I born ? 3. Which important decision did I take ? 4. Which award did I get, and which one did I miss ? Good hunt and good luck !! Ch.
Gunner 1 Posted September 27, 2011 Posted September 27, 2011 Christophe: Please forgive me for asking this question as I realize that English is not your first language, but I am a little confused by your use of different tenses of verbs. Your first sentence is in past tense; your second in present tense; the third in past tense, and the last in future tense, while your questions seem to be mostly in past tense. Is this person still alive and waiting to be honored by a 'very prestigious award' or did he miss that award sometime in the past? Regards, Gunner 1
JimZ Posted September 27, 2011 Author Posted September 27, 2011 (edited) I take it that he missed an important honour but was later actually awarded "the prestigious award".....Our international dimension adds spice to the questions sometimes. However, we'll wait for Christophe to clarify. Jim :cheers: Edited September 27, 2011 by JimZ
Christophe Posted September 28, 2011 Posted September 28, 2011 OK... Will clarify... Who am I ? : Means I'm still alive. I am not born in Russia, but spent half of my career in Leningrad, and the other half outside in North America. : the past because my career is finished, even if I still have responsibilities. At the age of 26, I have taken the most important decision of my life. This decision changed completely my life. : I'm more than 26, so it is the past... During my career, I have received several honours, but missed an important one. Later, I will be honoured with a very prestigious award... : OK, I should have written "Later, I have been honoured...". Sorry for making all this confusing, but, it is exact that English is not mt first language.... Cheers. Ch.
Christophe Posted September 28, 2011 Posted September 28, 2011 I take it that he missed an important honour but was later actually awarded "the prestigious award".....Our international dimension adds spice to the questions sometimes. However, we'll wait for Christophe to clarify. Jim Hi Jim, totally correct... Cheers. Ch.
JimZ Posted September 29, 2011 Author Posted September 29, 2011 Hi Christophe. I guess the question may be a bit too wide for now ... .please start to narrow it down a bit with daily hints so that we will not get too stuck on it! Jim :cheers:
Christophe Posted September 30, 2011 Posted September 30, 2011 (edited) Hi to all, Here is a first clue : "The Postman Always Rings Twice" & "King Kong"... Cheers. Ch. Edited September 30, 2011 by Christophe
JimZ Posted September 30, 2011 Author Posted September 30, 2011 I am not born in Russia - Born in Riga, Latvia but spent half of my career in Leningrad - Studied at the Vagonova School in Leningrad. and the other half outside in North America - Defected to Canada while on tour there in 1974 At the age of 26, I have taken the most important decision of my life. - Became a naturised US citizen During my career, I have received several honours - Elected fellow of AAAS and awarded National Medal of arts; Received three Honorary Degrees: on May 11, 2006, from New York University; on September 28, 2007, from Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University; and on May 23, 2008, from Montclair State University. but missed an important one. - Nominated for an Emmy award Later, I will be honoured with a very prestigious award... - Nominated for an Oscar WHO AM I - Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov, former patner of Jessica Lange who starred in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" & "King Kong"...
JimZ Posted September 30, 2011 Author Posted September 30, 2011 And his pic... More info on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Baryshnikov Jim:cheers:
Christophe Posted September 30, 2011 Posted September 30, 2011 Jim, Congrats !!!! You're the winner !!! In fact, the prestigious award he got later is not a nomination for an Oscar, but the US Congress National Medal of Arts he received in 2000. Bravo !!! Your turn, now... Cheers. Ch.
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