| Alexei Petrovich Maresiev |
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Information AboutAlexei Petrovich Maresiev |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT ALEXEI PETROVICH MARESIEV | |
| 1916 births | |
| 2001 deaths | |
| russian aviators | |
| russian world war ii pilots | |
| russian people of world war ii | |
| soviet world war ii flying aces | |
| heroes of the soviet union | |
| russian amputees | |
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He was born 20th of May 1916 in Kamyshin . He started his flights as a fighter pilot in August 1941; he shot down 4 Nazi planes until April 1942, when his fighter plane was downed near Staraya Russa , then occupied by Germans. Despite being heavily injured, Alexei managed to return to the Soviet-controlled territory on his own. During his 18-day long journey, his injuries deteriorated so badly that both of his legs had to be amputated below the knee. Desperate to return to his fighter pilot career, he subjected himself to near a year of exercise to master the control of his prosthetic devices, and succeeded at that, returning to flying in June 1943. During one of the Dog Fight s in August 1943 he downed 3 Nazi FW-190 fighters. In total, he completed 86 combat flights and shot down 11 Nazi warplanes. He was awarded a Golden Star of Hero Of The Soviet Union , the highest military decoration in USSR. In 1956 Maresiev obtained a Ph.D. in History, and started working in the Soviet War Veterans Committee. Eventually he became a member of Supreme Soviet . He died of heart attack May 19th, 2001, just an hour ahead of his official 85th birthday celebration. His story became the basis for novel by Boris Polevoy , ''Story of a Real Man''. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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