Kirill A. Yevstigneyev

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Kirill A. Yevstigneyev Soviet Air Force VVS
February 17, 1917(1917-02-17) – August 29, 1996 (aged 79)
Place of birth	Khokhly, Shumikhinsky District, Kurgan Oblast, Russia
Place of death	Moscow, Soviet Union
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service/branch	Soviet Air Force
Years of service	1938-1972
Rank	Major General (1966)
Unit	240th IAP(Fighter Air Regiment), 178th GuIAP (Guard Fighter Air Regiment)
Commands held	178th GuIAP (1945)
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Hero of the Soviet Union (2) Order of Lenin (2) Orders of the Red Banner(4) Order of Suvorov 3d class Order of the Patriotic War First Class & 2d class Order of the Red Star medals

Guards' Captain (later Major-General) Kirill Alekseyevich Yevstigneyev (Russian: Кирилл Алексеевич Евстигнеев) (17 February 1917 – 29 August 1996) was a Soviet fighter pilot and one of the top aces of World War II, with an extraordinary total of 56 confirmed aerial victories.

1 Early life
2 Early Military Career
3 World War II Combat Service
4 After WWII
5 Awards and decorations
6 References

[edit] Early life

Yevstigneyev was born into a peasant family on 17 February, 1917, in the village of Khokhly, in what is now the Shumikhin region of Kurgan province, in Russia's trans-Urals. He attended the Shumikhin elementary school, completing 7 of the requisite 8 years of study, before moving on to the Chelyabinsk industrial school. He trained as a fitter-turner and, upon graduation, moved on to work at the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, where he joined the local aeroclub and got his first taste of flying.

[edit] Early Military Career

In September of 1938, Yevstigneyev joined the Red Army with the aim of becoming a military aviator. In 1941, he graduated from the Bijsk military pilot academy, in the far-eastern Amur region, and was posted as a flying instructor to Serashevo - a support role and an inauspicious start for a future leading ace. At the end of 1942, he was reassigned to the Moscow headquarters of the VVS, where he was put to work in management of the procurement of Bell P-39 Airacobras from the United States under the Lend-Lease program. While important - over 4,000 Airacobras were ferry-flown from Alaska to the Soviet Union during the war - this was even further from an active role than Yevstigneev's previous posting as an instructor. However, for one reason or another, while in Moscow, Yestigneev came to the attention of I. S. Soldatenko, who saw him posted to the front on the 17th of March, 1943.

[edit] World War II Combat Service

Evstigneyev gained his first pair of victories not two weeks after his arrival at the front. On the 28th of March, 1943, near the village of Urazovo in the Belgorod province, southwest of Moscow near the border with the Ukraine, he shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109 ("Messer" in Soviet Air Force parlance), followed by his first Junkers Ju 87 Stuka. On the 12th of April, he brought down a Messerschmitt Bf 110, and became an ace three weeks later, on the 6th of May, when he shot down a Junkers Ju 88 and another Bf 110. In the huge aerial engagements during the Battle of Kursk in July, 1943, Yevstigneev scored six more victories. On the 7th of July, he brought down the leader of a ten-strong bomber formation. The following day, July 8th, he engaged a formation of 9 Stukas, and again brought down the leader. The remaining Stukas turned and fled. Yevstigneev pursued and scored a manoeuvre kill when the Stuka he engaged struck the ground. A subsequent sortie the same day saw him bring down one more Stuka. On the 9th, he scored his second Bf 109 kill, followed by two more on the 13th and the 16th of July.

On the 5th of August, flying a close-air-support sortie on the approach to Belgorod, Yestigneev's eight-aircraft formation engaged opposing German fighters. In the ensuing dog fight, Yestigneev was badly wounded in both feet, and had to be sent to a field hospital ("medsanbat" in Soviet military-speak). There, he had to repeatedly dissuade surgeons from amputating at least one of his feet. He ended up escaping after nine days and crossing the 35km to the nearest airfield - on crutches. He found his way back to his assigned airfield and finished his recovery there. A month after being wounded, and still on crutches, he flew his next combat sortie.

Between March and November, 1943, the then-Senior Lieutenant Yevstigneyev is recorded as having completed 144 combat sorties, with 23 enemy aircraft shot down, with a share in another 3.

On the 2 August, 1944, the squadron commander 240 Fighter Air Regiment (302nd Fighter Air Division, Fighter Air Corps, 5th Air Army, 2nd Ukrainian Front) Senior Lieutenant Kiril A. Yevstigneyev was awarded the Title Hero of the Soviet Union with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and medal "Gold star" (№ 2284).

Guards captain Yevstigneyev to October 1944 completed 83 additional combat mission, brought down 20 aircraft.

On 23 February, 1945, the squadron commander of 178th Guard Fighter Air Regiment (14th Guard Fighter Air Division, 3rd Guard Fighter Air Corps, 5th Air Army, 2nd Ukrainian Front) guards captain Kirill A. Yevstigneyev was awarded second Title Hero of the Soviet Union with the medal "Gold star" (№4039).

Kirill A. Yevstigneyev finished WWII by the commander of 178th Guard Fighter Air Regiment. He conducted last battle in the sky of Hungary.

Evstigneyev's WWII record:

more than 300 combat missions
120 aerial engagements
53 enemy aircraft shot down + 3 shared

[edit] After WWII

In 1949 he finished Tactical Aviation Courses, into 1955 - Military Aviation Academy, in 1960 - Military Academy of General Staff (High Commandґs Academy). Major General of aviation (1966). Since 1972 - in the reserve. He lived in Moscow, where he passed away on the 29th of August, 1996. He is buried at the Kuntsevskoe cemetery in Moscow. A bronze bust of him stands in Shumikha, Kurgan province, near the village of his birth.