Gagarin Air Force Academy

Gagarin Air Force Academy (Russian: Военно-воздушная академия имени Ю. А. Гагарина) is the name of a Russian military aviation academy located in Monino (Монино), Moscow Region.

Gagarin Air Force Academy is one of the leading military educational institutions preparing high-ranking military personnel for the Russian Air Force.

Among the academy alumni are around 700 Heroes of the Soviet Union (highest award in the USSR), more than 10 cosmonauts, and over 2000 military specialists from 21 foreign countries.^[1]

The Academy provides regiment and division-level commanding officers to fill commanding, staff, navigation, logistics, communications and radar-support positions.^[2]

Alternative academy name in the English-language literature is Yuri Gagarin Military Air Academy. In conversational speech often referred to as Gagarin Academy or Monino Academy.

By late 2008, this academy and the N. Zhukovsky Aviation Engineering Academy both merged to become the Gagarin-Zhukovsky Military Combined Air Force Academy, but it still retains its Monino campus.

History

The academy was founded in 1940. It was named Air Force Academy in 1946. In 1968 it was named after Yuri Gagarin (Гагарин, Юрий Алексеевич).^[3]

In 2008, Gagarin Air Force Academy was amalgamated with the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy (Russian: Военно-воздушная инженерная академия имени профессора Н.Е. Жуковского).^[4]

The new academy was titled "Zhukovsky – Gagarin Air Force Academy" - a federal government military educational institution of higher education run by the Russian Ministry of Defence.

Since 2010 the full name is Russian Air Force Military Educational and Scientific Center “Air Force Academy named after Professor N.E. Zhukovsky and Y.A. Gagarin”.

For the latest history of the academy see the article on Zhukovsky – Gagarin Air Force Academy

Leadership (Superintendent – commander and senior officer)^[5]

• 1940–1940 – Zinovii M. Pomerntsev
• 1940–1940 – Feodor K. Arzhenukhin
• 1941–1942 – Leonid I. Naryshkin
• 1942–1944 – Yakov S. Shkurin
• 1944–1946 – Petr P. Ionov
• 1946–1950 – Fedor Falaleyev
• 1950–1956 – Serafim A. Pestov
• 1956–1968 – Stepan Krasovsky
• 1968–1973 – Sergei Rudenko
• 1973–1988 – Nikolai Skomorokhov (Скоморохов Николай Михайлович)

Notable faculty

• Sergei Gulyev (Гульев С. К.) – Doctor of Military Sciences, professor.
• Alexander Drozhzhin (Дрожжин А. И.) – Doctor of Military Sciences, professor.
• Alexei Zaitsev (Зайцев, Алексей Дмитриевич) – professor, Major-General retired.
• Grigory Lavrik (Лаврик Г. П.) – Honored Scientist of Russia, Doctor of Military Sciences, professor.
• Georgy Molokanov (Молоканов Г. Ф.) – Honored Scientist of Russia, Doctor of Technical Sciences, professor.
• Valentin Rog (Рог В. Г.) – Doctor of Military Sciences, professor.
• Ivan Timokhovich (Тимохович Иван Васильевич) – Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor, Major-General of aviation.

Notable alumni

• Vladimir Alekseyenko (Алексенко Владимир Аврамович) – Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice, Lieutenant-General.
• Vasily Ivanovich Andrianov (Андрианов Василий Иванович) – Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice, Major-General.
• Leonid Beda (Беда Леонид Игнатьевич) – Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice, Honored Military Pilot of the USSR (1971), Lieutenant-General of aviation (1972).
• Georgy Beregovoy (Береговой Георгий Тимофеевич) – Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice.
• Mikhail Bondarenko (Бондаренко Михаил Захарович) – Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice.
• Andrei Borovykh (Боровых Андрей Егорович) – Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice, Colonel-General of aviation, Commander of the Aviation of the Air Defense Forces of the USSR (1969–1977).
• Aleksandr Efimov (Ефимов Александр Николаевич) – Commander in Chief Air Force and Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR (1984–1990); Marshal of Aviation (1975), Honored Military Pilot of the USSR (1970), Doctor of Military Sciences, professor.
• Aleksei Gubarev (Губарев Алексей Александрович) – Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice, Major-General.
• Sigmund Jähn (1966–1970)
• Ivan Kozhedub (Кожедуб, Иван Никитович) – World War 2 ace-pilot, shoot down highest number of enemy aircraft (64) among pilots of allied forces. Hero of the Soviet Union awarded three times. Marshal of Aviation (1985).
• Anatoly Nedbailo (Недбайло Анатолий Константинович) – Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice, Deputy Superintendent of the Kiev Higher Air Force Engineering Academy (1968–1983), Major-General of aviation.
• Ivan Alekseyevich Vorobyov (Воробьёв Иван Алексеевич) – Hero of the Soviet Union awarded twice.
• Alexander Zelin (Зелин Александр Николаевич) – Commander in Chief, Russian Federation Air Force (2007), Colonel-General.

See also

• Central Air Force Museum

References

• Герои Советского Союза, окончившие ВВА имени Ю. А. Гагарина (A list of the academy alumni – Heroes of the Soviet Union)

Coordinates: 55°50′34″N 38°10′53″E / 55.84278°N 38.18139°E / 55.84278; 38.18139