Aleksandr Fedotov (pilot)
Alexander Vasilyevich Fedotov (June 23, 1932, Stalingrad, USSR – April 4, 1984, USSR) was a Soviet test pilot who was a Hero of the Soviet Union, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, Lenin Prize holder and Major-General of Aviation.
Aleksandr Vasilyevich Fedotov | |
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| Born | 23 June 1932 Stalingrad, Soviet Union (now Russia) |
| Died | 4 April 1984 (aged 51) Moscow Region, USSR |
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| Awards | Hero of the Soviet Union Lenin Prize |
Biography
He was born on 23 June 1932 in the town of Stalingrad in the USSR in a family of Russian ethnicity[1]. During the Second World War he and his mother fled from the besieged Stalingrad. The Fedotov family returned to Stalingrad only after its liberation, but without Alexandrov's father, who fought on the front and died in battle Warsaw Uprising in 1944. In 1947 at the age of fifteen he completed the seven-year primary school and joined the 7th Specialized School of Air Armed Forces USSR.
Career
Fedotov attended the Armavir Military Aviation School of Pilots at Armavir, Krasnodar Krai, Russia, graduating in 1952, and then became a flight instructor.
In 1958 he attended the Ministry of Industrial Aviation Test Pilot School at Zhukovsky. He was a test pilot for the Mikoyan Experimental Design Bureau from 1958 to 1984 .[2] He graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1965.
Since August 1958, a test pilot of the OKB named after AI Mikoyan. Participated in the tests of MiG-19, MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-25, MiG-27, MiG-29, MiG-31 and their modifications. For the first time in the country, it reached a speed corresponding to the Mach number M = 3.
On E-166 and MiG-25 aircraft, 18 world aviation records were set (of which three are absolute), speed, dynamic ceiling, load capacity and climbing speed. In particular, he still owns the unaccounted flight altitude record (37650 meters) for manned jet aircraft, established on August 31, 1977, on an experimental MiG-25M fighter.[3][4]
Major-General of Aviation (1983), Honored Coach of the USSR (1976), master of sports of international class (1975), Honored Test Pilot of the USSR (1969), Hero of the Soviet Union (1966).
Fedotov lived in the city of Zhukovsky in the Moscow region.
He died April 4, 1984 in a test flight on the MiG-31, together with the test navigator V.S. Zaitsev. In that flight there was a false alarm indication of the emergency fuel reserve system, and Fedotov decided to land. Believing that there was not enough fuel on the plane, he made a sharp maneuver, but the heavy, fuel-filled airplane reached the overcritical angle of attack and fell into a tailspin. Neither Fedotov nor Zaitsev survived.
He was buried at the Bykov cemetery of the city of Zhukovsky.[5]
He was awarded the FAI Gold Air Medal in 1975.[6] The winner of the Lenin Prize (1981). He was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Red Banner of Labor, and medals.
Memorial
- There is a Fedotov Street in the city of Zhukovsky
- The name of Alexandr Fedotov is assigned to the main Russian test pilot school in Zhukovsky[7]
- The name Alexandr Fedotov was awarded to school No. 24 in the Kirov district of the city of Volgograd
- There is a bust of him in Armavir, Russia
See also
References
- Герои Страны
- https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/alexander-vasilyevich-fedotov/
- https://theaviationgeekclub.com/remembering-absolute-altitude-record-set-fedotov-mig-25-40-years-ago/
- http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/candidates/english/fedotov_aleksandr.htm
- https://www.fai.org/news/day-history-alexandr-fedotov-flies-record-books
- Cowan, Cliff (September 22, 1975). "World's Fliers Drop Into Ottawa". The Ottawa Journal. Ottawa, Ontario. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- Знаменская, Наталья, ed. (2002). ШЛИ со временем [ShLI in Time] (in Russian) (2 ed.). Жуковский: ООО "Редакция газеты "Жуковские вести". p. 400.
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