Sergey Lugansky

Sergey Danilovich Lugansky (Russian: Сергей Данилович Луганский; 1 October 1918 – 16 January 1977) was a flying ace in the Soviet Air Forces during the Second World War who was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for having gained at least 34 solo shootdowns during the war.

Sergey Danilovich Lugansky
Native name
Сергей Данилович Луганский
Born1 October 1918
Verny, Turkestan ASSR
Died16 January 1977 (aged 58)
Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR, USSR
Allegiance Soviet Union
Service/branch Soviet Air Force
Years of service1936 – 1964
RankGeneral-major of Aviation
Unit270th Fighter Aviation Regiment
Battles/warsWinter War
World War II
AwardsHero of the Soviet Union (twice)
Spouse(s)Mariya Arkadyevna

Early life

Lugansky was born on 1 October 1918 to a Russian peasant family in the village of Verny in the Turkestan ASSR, the location of present-day Almaty, Kazakhstan. He entered the Red Army in 1936 after completing eight grades of secondary school that year. In December 1938 he graduated from the Orenburg Military Aviation School of Pilots, after which he was assigned to the 49th Fighter Aviation Regiment; the unit was equipped with I-15 and I-153 fighters. From November 1939 to March 1940 he flew 59 sorties on the I-153 as part of the Winter War. In May 1941 he was made a deputy squadron commander in the 271st Fighter Aviation Regiment, where he initially flew the I-16 fighter.[1]

World War II

Lugansky was deployed to the front of World War II in October 1941. From then until May 1942 he remained in his position as a deputy squadron commander in the 271st Fighter Aviation Regiment; there scored two aerial victories and participated in the fighting over Rostov before he was transferred to the 270th Fighter Aviation Regiment as a squadron commander. While he scored only one aerial victory in 1942, the next year he increased his victory tally significantly after switching from flying the LaGG-3 to the Yak-1, mostly in Summer 1943. Later he was presented with a custom-painted Yak-1, a gift from the city of Alma-ata that was raised money for the construction of the aircraft.[2][3]

In 1944 Lugansky's regiment received a delegation of American pilots. A colonel from the delegation offered to engage in a training duel, and Lugansky accepted the offer. The American piloted a P-63, which Lugansky successful managed to tail for the duration of the flight from his Yak-1. On 4 June 1944 the commander the 270th Fighter Aviation Regiment was shot down by anti-aircraft fire over enemy territory; Lugansky was chosen as his replacement. That month the unit was honored with the Guards designation and renamed the 152nd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. Under his command the unit participated in the Lvov-Sandomierz and Silesian Offensives. In March 1945, on the orders of Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Konev, he was sent the Air Force Academy in Moscow, forcing him to relinquish command of the regiment. By the end of the war he had flown 390 sorties, and gained at least 34 solo aerial victories as well as at least one shared shootdown.[lower-alpha 1] For his high number of aerial victories he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 2 September 1943 and 1 July 1944.[3][4]

Postwar

After the end of the Second World War, Lugansky remained at the Air Force Academy, which he graduated from in 1949. He commanded the 42nd Fighter Aviation Division from May 1952 until March 1956, in which he flew MiG-15 and MiG-17 fighters. From March 1956 to March 1957 he was the commander of the 37th Fighter Aviation Division, in which he flew MiG-17 and MiG-17PF fighters. From then until July 1960 he was the commander of the 72nd Guards Fighter Aviation Corps; he was promoted to the rank of General-Major of Aviation on 28 May 1957. He became the deputy commander of the 11th Air Defense Corps in 1960, a position a he remained in until he retired in December 1964. In addition to his command posts in the military he was a deputy in the Supreme Soviet of the Turkmen SSR from 1959 to 1964. For the remainder of his life he lived in Alma-ata. After suffering a severe stroke in November 1968 became paralyzed on his right side, rendering him unable to speak, walk, and drive. Before regaining the ability to speak he would communicate with nodding; his condition improved somewhat over time and he eventually managed to walk and speak, but he died of a second stroke in January 1977, less than a year after his wife Mariya died. His friend Talgat Bigeldinov was greatly saddened by his death.[3][5][6]

Awards and honors

See also

Footnotes

  1. Official documents from the course of the war available at present indicate Lugansky had accumulated 34 solo victories and one team victory, but other sources indicate he had 36 solo and two group shootdowns. British historian George Mellinger credits him with conducting one aerial ramming, and some sources even credit him with two rammings, but no Soviet documents contain any mention of an aerial ramming by Lugansky.

References

Bibliography

  • Simonov, Andrey; Bodrikhin, Nikolai (2017). Боевые лётчики — дважды и трижды Герои Советского Союза. Moscow: Фонд «Русские Витязи», Музей техники Вадима Задорожного. ISBN 9785990960510. OCLC 1005741956.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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