User:Slon02/Mikhail Avdeev (pilot)

Mikhail Vasilyevich Avdeev (Михаи́л Васи́льевич Авде́ев; 15 September 1913 – 22 June 1979) was a Soviet major general, a decorated pilot during the Great Patriotic War, and a recipient of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

Biography
Mikhail Avdeev was born in a peasant family on September 15, 1913, in the village of Gorodek, located in the Goretsky District of the Mogilev Governorate of the Russian Empire, in modern-day Belarus. He moved to Leningrad in 1930 and worked on a collective farm, before briefly working as a carpenter at a power plant from March to May 1932. Joining the military in May 1932, he graduated from the Leningrad Military Theoretical School of Pilots in 1933 and the Voroshilovgrad Military Aviation School of Pilots in 1935. After his training, Adveed became a pilot in the Air Force of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, serving in the 24th Aviation Squadron. He would be stationed there for several years and rose through the ranks, becoming a flight commander in April 1938, chief of the chemical service in July 1939, and chief of staff for the 1st Aviation Squadron in Yevpatoriya in August 1940. Avdeev also became a Communist Party member in 1938.

Great Patriotic War
By the start of the Great Patriotic War, Avdeev was serving as deputy commander of the 5th Squadron in the 32nd Aviation Regiment of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, a command he took up in February 1941 with the rank of senior lieutenant. He would be promoted to squadron commander in January 1942. Initially flying Yak-1 fighter planes, Avdeev would eventually fly the later models Yak-9 and Yak-3.

In the early months of the war, Avdeev was engaged in active combat operations and participated in the defense of Odessa and Sevastopol. He was awarded the first of his four Orders of the Red Banner on September 30, 1941, for shooting down an enemy aircraft and capturing the pilot. In only the first year of the war, Avdeev made over 300 sorties, shooting down 9 enemy airplanes in 63 air battles. In recognition of his heroism and exemplary performance of combat tasks, Avdeev was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on June 14, 1942, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. The next month he was promoted to deputy regiment commander.