Vasiliy Khripin

Vasiliy Vladimirovich Khripin (February 26, 1893 – July 29, 1938), was a Soviet Air Force General. He fought in the Imperial Russian military in World War I before going over to the Bolsheviks during the subsequent Civil War. He was a recipient of the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of the Red Star.

During the Great Purge, he was arrested on November 26, 1937, and executed the following year at Kommunarka.

Lieutenant General Khripin was not mentioned again in the Soviet press until almost 25 years later, when the Soviet Defense Ministry newspaper Krasnaya Zvesda ran an article on February 26, 1963, commemorating the 70th anniversary of General Khripin's birth. Retired Air Force General Alexander V. Belyakov wrote the feature and praised Khripin as an innovator in Soviet aviation.