Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub

Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub
'Ivan The Terrible'
'Lee Si Tsin'
Soviet Ukranian Fighter Ace
Top Allied Ace of WWII
1920-1991

Soviet Air Force 1940-1985


Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub (Ukrainian: Іван Микитович Кожедуб, Russian: Иван Никитович Кожедуб,was born into a poor rural family on 8 June 1920 in the village of Obrazhiyivka [Obrazheyevska], Shostka district in the Sumy region in the Ukraine. He was the youngest of five children.

In April 1939 Kozhedub made his first flight at the Shostkink Aeroc lub.
He mastered his aviation skills on the Polikarpov U-2 (U stands for Russian uchebny meaning “for study”). At the beginning of 1940 he was admitted to the Military Pilots’ Aviation School in Chuguev (Chuguyevsk Military Air School) learning to fly the UTI-4 & I-16. He was one of the best students and graduated as an aviation instructor.

Starshii Serzhant (Senior Sergeant) Ivan Kozhedub performed his first military flight as part of 240 IAP on 26 March 1943 in a LaG-5 fighter (No.75 'Named after Valery Chkalov'). It was not successful and his plane was badly damaged by a pair of Messerschmitt Bf 109s. He was able to land his fighter but the aircraft was ruined.

During the Battle of Kursk Ivan Kozhedub, then a 23-year-old pilot, opened his fighting account. On 6 July 1943, as part of a squadron led by Major Soldatienko, he entered into a dogfight with a number of enemy planes over Pokrova, the young pilot gained his first victory by forcing down a Nazi Ju-87 Stuka dive-bomber. The next day he gained a new victory by bringing down another Stuka.

"We were ordered to attack a group of Junkers Ju-87 dive bombers. I chose a "victim" and came quite close to it. The main thing was to fire in time. Everything happened very rapidly. It was only on the ground, among my friends, that I recalled the details of this battle. Caution is all-important and you have to turn your head 360 degrees all the time. The victory belonged to those who knew their planes and weapons inside out and had the initiative. On July 7, I downed a second plane and, on July 8, I destroyed another two Bf-109 fighters."

By the 16th July 1943, he had claimed 8 air victories, and was promoted to Mladshii Leitnant (Junior Lieutenant)

On 6 November 1943, he scored his 26th kill in air to air combat with German fighters.

On 4 February 1944, Kozhedub was acclaimed as a Hero of the Soviet Union (HSU).

In May 1944 Kozhedub was promoted to captain and became the commander of a squadron. With 38 air victories under his belt, he received a new La-5F - a gift from a farmer named Vasily Konev. Konev gave money to the Red Army and asked that a plane be constructed in the name of his nephew, Lieutenant Colonel Georgy Konev, a fighter pilot who died at the front. The request of the patriot was executed and the plane was transferred to Ivan Kozhedub.

In July 1944 he was posted to the 1st Belorussian Front as vice commander to the 176th Guards Fighter Regiment, and received La-7 "White 27", in which he score his final 17 victories.

On 19 August 1944, with a total of 34 kills, he was awarded his second HSU

On 19 February 1945 during a military operation near Frankfurt (Oder) Kozhedub destroyed an Me-262 jet that was piloted by the officer Kurt Lange.

On 18 August 1945, following the end of the war, he was awarded his third HSU

During WWII, Ivan Kozhedub flew 326 combat missions, took part in 126 aerial combats, and achieved 62 kills (in them 22 FW 190 and 18 Ju 87).
Apart from these 62 victories, Ivan Kozhedub also was forced to shoot down two U.S. P-51 Mustangs that mistakenly attacked his La-7 on one occasion. Both these P-51 losses have been verified by USAAF sources, although some sources dismiss the incident as a myth.
The planes he flew were La-5 FN & La-7 ("White 27") fighters. In 1949, he finished the Zhukovsky Military Aviation Academy. In 1956, he graduated from the High Command Academy, after which he was promoted to General.

April 1951, promoted to Polkovnik (Colonel)

During the Korean War (1950 – 1953) he commanded the 324th IAD (Fighter Aviation Division), which gained 239 victories and brought down 12 Boeing B-29 Superfortresses. Kozhedub was forbidden to engage in fighting personally and during this period he didn’t gain any official victories. But the participants of those events later said that some times Ivan Kozhedub nevertheless took to the skies.

After the fall of the Soviet Union it was revealed that both the Russian ace Yevgeny Pepelyaev and his commander Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub were both known as Lee Si Tsins during the Korean war.
Note that Lee Si Tsin (Russian: Ли Си Цын or Ли Си Цин) is an idiom from the native Russian last name Lisitsyn (Russian: Лисицын), which was used as a nom de guerre for Soviet military pilots fighting in Asian skies against the US military.

In 1956 he became part of the Joint Staff of the Military Academy.

From 1971 he served in the Central Office of the Air Forces and from 1978 in the group of general inspection of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR.

He was made an Aviation Marshal in 1985.

Ivan Kozhedub died on 8 August 1991.

He is credited with 62 individual air victories, most of them flying the Lavochkin La(G)-5

His final rank : Marshal of aviation
His awards :
3 times HSU Gold Star Золотая Звезда (1944 twice, 1945 once)
2 times Order of Lenin Орден Ленина
7 times Order of Red Banner Орден Крaсного Знамени
Order of Alexander Nevsky Oрден Александра Невского
2 times Order of the Great Patriotic War 1st Class Орден Отечественной войны
2 times Order of the Red Star Орден Красной Звезды

russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-r…
www.flymig.com/pilots/ivan.nik…
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Koz…
vvs.hobbyvista.com/Markings/Ko…
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Deleted link - Youtubes video of Kozhedubs memorial removed from Youtube - no idea why.

This submission is not intended to glorify warfare as such, but it is intended to raise awareness of the incredibly brave and courageous fighter pilots from all countries who flew for their countries under the orders of people who should have known better and should know better now.

[Not very] technical stuff
Paper : 150gsm sketching paper
Pencil : Spectrum Pro 4B sketch stick
Title text : Gimped (yes I know it should be mixed media but see my devi-rant journals.)

Rev. 1 - Link to "Phantom Song" removed by originator - this song is apparently from the Vietnam era anyway.
Rev. 2 - Links tidied up and pruned. - Oct 2019