Zakhar Sorokin
Zakhar Artyomovich Sorokin (russian: Захар Артёмович Сорокин; – 19 March 1978) was a Soviet fighter pilot and flying ace who flew in combat with prosthetic feet from 1943 to 1945, having lost his feet to frostbite in 1941 after crashing in tundra in his MiG-3. He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of the British Empire for his perseverance, and after the war he wrote several memoirs. Early life Sorokin was born on to a working-class Russian family in Glubokoe. His family moved to Krasnodar oblast in 1920, where he attended school and was employed as an assistant locomotive engineer while training at an aeroclub. After entering the navy in 1937 he graduated from the Yeisk Naval Aviation School in 1939. He then was assigned to the 72nd Mixed Aviation Regiment of the Black Sea Fleet, based in Sevastopol. World War II Starting on 22 June 1941, Sorokin was engaged in World War II operations defending against Operation Barbarossa. The ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tomsk Governorate
Tomsk Governorate (russian: Томская губерния) was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, Russian Republic, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic located in Siberia from 1804 to 1925 as part of the Siberian Governorate-General (1804–1822) and the West Siberian Governorate-General (1822–1882). Its seat was in the city of Tomsk. General information The Tomsk Governorate was located in the southeastern part of Western Siberia. To the north, north-west and west it bordered the Tobolsk Governorate, to the south-west the Semipalatinsk region, to the south and south-east Mongolia, and to the east and north-east the Yeniseisk Governorate. In terms of territory, it corresponded to the territories of the modern Altai Krai, the Republic of Altai, Kemerovo Oblast, Novosibirsk Oblast and Tomsk Oblast of the Russian Federation, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Semipalatinsk Oblast of Kazakhstan, the western lands of Krasnoyarsk Krai and the east ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arctic
The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia (Murmansk Oblast, Murmansk, Siberia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Nenets Okrug, Novaya Zemlya), Sweden and the United States (Alaska). Land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and sea ice, ice cover, with predominantly treeless permafrost (permanently frozen underground ice) containing tundra. Arctic seas contain seasonal sea ice in many places. The Arctic region is a unique area among Earth's ecosystems. The cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions. Life in the Arctic includes zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants and human societies. Arctic land is bordered by the subarctic. De ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Soviet World War II Flying Aces
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national republics; in practice, both its government and its economy were highly centralized until its final years. It was a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with the city of Moscow serving as its capital as well as that of its largest and most populous republic: the Russian SFSR. Other major cities included Leningrad (Russian SFSR), Kiev (Ukrainian SSR), Minsk (Byelorussian SSR), Tashkent (Uzbek SSR), Alma-Ata (Kazakh SSR), and Novosibirsk (Russian SFSR). It was the largest country in the world, covering over and spanning eleven time zones. The country's roots lay in the October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Russian Provisional Government that ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Heroes Of The Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. Overview The award was established on 16 April 1934, by the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union. The first recipients of the title originally received only the Order of Lenin, the highest Soviet award, along with a certificate (грамота, ''gramota'') describing the heroic deed from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Because the Order of Lenin could be awarded for deeds not qualifying for the title of hero, and to distinguish heroes from other Order of Lenin holders, the Gold Star medal was introduced on 1 August 1939. Earlier heroes were retroactively eligible for these items. A hero could be awarded the title again for a subsequent heroic feat with ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1978 Deaths
Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 – The Holy Crown of Hungary (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II. * January 10 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, is assassinated; riots erupt against Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Somoza's government. * January 18 – The European Court of Human Rights finds the British government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture. * January 22 – Ethiopia declares the ambassador of West Germany ''persona non grata''. * January 24 ** Soviet Union, Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering debris over Canada's Northwest Territories. ** ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1917 Births
Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's Desert Column. * January 10 – Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition: Seven survivors of the Ross Sea party were rescued after being stranded for several months. * January 11 – Unknown saboteurs set off the Kingsland Explosion at Kingsland (modern-day Lyndhurst, New Jersey), one of the events leading to United States involvement in WWI. * January 16 – The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million. * January 22 – WWI: United States President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Germany. * January 25 ** WWI: British armed merchantman is sunk by mines off Lough Swilly (Ireland), with the loss of 354 of the 475 aboard. ** An anti- prostitution drive in San Francisco occurs, and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gheorghe Bănciulescu
Gheorghe Bănciulescu (born 28 December 1898, Iaşi, Romania – 12 April 1935, Egypt), was an early aviator in Romania. He is believed to be the first pilot in the world to fly with his feet amputated. Biography He was the son of an infantry officer, he attended military High School in Iași, then the Infantry School at Botoșani. During World War I, at 19, being a second lieutenant, he fought at Jiu, Namoloasa, Corbu and Mărăşeşti, Mărăşeşti having only 6 soldier survivors. The aerial battles he saw during the war led him to discover his passion for flight. His father tried to protect him from the enrollment in aviation. The determination of Nicolae Tanase, an experienced war pilot, was the inspiration for Bănciulescu to become a pilot. "I do not know what will come out of you, but the first condition is to love flying! I'm taking you under my responsibility. You are a pilot!" he said. In 1919, Lieutenant Bănciulescu stood first to fly a Nieuport and on 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alexey Maresyev
Aleksey Petrovich Maresyev (russian: Алексей Петрович Маресьев; 5 May 1916 – 19 May 2001) was a Russian military pilot who became a Soviet fighter ace during World War II despite becoming a double amputee. Biography Before joining the army in 1937 Maresyev worked as a turner and then participated in the construction of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. In 1941, he graduated from the Bataysk Military School of Aviation. He began his flights as a fighter pilot in August 1941. He had shot down four German aircraft by March 1942. On 5 April 1942 his Yakovlev Yak-1 was shot down near Staraya Russa, after which he was almost captured. Despite being badly injured, he managed to return to the Soviet-controlled territory. During his 18-day-long journey his injuries deteriorated so badly that both of his legs had to be amputated above the knee. Before the surgery he was lying on a stretcher with a sheet over his face and considered to be a hopeless case due to the e ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Boris Safonov
Boris Feoktistovich Safonov (russian: Бори́с Феокти́стович Сафо́нов); – 30 May 1942) was a Soviet Naval Aviation fighter ace of World War II who was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Early life Safonov was born to a peasant family in the village of Sinyavino, now in the Plavsky District of Tula Oblast on 26 August 1915. After graduating from seven grades, he entered the Tula Railway Training College in the late 1920s. While studying at the college, he joined the local flying school, where his instructor was Valentina Grizodubova, who later became a celebrated military pilot. He was conscripted into the Red Army in 1933 and on completing his flying training at the Kacha Higher Military Aviation School, was posted to the Belorussian Military District. He served in the 106th Dzerzhinsky Fighter Aviation Squadron of the 40th Aviation Brigade from 1934, later 15th Dzerzhinsky Fighter Aviation Regiment. In 1939, he joined the Communist Part ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The rise of the Russian Empire coincided with the decline of neighbouring rival powers: the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Qajar Iran, the Ottoman Empire, and Qing China. It also held colonies in North America between 1799 and 1867. Covering an area of approximately , it remains the third-largest empire in history, surpassed only by the British Empire and the Mongol Empire; it ruled over a population of 125.6 million people per the 1897 Russian census, which was the only census carried out during the entire imperial period. Owing to its geographic extent across three continents at its peak, it featured great ethnic, linguistic, religious, and economic diversity. From the 10th–17th centuries, the land ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |