Andrei Yegorovich Durnovtsev (russian: Андрей Егорович Дурновцев; 14 January 1923 – 24 October 1976) was a pilot of the

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

. He dropped the

Tsar Bomba The Tsar Bomba () ( code name: ''Ivan'' or ''Vanya''), also known by the alphanumerical designation "AN602", was a thermonuclear aerial bomb, and the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested. Overall, the Soviet physicist Andrei Sa ...

on 30 October 1961 at Cape Sukhoi Nos, from

Mityushikha Bay Mityushikha Bay (russian: Губа Митюшиха) is a bay on Severny Island in Novaya Zemlya, Russia. Nuclear tests were conducted in 1961 in the area of the bay. Geography It is a long fjord open to the west near the SW end of the island, ...

, north of

Matochkin Strait Matochkin Strait or Matochkin Shar (russian: Ма́точкин Шар) is a strait, structurally a fjord, between the Severny and Yuzhny Islands of Novaya Zemlya. It connects the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea. Geography The Matochkin Strait is ...

. The tests were monitored by a government commission headed by Marshal of the Soviet Union

Kirill Moskalenko Kirill Semyonovich Moskalenko (russian: Кирилл Семёнович Москаленко, uk, Кирило Семенович Москаленко; May 11, 1902 – June 17, 1985) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union. A member of the Soviet Arm ...

. He flew a specially modified Tu-95V which utilized special white paint to reflect the enormous amount of heat radiation given off by the Tsar Bomba's fusion reaction; the release plane was accompanied by a Tu-16 observer plane that took air samples and filmed the test. He was promoted to Lt. Colonel after the mission and named a

Hero 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 ...

References

1923 births 1976 deaths Soviet Air Force officers Heroes of the Soviet Union {{Hero-USSR-stub