Chief marshal of the aviation Konstantin Andreevich Vershinin (russian: Константин Андреевич Вершинин; 3 June 1900 – 30 December 1973) was commander-in-chief 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 ...

from 1946 to 1949 and from 1957 to 1969. He was commander of the

4th Air Army Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and for his actions, he was awarded the distinction of

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 ...

in 1944. At the outbreak of the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

Revolution, he left his work in a sawmill to enter the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

. In 1929, he was sent to the

Zhukovsky Air Force Academy Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy () – is a higher military educational institution for training and retraining of engineers for the Russian Air Force. The academy trains specialists – engineers, research engineers in the following sp ...

located in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. In 1946 — as Commander-in-chief of Air Force — Deputy Ministry of Defence of the USSR. He supervised the Air Force transition to the jet era. He was promoted to

Marshal of Aviation Marshal of the branch (or "marshal of the branch of service"; russian: Ма́ршал ро́да во́йск, Marshal roda voysk) was from 1943 to 1974 the designation to a separate rank class in the general officer's rank group of the form ...

(3 July 1946). In September 1949 unexpectedly lowed in grade and appointed chief commander of Baku PVO Region. He was commander of the 14th Air Army in the Ukrainian SSR from February to September 1950.http://generals.dk/general/Vershinin/Konstantin_Andreevich/Soviet_Union.html and Holm, http://www.ww2.dk/new From June 1953 until May 1954 - commander PVO Forces. He served as Commander of the Soviet Air Force from January 1957 to 1969 and was a Deputy Minister of Defence of the USSR. On 8 May 1959 he was promoted to Chief Marshal of Aviation. From March 1969 he was an inspector of the Group of Inspectors General of Ministry of Defence of the USSR. Member of

CPSU "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

from 1919. Candidate for TsK KPSS in 1952–1956. Member of TsK KPSS from 1961. Deputy of Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union II (1946–1950), IV—VII (from 1954) convocations. Vershinin died after a long illness on December 30, 1973, in Moscow, and was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery.

Awards and decorations

;Soviet Union ;Foreign

References

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Generals.dk
*"The Soviet Airforce at war", "Time Life books", p. 142" 1900 births 1973 deaths People from Kirov Oblast People from Yaransky Uyezd Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Second convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Fourth convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Fifth convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Sixth convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Seventh convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Soviet Air Force marshals Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 1st class Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 2nd class Commanders of the Virtuti Militari Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 1st class {{USSR-bio-stub