The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the Day of Air Force published declassified archival materials on its website, telling about some pages of the history of this kind of troops. Media projects of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation were repeatedly awarded with the prize of the Russian Military Historical Society "Soldier of History".

"On the Day of Air Force, the Ministry of Defense of Russia publishes a series of archival documents on the history of Russian military aviation and the exploits of military pilots on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War," the Defense Ministry noted.

One of the main places among the archival documents that have become public is the copy of the manuscript order of the State Committee for Defense of the USSR, which was drafted at the dictation of the Chairman of the State Defense Committee I.V. Stalin at two o'clock in the night from August 8 to August 9, 1941. The document obliged the commander of the 81st Air Division to carry out a bombing raid on the capital of the Hitlerite Reich.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation withdrew the classification of secrecy from certain orders, award documents, instructions, combat leaflets and registration cards. The materials reveal the details of the exploits of the stormtrooper pilots - cavaliers of the Orders and Heroes of the Soviet Union, whose names were not publicized.

A separate column was given to the pilot Ekaterina Zelenko, who made an air ram. She posthumously received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for "unprecedented heroism and the will to win." A participant in the Soviet-Finnish war, a knight of the Order of Lenin and the Red Banner, deputy squadron of the air regiment in less than six months of the Great Patriotic War, made more than 40 successful sorties. In one of them, a group of bombers under the command of Senior Lieutenant Zelenko destroyed up to 45 tanks and 20 armored vehicles of enemy infantry.

Amateurs of Soviet military equipment during the Great Patriotic War were given the opportunity to study analytical materials on the survivability of aircraft, aircraft itself, engines and special equipment, which were based on the experience of combat operations. The authors of the manual called the best airplane Po-2, because it is "easy to repair, reliable in the air, has proved itself in both day and night departures, and is also easy to transport and disassemble."

Media projects of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation were repeatedly awarded with the prize of the Russian Military Historical Society "Soldier of History". In 2017, two information portals "So began the war" and "The liberation of Poland. Price of Victory "were awarded. In 2018, for many years of conscientious search work for the participants of the Great Patriotic War, which were not given state awards in time, the "Soldier of History" award was given to the Central Archive of the Defense Ministry.

Based on the TASS agency materials


 Reference about the activities of The Russian Military Historical Society