Alexander Pokryshkin - First Blood.

Written by Christer Bergström .

Shown here is the personal aircraft of Col. Alexander 'Sasha' Pokryshkin (1913 - 13 November 1985). The photo is probably from August of 1944. The young pilots (most of them started their fighter careers in the spring of 1943, during the Battle of Kuban) are from the 16th Guards Fighter Regiment (GvIAP): from left: L.I. Goregljad, A.F. Klubov , W.A. Bierezkin, A.I. Pokryshkin (wearing leather helmet), N.L. Trofimov, and S.A.Pyzikov.

Below is a picture of Pokryshkin during the Battle of Kuban. The photo is dated 28 May 1943. Behind him is a P-39D-2 (no. 41-38520). There is unknown fact that Pokryshkin was nick-named "Mustafa" by friends, due to his freezed cheekes during the winter 1941/1942 flights in open I-16 cocpit.

22 June 1941 - first hours of German-Soviet war. Some German bombers flew in over the city of Bielce and dropped their bombs. 55 IAP's pilot Surov attacked this formation, shot down one bomber but was in turn shot down himself by one of the escorting Bf 109s. Confusion characterized most of the air combats on this day. From Mayaki airfield, another part of the 55 IAP scrambled against incoming enemy planes. This was the first combat mission for one of the upcoming Soviet topguns, Senior Lieutenant Alexander 'Sasha' Pokryshkin. In the same area, the commander of 211 BAP of the Odessa Military District had sent out nine of the new Soviet Sukhoi Su-2 ground-attack planes to attack German forces at River Prut. The Su-2 was top secret. Only 75 of this type were in service by the time of the German attack. Security surrounding the Su-2 in fact so harsh that not even most Soviet airmen knew about their existence. Spotting a formation of single-engined bombers, Pokryshkin immediately attacked:

'I aimed at the first bomber and gave him a short burst. I couldn't miss, I was so close that the air current from his propeller shook my plane. I broke off to the right and started climbing over the bombers. From above I saw - red stars on the wing surfaces!

Flying over the formation, I didn't know what to do. The bomber I had attacked was lagging behind the rest. The rest of our fighters approached in a tight formation. The leading fighter started preparing an attack on the bombers from the opposite side. I was desperate - they're going to shoot them all down! Without hesitating, I cut his way, waggling the wing tips of my aircraft. He almost collided with me, but then flung himself to the side. I had to repeat the same manoeuvre and fire warning bursts in front of each and every of the remaining fighters. In spite of this, some tokk a shot at the bombers, but scored no hits. The bomber I had hit belly-landed on a field, while the remaining continued westwards.'

After A.Pokryschkin: Himmel des Krieges, p. 27., translation by Christer Bergstrom.

To 'Sasha' Pokryshkin's luck, the general confusion during the first days of the war saved him from being court-martialed. In fact, the 55 IAP fought well during the remainder of the day, claiming ten aerial victories, including a Henschel 126 piloted by a highly decorated officer, which was shot down by Captain Astrashkevich.

Having shot down a Russian Su-2 bomber on the first day of the war, Senior Lieutenant Pokryshkin of 55 IAP claimed his first 'real' aerial victory on this 23 June. This day, Pokryshkin was in the air over Iasi in a MiG-3 together with his wingman Lieutenant Semionov. Their mission was reconnaissance of the Prut crossings. Suddenly the two Russians sighted five Messerschmitt 109s, three at the same altitude (a. 1,000 feet) as the MiGs, and two above. Pokryshkin and Semionov made a frontal attack on the three lower flying Messerschmitts. The enemy fighter pilots banked to the left, which was foreseen by Pokryshkin - he had observed that most pilots reacted on a frontal attack by a left turn. Pokryshkin turned right and gained the advantage. Within a couple of seconds he had caught the last of the three Bf 109s in his gunsight. Just as he was about to open fire, he saw bullet tracers close to his own fuselage. The two upper Messerschmitts were coming down after him! Pokryshkin pulled the stick hard and the powerful engine in his Mikoyan-Gurevich fighter pushed the plane upwards with such force that Pokryshkin blackened-out.

Coming to his senses after a few seconds, Pokryshkin noticed that Lieutenant Semionov had a Messerschmitt on his tail. Without any hesitation and with no regards to the other four enemy fighters, Pokryshkin gave full throttle and rushed to his compatriot´s assistance. In doing so, he got rid of his own two followers. After the second burst from Pokryshkin´s weapons, the Bf 109 caught fire and dropped into a dive, leaving a pile of black smoke.

Then Alexander Pokryshkin committed the same mistake as so many fighter pilots do immediately after their first victory: he was so amazed by the view of the first enemy plane he had downed, that he forgot to watch out. Suddenly, the leader of the higher flying Messerschmitt-pair lay behind him. Bullets slammed into the MiG-3, which was flung into a half roll. A 20 mm cannon shell tore a large hole in the right wing. More or less involuntarily, Pokryshkin dove his damaged plane at full speed, almost crashing into the ground, and made an escape at tree-top level. The Messerschmitts chose to disengage.

Alexander Pokryshkin was one of the greatest tacticians in the Soviet Fighter Air Arm. He approached air combat in a scientific manner, learning much from the memoirs of French WW 1 ace René Fonck, Mes Combats. Pokryshkin would eventually develop to the second most successful fighter pilot on the Allied side during WW 2. During the war Pokryshkin was 3 times awarded by Soviet Hero Title (Gold Star). He flew total of 550 sorties, participated in 139 air combats he scored officially 59 enemy planes. But in opinion of some historicans his killboard list should be enlarged by next 13 victories, scored in battles over Kuban. During free hunt over German territory he downed a row of enemy planes, but in that period Soviet Command confirmed only planes destroyed over own area.

(Great part of above text is an excerpt from Christer Bergström's book 'RED STAR - BLACK CROSS; Russian and German Fighter Pilots in Combat 1941-1945', which will be published in 1998.)

Below is the painting scheme of the P-39 Q Airacobra 29004, call-code "100". Flying this aircraft, Pokryshkin scored several aerial victories in later period of war. Note: P-39 was a favourite weapon of Pokryshkin, he still flew on that type, when his all 9th Fighter Division was already all reequiped by La-7 fighters. In 1943 Pokryshkin made useful P-39 modification, bound all armenement fire into one stick button, so wave of 37 mm cannon and 12,7 mm heavy gun shells can devestate any enemy plane in one moment.

P-39Q Pokryshkin plane.