Photo of twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant A.S. Smirnov, 1943

The original wartime photo is in good collector's condition. The size is 75*112 mm. There are traces of pasting into the album on the back. Very rare. Guarantee of authenticity.

Alexey Semenovich Smirnov (January 25 [February 7] 1917, village of Paltsevo, Tver Province — August 7, 1987, Moscow) was a Soviet ace pilot, twice Hero of the Soviet Union. He was born on February 7, 1917 in the village of Paltsevo, Tver province, into a peasant family. By nationality — Karel. Member of the CPSU since 1941. He graduated from an incomplete secondary school and worked as a locksmith at the Kalinin railway station. In the Red Army since 1938. In the same year he graduated from the Odessa Military Aviation School of Pilots, and since December 1938 he has been a pilot in the aviation units of the Moscow and then Leningrad military districts. He participated in the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940. He served on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War from June 1941 (junior lieutenant) as a flight commander and deputy squadron commander on the Leningrad, Volkhov, Voronezh, Northwestern and Kalinin fronts. By August 1943, Captain A. S. Smirnov, Deputy squadron commander of the 28th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (5th Guards Fighter Aviation Division, 6th Air Army, Northwestern Front) of the Guards, had flown 312 combat missions, and shot down 13 enemy aircraft in 39 air battles. Since October 1943, Guards Major A. S. Smirnov has been squadron commander of the 28th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (5th Guards Fighter Aviation Division, 11th Fighter Aviation Corps, 3rd Air Army) on the 1st and 2nd Baltic Fronts. By September 1944, he had flown 396 combat missions, personally shot down 31 and 1 enemy aircraft in the group. Since January 1945, A. S. Smirnov fought as deputy commander of the Guards Fighter aviation regiment on the 3rd Belorussian Front. Demonstrating high flying skills and creativity in air combat tactics, A. S. Smirnov flew 457 combat missions during the war, conducted 72 aerial battles with the enemy, shot down 35 enemy aircraft personally and 1 in a group, according to other sources, 34 were shot down personally and 15 in a group (in the literature, only 34 personal victories of the ace are usually indicated). After the war, Lieutenant Colonel A. S. Smirnov commanded an aviation regiment. In 1947, he graduated from the Higher Tactical Flight Training Courses for officers. Since 1950, he has been a senior instructor pilot in piloting techniques for the Air Force of the Moscow Military District. In 1952, he was awarded the military rank of colonel. He has been in reserve since 1954. He lived in Moscow at the address: 2nd Sandy Street, 5[4][5]. He worked as a projectionist in the film library of the Leningrad region RONO [source not specified 5413 days]. He worked as a film mechanic at school No. 144 in the Leningradsky district of Moscow (15 Novopeschanaya Street). He was short in stature, and, according to contemporaries, was a very modest man. He died on August 7, 1987. He was buried in Moscow at the Kuntsevo cemetery.