Photo of twice Hero of the Soviet Union naval aviation pilot Stepanyan N.G.

A rare photo in excellent collector's condition. The size is 53*78 mm. On the back there is a signature and traces of pasting into the album. Guarantee of authenticity.

Nelson Georgievich Stepanyan (Armenian; March 15 (28), 1913[3], Shushi — December 14, 1944, Liepaja) was a Soviet naval assault aviation pilot, twice Hero of the Soviet Union (October 23, 1942, March 6, 1945 - posthumously). Guards Lieutenant Colonel (27.07.1944).

On the second day of the Great Patriotic War, Reserve Second Lieutenant N. G. Stepanyan was drafted into the Soviet Air Force. He completed a short retraining course for the IL-2 attack aircraft at the 2nd Reserve Aviation Regiment of the Naval Air Force in Yeysk. In August, he was sent to the assault aviation of the Black Sea Fleet, where he was enlisted as a pilot in the 46th Assault Aviation Squadron. Due to the difficult development of the situation on the land front, the squadron worked to support the ground forces of the Southern Front. He participated in the defense of Odessa and in the Tiraspol-Melitopol defensive operation (battles near Poltava, Zaporozhye, Kakhovka, Nikolaev). During the 20th combat mission, Stepanyan was wounded by an anti-aircraft shell fragment on August 24, 1941. He was treated in a hospital in Kharkov.

From September 1941, he fought as part of the 57th Assault Aviation Regiment of the Baltic Fleet Air Force (from March 1, 1943 - the 7th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment of the Navy Air Force), first as a pilot, and about a month later he was promoted to flight commander. The regiment was based at the Grazhdanka military airfield in Leningrad. Participant of the Battle for Leningrad. In October 1941, when awards were given very sparingly, Nelson Stepanyan received his first award, the Order of the Red Banner.

By the end of December 1941, Flight commander of the 57th Assault Aviation Regiment of the 8th Aviation Brigade of the Baltic Fleet Air Force, Second Lieutenant N.G. Stepanyan, had completed 58 combat missions: 20 in the south and 38 near Leningrad. In the last 38 sorties, he destroyed 8 tanks, 3 armored vehicles, 88 vehicles, 32 anti-aircraft guns and 33 anti-aircraft machine guns, 10 horse-drawn wagons and 8 wagons, 1 steam locomotive, 1 ammunition depot, 2 tanks, 4 anti-aircraft machine guns[8]. At the same time, he was presented with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but for several months the relevant documents were not approved in Moscow. In August 1942, the Military Council of the Baltic Fleet appealed to the People's Commissar of the Navy N. G. Kuznetsov with a second request to award the title of Hero to N. G. Stepanyan.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated October 23, 1942, N. G. Stepanyan was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal for exemplary performance of combat missions of the command at the front of the struggle against the German invaders and his bravery and heroism.

Since the end of October 1944, the regiment under his command carried out combat missions to blockade the Courland enemy group. On December 14, 1944, Nelson Stepanyan conducted his last 259th combat mission there. As a regimental commander, he led the leading group of attack aircraft involved in Operation Arcturus to destroy a detachment of German ships in the port of Liepaja. 165 aircraft from six regiments were involved in this operation at the same time: 27 Pe-2 dive bombers, 7 topmasters; a strike group of attack aircraft consisting of 50 Il-2 aircraft (47th CAP and 8th GSHAP). Each group was covered by 30, 15 and 36 Yak-9 and LaGG-3 fighter planes, respectively. The attack aircraft, consisting of six strike groups, had the task of suppressing coastal and naval anti-aircraft artillery and attacking enemy transports in the outpost. Dive bombers were supposed to destroy transports in the trading harbor; masthead ships — transports and ships in the outpost. However, the dive bombers appeared a few minutes earlier than scheduled, which allowed the German fighter pilots operating in the Libava area to prepare for the appearance of attack aircraft. As stated in the report of the 47th CAP: "At 2 p.m., the leading group of 4 Il-2s was attacked by two pairs of enemy Fw.190 fighters, the attacks were carried out from below — from the side and from behind — from above. After the very first attack, the plane of the leading guard, Lieutenant Colonel Nelson Georgievich Stepanyan, with an aerial gunner, Captain Alexei Georgievich Rumyantsev, the navigator of the AE, was shot down and began to lose altitude with a slide, went into a dive and fell into the sea 8-10 km north of the port of Libava, at a distance of 2 km from the coast. The crew died. The cover fighters noticed the attack late, when the lead plane was already shot down."

In the battles of the Great Patriotic War, N. G. Stepanyan made 259 sorties [14]; sank 13 enemy ships and vessels: 1 destroyer, 2 patrol ships, 1 minesweeper, 2 patrol boats, 2 torpedo boats and 5 transports, as well as damaged several ships. During combat operations over land, he destroyed 80 tanks, 600 vehicles, 40 field artillery guns, 60 anti-aircraft artillery guns and 40 small anti—aircraft artillery installations, 27 aircraft (2 Ju-88 bombers in aerial combat, 25 aircraft of various types at airfields), 130 machine-gun emplacements, 40 railway wagons, 1 steam locomotive, 4 destroyed crossings, up to 5,000 soldiers; 80 created explosions, 70 fires. For these exploits, he was promoted to the title of Hero for the second time, but he was not destined to receive an award during his lifetime.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated March 6, 1945, Lieutenant Colonel Nelson Georgievich Stepanyan was awarded the second Hero of the Soviet Union Medal (posthumously). The cenotaph (a monument with a symbolic burial) was erected after the war at the central cemetery of Liepaja, the plane with the body of the twice Hero continues to rest at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.