Photo of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Air Force Colonel N.I. Martyanov

The original photo is in excellent condition. From the personal file of the Hero. The size is 57*85 mm. Guarantee of authenticity.

Nikolai Ivanovich Martyanov (December 15, 1923, Makushino, Ural Region — July 3, 1993, Ulyanovsk) was a colonel in the Guards of the Soviet Army, a participant in the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union (1945). After retiring to the reserve, he taught at the GVF Higher Flight Training School. He was born on December 15, 1923, into a working—class family in the village of Makushino in the Makushinsky Selsoviet of the Makushinsky district of the Kurgan District of the Ural Region, now the administrative center of the Makushinsky municipal district of the Kurgan Region. At the age of six, he was left without a father, raised by his mother.

On March 24, 1941, Martianov was drafted into the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. In June, together with a group of cadet pilots, he was transferred to study at the Troitsk Military School of Pilots, and then at the Perm Military Aviation School of Pilots. After its completion, from August 18, 1943, he served on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War[2]. He fought on an Il-2 aircraft. By March 1945, Guard Captain Nikolai Martyanov was deputy squadron commander of the 76th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment of the 1st Guards Assault Aviation Division of the 1st Air Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front. By that time, he had flown 149 sorties to bombard enemy concentrations of military equipment and manpower, as well as his important facilities. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated April 19, 1945, Captain Nikolai Martyanov was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal number 6234 for "exemplary performance of combat missions of the command at the front of the struggle against the German invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time."

By the end of the war, Captain N. I. Martyanov had flown 173 combat sorties on an Il-2 attack aircraft. He personally destroyed 13 planes, 25 tanks, 27 artillery pieces, 12 vehicles with military supplies and up to 300 enemy soldiers and officers.