Photo of the Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously) son of People's Commissar T.M. Frunze

An original and extremely rare photograph from the Hero's personal file in excellent condition. The size is 86*113 mm. Guarantee of authenticity.

Timur Mikhailovich Frunze (April 5, 1923, Kharkov — January 19, 1942) was a Soviet fighter pilot, lieutenant, and participant in the Great Patriotic War. The son of Mikhail Frunze, People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the USSR. Member of the Komsomol since 1938. Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously, 1942).

After the death of their father in 1925 and their mother in 1926, Tatiana and her sister grew up with their grandmother. In 1931, after their grandmother's serious illness, the children were adopted by their father's friend Kliment Voroshilov, who received permission for adoption by a special decree of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU(b).

After graduating from high school, Timur Frunze entered the Kachinsky Red Banner Military Aviation School named after A. F. Myasnikov. He served in the Red Army since 1940. In September 1941, he graduated from the Kachin College with honors. At the end of December 1941, fighter pilot Lieutenant Frunze was assigned to the 161st Fighter Aviation Regiment, where he was assigned a Yak-1 aircraft. On January 7, 1942, the 161st IAP participated in the Demyansk offensive operation as part of the 57th Mixed Aviation Division of the Northwestern Front. Frunze flew 9 successful sorties: 4 to cover his airfield and 5 to cover ground troops in the area of the city of Staraya Russa (Novgorod region). In three meetings with the enemy air force in two battles, he personally shot down two and paired with his wingman one enemy aircraft. The total flight time is 10 hours 57 minutes, combat flight time is 8 hours 57 minutes.

He went into battle with great zeal and was extremely unhappy that in the first days of his stay at the front he was assigned only to patrol over his airfield. Frunze repeatedly appealed to the regimental command not to make restrictions on him and to send him along with the rest of the regiment's pilots to work on the battlefield.

On January 19, 1942, while performing a combat mission to cover troops, Frunze, paired with the flight commander and the lead pair, Lieutenant Ivan Shutov, patrolling in the Staraya Russa area, discovered 30 bombers accompanied by fighters. Having decided to attack, the Henschel Hs.126 spotter was shot down. In the ensuing battle with four Bf-109 and Me-115 fighters, one Me-109 was shot down. Soon 3 more Me-115s joined the battle, and Shutov's plane was shot down. While covering his friend's damaged plane, Timur Frunze used up all his ammunition and was shot down. The torched car went into a tailspin and crashed into the ground 500 meters northwest of the village of Otvidino, Starorussky district. Lieutenant Frunze was buried with military honors at the Yamskoye cemetery in the village of Krestsy.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "On conferring the title Hero of the Soviet Union to the commanding staff of the Red Army" dated March 16, 1942, he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously) for "exemplary performance of command combat missions and bravery and heroism". After the war, in the 1950s, at the request of his sister Tatiana, he was reburied at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.