Photo of Red Army Air Force Captain N.P. Bykov, Hero of the Soviet Union

The original photo is in excellent collector's condition. The size is 80*110 mm. Rare. Guarantee of authenticity.

Nikolai Petrovich Bykov (1920-1945) — senior lieutenant of the Soviet Army, participant of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union (1944). Nikolai Bykov was born in 1920 in the village of Savelovo (now Firovsky district of the Tver region) in a peasant family. He graduated from an incomplete secondary school. In 1936, he moved to Leningrad, where he worked as a worker at a shipyard. In 1940, Bykov entered the military Aviation School. In 1943, he joined the CPSU(b). Since April of the same year, he served on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. Participated in the battles on the 3rd Ukrainian Front, was wounded twice. He took part in the battles near Belgorod, the liberation of Donbass, Zaporizhia, and the Battle for the Dnieper. He conducted reconnaissance and storming of enemy targets, including in difficult meteorological conditions. By March 1944, Senior Lieutenant Nikolai Bykov was deputy squadron commander of the 237th Assault Aviation Regiment of the 305th Assault Aviation Division of the 9th Mixed Aviation Corps of the 17th Air Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. By March 1, 1944, Bykov had flown 89 combat missions, participated in 13 air battles with German fighters, personally destroyed 87 trucks with supplies and manpower, 19 tanks, 12 bunkers, 23 railway wagons, 21 artillery guns, 2 bombers at the airfield and a large number of other equipment. None of Bykov's combat missions were unsuccessful. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated July 1, 1944, Senior Lieutenant Nikolai Bykov 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 3963 for "exemplary performance of combat missions of the command to destroy enemy manpower and equipment and for his courage and heroism." During an air battle in the Baltic States, Bykov was seriously wounded, from which he died on January 3, 1945. He was buried in a mass grave in the Latvian city of Jelgava.