Photo of Junior Lieutenant of the Red Army Air Force S.Ya. Filchenkov, Hero of the Soviet Union, with an autograph

The original photo is in very good collector's condition. The size is 110*130 mm. There are traces of pasting into the album on the back. A picture with a handwritten dedication. Guarantee of authenticity.

Sergei Yakovlevich Filchenkov (March 18, 1915, Vorobyov, Smolensk Province — November 30, 1965, Kazan) was a Hero of the Soviet Union, navigator of the crew of the 128th Bomber Aviation Regiment of the 241st Bomber Aviation Division of the 3rd Bomber Aviation Corps of the 16th Air Army of the 1st Belorussian Front, second lieutenant. He was born on March 18, 1915 in the village of Bolshye Vorobyov (now Vorobyov of the Oleninsky district of the Tver region). He graduated from a rural school. He worked at a bakery, studied at an aero club in the city of Rzhev.

In 1937, he was drafted into the Red Army. In the same year he graduated from the school of Junior Aviation Specialists, and in 1940 from the Military Aviation School of Bombardier Shooters. In the battles of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. Member of the CPSU since 1942. Filchenkov flew the bomber as a gunner, radio operator, and navigator. He beat the fascists near Moscow, for almost a year on the Kalinin front, fought on the Kursk Bulge, near Sevsk, Gomel, Rechitsa. He acted in the Bobruisk operation in June 1944. He flew out ten times to suppress the retreating ground troops of the enemy, bombing his equipment, ammunition depots, and crossings. On June 29, 1944, with two passes, he managed to damage the bridge over the Berezina, thereby cutting off the escape route for the Nazis.

By July 1944, the navigator of the crew of the 128th Bomber Aviation Regiment, Second Lieutenant S. Ya. Filchenkov, had flown 212 combat missions to reconnoiter and bomb the enemy. In aerial battles, he personally shot down one and four enemy planes in a group.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated October 26, 1944, Junior Lieutenant Filchenkov Sergey Yakovlevich 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 to destroy enemy manpower and equipment and for his courage and heroism.

On April 16, 1945, during the battle for Berlin, on his 259th combat mission, he was shot down by German anti-aircraft guns. For more than six months, doctors fought for his life. After the end of the Great Patriotic War, Lieutenant S. Ya. Filchenkov was in reserve. He lived and worked in the city of Kazan. He was buried in Kazan at the Arsky cemetery.