Photo of Air Force Colonel F.I. Shinkarenko– Hero of the Soviet Union

The original photo is in excellent collector's condition. The size is 78*112 mm. There are traces of glue on the reverse side. Guarantee of authenticity.

Fyodor Ivanovich Shinkarenko (1913-1994) was a Soviet fighter ace and military commander, a participant in the Soviet-Finnish and Great Patriotic Wars, Hero of the Soviet Union (04/17/1940). Colonel-General of Aviation (02/23/1967).

He served in the Red Army since September 1932 as a member of the Komsomol. In 1933, he graduated from the 1st Military School of pilots named after A. F. Myasnikov. From December 1933 to March 1937, he served there as an instructor pilot, flight commander, and test pilot. From March 1937, he served in the 6th High-speed Bomber Squadron (Leningrad Military District): junior pilot, flight commander, squad leader. From March 1938, he served in the 38th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the same district (Pushkin) flight commander, assistant squadron commander, squadron commander. In September 1939, he was appointed squadron commander of the 7th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Leningrad Air Force.

Participant of the Soviet-Finnish War: in November 1939 — March 1940 — squadron commander of the 7th Fighter Aviation Regiment (59th Fighter Aviation Brigade, 7th Army, Northwestern Front). He flew 46 combat sorties on an I-16 fighter to cover the bombing of airfields and enemy troops, personally shot down 2 enemy aircraft in aerial battles and 1 as part of a group. He was the first Soviet pilot to win an aerial victory in the Soviet-Finnish War, shooting down a Finnish Bristol Bulldog in the sky over Muolaanyarvi on December 1, 1939. Of the combat missions, 11 were carried out on ground-based targets. In one of the sorties, he helped rescue the crew of a Soviet SB bomber that had made an emergency landing: while the second plane was picking it up, Shinkarenko prevented the Finnish soldiers from approaching the landing site with machine-gun fire, and after the evacuation of the crew, he destroyed the damaged bomber. For his courage and heroism in battle, Senior Lieutenant Fyodor Ivanovich Shinkarenko was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on April 7, 1940, with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal (No. 291)[9].

After the war, in April 1940, he was appointed assistant commander of this regiment, and in September he was sent to study at the advanced training courses for aviation regiments at the Military Academy of Command and Navigation Personnel of the Red Army Air Force.

He participated in the Great Patriotic War since July 1941, when he was appointed commander of the 42nd Fighter Aviation Regiment. The regiment under his command fought in the North-Western (July 1941), Bryansk (October-November 1941), Western (May-September 1942), again in the North-Western (October 1942 — June 1943), Kalininsky (September-November 1943). For the exemplary performance of the Command's combat tasks and the courage and heroism shown by the order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR on October 9, 1943, the regiment was awarded the Guards rank and it was transformed into the 133rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. Already under the Guards banner, the regiment continued its combat path as part of the 3rd Air Army on the Kalinin and 3rd Belorussian fronts. During his time in command of the regiment, he participated in the Battle of Moscow, the Battle of Rzhev, the Demyansk offensive operations of 1942 and 1943, and the Smolensk and Nevel offensive operations.

From July 1944 until the end of the war, Colonel Shinkarenko commanded the 130th Insterburg Fighter Aviation Division of the Order of Suvorov of the 1st Air Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front (168th, 409th and 909th IAP). The division operated in the Memel, Gumbinnen-Goldap, and East Prussian offensive operations.

During the war, he flew over 100 combat missions on LaGG-3, Yak-1, Yak-7 and Yak-9 fighters, and personally shot down 8 enemy aircraft in about 20 air battles.