Photo of Totmin N.Ya. - Hero of the USSR, who made the first aerial ram

The original wartime photo is in good collector's condition. The size is 78*112 mm. There are traces of pasting into the album on the back. Guarantee of authenticity.

Nikolai Yakovlevich Totmin (December 19, 1919, Ust-Yarul, Yenisei province — October 23, 1942, near the village of Gladkoe, Tosnensky district, Leningrad Region) was a Soviet military pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Order of Lenin.

He was born into a peasant family. He graduated from a seven-year school, two courses at the Kansk Agricultural College and the aero club, and worked on a collective farm. He joined the Red Army in 1939. In 1940, he graduated from the Bataisk Military Pilot School named after Hero of the Soviet Union A. K. Serov. He served in the 15th Fighter Aviation Regiment. From June 1941, he participated in the Great Patriotic War, was a pilot of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment (39th Fighter Aviation Division, Leningrad Front), flew the I-16.

On July 4, 1941, Petty Officer Nikolai Totmin carried out a frontal ram for the first time in the history of aerial combat. The pilot of the 158th fighter Aviation regiment, Sergeant Major Totmin, distinguished himself on July 4, 1941, in an air battle during a raid by an enemy group of aircraft (six Yu-88 and six ME-109) on the Rozhkopolye airfield. The duty unit, which included Sergeant Major Totmin, engaged in battle with superior enemy forces. At the end of the battle, when Totmin had no more bullets, he was attacked from above by a Messerschmitt. Totmin accepted the fight, going for a frontal ram of the enemy. As a result of the collision, which the Nazi tried to avoid, the German pilot and his plane were killed. Totmin's plane also had one wing broken off. But the pilot managed to parachute out.

For this feat, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "On awarding the title Hero of the Soviet Union to the commanding staff of the Red Army" dated July 22, 1941, for "exemplary performance of combat missions of the command at the front of the fight against German fascism and bravery and heroism", he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold medal. The star."

During the year of participation in the war, he flew 93 combat missions, conducted 29 air battles, in which he personally destroyed seven German aircraft. Senior Lieutenant Totmin died on October 23, 1942, in an air battle 18 km north of the city of Tosno. His plane crashed into a swamp in the occupied territory. In the spring of 1990, parts of the plane and Totmin's remains were discovered by a search party near the village of Gladkoe. Subsequently, the Government of the Leningrad region and the administration of the Irbe district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, with the consent of the relatives of the deceased, decided to bury the remains of Nikolai Totmin in his homeland, in the village of Ust-Yarul.