Red Banner awarded to crashed HSU fighter pilot

[Marcel Banziger]

Thanks to Matt from Sovietorders I am now the proud owner the Order of Red Banner # 61262 awarded to fighter pilot and Hero of the Soviet Union Gavril Gavrillovich Guskov.

Here's a short biography of Gavril, who crashed with his Yak-1 during a dogfight on July 17 1943 at an age of only 20 years old!!

Born on March 30, 1923 in the village of Shakhovo (Uritsky District, Oryol Region). Graduated from 7 classes and flying club. He worked as an accountant in the Maloyaroslavets mechanical forestry center of the Kaluga region. On April 17, 1941 he voluntarily joined the ranks of the Red Army, was drafted by the Uritian RVK. In the same year he graduated from the Kachin Military Aviation Pilot School, then retrained for new equipment in the 8th ZIAP of the Air Force of the Volga Military District.

Since October 20, 1942, Sergeant G.G. Guskov in the field army as part of the 653rd IAP (on March 21, 1943, it was transformed into the 65th Guards IAP), who fought on the Kalinin Front. From late February to March 25, 1943, as part of a group of pilots, he was assigned to the 875th IAP (North-Western Front). He flew the Yak-1 and Yak-7.
By April 1943, the flight commander of the 2nd Squadron of the 65th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (4th Guards Fighter Aviation Division, 1st Guards Fighter Aviation Corps, 3rd Air Army, Kalinin Front) Guard Junior Lieutenant G.G. Guskov made 105 sorties, in 35 air battles he personally shot down 13 enemy aircraft (the materials of the award list say about 10 personal victories). By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 24, 1943, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 1011).
At the end of May 1943, before the Battle of Kursk, the 65th Guards IAP relocated to the Bryansk Front, where it received the task of covering the troops of the right wing of the Central Front, and from July 12, 1943, participated in the offensive of the Bryansk Front in the Oryol direction.

On July 17, 1943, Guard Lieutenant G.G. Guskov died in an air battle. By that time, he had completed about 130 sorties, conducted about 50 air battles, in which he personally shot down 16 enemy aircraft.

[Marcel Banziger]

During his very short service as a fighterpilot Gavril showed himself a brave young man, scoring 16 planes shot down, of which 6 Messerschmitt Me109, 6 Focke Wulf 190, 1 Heinkel He111 bomber and 3 Juncker Ju87 Stuka divebombers.



A Yak-1 in which Gavril fought all his airbattles:

[Marcel Banziger]

After 105 sorties on which he had 35 airbattles and shot down 13 planes Gavril was awarded to the title Hero of the Soviet Union receiving the Gold Star (# 1011) and the Order of Lenin on May 24 1943.

The citation for the title HSU:

[paul kennedy]

Marcel, that's fantastic!

[Marcel Banziger]

But as so often with all the young fighter pilots, at all fronts of the war, death was always near and Gavril was shot down and crashed on July 17 1943, at the age of only 20 years. Way too young!

Gavril is mentioned as a casualty of war on the following list of the village of Naryshkino. He is no. 7 on the list.



Gavril is also mentioned on the military casualty list. Here he's no. 185 on the list.

[Marcel Banziger]

It was only after 20 years, in the 60's that the plane wreckage was found near the village of Betovo, Bolkhovsky district, at a depth of 4 meters. Due to Gavril's Gold Star with serial # 1011 he could be identified as Gavril Gavrillovich Guskov.
He was buried with military honors in the village of Naryshkino in the Uritsky district of the Oryol region, a monument was erected on the grave. The street in Naryshkino and the Arkhangelsk secondary school of the Uritsk district, where he studied, are named after the Hero. By order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR, the Guard Lieutenant G.G. Guskov was forever enlisted in the lists of the personnel of the 1st squadron of the military unit.

This is the monument erected in Naryshkino in honour of the fallen heroes:




And Gavril's personal monument, with a nice statue, showing him as the brave fighter he was:

[Marcel Banziger]

When the plane wreck was found in the 60's and Gavril was identified by the serial number on the Gold Star the awards were most likely given to Gavril's closest relatives. This is yet uncertain to me and needs further investigation. I don't know how yet and I am pretty certain it will be a very difficult task to find out. Help is very welcome

After several more decades one of his awards, the Order of Red Banner came into my possession. As can be expected from a relic, it's been in the ground for some 20 plus years, the order doesn't come in the best possible condition. However, compared to many other relics this one is still excellent and one can not see more character in an order than in this one. This is one of those relics that could tell amazing stories....

But I'll let the pics do the talking (and thanks to Matt for the excellent photography!!).

[Marcel Banziger]

The citation for the Order of Red Banner reads as follows:

He is devoted to the cause of the Lenin-Stalin party and the Socialist Motherland, disciplined, demanding towards himself officer. He is an excellent pilot, who can operate on the I-16, Yak-1, Yak-7b aircrafts (total 167 hours flying time). He participated in the battles against the German invaders since 26 October 1942 and proved himself as a fearless air warrior. He is very willingly and enthusiastically engages in the assigned missions. He conducted 27 combat sorties on the Kalinin front and engaged in 14 air fights. On 15 January 1943, near town Velikiye Luki, he scored 3 air victories against 2 Me-109 and 1 Fw-190. During the exceptionally short period of the engagement on the NorthWestern front, he carried out 12 combat mission scoring 3 victories against Me-109. On 27 February 1943, near the rail stations Peresa-Slugino, Olekhi, he shot down 2 enemy Fw-190 in one air fight, which was confirmed by the ground forces and by the report №45 of 210 fighter aviation division. On 06 March 1943, near Terremovo-Kotitsko, he shot down an Me-109.
On 09 March 1943, near the rail stations Pogorelovo-Astratovo, Baranovo, he shot down 2 more enemy aircrafts of the type Me-109f and He-111. Comrade GUSKOV has extensive combat experience, which he skilfully uses to his advantage and shares willingly with his mates. He acts decisively and resourcefully during the air engagements. Disregarding enemy numerical superiority, he bravely engages in a fight and comes out victorious. In total during the period of th Patriotic war, comrade GUSKOV has made 39 combat sorties and scored 8 air victories against the enemy aircrafts.

For courage and bravery exhibited in the struggle against the German invaders, he deserves a state award - order “LENIN”.

Up the chain of command the Order of Lenin was downgraded to the Order of Red Banner.

[Marcel Banziger]

Beside the title Hero of the Soviet Union with the Gold Star and Order of Lenin and this Order of Red Banner Gavil was also awarded the Order of Red Star and posthumously the Order of Patriotic War 1st class.



A lot has been documented from the many Heroes of Soviet Union yet still there's more to investigate. For example I wanna try to figure out what happened exactly to the awards after the plane wreckage was found. We know Gavril was buried with military honors in Naryshkino and I only assume the awards were handed out to Gavril's relatives. So I hope one day to fill in these blancs....

[Marcel Banziger]

One more photo I wanna share here. Less than one week before his death, on July 11th 1943 Gavril was mentioned in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, including a photo of Gavril in front of his plane. Smiling and proud, unaware of the tragedy that was about to happen only a short time later. War is cruel.....something we should never forget when collecting these items!