COVER N.113 - RUSSIA

Postmark:  ПОЧТА РОССИИ - КАЛУГА ПОЧТАМТ УООПО 248099 (Russian Post - Kaluga Post Office 248099)
Posted on the 5th May; received on the 16th May 2022
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I am always awed by the amazing covers I get from Julia, from Russia, who always does her best to find another interesting addition to my collection, knowing that my interest in all things aviation. Thank you so much Julia!

I presume that the beautiful cover themed on the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the ending of what the Russians call the Great patriotic War and we call the Second World War seems to be part of a series dedicated to pilots, who have won the title of Heroes of the Soviet Union, because this is already the second such cover that Julia sent me.  This time, the honours go to Viktor Vasilevich Talalikhin, (1918-1941) whose picture appears on the left side of the envelope while on the background his Polikarpov I-16 attacks what seems to be a Junkers 88, his first confirmed air victory of the seven we would claim before he himself was shot down and killed.

Talalikhin was also known for having been the first pilot to successfully ram an enemy aircraft at night, as a way of downing it, since he was out of ammunition.  Not an easy feat and certainly an act of courage but a manoeuvre that seems to have a certain Russian pedigree, since the first ever air ramming in history had been performed by Piotr Nesterov (also the first to ever loop the loop) during the First World War.

The air ramming theme is central to the eight stamp 15 Ruble minisheet that was issued on 18APR2014 celebrating pilots who became heroes of the Soviet union for such a deed, of  which the two on my cover are part of. Left to right:

Boris Kovzan (1922-1985) rammed 4 aircraft out of a total of 28 air victories that would cost him an eye, but he lived to tell the story and pursue a career in the soviet air force

Aleksey Stepanovich Khlobystov (1918-1943) is credited with being the only pilot to have rammed two aircraft in one single combat sortie and lived to tell the tale (that is until is death in combat in 1943).