Ivan Smirnov (aviator)

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Ivan Smirnov
Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class with swords,
Serbian Order of the White Eagle,
French Croix de Guerre,
Dutch Airman's Cross
Dutch Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau
Other work25 years with KLM; service in World War II

Ivan Vasilyevich Smirnov, or Iwan Smirnoff (

U.S. Air Transport Command
. Despite official attempts to ground the aged and oft wounded pilot, he served through war's end. He then returned to KLM. After the inevitable grounding (after 30,000+ flying hours), he continued with the company as its chief advisor.

Early life and World War I infantry service

Ivan Vasilyevich Smirnov

near-serfdom. The peasantry to which he belonged could not even work in a local factory without continuing to farm the community's land. It was a situation with little chance for improving one's life.[3]

At the outbreak of World War I Smirnov enrolled as a volunteer in the 96th Omsk Infantry Regiment. After a short spell of training, the unit went into ferocious combat in the Battle of Łódź; the barely-trained regiment suffered severe casualties both from its well-schooled German foe and from the foul weather. Concerning this period, Smirnov later remarked, "We were thrown in as mere gun fodder...." He also noted that his contingent of 90 soldiers was rapidly reduced to 19 by casualties.[3]

In late October, Ivan Smirnov carried out a series of hazardous ground

Cross of St. George on 24 October 1914. Shortly thereafter, he was the final man standing out of the original 90 recruits.[3]

He was seriously wounded in the leg by machine gun fire

Inspector-general of the Imperial Russian Air Service; the nurse's father had sufficient influence to arrange Smirnov's transition to aviation.[3]

After healing in hospital, he was sent home on a month's convalescent leave. While on this leave, he sent an official appeal to Grand Duke Michael; in it Smirnov requested a transfer to aviation. It was granted, and he reported to pilot's training in Petrograd on 21 August 1915.[2]

World War I aviation service

Smirnov trained for 18 days at Petrograd, progressing to flying 3.5 hours dual instruction with an instructor on a

Farman IV biplane. He soloed on the Farman, and was first in his class to graduate the primary course and begin advanced training.[2]

As the IRAS revamped its structure in 1916, Smirnov received advanced instruction on

Efreitor Smirnov qualified as a military pilot, on a Morane-Saulnier L.[2]

He was then assigned to the elite 19th Korpusnoi Aviatsionniy Otrad (19th Corps Aviation Detachment) at Lutsk. When he reported in on 20 September 1916, he was cordially greeted by his new commander, Alexander Kazakov. As the newest pilot, Smirnov was assigned a two-seater Nieuport 10, as more experienced pilots had first call on the unit's single-seater fighters. Undeterred by his inferior aircraft; as early as 1 October, he was already in combat. However, worsening autumn weather slowed the unit's operational tempo for the winter. Smirnov would not score his first victory until 2 January 1917,[2] when he and his observer downed an enemy machine with rifle fire.[3]

While this was occurring, the 19th KAO was ensnarled in its logistical move to Galicia. Differing railway gauges and incompetent staff logistic work delayed the fighter unit's arrival at its new base until 6 April 1917. As a result, Smirnov did not fly combat again until 18 April, when he closed within 50 meters firing range of an enemy plane, but failed to down it. On 27 April, he won the Third Class Cross of Saint George, in an action whose details do not survive. Ivan Smirnov would not score his second confirmed victory until 2 May 1917. He was granted the Second Class Cross of Saint George for this feat.[2]

His initial victory brought the young corporal a recommendation for commissioning. While the recommendation was in progress, he was promoted to Starshyi Unter-Officer (Sergeant). On 13 May 1917, the appointment as Praporshchik came through on Order 506 of the Southwest Front armies.[2] Five days later, he fought an inconclusive battle with an enemy aircraft over Bolshovtse; there were no witnesses to the enemy's forced landing, and Smirnov's machine was badly damaged in the encounter.[3]

On 3 June, Smirnov was recommended for the official title of Military Pilot and rewarded with a month's leave. After his return, on 5 July, Smirnov moved up to a newer machine, Nieuport 17 serial number N2522. The 19th would move again a few days later. Smirnov continued to fly combat, and to fight, but with no further success until August,[2] when he was promoted to Ensign.[1]

In August 1917, Smirnov racked up more flight time than anyone else in the 19th, clocking 56 hours air time in 27 sorties. On the 23rd, he fought six times, and was credited with his third aerial victory. This began a victory run that extended through his 11th victory, on 26 November 1917. Intermixed with these successes, Smirnov flew escort missions for the huge Sikorsky Ilya Muromets bombers on both 2 and 12 September, but encountered no opposition.[2]

List of aerial victories

Confirmed victories are numbered and listed chronologically.[1][3][2]

No. Date/time Aircraft Foe Result Location Notes
1 2 January 1917
ca 1130 hours 		Nieuport 10
serial nr N722 		Aviatik C.I s/n C2775/16 Aviatik destroyed; air crew KIA Lutsk,
present day Ukraine 		Observer: Captain Pentko
2 2 May 1917 Morane-Saulnier I Albatros C Class two-seater Air crew burned Albatros
after forced landing 		Gorozhanki Loss from
Feldflieger Abteilung 220
u/c 18 May 1917 Enemy aircraft Steep dive into a forced landing Bolshovtse
3 16 August 1917 Nieuport 17 Enemy aircraft Melnitsy
4 23 August 1917 Nieuport 17 Enemy two-seater Crashlanded, overturned, damaged Husiatyn, pd Ukraine Shared victory
5 8 September 1917 Morane-Saulnier I Enemy two-seater Husiatyn
6 25 September 1917
Spad VII
s/n S1546 		Enemy two-seater Albatros C.X Captured Between Balin and Prilip Loss from
Fliegerkompanie
 24
7 24 October 1917 Spad VII s/n S1546 Enemy fighter Kovel, pd Ukraine
8 10 November 1917 Spad VII s/n S1546 Hansa-Brandenburg C.I s/n 269.08 Set afire South of Zielona,
pd Poland 		Loss from Fliegerkompanie 9
9 10 November 1917 Spad VII s/n S1546 Hansa-Brandenburg C.I Overturned upon landing;
destroyed by Russian artillery 		Zelyonaya Victory shared;
loss from Fliegerkompanie 9
10 23 November 1917 Spad VII s/n S1546 Lloyd C.V s/n 46.22 Destroyed; air crew killed Letovo Loss from Fliegerkompanie 18
11 26 November 1917
at 1300 hours 		Spad VII s/n S1546 Enemy aircraft Near Skalat,
p.d. Ukraine 		Victory shared
with Alexander Kazakov

Defection

The political turmoil of the

Saigon, and Singapore; they had to escape confinement in a prisoner of war camp in the latter. After further stops in Yangon, Colombo, and Aden, they came ashore in Suez and caught on as pilots with a British Airco DH.9 squadron for a while.[2]

When they left the squadron, they transited

Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5as. However, the end of World War I saw Smirnov demobilized from the Royal Air Force.[2]

Civilian pilot of KLM

When he was demobilized, Smirnov snagged a flight instructor's job through a Russian officers' emigre association. The ace taught Russian pilots to fly

Air Attaché and Chief Pilot for the Russian royalist government in exile.[2]

After the new Communist government gained control in Russia, Smirnov returned to work in the

collier Primo before incoming tides submerged the aircraft. Smirnov was consequently nicknamed "Earl of the Goodwins".[2]

In September 1928, Smirnov pioneered the postal route from Amsterdam to Batavia, Dutch East Indies for KLM, an 18,000 mile round trip. The first flight to Java, scheduled to take 12 days of daylight flying, took 16 days including stops and accidents. Five years later, between 18 and 22 December 1933, he and his crew (Piet Soer [nl], J.M.H. Grosfeld and C.H. van Beukering) set a record time of 100 hours and 35 minutes on this route, flying a Fokker F.XVIII dubbed Pelikaan ("Pelican"). On the return flight (27–30 December), they bested this time by 10 minutes despite bad weather conditions. 22,000 people welcomed them back at Schiphol to celebrate their return.[4] In 1940, Smirnov was permanently posted in Indonesia by KLM.[2]

World War II

At the time of the

Japanese Zeroes. Although wounded five times in the arm, the ex-fighter pilot threw his transport into a diving spiral away from the attacking fighters to make his escape. He crashlanded the DC-3 on a sandy beach, four of his passengers dying in the event. The survivors and cargo were rescued five days later, though a packet of diamonds went missing.[2] (For more details, see 1942 KNILM Douglas DC-3 shootdown
)

After recovery from his injuries Smirnov worked as a captain in the US

Order of Orange Nassau from the Netherlands.[1]

After the war

Back in The Netherlands, Smirnov took up old activities and began to fly on his beloved Java route again. But in 1948 Smirnov got an offer he could not resist. He was asked to pilot a World Tour. The American Atlas Supply Company, a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, was planning a 100-day round-the-world flight on which heads of important American firms would act as their own commercial travellers. The plane in which they flew would be a travelling stockroom, loaded with colour films, scale models, give-away samples and literature in many languages. The Sky Merchant, a Douglas DC4, was to travel a route of 80.000 kilometres, crossing the equator six times, visiting all five continents, twenty-eight countries and forty-five principal cities. Smirnov was delighted.[citation needed]

Postwar, Smirnov was eventually grounded for medical reasons after 30,000+ flying hours, but remained with KLM as a senior advisor until his retirement in August 1949.[4]

Personal life

After moving to the Netherlands in 1921 Smirnov lived in Amsterdam. In October 1925 he married the

Palma on 28 October 1956 and was buried on the island. However, on 20 November 1959, he was reinterred in Heemstede.[4][6]


Honours and awards

Bibliography

  • Smirnoff, Iwan W. Smirnoff vertelt, Andries Blitz Publishers, Amsterdam, 1938
  • Smirnoff, Iwan W. De toekomst heeft vleugels, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1947

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-1-898697-56-5
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 9781780960616
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 0963711024
    .
  4. ^ a b c d e H. J. Hazewinkel, Smirnoff, Iwan Wasiliwitsj (1895-1956) in Biographical Dictionary of the Netherlands: 1880-2000, The Hague, 1985 (in Dutch).
  5. ^ Ivan meets Margot Linnet Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine at the Ivan Smirnoff Page.
  6. ^ Hans Krol, Luchtvaart pioneer Iwan Smirnoff (in Dutch).

Bibliography

  • Kulikov, Victor (November 1999). "Vivre pour voler: Ivan Smirnov" [Live to Fly: Ivan Smirnov]. Avions: Toute l'Aéronautique et Son Histoire (in French) (80): 50–57.
    ISSN 1243-8650
    .

Ivan meets Margot Linnet Archived 2017-04-05 at the Wayback Machine

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ivan Vasilyevich Smirnov.
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