Nikolai Moskvitelev
Nikolai Moskvitelev | |
---|---|
USSR | |
Died | 12 February 2020 Moscow, Russia | (aged 93)
Buried | |
Allegiance | Soviet Union Russia |
Service/ | Soviet Naval Aviation Soviet Air Defence Forces |
Years of service | 1943–1990 |
Rank | Colonel General |
Awards | Order of Honour Order of Friendship Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner Order of the Red Banner of Labour Three Orders of the Red Star Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" Third Class Medal of Zhukov Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" Honoured Military Pilot of the USSR |
Nikolai Ivanovich Moskvitelev (Russian: Николай Иванович Москвителев; 27 July 1926 – 12 February 2020) was an officer of the Soviet Armed Forces, having served in Soviet Naval Aviation and the Soviet Air Defence Forces, rising to the rank of Colonel General and the position of commander of the Air Defence Forces' aviation component.
Born into a working-class family which suffered hardships during the 1930s, Moskvitelev volunteered for service at the front during the
By now part of the Soviet Air Defence Forces, Moskvitelev studied in absentia at the Air Defence Military Command Academy, and in 1967 became deputy chief of aviation of the 8th Air Defence Army. He took part in the military intervention in Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring in 1968, and later became deputy commander and then commander of the aviation component of the Moscow Air Defence District. In April 1977 he became commander of the aviation component of the entire Soviet Air Defence Forces, and over the next decade oversaw the integration of new technologies and types of aircraft into the Air Defence Forces. In 1987 he was appointed representative to the Headquarters of the Allied Forces of the Warsaw Pact countries, until his retirement in 1990.
In retirement Moskvitelev worked as assistant to the general designer of the Mikoyan Design Bureau, and as chief adviser at the Gromov Flight Research Institute. He remained active in air force matters, and in 2007 formed the Honoured Military Pilots, Test Pilots and Navigators Club. Over his career he had received a number of awards and honours, wrote his memoirs, and continued to fly in old age. He died in 2020 at the age of 93.
Family and early life
Moskvitelev was born into a working-class family on 27 July 1926 in Vyazovy Gai, then part of Nikolayevsky Uyezd, Samara Governorate, in the Russian SFSR, USSR.[1] His family was affected by the famines in the early 1930s which caused considerable hardship in the Volga region in which they lived. Moskvitelev's mother died in 1938, while his father took employment as a mechanic at a machine tractor station, but still struggled to make a living wage.[2] After the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, embroiling the USSR in the Second World War, and reaching the age for service in 1943, Moskvitelev appeared before the authorities and requested a posting to the front.[1] He was instead offered to be trained as a pilot at the 1st School of Naval Pilots in Kuybyshev, which he accepted.[2][3] He was initially trained on the U-2 and UT-2 aircraft, and in late 1944 was transferred to the I. V. Stalin Yeysk Naval Aviation School .[2][3] The war ended before he could fly in combat, and his graduation was deferred while the cadets were tasked with helping rebuild the damaged city of Yeysk. Flying lessons resumed in 1946, and Moskvitelev finally graduated in 1947.[1][2]
Moskvitelev's first assignment was to the fighter aviation regiment of the
Pilot instructor and commander
In 1953 Moskvitelev left Yeysk for an assignment in Riga as part of the Special Naval Aviation Training Regiment under Lieutenant Colonel I. M. Lukin. Moskvitelev was one of eleven instructors who were required to learn how to fly new models of jet fighters, including the Yakovlev Yak-25, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19, and then retrain naval aviators to be able to fly them.[2] During this time he was promoted from the position of flight commander to air squadron commander, and then to regiment navigator.[1][2] As well as carrying out training missions, he performed reconnaissance missions on NATO installations on Gotland, and interceptions of English Electric Canberra reconnaissance aircraft in the MiG-19.[4] By 1957 the regiment's task was judged to have been successfully completed, and it was disbanded. Moskvitelev, then holding the rank of major, was transferred to Sevastopol as deputy commander of an air regiment, followed six months later with the post of senior inspector-pilot of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force.[3] This was followed in April 1958 with the position of commander of the 62nd Fighter Aviation Regiment in the fleet's air force, and the award of the Order of the Red Banner that year.[2][4]
In 1960 the fleet's naval aviation began to be phased out as part of a restructuring, with personnel and equipment transferred to the Air Defence armies. A commission led by General
Military operations and staff command
In 1968, with Soviet concerns increasing over the liberalising agenda of reformist
In retirement
After leaving the armed forces with the rank of
Moskvitelev was able to fly 34 types of aircraft, and had 4,000 flight hours on fighter aircraft.[2][3] He continued to fly in old age, carrying out aerobatic manoeuvres.[2] On his 80th birthday he flew a Sukhoi Su-30 fighter, carrying out aerobatic manoeuvres reaching 6 g0, and on the eve of his 90th birthday flew a Yakovlev Yak-52 from Minsk Aero Club, again putting it through a series of manoeuvres reaching 6 g0.[4] He maintained an interest in technical developments, becoming a candidate of Sciences in 1984, and had also co-authored the university textbook ""Applied Methods of Comparative Assessment and Combat Potential of Aviation Military Equipment".[2] He wrote his memoirs, published as Life Line (Russian: Линия Жизни).[5]
Moskvitelev died on 12 February 2020, at the age of 93, after a "serious and prolonged illness".[1] He was buried in the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery on 15 February.[6] He was married, with two daughters.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Shcherbakova, Marina (14 February 2020). "МОСКВИТЕЛЕВ Николай Иванович" (in Russian). Krasnaya Zvezda. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad "МОСКВИТЕЛЕВ Николай Иванович" (in Russian). International Joint Biographical Centre. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Москвителев Николай Иванович". eurasian-defence.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d Timofeyev, Aleksey (27 July 2016). "Летное счастье генерала Москвителева" (in Russian). Stoletie. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ "Москвителев Николай Иванович" (in Russian). Club of Honoured Pilots. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ Savelyev, Sergey (12 February 2020). "Умер бывший командующий авиацией ПВО СССР генерал Москвителев" (in Russian). Moskovskij Komsomolets. Retrieved 22 February 2020.