Vasily Pavlov (test pilot)

Vasily Georgievich Pavlov (18 April 1916 – 6 December 2017) was a Soviet pilot and colonel. He was named a Hero of the Soviet Union in 1953, honored as an Honoured Test Pilot of the USSR, and was a laureate of the Stalin Prize (2nd class) in 1953.

Biography

Pavlov was born on 18 April 1916 in the village of Belousovo (now in Naro-Fominsky District, Moscow Oblast). In 1933 he completed seven years of secondary school and then graduated from the technical college of the Moscow Theatrical Enterprises Administration.

From 1931 he worked as a makeup artist at the Moscow Art Theatre for six years. In 1937 he graduated from the Sverdlovsky District Aeroclub in Moscow. He joined the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army in November 1937. In 1938 he graduated from the Borisoglebsk Military Aviation School of Pilots and served in combat units of the Transbaikal Military District Air Force.

Pavlov took part in the Battles of Khalkhin Gol with the 22nd Fighter Aviation Regiment, flying 35 combat sorties in an I-15 and shooting down one enemy aircraft personally.. During the Winter War (1939–1940), he was a flight commander in the 149th Fighter Aviation Regiment, flying 19 sorties in an I-153 and downing one enemy aircraft.

From June 1941, Pavlov fought on the Eastern Front as flight commander and deputy squadron commander of the 149th Fighter Aviation Regiment. He participated in the defence of southern Ukraine, Donbass, and Rostov-on-Don. He flew 229 combat sorties on the I-153, MiG-3, and LaGG-3, shooting down two enemy aircraft solo and five more in group combat. In 1942 he completed air-gunnery training courses. From 1944 to 1946 he served as deputy commander for air-gunnery of the 26th Reserve Aviation Regiment. He retired as a major in March 1946.

After leaving active duty, Pavlov commanded the glider detachment at the Central Aeroclub named after Chkalov until 1948. In 1950 he completed test-pilot courses and returned to the Air Force in 1952 as a test pilot with KB-1 at NPO Almaz, testing autopilots and guidance systems for cruise missiles. Between 1951 and 1952 he, along with Sergey Anokhin and Fyodor Burtsev, tested the manned analogue of the KS “Kometa-3” aircraft-missile.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on 3 February 1953, for “courage and heroism displayed in testing new aviation technology,” Major Pavlov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

From 1964 to 1970 he served as a test pilot at the Research Institute of the Ministry of Radio Industry, conducting radar equipment trials aboard Il-18, Il-28, MiG-17, MiG-19, Tu-104, Tu-124, and Yak-25 aircraft. He retired as a colonel in April 1970 and worked as a lead engineer at TsKB Almaz until 1982.

Later life and death

Pavlov lived in Moscow after retirement. He died on 6 December 2017 at the age of 101 and was, at the time, the oldest living Hero of the Soviet Union.

Awards, titles and prizes

• Hero of the Soviet Union:
  • Medal “Gold Star” No. 10866
  • Order of Lenin
• Three Orders of the Red Banner
• Order of the Patriotic War I class
• Order of the Patriotic War II class
• Two Orders of the Red Star
• Badge “Participant of the Battles of Khalkhin Gol”
• Medals, including foreign awards
• Honoured Test Pilot of the USSR
• Stalin Prize II class (1953) – “for outstanding inventions and fundamental improvements of production methods”