Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin (; born on 6 March 1913 – died on 13 November 1985 ) was a Marshal of the Soviet Air Force.

Pokryshkin was, in addition to his three Hero of the Soviet Union golden stars, awarded four Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, four Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of Suvorov ( 2nd class ), two Orders of the Red Star, a number of other medals, and foreign orders, such as the US Army Distinguished Service Medal which he is seen wearing below his other medals in some photographs.

Pokryshkin was the great tactician of the Soviet Air Force during the Second World War.

However the word of his inventions reached some superiors in Moscow, and instead of a court martial Pokryshkin was awarded and promoted.

Pokryshkin was born in Novosibirsk, son of a peasant turned factory worker.

Finally, during his vacation in the winter of 1938 Pokryshkin was able to circumvent the authorities by passing a yearly civilian pilot program in only 17 days.

During the first weeks of the war, Pokryshkin began to see very clearly how outdated the Soviet combat doctrine was, and began slowly drafting his own ideas in his meticulously kept notebooks.

Along that period Pokryshkin flew escort missions to Su-2 and Il-2 Shturmovik aircraft, and frequently was engaged by German fighters.

Pokryshkin was attacked again by Dammers shortly afterwards, and his Yak-1 was damaged.

In the summer of 1942, the 4th Air Army which Pokryshkin was a part of, received the first mobile radar stations.

16th Guards received 14 P-39L-1s, seven P-39Ks, the very last of which was assigned to Pokryshkin, and 11 P-39D-2s.

During the remainder of the month, Pokryshkin was credited with 11 Bf 109s and one Ju. 88 destroyed.

Twelve Stukas were claimed shot down, with Pokryshkin claiming five ( he was officially credited with two ).

In most subsequent fights, Pokryshkin would usually take the most difficult role, attacking the leader of the German fighters, who usually was an aggressive experte.

Pokryshkin received his first Hero of the Soviet Union award on 24 May 1943, and was promoted to major in June, having become commanding officer of his squadron.

On 21 September 1943, Pokryshkin was involved in another high-profile air engagement.

In February 1944, Pokryshkin was offered a promotion and an easy desk job managing new pilot training.

Pokryshkin had been made a famous hero by the propaganda machine, and he was not allowed to fly as often because of fear of him getting killed.

In June 1944, Pokryshkin was promoted to colonel and given command of 9th Guards Air Division.

On August 19, 1944, for 550 front-line sorties and 53 official kills, Pokryshkin was awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union for the third time.

Pokryshkin was forbidden to fly altogether, but managed to circumvent the rule a few times and still continued to score an occasional kill.

The next time Pokryshkin scored victories was on 16 July, when he got credit for two more Stukas and one Hs. 129 of 10.

Pokryshkin tried to defend his fighter, one of the very few remaining serviceable aircraft, by removing a flexible machine gun from the nearby bomber and placing it on top of his fighter's fuselage.

Shortly earlier, on 20 August, Isaev, who had been the Unit Navigator, and then been promoted to Commanding Officer, and with whom Pokryshkin had strong differences, took measures to have Pokryshkin stripped of his Hero of the Soviet Union, expelled from the regiment, and hauled before a tribunal.

While training in the rear, Pokryshkin frequently clashed with the regiment's new commander Isayev ( the former regimental navigator ), who could not stand his criticism of the Soviet air combat doctrine.

Instead, Pokryshkin spent a lot of time in the radio bunker, directing his regiment's fights over the radio.

Pokryshkin subsequently cancelled his regiment's conversion, and there are multiple reports that they instead began flying Bell P-63 Kingcobras.

In the autumn of 1941, Pokryshkin, flying a MiG-3 ( possibly winter-camouflaged ), took off in sleet and rain conditions after two other pilots had crashed on takeoff.

Pokryshkin shot down three Ju. 88s in a single pass, overcome by hatred, as he had just found out that the entire family of Zhmud, his mechanic, has been killed in German occupied territories.

Earlier that same day Pokryshkin had added two more Ju. 87s to his tally, almost certainly Ju. 87D-5s of 6 ./ StG 1.

Two famous Soviet fighter pilots, Aleksandr Pokryshkin and Ivan Kozhedub were three times Heroes of the Soviet Union.

* Alexander Pokryshkin – WWII fighter pilot.

Vocational technical school student Pokryshkin ca.

Pokryshkin still strived to excel as a mechanic.

Pokryshkin in 1940.

Pokryshkin survived several close calls during this time.

One of the German bombers saw Pokryshkin firing the only machine gun in the area and flew straight at him, dropping small bombs in a shallow dive.

Pokryshkin watched a string of explosions running up to him, but the bomb that landed right next to him did not explode.

Initially Pokryshkin dived to escape, but realizing that the heavier and faster Gustavs would catch him sooner, he performed a chandelle and a barrel roll later.

This caused the Germans to overshoot, and then Pokryshkin shot down and killed Kurt Keiser at short range.

But once more Pokryshkin performed a barrel roll, forced Dammers to slide forward, and then shot the German ace down.

Isayev fabricated a court martial case, accusing Pokryshkin of cowardice, insubordination and disobeying orders.