THE PILOT BORIS SAFONOV

The legendary fighter pilot Boris Safonov was the first Soviet pilot to become two times Hero of the Soviet Union. He was nicknamed as the Suvorov of the Dogfight, in apparent reference to the invincible Russian military commander of the 18th century Alexander Suvorov. “You should use your head first thing when you fight, and only then the machine guns and cannons, the dogfight is more about brains than guns, remember that,” he instructed the young pilots.

Boris Safonov fought in the Far North, from very first day of the war, fighting through the opening, most terrible phase of the war and downing more than 30 enemy planes. Including five Nazi aircraft he sent to the bottom of the Barents Sea in his final dogfight on May 30 of 1942…

Boris Safonov scored his first aerial win already on the third day of the German invasion, June 24 of 1941. An enemy plane shot down from the northern skies – that was really a big deal back in those days everyone kept talking about. The German pilot did his best but was eventually shot down. Discussing the details of the dogfight, Safonov concluded that to win you’ve got to attack your enemy. The following day the Northern Fleet newspaper announced the first aerial win and urged the pilots to “Hit the Nazis like Boris Safonov does.” Three days later Safonov downed another German plane.

Those were the days of fierce air combat fought in the skies over the Kola Peninsula in the Russian North. The Germans made maximum use of the so-called White Nights season when the sun never goes down which gave the Luftwaffe a perfect opportunity to swoop down on Soviet ships. The Soviet’s tried to make up for the scarcity of aircraft by continuously increasing the number of sorties and eventually bringing them up to a daily maximum of seven. And each time Safonov used ever-new fighting tricks always analyzing enemy tactics and studying the technical capabilities of the Nazi aircraft of the northern theater. Small wonder that his squadron was the best in the whole regiment, shooting down more and more German planes each day while losing less and less of their own. There were three things Safonov always kept in mind one unshakeable rule he always stuck to, that is circumspection and mutual assistance in combat.

By August of 1941 Safonov’s squadron was going very strong feared by the enemy and boasting the highest number of hits in the entire Northern Fleet. Enraged by the setbacks, Adolf Hitler dispatched his best and most experienced fighter pilots, used to shattering peaceful cities in Poland, France, Greece and Norway and who thought they would easily do that again in Russia. One night, it was early in August, a squadron of German Junkers bombers, hiding behind the clouds, stealthily sneaked up on the Soviet airfield only to be immediately attacked by Safonov’s daredevils. Driving his plane right into the middle of the German formation, Safonov cut it in two. He then took on the leader of the German squadron. The German pilot put up fierce resistance but was eventually shot down. Seeing that, the other Germans beat a hasty retreat losing a number of planes in the process. The impressive victory won by Boris Safonov and his men so demoralized the Germans that the commander of their 5th Air Army, General Strumpf, ordered his pilots to avoid further encounters with Soviet fighters each time they did not have an overwhelming numerical superiority over the enemy.

In September 1941 a squadron of fighter planes from a British carrier arrived at Boris Safonov’s airfield to beef up aerial support for the incoming sea convoys. The Russians accorded the British a warm welcome and they spent the next month making joint patrols, fighting the common enemy and providing aerial coverage for the sea convoys. Safonov was the first in the Northern Fleet to fly a Hurricane while his colleagues took another ten days to master the new British aircraft. The Russian and British airmen spent their spare hours playing football, which helped them to shake off the stress and feel fresh for a new sortie in the morning.

When General MacFarlane who then led the British military mission in the USSR arrived at Murmansk to award British medals to four Soviet pilots, Boris Safonov, already an Air Force Major, was among those singled out for commendation. Congratulating Safonov, and wishing him all the best, General MacFarlane pinned to Safonov’s uniform, already laden with a wealth of Soviet distinctions, Britain’s highest aviation order, The Distinguished Flying Cross.

Two months later Boris Safonov flew his last combat mission. Heavily outnumbered the legendary Soviet pilot was killed but not before he downed a whole five enemy planes in a single combat. That’s a fate many would like to share…
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Illustration:

M. Khametov “In the Arctic Sky”, Moscow, Politizdat, 1983

01/17/2005