Mikhail Vasilevich Kuznetsov

Born Oct. 25 (Nov. 7), 1913, in the village of Agarino, in present-day Serpukhov Raion, Moscow Oblast. Soviet military commander, major general of aviation (1959), twice Hero of the Soviet Union (Sept. 8, 1943, and June 27, 1945). Became a member of the CPSU in 1932. The son of a worker.

Kuznetsov entered the Soviet Army in 1933 and graduated from the military school for the naval air force in 1934 and from the Air Force Academy in 1951. In the Great Patriotic War (1941–45), he fought on the Leningrad, Kalinin, Western, Southwestern, and Third and First Ukrainian fronts in the posts of squadron commander, regimental navigator (1941–42), and commander of the 814th Fighter Air Regiment (1942–45). Kuznetsov made 345 combat flights, engaged in 72 air battles, and shot down 28 enemy aircraft, including six assists. He has held high posts in the air force since the war. Kuznetsov has been awarded the Order of Lenin, four Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of Bogdan Khmel’nitskii Second Class, two Orders of the Red Star, and medals.