Lapchinskii, Aleksandr

Born 1882 in Tver’ Province; died May 2, 1938, in Moscow. Soviet military figure; brigade commander (1935); professor.

Lapchinskii graduated from the Aleksei Military School, the universities of Moscow and Munich, and the Kiev School of Aerial Observers (1916). He participated in World War I (1914–18) as a lieutenant of aviation. He was elected commander of the 2nd Artillery Aviation Detachment in 1917. In 1918, Lapchinskii joined the Red Army and became chief of the field directorate of aviation and aerostation of the Eighth and Ninth armies and then chief of staff of the Red Army’s air fleet. Turning to teaching in 1925, he became head of the subdepartment of aviation tactics at the M. V. Frunze Military Academy and simultaneously professor at the N. E. Zhukovskii Air Force Academy.

Lapchinskii is the author of works on the history and theory of aviation, in which he scientifically substantiated the role and place of aviation in combat actions; he stressed the need to gain air supremacy and to concentrate the forces of aviation for assistance to ground forces along the main axis; Lapchinskii made a great contribution to the development of the tactical principles of fighter and bomber aviation. His theoretical propositions on the combat application of the air force were vindicated in the Great Patriotic War (1941–45).