Vasilii Ilich Mykhlik

Born Dec. 29, 1922, in the village of Soldatskoe, now Kazanka Raion, Nikolaev Oblast. Colonel (1953); twice Hero of the Soviet Union (Feb. 23, 1945, and June 29, 1945). Member of the CPSU since 1944.

Mykhlik joined the Soviet Army in 1940. He graduated from the Lenin Komsomol Vol’sk Technical Aviation School in 1941 and from the Air Force Academy in 1951. In the Great Patriotic War (1941–45), Mykhlik served on the Briansk, Western, Leningrad, and Third Byelorussian fronts as a pilot, flight commander, and deputy commander and commander of a squadron in units of the 277th Assault Air Division. He made 188 combat flights. He remained in the air force after the war. He has been in the reserves since 1966 because of illness. Mykhlik has been awarded the Order of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Alexander Nevsky, the Order of the Patriotic War First Class, the Order of the Red Star, and various medals. A bust of Mykhlik has been erected in the city of Krivoi Rog.