Russia
as Soviet Union (USSR)
Hero Pilot "National Hero"
Georgy Baydukov
1936 Commemorative Pin
33mm (5.45 grams)
Head of Baydukov left with his name in Russian under him; Portland USA and
Moscow USSR with route through north taken shown on blue map.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity.
Georgy Filippovich Baydukov (Russian:
Гео́ргий Фили́ппович Байдуко́в; May 13 1907
[O.S.
May 26] — December 28, 1994) was a
Soviet
aircraft test pilot, a
Hero of the Soviet Union
(1936) and a writer.
Georgy Baydukov,
Valery Chkalov
and
Alexander Belyakov
in 1937
Early years
Georgy Baydukov had been born in
Taryshta
railway station in the
Tomsk Governorate
of the
Russian Empire
(now
Novosibirsk Oblast
,
Russia
) to a railway worker. He became an
orphan in the age of 9 and had been homeless for some time. Baidukov had been
taken to orphanage and worked at railway construction for some time.
Georgy Baydukov enlisted into the
Red Army
in 1926. He graduated Air Force
Technical School and Kacha school for the military pilots in 1928 and served as
a fighter pilot in 1928-1931.
Test pilot
Georgy Baydukov had been transferred to an Air Force's Testing institute and
became an aircraft
test pilot
in 1931. He tested number of fighter
planes in 1931-1934 and had been instrumental in developing
instrument flight rules
for the USSR's Air
Force.
Ultralong Flights
Georgy Baydukov became a student of Air Force Academy in 1934. During that
time he became involved with number of ultralong flights conducted by the Soviet
Union. He tried to reach
North America
flying from
Russia
through the
North Pole
in August 1935 as a member of
Levanevsky
's crew, flying the
ANT-25
. The flight had been terminated because
of technical problems. Baydukov continued to participate in ANT-25's testing in
1935-1936.
Valery Chkalov
, Georgiy Baydukov and A. V.
Belyakov flew an improved ANT-25 through the
North Pole
to
Udd Island
, in the
Sea of Okhotsk
(distance 9,374 km, flight time
56 h 20 min) from July 20, 1936 to July 22, 1936. Georgiy Baydukov had been
awarded the title of the
Hero of the Soviet Union
for this deed July 24,
1936.
The same crew piloted an ANT-25 from
Moscow
to
Vancouver, Washington
through the
North Pole
from June 18, 1937 to June 20, 1937
(distance 8,504 km).
Georgy Baydukov resumed his work as a test pilot in 1937. He tested
PE-2
and
SB
bombers, as well as participated in tests of
a DB-A bomber.
During the Second
World War
Georgy Baydukov participated in the
Soviet-Finnish War
in 1939-1940. He served in
85th Bomber Regiment.
Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin
sent Baydukov to meet with
US president
Franklin D. Roosevelt
to secure the purchase of
warplanes in 1941. He managed to arrange the sale of several
P-39 Airacobra
fighter planes to the Soviet
Union. He returned to the front lines in January 1942.
Baydukov served as a deputy commander of the 31st Air Force Division,
commander of the air force of 4th strike army, commander of the 212nd (since May
1943 - the 4th Guard) Air Force Division. Commander of an Air Force Corps since
January 1944.
Post-War years
Georgy Baydukov had served with the Soviet Air Force in various capacities
until 1988, when he retired with the rank of
General Colonel
.
Honours and awards
- Knight of the highest number of orders of the USSR (22 orders)[2]
-
Hero of the Soviet Union
- Two
Orders of Lenin
/
Hero of the Soviet Union
-
Order of the October Revolution
- Four
Orders of the Red Banner
-
Order of Kutuzov
1st class
- Two
Orders of Suvorov
2nd class
-
Order of Kutuzov
2nd class
-
Order of the Patriotic War
1st class
-
Order of the Patriotic War
2nd class
-
Order of the Red Banner of Labour
-
Order of Friendship of Peoples
- Four
Orders of the Red Star
-
Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces
of the USSR
1st class
-
Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces
of the USSR
2nd class
-
Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces
of the USSR
3rd class
-
Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th
Anniversary since the Birth of Vladimir Il'ich Lenin"
-
Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great
Patriotic War 1941–1945"
-
Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great
Patriotic War 1941-1945"
-
Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great
Patriotic War 1941-1945"
-
Jubilee Medal "Forty Years of Victory in the Great
Patriotic War 1941-1945"
-
Medal "Veteran of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
-
Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants'
Red Army"
-
Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy"
-
Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the
USSR"
-
Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the
USSR"
-
Jubilee Medal "60 Years of the Armed Forces of the
USSR"
-
Jubilee Medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the
USSR"
-
Medal "In Commemoration of the 1500th Anniversary of
Kiev"
- State Prize of the USSR
Foreign awards
-
Officer of the Legion of Merit
(USA)
-
Army Distinguished Service Medal
(USA)
-
Distinguished Flying Cross
(USA)
- Medal for Odra, Nisso and the Baltic (Poland)
- Medal for Warsaw (Poland)
-
Order of the Grunwald Cross
2nd Class
(Poland)
-
Order of Polonia Restituta
2nd and 3rd
classes (Poland)
- Order of Sukhbaatar (Mongolia)
- Order of the Red Znamyani (Mongolia)
-
Czechoslovak War Cross
(Czechoslovakia)
-
Order of the White Lion
1st Class
(Czechoslovakia)
-
Order of the White Lion
1st Class For
Victory
See also
-
Baydukov Island
-
Picture of Pilots Valery Chkalov, Georgy Baydukov and
Alexander Belyakov sitting next to their plane on Udd Island
-
Anatoliy Kvochur's Su-30 Airplane Lands at Zhukovskiy
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