Six years ago, exactly on the 90th anniversary of the outstanding domestic ace pilot of the Great Patriotic War, the most successful fighter pilot in Allied aviation, three times Hero of the Soviet Union, holder of 19 orders and 14 medals, honorary resident of 6 cities of the former USSR, Air Marshal Kozhedub The first channel showed a documentary film dedicated to this great winged warrior. Even if I knew about Ivan Nikitovich only the above textbook data, I would still stick to the TV screen. During the so-called post-perestroika times, the zomboyaschik does not really indulge us with stories about the heroes of war and labor. Mostly glamorous or criminal personalities are registered there now. But after all, I knew the marshal personally well, wrote about him many times in various publications, was familiar with his dearest wife Veronika Nikolaevna, with his son, submarine officer Nikita Ivanovich.

Alas, however, I had to strain unpleasantly literally from the first frames, as it turned out, even of a semi-fiction film. Imagine, reader: night, a white building with columns. And behind the scenes - the almost tragically hysterical voice of the presenter: “Late in the evening, a Pobeda car stopped at the building of the Kislovodsk military sanatorium. Despite the odd hour, the duty officer let two officers in cornflower blue (so!) caps pass without a word. One of the state security officers clarified: “In which room does the pilot Kozhedub live?” After a persistent knock, the surprised owner of the room opened the door. (The artist really showed surprise, wiping himself with a terry towel). “Comrade Kozhedub, you will urgently have to follow us! Get dressed! You have three minutes to get ready! We will wait". This phrase is like a hammer to the head. The wife, Veronica, was most frightened.

Not to say, of course, that I was scared, but still I was very dumbfounded. How, really, was Kozhedub tormented by the hated Office of Deep Drilling named after Comrade Beria? And if so, then why, then, during the long years of our acquaintance, Ivan Nikitovich never said a word or a half-word about it? After all, he (God knows, I'm not showing off!) sometimes even initiated me into some of the intimate aspects of his biography, since he was always a cheerful and sincere person with an open soul. And here about such an ominous fact and complete silence ...

Meanwhile, the tragedy in the host's voice grew thicker and thicker: “She knew well what such late visits meant. He calmed her down as best he could. He was afraid that he would just hear his heart beating (?). So unexpectedly, under the escort of the Chekists (?!) turned out to be the best pilot of the Great Patriotic War, three times Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Kozhedub. Simultaneously, on the full screen of my 32-inch TV for half a minute, the eyes of the actress playing the pilot's wife, full of almost animal fear, were shown. And - music, already goosebumps. Then, however, there were animated frames and a quite normal retelling of the well-known (at least for those who are interested in aviation) biography of a truly outstanding fighter pilot of the twentieth century. But I already looked at them, as they say, half an eye. He was always eager to find out why Ivan Nikitovich was being dragged to the dungeons? Moreover, he, (actually an artist who played fright), every now and then (7 times!) Was shown sitting between two plump muzzles. Waited for a long time. Of the 50 minutes of the film, the authors of exactly 21 minutes tormented my soul with ignorance, pumping everything up and pumping up all kinds of chilling horror. And I'm not shy at all. Read further what you had to hear behind the scenes with undisguised surprise: “Sitting in the back seat between state security officers, Ivan tried not to betray his anxiety in any way. I was just sorting through the options where and why they could take him. If arrest: why didn't they show a warrant? He didn't feel any guilt. He did not participate in any intrigues. Yes, and it was not accepted among military pilots. Could anyone really have suspicions that a Hero three times could turn out to be an enemy of the people? After all, all the awards from Kozhedub are well-deserved, military ones. And yet he had no doubt: this time he would be lucky. But how is his Veronica? The frightened and bewildered face of his wife constantly surfaced before him, with whom he broke up without even saying a parting word. (So ​​it is said above: “I calmed down as best I could!”). Then there were tragic game shots allegedly with Veronica, whom “fear squeezed her heart like an icy vise. And what should she tell her daughter when she wakes up?

But here is the denouement: “The car stopped at the building of the Kislovodsk City Party Committee. Kozhedub was taken to the office of the first secretary. He stood up, held out the receiver of the Kremlin phone. (That is, before that, he held her all the way, and at the opposite end of the wire the subscriber was just as patiently waiting?). "Comrade Kozhedub, Vasily Iosifovich is in touch." Kozhedub heard the voice of Lieutenant General Vasily Stalin, commander of the Air Force of the Moscow District. After a long swearing tirade (?!), followed by an order to immediately fly to Moscow. “There is work, and Vanya is resting! Take off immediately!" Before departure, he managed to scribble a few lines to Veronica.

Here it would be better to stop the already fairly protracted quoting of the off-screen text, where the malicious whipping up of fear in the end turned out to be a complete propaganda zilch. Only there is one more “zest” in it, which, by no means, cannot be kept silent. It turns out that “that night of worries about her husband was not in vain for Veronica. She, a twenty-year-old girl, has gray whiskey!” How!

And now, reader, take a breath and get ready for an amazing message: nothing that you read above, and I watched 21 minutes on a blue screen, was in life and could not be by definition! All this is an invention, an absurd "blue" fantasy of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the independent television company Ostankino, author and host of television cycles, winner of the TEFI television award in the nomination "TV Documentary Film Series", member of the Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation, member of the Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation, former Yeltsin's press secretary, Sergei Medvedev. Because any military person will not only be surprised, but even indignant at the absurdity sucked out of a bluish ideological finger, about which the supposedly documentary television film tells so angrily. For why the hell did the commander of the Air Force of the Moscow District, even if he was Stalin's son, need to look for his deputy. divisional commander through the state security agencies, if he could simply call the number of the sanatorium via special communications? This oldest health resort in the armed forces has existed since 1922. Since then, it has always been supplied with first-class communication with the capital! Yes, it should not be otherwise - an elementary thing for a military structure. In addition, the leader's son was never friends with representatives of the special services - "he was in conflict with counters." And I even know where Sergei Konstantinovich "scooped" such a spreading cranberry from. But I will not advertise a rather mediocre book by a famous pilot who simply confided in a very mediocre writer: “The city of Kislovodsk. In the late evening of November 1950, two MGB officers came for Kozhedub, who was resting in a local sanatorium, and gave him a few minutes to get ready. In the regional party committee on government communications, he receives an order from the commander of the Air Force of the Moscow district, V.I. Stalin, to arrive in Moscow. "There is work, and Vanya is resting."
Well, regarding the regional committee in Kislovodsk (!) Medvedev truncated the author's stupidity, but all the false events before and after it flourished with amazing voluptuousness and salivation. Up to the point that the “twenty-year-old girl” already had gray whiskey. This is despite the fact that she had lived with her husband for six years, and almost every day cars with messengers came for him. But then the poor woman almost, you see, did not lose her mind. (I’ll keep silent about the fact that in the 50th “girl” turned 23 years old). The author is unaware that Veronika Nikolaevna was just from the breed of those Russian women who stopped a galloping horse and entered a burning hut like a boutique. The question is, why did a seemingly good journalist need such cheap nonsense? And all because in the protracted war between the Ostankino TV tower and the Kremlin tower, the first one, especially Channel One, is intensively denigrating a china shop like an elephant, trampling down the socialist past of our country. After all, it would seem that a person undertook a good deed: to talk about the most productive fighter pilot of the Soviet Union, and the cards are in his hands. After all, the biographies of Kozhedub are more than enough for several full-length films. But it was about her in the second, third, seventh turn that the TV journalist thought. He, like a man with scabies, had one inescapable desire to "get the system." So that the viewer definitely thinks: if even three times the Hero was easily pulled out of the bathroom by the insidious and evil KGB officers, ordered to get dressed (in three minutes !!!), then what can we say about simple people, “cogs of the system”. Which were pushed around by such "tyrants" as the son of Stalin. Only “after a long swearing tirade” (how did Medvedev, born in 1958, manage to overhear and measure the length of that tirade in 1950?!) did he give Vanya an order. The game is full. Although what is especially surprising here. Once this master of the blue screen made a film about the Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello. So the son of the famous pilot, my good friend Victor Gastello, said: “It amazes me how much slander, lies and vile insinuations are invested in this program.”

... The Soviet system knew how to grow Heroes. In a well-known song, it is fixed for centuries: "When the country orders to be a hero, anyone becomes a hero in our country." And the Soviet people constantly surrounded their heroic chosen ones with enthusiastic love. But even so, the glory of Ivan Kozhedub at the end of the war and in the post-war years, until the time of man's conquest of space, stood apart, as it were. It was literally, and not figuratively, worn everywhere on the hands. So even before the war, our people admired Valery Chkalov. By the way, they were very similar in the main thing: in devout devotion to the art of flying, in a deep and thorough comprehension of flying, in daring spiritual generosity, in ardent love for the Motherland. And these are not just words worn out by journalistic abrasive. In them is the core, the very essence of the characters of the glorious Russian Icarus from the very thick of the people who came out. It is difficult, but simply impossible, to imagine the same Ivan Nikitovich complaining about something, complaining about some hardships or hardships of service, social or political life. Everywhere and everywhere, he constantly radiated indestructible optimism, precisely from the beginning of the Soviet era, without the slightest liberal admixture. He was always betrayed not in words but in deeds of his "native Communist Party". For such a reckless commitment to the high socialist ideals of Kozhedub, some "advanced" ones did not complain before, now even more so. It just means absolutely nothing. We should not evaluate historical characters based on our present predilections and judgments. And Kozhedub was truly a Hero of the first magnitude. Therefore, they could not, did not dare (they would have been driven to Kolyma!) Local MGB officers ordered him to get dressed in three minutes. And on a tangent, I’ll note that Ivan Nikitovich himself, with amazing dignity, like a knight of armor, wore his loud glory and his exceptional chosenness. Providence really kissed him on the top of his head even at birth, and then led him through life, carefully protecting, as rarely, even one of his chosen ones.

As for being chosen, it's also not a figure of speech. Even as a child, ten-year-old Vanya almost drowned in the Desna. His older brother Alexander miraculously saved him from the cold spring flood. How many later such life tests on the verge of death, Kozhedub could not even remember. But he always claimed that he was lucky since childhood. And that was some kind of mystical, incredible truth. The ancient Roman goddess of fortune Fortuna is quite such a woman with Ruben's bodies. At Kozhedub, she was definitely slender and winged, like the goddess of victory, Nika. You, the reader, just think about this arithmetic: throughout the war, Ivan Nikitovich participated in 330 sorties, conducted 120 air battles and personally shot down 64 aircraft. The ace pilot was hit 11 times, he burned four times, but he always landed his car. His fighters (during the battles he changed more than a dozen aircraft) were hit by a total of several hundred bullets! If they were evenly spaced along the fuselage, then there would be a big colander, not a fighter. And at the same time, not a single bullet, not a single fragment of the lucky man even scratched. This theoretically should not be, but it was.

... Ivan Kozhedub was born in the village of Obrazheevka, Sumy district, into a poor peasant family - the sixth and last. His father, a church warden, was known as an outstanding person, a kind of rural believing intellectual. Torn between factory earnings and peasant labor, he found the strength to read books and even compose poetry. He was extremely religious, had a subtle, exacting mind, persistently brought up diligence, perseverance, diligence in children. It is not surprising that by the age of six, Vanya was already reading various books. And then he carried the love of the printed word through his whole life. After a seven-year period, a broken boy enters the workers' faculty of the Shostka Chemical-Technological College. At the same time, he began to study at the flying club. (“The sky, of course, beckoned me, like any boy, but the flight uniform attracted no less. And only when I took off for the first time one and a half thousand meters above the ground, I realized: this is mine for the rest of my life!”).

1940s. Kozhedub was admitted to the Chuguev Military Aviation School for Pilots. I thoroughly studied UT-2, UTI-4, I-16. That's why he was left as an instructor at the school. (“And I flew, son, stupidly a lot. It would be possible, it seems, I would not get out of the plane. The very technique of piloting, polishing the figures brought incomparable joy. And I managed to convey this joy to boys like myself. When you love what you do, it's easy to share that love. It was bad in another way: the command of the school grabbed me with a stranglehold and did not let me go to the front for a long time "-" You, of course, wrote reports? "-" I wrote fifteen times or more. And sense?").

Only in March 1943 did Kozhedub end up on the Voronezh Front. (“The first dogfight could have been mine and my last. Messerschmitt-109 almost halved my La-5 with a cannon burst. The armored back saved me from an incendiary projectile. So on the way back, our anti-aircraft gunners also mistakenly hit me with two shells. I planted, but it was no longer subject to restoration. For some time I had to fly on the "remnants" - machines from the series "on you, God, what is not good for me." And only by the summer of the 43rd, at least some kind of then enlightenment: they assigned a junior lieutenant, appointed to the post of deputy commander. As I remember now: on July 6 over the Kursk Bulge, during the fortieth sortie, I overwhelmed my first German Junkers Yu-87 bomber. As they say, the worst of trouble is the beginning. The next one day I shot down the second, and two days later I destroyed two Bf-109 fighters at once. By the way, I learned that I was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union from yours, from our Red Star. I still keep that number from 5 February 1944").

Kozhedub was awarded the second Gold Star medal on August 19, 1944 for 256 sorties and 48 downed enemy aircraft. And he received the third star of the Hero on August 18, 1945.

(“Ivan Nikitovich, the question haunts me: why did the German aces shoot down planes an order of magnitude more than ours?” - “For starters, a joke for you. Vasily Ivanovich returns from England, like Ostap Bender, smartly dressed and all in gold trinkets. Petka he wonders: where does so much good come from? "You see, Petka, we sat down to play cards there. Their time is on the table, but they tell me: the gentlemen don't show the cards. And then, Petka, how flooded it was. We shot down planes, and the Germans - motors. But the main thing: victories were counted for us exclusively according to the FKP (fotokino-machine gun - M.Z.), and for the Germans - according to a personal report. How many times the guys pestered me: “Nikitich, you’ve filled up the“ Messer ”, we all saw how it caught fire "And I told them: so what? Suddenly it will reach his own. No, brothers, when he poke his nose into the ground, then I will replenish my account").

Therefore, I know for sure, and many experts say that in fact Kozhedub shot down about 90 (maybe more!) Enemy aircraft, including two American pilots. Only he never recorded his victories, if he doubted them even one iota. And there was flint in this sense - no one could persuade. Moreover, Ivan Nikitovich, like many Soviet fighter heroes, never took credit for the planes shot down together with the newcomers. Among other things, also because he believed: the main thing for a pilot is to knock out the first three aircraft, and then he already becomes invulnerable to the enemy. Probably, there was some mysticism here. Kozhedub, however, never denied it, believing flying to be some kind of special human craft. On this basis, by the way, he became very close friends with Vladimir Vysotsky. What I will certainly tell the reader below. For now, I will focus on the “fourth star” of the Hero.

So Ivan Nikitovich always called his wife, believing her to be his most important life acquisition. (“I met Veronika by chance on the train. And for a long time I courted, without revealing who I was and what I was. Your brother usually writes that Kozhedub was, they say, a shy boyfriend. Yes, nothing like that - where you sit on me, you will get off. But, you must admit, it's one thing when a Hero courts you three times - then any fool is ready to jump out to marry him. And it's quite another - a simple guy. And when I realized what kind of person Veronica was, then I opened up to her. And at my wedding even Vasya Stalin was present!”). In my opinion, they never quarreled in the sense that spouses usually quarrel among themselves. Although who is the ataman in the family, and who is the ordinary Cossack, was seen from afar and with the naked eye. Somewhere in the late eighties, Ivan Nikitovich was severely shaken by a stroke. So Veronika Nikolaevna fed her husband from a teaspoon and, like a real speech therapist, restored command speech in him again. And I was always touched by how, having entered a military shop, the air marshal, first of all, chose some trifle as a gift “for my young wife”. Meanwhile, the age difference between them was only seven years. A lover of drinking and who knows how to do it (“Three tankers drank three hundred each, and the pilot - eight hundred”) Ivan Nikitovich always spoke with caution: “No matter how Veronika smells me.”

... The second war of Kozhedub - Korean - is, of course, worthy of a separate story. And to tell the truth, I asked Ivan Nikitovich about it most of all, in my youth, smugly believing that I knew everything about the first - the Great Patriotic War. Only here is an amazing thing: a joker by nature, a joker even in a sense, he always tensely, with some kind of constant inner apprehension, so not typical for him, answered my questions. Once I told him bluntly: in vain, they say, you, Comrade Colonel General, are playing it safe - after all, everything has been known about that war for a long time. (“Of course, it’s difficult to conceal an awl in a bag. Just notice: it’s not those who baled Yankee planes that are spreading about the Korean War - all these “beshki” and “feshki” (B-26, B-29, F-80 and F -84 - M.Z.). It is understandable. After all, we all signed a non-disclosure agreement). And only after the winds, the so-called perestroika and glasnost, Ivan Nikitovich began to slowly share his Korean adventures. From him I first learned of the heroic and tragic hunt for the Saber. In my diaries this epic is recorded on six pages. Here I will give only a few excerpts from the story of Kozhedub: “For a long time we kept the initiative in the air. There was even such a name - “MiG Alley” - an airspace where UN planes did not risk flying at all. But then the American "sabers" - F-86s - appeared and drastically changed the picture of the war in the air. But what can I say: in some respects, they simply surpassed our MiG-15s. The Saber needed to be studied in order to find the most effective ways to deal with it. But how do you get such a trophy? We like the F-86, but the pilot takes it to Korea Bay and ejects there. And at sea, the Americans were complete masters. Well, the rescue service they acted just fine. Our experts could not even think about how to get a fighter that fell into the sea. Those that fell to the ground were unsuitable for study - only rubbish. And you also keep in mind that we were obliged to conduct all air negotiations only in Chinese. In the tactical class - still all right. And you rise into the sky and all Chinese writing disappears. And how to establish interaction? The way out of the situation was “found” for us in the high offices of Moscow: force the Saber to land. It's easy, son, to say. To knock him down - you'll be worn out, and even forcibly planting him - is simply incredible. But an order is an order. I also had to issue my order number 043 to my 324th Fighter Division: to get the Saber. A special group was even created for such a purpose - all efforts were unsuccessful. And yet, my falcons ended up getting two Sabers! They showed me one in mud, in silt. We washed it and sent it to Moscow. What was the problem here? The F-86 was the first to install an anti-g suit, which was of great interest to our aircraft industry. But when we shot down Sabers, their pilots jumped out with a suit and a hose with a fitting. The self-pressure machine itself - the main thing in this whole business - naturally crashed along with the fighter. To get a machine gun, you needed a live plane. And we got it."

During the Korean War, the pilots of the 324th Fighter Aviation Division under the command of Ivan Kozhedub scored 216 air victories, losing only 27 aircraft (9 pilots died). The duration of the battles from April 1951 to January 1952. (“Ivan Nikitovich, just be honest: did you yourself fly in the sky over Korea?” - “But why not fly! As soon as my political officer Petukhov went to Moscow, I went to the MiG cockpit. He is a good man and we lived with him soul to my soul. But he was assigned to me by the higher command, so that I, therefore, would not be self-willed. It is, of course, correct. Just imagine the scandal: what if the Americans shot down a hero three times. But you don’t write this, don’t ... ").

And the last, as promised to the reader. In 1988 I wrote the book Barefoot Soul or How I Knew Vysotsky. Among those who recalled the great artist and bard in it were my good friend artist Veniamin Smekhov and the great pilot of the Soviet Union, Air Marshal Ivan Kozhedub.

“Tours in Tashkent. We play "Good man." Two people look at Vysotsky in the role of a pilot from the first row - Ivan Kozhedub and Alexei Mikoyan, two friends, two generals, both in flight uniform, smartly fit, surprisingly young. In the intermission, backstage, not without envy, we look at how they are talking amicably with Vysotsky. Lord, Kozhedub himself! As a child, I counted his book to holes, but I was looking for his phone at school, I swallowed my tongue when he agreed to come to us for the evening!
Vysotsky - and Ivan Nikitovich. Awesome! From their meetings and friendship fell to the entire theater staff. The legendary pilot-commanders, at the request of Vladimir, twice threw out the "Taganka landing". First - to Samarkand. There, in the "ambush" the guide was waiting for us. The theater team was led, amazed by the archa-tale architecture of Ulugbek, Timur, Shah-i-Zinda, Registan, warmed in the ancient sun and again on magical wings transferred “to the rear” of the tour, to the city of Tashkent. It seems that Vysotsky then did not hear gratitude addressed to him: all the luck, as it should, was taken over by the directorate. It seems that she herself “landed” us, what does it have to do with three pilots - Kozhedub, Mikoyan and Vysotsky?

*
“I don’t remember when I first heard Vysotsky’s songs. Probably in the same years as they began to multiply on tapes. At first, like the vast majority of people, I thought that the author of these songs was a man who had seen the signs, and that a front-line soldier, this, of course, goes without saying. But then I find out: Vysotsky is a very young guy, he works as an artist at Taganka. There, in the theater, we met, if I am not mistaken, at the premiere performance of Hamlet. I don’t remember the content of our first conversation: he said some kind words to me, I praised him for his game, especially for his songs. We agreed that he would sing for my colleagues. Vysotsky kept his word. That's how I listened to him for the first time - live, not recorded. And he was just shocked. Such strength, such power and at the same time so much soul was in his songs that only a very indifferent person could remain indifferent to them. I told him: “Well, you’ll sing like a fighter!” And he replied that no one had yet evaluated his songs like that.
Well, that's how our acquaintance began. I would not call this friendship, but there was such a comradely relationship between us. This I say is not in order to cling to his national glory there. I have enough of mine. And to his popularity, I'll tell you frankly, my general's stars had little to add. But what was, was. Sometimes we talked on the phone, sometimes we met at some events. Some of my colleagues, and even Volkonogov, whom you know, then said: well, what do you, they say, Ivan Nikitovich, find in this wheezing? I can't find anything, I replied. I like it and that's it. And by his courage, and pressure, and most of all by the fact that he writes and sings the truth. You know, Mikhail, I'm a useless critic, but I understand a song about a fighter as well as many critics. And for the soul she takes me strongly always. Well it is so written, as if he himself was sitting in the cockpit!
Once we met with Vysotsky in Paris, exactly on the Day of the Soviet Army and Navy. I would be there for aviation sports as vice president of the Aviation Sports Federation. “Well, how,” I ask, “will you sing to us today?” - “On such a day, Ivan Nikitovich,” he answers, “they might not have asked - they would have sung anyway!” Also, of course, he sang powerfully, but still not like we have in the Union. Or so it seemed to me, I don’t know. But in Tashkent ... I remember that I was then the first deputy commander-in-chief of the Air Force for combat training. Came to Mikoyan on business. Suddenly Volodya calls: so, they say, and so, we need a helicopter. Alyosha Mikoyan also turned out to be a passionate admirer of Vysotsky. In a word, we helped the artists. How else. By the way, I have a lot of friends in this theatre. And I "did" with them long before our perestroika and glasnost. Not everyone understood this, many did not approve of me in this sense, but only I paid little attention to all sorts of tips and advice. I felt a personality in Vysotsky, and I always value personality in a person above all else.

“... Yes, Mikhail, I was a lucky fellow. I was lucky in life - the holy truth. How many deaths I looked into the eyes, and they looked at me close. Once, in a burning plane, he fell into a tailspin. A few meters from the ground, he managed to bring down the flame and get out of the spin. By God, it seemed to me then, as if my native land had pushed me back into the sky!

Sinful, I think now: but Ivan Nikitovich was lucky even with death. He did not see the collapse of his Fatherland - the great Soviet Union, three times the Hero of which he was rightfully.

Retired Colonel Mikhail Zakharchuk.

The famous pilot, three times Hero of the Soviet Union, always said that he had one more, fourth gold star. This star was Ivan Kozhedub's wife Veronica. They were happy for 45 years, having managed for all these years never to quarrel, not to raise their voices at each other. And even in adulthood, he came up with affectionate names for his wife and did not forget to give flowers and gifts.

chance meeting

They first met in the late autumn of 1945. Ivan Kozhedub studied at the Moscow Academy of the General Staff, and part of him was in Monino. The pilot went to the capital every morning, and returned to the unit in the evening. On November 8, he saw a young beauty in the train, but he did not dare to get to know her. He just looked at her and was embarrassed.

And getting off at the station, I decided that the mistake should be corrected. He began to carefully examine all the electric trains passing through Monino. Ivan persistently searched for the girl he liked. By the time of the second meeting, he was very determined and for the second time he immediately invited the beauty to dance at the House of Culture of the garrison. Veronica accepted the invitation.

And I was very surprised when they met. All officers saluted Major Kozhedub, even those who were clearly superior in rank. Only in the foyer, when the pilot took off his outer clothing, did Veronica see his three Golden Stars. She became timid, even wanted to run away. She remembered seeing his photographs in the newspapers.

After a joint meeting of the New Year, the young people already firmly decided not to part, and on January 2, 1946 they registered their marriage. In 1947, their daughter Natasha was born.

It's hard to be an officer's wife

Veronica turned out to be a talented hostess. The young girl cooked well, arranged comfort in the house, raised her daughter, and did not let her husband down. She believed that an educated person must certainly be well-read, so at first she forced her husband to read, and after that he himself began to enjoy this process.

Only now she endured separation from her husband badly. She even tried to insist that he leave the sky. But Ivan here was firm and adamant: the sky is his life. He can’t live without Veronica, and without flying he will simply stop breathing.

separation test

When Ivan and Veronica, together with their three-year-old daughter, were resting in Kislovodsk, one evening two state security officers came to their room and asked the pilot to drive with them. They decided that they had come to arrest him, but in fact they brought him at the request of the Aviation Commander of the Moscow District. The officer was urgently summoned to Moscow, from where he was to urgently fly to Korea. He had to go through another war.

They celebrated five years of married life in separation. Ivan and Veronica desperately missed each other. Letters became the only connecting thread between them. The pilot returned home only in 1952. In November 1952, the son Nikita was born in the family.

Unbreakable love

Love has always reigned in their family. Ivan Nikitovich called Veronika various affectionate names. Friends, looking at this couple, only sighed. Such love, it turns out, can be not only in books, but on screens.

The children and grandchildren of the famous pilot recalled the amazing atmosphere of the hospitable hospitable home. Ivan and Veronika never raised their voices at each other, they never even quarreled. Ivan Nikitovich from all his trips did not forget to bring gifts to his wife. And he called his beloved his fourth golden star.

He, who went through two wars, saw hundreds of deaths, loved life very much. He enjoyed every day he lived, finding a source of pleasure in the little things. Ivan Nikitovich also loved to draw. He drew with a pencil and even painted oil paintings.

If he was a commander in the service, then in the house the post of commander-in-chief definitely belonged to Veronika Nikolaevna. No one dared to disobey her: neither her husband, nor her children, nor subsequently her grandchildren. She happily took care of the household and surprised her husband with culinary delights.

As long as the pilot could fly, his health did not bother him. But the cessation of flights led to the fact that Ivan Nikitovich began to get sick. I felt severe pain in my legs, my heart began to play pranks.

When Ivan Nikitovich suffered a stroke in 1976, she left him. She herself taught him to speak again, to hold a pen in his hands, to draw letters. She took him to sanatoriums, where she was always there. Yet she managed to get him back on his feet.

But in 1991, when Ivan Nikitovich had a heart attack, she was not around. She left the dacha on business for the garrison. When I returned, I saw an ambulance at their house. But she arrived too late. On August 8, 1991, the pilot's heart stopped beating.

She survived her husband by 10 years. And every year on the day of their wedding with Vanechka, she gathered relatives and friends at the house, celebrating the anniversary of their family. Until the end of her days, she tremblingly kept the memory of her husband and their inseparable love for 45 years.

The secret of a happy marriage between Ivan Nikitovich and Veronika Nikolaevna was very simple: the basis of everything was love. At the past war

The famous military pilot, three times Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub was born on June 8, 1920. In the village of Obrazhievka (now the Sumy region of Ukraine) in the family of a church elder.

Having received a secondary education, in 1934 he entered the Chemical-Technological College of the city of Shostok, at which an flying club was formed, which interested a young student. It was with him that the flying biography of the hero began, who glorified the country with numerous exploits.

In the fall of 1940, Ivan Kozhedub joined the Red Army and at the same time graduated from the military aviation pilot school in Chuguevo, and then remained there to work as an instructor.

The Great Patriotic War began and Ivan Nikitovich, as a member of the aviation school, was evacuated to Kazakhstan and was soon awarded the rank of senior sergeant.

The front-line biography of the hero began in November 1942, when he was seconded to the 240th Fighter Aviation Regiment, located in the city of Ivanovo. From there, in March 1943, Kozhedub was sent to the Voronezh Front.

The very first sortie of Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub was not very successful, since the La-5 fighter of the future hero first fired at the German Messerschmitt with a cannon burst, and then (by mistake) Soviet anti-aircraft gunners (two shells hit). Despite heavy damage, Kozhedub managed to land his aircraft, although the aircraft was not subject to full recovery after that.

Military exploits of Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub.

Ivan Kozhedub accomplished his first feat in the summer of 1943, as a squadron commander on the Kursk Bulge - he shot down a Nazi bomber. The next day, he destroyed another plane, and literally a few days later - two more! For these and subsequent exploits, in February 1944, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. At that time, his combat biography included 20 German aircraft destroyed in 146 sorties.

In August 1944, the hero was awarded the second Gold Star medal for 48 downed enemy vehicles and 256 sorties. And by the end of the Second World War, Major Ivan Kozhedub had already 62 enemy destroyed in the air. Among them are two bombers, three attack aircraft, one jet fighter and 17 dive bombers.

The last feat of his heroic biography in the Second World War took place over Berlin in April 1945, when another Nazi plane was shot down. For the entire time of the war, the Germans did not manage to shoot him down even once, although there were hits in Kozhedub's car, the fighter was safe and sound, landing the ship on the ground. In the same month, Ivan Nikitovich received another Gold Star medal, becoming a Hero of the Soviet Union three times.

In his personal autobiography, I. N. Kozhedub claimed that in 1945 he had to destroy two more American aircraft when they attacked him, mistaking him for a German.

In 1946, the hero continued his studies in the Air Force three times. In 1949 he graduated from the Red Banner Air Force Academy and mastered the jet MiG-15. Despite peacetime in the USSR, his exploits did not end there - during the Korean War, Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub led the 324th Fighter Aviation Division. Under his leadership, the pilots scored 216 victories in the sky with losses - nine people and 27 cars.

In the period from 1964 -1971. He served as Deputy Commander of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District. Since 1978, he was a member of the inspector general of the USSR Ministry of Defense. For services to the country and numerous feats, in 1985 he was awarded the title of Air Marshal. Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub died on August 8, 1991.

Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub was never shot down during the Great Patriotic War, and although he was knocked out, he always landed his plane. Kozhedub also has the world's first jet fighter, the German Me-262, on his account. In total, during the war, he made 330 sorties. In these sorties, 64 enemy aircraft were destroyed. He is three times Hero of the Soviet Union.

Each pilot has his own ace, unique to him alone, handwriting in the sky. Ivan Kozhedub also had him - a man whose character harmoniously combined courage, courage and exceptional composure. He knew how to accurately and quickly weigh the situation, to instantly find the only right move in the current situation.

He masterfully owned the car, he could drive it even with his eyes closed.

All his flights were a cascade of various maneuvers - turns and snakes, slides and dives. It was not easy for everyone who had to fly with Kozhedub as a wingman to stay in the air behind their commander. Kozhedub always sought to find the enemy first. But at the same time, do not "substitute" yourself. Indeed, in 120 air battles, he was never shot down!

Childhood and youth

Kozhedub Ivan Nikitovich was born into a large peasant family in Ukraine in the village of Obrazhievka, Chernihiv province. He was the youngest child, had three older brothers and a sister. The date of birth is officially considered to be June 08, 1920, but, as you know, he added two years to himself, which were needed to enroll in a technical school. The real date of birth of Ivan Kozhedub is July 06, 1922. His father worked in the land and worked in a factory, but found time for books and even wrote poetry himself. He brought up children in strictness, tried to instill in them such qualities as perseverance, diligence and diligence.

When Vanya went to school, he already knew how to write and read. He studied well, but attended school intermittently, because at the end of the first school year, his father sent him to a neighboring village to work as a shepherd. Before entering the Chemical Technology College in 1934, Ivan Nikitovich managed to work in the library. 1938 was a turning point in the fate of the young man - then he begins to visit the flying club.

In the spring of 1939, his first flight took place, which leaves a great impression. Already in 1940, having decided to become a fighter, he entered the military flight school, after which he was left as an instructor here.

After the start of the Great Patriotic War, Ivan Kozhedub and the entire school were transferred to Kazakhstan, but after numerous reports, in the fall of 1942 he was sent to Moscow. Here he falls into the 240th Fighter Aviation Regiment under the command of Ignatius Soldatenko. Ivan Nikitovich flew out on his first combat mission in March 1943, but when he came under fire, he miraculously managed to land almost unscathed. About a month passed before the future great pilot sat down at his new La-5 aircraft.

Ivan Kozhedub opens his personal combat account in July 1943, during the Battle of Kursk. This was his fortieth sortie. For several days, 4 victories were already on the list. On August 6, 1943, Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub received his first award - the Order of the Red Banner of War. At the same time, he himself begins to command the squadron. In the autumn of 1943 he was sent to the rear, hot heavy battles were ahead, it was necessary to recuperate.

After returning to the front, he decides to change his tactics, stopping at low level flight, which required courage and great skill. For military merit in early February 1944, a young promising fighter pilot was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. By August 1944, Kozhedub had already received the second Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, at which time he personally shot down 48 enemy aircraft in 246 sorties. In the first autumn month of 1944, a group of pilots led by Kozhedub was sent to the Baltic.

Here, in just a few days, under his command, 12 German aircraft were shot down, they lost only 2 of their own. After such a victory, the enemy abandoned active operations in this territory. Another significant air battle took place in the winter, in February 1945. Then 8 enemy planes were shot down, and 1 plane of the Soviet army was destroyed. A significant personal achievement for Ivan Kozhedub was the destruction of the Me-262 jet, which was significantly faster than his Lavochkin. In April 1945, the great fighter pilot shot down his last 2 enemy aircraft.

By the end of the Great Patriotic War, Ivan Kozhedub was already a major, on his account there were 62 downed aircraft and 330 sorties and 120 air battles. In August 1945, for the third time, he was a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Postwar years

After the end of the war, he decided to continue his service. At the end of 1945, Ivan Nikitovich met his future wife. Their marriage had two children: a son and a daughter. He also continued to study, in 1949 he graduated from the Air Force Academy, and in 1956 from the Military Academy of the General Staff. Participated in hostilities in Korea, under his command was the 324th Fighter Aviation Division. In 1985, Ivan Kozhedub was awarded the high rank of Air Marshal.

Also in his biography it is necessary to note social activities. He was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, as well as a People's Deputy of the USSR. Ivan Kozhedub died at his dacha on August 08, 1991.

The end of 1946 made changes in the personal life of Ivan Kozhedub. Returning in the evening to Monino near Moscow by train, Ivan met a tenth grader Veronika, who soon became his wife, a faithful and patient companion throughout his life, the main adjutant and assistant, as Ivan Nikitovich himself called her. Little is known about Kozhedub's personal life, and there is an explanation for this: according to relatives, aviation was and remained his true personal life. But something can be learned from the stories of the son of the famous pilot, Nikita Ivanovich, captain of the 1st rank of the reserve. So it became known that the first acquaintance in the train could be the last for both young people. At first, Veronica did not like the young officer, he seemed unattractive because of his short stature and Ukrainian accent. But, having coolly parted, the young people after a while met again in the same train. Ivan took the initiative into his own hands and persuaded Veronica to go dancing with him to the garrison club.

It was winter, just before New Year's Eve. Kozhedub met Veronica in a flight raglan, worn over a tunic. While they were walking through the territory of the unit to the club, the girl was surprised that all the officers, even higher in rank, saluted Ivan. I thought: what kind of a major is this, if even the colonels salute him and stretch out to attention. The fact is that to salute and carry out the command “Attention!” before the Hero of the Soviet Union, even senior officials were obliged by the military rules established by Joseph Stalin (under Khrushchev, these rules were canceled). But Ivan did not confess to her what the secret was until they entered the club.

When he took off the raglan, the girl saw three Stars of the Hero, a bunch of planks of orders - and was speechless

After the dances, there was a feast where Kozhedub, according to the tradition that has developed in part, introduced his chosen one to the officers. Then he told Veronica how his comrades approached him and whispered in his ear: “Well, Ivan, I approve of the choice.” New, 1947, young people have already met together. And on the morning of January 1, in the village council of Monino, they were quickly, without witnesses, painted. Since then, the Kozhedubs have lived in perfect harmony for almost fifty years.

The main driving force of the Kozhedub family has always been only love.

Children did not remember that their parents had ever offended each other

But they remembered that from each trip, dad always brought gifts not only to them, but also to mom. In all domestic affairs, Ivan Nikitovich relied on his wife and diligently concealed from her the dangers of his professional life - he took care of his wife.

In 1947, a daughter, Natalya, was born, and in 1953, a son, Nikita (captain of the 3rd rank of the USSR Navy).

Planes flown by Ivan Kozhedub

La-5. The Hero of the Soviet Union conducted his first sortie on March 26, the flight ended unsuccessfully: his first combat fighter La-5 (side number 75) was damaged in battle, and when returning to the airfield, in addition, he was fired upon by his anti-aircraft artillery. With great difficulty, the pilot was able to bring the car to the airfield and land. After that, he flew old fighters for about a month, until he again received a new La-5. It was an excellent lightweight fighter with the number "14" and inscriptions drawn in white with a red border: on the left side - "In the name of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant Colonel Konev G.N.", on the right side - "From the collective farmer Konev Vasily Viktorovich." La-5 is a single-engine wooden low-wing aircraft. The main structural material used in the airframe was pine. For the production of some frames and wing spars, delta wood was used. The armament of the fighter consisted of 2 synchronous ShVAK cannons of 20 mm caliber with pneumatic and mechanical reloading. The total ammunition was equal to 340 shells. For aiming at the target, a PBP-la collimator sight was used.

La-7. At the end of June 1944, the Soviet ace was transferred as deputy commander to the famous 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. This formation, the first in the Soviet Air Force, received the latest La-7 fighters in August 1944. It became a further modernization of the La-5 fighter and one of the best serial machines of the end of World War II. This fighter had excellent flight qualities, high maneuverability and good weapons. At low and medium altitudes, he had an advantage over the last piston fighters of Germany and the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. La-7, on which Kozhedub ended the war, is currently located in the Central Museum of the Russian Air Force in the village of Monino.

Family, friends and affections

The family of the general lived, and at the end of his life - Marshal Kozhedub, of course, comfortably, but, according to current concepts, modestly. There was a service Volga, Veronika Nikolaevna had a car - in the 50s she mastered the Muscovite. In the 80s, VOLVO appeared.

There was an unremarkable dacha in Monin, where on the edge of the territory of the Air Force Academy, in the corner between the Moninsky Turn and the Gorky Highway, state dachas were located for aviation generals and marshals - members of the Air Force Military Council and for well-known aviation commanders. Among the neighbors in the dacha were the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force Marshal of Aviation S.A. Rudenko, heads of the Air Force Academy, Air Marshals S.A. Krasovsky and N.M. Skomorokhov, air marshals P.S. Kirsanov and G.P. Skorikov, Commander of Long-Range Aviation, Colonel-General V.V. Reshetnikov, head of the Air Force universities, Colonel General G. U. Dolnikov, Deputy Commander of Long-Range Aviation, Lieutenant General A.A. Bad…

Despite being busy at work, Ivan Nikitovich paid great attention to his children and tried to keep them on an equal footing:

They have their own, genuine world, - said Kozhedub. - Simple or complex - I don't know, but honest.

“Of course, my father was an extraordinary person,” recalled her daughter, Natalya Ivanovna, with sadness. - When I was little, a primary school student, I was friends with the daughter of Marshal Konev, also Natalia. I remember that when Konev entered the room where we were studying, and I saw his huge bald head, I pressed myself into a chair, and my soul was filled with horror. Father always appeared in front of me in a stream of sunlight, gilding his forelock, a messenger of good forces, always with some unusual new thought, idea, cheerful joke ... "

“My father played with us infrequently, but when he entered the game, it was serious, and it was really great. We remembered all the details and turns of the game for a long time, probably all our lives ... We tried to repeat, to play in the same spirit without him, but it didn’t work, something very important was missing, ”said Nikita Ivanovich Kozhedub.

Natasha, born in 1947, Kozhedub idolized and spoiled. After graduation, her daughter studied at the philological faculty of Moscow State University, then transferred to the Faculty of Economics at MGIMO.

Natalya Ivanovna was a subtle and gifted person who reverently kept the memory of her father. Exceptionally modest in life, she worked in an inconspicuous position as a proofreader and then editor in various editions of military newspapers and magazines. A lively and sociable person, she was fond of the theater, she knew many actors and directors.

In 1966, she married, and on January 12, 1970, Natalya Ivanovna had a son, Vasily, the eldest grandson of Ivan Nikitovich. Vasily Vitalievich received a medical education, lives and works in Moscow.

The future of his "heir", the son of Nikita, Kozhedub, of course, could not imagine without aviation. Subsequently, after consulting with friends, he sent his son to the Leningrad Suvorov School, hoping that, after graduating from it, he would enter the flight and become a pilot.

Nikita grew up as an impressionable, modest, romantic boy. He read a lot, drew well, played the guitar well. He treated all members of his family with great respect and reverence. He also had a subtle sense of humor. Here is one of the episodes he narrated:

“One day, late in the evening, as a child, I was awakened by screams and a light lit in the room. I opened my eyes and saw my father running around the apartment with a gun.

"Probably, the war has begun," a sad thought came to mind.

But the cause of the commotion turned out to be much smaller. Father, looking out into the yard, noticed the thieves who were removing the wheels from his new, 21st "Volga". The instinct of the owner immediately woke up in him and, snatching a gift, never fired double-barreled shotgun from the closet, spewing threats against the robbers, he appeared in the window opening. The crooks, noticing a formidable figure, and even with weapons, immediately retreated.

Nikita successfully graduated from the Suvorov Military School, but due to a slight loss of vision, he did not pass the medical examination at the flight school, which caused great disappointment to his father and his barely concealed anger at medicine. Nikita immediately went along the siding planned in advance. No wonder many comrades and colleagues believed that it was the naval service that was his true vocation. In 1970, Nikita Ivanovich Kozhedub entered the Frunze Higher Naval Command School.

The school was located in Leningrad, and Nikita, who had known the Petrenko family since childhood, received short layoffs, out of old habit, went to them. Evgeny Vasilyevich Petrenko, who believed that a young guy should not sit “with old people” and should not sit at all, persistently suggested that Nikita get acquainted with Olya, the daughter of his friend, who lived in a neighboring house, take a walk with her, go to the cinema. It should be noted that both Petrenko and Olya lived in neighboring houses on Krasny Kursant Street. On this street, previously called Bolshaya Spasskaya, stood the famous Spassky Cathedral, once the Second Cadet Corps was located, where Admiral Makarov, the creator of the first Russian aircraft Mozhaisky, Academician Krylov, and other famous scientists of Russia taught in different years.

One day, after much persuasion by Petrenko, Nikita agreed to "pay a courtesy visit" and, holding a piece of paper with Olga's apartment number in his hand, went to her. “Hello, Olga Fedorovna! I am Nikita Ivanovich, Petrenki sent me, ”this is how Olga remembered her first meeting with her future husband. I also remembered it because no one had yet called her, then a fifteen-year-old girl, Olga Fedorovna.

The attitude towards the military among Leningraders at that time was restrained and rather cool. What was the reason is hard to say. Perhaps this was a manifestation of heartache due to the colossal losses of civilians during the years of the blockade, which their defenders did not save. “I asked Nikita several times: “Could you change into civilian clothes?” - Olga Fedorovna recalls. “To which he, as a cadet who was not supposed to do this according to the charter, shook his head negatively.”

Later, Olga entered the philological faculty of Leningrad University and married as a student. At the wedding of Nikita and Olga, which took place in February 1975, Ivan Nikitovich and Evgeny Vasilievich were both in civilian clothes, without orders and extremely serious. Veronika Nikolaevna was also wary. The fact is that Olga Fedorovna, on the eve of the wedding, told Veronika Nikolaevna that she was not going to change her last name, she wants to stay with her maiden one. By her own admission, she expected disputes, pressure, but Veronika Nikolaevna found a short but very strong argument:

And how are you going to ride with him around the garrisons, my dear? After all, with a different surname, you will have to explain for a long time - who you are.

Subsequently, Nikita served in the Northern Fleet as the commander of the BCH-5 on diesel submarines. Participated in several long-distance trips to the Arctic and the Mediterranean Sea. For a long time, the young lived in the Polyarny Murmansk region, where they rented a room. With difficulty, but firmly, Nikita Ivanovich refused the apartment, which the commissaries were in a hurry to provide to the son of the three-time hero.

Comrades of Nikita Ivanovich in the service unanimously note his high decency, humanity, and professional readiness. With some sailors who had served in the Navy for military service, he was in correspondence all his life. He maintained friendly relations with most of his fellow officers even after his dismissal from the Navy.

In 1982, he graduated from command courses at the Grechko Navy Academy, but the situation in the fleet, as in the whole country, was changing rapidly, and Nikita Ivanovich never returned to the naval service. He served in a closed naval institute and in 1985 was transferred to serve in a military reception in Moscow. Nikita Ivanovich Kozhedub retired in 1987, with the rank of captain of the 3rd rank. And he died on November 27, 2002 from the consequences of a serious injury, having survived his fiftieth birthday for two days.

... Benefits for some categories of honored people, which so haunted a certain part of the intelligentsia of the Soviet Union on the eve of its collapse, in comparison with what now falls on the lot of the richest people in Russia, seem simply ridiculous. The Kozhedub family could buy food in a special canteen for 120 rubles a month, order books published in the country's central publishing houses, and use the services of special clinics. Ivan Nikitovich had both adjutant assistants and a Volga official car. For many years, warrant officers were Kozhedub's adjutant. V. Rozenkov.

Of course, Ivan Kozhedub was a motorist, but not too inveterate, like, say, Bryzgalov, Kumanichkin or Veronika Nikolaevna. It is curious that, according to his wife, Ivan Nikitovich never had a driver's license. He believed that it was not good to have such a "primitive" document for a military pilot of the 1st class, and even three times a hero. Interestingly, Maria Kuzminichna, Pokryshkin's wife, claimed that Alexander Ivanovich also drove without a license and never had one.

The automotive theme in the Kozhedub family also includes a story that took place in the early 2000s and was told by the marshal's daughter-in-law, Olga Fedorovna Kozhedub.

Anna Nikitichna, the granddaughter of Ivan Nikitovich, while still a student, mastered driving a car very well and somehow drove an elderly acquaintance of a German teacher at high speed, with sharp acceleration and quick braking. The German turned out to be a man endowed with a sense of humor, and after ten minutes of such a ride he philosophically uttered:

Now I imagine what my compatriots experienced when meeting Kozhedub in the air, if I experienced this on a short trip on the ground with his granddaughter.

In 1976, Kozhedub had a stroke in his dacha. He had a speech disorder, the right side refused for six months. Veronika Nikolaevna was frightened, but, quickly recovering herself, with her inherent energy, she took on the functions of both the attending physician, and the strict nurse, and the cook, and the nurse: she studied the relevant medical literature, obtained consultations from the best specialists in the country, transferred her husband to a dietary nutrition, strictly controlled the drug regimen, took him to a sanatorium twice in six months. Ivan Nikitovich's health improved.

Time passed, and the old order, established from youth, again reigned in the house. Soirees, anniversaries, anniversaries, meetings - feasts, feasts, feasts ...

Ivan Nikitovich was familiar with many famous people. He knew G. Zhukov and A. Vasilevsky, M. Sholokhov and A. Fadeev, B. Pasternak and A. Tvardovsky, M. Svetlov and A. Akhmatova, I. Dunaevsky and D. Shostakovich, I. Kurchatov and S. Korolev, Yu. Gagarin and V. Komarov, A. Tupolev and S. Ilyushin, S. Lemeshev and I. Kozlovsky, N. Cherkasov and Yu. Nikulin, L. Tselikovskaya and L. Orlov, M. Bernes and V. Vysotsky, V. Kharlamov and E. Streltsov, M. Tal and M. Botvinnik, and finally, N. Khrushchev and L. Brezhnev…

There were a variety of people among his friends, but the main place in his soul was always occupied by front-line friends and classmates from the academies: Vasily Mukhin, Kirill Evstigneev, Leonid Prokhorov, Pavel Bryzgalov, Dmitry Titarenko, Alexei Amelin, Pavel Maslyakov, Alexander Molodchiy, Pavel Shcherbina , Leonid Beda, Vitaly Popkov, Alexander Kumanichkin and Nikolai Gulaev ... But Evgeny Vasilyevich Petrenko, whom we have already mentioned more than once, remained the closest comrade. Kozhedub met Petrenko while still studying at the Monin Academy, then they were close friends during the service of Ivan Nikitovich in Leningrad, where Evgeny Vasilyevich lived after retiring. A man of inexhaustible humor, a lover of all kinds of jokes and practical jokes, he was close to Kozhedub in spirit. What were their enthusiastic meetings, which were witnessed at home:

Wano dear! Where have you been for so long?

So you, friend, joked.

So, you see, he didn’t joke very quickly, since such a belly has grown ...

A strong friendship connected Ivan Nikitovich with an attack pilot twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General of Aviation, Commander of Aviation of the Belarusian Military District Leonid Ignatievich Beda, a cheerful man, always ready not only to support a good joke, but also to play a comrade. Trouble, like many pilots, was small in stature. “You are not a “trouble,” Ivan Nikitovich joked, “you are a little darling.”

Sometimes, not paying attention to the displeased face of Veronika Nikolaevna, a thin and tall, with a loud voice, a well-known ace from the North Sea, who, after a serious wound, without legs, returned to the cockpit of a fighter aircraft and won several victories, and after the war became a famous writer - Hero of the Soviet Union Zakhar Sorokin. A seriously ill man, he had a great will to live. He joked loudly, donated his books and was not intrusive - his visits never exceeded half an hour. Once Kozhedub noticed how sweat was literally streaming from the temples of Zakhar, who was sitting next to him and joking - he told Veronika Nikolaevna about this and later persistently interceded for Zakhar in the hospital, talked about him with doctors he knew, asked for him.

In the library of Kozhedub, a book by Zakhar Sorokin was kept - “In the sky of the Arctic”, on the flyleaf of which it was inscribed obliquely, in large, fast and legible handwriting of a legless pilot:

I was also in a bloodbath,

Bill "dornier" and "mass".

Read here Zakhara,

Look for interest.

Often in the 50s, the Kozhedub couple was in the company of the great tenor, People's Artist of the USSR I.S. Kozlovsky. Ivan Semenovich liked to gather a wide variety of guests at his dacha, sometimes surprising them with the performance of the most unexpected things. Among them were unknown Russian romances, and vigorous ditties, accompanied by a dashing dance of the famous artist, so strict and official at his concerts.

The Kozhedub family was friendly with rocket engine designer Academician V.P. Glushko and aircraft designer S.A. Lavochkin, with the creator of aviation weapons systems B.G. Spiral. Unique were the laid-back, invariably cheerful meetings of Ivan Nikitovich with the outstanding aircraft designer A.N. Tupolev. He used to visit aircraft designer A.S. Yakovlev. Veronika Nikolaevna told how, during one of his visits to Yakovlev, he turned to Kozhedub with heartfelt words:

Hey Vanya! If you fought on a "yak", I would close all design bureaus.

Back in May 1945, Ivan Nikitovich visited the Design Bureau of S.A. Lavochkin. Since then, he had a strong friendship with the designer, and later with the “design bureau team”. Kozhedub often visited here, came here for all anniversaries. An interesting detail was noticed by the historian of the NPO named after Lavochkin G. Serov, listening to the preserved tape recordings of solemn meetings. On one of them, Ivan Nikitovich spoke for a long time, worrying about a difficult battle, when he managed to shoot down two FV-190s piloted by experienced pilots. Our pilots returned alive only thanks to the exceptional flight and tactical qualities of the La-5. Kozhedub once again thanked the design bureau workers for creating an excellent combat vehicle.

Following Ivan Nikitovich, Hero of the Soviet Union I.E. Fedorov is an outstanding test pilot and combat pilot who fought back in Spain. Ivan Evgrafovich is no longer known in Russian aviation circles as a conqueror of the sound barrier, but as an amazing storyteller of fantastic stories, who played dozens of gullible correspondents in his life, and ultimately readers of various publications. And then Ivan Evgrafovich, chuckling, told how once he deftly joined the circle of "Focke-Wulfs" storming our troops, and one by one he deftly knocked them all down.

The Kozhedubs met with pleasure with the director S.F. Bondarchuk and writer A.V. Sofronov, with poets N.M. Gribachev and Ya.V. Smelyakov, with artists A.I. Laktionov and B.M. Shcherbakov, with sculptors N.V. Tomsky and L.E. Kerbel, with actors I.V. Pereverzev, B.F. Andreev, N.A. Kryuchkov, M.A. Ulyanov…

Ivan Nikitovich maintained friendly relations with neighbors at the entrance of his last (since 1966) "marshal" house on Sivtsev Vrazhek Street - with marshals A.M. Vasilevsky, R.Ya. Malinovsky, S.K. Timoshenko, I. Kh. Bagramyan, P.S. Batitsky, A.E. Golovanov, with their families.

Kozhedubov's neighbor on the floor was the only "non-marshal" in the "marshal's" house, but a very influential person, Colonel General of Aviation A.N. Ponomarev. He was the brother of the Secretary of the Central Committee B.N. Ponomarev, which allowed him to remain an independent figure, which was very difficult to shake or convince of something. Ponomarev was the deputy commander-in-chief of the Air Force for armaments. According to many, he was an excellently educated person (he graduated from the French military academy of Saint-Cyr), "absorbed the culture of the French school."

M.A. lived in the neighboring house during his visits to the capital. Sholokhov. Kozhedub met with the great writer several times, not hiding his sincere respect and reverence.

He also developed friendly relations with Boris Polev. Having met the writer in 1945, at his request, he made several "professional remarks" on the topic of piloting the "shop", which Polevoy touched upon in his book. Subsequently, even many years later, during meetings, Polevoy invariably asked:

Are there any new remarks, comrade general? To which Kozhedub answered in his tone:

There is. There are new clarifications, comrade writer, regarding the dutik.

Marshal G.K. Zhukov Kozhedub was by no means in his best years.

Ivan Nikitovich always remembered and greatly appreciated the fact that he met him during the war, at the end of November 1944, when he was introduced to the commander of the 1st Belorussian Front among the best air "hunters". Georgy Konstantinovich, for his part, treated Kozhedub very warmly, confidentially, one might even say, paternally. Warm relations were also connected by the spouses of the marshals, who were almost the same age, Galina Sergeevna and Veronika Nikolaevna. More than once the Kozhedubs came to the marshal's dacha.

Here, we have several stars, ”G.K. pointed out, smiling. Zhukov for the highest awards of Ivan Nikitovich. - But what are all the same different these stars.

Ivan Nikitovich told how Zhukov and his wife arrived at one of the military sanatoriums shortly after the war. It was lunchtime, and the gates of the sanatorium were closed, and the porter had gone somewhere. Georgy Konstantinovich, dressed in civilian clothes, got out of the car, walked up to the fence in confusion. Zhukov was seen and recognized by officers who were on a walk. Seconds later, a group of people with a noticeable military bearing approached the gate, removed it from its hinges and laid it in front of the marshal. It is difficult to say whether all the details of this story are plausible, but the Russian character of the love that the marshal won among the people is noticeable in it.

Air Chief Marshal Hero, and at the end of his life - twice Hero of the Soviet Union P.S. Kutakhov, commander-in-chief of the Air Force from 1969 to 1984, met Kozhedub at the Air Force Academy. Later, as a major general, he studied at the Academy of the General Staff, was a year younger, and at first he was wary of Kozhedub. Probably, he, older in age and experience (and Kutakhov was born in 1914, became a regiment commander back in May 1944), was alarmed by high nafadas and the almost legendary track record of our hero. Only at the end of P.S. Kutakhov, relations between him and Kozhedub became closer.

Once, in 1983 or 1984, at the end of the day, Ivan Nikitovich turned up for some reason at the main headquarters of the Air Force, on Pirogovka. Kutakhov was at his place, and Kozhedub went to see him. Pavel Stepanovich got up heavily, extended his hand to Kozhedub.

You, Pavel Stepanovich, don't look well. Unwell?

Yes, I can not boast of health. The head hurts, the back of the head.

Oh, it's bad when the back of your head hurts. I know from my own experience... Isn't it time, Pavel Stepanovich, to "release the chassis"?

Hm. "Chassis release"! repeated Kutakhov wearily and sadly. He was, as they say now, an avid workaholic who had no other interests than service. - No, Ivan. They are not produced for me - they refused ... Yes, and you are in no hurry to go to the glide path ...

It was difficult to name someone in the Soviet Union who would not have heard of Kozhedub. His fame in the 1940s and 1950s was enormous and reached its zenith. It was similar only before the war, when the names of Chkalov, Gromov and the pilots - the rescuers of the Chelyuskinites thundered throughout the country. The first persons of the country did not ignore him. Ivan Nikitovich repeatedly met and talked with both Khrushchev and Brezhnev. He had known Khrushchev since war times and subsequently, as a military pilot, as a high-level aviation commander, had a low opinion of his qualities as a state leader.

In Brezhnev, Kozhedub noticed not only interest in himself, but also alertness and never made any effort to get close to him. Firstly, it disgusted his character, and secondly, Leonid Ilyich's inner circle protected the Secretary General from contacts with Ivan Nikitovich, whispering unfriendly and tendentious information.

A special place in the life of Ivan Nikitovich was occupied by Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin, whom Kozhedub met in 1945, although, of course, by that time he had heard a lot about him and read in front-line and army newspapers back in 1943. In 1944, I saw him very close - then Pokryshkin and his wingman Golubev, on their "air cobras", sat down at their airfield.

“I saw Pokryshkin from afar,” writes Kozhedub. - I liked his strong figure, fast confident movements. I remembered how in the spring of 1943, preparing for my first battles, I closely followed the combat activities of Pokryshkin and his friends - the Glinka brothers, Rechkalov.

I really wanted to talk with a wonderful pilot, and I went to his group, remembering how in Borisoglebsk I did not dare to approach Hero of the Soviet Union Makarov. The feeling of unease kept me to this day.

While I hesitated, Pokryshkin gave the command, his pilots quickly dispersed into planes and flew away.

Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin was a strict, strong-willed, disciplined man, and outside the home he was a military pilot to the marrow of his bones. He did not allow any flirting with him, neither women, nor correspondents, nor actors, nor anyone else. True, Maria Kuzminichna, his wife, said that after the war, "copper pipes" tried to "make dance" and Alexander Ivanovich:

“Some new acquaintances appeared, without any military merit, but very lively in their language and firmly attached to the “green serpent”. Alexander Ivanovich began to linger, often came drunk from the academy, sometimes in company with these acquaintances. One of the acquaintances, hearing my objections, drunkenly drawled:

Sasha! How did we get into this serpentarium? I had to have a conversation with Alexander Ivanovich, he

promised not to drink after work. I drank only on good occasions and in good company. More than once he harshly answered too persistent treats:

What do you! It's impossible. I am a military officer."

Several photographs of 1945 are known, depicting two famous pilots at the hour of their first meeting. Joyful, enthusiastic expression on Kozhedub's face and somewhat distant and strained on Pokryshkin's. Of course, the appearance of the third three times Hero, also a pilot, was at least a surprise for Pokryshkin - after all, as V.V. Reshetnikov, "pilots are jealous." But the ice that arose in their relationship because of the restrained, "iron" nature of Alexander Ivanovich quickly melted thanks to the inner kindness and disposition of Ivan Nikitovich. He immediately, without talking, recognized the primacy of Alexander Ivanovich. They happened to appear at the tables of the presidiums of dozens of different events, sit side by side at many conferences, plenums and even congresses, but at the same time no one ever saw any irritation or a hint of discontent on the face of Ivan Nikitovich when Pokryshkin was nearby.

After returning from China - Korea, Pokryshkin, tormented by a huge interest in qualitatively new air battles, literally fell upon Kozhedub.

“For the first time I saw in his face not just lively and genuine, but some kind of frantic, boyish interest,” Ivan Nikitovich recalled. - Alexander Ivanovich was interested in literally everything: from the main tasks and ways to solve them to the smallest everyday and psychological nuances of the behavior of pilots - where they lived, because people were sitting at tables in the dining room, where and how they got acquainted with enemy aircraft, how I evaluate flight and combat capabilities of our and enemy aircraft, how I assess the combat qualities of our and American pilots, how the guidance and warning systems worked, were our RTS effective, how often did they go to the city, where and how did they look at the FKP, how did they make training flights, how many pilots won victories, how I appreciate the degree of their reliability ... "

In the service, they practically did not have a chance to collide. Pokryshkin was transferred to the air defense, Kozhedub did not stay in the air defense for long and served in the air force. Yes, and Ivan Nikitovich, thanks to his inner instinct and tact, innate softness, would never allow himself to prove something or contradict Alexander Ivanovich.

Interestingly, both great pilots were avid chess players, but, according to friends and relatives, they never dared to play a game with each other.

Difficult relationships developed among the wives of colonels, then generals, then marshals. Both worthy women, endowed with intelligence and tact, and Veronika Nikolaevna, and Maria Kuzminichna had very different life experiences, different characters, different upbringing. One became the wife of the three times Hero after the war, while still a schoolgirl, the other met her Alexander in the tragic year of the outbreak of the war, supported him in the most difficult conditions of intense combat work and official confrontation. I think that the proud Veronika Nikolaevna, in the depths of her soul, also recognized the "primacy" of Maria Kuzminichna.

They zealously followed each other's actions and sometimes gave these actions a rather harsh assessment. At the same time, the communication of these outstanding women often took place at ease and cheerfully.

Veronika Nikolaevna recalled one conversation with Maria Kuzminichnaya Pokryshkina, which happened shortly after they met:

Happy you, Veronica! You are Veronica, and Dove, and Lyubimka ... And all I hear is: Maria and Maria.

But this dialogue as a whole was atypical for their relationship.

Once running into a furniture store, Veronika Nikolaevna and Maria Kuzminichna were literally dumbfounded when they saw beautiful, but not yet sold (supposedly there were no documents) imported "slides". Fortunately, the husbands were nearby (which was also an exceptional case) in the car, and they rushed to them, begging them to go to the store manager and ask him to sell them the coveted interior items.

Ivan Nikitovich and Alexander Ivanovich were in a cheerful mood after some "event" and, retreating under the onslaught of their friends from the firm rule "do not go and do not ask", went to the director's office. One can imagine the face of this trade worker when he saw two generals three times Heroes in front of him, explaining something not very clearly. Needless to say, the director of the furniture store was broken and sold the furniture deficit to happy housewives. These items remained in the apartments of the heroes until the last days, were the objects of pride of the hostesses, who more than once drew the attention of the author to them.

When children appeared in the families of Pokryshkin and Kozhedub, in one - a boy and a girl, in the other - a girl and a boy, they jokingly made plans for the marriage unions of their heirs.

An interesting episode characterizing Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin was told by Natalya Ivanovna, the daughter of I.N. Kozhedub. Once, back in her school years, when her parents were not at home, she called several classmates to her place. Suddenly, when the fun was in full swing, Ivan Nikitovich returned home for some papers, and even accompanied by Alexander Ivanovich. Needless to say, the father, as is most often the case, was dissatisfied with the fact that he suddenly discovered such a picture in his house, and expressed to his daughter everything that he thinks about this. Alexander Ivanovich, entering, took some book, then somehow "ladylike", with a straight back, sat down on a chair. When the indignant Ivan Nikitovich, having taken the papers and rumbled "the last bursts" went out, Alexander Ivanovich quietly said to Natalya:

He hasn't seen the chair yet!

It turns out that someone knocked over a glass of wine on the back of a chair, and Alexander Ivanovich covered the traces of revelry with his back so as not to upset his father and save his daughter from new trials.

The death of Alexander Ivanovich was a heavy loss for Ivan Nikitovich. He was at the funeral of Pokryshkin, not very smoothly, but with great feeling, he spoke through tears in the cemetery and at the commemoration of the words adopted in this case. Later, in a group of generals, he was at the opening of a memorial plaque on the house of Alexander Ivanovich on Malaya Bronnaya.

Already after the death of their husbands, Veronika Nikolaevna and Maria Kuzminichna met several times at the evenings dedicated to International Women's Day, which were arranged at the Air Force headquarters on Pirogovka by Commander-in-Chief Pyotr Stepanovich Deinekin. There he invited several widows - Kozhedub, Pokryshkina, Skomorokhova, all the heroine pilots - former "night witches" and several well-known generals - Heroes of the Soviet Union, who know how to behave in a ladies' society - V.V. Reshetnikova, S.D. Gorelova, P.V. Bazanova, G.U. Dolnikov ... There were sincere congratulations, small concerts, gala dinners, inexpensive, but memorable gifts. Women did not feel forgotten and were pleased with this attention.

... Unexpected for many was the friendship of Kozhedub with the People's Artist of the USSR Ivan Pereverzev. A tall and stately handsome actor, familiar to most of us from the film "The First Glove", released in 1946, starring in almost 70 films, he became close friends with the Kozhedub family, often came to visit them. Ivan Nikitovich and Veronika Nikolaevna also visited him more than once, they were familiar with his charming wife, actress Nadezhda Cherednichenko. Making the impression of an avid womanizer, in real life the actor was far from this image.

A long-standing friendship, from the end of the 50s, was carried out by the Kozhedubs with the actor and director Sergei Bondarchuk. Sergei Fedorovich treated Ivan Nikitovich with great respect, and his wife, actress Irina Skobtseva, was also friendly to him.

At the invitation of Mikhail Alexandrovich Ulyanov, the Kozhedubs often went to the E. Vakhtangov Theater, which, fortunately, was a few minutes walk from the marshal's last house. They were especially fond of performances and films in which the People's Artist of the USSR recreated a number of historical and heroic characters - Anthony and Caesar, Pontius Pilate and Richard III, Napoleon and, of course, Georgy Zhukov. Usually, after the performance, the actor invited several of his good friends to his apartment. Friendly conversations usually dragged on past midnight.

As a sign of friendship, the artist I. Rodoman painted portraits of Ivan Nikitovich and Veronika Nikolaevna. Her large oval portrait by Rodoman hung in the living room of their apartment in Sivtsevo Vrazhek. They were friends with the sculptors N. Tomsky and L. Kerbel.

Of course, in the formation of personal attachments, a lot depended on the imperious and decisive Veronika Nikolaevna. She did not perceive many of her husband's friends; she had a rather tense relationship with Maria Ivanovna Evstigneeva. It seems that the husband’s long-standing attachment to the Evstigneev family, which caused a kind of jealousy in Veronika Nikolaevna, and the independent character of Maria Ivanovna, played a role here. And the comparison of the military merits of two great pilots and brother-soldiers was far from always in favor of Ivan Nikitovich.

Maria Ivanovna knew both her husband and Kozhedub like no one else. She served in the 240th Fighter Aviation Regiment as a parachute layer since the autumn of 1942. On the young pilots, among whom were Kozhedub and Evstigneev, they ran with the girls to look at the dining room at the Urazovo airfield in February 1943, and those who were worn out and starved did not make the proper impression. However, the resolute and beautiful Masha Razdorskaya immediately liked Kirill Evstigneev, who quickly became the best pilot of the regiment and already in April 1943 was awarded his first, just established, still pure silver, Order of the Patriotic War II degree. Masha even flew with Kirill on a combat "shop" during the war, as he writes about in his book, and in 1945 she became his wife. Throughout her life, Maria Ivanovna maintained her firm and honest position in life. She died in 2007 and was buried in the church of Athanasius and Cyril, which is located in Afanasyevsky Lane, literally a few meters from the house in which she lived with Kirill Alekseevich.

Ivan Nikitovich played preference and chess well, loved billiards and tennis. He collected a large library and read a lot. On the central bookshelf of his Moscow apartment, a place of honor was occupied by a flask exactly made to look like a book with the title “In the Sky of Kupyanshchina” with an attacking white “shop” on a blue “cover”. Nearby is a gift from Academician V.P. Glushko: a beautiful model of the RD-107 engine, which was installed on the side blocks of the first stage of the R-7 ballistic missile that carried the Vostok-1 spacecraft with Yuri Gagarin on board into space. There are also several elegant souvenirs from aviators, artists and writers ...

The favorite poet of Ivan Nikitovich, of course, was Yesenin. He read it constantly, knew many poems by heart. The Kozhedubov library had all the Soviet editions of Yesenin - his love for the great poet manifested itself in such a peculiar way. Among other revered authors, of course, was Pushkin, as well as Gogol, Turgenev, Leo Tolstoy, Kuprin, from the Soviet - Sholokhov, Ilf and Petrov, Simonov.

He perfectly felt the music, but he did not like gloomy pieces of music very much; when they were turned on, he frowned and got angry. Natalya Ivanovna recalled how one day she brought him a recording of the then completely unknown Beatles ensemble.

And what, not bad! Even great! - Ivan Nikitovich rejoiced at the life-affirming melodic singing.

The family remembered dozens of sayings, Ivan Nikitovich diversified his speeches with them. His favorite expression is "people are not birds", he used it in response to a request to hurry up. “Oh, what a hanging tank you have formed!” - he deliberately wondered at the belly of his fat comrade. "Are you inspecting the rear hemisphere?" - understandingly asked a friend who looked at the stately stranger.

At the same time, Ivan Nikitovich, despite the seeming lightness of character, all his life was an exceptionally thoughtful person, prone to analysis. While still an instructor, he started a diary, where he entered carefully selected facts necessary for the pilot and air fighter. The habit of suddenly stopping, getting out a notebook and writing down a thought was well known to people who knew him closely. One and a half hundred notebooks are filled with his remarks, reflections, plans and conclusions. I happened to see his records of 1950-1951 with images of four-engine aircraft, MIGs and Sabers, with encrypted listings of downed enemy vehicles, with mission and combat clashes modes.

In 1966, the most complete book by I.N. Kozhedub "Loyalty to the Fatherland", written, like all the others, together with A.A. Khudadova. Note that in his life, in addition to dozens of articles, Kozhedub wrote at least five books: “Three Battles”, “I Serve the Motherland”, “Loyalty to the Fatherland”, “In Air Battles”, “Victory Day”. All of them, with the exception of the first, are largely of the same type.

A.A. Khudadova was recommended to Kozhedub by the sculptor G.I. Kipinov, who in 1946 sculpted the first bust of the Hero three times, as a qualified literary worker, the author of several literary articles and translations of French authors. She was an intelligent and witty woman, but perhaps overly frugal, and very consistently claimed royalties from every book she contributed to. The latter qualities irritated Veronika Nikolaevna very much, and Alla Andreevna deserved her persistent hostility.

Ivan Nikitovich's books are written rather simplistically (especially the first - "Three Battles", published in 1945 and 1947, and the second - "Serving the Motherland"), but on the whole frankly and honestly. The uncomplicated style can be attributed to the literary assistant. Being a good translator, she personally and in co-authorship translated into Russian many classic works by French authors: Rousseau and Voltaire, Balzac and Dumas, Jules Verne and George Sand, but she herself did not have sufficient experience in independent authorial work. The works of the classics of French literature translated by Khudadova were published in prestigious Soviet publications - in the Library of Adventures and the Library of World Literature. An impressive literary baggage allowed her - a strong-willed and resolute woman - to impose her own interpretation of the presentation of his memoirs on the gentle Ivan Nikitovich. At the same time, Kozhedub's books, despite their peculiar literary processing, certainly belong to the most interesting memoirs dedicated to the Great Patriotic War.

As we have already said, Ivan Nikitovich in literary terms was an unconditionally gifted person. But in his best years, extremely busy in the service, he was unable to independently bother with preparing for printing and publishing his books. And later - he did not want to upset his scribe, changing him to a new one.

Working on books sometimes brought unexpected and pleasant surprises. Even before his “combat” trip, in 1947, Ivan Nikitovich met an old Russian pilot, a participant in the First World War, the grandson of I.A. Aivazovsky K.K. Artseulov, who made a significant contribution to the history of Russian aviation. During the First World War, Konstantin Artseulov made more than 100 sorties on the Farman and Nieuport-11, mainly for reconnaissance and bombardment of enemy troops, and repeatedly engaged in air combat with enemy aircraft. In September 1916, he was the first in Russia to make three turns of a corkscrew and, having transferred the car into a dive, got out of it. Later he served in Sevastopol as a training officer-instructor. Among his students was cadet V.P. Chkalov. In recent years, he has been actively involved in the visual arts - he painted, created prints and engravings, illustrated magazines and books ...

To mutual satisfaction, Artseulov became close friends with Kozhedub and invited him to illustrate his new book. The proposal was enthusiastically accepted. Artseulov's brushes belong to expressive illustrations for Kozhedub's book "In air battles", which was published in 1951.

Kozhedub's books were translated into foreign languages ​​and published in several countries around the world. In the last years of his life, Ivan Nikitovich supplemented his last book, Loyalty to the Fatherland, clarified and corrected inaccuracies, and prepared for reprinting. But the "new political thinking" in the USSR, which led to its collapse, upset and slowed down its work.

But Kozhedub worked on a new edition of his book for many years. The delicate balance reached by the mid-1960s in relations with the United States, and the natural caution of the Soviet government, did not allow then to publish the most interesting materials from the life of the first Soviet ace, rich in combat events. We are talking about the participation of Soviet pilots in the Korean War of 1951-1953, when Kozhedub was a division commander.

Several times in 1963 and 1970, Ivan Nikitovich, together with the former squadron adjutant V.A. Fomin went to the Central Archive of the USSR Armed Forces in Podolsk, worked there, made extracts from the documents of "his" regiments. Without touching Korea - this topic remained secret - he wanted to talk about his flight work and about his comrades in more detail.

In a personal copy of the book "Loyalty to the Fatherland" of 1969, with a slight correction by the author, on the half-empty 5th page with a dedication to comrades-in-arms, the lines written by the Hero of the Soviet Union, Chief Marshal of the Armored Forces P.A. Rotmistrov:

“Dear Ivan Nikitovich!

This is a very serious book. And none of them is for children or, let's say in another way, written for adults, but artistically designed in such a way that it will be read in the same way, and most likely read with the same interest by both adults and youth. You did a good job bringing this book to life.

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