From school, everyone knows such great names as Ivan Kozhedub and Alexander Pokryshkin - famous pilots who terrified Luftwaffe pilots. But there are names in the military chronicle that are much less well-known, but no less significant. Vladimir Samoilovich Levitan is an ace pilot who rose to the rank of colonel in the Soviet army, Hero of the Soviet Union, one of the brightest examples of heroism shown by Soviet people during World War II.
Biography
Vladimir was born in the Zaporozhye region in Ukraine, in a farm with the odious name Stallion (today it is the village of Tavricheskoe). It happened on May Day 1918. The future conqueror of the sky treated education without due diligence and hardly finished 7 classes of the village school, and then entered an ordinary labor school, graduated from it and got a job as a turner.
But Vladimir had a secret and big dream - he was attracted by the endless freedom of flight, and therefore in his free time he attended the flying club, eagerly absorbing knowledge about airplanes and pilot business. And one day he had a chance to make his dream come true.
At the age of 19, Vladimir Levitan applied to the military school of pilots located in Sevastopol, from which he graduated in 1939 with the rank of junior lieutenant and went on assignment to Siberia, to the Novosibirsk aviation corps. And on the eve of the war, in 1941, the young pilot was included in the team of the best pilots - a special link was formed from them, the commander of which was he, Vladimir Samoilovich Levitan.
The Great Patriotic War
His group took an active part in the fierce battles of the 41st in the Melitopol direction. Vladimir's plane was shot down twice, but he was able to survive and get to his own. The first time he "splashed down" in the Sea of Azov, where Soviet fishermen helped him, and the second time he safely reached the ground with a parachute, despite heavy anti-aircraft fire.
But not all pilots of Levitan's squadron were so lucky. Many of them died in battles, and Vladimir's link became part of the 170th Fighter Regiment, which operated on the Southern Front. The pilot with pride and enthusiasm sat at the helm of LaGG-3 and soon decorated its fuselage with the first star, after a victorious duel with the Maki s210, an Italian fighter considered to be a rather formidable enemy. This battle took place in March 1942.
Levitan's high professionalism was noticed by the leadership, and at the beginning of 1943 he was appointed commander of an entire squadron, which was engaged in reconnaissance and cover of ground military units. Moreover, despite the rather fierce air battles, the squadron under the command of Vladimir Samoilovich did not lose a single pilot, for which Levitan became the owner of the Order of the Red Banner.
Soon Levitan and his guys were carrying out much more difficult missions - they covered ground troops in the area of the city of Oboyan, took part in the battle of Kursk. Brilliant leadership of operations, valor and courage brought the ace pilot the second Order of the Red Banner, and in the summer of 1944 he became a hero of the USSR and received the Order of Lenin, having almost three hundred sorties and more than sixty successful battles behind him.
Postwar years
Together with the whole country, Levitan celebrated the victory, which cost the country a dear price, but he was not going to retire, leaving the already familiar and so beloved sky. Until 1951, he continued to patrol the air borders of his homeland, and then transferred to "earthly" work, and went to the reserve with the rank of colonel in 1959.
Vladimir Samoilovich returned to his native place, got a job at the famous Zaporozhye "Kommunar", took up his personal life and led a quiet life, sometimes speaking to schoolchildren with memories of that terrible war. The hero died at a rather respectable age - at 82, in the fall of 2000. He was buried next to his wife Valentina in his native Zaporozhye.
