Background
Viktor Vasilevich Talalikhin was born on September 18, 1918, in Teplovka, Saratov oblast, Russian Federation to a peasant family.
Viktor Vasilevich Talalikhin
Borisoglebsk Military Aviation School
Viktor Vasilevich Talalikhin was born on September 18, 1918, in Teplovka, Saratov oblast, Russian Federation to a peasant family.
In 1924, Viktor Vasilevich and his family moved to Volsk, where he studied at its Secondary School No. 1. In the summer of 1933, he and his family again moved to Moscow, where he graduated from the factory school of the Moscow Meat Processing Plant in 1934.
Viktor Vasilevich worked at the plant from 1934 to 1937; he joined a factory gliding group in September 1935 and with a Komsomol direction took flying lessons at the Proletarsky District flying club. He made his first solo flight in a Polikarpov U-2 in June 1937.
After joining the Red Army in December of that year, Viktor Vasilevich graduated from the 2nd Borisoglebsk Military Aviation School of Pilots in December 1938 as a Junior Lieutenant.
Viktor Vasilevich became a junior pilot in the 3rd Squadron of the 27th Fighter Aviation Regiment (IAP), part of the Air Forces of the Moscow Military District, flying the Polikarpov I-153 biplane. With the 27th IAP, he fought in the Winter War of November 1939-March 1940, flying 47 sorties and claiming three individual victories in addition to one shared. For his actions, Viktor Vasilevich received the Order of the Red Star. In the spring of 1941, he graduated from courses for flight commanders, and joined the 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO, then forming in the Moscow area, as a flight.
In 1941, during the first few weeks of fighting on the Eastern Front during World War II, Viktor Vasilevich was first a flight commander, then the deputy commander of the 1st Squadron, flying with 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO of the Soviet Air Defence Forces, providing air defense for Moscow. He flew his first combat mission on 22 July.
Viktor Vasilevich began flying the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3. On 27 October, he led a mixed group of two MiG-3s and six I-16s in an action over Podolsk, covering ground troops. Near the village of Kamenka, he descended to attack German positions, but the Soviet aircraft were ambushed by six Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters attacking from a higher altitude. Talalikhin claimed two Messerschmitt Bf 109s before being shot down and killed by another.
Viktor Vasilevich became a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Forces in the late 1930s, flying the Polikarpov I-153 during the Winter War. He served in the air defense of Moscow during World War II with an aviation regiment of the Soviet Air Defence Forces. He became one of the first Soviet aviation heroes of the war after ramming a German bomber at night with his Polikarpov I-16, but was shot down and killed in late October while flying a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3. Viktor Vasilevich claimed three victories during the Winter War and four in the air defense of Moscow.
