Biplane fighter aces

Soviet Union

Serzhant Savosin

In February 1942, Savosin served in the 3rd eskadrilya of 71 IAP-KBF. This unit was at the time equipped with both I-15bis and I-153s.

At noon on 14 February, four I-16s and four I-15bis carried out a reconnaissance mission in the area Voronovo-Mga-Tosno-Maluksa. The flight of four I-15bis from the 3rd eskadrilya led by mladshiy leytenant Petrukhin, was attacked by two Bf 109s near the village of Turyshkino.
After the second attack, one I-15bis went into a spin and hit the ground. The pilot was killed. The three remaining Soviet fighters managed to shot down one of the Bf 109s, which crashed near Lake Dologoye at Lodva. This victory was shared between mladshiy leytenant Petrukhin, mladshiy leytenant Markov and serzhant Savosin.
The German fighter was flown by the Knight Cross-holder Hauptmann Franz Eckerle, Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 54 (Bf 109 F-2 WNr 9728 <<+), who shot down the I-15bis (his 59th victory) before being shot down himself (he claimed two I-153s in this combat at 14:25). German front-line soldiers reported seeing the pilot of a Bf 109 bailing out over Soviet territory. According to accounts by Soviet soldiers who were captured in this area shortly thereafter, furious Soviet soldiers brought Eckerle into a forest, where they lynched him. Eckerle was posthumously decorated with the Oak Leaves.

Savosin ended the war with 1 shared biplane victory.

Claims:
Kill no. Date Time Number Type Result Plane type Serial no. Locality Unit
  1942                
  14/02/42 noon 1/3 Bf 109 (a) Shared destroyed I-15bis   near Turyshkino 3./71 IAP-KBF

Biplane victories: 1 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 1 shared destroyed.
(a) Hauptmann Franz Eckerle, Gruppenkommandeur of I/JG 54, shot down and killed.

Sources:
Black Cross/Red Star Volume II - Christer Bergström and Andrey Mikhailov, 2001 Pacifica Military History, ISBN 0-935553-51-7
Luftwaffe Claims Lists - Tony Wood




Last modified 02 April 2020