Andrey Dehtyrenko Fighter pilot Date of Birth: 17.08.1909 Country: Ukraine

Biography of Andrey Dekhtyarenko

Andrey Dekhtyarenko, a fighter pilot, was born on May 17, 1909, in the village of Grun, in what is now the Akhtyrsky District of the Sumy Oblast, into a peasant family. He received primary education and worked in the village. In 1931, he completed courses for propagandists at the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (Komsomol). The same year, he was conscripted into the ranks of the Red Army and soon graduated from the military aviation school for pilots.

In the summer of 1939, Dekhtyarenko participated in battles against Japanese invaders in the area of the Khalkhin Gol River, where he shot down one enemy aircraft. From March 1942, he fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. As the commander of the 580th Fighter Aviation Regiment (6th Assault Aviation Group, Stavka VGK), Senior Lieutenant A.N. Dekhtyarenko completed 39 combat sorties by May 1942, personally shooting down 10 enemy planes and destroying 2 on the ground. On July 11, 1942, Andrey Dekhtyarenko did not return from his latest combat mission. By that time, he had already scored 15 aerial victories, all on a Yak-1 aircraft.

For his courage and valor demonstrated in battles against the German-Fascist invaders, on July 21, 1942, the brave pilot posthumously received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner (twice), and several medals. A monument was erected in the village of Demyansk, Novgorod Oblast, and a secondary school in the village of Grun bears his name.