Dmitriy Kalarash Fighter pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union Date of Birth: 12.12.1911 Country: Ukraine

Biography of Dmitriy Kalarash

Dmitriy Leontyevich Kalarash was born on December 12, 1911, in Kiev, in a working-class family. He was of Russian nationality and became a member of the Communist Party in 1940. In 1913, his parents moved to the Far East and settled in the village of Svetlorussovka in the Amur region. Tragedy struck the family when Dmitriy's mother passed away in 1916 and his father, a partisan, was killed in battle near Blagoveshchensk in 1919. As a result, Dmitriy was raised in an orphanage.

After completing three courses at the Khabarovsk Pedagogical Technical School, Dmitriy worked as a brigade leader and concrete worker. He joined the Red Army in 1929 and graduated from the Borisoglebsk Military Aviation School for Pilots in 1932. When the Great Patriotic War broke out in June 1941, Dmitriy actively participated in the conflict, fighting in Crimea and the North Caucasus.

On October 29, 1942, he led a group of fighters to provide air cover for the 9th Guards Rifle Brigade. In the area of Lazarevskoye (now part of Sochi in the Krasnodar Krai), our pilots engaged in battle with a superior enemy force. During the fight, Major Kalarash rammed an enemy Me-109 fighter but was shot down himself. This was his 262nd combat mission. In total, he personally shot down 14 enemy aircraft and 6 more as part of a group.

Dmitriy Kalarash was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on December 13, 1942, for his 242 combat missions and 11 personal and 6 group victories. He was buried in Lazarevskoye and forever commemorated in the military unit's records. He was also honored with the Orders of Lenin, Red Banner, and the Badge of Honor. A memorial plaque was installed on the building of the pedagogical school in Khabarovsk. Streets in the cities of Lyubertsy (Moscow region) and Khabarovsk bear his name, as does the boarding school #17 in Svobodny, Amur region.