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Pavel ShevelevFighter pilot
Date of Birth: 14.01.1917
Country:  Ukraine |
Content:
- Biography of Pavel Shevelyov
- Military Career
- Heroic Actions
- Continued Valor
- Hero of the Soviet Union
- Post-War Career
Biography of Pavel Shevelyov
Early LifePavel Shevelyov was born on January 14, 1917, in the village of Sofino, in present-day Khorol District of Poltava Oblast, in a peasant family. He completed 7 grades of schooling and attended a construction technical school.
Military Career
In 1936, Shevelyov joined the Red Army and graduated from the Chuguev Military Aviation School in 1939. With the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War in June 1941, he served on the Leningrad Front as part of the 436th Fighter Aviation Regiment. By October 1941, he had completed 44 combat sorties and shot down 5 enemy aircraft. He then fought on the Kalinin, Western, and Southwestern fronts.
Heroic Actions
In the summer of 1942, Shevelyov, as a Senior Lieutenant, engaged in a fierce battle with superior enemy forces while escorting bombers on the Northwest Front. He provided accurate support to the bombers, allowing them to strike an important German stronghold. In this battle, he became one of the first pilots on the front to shoot down the new German aircraft, FW-190, instilling confidence in his fellow pilots that this formidable enemy could be defeated. Despite being wounded by a shell fragment in his thigh, Shevelyov refused to be hospitalized and continued flying missions with his comrades.
Continued Valor
On July 22, 1942, Shevelyov, as part of a group of six fighters, engaged in combat with 12 Me-109s near Kupyansk. In the ensuing battle, three "Messerschmitts" were shot down, one of them by Shevelyov. Later that day, during another sortie, he and Lieutenant V. M. Dobrovolsky engaged in combat with four Me-109s, with Shevelyov shooting down two of them. His 436th Fighter Aviation Regiment was subsequently transferred to the Stalingrad Front, where Shevelyov was promoted to Captain and appointed as the commander of a squadron. During the Battle of Kursk on the Central Front, he flew 25 combat sorties and shot down three enemy aircraft in five air battles.
Hero of the Soviet Union
By the end of August 1943, Captain Shevelyov had completed 189 combat sorties and personally shot down 13 enemy aircraft, plus two more as part of a group. On February 4, 1944, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his courage and bravery in battles against the enemy. His final battles took place on the 1st Belorussian Front.
Post-War Career
Following the end of World War II, Pavel Shevelyov remained in the Soviet Air Force. In 1949, he graduated from the M. V. Frunze Military Academy. Soon after, as a Lieutenant Colonel, he was sent to Korea, where he commanded the 415th Fighter Aviation Regiment and shot down three more enemy aircraft from the UN forces. In 1970, he completed courses at the General Staff Academy. From 1978, Shevelyov held the rank of Air Force Colonel General in retirement. He lived in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Pavel Shevelyov was awarded the Orders of Lenin (twice), the Order of the Red Banner of Battle (six times), the Order of Alexander Nevsky, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the Red Star, and numerous medals. He passed away on May 19, 2000, and was buried in Bryansk on the Central Cemetery, in the Alley of Heroes.
