Stepan Naumenko Fighter pilot Date of Birth: 07.01.1920 Country: Ukraine

Biography of Stepan Naumenko

Stepan Ivanovich Naumenko was born on January 7, 1920, in the city of Zlynka, Malovinsky District, Kirovograd Oblast, in a peasant family. He completed 9 grades of school and worked as a turner in a labor colony in the city of Odessa. Naumenko joined the Red Army in 1937 and graduated from the Leningrad Military Aviation Technical School. He served on the front lines of the Great Patriotic War from December 1941 to April 1942.

In 1942, Naumenko completed the initial pilot training school, and in 1944, he graduated from the Birsk Military Aviation School for Pilots. He served in a fighter aviation regiment and conducted aircraft delivery missions to the front. After the war, Stepan Ivanovich remained in the Air Force.

He participated in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 as part of the 29th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. On December 4, 1950, on the first day of his combat activity, the pilots of the 29th Guards Aviation Regiment carried out 36 combat sorties and engaged in battle twice. Naumenko, leading a group of four MiGs, successfully approached American planes unnoticed and brought down both of them in two consecutive attacks.

On December 6, Naumenko's group achieved significant success by shooting down three out of five B-29 bombers. Throughout the Korean War, the planes of the 29th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment were not camouflaged, but had elements of quick identification, such as red coloring on the rudders and nose of the fuselage, and colored three-digit side numbers.

After 21 combat sorties and 7 aerial battles, Stepan Naumenko became the first Soviet Ace on a jet fighter and the first Ace of the Korean War. In February 1951, the 29th Guards Aviation Regiment returned to the Soviet Union after less than two months of combat activity, during which they conducted 58 group combat sorties, participated in 27 aerial battles, and shot down 37 enemy aircraft. Naumenko's personal combat record included about 70 combat sorties, 10 aerial battles, and 11 enemy planes shot down.

On May 12, 1951, Stepan Ivanovich Naumenko was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for his courage and bravery in fulfilling his military duty as the deputy commander of the 29th Guards Aviation Regiment. After returning to the USSR, Naumenko continued his service in the Air Force. In 1952, he graduated from the Higher Officer Tactical Courses. Since 1961, Colonel Naumenko has been in reserve and lived in the city of Podolsk, Moscow Oblast. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin, Red Banner, Patriotic War 1st Class, and the Red Star twice.