Ernie P.

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Well, it looks as though Top_Gunn has figured me out! Right on the money, Sir. Very well done! And, you're up. I look forward to your next question. Thanks; Ernie P.

What warbird pilot do I describe?

Clues:

1. His name is right there on the lists of greats.
2. But he is perhaps not as well-known as some.
3. He flew a mixture of aircraft.
4. Mainly French aircraft.
5. He first came to attention after surviving a mid-air collision with an enemy plane.
6. Some planes he flew were produced by Morane-Saulnier.
7. Some were produced by SPAD.
8. And some were produced by Nieuport.
9. He is perhaps best known for his exploits after the close of the war.
10. He became a Major in the RAF.
11. He flew Sopwith Camels with the RAF.
12. He joined the losing side in a civil war, never a good idea.
13. He died in an aircraft crash.
14. And some said it was a deliberate crash; i.e., a suicide.
15. The mid-air collision in (5) above was also deliberate.
16. Like so many others, he was first a cavalryman.
17. His memory has been largely, and deliberately, erased from the public consciousness.


Answer: Alexander Kazakov


Alexander Kazakov was the most successful Russian ace of the war. Flying a mix of Morane-Saulnier, SPAD, and Nieuport types, he gained an official tally of 20 air-to-air victories before the Russian Civil War forced him to withdraw from the Eastern Front in January 1918. He had earlier gained attention for surviving a successful ramming attack on an Austrian reconnaissance plane. At this stage of the war, gun-equipped fighters were still yet to become commonplace and most aircraft were unarmed. Kazakov's subsequent mounts would all include machine guns, but even his outstanding contributions to the Allied war effort would not be enough for the Russian people, especially the Bolsheviks. Upon leaving the battlefield, he defected to the White (anti-Marxist) Russian cause and continued to educate about the importance of air power on the battlefield. He was killed in a crash in August 1919, which some eyewitness accounts describe to be a deliberate suicide. Though largely ignored and erased from memory by the Soviet Bolsheviks, Kazakov was widely recognized in his time by the Western Allies as a tragic war hero.


Pre-World War I
Born to a Russian noble family in Kherson Governorate, Kazakov graduated from Yelizavetgrad cavalry school in 1908. He did his stint in cavalry, but in 1913 he began formal training as a pilot and graduated at the beginning of World War I from Gatchina military aviation school.

World War I
Alexander Kazakov flew on Morane-Saulnier, Spad – SА2, Nieuport 11 and Nieuport 17 planes and is alleged to have the largest number of victories over enemy aircraft among Imperial Russian Air Force pilots. Unofficially he shot down 32 German and Austro-Hungarian planes, although his official tally is only 20 because only planes crashed in Russian-held territory were counted. Russian military aviation tradition during World War I was different from that of its Western allies and rivals and the individual scores of pilots were considered to be of lesser value compared to their contribution to the overall war effort.

On 31 March 1915 Alexander Kazakov successfully repeated the aerial ramming attack first attempted by Pyotr Nesterov, using a Morane-Saulnier G as his piloted projectile. For this bit of daring, he was awarded the Order of Saint Anne, first in the Fourth Class, then in the Third. He was appointed to command of 19th Corps Fighter Detachment in September 1915. Here he had Nieuport 10s and Nieuport 11s to fly. Between 27 June and 21 December 1916, he racked up four more victories to become an ace.

Five months later, Kazakov resumed his winning streak with his sixth victory on 6 May 1917, which was shared with Ernst Leman and Pavel Argeyev. By 25 May, with his eighth win, he switched to a Nieuport 17, which he used henceforth. Between 1915 and 1917 he fought on the Russian front as well as in Romania and participated in the Brusilov Offensive as a commander of 1st Combat Air Group.

In January 1918, in the wake of the Russian Revolution, Kazakov resigned his Russian commission.

Russian Civil War
During the Russian Civil War Kazakov joined the Slavo-British Allied Legion in Arkhangelsk and fought against the Workers' and Peasants' Air Fleet.

On 1 August 1918 Kazakov became a major in the Royal Air Force and was appointed to be commanding officer in charge of an aviation squadron of the Slavo-British Allied Legion made up of Sopwith Camel planes. After the British withdrawal from Russia which left the Russian White Army in a desperate situation, Kazakov died in a plane crash during an air show on 1 August 1919 which was performed to boost the morale of the Russian anti-Bolshevik troops.

Most witnesses of the incident, including British ace Ira Jones, thought Kazakov committed suicide.

Honours and awards

• Order of St. George, 4th class (31 July 1917, Russian Empire)
• Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class (7 September 1916, Russian Empire)
• Order of St. Anne, 2nd, 3rd and 4th classes (respectively, 27 April 1917, 4 February 1915, 27 January 1916; Russian Empire)
• Order of St. Stanislaus, 2nd and 3rd classes (4 July 1916, 18 August 1913, Russian Empire)
• Gold Sword for Bravery (28 July 1915)
• Distinguished Service Order (UK, 1918)
• Military Cross (UK, 1919)
• Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom, 20 March 1919)
• Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (France)
• Croix de guerre (France)