Alexander Ivanovich
Gorgolyuk
1919-1993
Alexander Ivanovich Gorgolyuk was the flight commander of the 30th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (1st Guards Fighter Aviation Division, 16th Air Army, Central Front), a senior lieutenant of the Guards. He was born on August 27, 1919 in Odessa, the Odessa county, the Kherson province (now the regional centre of Ukraine). In 1934 he finished 7 grades of the school. In 1934-1939, he worked as a locksmith at the Kinap optical and mechanical plant, and at the same time studied at the evening rabfak. In 1938 he graduated from the Odessa Aero Club. He was in the army since January 1939. In 1940 he graduated from the Odessa Military Aviation School of Pilots. He served in the Air Force as a pilot of a fighter aviation regiment (in the Kiev Special Military District). He was a participant of the Great Patriotic War: in June-July 1941 – a pilot of the 23rd Fighter Aviation Regiment (the South-Western Front). He participated in defensive battles in the Lvov region. In August 1941 – June 1943 he was a pilot and the flight commander of the 180th (from November 1942 – 30th Guards) Fighter Aviation regiment. He fought on the Western (August-December 1941), Kalinin (December 1941 – March 1942), Southwestern (June-July 1942) and Central (March-June 1943) fronts. He participated in defensive battles in the Toropetsky and Rzhev directions, the Moscow Battle, the Rzhev-Vyazma operation, the Kharkov Battle and the air cover of Kursk on the eve of the Battle of Kursk. On November 16, 1941, his MiG-3 plane was shot down. He received severe burns and was in hospital for some time. On June 2, 1943, in an air battle near Kursk, his P-39 Aerocobra aircraft was shot down, but he landed by parachute. At the same time, he received a severe facial injury and completely lost his eyesight. During the war, he made about 380 sorties on MiG-3, Hurricane and P-39 Aerocobra fighters, personally shot down 8 enemy aircraft in 48 air battles and as a part of a group of 6. For the courage and heroism shown in the battles with the Nazi invaders, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated September 2, 1943, Senior Lieutenant Alexander Ivanovich Gorgolyuk was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. After being wounded in June 1943, he was treated for a long time in hospitals in the cities of Yelets (the Lipetsk region), Moscow and Tashkent (Uzbekistan). Since May 1946, Captain A.I. Gorgolyuk was retired. Since 1946 he worked in the All-Russian Society of the Blind. He graduated from a technical school. After that, he worked as the deputy head of one of the Departments of the Central Board of the All–Russian Society of the Blind, in 1978-1988 – the Deputy Director of the Central Printing Educational and Production Enterprise of the All-Russian Society of the Blind.
Address: Moscow, Tverskaya str., 17
