Vasily Sergeevich
Molokov
1895-1982
Vasily Molokov was a polar pilot, one of the first heroes of the Soviet Union. He was a member of the first Krasnoyarsk regional committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (b), a member of the regional executive committee. He was born on 1 (13) February, 1895 in the village of Irininskoye (now Molokovo), the Leninsky District, the Moscow Region. He studied at the village school. Since 1904 he worked in a box factory in Moscow, then in a forge as a hammer-worker and fitter. He started to serve in the army since 1915. He served as an assistant mechanic in naval aviation. He took part in the First World War. He served as a mechanic in the aviation squadron at the Gatchina aerobatic school since 1918. H was a participant in the Civil War. In 1921 he graduated from Naval Pilot School in Samara. He served in the formation unit of the Baltic Fleet Air Force. In 1924 he graduated from the Sevastopol Military Aviation School of Naval Pilots and remained there as a pilot instructor. In 1929 he completed the Command Staff Improvement Course at Air Force Academy named after N.E. Zhukovsky. Since 1931 he was a pilot in the Civil Air Fleet (GVF), flying on routes in Siberia and the Far East. Since 1932 he commanded the polar aviation detachment of the Northern Sea Route Main Directorate. In the operation to rescue the Chelyuskins, he made nine flights and evacuated 39 people from the camp. On 20 April, 1934 Vasily Sergeevich Molokov was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin for courage and bravery he displayed during the rescue of the Chelyuskins. In 1935, in a Dornier flying boat “Wahl”, he made an outstanding flight along the route Krasnoyarsk – Kirensk – Yakutsk – Nagayevo – Nizhnekolymsk – Uelen and back along the Arctic coast of the USSR to Arkhangelsk, opening a new air route through Eastern Siberia and Kamchatka. From 22 March to 25 June 1937 he participated in the expedition to the North Pole as commander of the aircraft “USSR N-171”: he took the first Soviet polar station of I.D. Papanin to the North Pole. He was a member of the first Krasnoyarsk regional committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (b), a member of the regional executive committee. In 1932-1938 he lived in Krasnoyarsk. In 1938-1942 he was the head of the Main Directorate of the State Air Force. In 1942 he was a delegate of the State Defence Committee to check the progress of construction of the Alaska-Siberia air route. In 1942-1943 he was the Head of the Flight Research Institute. He was a participant in the Great Patriotic War. Since May 1943 he was the Commander of the 213th Aviation Division of Night Bombers (Western and 3rd Belarusian Fronts). In 1945-1947 he was the Deputy Chief of the Main Directorate of the Hydrometeorological Service under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Since 1947 Major General of Aviation V.S. Molokov was in the reserve service. He was a head of the Higher Qualification Commission of the State Air Forces. He was a member of the USSR Central Executive Committee of the 7th convocation. He was a deputy of the USSR Supreme Soviet of the 1st convocation.
Address: Moscow, Romanov lane, 3, p. 1
