Mezheraup, Pyotr Kh.
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[edit] Biography
Mezheraup served in World War I starting in 1915, with the rank of Warrant Officer. He was an active participant in the revolution, serving on soldier's committees, acting as a delegate to the Conference of Aviation Workers at Moscow Airfield, and participating in the October Uprising in Moscow[1].
During the Russian Civil War, in 1918 he served as commander of the 1st Detachment of the Smolensk Air Group, and later as Commander of Aviation and Aeronautics for the 8th Army. He completed the Egorevsk Flight School in 1919 and then served as a pilot in the 13th Kazan Air Detachment. He became commander of the unit in October, 1919. He received his first Order of the Red Banner award for his actions in completing reconnaissance flights during the battles of Perekop. In November, 1921 he became commander of the 5th Air Detachment. In September, 1922 he became commander of the 6th Air Detachment. Starting in June, 1923 he served in the 2nd Fighter Detachment. In August, 1923 he was named Commander of Air Forces for the Turkestan Front[1].
For his wartime service, Mezheraup was awarded a second Order of the Red Banner, and Order of the Red Banner of the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic, and an Order of the Red Star 2nd Class of the Bukharsk People's Soviet Republic. This made Mezheraup one of only six Soviet aviators to receive the Order of the Red Banner three times prior to the mid-1920s[2][3].
After the Russian Civil War, Mezheraup participated in several long-distance flights, including a flight in R-1s between Moscow and Ankara, Turkey[4][5] and a 1924 flight in R-1s from Termez, Uzbekistan to Kabul, Afghanistan, crossing mountains seven thousand meters high--a first for Soviet aviators[6].
After the war he served as Commander of the Air Force Scientific and Testing Institute (NII), Commander of Air Forces for the Leningrad Military District (from 1927), and Inspector of Red Army Air Forces (from October, 1930)[1].
Mezheraup was killed in an airplane crash on September 9, 1931[1].
[edit] Sources
- Mezheraup, Pyotr Khristoforovich at Khronos (in Russian)
- Mezheraup, Pyotr Khristoforovich , Voenno-Istoricheskij Zhurnal, 1967 No. 4
[edit] References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 http://hrono.info/biograf/bio_m/mezheraup.html
- ↑ Orenburg Flight Academy, chapter 1 (see http://militera.lib.ru/h/kopylov/index.html)
- ↑ Awards granted by RVSR Orders No. 46, 135, and 349, respectively. See "Reference List of Personnel Awarded the Order of the Red Banner or Honorary Revolutionary Sidearms", published in 1926
- ↑ Combat Routes, chapter 1 (see http://www.victory.mil.ru/lib/books/memo/polynin/01.html)
- ↑ http://www.kursk1943.mil.ru/kursk/arch/books/memo/krasovsky_sa/02.html
- ↑ http://base13.glasnet.ru/text/r1/r1.htm
