Proskurov, Ivan Iosifovich

From OnAirpower.org

Proskurov, Ivan Iosifovich

Name: Proskurov, Ivan Iosifovich (Проскуров, Иван Иосифович) Years: 1907-1941 Rank: General Nationality: Russian Remarks: Proskurov participated as a Soviet volunteer bomber pilot in the Spanish Civil War, for which he was awarded Hero of the Soviet Union; in the course of just a few years he rose from the rank of Sr. Lt. to General in charge of Military Intelligence (later known as the GRU), only to be purged by Stalin five days after the Nazis invaded and the Soviets were drawn into World War II.

In 1936, Proskurov traveled to Spain through France along with Gavriil Prokofev, and entered service with the Republican air force under the assumed name of "Soldatchik". Soviet aircraft had not yet arrived, so he initially began flying a Potez-540 series bomber.

In October, 1936 the 1st International Bomber Squadron "España" was formed at the airfield in Albacete, commanded by Captain Martin-Luna (a Spaniard) and including Berner (a Belgian), Mendiola and Sospedro (Spaniards), Burget (a Frenchman), Primo Gibeli (Italian), Volkan Goranov (Bulgarian), Grigorii Tkhor (another Soviet), and Proskurov. The last four of these would go on to be awarded Heroes of the Soviet Union. The unit consisted of three sections of three planes each, two equipped with Potez 540s, and one with Breguet 19s. The Potez bombers carried a load of four 100kg bombs, and in extreme cases the pilots would carry up to 50 small fragmentation or incendiary grenades with them in the fuselage, and toss them over the side^[1].

Proskurov was promoted to the rank of Lt. Gen. on June 4, 1940^[2].

[edit] Sources

• I. I. Proskurov: Air Ace, Chief of Reconnaissance, "Conspirator"

[edit] References

1. ↑ Reference:I. I. Proskurov: Air Ace, Chief of Reconnaissance, "Conspirator"
2. ↑ Order of the SNK on Awarding Military Ranks to Senior Command Personnel of the Red Army