Stepanov, Pavel Stepanovich
From OnAirpower.org
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[edit] Biography
Stepanov was a member of the Red Guards in 1917, and joined the Red Army in 1918. He fought in ground forces during the Russian Civil War on the Western Front and held a variety of political and command positions. After the Russian Civil War ended, he held a variety of political and commissar positions in infantry and artillery and infantry units[1].
In 1932, Stepanov had switched over to aviation and graduated from the Orenburg Pilot-Observers School. He served in commissar positions in aviation units, including chief of the political section for an aviation brigade, commissar of an aviation corps, and commissar of Air Forces for the Kiev Special Military District. In June, 1940, he became commissar of the Military Academy for Command and Naviation Staff of the Red Army Air Forces. In December, 1940, he became deputy commander for political units of the Main Directory for the Red Army Air Forces[1].
At the start of Operation Barbarossa, Stepanov was still serving in that position. He took command of an aviation group in the Bryansk Front at the start of the war. In September, 1941, he took command of an aviation group on the Southern Front, and then in October, 1941, was sent to the Western Front to coordinate aviation from the Western Front, Kalinin Front, and Moscow Military District during the defense of Moscow. In January, 1942, he became commander of an aviation group in the Volkhov Front. In June, 1942 he took command of an aviation group around the city of Stalingrad, and then took brief command of the 16th Air Army from August to September, 1942. For the remainder of the war, Stepanov served as commander of air forces for several different military districts, including the Southern-Urals, Orlov, Arkhangelsk, and Belorussian[1].
