I hope those with an open mind towards VVS will appreciate this reference.
(Extreme LW worshipers - plz, contain your anger - if you feel like venting, get distracted by some real life chores, it helps. If you absolutely have to challenge this info - write in russian to redstar@mail.cnt.ru)
I saw this interview at some simhq forum. Take it as what it is - an interview by a man who fought fascism.
Apparently this interview is in a series devoted to the anniversary of Victory over Nazi Germany.
The original at:
http://www.redstar.ru/2001/05/08_05/1_02.html (the interview is very recent)
An interview of two times Hero of the Soviet Union Vitaly Popkov (42 kills in 117 air combats, served with 5th GvIAP, flew the LaGG-3 and La-5):
"The conversation started. Great frontline pilot, who shot down 41
enemy aircraft personally and one in a group, two times Hero of the Soviet
Union, participant of the Victory Parade in June of 1945, Leutenant General
of Aviation (ret.) turned out to be a great storyteller..
" Q: Why did we win ?
A: Have you ever shot down German aces ? I have and I know that we
were tougher and cooler than they were. Near Kharkov we were up against the famous
fascist 52nd JagdGeschwader. Wilhelm Batz was especially a pain in the neck for us
(sixth ranked Luftwaffe ace with 237 claimed victories) - he was hunting only for
greenhorns. Once he, while on a free-hunt mission, ambushed our novice on a landing
approach, got on his tail and.. After buring our comrade we decided to take revenge
for this banditry, I couldn't call any other name what Batz did . We decided to lure the fascist ace into a trap. He appeared over our airfield again three days after that. Alexander Pchelkin and I took off from the opposite
sides of the airfield. The germans got confused for a short while, and soon I was getting
on Batz's tail. He used all the 100 percent of the maneuvering capabilities of the Me-109
trying to escape. By that time I was not a greenhorn, I had destroyed 24 german aircraft.
So Batz dove to the ground trying to lose me. I went after him. I ripped the "Messer" open
at the altitude of mere 30 meters. Hit the fuel line. Batz was saved by a miracle. He
managed to swindle the peasants of the village near which he crashlanded and escaped capture.
We met after the war. After I reminded Willy Batz about the fight near the ukrainian sovkhoz (collective farm) "Dinamo" he went postal and ran out of the building. The next day, after
the german newspapers published a news bit about how a Russian ace frightened a Luftwaffe ace,
Batz found it possible to give me an apology and even gave his book as a gift. I read it -
he lied there quite a bit, but let God be his judge.
Near Stalingrad on August 26th 1942 I won a fight with German Graf (ninth ranked
Luftwaffe ace, 212 claimed victories). He is a decent pilot. He spent several years
in our camps. After he returned to Germany he became a convinced anti-fascist,
much later he ran for Bundestag from the eastern regions of Bundesrepublic Deutschland.
We met many times. He agreed with me that if he had fought only "honest, knightly" fights he
wouldn't have gotten even a tenth of what he claims.
What am I driving at ? We had plenty of everything needed for Victory:
will, bravery, skill and great aircraft. And the main thing - confidence that our cause is just.
We defended our Motherland ! And we turned out to be, I repeat, tougher and cooler, if to
put it in the modern lingo. Have I answered your question ?
Q: Vitaly Ivanovich, where were you on the victorious May 9th 1945 ?
A: I'll tell you about that, a bit later. At first some pre-history. We sensed the smell of
Victory together with the smell of the spring which came to Europe. The flowers were
abloom and we dictated our will. Almost all the fights then went, so to speak, by our
rules. In the spring of 1945 I brought down a Ju-88 by ramming it - on a bet.
Q: What kind of a bet ?
A: Simple. In our 5th GvIAP we regarded rammings as the last resort of a pilot.
We thought that we had to win a fight in a clean way. If you are entrusted with
an aircraft you should use it skillfully and destroy several enemy aircraft
with it. We had a pilot in our regiment who had two rammings on his score.
I had a bet with him. I was telling him that if he had put more skill into the fight
the rammings would not be necessary. And then I lost temper and told him: "I'll prove
to you in the next fight that an ace can do a ramming easily". I kept my word.
The next day, with everyone watching, I "axed" a Ju-88's tail. It went into a spin and
crashed. And I, barely alive, covered with blood, managed to land at the airfield. I reported
to the regiment's CO that I brought down a german aircraft by ramming. I heard "interesting"
words from the CO, two times Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Alexandrovich Zaitsev.
As a disciplinary measure that aircraft was not added to my score. Now I understand that
I behaved as an air hooligan.
I shot down my last enemy aircraft over Berlin. The Victory was already in the air,
we took the desparate resistance by fascists as their agony.
And on May 9th we celebrated, and so much that I even got married while
celebrating...
...
Q: Did you spend the honeymoon (literal translation: honey month) in Germany ?
A: I didn't get a month of it. I was sent to Dresden - for preparations for the Victory parade...
...
I am proud that I became an ace. I'm glad that I destroyed a variety of enemy combat
aircraft - "Messerschmitts", "Junkers", "Focke-Wulfs", "Dornie", "Heinkels"..
Our little victories made our common Great Victory possible. In general, I, as most other
fighter pilots, think that the main contribution towards Victory was made by ground troops.
The first inscription on Reichstag was made, deservedly so, by a proverbial "private Vanya
from the infantry". We helped him as we could. Victory is one for everybody, it has to be shared.
...
"
I omitted:
- the details of how Popkov got married
- the bit about his first victory and how that
real life event served as a basis for an episode in a Soviet movie about fighter pilots ("V boy
idut odni stariki" - "Only veterans go into combat"), one has to watch the movie to get an idea
- the bit about what Vitaly Popkov thinks of the current state of VVS.
