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| Click Here For Full Artist Print Indexes | Aviation History Archive |
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Sergei Kramarenko
| Major General Sergei Makarovich Kramarenko (deceased) Sergei Kramarenko first saw action in late November 1942 over Stalingrad, as part of the 523rd Fighter Aviation Regiment, equipped with the LaGG-3. On 23 February 1943 he was flying as wingman in a flight led by Capt. Baranovskiy when they engaged a group of dive-bomber Ju87 Stukas. Several escorting Fw190s jumped his element leader Ryzhov and he promptly rushed to assist: 'In that moment in front of me, with a left turn at 100-150 meters arrived two unknown aircraft of green color - on their fuselages were black crosses. In spite it was the first time I saw them, immediately I knew they were two Fw190s. As soon as they finished their turn, one of them began to shoot at my leader. I opened fire against the trailing airplane and I saw shell strikes all over the aircraft. I watched that suddenly it went upwards turning, and his leader after him. Right then, ahead of me from the left went by tracers. I looked to the left and saw that 300 meters behind at the left were two Focke-Wulfs. They shoot right at me, and the tracers of their aircraft get closer and closer to my airplane. What should I do? To climb was impossible, because there were two more Focke-Wulfs. Immediately broke to the left, underneath the tracers. I dove. Many years later, while I described this episode to a journalist friend of mine, he told me that he saw in German memoirs a report of the leader of that Schwarm. After the combat with me, while returning home, one of his pilots, because of unexplainable reasons, got into a dive and crashed into the ground. I realized that one of the shells of my cannons hit the pilot's cockpit and wounded the pilot, who because of the loss of blood fainted and crashed to his death.' Kramarenko's first victory claim was Fw 190A-3 (WkNr 2265) of Oberfeldwebel Karl Stadeck, (of 2./JG 51 'Mölders'), who was killed. He claimed while flying Lavochkin La-5 Red 34. He also served in Korea, when Russian volunteers secretly flew for North Korea. Kramarenko's first victory in Korea was the F-80C of Captain A. B. Swanson (18th ABG). His second victory in the Korean sky occurred on 2 June, as he recalls: 'In such conditions (on 2nd and 17th June 1951) I managed to shoot down some Sabres. For example, reminded me the following combat: We flew in a zveno [a flight, a 4-airplanes formation] in the area assigned to patrol, having performed some circuits, when we spotted a group of eight Sabres, heading in a head-on course. We maneuvered to gain altitude and turned around to attack them from the rear hemisphere, but the Sabres spotted us and turned around too. A quartet kept on flying straight, and I with a dive began to chase the aircraft of the rearmost quartet. Two Sabres went to left, and two to the right; Lazutin's pair attacked the pair on the left, and went towards the right. The Sabres began to dive, but by then the range had decreased, and at about 400 meters I open fire. I see hits all over the Sabre wingman, which releasing smoke kept on diving. My wingman jumped the second Sabre, but his aircraft began to shake, due to the speed had almost reached 1.000 km/h, and consequently missed. We got out of the dive, and we saw that below remained only one Sabre - no trace of the second. Soon the ground control confirmed us, that he fell.' For his service in Korea he became a holder of the Title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He achieved several high command positions in the USSR and was also Air Force advisor in Iraq and Algeria in the 1970s. Retired in 1977 with the rank of major-general, he lived with his family in Moscow. He died on 21st May 2020. |
Items Signed by Major General Sergei Makarovich Kramarenko (deceased) |
  | Red Hot Pursuit by Simon Atack. Price : £85.00 | Soviet Aces of the Eastern Front. Fighter Ace, First Lieutenant Stepanenko Ivan Nikiforovich, leads Yak 9s of the 4th IAP in pursuit of an Me109, during a contact on the Eastern Front, in the late summer of 1943. ...... |
Packs with at least one item featuring the signature of Major General Sergei Makarovich Kramarenko (deceased) |
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