Global InformationMikhail Karpeyev information
Mikhail Karpeyev | |
|---|---|
| Native name | Михаил Поликарпович Карпеев |
| Born | 21 November 1922 Yakimovo, Cheboksarsky Uyezd, Chuvash Autonomous Oblast, Russian SFSR |
| Died | 7 June 2021 (aged 98) Kharkiv, Ukraine |
| Buried | Rohan, Kharkiv Oblast |
| Allegiance |  Soviet Union |
| Service/ | Soviet Air Forces |
| Years of service | 1940–1978 |
| Rank | Colonel Major General (honorary) |
| Battles/wars | Second World War |
| Awards | Soviet Union: Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Lenin Twice Order of the Red Banner Order of Alexander Nevsky Twice Order of the Patriotic War First Class Order of the Red Star Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" Third Class Ukraine: Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky Third Class Defender of the Motherland Medal |
Mikhail Polikarpovich Karpeyev (Russian: Михаил Поликарпович Карпеев; 21 November 1922 – 7 June 2021) was an officer of the Soviet military who held a number of posts in the Soviet Air Forces, reaching the rank of colonel, and being awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Born into a peasant family in 1922, Karpeyev graduated from school shortly before the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union. He had attended the local aeroclub in his youth and was in the Red Army, enrolled in the Sverdlovsk Military Aviation School for Pilots, on the outbreak of war. Quickly transferred to the frontlines as a pilot, he went on to serve in many of the most active theatres of the war for the Soviets. He was seriously injured during the siege of Leningrad, spending six months in hospital, before returning to active service. Flying the Polikarpov Po-2, and later the Ilyushin Il-2, Karpeyev rose to the rank of guards lieutenant while engaging in numerous dangerous sorties. He carried out bombing runs, attacks on military targets, aerial reconnaissance missions, and supply runs to partisans behind enemy lines. By the end of the war Karpeyev had made 310 combat sorties, destroying large quantities of enemy equipment and infrastructure. In recognition of his courage and achievements, in June 1945 he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Karpeyev remained in the Soviet military after the war, carrying out further training, and graduating from the Air Force Academy in 1952. He then worked to train future pilots at the Kachinsk Military Aviation School, and then the Kharkov Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots. Retiring from the military with the rank of colonel in 1978, he settled in Kharkiv and worked as a senior engineer at the Kharkiv Tractor Plant until 1993, and continued to be active in patriotic activities, and with schools and universities. In 2005 he was appointed an honorary major general of aviation by the President of Ukraine. Karpeyev died in Kharkiv in 2021 at the age of 98. He had received numerous honours and awards over his career, and at the time of his death he was the last Hero of the Soviet Union living in Kharkiv Oblast.