Amet-khan Sultan

Amet-Khan Sultan
Born (1920-10-25)October 25, 1920
Alupka
Died February 1, 1971(1971-02-01) (aged 50)
Moscow Oblast
Allegiance  Soviet Union
Service/branch Soviet Air Forces
Rank Podpolkovnik
Battles/wars World War II
Awards
Scale model of Amet-Khans P-39 Airacobra

Amet-khan Sultan (Russian: Амет-хан Султан; 25 October 1920, Alupka, Crimea – 1 February 1971) was a Soviet fighter ace and test pilot whose mother was Crimean Tatar and father was an ethnic Lak.[1] Alternative spellings of his name include Ahmed Khan Sultan, Amet-Han Soultan, Ahmet-Han Sultan, Amet-Han Sultan, and Sultan Amet-Han.

Amet-Khan graduated from military aviation school in 1940. With the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 he was a pilot with the 4th Fighter Regiment, based around Odessa, flying the I-16. He claimed his first victory on 31 May 1942, ramming a Junkers Ju-88 with his Hawker Hurricane fighter. In October 1942 he transferred to the elite 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (9th GIAP), equipped at various times with the Yak-1, P-39 Airacobra and finally the Lavochkin La-7. In action over the Briansk, south-western, Stalingrad, southern, Ukrainian, and Byelorussian fronts, Amet-Khan flew some 603 sorties participated in 150 air battles, and personally claimed 30 planes shot down, with 19 more victories shared.[2]

In 1946 he transferred to the Reserve and became a test pilot, at Gromov Flight Research Institute. He was killed in a plane crash on 1 February 1971 during a test flight on Tupolev Tu-16LL. During his lifetime he personally tested over 100 planes.

He was portrayed in the 2013 film Haytarma.[3]

Honours and awards

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Amet-khan Sultan at the site 'Heroes of the country' (in Russian)
  2. ↑ Mellinger and Stanaway 2001, p. 85.
  3. ↑ "Production news: Haytarma". Ukraine Film Office. 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2013-06-19.

Bibliography

  • Juszczak, Artur and Pęczkowski, Robert. Bell P-39 Airacobra. Sandomierz, Poland/Redbourn, UK: Mushroom Model Publications, 2003. ISBN 83-916327-9-2.
  • Loza, Dmitriy and Gebhardt, James F. (transl.). Attack of the Airacobras: Soviet Aces, American P-39s & the War Against Germany. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2002. ISBN 0-7006-1140-1.
  • Mellinger, George and Stanaway, John. P-39 Airacobra Aces of World War 2. Botley, Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2001. ISBN 1-84176-204-0.
  • Morgan, Hugh. Soviet Aces of World War 2. London: Reed International Books Ltd., 1998. ISBN 1-85532-632-9.

External links


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