Aleksandr Gorovets

Aleksandr Konstantinovich Gorovets (; ; 6 March 1915 – 6 July 1943) was the deputy squadron commander of the 1st squadron of the 88th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment in the Soviet Air Forces during the Second World War. He is credited with shooting down nine German aircraft in one mission during the Battle of Kursk, making him the record holder for most aerial victories during a sortie of any pilot in the Soviet Air Forces. He was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 28 September 1943.

Early life Gorovets was born in 1915 to a Belarusian peasant family in the village of Moshkan, then part of the Russian Empire. After completing seven grades of secondary school he attended at forestry school in Polotsk before he entered the military in 1932. In 1935 he graduated from the Ulyanovsk flight school and was discharged from the military, after which he worked as a civilian flight instructor at an aeroclub in Shakhty. He became a member of the Communist Party in 1939 and was elected to the Shakhty district council.

Last flight On 6 July 1943, the second day of the Battle of Kursk, deputy squadron commander Gorovets was flying in a squadron of La-5 aircraft on return from a patrol when a large group of German Ju 87 dive bombers approached the front line of Soviet Forces. Gorovets was the only member of his squadron who did not return to the airbase after the aerial engagement.

However, other accounts of what when down on 6 July 1943 contradict the official version of events. One accounts state that Soviet pilots shot down five Ju 87, three Bf 109, and one Hs 126 in that engagement. The 8th Guards Fighter Aviation Division, which contained the 88th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, credited over a dozen shootdowns of Ju 87s to its pilots, while the Luftwaffe listed the loss of 10 Ju 87s in the area that day. Testimony of the captured German pilots also did not completely correspond to Soviet claims.