Aleksandr Novikov

Alexander Alexandrovich Novikov (; – 3 December 1976 ) was the chief marshal of aviation for the Soviet Air Forces during the Soviet Union's involvement in the Second World War. Lauded as "the man who has piloted the Red Air Force through the dark days into the present limelight", and a "master of tactical air power", he was twice given the title of Hero of the Soviet Union as well as a number of other Soviet decorations.

A gifted air force commander and one of the leading men of the Soviet armed forces, Novikov was involved in nearly all exploits of the air force during the war and was at the forefront of developments in command and control and of air combat techniques. After the war, Novikov was arrested by order of the Politburo, and was forced by the NKVD chief, Lavrentiy Beria, into a "confession" that implicated Marshal Georgy Zhukov in a conspiracy.

He served in the 384th regiment of the Russian 7th Army, helped put down the Kronstadt uprising in March 1921, and served as chief of operations until 1935, when he took command of a light bomber squadron.

Novikov was expelled from the party and the armed forces in 1937; however, he was re-admitted by the Commissioner of the Byelorussian Military District, A. I. Mezis, who was in turn arrested. He worked specifically for the creation of separate divisions and air corps, as well as the improvement of front line coordination.

Novikov was released on 29 June 1953, six years into his sentence following Stalin's death, and reinstated as chief marshal of aviation, where he was able to put his ideas into practice. A plan for using newly available jet aircraft and nuclear weapons to wage a possible future war with the United States was laid out by Novikov and shown to Nikita Khrushchev, who turned the proposal down in favor of ballistic missiles.

Following his retirement in 1958, Novikov accepted an offer to become head of the Higher Civil Aviation School in Leningrad, where he worked for ten years. He became a professor and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour in 1961.

In retirement, Novikov wrote a number of works on aviation and warfare, which were used to educate new Soviet air force pilots. He died, aged 76, on 3 December 1976.

Honours and awards Soviet Union

Foreign