Pavel Galkin

Pavel Andreyevich Galkin (; 15 December 1922 – 15 June 2021) was an officer of the Soviet military who held a number of posts in Soviet Naval Aviation, reaching the rank of colonel. A veteran of the Second World War, he was a recipient of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Galkin entered the armed forces in 1940, shortly before the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union the following year, and was initially assigned to the Soviet Navy as an anti-aircraft battery gunner with the coastal defence forces. Following the outbreak of war he studied at the Nikolaev Naval Aviation School, graduating in July 1943, as a crew navigator and was sent to the front lines. Initially assigned to the 29th Bomber Aviation Regiment at Murmansk as part of the Northern Fleet, flying the Petlyakov Pe-2, Galkin was subsequently transferred to the 9th Guards Torpedo Aviation Regiment, in the , flying the Boston A-20G. He was part of the aircraft crew of and Semyon Antipichev, who together scored notable successes against enemy forces. In 1944 Galkin and Frantsev were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Galkin was unable to take part in a later mission, during which Frantsev and Antipichev were killed.

Galkin remained in the armed forces after the war, graduating from the Air Force Academy in 1956, and becoming a teacher at the Kachinsk Military Aviation School, and later the , until his retirement in May 1978. Though retired from active service, Galkin maintained his connection with the armed forces, working as head of the educational and methodological office at the Yeysk Higher Military Aviation School between 1982 and 1996. In retirement Galkin lived in Yeysk, working in veterans' affairs, before his death in 2021 at the age of 98. He had received numerous honours and awards over his long career.

Early life and career Galkin was born on 15 December 1922 into a Russian family in the village of , in what was then Ryazan Governorate, in the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic. His father had been a sailor of the Baltic Fleet and a member of the Kronstadt Military Revolutionary Council, who took part in many of the events of the Russian Revolution in Petrograd. He declined to talk about the third time, but concluded that he was not destined to die by water, later carrying a handkerchief embroidered by his mother in his pocket as a talisman when he flew in action. He joined the Soviet Navy in September that year, and was initially posted to Leningrad as an anti-aircraft battery gunner with the coastal defence forces. He served during the first years of the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, which began in 1941, and in 1943 graduated from the Nikolaev Naval Aviation School.

The following mission was a proposed attack on a transport ship in Porsangerfjorden, which Galkin helped to plan. Before the attack could take place, on 12 September 1944 Galkin underwent an operation. Frantsev took over the role of navigator, with the head of the torpedo service Legkodymov as pilot, and on 15 September flew to carry out the attack.

Postwar Galkin remained serving with Soviet Naval Aviation after the war, transferring to the Baltic Fleet's in late May - early June 1945. Though retired from active service, Galkin maintained his connection with the armed forces, working as head of the educational and methodological office at the Yeysk Higher Military Aviation School between 1982 and 1996. His funeral service was held at the local house of culture on 17 June, after which he was buried with military honours in Yeysk's New Cemetery, next to his wife.

Honours and awards Busts in the Alley of Hero-Aviators in Safonovo. Galkin is one of the 53 aviators so honoured. In addition to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the accompanying Order of Lenin, Galkin was twice awarded the Order of the Red Banner, on 27 January 1944, and 10 April 1944, the Order of the Patriotic War First Class on 11 March 1985, the Order of the Red Star, the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" Third Class, and various medals. He was interviewed by the Ryazan edition of Komsomolskaya Pravda in 2020, with the interviews serialized over four editions between July and August 2020.