Viktor Potapov

Viktor Pavlovich Potapov (; 7 January 1934 – 23 June 2021) was an officer of the Soviet military who held a number of posts in naval aviation, serving as the last head of Soviet Naval Aviation, and the first head of Russian Naval Aviation, reaching the rank of Colonel General.

Born in 1934, Potapov became interested in aviation at an early age. He joined a flying club while in school, experience which stood him in good stead when he enrolled in the in 1951. Training on the Yakovlev Yak-18 and Tupolev Tu-2 propeller-driven aircraft, and the Ilyushin Il-28 jet torpedo bomber, Potapov was assigned to the . He continued to develop his skills on the latest military aircraft entering service, and rose through the ranks and positions.

Transferring to the in 1966, Potapov commanded, and helped establish aviation regiments. After studies at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, he was appointed to command the Northern Fleet's Naval Aviation. In 1986, he was appointed first deputy commander, and in 1988 commander of Soviet Naval Aviation. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he continued as the first commander of the successor force, Russian Naval Aviation, until his retirement in 1994. He went on to work with a company manufacturing aviation radio-electronic systems, and died in 2021, having received numerous awards and honours over his career.

Family and early life Potapov was born into a peasant family on 7 January 1934 in the village of , Mokshansky District, in what was then in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union. Later that year his family moved to Tashkent, settling near an aircraft factory. The Tupolev Tu-16 torpedo bomber. Potapov flew these aircraft during his time with the . With a certificate for his achievements, Potapov entered the in Nikolayev in 1951. With his previous experience he was allowed to skip the second year of studies, and quickly mastered the Yakovlev Yak-18 and Tupolev Tu-2 propeller-driven aircraft, as well as the Ilyushin Il-28 jet torpedo bomber. Over his flying career, he participated in missions in the Central and South Atlantic using airfields in Cuba, Angola and Guinea. Potapov, who had overseen the introduction of the first Il-38s fifty years earlier, attended the event, held in Zhukovsky.