Interview with World War II Russian Pilot Evgeny Stepanov

 | Aviation History  | 0 comments  |  Print This Post  |  Email This Post

Stepanov: In 1939 and 1940, a number of Soviet pilots who had fought in Spain were framed and arrested, usually without any formal charges being laid and without any kind of investigation–Felix Arzhenukhin, Evgeny Ptukhin, Pyotr Pumpur, Emil Shakht, Pavel Proskurin and others. Most were executed by firing squad. Yakov Smushkevich, who had been awarded the Gold Star of a Hero of the Soviet Union on June 21, 1937, and a second Gold Star on November 17, 1939, rose to deputy commander of the air force–only to be arrested for treason shortly afterward. He spent almost two years in an NKVD (Narodnyy Komisariat Vnutrennikh Del, or secret police) prison; then, as the invading Germans neared Moscow in October 1941, he was executed on the rationale that he might be freed by the Germans. Pavel Rychagov, a 15-victory ace over Spain, delivered a critical speech on the state of the air force at the end of December 1940. He was arrested early the next year and eventually executed.

AH: When were you sent to Mongolia, and in which regiment did you serve?

Stepanov: I arrived in Mongolia at the end of May 1939 as a member of a group of Soviet aces who had fought in Spain and China. The fighter force there was organized into three air regiments: the 56th and 70th, both equipped with improved I-15bis (also known as I-152) fighters, and the 22nd, under Major Grigory P. Kravchenko, with I-16s. One squadron of Major Vyacheslav M. Zabaluyev’s 70th Air Regiment was equipped with I-153s–upgraded I-15s with retractable landing gear. I was in command of an I-15bis squadron. I flew the I-153 very little–only five missions, in Mongolia.

AH: What was your impression of your Japanese opponents?

Stepanov: Japanese army pilots were quite skillful. They were courageous in the attack and stubborn in pursuit of their goal. The Japanese pilots tended to operate individually, however. Organized mass attacks were few and resulted in great losses to them.

AH: How did the Japanese fighters compare with yours?

Stepanov: I was impressed by the maneuverability of the Nakajima Ki.27 Type 97 fighter. It was, nonetheless, outclassed in maneuverability, speed and armament by the I-16 and I-153.

AH: Did you ever have occasion to meet any captured enemy airmen–or did the Japanese Bushido tenet of victory or death make that impossible?

Stepanov: I once attended the preliminary questioning of a Japanese pilot who had been shot down. I remember my amazement at his honest manner when asked why he had not chosen to commit hara-kiri. ‘My father’s a merchant,’ he said, ‘and told me to come back from the war in one piece. Let the emperor himself commit hara-kiri.’

AH: Describe a typical day’s work for a Soviet fighter pilot. How many sorties did you normally fly per day? How many did you fly during major battles, offensives or campaigns?

Stepanov: Soviet airmen lived in yurtas (Mongolian tent dwellings) in the immediate vicinity of their airfields. The technicians would check the engines and armaments at dawn, so the pilots were always ready to scramble if the alarm was sounded. In times of heavy fighting, we would fly as many as four or five missions a day. When things were quiet, there would be a duty flight of three aircraft on standby, with the pilots at readiness in their cockpits.

AH: Did you know any of the Soviet aces who fought over Khalkin Gol?

Stepanov: Yes, I did. Friends I flew with in Mongolia would include Sergei Ivanovich Gritsevets (commander of the I-153 squadron), Grigory Krivenko, Alexander Zaitsev, Victor Kustov, Boris Smirnov, Platon Smolyakov, Alexander Nikolayev, Pavel Korobkov, Nikolai Gerassimov, and many others.

AH: Did you or your comrades know the names of any of the Japanese aces?

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to

Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Aerial Combat, Aviation History, World War II

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.