Filipp Petrovich Bukhnin

Filipp Petrovich Bukhnin was born on 25 November 1922 in the village of Podgornoye in Borisoglebsk uyezd of Tambov governorate, now in Uvarovo district of Tambov region, into a peasant family. He finished eight classes and a factory apprentice school, worked as a fitter at a plant in Kotovsk, Tambov region, and trained at the Tambov aeroclub. He was called up in 1940 and in 1941 completed the Balashov military aviation school, where he was kept on as a flying instructor. From May 1943 he was at the front as a junior lieutenant with the 783rd Assault Aviation Regiment, flying the Il-2 on the Bryansk, Baltic (2nd Baltic), 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts. He took part in the Orel and Bryansk operations in 1943, the fighting on the Vitebsk–Polotsk axis and against the Nevel grouping in the winter of 1943–44, the Bobruisk operation in June 1944, and then the Osowiec, Mława–Elbing and East Pomeranian operations. His award citation notes that he often led pairs of 'hunters' against rail and road traffic and headquarters vehicles. By 11 April 1945, as senior pilot of the 783rd Assault Aviation Regiment, 199th Assault Aviation Division, 4th Assault Aviation Corps, 4th Air Army, 2nd Belorussian Front, Lieutenant Bukhnin had flown 98 successful combat sorties, fought 14 air battles and shot down one Me-109. He then took part in the Berlin operation and by the end of the war had flown 115 sorties. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of 18 August 1945 he was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for courage in ground-attack strikes on the enemy, with the Order of Lenin and Gold Star no. 8208. He also held two Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of the Patriotic War 1st class (1944, 1985) and two Orders of the Red Star. After the war he served with the 199th Division in Germany and, after it was disbanded in 1947, in a regiment at Lutsk. He went into the reserve as a major in 1958. He lived in Tambov, worked for more than thirty years in the technical inspection department of the Elektropribor plant and, after retiring, in the plant museum. He died on 24 April 1995 and is buried in the Vozdvizhenskoye Cemetery in Tambov. A bust stands in Victory Park in Uvarovo.