Khudiakov, Sergei

Khudiakov, Sergei Aleksandrovich 

(real name Armenak Artemovich Khanferiants). Born Dec. 25, 1901 (Jan. 7, 1902), in the village of Bol’shoi Taglar, in what is now Gadrut Raion, Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, Azerbaijan SSR; died Apr. 18, 1950. Soviet military commander. Marshal of aviation (1944). Member of the CPSU from 1924.

The son of an Armenian peasant, Khudiakov joined the Red Army in February 1918. He took the name of his former commander, who was killed in the defense of Baku in 1918. Khudiakov served in the Civil War of 1918–20 as a platoon leader and a squadron commander. He graduated from advanced cavalry training courses for command personnel in 1922 and the N. E. Zhukovskii Academy of the Air Fleet in 1936. In 1940 he became chief of staff of the air forces of the Byelorussian Special Military District.

During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45, Khudiakov served as air force chief of staff. He assumed command of the air forces of the Western Front in February 1942, becoming chief of staff of the Red Army air forces in May of the same year and commander of the First Air Army in June. He was appointed chief of staff and deputy commander of the air forces of the Red Army in May 1943 and commander of the Twelfth Air Army in April 1945. Khudiakov took part in the rout of the Japanese militarists in the Far East in August 1945.

Khudiakov was awarded the Order of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov First and Second Class, the Order of Kutuzov First Class, the Order of the Red Star, and various medals.