Molokov, Vasilii

Molokov, Vasilii Sergeevich 

Born Feb. 1 (13), 1895, in the village of Irininskoe, now Molokovo, Lenino Raion, Moscow Oblast. Soviet pilot; major general of aviation (1940); Hero of the Soviet Union (Apr. 20, 1934). Member of the CPSU from 1925.

Molokov entered the army in 1915 and joined the Red Army in January 1918. He served in the Civil War of 1918–20. He graduated from a naval pilots school in 1921 and from refresher courses of the N. E. Zhukovskii Air Force Academy in 1929. He served in the Civilian Air Fleet from 1931. In 1934, Molokov participated with other pilots in the expedition to rescue the crew of the Cheliuskin. He completed a flight around the arctic coast of the USSR in 1936 and participated in an expedition to the North Pole in 1937. He was appointed chief of the Main Directorate of the Air Fleet in 1938.

In the Great Patriotic War (1941–45), Molokov commanded air divisions on the Western and Third Byelorussian fronts from 1943. He entered the reserves in 1947. He was a Member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR at the seventh convocation and a deputy to the first convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Molokov was awarded three Orders of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov Second Class, the Order of Kutuzov Second Class, the Order of the Patriotic War First Class, the Order of the Red Star, and various medals.