Sergei Denisov (aviator)

Not long after the outbreak of the civil war in Spain between the Republicans and the Nationalists, Denisov volunteered to go to Spain as part of the group of Soviet volunteers assisting the Spanish Republican Air Force. He was deployed in Spain from November 1936 to April 1937, during which he flew on the I-16 fighter and gained multiple aerial victories; his exact tally of aerial victories in Spain is somewhere around 2-3 solo victories and 3-4 shared victories.[3] For his actions in the conflict he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 4 July 1937, although his participation in the war was not publicly acknowledged since the Soviet role in the war was classified.[4]

Upon returning from Spain he was made commander of the 142nd Fighter Aviation Brigade, which he remained in command of until April 1939. He then began attending command improvement courses at the Military Academy of General Staff. He was then tasked with studying and correcting the reasons for unsatisfactory performance of the 57th Separate Corps in the battles against the Japanese. In late May he arrived in Mongolia, where he was stationed at the headquarters of the 1st Army. When he returned from Mongolia, he spoke with Mikhail Kaganovich, Nikolai Polikarpov, Alexander Yakovlev, and Stalin about the design of Soviet fighters.[5]

Less than a year after returning from Mongolia, Denisov began his role in the Winter War as the commander of the 7th Air Army,[6] which managed to break through the Mannerheim Line. He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 21 March 1940 for his command in the war. That year he was promoted to General-lieutenant of Aviation.[2][7]

Shortly before the start of Operation Barbarossa, he was made commander of aviation in the Transcaucasian Military District in April 1940, but was demoted just two days before the start of the invasion due to alcoholism. Many of his colleagues from Spain, Khalkhin Gol and Finland, including Pavel Rychagov, Yakov Smushkevich, and Ivan Proskurov, were arrested on fabricated charges of treason shortly before the German invasion;[8] Denisov survived the purges. After the start of the war he was made head of the Kacha Military Aviation School in August, which had been evacuated to Saratov. When the school was inspected in 1942, major problems were noted, with the final report being critical of Denisov for failure to resolve problems at the school, rarely took charge, and continued to abuse alcohol; on 4 November 1942 he was fired from the school. In February 1943 he was made commander of the 283rd Fighter Aviation Division, which took part in the battles for Kursk, Chernigov, Pripiyat, and Gomel before he was removed from the post in December due to failure to maintain discipline among his unit. After another demotion he was eventually posted to the 4th Tactical Training Division as an assistant chief until October 1946. Having graduated from the Military Academy of General Staff in September 1947, he soon entered the reserve in November.[9]

• Simonov, Andrey; Bodrikhin, Nikolai (2017). Боевые лётчики — дважды и трижды Герои Советского Союза [Combat pilots — twice and thrice Heroes of the Soviet Union] (in Russian). Moscow: Russian Knights Foundation and Vadim Zadorozhny Museum of Technology. ISBN 9785990960510. OCLC 1005741956.