Крылатая гвардия. Есть упоение в бою

The author of this book, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Kirill Alekseevich Evstigneev, during the years of the Patriotic War made 296 sorties, scoring 53 victories personally and 3 more in the group (this is the fifth result in Soviet aviation, only Kozhedub, Pokryshkin, Gulaev shot down more and Rechkalov).

Evstigneev himself was never shot down by the vaunted German aces, although, standing out for his selflessness even among desperate Soviet pilots, he never shied away from battle and until the very end of the war did not avoid frontal attacks even against 6 -cannon Fokkers. In February 1945, having “filled up” another FV-190 in such a suicidal attack, Evstigneev miraculously survived - “his car was hit by 3 armor-piercing shells: one pierced the wing and plumage, and the other two, passing a centimeter from the legs, disabled the right His skill and resourcefulness allowed him to put the fighter on one wheel, on a narrow path cleared of snow between two meter-long ice barriers...".

Immediately after the war, Evstigneev was presented for the third time to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but the submission was never approved. And the book of memoirs of the great pilot was pretty much "cut" by censorship.