Hi I'm interesting in the Luis Lavin story...
He his still alive and I want to try to speak with him
during the spanish civil war when fachist troops won in the northern front and came in the basque country. people ware so afraid that they send 3000 childs from three months to 10 years in boats toward CCCP...
a few of them will see they parents anymore....
Luis Lavin was one of those child. He left Bilbao in 14th of june of 1937 with 12 years old.
He grows in the youngs house n?13 near Kiev.
withother "spanish war childs"
In april of 1941 8 of them were admit in a military Fighter pilot's school.
later he went to superior aviation academy of Chkalov, in Borisoglebsk (Voronez).
In July of 1942 in goes at war with the 286 IAP.
KL talks about this regiment in this link:
http://sovietwarplanes.com/board/index.php?topic=1239.0konstantin, Iwill need you again
Of course I would like to mount his planes....
the first of them was an I-16:
"En julio de 1942 nuestra unidad, el 826 Regimiento, estaba en Povorino, cerca de Stalingrado . Form?bamos parte de la 36 Divisi?n A?rea de Caza. Vol?bamos el modelo m?s moderno de I-16"
in july of 1942 our unit the 186 IAP was in Povorino, near Stalingrad. we were part of the 36th fighter division . We flew with the more modern I-16."
Konstantin, remenber, the 286 is often say to have been in the leningrad front in summer of 1942...
You red and so wrote that: "At the end of October, regiment moved to Komendantskii airfield within the besieged Leningrad. For the next 14 months regiment fought from the various Leningrad airfields."
It's true that old pilots can mix they remind, but he seems very accurate...
Before I called him and ask for his plane number (but not only that, because I know those details often don't mater for pilots) I would like to know how did the 286 IAP' I-16 look like...
I found two of them:
First the most famous of them, the plane:
The pics is taken in July 10, 1942, when Julian came in the 286 IAP
and the plane of squadron leader Tartachuk
but it is just a profil and I think we have to see a AMT4/AMT6 camo, and I have doubt about the yellow number...
interesting , both of them have the number behind the star , small and very closed to the tail...
Do you know with what pic was realized that profile ?
Do you know other I-16 of the 186 IAP?
I'm also interest of later plane of the regiment...
"Luego nuestro Regimiento 826 se fundi? con el 907 Regimiento de Caza de Operaciones Especiales, con el hice la guerra hasta el final.
Ya no est?bamos a la defensiva e ?bamos avanzando. En 1944 ten?a ya un avi?n bueno, un La-7 (7), con el morro pintado de blanco"
later our regiment with integrated in the 907 IAP, within I fought until the end of the war.
In 1944 we used to have good plane, a La-7, with the nose painted in white
if someone had pics of plane of the 286 and from 1944 the 907 IAP...
here some pics:
in 1945
Lavin's La-9 in post war before the red army eject the spanish pilot in 1949...
Lavin lives in spain today and he and hir wife are living in misery because they lost the russian pension , and neither basque or spanish governments pay him despite the promesses...
Xan