On September 20, an EWCS dedicated to the 100th Birth Anniversary of A. Koldunov, a Marshal of the Air Force, a Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, was put into postal circulation in the On the 80th Anniversary of Victory in the GPW of 1941-1945 series

Alexander Koldunov (1923-1992) was a Soviet military leader and a statesman, the Air Chief Marshal of the USSR, a Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, the most effective ace among those who fought on Yak fighters.

He was born on September 20 of 1923 in the Smolensk Province. During the Great Patriotic War, in March of 1943, he graduated from the Kachinsk Red Banner Military Aviation School named after A. Myasnikov.

Since May of 1943, Alexander Koldunov was at the front as a pilot of the 594th Assault Aviation Regiment. He won his first victory on June 21, 1943, over the Seversky Donets River. He mostly distinguished himself in such military operations as the Battle for the Dnieper, liberation of the Right-Bank Ukraine, the Jassy-Kishinev operation, the Budapest operation, liberation of Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia.

By early May of 1944, Captain Koldunov, a squadron commander of the 866th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 288th Fighter Aviation Division of the 17th Air Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, made 223 mission sorties, conducted 45 air battles, shot down 15 enemy planes personally and 1 plane in a group battle.

On August 2 of 1944, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Captain Alexander Koldunov was awarded the title of a Hero of the Soviet Union along with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of February 23 of 1948, Major Alexander Koldunov was awarded the second Gold Star medal and became a Twice Hero of the Soviet Union.

In total, during the war years, Koldunov made 412 combat sorties and conducted 96 air battles.

Since November of 1970, Koldunov was the Commander of the Moscow Air Defense District. Since July 28, 1978, he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Defense Forces of the USSR. On October 31, 1984, Alexander Koldunov was promoted to the rank of Air Chief Marshal.

The commemorative stamp provides an image of the emblem of celebration of the 80th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945; the main illustration features fighter pilot Alexander Koldunov against the background of Yak-3 planes.

In addition to the issue of the envelope with a commemorative stamp, JSC Marka produced special cancels for Moscow and Smolensk.


Design Artists: A. Moskovets (stamp); R. Komsa (illustration).
Quantity: 500 thousand envelopes.

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