during World War II, he was first a flight commander, then the deputy commander of the 1st Squadron, flying with 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO of the Soviet Air Defence Forces, providing air defense for Moscow. Talalikhin flew his first combat mission on 22 July. He downed a Junkers Ju 88 on the night of 5–6 August. On the night of 6–7 August 1941, flying a Soviet Air Defense Forces Polikarpov I-16 fighter over Moscow, Talalikhin rammed a German Heinkel He 111 bomber after running out of ammunition, destroying both aircraft. Wounded by machine-gun fire from the German bomber, he parachuted to safety, landing in a small lake. He was reported as the first pilot in history to ram an enemy aircraft at night, and was feted in Moscow by Soviet media as the first major Soviet air hero of World War II. However, Pyotr Yeremeyev, another Moscow air defense pilot, had earlier performed the same feat on 29 July. On 8 August, Talalikhin was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin. He soon became a squadron commander in the 177th. Subsequently, Talalikhin began flying the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3. On 27 October, he led a mixed group of two MiG-3s and six I-16s in an action over Podolsk, covering ground troops. Near the village of Kamenka, he descended to attack German positions, but the Soviet aircraft were ambushed by six Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters attacking from a higher altitude. Talalikhin claimed two Messerschmitt Bf 109s before being shot down and killed by another. His body was sent to Moscow and cremated, and on 23 February 1959 the urn with his ashes was moved to the Novodevichy Cemetery. Legacy On 30 August 1948, Talalikhin was permanently added to the muster list of the 1st Squadron of the 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment. Monuments to him were built in Moscow and Podolsk, and an obelisk was placed at the 43rd kilometer of the Warsaw Highway, over which the ramming took place. Streets were named for Talalikhin in Moscow, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Krasnoyarsk, Vladivostok, and Borisoglebsk. Parts of the He 111 that he downed by ramming are displayed in the Central Armed Forces Museum. In June 2014, the wreckage of the I-16 that Talalikhin rammed the bomber in was discovered in a forest 20 kilometers from Moscow. Notes References 1918 births 1941 deaths People from Saratov Oblast People from Volsky