Mikhail Beregovoy
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Mikhail Beregovoy | |
|---|---|
| Native name | Михаил Тимофеевич Береговой |
| Born | 13 January 1918 |
| Died | 30 May 2021 (aged 103) |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance |  Soviet Union Russia |
| Branch | Soviet Air Defence Forces Soviet Radio-Technical Forces |
| Service years | 1936–1983 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Awards | |
Mikhail Timofeyevich Beregovoy (Russian: Михаил Тимофеевич Береговой; 13 January 1918 – 30 May 2021) was a Soviet military officer who held a number of posts in the Soviet Air Defence Forces, reaching the rank of lieutenant general.
Born in the upheaval of the October Revolution and the Russian Civil War, Beregovoy became interested in technical innovations. His brothers became pilots, his younger brother Georgy winning fame in the Second World War, and later as a pioneering cosmonaut, and twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Mikhail instead attended the Leningrad Artillery-Technical School and served as an officer with the Soviet Air Defence Forces. Following the war Beregovoy furthered his specialization with studies at the Artillery Radio Engineering Academy, and then joined the Soviet Radio-Technical Forces, in time becoming head of the radio engineering troops of the Moscow Air Defence District, with responsibility for monitoring and providing data for the flights of the early Soviet space program. In 1969 he became head of the Soviet Radio-Technical Forces, a post he held until his retirement in 1983.
Beregovoy reached the age of 100 in 2018, an event marked with congratulatory telegrams, including one from Vladimir Putin. Over his career he had received numerous awards and honours, including two Orders of the Red Banner. He died in 2021 at the age of 103.
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Beregovoy was born on 13 January 1918 in Chystiakove, which was then part of the brief Ukrainian People's Republic during the period following the October Revolution and during the Russian Civil War.[1] His father worked as a telegraph operator on the railways. The family moved to Yenakiyevo when Mikhail was seven.[2] He had two brothers; the elder, Viktor, and the younger, Georgy, both became pilots. Viktor was caught in the Great Purge of the late 1930s, and was arrested and executed in 1938. He was subsequently rehabilitated.[2] Georgy went on to become a distinguished pilot and pioneering cosmonaut, and twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Mikhail preferred to be a designer of aircraft or other equipment.[2]
Beregovoy studied at the Leningrad Artillery-Technical School, graduating ahead of schedule in 1939 after the outbreak of the Winter War that year.[2] He was then employed by the school as a cadet unit commander and teacher. Following the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Beregovoy took part in fighting at the front. In 1943 he became a staff officer at a regimental headquarters, and by the end of the war, was serving as a staff officer at the headquarters of the Air Defence's South-Western Front.[1][3][4]
