Viktor Pavlovich Potapov
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Muratovka, Mokshansky District, Middle Volga Krai, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Viktor Pavlovich Potapov | |
|---|---|
| Native name | Виктор Павлович Потапов |
| Born | 7 January 1934 Muratovka, Mokshansky District, Middle Volga Krai, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Died | 23 June 2021 (aged 87) Moscow, Russia |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance |  Soviet Union Russia |
| Branch | Soviet Naval Aviation Russian Naval Aviation |
| Years of service | 1951–1995 |
| Rank | Colonel General of Aviation |
| Commands | Northern Fleet Naval Aviation Soviet Naval Aviation Russian Naval Aviation |
| Awards | Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner Order of the Red Star Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" Second and Third Classes |
Viktor Pavlovich Potapov (Russian: Виктор Павлович Потапов; 7 January 1934 – 23 June 2021) was an officer of the Soviet military who held a number of posts in naval aviation, serving as the last head of Soviet Naval Aviation, and the first head of Russian Naval Aviation, reaching the rank of Colonel General.
Born in 1934, Potapov became interested in aviation at an early age. He joined a flying club while in school, experience which stood him in good stead when he enrolled in the Levanevsky Naval Torpedo Aviation School in 1951. Training on the Yakovlev Yak-18 and Tupolev Tu-2 propeller-driven aircraft, and the Ilyushin Il-28 jet torpedo bomber, Potapov was assigned to the Black Sea Fleet Air Force. He continued to develop his skills on the latest military aircraft entering service, and rose through the ranks and positions.
Transferring to the Northern Fleet Naval Aviation in 1966, Potapov commanded, and helped establish aviation regiments. After studies at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, he was appointed to command the Northern Fleet's Naval Aviation. In 1986, he was appointed first deputy commander, and in 1988 commander of Soviet Naval Aviation. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he continued as the first commander of the successor force, Russian Naval Aviation, until his retirement in 1994. He went on to work with a company manufacturing aviation radio-electronic systems, and died in 2021, having received numerous awards and honours over his career.
Potapov was born into a peasant family on 7 January 1934 in the village of Muratovka, Mokshansky District, in what was then Middle Volga Krai in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union.[1][2] Later that year his family moved to Tashkent, settling near an aircraft factory.[3] Potapov grew up around aircraft, and reading the exploits of Soviet pilots such as Valery Chkalov, Mikhail Gromov and Konstantin Kokkinaki. In 1949, while still at school, Potapov entered the Tashkent flying club.[3] He made his first independent flight the following year, in a Polikarpov Po-2, and remained at the flying club until his graduation from high school.[1][4]
With a certificate for his achievements, Potapov entered the Levanevsky Naval Torpedo Aviation School in Nikolayev in 1951. With his previous experience he was allowed to skip the second year of studies, and quickly mastered the Yakovlev Yak-18 and Tupolev Tu-2 propeller-driven aircraft, as well as the Ilyushin Il-28 jet torpedo bomber.[1] After graduating in 1953 he was assigned to a torpedo aviation regiment of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force, where he continued to develop his skills on the new aircraft entering service.[4] He became proficient on the Tupolev Tu-16 torpedo bomber in 1957, at the time the most advanced of its kind, before entering the aviation faculty of the Leningrad Naval Academy in 1959.[1][2] He graduated with a gold medal in 1962, and returned to the Black Sea Fleet Air Force, taking charge of a squadron in naval missile-armed aviation regiment.[1][3][4]
