He graduated from the Simbirsk Infantry Command Course (1920), the Higher Tactical Rifle School of Command Staff of the Red Army named after. Comintern "Shot" (1923), Air Force Academy of the Red Army named after prof. N. E. Zhukovsky (1932).

Civil War

Interwar period

After graduating from the academy, from 1932 he became the head of the technical department of the Research Institute of the Red Army Air Force, from January 1933 he became the head of the operations department of the headquarters of the aviation brigade, and from 1934 he was the squadron commander of the Higher Flight Tactical Courses of the Red Army. There, together with cadets, he mastered piloting a bomber, and in 1935, he passed the exams as an external student for the title of military pilot at the Kachinsky Higher Aviation Pilot School. Since August 1938 - assistant for flight training to the head of the Higher Aviation Courses for Advanced Training of Flight Crews.

In 1940, following an urgent order from the Air Force Headquarters, he ordered a group of 5 bombers with crews from course personnel to be sent to Moscow. In difficult weather conditions, three planes crashed on the route, causing casualties. Vershinin was put on trial by the district military tribunal, which completely acquitted him. But as a disciplinary matter, Colonel Vershinin was demoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and transferred to the post of deputy commander of the aviation division. However, in May 1941, he was returned to the same Higher Aviation Courses for Advanced Training of Flight Crews, and to the position of their head. At the same time he was restored to his military rank.

The Great Patriotic War

In May, Aviation Major General K. A. Vershinin was again appointed commander of the 4th Air Army, now part of the North Caucasus Front. At the head of the army, he participated in an air battle in the Kuban in April-June, unprecedented in scope and ferocity at that time. There, Vershinin widely used the constant duty of aircraft controllers at the front line, the massive use of forces during air battles (if previously an air battle in regiment, then over the Kuban from the Soviet side, up to 5 fighter regiments or more were often simultaneously introduced into battle), a wide exchange of successful combat experience (Soviet ace A. I. Pokryshkin in his memoirs describes army fighter conferences held personally by K. A. Vershinin, as an unheard of event in the previous two years of war).

Then the 4th Air Army successfully operated in the Novorossiysk-Taman (September-October 1943), Kerch-Eltigen landing (November-December 1943), and Crimean strategic (April-May 1944) offensive operations. In May-June, the army was transferred to the central section of the Soviet-German front, where it fought in the Belarusian, East Prussian, East Pomeranian, and Berlin strategic offensive operations. Lieutenant General of Aviation (03/17/1943). Colonel General of Aviation (10/23/1943), the first commander of the air armies during the Great Patriotic War to be awarded this military rank. Rank

Vershinin Konstantin Andreevich, Soviet military leader, Air Chief Marshal (1959). Hero of the Soviet Union (08/19/1944).

Came from a peasant family. He graduated from a rural parochial school. Since 1911 he worked as a carpenter and lumberjack. With the outbreak of the First World War, he got a job at a ship repair plant and studied at an evening school for workers. In the Red Army since June 1919, he was enlisted as a Red Army soldier in the Simbirsk reserve infantry regiment of the Eastern Front. After graduating from the Simbirsk infantry command course in July 1920, he was appointed commander of the marching company of the 14th reserve regiment of the Western Front. Commanding a company and battalion in the 49th Infantry Regiment of the 6th Infantry Division of the Western Front, he participated in battles with the armed forces of General S.N. Bulak-Balakhovich and in the liquidation of the gangs of I.S. Kolesnikov in the Voronezh province. After the war, Vershinin was sent to study at the Higher Tactical Rifle School of Red Army Commanders named after. ΙΙΙ of the Comintern, upon graduation in August 1923, he was appointed company commander of the 12th Red Banner Infantry School of the Volga Military District.

From November 1928, he commanded a battalion in the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the 1st Kazan Division of the same district. In October 1930, he was enrolled as a student at the Red Army Air Force Academy named after. Professor N.E. Zhukovsky, from that time served in the Air Force. After graduating from the academy in June 1932, he was appointed head of the operations department of the headquarters of the 20th aviation brigade of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Military District. From January 1933 - assistant to the head of the tactical department of the Scientific Testing Institute of the Red Army Air Force, from February 1934 - squadron commander of the Higher Flight Tactical School of the Red Army Air Force. In 1935 he completed courses at the 1st Military Pilot School named after. A.F. Myasnikov. From August 1938 - assistant chief, and from May 1941 - head of the Higher Aviation Courses for Advanced Training of Red Army Flight Personnel.

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War in September 1941, Colonel K.A. Vershinin was appointed commander of the Air Force of the Southern Front; from May 1942, Major General Vershinin commanded the 4th Air Army. Under his leadership, army troops took an active part in the Rostov and Barvenkovo-Lozov offensive operations. In September 1942 - April 1943. he served as commander of the Air Force of the Transcaucasian Front. In March 1943, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general of aviation. During the offensive of the Soviet troops in the Caucasus, on his initiative, low-speed but highly maneuverable I-153 Chaika fighters were used, which effectively attacked the enemy at low altitudes. In May 1943, Vershinin was again appointed commander of the 4th Air Army and led it in air battles in the Kuban. The Army Air Forces participated in breaking through the Blue Line defensive line and Crimea from the enemy. Then the army took part in the Belarusian offensive operation. In October 1943, he was awarded the rank of Colonel General of Aviation. For skillful leadership of army formations and the courage and heroism shown to General K.A. Vershinin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. During the East Prussian operation, despite extremely unfavorable meteorological conditions, formations of the 4th Air Army under the command of Colonel General of Aviation K.A. Vershinin ensured the successful actions of ground formations in defeating the enemy group.

After the war, Colonel General of Aviation K.A. Vershinin served as Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR. He was awarded the rank of air marshal in June 1946. During the period of rearmament of the Air Force with jet technology, on his initiative in the fall of 1946, the 1st special training center was created to train flight personnel to fly jet aircraft. In August 1947, under his leadership, at an air parade in Tushino, Soviet pilots demonstrated group aerobatics on jet fighters for the first time. In February 1950, Air Marshal K.A. Vershinin was appointed commander of the 57th Air Army. In September of the same year he took command of the 24th Air Army. Since September 1951 - Commander of the Border Line Air Defense Forces and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force; from April 1953 - 1st Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, from June - Commander of the country's Air Defense Forces. Since May 1954 - commander of the troops of the Baku air defense region. Since April 1956 - Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force for Universities. In January 1957, he was again appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, he is also the Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR and a member of the Board of the USSR Ministry of Defense, a member of the Main Military Council of the Armed Forces of the USSR. In May 1959 he was awarded the rank of Air Chief Marshal. Since March 1969 - Inspector General of the Group of Inspectors General of the USSR Ministry of Defense. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Awarded: 6 Orders of Lenin, Order of the October Revolution, 3 Orders of the Red Banner, 3 Orders of Suvorov 1st class, Orders of Suvorov 2nd class, Order of the Patriotic War 1st class, medals, as well as foreign orders.

Konstantin Vershinin photography

In the Soviet Army since 1919. He graduated from the infantry command courses (1920), the Shot courses (1923), and the Air Force Academy. N. E. Zhukovsky (1932). Participant in the Civil War. He fought against the formations of Bulak-Balakhovich, participated in the suppression of the uprising in the Voronezh province and the Kronstadt rebellion of 1921.

After the Civil War, he commanded a company and battalion. Since 1930 - in the Air Force. After graduating from the academy in January 1933, he became the head of the operations department of the headquarters of the aviation brigade, then worked at the Research Institute of the Red Army Air Force. In 1934 he was appointed squadron commander of the Higher Flight Tactical Courses. In 1935, he passed the exams for the rank of military pilot as an external student. From August 1938 - assistant chief, from May 1941 - head of the Higher Aviation Courses for Advanced Training of Flight Crews.

During the Great Patriotic War, K.A. Vershinin commanded (from September 1941) the Air Force of the Southern Front, and from May 1942 - the 4th Air Army. From September 1942 to April 1943 he commanded the Air Force of the Transcaucasian Front. During the offensive of Soviet troops in the Caucasus on the initiative of K.A. Vershinin, low-speed but highly maneuverable I-153 (“Chaika”) fighters were used, which effectively attacked the enemy at low altitudes.

In May 1943, K.A. Vershinin was again appointed commander of the 4th Air Army, leading it in air battles in the Kuban, where air superiority was won. After the liberation of Crimea, the 4th Air Army was transferred to the 2nd Belorussian Front, participated in the Belarusian operation of 1944, and played an important role in the defeat of the enemy. During the East Prussian operation, despite extremely unfavorable meteorological conditions, K.A. Vershinin ensured the successful actions of the air army formations in the defeat of the Pshasnysz-Mława and other enemy groups.

K.A. Vershinin was distinguished by his deep knowledge in the field of operational art, constant search for new things, and a creative approach to solving assigned problems. This allowed him to skillfully organize the interaction of air force formations with ground forces and provide effective assistance to combined arms and tank armies.

In 1946–1949 K.A. Vershinin - Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR. During the period of rearmament of the Air Force with jet technology, on his initiative in the fall of 1946, the 1st special training center was created to train flight personnel to fly jet aircraft. In August 1947, under the leadership of K.A. Vershinin, at the air parade in Tushino, Soviet pilots for the first time demonstrated group aerobatics on jet fighters.

Since September 1949 - in the air defense and air force forces. In 1953–1954 he commanded the country's air defense forces. In January 1957, he was again appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR. Since March 1969 - in the Group of Inspectors General of the USSR Ministry of Defense.

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Hero of the Soviet Union Vershinin Konstantin Andreevich

Vershinin Konstantin Andreevich - commander of the 4th Air Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front, Colonel General of Aviation.
Born on May 22 (June 3), 1900 in the village of Borkino, Yaransky district, Vyatka province, now part of the Sanchursky district of the Kirov region. Russian. From the family of a poor peasant. He graduated from a rural parochial school.

Since 1911 he worked as a carpenter and lumberjack. With the outbreak of the First World War, he got a job at a ship repair plant in the village of Zvenigovo and studied at an evening school for workers.

In the Red Army since June 1919, called up for mobilization. He served as a Red Army soldier and as an agitator for the reserve regiment in Simbirsk. In 1920 he graduated from the Simbirsk infantry command courses. Participant of the Civil War: in October 1920-July 1921 - company commander, and from January 1921 - battalion commander of the 49th Infantry Regiment of the 6th Infantry Division (Western Front, in the spring of 1921 the regiment was transferred to Oryol). Participated in battles against gangs of S.N. Bulak-Balakhovich in Belarus, in the suppression of the uprising in the Voronezh province, in the suppression of the Tambov uprising (“Antonovshchina”). In July 1921 he was sent to study.

In 1923 he graduated from the Comintern Higher Tactical Rifle School of Red Army Commanders (future “Shot” courses). Since 1923, he commanded a training company in the 12th Red Banner Infantry School of the Volga Military District (Simbirsk). Since 1928 - commander of the rifle battalion of the 2nd rifle regiment of the Kazan rifle division of the Volga military district (Simbirsk). Since 1929, he studied in absentia at the Military Academy of the Red Army named after M.V. Frunze, graduated from the first year.

In 1930 he was transferred to the Air Force (Air Force). In 1932 he graduated from the N.E. Zhukovsky Air Force Academy. From June 1932 - assistant to the head of the tactical department of the Scientific Testing Institute of the Red Army Air Force. Since January 1933 - head of the operational department of the headquarters of the 20th air brigade in Kharkov (Ukrainian Military District). Since February 1934 - commander of an air squadron at the Lipetsk Higher Flight Tactical School of the Air Force. In 1935, he graduated as an external student from the 1st Kachin Military Aviation Pilot School named after A.F. Myasnikov. Since 1938 - assistant to the head of flight training at the Lipetsk Higher Aviation Courses for Advanced Training of Flight Crews.

In 1940, after a group flight accident, Colonel K.A. Vershinin was put on trial by a military tribunal, by which he was completely acquitted. Nevertheless, as a disciplinary procedure, he was demoted in military rank to lieutenant colonel and appointed deputy commander of the 49th aviation division. In May 1941, he was restored to the rank of colonel, returned to Lipetsk and appointed head of the Lipetsk Higher Aviation Courses for Advanced Training of Flight Crews.

Participant of the Great Patriotic War: in September 1941 - May 1942 - commander of the Air Force of the Southern Front. In May-September 1942 - commander of the 4th Air Army; from September 1942 - commander of the Air Force of the Transcaucasian Front. From May 1943 until the end of the war, he again commanded the 4th Air Army on the North Caucasus and 2nd Belorussian fronts.

Under his leadership, pilots, in close cooperation with ground forces, participated in defensive battles in Ukraine and in the Rostov (1941) and Barvenkovo-Lozovskaya offensive operations; in 1942, they fought air battles in the skies of Donbass and the Don, holding back the advance of superior enemy forces, defending Northern Caucasus, fought in the Kuban and Taman Peninsula in 1943, won an air battle over the Blue Line. In 1944, the 4th Air Army took part in the liberation of Crimea, and then, as part of the 2nd Belorussian Front, ensured the strategic superiority of aviation and the success of ground forces during the offensive Operation Bagration, in the East Prussian, East Pomeranian and Berlin operations .

For the successful leadership of military formations and the personal courage and heroism shown to Colonel General of Aviation Vershinin Konstantin Andreevich By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated August 19, 1944, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

From March 1946 to September 1949 - Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR. From September 1949 he served in the country's Air Defense Forces, from February to September 1950 he commanded the 57th Air Army (in the Carpathian Military District), from September 1950 to September 1951 - the 24th Air Army (Group of Soviet Forces in Germany) . In September 1951 - April 1953 - Commander of the Border Line Air Defense Forces - Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force. From April 1953 - first deputy commander, and from June 1953 to May 1954 - commander of the country's Air Defense Forces. From June 1954 to April 1956 - commander of the troops of the Baku region (since August 1954 - district) of the air defense.

Then he was returned to the Air Force and from April 1956 - Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force for higher educational institutions. From January 1957 to March 1969 - Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR. Since March 1969 - Inspector General of the Group of Inspectors General of the USSR Ministry of Defense.

Lived in the hero city of Moscow. Died December 30, 1973. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow (section 7).

Awarded six Orders of Lenin (12/23/1942, 07/21/1944, 08/19/1944, 02/21/1945, ...), the Order of the October Revolution, three Orders of the Red Banner (03/27/1942, 11/3/1944, ...), three orders Suvorov 1st degree (05/16/1944, 04/10/1945, 05/29/1945), Suvorov 2nd degree (10/25/1943), Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree (02/22/1943), medal "For the Defense of the Caucasus", other medals, foreign awards: orders of “Military Valor” (Poland), “Cross of Grunwald” (Poland).

Member of the RCP(b)/CPSU since February 1919. Candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee in 1952-1956, member of the CPSU Central Committee in 1961-1971. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1946-1950 and 1954-1970.

A street in Moscow bears his name; A memorial plaque was installed on one of the buildings of the Air Force Engineering Academy named after N.E. Zhukovsky. Name of Air Chief Marshal K.A. Vershinin was worn by the Barnaul Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots.

MILITARY THOUGHT No. 3/2000, pp. 76-79

Hero of the Soviet Union, Chief Marshal of Aviation K. A. Vershinin (On the 100th anniversary of his birth)

Retired Lieutenant General of Aviation N.N. OSTROUMOV ∗,

Candidate of Military Sciences, Associate Professor

The life path of Konstantin Andreevich Vershinin, the path of a major military leader who gave his life to serving the state and made a significant contribution to the development of the Air Force, is characteristic of his era; he had ups and downs, successes and failures.

K.A. Vershinin was born on June 3, 1900 into a poor peasant family. From an early age he began to work to earn a living. His emergence as a person came at a turning point in the history of our country.

In 1919, becoming a Red Army soldier, Konstantin Andreevich devoted 54 years to military service, 44 of them to aviation. Having demonstrated leadership abilities already in the first year of service, by 1921 he reached the position of battalion commander. Then he studied at the Shot courses and at the M.V. Frunze Academy.

In 1929, K.A. Vershinin, as a promising commander, was sent to the N.E. Zhukovsky Air Force Academy. Thus began his journey into aviation. Here he became an observer pilot and mastered aerodynamics, technology, tactics and operational art of the Air Force. Having successfully graduated from the academy, Konstantin Vershinin works at the Air Force Test Institute, but sees his place in aviation units. A little time passed - and he was the head of the operational department of the air brigade headquarters, then the squadron commander. But to fulfill the position, he needs to receive a flight education, and K.A. Vershinin completes a short-term course at the Kachin flight school, becomes a full-fledged aviation commander, and masters almost all available types of combat aircraft.

The Great Patriotic War finds him in the position of head of the Higher Flight Tactical School, and then the Higher Aviation Improvement Courses, which trained four air regiments for the front every month. In September 1941, K.A. Vershinin received a new appointment - he became commander of the Air Force of the Southern Front. By this time, he was a colonel with high tactical and operational training and experience in leading air units.

The imperfection of the organizational structure of front-line aviation that existed at that time was that most of it was located in combined arms armies and was dispersed along the entire front, which made its massive use difficult. Despite this, K.A. Vershinin manages to concentrate aviation forces to solve the main tasks of the front. Thus, in November 1941, in the first major offensive operation near Rostov, 95% of the front air force was sent to fight enemy tanks. The support of troops during the pursuit of the Germans from Rostov to Taganrog turned out to be especially effective.

In May 1942, the expected reorganization of the Air Force took place. By order of the People's Commissar of Defense “in order to build up aviation forces and successfully use massive strikes,” all aviation forces of the Southern Front were united into the newly created 4th Air Army, the commander of which was appointed K.A. Vershinin. At the same time, he becomes a member of the military council and deputy commander of the troops of the Southern Front.

The reorganization took place in the course of continuous defensive actions of the troops (the enemy in the front zone had almost triple superiority). During this period, K.A. Vershinin skillfully used the limited forces of the air army to support counterattacks and counterattacks of troops. Thus, by concentrating fighter forces on the approaches to the battlefield, he thereby created conditions for the destruction of enemy bombers before they struck. In addition, he introduced new stormtrooper order of battle- “circle of aircraft”, which made it possible to increase the accuracy of the attack of each pilot and strengthen the protection of the entire group from enemy fighters. To replenish the extremely limited fleet of bombers, K.A. Vershinin organized the conversion of all existing U-2 training aircraft into night bombers, which successfully operated at night in the front line. And this is only an incomplete list of K.A. Vershinin’s creative discoveries of that period.

In September 1942, Aviation Major General K.A. Vershinin was appointed commander of the Air Force of the Transcaucasian Front, with the 4th and 5th Air Armies, as well as the Air Force of the Black Sea Fleet, subordinate to him. He led the same forces, but in the role of commander of the Air Force of the North Caucasus Front created in January 1943. The first experience of managing three operational formations, including two air armies, on one front was a new contribution to the operational art of the Air Force of that time.

In April and May 1943, the German command, trying to keep the territory of the Kuban, including the Taman Peninsula, concentrated large forces of troops and aviation there and took active actions against the North Caucasus Front. And here K.A. Vershinin showed the high art of aviation control. He used reserves prudently and promptly increased his forces during air battles. He organized a wide network of detection and guidance points, which contributed to the timely entry of aviation forces into battle. New tactics(echeloning of fighters in height and depth - “whatnot”, battle formations based on the free maneuver of pairs of fighters, Pokryshkin’s battle formula - “height, speed, maneuver, fire”) were born during the air battle in the Kuban and were taken to armament with front-line aviation, and subsequently with all air forces.

In the Crimean offensive operation (1943-1944), K.A. Vershinin organized the maneuver of the air army through the Kerch Strait, directed air support for troops, actions for rail and sea transportation of the enemy, and assistance to the Crimean partisans.

During the strategic offensive operations of 1944-1945, Colonel General of Aviation K.A. Vershinin successfully controlled the operational maneuvers of air formations and skillfully organized their massive use in offensive operations of the 2nd Belorussian Front. No less successfully, he prepared the interaction of aviation with combined arms armies when breaking through enemy defenses, as well as with mobile groups of the front when introducing them into a breakthrough and subsequent actions in operational depth. The commander's constant concern was the continuous maintenance of air superiority throughout the entire operation, as well as the conduct of effective aerial reconnaissance.

During the Mogilev offensive operation, K.A. Vershinin concentrated aviation forces on defeating the hastily retreating Nazi troops. For the second time in the history of our Motherland, the old Smolensk road near Berezino became the site of the defeat of foreign invaders. On August 19, 1944, Konstantin Andreevich Vershinin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The final operation of the war for K.A. Vershinin was the West Pomeranian - an integral part of the Berlin operation (April 1945). In 12 days he managed to prepare and 4 days before the start of the operation to organize the maneuver of the air army in the Stettin direction. The fighting ended on May 5, 1945, when units and formations of the 2nd Belorussian Front reached the demarcation line and a meeting took place with British troops.

During the war, K.A. Vershinin was awarded many orders and medals, including four Orders of Suvorov.

A new stage in the military career of K.A. Vershinina begins in April 1946 year, when he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force and Deputy Minister of Defense. He was faced with the most difficult task - to organize work on the creation of jet aircraft, thereby making a qualitative leap in the development of aviation, opening the way to transonic, supersonic, and in the future, hypersonic speeds. The hard work was crowned with success. The design bureaus of A.I. Mikoyan and A.S. Yakovlev created and manufactured the first aircraft with a jet engine. In June of the same year, K.A. Vershinin was awarded the rank of air marshal. In September 1946 he created the first dedicated center for training pilots to fly jet aircraft.

Under his leadership, preparations are being organized for the first air parade of jet aircraft in the history of world aviation on May 1, 1947, which came as a complete surprise to Western countries. In the summer of the same year, at an aviation festival in Tushino, pilots demonstrate brilliant performances of aerobatic formation on jet fighters. In 1947-1948, new aircraft were being developed - the Mi G-15 fighter and the Il-28 jet bomber. And suddenly there was a surprise. In the skies of Transbaikalia at the end of 1948, a passenger plane carrying a Chinese delegation crashed in difficult weather conditions. J.V. Stalin brings down his anger on the Commander-in-Chief and Chief of the Air Force General Staff, who are losing their posts. A difficult period of disgrace begins for Konstantin Andreevich. A number of positions followed as commander of the air armies in the Carpathian region and Germany (1949-1951), air defense of the border line (1951-1953), the country's air defense (1953-1954), and the Baku air defense district (1954-1957).

Only in January 1957 K.A. Vershinin reappointed as Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force and led the country's Air Force for 13 years. During this time, the Air Force adopted supersonic jet fighters and bombers, military transport aircraft and helicopters of the second and third generation, and laid the foundations for the revival of attack aircraft, undeservedly disbanded by N.S. Khrushchev in 1955.

Under K.A. Vershinin, front-line and long-range aviation became missile-carrying, armed not only with conventional but also nuclear weapons, and fighter aviation was equipped with a new automated control system. In 1959 he was awarded the rank of Air Chief Marshal.

Much was done by K.A. Vershinin for the development tactics and operational art of the Air Force. Major aviation exercises were held almost every year, where issues of interaction of all types of aviation with the troops, the front and air defense of the country were worked out during front-line and air operations. Thus, in 1965, during an Air Force exercise, an airborne landing of a full division was carried out at night with a simultaneous air operation to defeat the air force and air defense of a mock enemy.

Konstantin Andreevich Vershinin has always been distinguished by a demanding approach to planning and conducting exercises. When preparing flights, their schedule was examined in detail; great attention was paid to ensuring safety, especially when aviation from two sides was simultaneously operating at the training grounds. As a result, not a single flight accident occurred during any of the sixties exercises conducted by the Secretary of Defense and the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force.

IN During this period, K.A. Vershinin carried out a lot of work to increase the survivability of aviation at airfields and strengthen the air defense of its base areas. At the same time, the Air Force Commander-in-Chief took into account the experience of local wars of that time - the Arab-Israeli and Vietnamese, the course of which he carefully analyzed.

Konstantin Andreevich paid serious attention to the issues of equipping the Air Force with new equipment. When in 1969 the question arose about adopting one of the three attack aircraft developed by the design bureaus of A.I. Mikoyan, A.S. Yakovlev, P.O. Sukhoi, he, having comprehensively analyzed the characteristics of the aircraft and taking into account the conclusions of experts, gave preference to the aircraft OKB P.O. Sukhoi, which was, as the future showed, the right decision. To this day, Su-25 attack aircraft successfully carry out combat missions.

It is necessary to note another important aspect of K.A. Vershinin’s activities as Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force. It was he who became one of the organizers of space exploration. He devoted a lot of effort and energy to the training of cosmonauts, led the creation of a special training center (the future Cosmonaut Training Center), and personally selected the best pilots for the upcoming space flights.

The most important feature of the military activity of Air Chief Marshal K.A. Vershinin was the ability to quickly navigate in any situation, find the right solution and create all the conditions for its rapid implementation in practice. The life of Konstantin Andreevich is a shining example of patriotism and honest service to the Motherland.

∗ Chief of Operations Directorate - Deputy Chief of the Air Force General Staff in 1961 - 1971, when K.A. Vershinin headed the Air Force.

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