Pe2

[Lusekofte]

"Crew of the commander of a link of the 11th aviation regiment, the senior lieutenant Mikhail Batovsky (at the left)  after return from a fighting mission before the damaged Pe-2R plane.

On October 9, 1942 M. Batovsky's crew by Pe-2R plane took off for  performance of the next task for the Region of Yartseva of the Smolensk  region and upon return of his "pawn" was fired by an antiaircraft  artillery and received direct hit in the screw which tore off together  with a motor reducer. 

At this moment from the front line the crew was  separated by nearly 100 km. Batovsky managed to hold hard damaged plane  in air and in an hour and a quarter put him in the airfield.

On a photo from left to right: commander of a link of the 11th ORAP  senior lieutenant Batovsky Mikhail Fillipovich (1917 — 1942),  gunner radio operator staff sergeant Yakovlev Nikita Hrisanfovich (1922  — 1942), navigator of a link senior lieutenant Shamin Nikolay  Sergeyevich (1919 — 1942).

M. Batovsky's crew did not return from  the next fighting mission on November 9, 1942 in three days after the  order on rewarding of the commander of crew with an award of "the Red  Banner", and the navigator and the gunner was signed with awards of  "the Red Star".

pe 2 flew over northern part of Norway. Always had a soft spot for it

[Chief_Mouser]

Never seen those pics before. Shame they didn't live long enough to get the appreciation they deserved. Cheers.