Nikolai Semenovich Skripko

Born Nov. 22 (Dec. 5), 1902, in the village of Bolderāja, within the present-day city limits of Riga. Soviet military leader. Marshal of aviation (1944). Member of the CPSU since 1927.

Skripko took part in the Civil War of 1918–20 at the Trans-baikal and Amur fronts. He graduated from the Miasnikov First Military School for Pilots in 1927, from the Higher Tactical Flight School in 1938, and from the Advanced Academic Courses at the K. E. Voroshilov Higher Military Academy in 1950. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45, Skripko was commander of the Third Aviation Corps, commander of the Fifth Army Air Force, and deputy commander of the Air Force of the Southwestern Front in 1941 and 1942. In March 1942 he became deputy commander of Long-range Aviation. He took part in military actions at Stalingrad, in the Northern Caucasus, in the Crimea, at Kursk, in Byelorussia, in the Baltic Region, and in East Prussia. After the war, Skripko served as first deputy commander of Long-range Aviation from 1946 to 1949, commander of Troop Carrier Aviation from 1950 to 1955, and commander of Military Transport Aviation of the Air Force from 1955 to 1969. In August 1969 he became military inspector-counselor of the group of Inspectors-General of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR.

Skripko was a member of the Central Auditing Commission of the CPSU from 1961 to 1966 and a deputy to the sixth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He has been awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, five Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov First Class and Second Class, the Order of Kutuzov First Class and Second Class, and various medals.