Efimov, Aleksandr

Born Feb. 6, 1923, in Kantemirovka, now in Voronezh Oblast. Soviet military leader; colonel general of aviation (1969). Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (Oct. 26, 1944, and Aug. 18, 1945). Member of the CPSU since 1943.

Born into a worker’s family, Efimov entered the Soviet Army in May 1941. He graduated from a military aviation school in 1942 and took part in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 in combat on the Western and Second Byelorussian fronts near Viaz’ma and Smolensk and in Byelorussia, Poland, and Germany. He held the positions of pilot, flight commander, squadron commander, and navigator of the 62nd and 198th attack air regiments and the 233rd Attack Air Division. He completed 222 sorties to reconnoiter and attack enemy troops, airfields, water crossings, and military trains. He graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1951 and from the Military Academy of the General Staff in 1957. In March 1969 he became the first deputy to the commander-in-chief of the air force. A deputy to the second convocation of the Supreme Soviet, he has been awarded two Orders of Lenin, four Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Alexander Nevsky, the Order of the Patriotic War First Class, the Order of the Red Star, a Polish order, and various medals.