Alexander Pokryshkin - Early Years

Early Years

Pokryshkin was born in Novosibirsk, son of a peasant turned factory worker. He grew up in a poor, crime infested part of town, but unlike most of his peers he was more interested in learning than in fighting and petty crime. His nickname in his early teens was Engineer. He caught the "aviation bug" when he was 12 years old at a local air show, and the dream never left him after that. In 1928, after seven years of school, he found work as a construction worker. In 1930, despite his father's protests, he left home and entered a local technical college, where he received a degree in 18 months and worked for six more as a steel worker at a local munitions factory. Subsequently, he volunteered for the army and was sent to an aviation school. His dream finally seemed to be coming true. Unfortunately the flight school was suddenly closed, and all students were instead transferred to be trained as aircraft mechanics. Dozens of official requests were denied with a simple "Soviet aviation needs mechanics just as badly".

Pokryshkin still strived to excel as a mechanic. Graduating in 1933, he quickly rose through the ranks. By December 1934, he became the Senior Aviation Mechanic of the 74th Rifle Division. He stayed in that capacity until November 1938. During that time his creative nature became clearly visible: he invented improvements to the ShKAS machine gun and the R-5 reconnaissance aircraft among other things.

Finally, during his vacation in the winter of 1938 Pokryshkin was able to circumvent the authorities by passing a yearly civilian pilot program in only 17 days. This automatically made him eligible for flight school. Without even packing a suitcase, he boarded a train to flight school. He graduated with top honors in 1939, and in the rank of Sr. Lieutenant he was appointed to the 55th Fighter Regiment.