PEPELYAEV, YEVGENIJ
Pepelyaev, Yevgenij
(March 18, 1918–)
Russian Fighter Pilot
P
epelyaev is gener-
ally regarded as the
highest or second
highest Soviet ace of the
Korean War. He includes
among his total no less
than 14 of the superb
North American F-86
Sabrejets.
Yevgenij Georgiyevich
Pepelyaev was born near
Irkutsk, Russia, on March
18, 1918. He enlisted in
the Red Army in 1936 and
two years later attended
the Odessa Military Fly-
ing School. Having ac-
quired his wings by 1939,
Pepelyaev joined the 300
IAP (fighter squadron) in
the Soviet Far East, rising
there to squadron leader.
He remained on garrison duty until November
1943 before shipping east to fight the invading
Germans along the Byelorussian front. After
logging 12 missions in Yakovlev Yak 7 fighters
(scoring no kills), he transferred back to the
Far East in time to fight the Japanese in Au-
gust 1945. There, as commander of his old 300
IAP, he conducted 30 ground-support mis-
sions flying Yak 9s and was credited with one
locomotive destroyed. By 1947, Pepelyaev
had advanced to colonel of the 196 IAP and
was selected for training on new jet aircraft.
After World War II ended, the Soviets in-
herited a trove of advance German technol-
ogy, especially relating to jet aviation. Josef
Stalin, dictatorial head of the Soviet Union,
was fearful of trailing the West in its applica-
tions, so he demanded the creation of new jet
fighters of the Red Air Force. By 1946, engi-
neers at the Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG) design
bureau conceived an ultramodern design with
highly swept wings and
tail and heavy bomber–
killing cannon armament.
However, Soviet efforts
were beset by the low-
thrust German jet tech-
nology then available.
But in 1947, the incredi-
bly naive British Labor
Party arranged for the ex-
port of several Rolls-
Royce Nenejet engines,
then the world’s best.
This technological wind-
fall allowed the Soviets to
copy them as the new VK-
1 jet engine. Once in-
stalled in the new MiG 15
fighter, the Red Air Force
possessed a world-class
jet interceptor that was
faster and could outclimb
or outrun virtually any aircraft in the world.
Within a few years, the MiG 15 proved itself
an uncomfortable surprise for the West.
The Cold War between democracy and
communism was about to get considerably
hotter by the summer of 1950. North Korean
dictator Kim Il Sung, a Soviet puppet, ad-
vanced the notion that he could conquer
South Korea, an American ally, with one swift
invasion. Stalin gave his blessing to the proj-
ect and starting transferring several MiG 15
fighter regiments to the Far East as a precau-
tion. On June 25, 1950, North Korean forces
crashed over the demilitarized zone separat-
ing the two countries, and the Korean War
began in earnest. However, what started as a
simple invasion quickly expanded into a po-
tential Cold War flashpoint when the United
States, backed by the United Nations, inter-
vened to expel the aggressors. When allied
forces subsequently invaded North Korea,Yevgenij Pepelyaev
Tomás Polák