On the night of August 7, 1941, Lieutenant Viktor Talalikhin rammed a German bomber over Moscow

On the night of August 7, 1941, in the skies over Moscow, Junior Lieutenant Viktor Talalikhin intercepted an enemy bomber. After exhausting his ammunition, at an altitude of 4,800 meters, he rammed his I-16 into the tail of the German Heinkel He-111. The enemy aircraft caught fire and crashed, while Talalikhin bailed out of his damaged fighter and landed in the Severka River. For this feat, he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

✈️ Pilot Alexey Maresyev recalled:

"Ramming an enemy aircraft is not easy. Courage alone is not enough — excellent flight training is also required. And under night conditions, even in perfect weather, the task becomes incredibly difficult."

Approaching Moscow, the German air force suffered heavy losses: in a short time, the Luftwaffe lost 172 Heinkels. The aerial blitzkrieg failed — only 4% of enemy aircraft broke through to the city. Moscow's air defenses destroyed thousands of enemy machines.

On October 27, 1941, Viktor Talalikhin was killed in an air battle, but his name remains forever in the history of the Great Patriotic War.