---
title: 'Komsomolskaya Pravda, 4 July 1942: ''Master of the Ram'' (Master tarana), front-page profile of pilot Aleksey Khlobystov'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/komsomolskaya-pravda-master-of-the-ram-1942/
description: 'Cropped front-page column: a TASS portrait of a young fighter pilot with the Hero of the Soviet Union star, under the headline ''Master of the Ram'' and a…'
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Komsomolskaya Pravda, 4 July 1942: 'Master of the Ram' (Master tarana), front-page profile of pilot Aleksey Khlobystov](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/komsomolskaya-pravda-master-of-the-ram-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/komsomolskaya-pravda-master-of-the-ram-1942.jpg)

# Komsomolskaya Pravda, 4 July 1942: 'Master of the Ram' (Master tarana), front-page profile of pilot Aleksey Khlobystov

Cropped front-page column: a TASS portrait of a young fighter pilot with the Hero of the Soviet Union star, under the headline 'Master of the Ram' and a battle narrative. The text calls the squadron 'Stalin's falcons' and the pilot a pupil of the 'Leninist-Stalinist Komsomol', attaching the leaders' names to the pilots' courage: the transfer tell.

## Text on the object

Original (Russian) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
МАСТЕР ТАРАНА

Алексей Хлобыстов хорошо помнит первое свое чувство, когда он увидел 28 самолетов: это было чувство, что Мурманску угрожает опасность.
— Смотри, сколько на нас идет, — сказал он по радио капитану Позднякову, командиру шести советских истребителей.
— Смотри за молодыми, — ответил капитан, — я иду в атаку.
В следующую минуту шесть советских истребителей врезались в строй немецких самолетов. После первой же атаки был сбит один «Мессершмитт». Теперь фашистов было 27.
Воздушный бой походил на какую-то адскую карусель. Алексей Хлобыстов, крутясь и изворачиваясь, не упускал из виду молодых пилотов, прикрывая их от внезапных атак врага. И вот снизу появился двухмоторный «Мессершмитт-110». Летчик мгновенно использовал свое превосходство в высоте и ринулся за немцем. Он хорошо видел голову стрелка, заметил веер трассирующих пуль. Расстояние сокращалось. Короткая пулеметная очередь. Фашистский стрелок уронил голову.
Два самолета с бешеной скоростью мчались один за другим. На их курсе показалась гора. Пойти вверх значило выпустить немца. Алексей Хлобыстов на миг оглянулся: сзади шли еще три немца. Хлобыстов решил любой ценой разбить удирающего противника. Задрав правую плоскость машины, он ударил ее концом по хвосту с черным крестом. Толчок был сильный и короткий. Немец врезался в сопку, а Хлобыстов взмыл вверх.
Когда в беспримерной схватке погиб капитан Поздняков, смяв немецкую машину, Алексей Хлобыстов принял на себя команду. Но машина смельчака была не так уж послушна. А на нее шли два фашиста. Точно взвесив свое положение, советский пилот решил пойти на второй таран. Расчет был верный. Когда немец, шедший справа, отвернул в сторону, Алексей Хлобыстов ударил по крылу левого своим разбитым крылом... Самолет потерял управление, и его потащило вниз, вслед за немцем, который упал, сделав три витка.
Беспримерный бой шести советских истребителей против 28 фашистских самолетов закончился победой сталинских соколов.
Вскоре Алексей Хлобыстов прославился и третьим тараном. Во время боя его ранили в руку и ногу. Гордый сокол, чувствуя, что не может долго драться, пошел на таран и, сбив немца, выбросился на парашюте.
Мастер таранных ударов, воспитанник Ленинско-Сталинского комсомола, Алексей Хлобыстов вместе с товарищами сбил 22 немецких самолета. Шесть фашистских машин Алексей Хлобыстов уничтожил лично. За отвагу и героизм, проявленные в боях с немецкими оккупантами, Алексею Хлобыстову присвоено звание Героя Советского Союза.
На снимке: Герой Советского Союза старший лейтенант Алексей ХЛОБЫСТОВ.
Фото Г. ШИРОКОВА. (ТАСС)
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
MASTER OF THE RAM

Aleksey Khlobystov remembers well his first feeling when he saw 28 aircraft: it was the feeling that Murmansk was in danger.
"Look how many are coming at us," he said over the radio to Captain Pozdnyakov, commander of the six Soviet fighters.
"Watch the young ones," answered the captain, "I am going in to attack."
The next minute six Soviet fighters cut into the formation of German aircraft. After the very first attack one "Messerschmitt" was shot down. Now there were 27 fascists.
The air battle looked like some kind of hellish carousel. Aleksey Khlobystov, spinning and twisting, did not lose sight of the young pilots, covering them from the enemy's sudden attacks. And then a twin-engined "Messerschmitt-110" appeared from below. The pilot instantly used his advantage in height and rushed after the German. He saw the gunner's head clearly and noticed a fan of tracer bullets. The distance shrank. A short machine-gun burst. The fascist gunner dropped his head.
Two aircraft raced one behind the other at furious speed. A mountain appeared on their course. To go up would mean letting the German go. Aleksey Khlobystov glanced back for a moment: three more Germans were coming behind. Khlobystov decided to smash the fleeing enemy at any price. Raising the right wing of his machine, he struck the tail with the black cross with its tip. The jolt was strong and short. The German crashed into a hill, and Khlobystov soared up.
When Captain Pozdnyakov perished in the unparalleled fight, having crushed a German machine, Aleksey Khlobystov took command. But the brave man's machine was not so obedient any more. And two fascists were coming at it. Weighing up his position exactly, the Soviet pilot decided to go for a second ram. The calculation was right. When the German coming from the right turned aside, Aleksey Khlobystov struck the left one's wing with his damaged wing... The aircraft lost control and was dragged down, after the German, who fell, making three turns.
The unparalleled battle of six Soviet fighters against 28 fascist aircraft ended in a victory of Stalin's falcons.
Soon Aleksey Khlobystov became famous for a third ram. During the battle he was wounded in the arm and leg. The proud falcon, feeling that he could not fight long, went in to ram and, having shot down the German, bailed out by parachute.
Master of ramming blows, pupil of the Leninist-Stalinist Komsomol, Aleksey Khlobystov together with his comrades shot down 22 German aircraft. Aleksey Khlobystov destroyed six fascist machines personally. For the courage and heroism shown in battles with the German occupiers, Aleksey Khlobystov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In the photograph: Hero of the Soviet Union Senior Lieutenant Aleksey KHLOBYSTOV.
Photo by G. SHIROKOV. (TASS)
```

Read from the 960-pixel crop; faint show-through of text from the reverse of the page above the headline is not transcribed. A word or two of newsprint text may be misread where the print is worn.

[← 'Bullets and cannon too, from savings': munitions price spread, Shashin Shūhō No. 225](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/savings-munitions-prices-shashin-shuho-225-1942/) [15 sen definitive stamp showing a saluting boy aircraftsman (1942) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/boy-aircraftsman-15-sen-stamp-1942/)

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