Ivan Doronin

Colonel Ivan Vasilyevich Doronin (Иван Васильевич Доронин) (May 5 (O.S. April 22), 1903 – February 2, 1951, Moscow) was a Soviet aircraft pilot and Hero of the Soviet Union (April 20, 1934).

Biography
Ivan Doronin volunteered for the navy in 1920 and soon joined a naval aviation school in Leningrad. He graduated from the Sevastopol Flying School in 1925 and then served as a navy pilot in the Black Sea Fleet. In 1930, Ivan Doronin joined the civil aviation in the Russian North.

In 1934, he took part in the rescue of the Chelyuskin steamship crew from an improvised airstrip on the frozen surface of the Chukchi Sea, for which he would be awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union. Later in his life, Ivan Doronin headed experimental flight stations at different aircraft factories. In 1947, he retired due to his illness.

Ivan Doronin was also awarded the Order of Lenin.