Aleksandr Vasilyevich Fedotov

Alexander Vasilyevich Fedotov (June 23, 1932, Stalingrad, USSR - April 4, 1984, USSR) was a Soviet test pilot which was- Hero of the Soviet Union, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, Lenin Prize, Major-General of Aviation.

Biography
He was born on 23 June 1932 in the town of Stalingrad in the USSR. During the Second World War he and his mother fled from the besieged Stalingrad. The Fedotov family returned to Stalingrad only after its liberation, but without Alexandrov's father, who fought on the front and died in battle Warsaw Uprising in 1944. In 1947 he completed the seventeen year old Alexander's seven-year primary school and joined the 7th Specialized School of Air Armed Forces USSR.

Career


In 1958 he graduated from the School of Test Pilots, in 1965 he graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute.

Since August 1958, a test pilot of the OKB named after AI Mikoyan. Participated in the tests of MiG-19, MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-25, MiG-27, MiG-29, MiG-31 and their modifications. For the first time in the country, it reached a speed corresponding to the Mach number M = 3.

On E-166 and MiG-25 aircraft, 18 world aviation records were set (of which three are absolute), speed, dynamic ceiling, load capacity and climbing speed. In particular, he still owns the unaccounted flight altitude record (37650 meters) for manned jet aircraft, established on August 31, 1977, on an experimental MiG-25M fighter.

Major-General of Aviation (1983), Honored Coach of the USSR (1976), master of sports of international class (1975), Honored Test Pilot of the USSR (1969), Hero of the Soviet Union (1966).

Fedotov lived in the city of Zhukovsky in the Moscow region.

He died April 4, 1984 in a test flight on the MiG-31, together with the test navigator VS Zaitsev. In that flight there was a false alarm of the system of indication of the emergency fuel residue. Fedotov decided to sit down. Believing that there was not enough fuel on the plane, he made a sharp maneuver, but a heavy, fuel-filled airplane reached the overcritical corners of the attack and fell into a tailspin. Neither Fedotov nor Zaitsev survived.

He was buried at the Bykov cemetery of the city of Zhukovsky.

The winner of the Lenin Prize (1981). He was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Red Banner of Labor, and medals.

Memorial

 * There is a Fedotov Street in the city of Zhukovsky
 * The name of Alexandr Fedotov is assigned to the main Russian test pilot school in Zhukovsky
 * The name Alexandr Fedotov was awarded to school No. 24 in the Kirov district of the city of Volgograd