Sergei Makarovich Kramarenko (; 10 April 1923 – 21 May 2020) was a Soviet Air Force officer who fought in World War II and the Korean War. For his service in Korea he became a holder of the Title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He achieved several high command positions in the USSR and was also Air Force advisor in Iraq and Algeria in the 1970s. Retired in 1977 with the rank of major-general, he lived with his family in Moscow.
He was the last living Soviet flying ace of Korean War.
Childhood and encounter with aviation Sergei Kramarenko was born on 10 April 1923 in the village of Kalynivka in Sumy Oblast, Ukraine, the eldest of three sons of Makar Kramarenko and Nadezhda Galkovskaya. His parents were divorced when he and his brothers were still children and he went with his mother and brothers to live first in the Caucasus, and later to a kolkhoz near the Volga river.
During the 1930s the young Kramarenko listened to radio broadcasts about the deeds of Soviet airmen like Valery Chkalov and Georgy Baydukov, and so decided to become a pilot. In the autumn of 1940 he began a flying course at the Dzerzhinsky aeroclub, and as one of the 80 who graduated with the highest marks was offered the opportunity to become a military pilot. Kramarenko accepted and began military training on 1 April 1941 at Borisoglebsk aerodrome.
World War II - Soviet-German Front Sergei Kramarenko first saw action in late November 1942 over Stalingrad, as part of the 523rd Fighter Aviation Regiment, equipped with the LaGG-3. Like most inexperienced fliers, he began as wingman to more experienced pilots, such as Capt. Mikhail Baranovskiy and Lt. Yury Ryzhov. In early 1943 his unit was re-equipped with the Lavochkin La-5, which performance-wise proved to be on a par with the German Fw 190 and Bf 109.
First aerial victory On 23 February 1943 he was flying as wingman in a flight led by Capt. Baranovskiy when they engaged a group of dive-bomber Ju 87 Stukas. Several escorting Fw 190s jumped his element leader Ryzhov and he promptly rushed to assist:
In that moment in front of me, with a left turn at 100-150 meters arrived two unknown aircraft of green color - in their fuselages were black crosses. In spite it was the first time I saw them, immediately I knew they were two Fw 190s. As soon as they finished their turn, one of them began to shoot at my leader. I opened fire against the trailing airplane and I saw shell strikes all over the aircraft. I watched that suddenly it went upwards turning, and his leader after him. Right then, ahead of me from the left went by tracers. I looked to the left and saw that 300 meters behind at the left were two Focke-Wulfs. They shoot right at me, and the tracers of their aircraft get closer and closer to my airplane. What should I do? To climb was impossible, because there were two more Focke-Wulfs. Immediately broke to the left, underneath the tracers. I dove [...] Many years later, while I described this episode to a journalist friend of mine, he told me that he saw in German memoirs a report of the leader of that Schwarm. [...] After the combat with me, while returning home, one of his pilots, because of unexplainable reasons, got into a dive and crashed into the ground. I realized that one of the shells of my cannons hit the pilot's cockpit and wounded the pilot, who because of the loss of blood fainted and crashed to his death.
Kramarenko's first victory claim was Fw 190A-3 (WkNr 2265) of Oberfeldwebel Karl Stadeck, (of 2./JG 51 "Mölders"), who was killed. He claimed while flying Lavochkin La-5 "Red 34".Sergei Makarovich Kramarenko and Milos Sedivy, "Lovec", Svet Krídel, Prague, 2008
Downed, wounded, captured and rescued
On 19 March 1944 three La-5FNs of the 19th Fighter Aviation Regiment intercepted a group of Ju 88 bombers escorted by six Bf 110 fighters. Kramarenko's leader - Pavel Maslyakov - shot down one of the Junkers, but was in return jumped by one of the Bf 110s. Kramarenko was ready to cover him, scoring hits on the Messerschmitt. He then fell prey to the Bf 110 wingman, who set his aircraft on fire and forced him to bail out with severe burns to face and hands.
Kramarenko was captured almost immediately by German troops, and as he was unwilling to answer the questions of his SS interrogator he was to be executed. Fortunately for Kramarenko the order was cancelled at the last minute by a Wehrmacht General, who ordered also that Kramarenko be sent to a German field hospital. Two weeks later Kramarenko was rescued by Soviet troops liberating the hospital.
Service in Kozhedub's 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment After several months of convalescence in a Moscow burns hospital, he returned to his regiment (now redesignated 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment). Kramarenko was appointed wingman to the Regiment navigator Major Aleksandr Kumanichkin, already an ace with 35 aerial victories ( he claimed five more in Korea). Both men were aggressive and disciplined in the air and they became a lethal team. He flew Kumanichkin's wing for several of the ace's victories, and shared some of them. On 16 April 1945 Kramarenko scored his second full victory: a Fw 190 over Eastern Prussia. The aircraft he flew that day was the Lavochkin La-7 "Red 27", of the regimental executive officer Major Ivan Kozhedub. Kozhedub had lent Kramarenko his aircraft because he was not scheduled to fly and no other aircraft was available.Sergei Makarovich Kramarenko and Milos Sedivy, "Lovec", Svet Kridél, Prague, 2008
Interwar period In 1946 the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment was redeployed to the aerodrome of Tyoply Stan on the south-west outskirts of Moscow and was among the first units to receive the new prop-driven La-9, the jet-propelled La-15, and in late 1949 the MiG-15. Already the deputy commander of the 3rd squadron, Kramarenko flew the MiG-15 during the 1950 May Day fly-past over the Kremlin and Red Square, and on 14 August over Tushino airbase.
The Korean War (1950–53) In early October 1950 the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment were called to a meeting in the Officers' Club at Tyoply Stan by General Redkin, the Executive Officer of the Air Defense of Moscow, with Vasily Stalin also attending. Redkin detailed the critical situation in North Korea, with American B-29 heavy bombers bombing the poorly defended North Korean cities. The Soviet-backed Democratic People's Republic of Korea had officially requested Soviet assistance. When asked for volunteers all pilots, including Kramarenko, raised their hands. The unit was soon deployed to Korea. Soviet involvement would be a secret until well after the end of the Cold War.
Travelling across Siberia, Kozhedub's 324th Fighter Aviation Division (made up of the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment and 196th Fighter Aviation Regiment) arrived in the city of Dunfyn, where they were given Chinese uniforms to wear. The Soviet fliers received their first salary in Chinese currency which they spent at local markets, buying civilian clothing to replace the Chinese uniforms. An intense period of air-to-air training in the MiG-15 followed. The Russians trained alongside Chinese pilots in the nearby airbase of Mukden. Kozhedub brought Kramarenko with him and personally checked the training of their Chinese and Korean apprentices. Kramarenko remembered the poor training of the Chinese students who could barely perform even basic training flights. Both he and Kozhedub also realized the meager diet of rice they received was a problem. As soon as the Chinese rations were replaced by meat and other high-calorie food the situation improved.
First victories Both regiments of the 324th Fighter Aviation Division redeployed to the forward airbase at Antung, and entered into battle in early April 1951. On 3 April they suffered three losses for no victories, although on 4 April 1951 Fyodor Shebanov managed to shoot down an F-86 and the pilot captured.Leonid Krylov and Yuriy Tepsurkayev, "Soviet MiG-15 Aces of the Korean War", Chapter 2, Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2008
Kramarenko noted that the main reason for such a defeat was their failure to enter Korean airspace at higher altitude and superior speed in comparison with American aircraft. Yevgeny Pepelyaev, (commander of the 196th Fighter Regiment) and Sergey Vishnyakov (executive officer of the 176th Fighter Regiment) instructed the MiG pilots to jump the American formations in co-ordinated attacks from different directions.Igor Seydov and German Askold, "Krasnye Dyavoly na 38-y Paralleli Now with these coordinated attacks and both height and high speed the MiG-15 fliers had combat conditions in their favor.
These tactics were tested on 12 April 1951 when 44 MiG-15s of the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment and 196th Fighter Aviation Regiment faced an American formation made up of 48 B-29s escorted by 96 jet fighters. Against these uneven odds the Soviet fliers claimed some 10 B-29s, 3 F-80s, and 1 F-86 shot down. Kramarenko's first victory in Korea was the F-80C of Captain A. B. Swanson (18th ABG). Kramarenko's second victory in the Korean sky occurred on 2 June, as he recalls:
In such conditions (on 2 and 17 June I managed to shoot down some Sabres. For example, reminded me the following combat: We flew in a zveno [a flight, a 4-airplanes formation] in the area assigned to patrol, having performed some circuits, when we spotted a group of eight Sabres, heading in a head-on course. We maneuvered to gain altitude and turned around to attack them from the rear hemisphere, but the Sabres spotted us and turned around too. A quartet kept on flying straight, and I with a dive began to chase the aircraft of the rearmost quartet. Two Sabres went to left, and two to the right; Lazutin's pair attacked the pair on the left, and went towards the right. The Sabres began to dive, but by then the range had decreased, and at about 400 meters I open fire. I see hits all over the Sabre wingman, which releasing smoke kept on diving. My wingman jumped the second Sabre, but his aircraft began to shake, due to the speed had almost reached 1.000 km/h, and consequently missed. We got out of the dive, and we saw that below remained only one Sabre - no trace of the second. Soon the ground control confirmed us, that he fell.
His victory was probably confirmed by the interception of American radio dialogue: the F-86A Bu.No 49-1130 of Thomas C. Hanson (336th FIS, Killed), although USAF records list the aircraft as lost in an accident shortly after take-off.Sergei Makarovich Kramarenko and Milos Sedivy, "Lovec", Svet Kridél, Prague, 2008 and KORWALD
Clash of Titans On 17 June 1951 Kramarenko and his six wingmen almost fell in an American ambush when they engaged eight Sabres who were acting as bait for three more F-86s lying in wait and ready to attack from above. What follows is Kramarenko's account of the duel he had against an American ace of World War II:
"Then the Sabres changed to another tactic. Individual pairs of their most experienced pilots would sit off to the side, and when combat was joined would pounce on the trailing aircraft of our group, and frequently shoot them down. [...]