A pair of award documents to Second World War Soviet fight ace Ivan Kozhedub, including a congratulator document issue to Kozhedub in Moscow on 22 February 1978 following the awarding of his second Order of Lenin, constructed of a red card stock binding with a faux red leather exterior, the exterior featuring a transparent plastic liner and the interior with a white canvas liner, the cover bearing Kozhedub’s name and honorary title (as a three-time recipient of the Hero of the Soviet Union distinction), the interior features a glossed and lacquered white card stock insert secured in place with a ribbon on the spine, featuring a gilt dedication to Kozhedub in Cyrillic, with 28 multi-coloured handwritten signatures of Soviet Air Force personnel, measuring 250 mm (w) x 340 mm (h), in extremely fine condition, and; a document issued by the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian SSR), constructed of a heavy card stock binding with a faux red leather exterior, the cover bearing a gilt inscription and Ukrainain SSR coat of arms, the interior features a glossed and lacquered white card stock insert, with the cover featuring a title identical to the exterior cover, the interior features an award document duplicated in both Ukrainian and Russian Cyrillic, with a dedication praising Kozhedub’s wartime role in fighting against fascist German invaders, as well as his subsequent social and political contributions, with the two documents divided by an inact wax paper insert, dated 5 October 1984, measuring 225 mm (w) x 300 mm (h), in extremely fine condition.
Footnote: Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub was born in Obrazhiyevka, Ukrainian SSR on 8 June 1920. He initially attended vocational schools and graduated from Shostka Chemical Technical School in 1940. He had simultaneously qualified as a pilot with the Shostkinsk Aeroclub, and entered military service the same year. Aiming for service with the Soviet Air Force, Kozhedub graduated from Chuguev Military Air School in 1941. Despite his desire to see combat upon the German invasion in June 1941, Kozhedub was retained by the school as a flight instructor, training many of the pilots who were sent to the front in the early stages of the war. After submitting a request for frontline service, he was finally transferred to combat in March 1943, flying his first mission on the 26th of that month. Kozhedub’s first kill was a Luftwaffe Ju-87 Stuka, shot down during the Battle of Kursk. Regarded as the top Soviet fighter ace of the war, he subsequently downed a further 61 German aircraft, including a Me-262 jet fighter, in 330 combat missions. He was named a Hero of the Soviet Union three times, and also received seven Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of Alexander Nevsky, two Orders of the Red Star, an Order of the Patriotic War, I Class, and numerous other awards and decorations. He remained in military service after the war, being promoted to Colonel in 1951 and commanding the 324th Fighter Air Division as part of the Soviet intervention in the Korean War. He graduated from the High Command Academy, in 1956, becoming a full General, and continued as an inspector of the Soviet Air Force until his death in 1991. An unsubstantiated story of Kozhedub’s service claims that, during a case of mistaken identity after entering crossfire between American and German forces, he was forced to defend himself against friendly fire from the former, downing two P-51 fighters.