Biography

Suffix NG is Nikolaj Gastello

June 26, 1941. It was the sixth day of the Great Patriotic War.

While attacking a tank column on the Molodechno-Radoshkovichi road, N.F. Gastello's plane caught fire after a direct hit to the fuel tank by an anti-aircraft shell. Gastello directed the burning bomber toward a concentration of enemy troops at a narrow fork in the road. The fire from the burning German fuel trucks and ammunition raged for several days, delaying the advance along this section of the front. A monument to the crew now stands at the site of this heroic act: N.F. Gastello, navigator A.A. Burdenok, gunner G.N. Skorobogaty, and gunner-radio operator A.A. Kalinin.