Stepan Kretov

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Stepan Ivanovich Kretov
December 25, 1919 - January 19, 1975
Place of birth	Malaya Nichka, Minusinsk District of Krasnoyarsk Krai
Place of death	Moscow, Soviet Union
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service/branch	Soviet Air Forces 1939-1958, Strategic Rocket Forces
Years of service	1939 – 1974
Rank	Colonel
Unit	24th Guards Bomber Regiment
Commands held	Squadron commander
Battles/wars	World War II, June 1941 - May 1945
Awards	Hero of the Soviet Union 1944, 1948

Stepan Ivanovich Kretov (Russian: Степан Иванович Кретов) (December 25, 1919 - January 19, 1975) was a Soviet military aviator. He was made a Hero of the Soviet Union on two occasions (March 13, 1944; February 23, 1948). Colonel Kretov was awarded two Orders of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner, Orders of the Red Star, and numerous medals.

[edit] Biography

Stepan Kretov was born in a peasant family from Malaya Nichka, Minusinsk District of Krasnoyarsk Krai. After completing middle school in Minusinsk, he trained at an agricultural college in Kansk. In 1939-1940, Kretov completed primary airforce training at Balashov Air School.

During World War II, Kretov served in long-range bomber units, flying his first combat mission in June, 1941. By the beginning of 1944, captain Kretov's citation for the title of Hero of Soviet Union listed 336 combat missions, 60 enemy airplanes destroyed on the ground and 10 in the air. On eight occasions, Kretov bailed out from damaged airplanes, including ditching into Azov Sea after a raid on Kerch in December 1943. He flew his last mission of that war over Berlin, May 2, 1945.

After postgraduate military education in 1950-1958 Kretov transferred to emerging Strategic Rocket Forces; he trained cadets in Rostov and Moscow military colleges until his retirement in 1974. He was buried at Vvedenskoye Cemetery in Moscow.

[edit] References

• Russian biography: Костин, Н., "Красные звезды свободы. Степан Иванович Кретов" в издании "Люди бессмертного подвига. Очерки о дважды, трижды и четырежды Героях Советского Союза", М, 1975, Книга 1 [1].