This plane was flown by captain Vitaliy Ivanovich Popkov (5
GIAP), twice a Hero of the Soviet Union. Also he was the inspiration for two main heroes of a legendary
Russian film about fighter pilots of Great Patriotic War "Only old men`ll go into fight".
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Popkov shot down 41 aircraft and 17 in group, flew 475 sorties.
At Stalingrad on the 26th of August he shot down German Graf, in July of 1943 he shot down Wilghelm
Batz. In 1953 in Korea he shot down 3 American aircraft.
Model was painted with Humbrol paints and weathered by oils and pastels.
Aleksey
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