Lt Petr Kulakov defected to Germans in I-16

[BrianC]

Hi guys

Kulakov apparently defected from Russia, with his wife, in an I-16 sometime in 1941.

Can anyone elaborate, please? Date? Which theatre? Which unit?

Any information appreciated.

Stay safe
Brian

[RSwank]

There is some info on Kulakov starting in the 4th paragraph here (from the book "The Defeat of the Luftwaffe", by Johnathan Trigg, Chapter 12):

https://www.google.com/books/edition...sec=frontcover


Also a brief mention here: https://massimotessitori.altervista....batievskii.htm
which says:

"31. Petr Kulakov took his wife and flew to Gatchina airfield on 05.12.1941. His fate unknown. On his account there was a Pe-2 shot down on 24.07.41 and SB during Finnish war."

[kirche]

deputy squadron commander of the 13th IAP.

12/05/1941 took his concubine (common-law wife) and flew to the I-16 to the Germans in Gatchina.
04/29/1944 was killed in the Kaunas region, near the village of Kroni (he was the driver of the car of Vladyka Metropolitan of Lithuania and Vilnius, Exarch of Latvia and Estonia Sergius (D.N. Voskresensky))

[BrianC]

Rolland and Kirch

Many thanks indeed.

Rolland, you mention that he erroneously shot down a Pe2 and an SB. What were the circumstances? How did he escape a firing squad? Was that the major reason for his defection?

Where was 13-IAP based at that time?

Presumably, he was not indoctrinated into the Luftwaffe. Do we know what happened to him between his defection and 1944, when he was killed as a driver? Intriguing! Interesting! Surprising that nothing has appeared in print.

Thanks again, guys
Stay safe

Brian

[RSwank]

The defection story also appears in “Black Cross – Red Star The Air War over the Eastern Front (Vol 2)” by Crister Bergström and Andrey Mikhailov page 21

“On December 5, 1941, 13 lAP of the Soviet Red Banner Baltic Fleet Air Force's 61 AB reported Starshiy Leytenant Petr Kulakov missing during a flight in the Lake Ladoga..Leningrad area. In fact, Kulakov flew directly to a German airfield and handed himself over to the enemy. Kulakov's story is quite revealing of the harsh lot of the Soviet airmen serving in the northern combat zone since the opening of the German invasion. He had claimed one Finnish SB shot down; but on July 24, 1941, what Kulakov thought was a "Bf 110," which he attacked and shot down, turned out to be one of the new Soviet Pe-2s piloted by 57 BAP/VVS-KBF's Leytenant Chechetin. The pilot and the navigator survived, but the radio operator was killed. For this Kulakov was sentenced to eight years forced labor, the sentence suspended to the end of the war. Having flown fifty combat missions against Luftflotte l over the Baltics and Leningrad since June 1941, Kulakov had experienced directly the sufferings and hardships of the VVS aviators encountering the superiority of the Bf 109. He was shot down twice but managed to bail out safely. This narrow escape, and the unfortunate destruction of a Pe-2 were no less important. It is interesting to note how the circumstances surrounding Kulakov's defection were described in a report issued by the chief of the supreme political directorate of the Soviet Navy, Armeyskiy Komissar Vtorogo Ranga Ivan Rogov, on March 19, 1942:

On one of the airfields of 61 AB/KBF: the deputy commander of an Eskadrilya, Starshiy Leytenant Kulakov, took off together with his wife in an 1-16 in broad daylight in December and flew over to the enemy. This occurred due to the fact that there was an insufficient organization of the service of the airfield; elementary orders and military discipline was absent, and the men who were present when Kulakov took off showed no vigilance. It is incredible that the technicians who prepared the aircraft for the flight, the duty officers, and the flight officers all were unable to see that a woman was entering a combat aircraft. And yet, no one issued any warning and no one undertook any measures to prevent Kulakov's escape.”

[kirche]

30.11.39 shot down an SB plane (in the report it looks like this - "when flying to attack unknown planes in the Gakkovo area (10.40-11.45), he fired a mutual exchange of fire with an SB plane from the VVS LVO, which was flying from the west through the restricted area. As a result, the SB plane fired an emergency landing with out of order engines in the Khabolovo area. The aircraft needs repair. Senior lieutenant KULAKOV on the plane with a long burst with the SB propeller made an emergency landing on the forest in the Khabolovo area. The plane burned down the pilot was out of order for 10-12 days - was damaged right hand, crack bone. "

[kirche]

From the report of the head of the UBP VVS KBF “Senior Lieutenant KULAKOV, in response to the measures taken against him for violating the Aerobatics Manual, 18.8.40 during the air parade. On 21.8.40, he brought the squadron commander the Order of the Red Replacement and the order book, said: “Take it, I no longer need it”.

[kirche]

in my opinion, it looks like a story of an eccentric, undisciplined and unbalanced person who was not ready to make informed decisions in critical situations. As a result, life was like in a song based on Yesenin's poems "and carried me like an autumn leaf, I changed names, I changed cities"

[BrianC]

Hi Kirche

Many thanks for the additional information.

So, he died in April 1944, when the car he was driving was ambushed, in which the Orthodox Christian leader of Latvia was passenger and was also killed. Is that correct?

Much appreciated.
Stay safe
Brian

[RSwank]

I found this on the assassination:

https://www.facebook.com/BalticToBla...9376002134739/

"In April 6 1944 when Red Army was on drive to move west, Sergius Voskresenskij issued strong statement against new Moscow patriarch his former friend and called not be fooled by the Bolsheviks the enemy of the church posing now as its friends. "To have Russia live freely, the Bolshevism must be destroyed, then also the church will be free". In April 29 Sergius Voskresenskij was on his way from Vilnius to Riga to take part in funeral of the Russian emigrant. Soviet saboteurs in German uniforms opened fire on the vehicle, killing driver and his wife and some local girl who might had saw something. Sergius Voskresenskij died from 12 bullets. A large funeral procession was held in May 4 in Riga resembling the funeral of Saint Martyr Archibishop of Riga Jānis (Pommers) in 1934. He was buried in Pokrov Orthodox cemetary where most Latvian Orthodox clergyman are laid to rest. "