Heroes of the Great Patriotic War.

🔷Nikolai Gastello (1907-1941)
Military pilot, commander of the 2nd squadron of the 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment, captain.

He worked as a mechanic and was conscripted into the Red Army in 1932. He joined the aviation regiment and became a pilot. Nikolai Gastello took part in three wars. A year before the Great Patriotic War, he received the rank of captain.

On 26 June 1941, the crew under the command of Captain Gastello flew out to attack a German mechanised column. The column was well protected by enemy artillery. A fight broke out. Gastello’s plane was hit by an anti-aircraft gun. The shell damaged the fuel tank and the plane caught fire.

The pilot was able to eject, but decided to carry out his military duty to the end. Nikolai Gastello aimed the burning machine directly at the enemy column. It was the first fire ram in the Great Patriotic War.