Early Life and Training
Alexander Ivanovich Belogurov was born in 1914 in the village of Vremivka, Velikonovoselkovsky district, Donetsk region. He completed incomplete secondary school and joined the Red Army in 1936. In 1937, he graduated from the combined school of junior aviation specialists of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force, marking the beginning of his military career.
Hero of the Soviet Union
With the onset of the Soviet-Finnish War in 1939, Belogurov was dispatched to the North. Assigned to the 3rd Squadron of the 57th Aviation Regiment of the Baltic Fleet Air Force, Senior Sergeant Belogurov served as a gunner-radio operator on an SB bomber. On February 2, 1940, his aircraft was shot down by a ‘Gladiator’ fighter from a Swedish volunteer group.
Despite being shot down, the Soviet pilots managed to execute an emergency landing and transmit crucial intelligence data to command. For this heroic action, the entire crew, including Belogurov, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on February 7, 1940.
Wartime Service and Tragic End
Following the war, Belogurov attended the S.A. Levanevsky Naval School, graduating in 1941 with the rank of lieutenant. He was assigned to the 66th Squadron of the 40th Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force, where he encountered the beginning of World War II.
He conducted dozens of combat sorties on a Pe-2, bombing enemy transports and ports on the Danube, and military equipment in the Odesa region. On September 2, 1941, while returning from a mission in the Kherson area, his aircraft was shot down for a second time. Belogurov successfully parachuted but was captured by the enemy.
Once again demonstrating his resilience, Belogurov managed to escape from the prison camp and returned to his native village. There, he organized an underground resistance group but was discovered. He was recaptured and, tragically, executed on July 3, 1942.