The photograph shows the personnel of the second echelon of the 1st squadron of the 569th Osovets Red Banner Order of Suvorov (3rd Class) Assault Aviation Regiment, part of the 199th Assault Aviation Division, 4th Assault Aviation Corps, 4th Air Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front. It was taken on May 9, 1945, in Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland), on the day of Nazi Germany’s surrender, marking the end of the unit’s combat operations in the northwestern direction of the Soviet offensive.
Assault aviation regiments of the Red Army were primarily equipped with Ilyushin Il-2 aircraft. Their main task was to provide direct air support to ground forces by destroying enemy manpower, armored vehicles, artillery positions, communication centers, and transport infrastructure. As part of the 2nd Belorussian Front, these units participated in the Belorussian Strategic Offensive Operation of 1944 and the East Prussian, East Pomeranian, and Berlin Operations of 1945. As a result of their combat performance, many units received honorary titles for the liberation of cities and were awarded orders.
The horizontal black-and-white photograph depicts a group of servicemen arranged in three rows near an aircraft. Some are sitting or lying on the ground, while others are standing. In the background is an Il-2 attack aircraft with a three-bladed propeller and its characteristic nose shape. The personnel are wearing summer uniforms (gimnastyorkas). Several men wear caps, while many are without headgear. Some servicemen are decorated with state awards.
In the first row on the right stands Hero of the Soviet Union Junior Lieutenant Alexei Molchanov, senior pilot (Decree of August 18, 1945). In the third row stand Heroes of the Soviet Union: Zhorov S. (fourth from the left) – a pilot, Chernyshov O. (sixth from the left) – a squadron commander; Rybakov O. (seventh from the right in the second row).